"Change Myself" is Japanese/Korean musician Iconiq's second Japanese digital single, and the title track of her debut album, Change Myself

Change Myself

Change Myself is Japanese pop musician Iconiq's debut album, released on March 10, 2010. The album was initially planned for a February 24 release, however postponed for two weeks.-Background:...

. The song was central to much of the album's promotion, such as its use in commercials for Shiseido

Shiseido

is a major Japanese hair care and cosmetics producer. It is the oldest cosmetics company in the world and the fourth largest cosmetics company in the world.-History:...

's Maquillage cosmetics range. The song's lyrics influenced the change theme to Iconiq's debut. The song was somewhat successful in the digital market, preaking at #1 on Recochoku's weekly ringtone ranking chart. However, the song only received moderate success as a full-length download, peaking at #20 on RIAJ's 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 ....

.

Release

The song was first released as a ringtone on January 20, 2010. A 1:39 edit of the song was released as B-side on Iconiq's "I'm Lovin' You

I'm Lovin' You

-Chart rankings:-Release history:...

" rental single, on January 27, 2010. A shorter edited version of the song was released as a digital download to cellphones on March 3, 2010, with the full-length version released simultaneously in cellphone and PC digital stores on March 31, 2010.

The song appears on both Iconiq's debut album Change Myself

Change Myself

Change Myself is Japanese pop musician Iconiq's debut album, released on March 10, 2010. The album was initially planned for a February 24 release, however postponed for two weeks.-Background:...

, released March 10, 2010, and on her debut extended play

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Light Ahead

Light Ahead

-Chart rankings:- Reported sales :-Release history:...

, released September 15, 2010.

Writing

The song is a mid-tempo R&B song, written by Hiro

Hiro (music producer)

Hiro is a Japanese music producer, associated with production company Digz, inc.. He began producing songs in 2007, beginning with dance group PaniCrew's single "Growing & Leaning." His most successful song is currently Kumi Koda's "Taboo," which reached #1 on Oricon's single charts in 2008...

 of Digz, inc.. The lyrics describe a woman who has just come out of a relationship, whose only escape from sadness and reality is the MP3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

s she plays. She decides that she will not "live for nobody else but me" and changes things about herself. According to Iconiq, the song tries to express the message "From now I'll keep trying, and walk forward."

Because Iconiq and her team believed the song's message was strong, "Change Myself" also became the title of Iconiq's debut album

Change Myself

Change Myself is Japanese pop musician Iconiq's debut album, released on March 10, 2010. The album was initially planned for a February 24 release, however postponed for two weeks.-Background:...

. Furthermore, the lyrics of the song, such as the chorus line , became the basis for concepts and catch phrases that were the centre of promotion around the album.

Promotion

The song was announced in a press conference on the 19th of January, which announced the song as being used for Shiseido

Shiseido

is a major Japanese hair care and cosmetics producer. It is the oldest cosmetics company in the world and the fourth largest cosmetics company in the world.-History:...

's Maquillage cosmetics range. Iconiq's debut digital single "I'm Lovin' You

I'm Lovin' You

-Chart rankings:-Release history:...

" had been used for the same promotions in late 2009, however these commercials featured Iconiq personally, instead of just using her music. The song was also used in commercials for Recochoku.

During album promotions, Iconiq promoted products from seven different companies simultaneously: All Nippon Airways

All Nippon Airways

, also known as or ANA, is one of the largest airlines in Japan. It is headquartered at the Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It operates services to 49 destinations in Japan and 35 international routes and employed over 14,000 employees as of May 2009...

, US fashion brand Kitson, Italian car manufacturer Maserati

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...

, Rhythm Zone

Rhythm Zone

is a record label in the Avex Records Group which releases all kinds of urban contemporary Japanese music.-History:The label was founded in 1999 by Max Matsuura to address the need for a new urban music label, signing M-Flo as its first artist, then followed by Exile.In 2000, Koda Kumi was signed...

, music download site Mu-Mo, Shiseido and Starbucks

Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

. Each commercial had two versions: one featuring "Change Myself" as background music, along with versions using "Bye Now!

Bye Now!

"Bye Now!" is a song by Japanese/Korean musician Iconiq, and the lead promotional track from her debut album, Change Myself, released in March 2010. It was widely played at radio stations during the album's release, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100...

."

Iconiq performed this song as a per of her set at the 2010 A-Nation concerts.

Music video

The music video was directed by Yasuhiko Shimizu. The video begins with grey-scale shots of Iconiq walking through deserted heights of a building in the Tokyo skyline. Interspersed through these shots are scenes of Iconiq posing in fashionable clothing, as if for a photoshoot. The video then focuses on scenes of Iconiq against a shimmering, changing background. The background shows such things as stylised lettering of the song's title and geometric patterns. She poses, or dances like a butterfly against the screen. Eventually, different primary colors are added to the patterns on the screen. The final scene shows Iconiq herself in color.

The music video attempts to express a woman with a strong will.

Chart rankings

Chart	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... Adult Contemporary Airplay	77
Billboard 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 ....	73
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 Special edit version	20
RIAJ Digital Track Chart Top 100	34

Release history

Region	Date	Format
Japan		Ringtone
		Cellphone download (special edit version)
		PC download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... , cellphone download (full-length version)