Native Dancer (song)

"Native Dancer" (Japanese: ネイティブダンサー, Hepburn: Neitibu Dansā) (Japanese pronunciation: [neitibudansa:]) is a song by Japanese band Sakanaction. It was released on January 7, 2009 as a digital single from the band's third album Shin-shiro.[1] Its accompanying music video directed by Yuichi Kodama was a critical success, winning the best conceptual video award at the 2010 Space Shower Music Video Awards.

"Native Dancer"
A pair of pink, neon sneakers on a black background
Digital download cover, featuring the pair of sneakers shown in the song's music video.
Single by Sakanaction
from the album Shin-shiro
ReleasedJanuary 7, 2009 (2009-01-07)
Recorded2008
GenreNew wave, rock, dance
Length4:25
LabelVictor Entertainment
Songwriter(s)Ichiro Yamaguchi
Producer(s)Sakanaction
Sakanaction singles chronology
"Sen to Rei"
(2008)		 "Native Dancer"
(2009)		 "Aruku Around"
(2010)

In 2010, the song was remixed by electronic musician Rei Harakami for inclusion on the band's "Aruku Around" single. This would become one of Harakami's final releases before his death in July 2011.[2]

Background and development

After releasing two albums based in Hokkaido under the BabeStar Label sublabel of Victor Entertainment, Sakanaction signed a contract with management group Hipland Management and joined the main Victor Entertainment band roster,[3] moving from Hokkaido to Tokyo in the spring of 2008.[4] The album was primarily created by band members in vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi's apartment in Kawasaki, Kanagawa.[5] In December, Sakanaction released their first physical single "Sen to Rei", which became the band's first top 40 release.[6][7]

Composition

"Native Dancer" is a song in verse–chorus form, recorded in common time with a major key of D major and a minor key of B minor.[8][9] The tempo is set at 130BPM, and the song has a length of four minutes and twenty-five seconds.[9] The song opens with a piano instrumental progression of G6-Asus4-Bm7, which remains constant throughout the verses and choruses until the song's end in an instrumental coda.[8] The song additionally features an arrangement of drums, guitar, bass guitar and synths.[9] The song's lyrics feature a protagonist looking back sadly on a relationship, likening painful memories to a winter flower.[9]

Writing and production
"Native Dancer" was inspired by the music of Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi.

For Shin-shiro, Yamaguchi asked each member to work individually on creating demos for songs, and after each song had been developed, the band would record the songs together. "Native Dancer", however, was worked on solely by Yamaguchi.[3] Yamaguchi wanted to create a song that began with only vocals backed by piano, that progressed into a techno song, and wanted to create a song that would express the differences between studio and live performances.[10] The song was built around the four-chord piano introduction, and Yamaguchi was inspired to make something with a Joe Hisaishi-feel.[11] Due to the lack of input by other members of the band, Yamaguchi felt like the song was his own song instead of a Sakanaction song, merely performed by the band, and that the creation process was like Yamaguchi's days performing as a DJ before forming Sakanaction.[10]

Promotion and release

The song served as the leading promotional track from Shin-shiro.[12] It began being played on Adult Contemporary radio stations in mid January.[13] Nationally, radio play for the song peaked in early January, with the song being most successful at adult contemporary radio stations, however in the band's native Hokkaido, the song only started receiving airplay then.[14][15][16] On North Wave's Sapporo Hot 100 chart that tracks airplay, requests and sales in Hokkaido, the song peaked at number three for two weeks in mid-February.[17]

The song was remixed by Japanese musician Rei Harakami in 2010 as "Native Dancer (Rei Harakami Heppoko Re-Arrange)" (rei harakami へっぽこre-arrange, "Rei Harakami's Amateur Re-Arrangement"), which was released on the band's next single "Aruku Around" (2010).[18] Yamaguchi became a fan of Harakami's after encountering his Lust (2005) album while he worked at a record store, and immediately thought of Harakami when Sakanaction's team discussed including a remix on their "Aruku Around" single.[19]

The song is a frequent part of Sakanaction's live concert sets, and live recordings of the song have been released by the band seven times: in the bonus track on the "Aruku Around" single featuring audio of three songs from the Sakanaquarium 2009 concert in Sapporo, twice on their Sanakaquarium 2010 DVD set, as performed at the Kikuuiki tour final at the Shinkiba Studio Coast on May 15, 2010 and at their Nippon Budokan concert on October 8, 2010. It was performed in the encore of their Sakanaquarium 2011 video album, and was part of the set from their Sakanaquarium 2012 concert compiled on the bonus DVD of the "Yoru no Odoriko" (2012) single (later found on their Sakanaquarium 2012 "Zepp Alive" live album). The song was rearranged for the band's Sakanaquarium 2013 concert, that was recorded live at the Makuhari Messe on May 19, 2013.

