Butterfly (Kaela Kimura song)
Encyclopedia
"Butterfly" is a wedding song by Japanese musician Kaela Kimura
, released as a digital single on June 1, 2009, roughly a month before her fifth album, Hocus Pocus
. It was extremely successful, reaching downloads of over 2,000,000 just over six months after its release. It is Kimura's most successful single digitally. Columbia
released a special instrumental version of the song on February 14, 2010.
Kaela Kimura wrote the song for a close friend, who wanted her to sing a song for her and her husband at their wedding. She wrote the song in collaboration with Akira Suemitsu (Suemitsu & the Suemith
), who wrote the music. Kimura wrote the song's lyrics like a letter addressed to her friend, and performed the song at her friend's birthday on Valentine's Day
in 2009.
On December 31, 2009, Kimura performed the song at the annual New Year's Song contest, Kōhaku Uta Gassen
.
log cabin, opens the door and a progression of pink animals come out of the door. The blue and pink animals find each other and fall in love.
in Japan, and the second most downloaded at Mora.jp
After Kimura sung the song at the annual New Year's Song contest, Kōhaku Uta Gassen
, the song saw a great spike in sales. Before the performance, the song had been being downloaded roughly 1,500-2,000 times per day, which spiked to 40,000 times per day afterwards. Because of this, on the 5th of January, the song had been downloaded a total of 2,000,000 times. This also caused "Butterfly" to reach the #1 spot on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart
for two weeks.
As of May 2010, the RIAJ had certified the song as being purchased more than 1,000,000 times on cellphones, and more than 500,000 times on PCs. The song has also been downloaded more than 1,000,000 times as a ringtone.
Kaela Kimura
, born , is a Japanese pop rock singer, songwriter, model, and TV presenter.- Career :Born in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan to a British father and Japanese mother, Kaela started working as a model in 2002 for the Japanese magazine Seventeen...
, released as a digital single on June 1, 2009, roughly a month before her fifth album, Hocus Pocus
Hocus Pocus (Kaela Kimura album)
Hocus Pocus is the fifth album by Japanese pop singer Kaela Kimura, released on June 24, 2009.The album was released in formats CD and CD with a DVD.-Track listing:...
. It was extremely successful, reaching downloads of over 2,000,000 just over six months after its release. It is Kimura's most successful single digitally. Columbia
Columbia Music Entertainment
is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as . It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK Columbia trademarks in 1931. The company changed its name to Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. in 1946. It used the Nippon Columbia name until...
released a special instrumental version of the song on February 14, 2010.
Writing and inspiration
The song is a ballad, arranged with a harpsichord and piano backing. As the song progresses, a band arrangement with electric guitars and drums is introduced. Also present in the song are the sounds of church bells, a children's choir and a church organ. The lyrics describe a newly wed bride as a butterfly, who is "more wonderful today than any other time before" who "flaps white wings, together towards happiness." The verses deal with how the person writing the song met the wedding bride so long ago, and describes the wedding ceremony, and how happy the bride is.Kaela Kimura wrote the song for a close friend, who wanted her to sing a song for her and her husband at their wedding. She wrote the song in collaboration with Akira Suemitsu (Suemitsu & the Suemith
Suemitsu & The Suemith
Suemitsu & the Suemith is a Japanese solo project headed by Suemitsu Atsushi . He performs piano and vocals for the project...
), who wrote the music. Kimura wrote the song's lyrics like a letter addressed to her friend, and performed the song at her friend's birthday on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
in 2009.
Promotion
The song was chosen as a commercial song for wedding information magazine Zexy, out of 200 potential other songs submitted to the company. The commercial began airing in mid April 2009, however it did not list the singer of the song initially. Kimura was first announced as the singer of the commercial to the press on the 30th of May, 2009, when she performed the song as a surprise gift at the wedding reception of two Kaela Kimura fans, at Shinyokohama's International Hotel.On December 31, 2009, Kimura performed the song at the annual New Year's Song contest, Kōhaku Uta Gassen
60th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen
The , referred to from hereon as "Kōhaku", was aired on December 31, 2009 from NHK Hall in Japan.-Performers:The singers, announced on November 23, 2009, are ordered below according to the gojūon....
.
Music video
The music video was shot by director Takeshi Nakamura with help from campany Nicographics. It features Kimura against a stylised outdoor background, in the style of a children's television show. As she walks along, a real butterfly flies around her, and she passes blue cut-outs of different animals, such as horses and rabbits. Kimura interacts with the animal representations and walks to a cut-out of a modern city. After she passes the city, she finds an A-frameA-Frame house
An A-frame is an architectural house style featuring steeply-angled sides that usually begin at or near the foundation line, and meet at the top in the shape of the letter A...
log cabin, opens the door and a progression of pink animals come out of the door. The blue and pink animals find each other and fall in love.
Commercial success
The song was extremely successful digitally. Within two months, the song had been downloaded over 1,000,000 times. At the end of 2009, it was the second most downloaded song of the year on iTunesITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
in Japan, and the second most downloaded at Mora.jp
After Kimura sung the song at the annual New Year's Song contest, Kōhaku Uta Gassen
Kohaku Uta Gassen
, more commonly known as simply Kōhaku, is an annual music show on New Year's Eve produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and broadcast on both television and radio, nationally and internationally by NHK's networks and some overseas broadcasters which bought the program...
, the song saw a great spike in sales. Before the performance, the song had been being downloaded roughly 1,500-2,000 times per day, which spiked to 40,000 times per day afterwards. Because of this, on the 5th of January, the song had been downloaded a total of 2,000,000 times. This also caused "Butterfly" to reach the #1 spot on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart
RIAJ Digital Track Chart
The is chart ranks the best selling digital singles in Japan, provided by the Recording Industry Association of Japan since April 2009. The chart measures cellphone downloads ....
for two weeks.
As of May 2010, the RIAJ had certified the song as being purchased more than 1,000,000 times on cellphones, and more than 500,000 times on PCs. The song has also been downloaded more than 1,000,000 times as a ringtone.
Chart rankings
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com .... |
8 |
| RIAJ Digital Track Chart RIAJ Digital Track Chart The is chart ranks the best selling digital singles in Japan, provided by the Recording Industry Association of Japan since April 2009. The chart measures cellphone downloads .... Top 100 |
2 |
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
| Billboard Japan Hot 100 | 27 |
| RIAJ Digital Track Chart weekly top 100 | 1 |
| RIAJ Digital Track Chart yearly top 100 | 2 |
Certifications
| Chart | Amount |
|---|---|
| RIAJ ringtones | Million (1,000,000) |
| RIAJ full-length cellphone downloads | Million (1,000,000) |
| RIAJ PC Downloads | Double platinum (500,000) |