The song was compiled on Ichiro Yatsui's second mixtape Atarashii Yatsu! in June 2010, as well as on Fantastic Plastic Machine's compilation Versus. Japanese Rock vs. FPM in August of the same year.[20][21] "Native Dancer (Rei Harakami Heppoko Re-Arrange)" was compiled on the band's compilation album Natsukashii Tsuki wa Atarashii Tsuki: Coupling & Remix Works (2015).[22]

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Yuichi Kodama, as well as choreography by Furitsuke Kagyou Air:man and styling by Hisashi "Momo" Kitazawa.[12][23] The video was created by the team who won one of the three grand prix awards at the 2008 Cannes Lions advertisement festival, for work on Uniqlo's Uniqulock campaign.[12] The video features two main scenes: mid-shots of Ichiro Yamaguchi from the waist up, as well as shots of a pair of legs of a dancer from Furitsuke Kagyou Air:man, wearing a discontinued pair of Nike Air Force 180 Clerks Pack sneakers.[12] The dancer performs an intricate footwork routine inspired by techtonik and C-Walk dance styles, interspersed with the scenes depicting Yamaguchi.[12]

The video was released online to YouTube on January 7, 2009.[24] It was viewed over 40,000 times in the first 13 days, and a year later had been watched more than one million times.[25][26] It was shown during Creative Symposium 2009, an event held over five days in March 2009 in Tokyo to celebrate visual arts, as well as at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2010, as a part of a showcase entitled Big in Japan: A Survey of Japanese Music Videos.[26][27] At the 2010 Space Shower Music Video Awards, the video won the best conceptual video award, and director Yuichi Kodama the overall best director award.[28]

Sakanaction has collaborated with choreographers Furitsuke Kagyou Air:man twice since the release of the video: on the videos for "Bach no Senritsu o Yoru ni Kiita Sei Desu." (2011) and "Sayonara wa Emotion" (2014).[29]

Critical reception

Critics at CDJournal called the song a "rhythmic dance tune", praising the juxtaposition in the song between its danceable rhythm and lyrics which expressed a "painful feeling of not being able to get away from your thoughts".[30][31] They were impressed with how the song transitioned from a "nostalgic piano drifting in nihilism" to a synthesizer sound, as well as the sad violin that "expressed the painfulness of autumn".[31] Kuniko Yamada of Bounce similarly praised the song's "beautiful fusion of acoustic and synth sounds".[32] Entertainment Media Kulture described "Native Dancer" as one of the band's early signature songs, feeling that the song's wordplay was fun, and that the lyrics had a high aesthetic sense.[33]

Reviewing the Rei Harakami remix, CDJournal felt that this version had a "floating, light sound that makes you feel at ease", and that there was something nostalgic about the remix that matched the song's lyrics on transience well.[30] Kenji Sasaki of Skream! described the remix as "beauty and strangeness twist and fight each other, while being wrapped up in Yamaguchi's lyrics."[18]

Track listing
"Native Dancer" digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Native Dancer"4:25
Total length:4:25

Personnel

Personnel details for the song were sourced from Shin-shiro's liner notes booklet, while music video personnel were sourced from Sakanarchive 2007—2011: Sakanaction Music Video Collection.[9][34]

Sakanaction

  • All members – arrangement, production
  • Keiichi Ejima – drums
  • Motoharu Iwadera – guitar
  • Ami Kusakari – bass guitar
  • Emi Okazaki – keyboards
  • Ichiro Yamaguchi – vocals, guitar, lyrics, composition

Personnel

  • Toshihiko Fujimi – executive producer
  • Kentaro Ishikawa – A&R
  • Satoshi Kamata – executive producer
  • Tatsuya Nomura – executive producer (Hip Land Music Corporation)
  • Yuzuru Tomita – cooperative keyboard arrangement
  • Masashi Uramoto – mixing, recording
  • Wataru Woka – A&R

Music video personnel

  • Furitsuke Kagyou Air:man – choreography
  • Daisuke Hiraga – producer
  • Hisashi "Momo" Kitazawa – creative director, stylist
  • Yuichi Kodama – director
  • Tetsu Moritera – lighting
  • Masaya Nakahara – cameraman
  • P.I.C.S. – production company

Chart rankings
Charts (2009) Peak
position
Japan Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay[14] 43
Japan Billboard Japan Hot 100[35] 60

Release history
Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalog codes
Japan January 7, 2009 (2009-01-07)[36][37] ringtone, digital download Victor Entertainment VEAML-22827

References
  1. "サカナクションのヒストリー" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  2. "Musician Rei Harakami suddenly passes away at 40". Tokyo Hive. July 29, 2011. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  3. Shinji Hyogo (2011). "特集 サカナクション". Rockin' On Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  4. Masaki Mugikura (January 1, 2009). "サカナクション インタビュー" (in Japanese). Excite. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  5. Ichiro Yamaguchi (December 12, 2012). "レクリエーション" (in Japanese). Tokyo FM. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  6. Mayumi Tsuchida (December 11, 2008). "スペシャル サカナクション" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  7. "セントレイ". Oricon. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  8. Sakanaction (2012). Sakana Ensemble 2007-2009 (in Japanese). Tokyo: Doremi Music Pub. Co., Ltd (published September 12, 2012). pp. 186–197. ISBN 978-4285134674.
  9. Shin-shiro (Media notes) (in Japanese). Sakanaction. Tokyo, Japan: Victor Entertainment. 2009.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. Mayumi Tsuchida (January 15, 2009). "サカナクション(2)" (in Japanese). Tower Records. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  11. Ichiro Yamaguchi (December 17, 2012). "コード (w/副担任：岡崎英美)" (in Japanese). Tokyo FM. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  12. "サカナクション「ネイティブダンサー」のPVは「UNIQLOCK」CMチーム制作" (in Japanese). Barks. January 19, 2009. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  13. "Japan Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay". Billboard (in Japanese). January 21, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  14. "Japan Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay". Billboard (in Japanese). January 29, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  15. "Japan Billboard Hot Top Airplay". Billboard (in Japanese). January 28, 2009. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  16. "SAPPORO HOT 100 vol. 1044" (PDF) (in Japanese). Sapporo: FM North Wave. February 1, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  17. "SAPPORO HOT 100 vol. 1047" (PDF) (in Japanese). Sapporo: FM North Wave. February 22, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  18. Kenji Sasaki. "NEW DISCS サカナクション『アルクアラウンド』" (in Japanese). Geki-Rock Entertainment Inc. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  19. "御礼。" (in Japanese). Ichiro Yamaguchi. July 29, 2011. Archived from the original on April 22, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  20. "【CD】ATARASHII YATSU!" (in Japanese). Tower Records Japan. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  21. "【CD】VERSUS. JAPANESE ROCK VS FPM SELECTED AND NON-STOP MIXED BY FPM" (in Japanese). Tower Records Japan. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  22. "サカナクション"月"のコンセプト作にメンバーREMIX＆山口一郎初監督MV" (in Japanese). Natalie. July 3, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  23. "ネイティブダンサー" (in Japanese). Space Shower. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  24. "新曲PV公開。" (in Japanese). Ichiro Yamaguchi. January 7, 2009. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  25. "サカナクションPVが「UNIQLOCK」CMチーム制作で話題沸騰！" (in Japanese). CDJournal. January 20, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  26. "サカナクションのPVがアメリカの国際映画祭に出展" (in Japanese). Barks. May 25, 2010. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  27. "やっぱり広告は面白い。クリエイターたちのめくるめく饗宴「クリエイティブ・シンポシオン2009」" (in Japanese). White Screen. March 19, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  28. "児玉裕一監督が3年連続最優秀監督賞！" (in Japanese). White Screen. March 19, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  29. "Works" (in Japanese). Furitsuke Kagyou Air:Man. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  30. "サカナクション / アルクアラウンド" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  31. "サカナクション / シンシロ [限定]" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  32. Kuniko Yamada. "【CD】シンシロ＜期間限定価格盤＞" (in Japanese). Tower Records Japan. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  33. "「サカナクション」ブレイク前の名曲を歌詞で追う！". Entertainment Media Kulture (in Japanese). Recruit Holdings. 2015. Archived from the original on December 26, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  34. Sakanarchive 2007—2011: Sakanaction Music Video Collection (Limited Edition) (Media notes) (in Japanese). Sakanaction. Tokyo, Japan: Victor Entertainment. 2011.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  35. "Japan Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (in Japanese). January 29, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  36. "1月21日発売3rd ALBUM『シンシロ』から1曲「ネイティブダンサー」を1月7日先行配信！" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. January 7, 2009. Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  37. "ネイティブダンサー" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
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