Heavy Rotation
AKB48's new single features a fan voted lineup
Heavy Rotation is AKB48′s 18th single. Days before its release last week, it was reported that over 650,000 copies had been shipped to stores. However many remained skeptical, believing surely that their last single’s sales were inflated by the voting campaign. The numbers are in now and AKB48 breaks the record again with 527,336 copies sold in its first week.
The single is notable for being performed by the fan voted lineup from the last single’s election. It is also the first time in which Oshima Yuko (who came in at #1) displaces Maeda Atsuko to take center position.
With Heavy Rotation, AKB48 has kicked up fan service a notch from their last bikini ridden theme. This time the management has the girls aiming for a erokawa look by imitating cats, in lingerie. The commercial also advertises a moment where we see Yuko embracing Aachan. A fitting reward for the (suspiciously) cheeky Yuko? Its not nearly as significant in the actual music video.
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| Version A. CD + DVD. 1600 yen |
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| Version B. CD + DVD. 1600 yen |
As with before, there are 3 different versions of the single. The two normal versions you can get from stores, come with the single and videos for Heavy Rotation, Namida no Seesaw Game (a retro number by the girls that ranked between 22-40) and a different campaign song. Version A comes with Yasai Sisters the theme for Yasai Ichi Nichi Kore Ippon while Version B features Lucky Seven from the AKB48 7-11 Promotion. The theater version comes with all 4 songs but no videos or instrumentals.
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| Theater Version. 1000 yen |
A number of fans have voiced their dislike for the rather theme. I too cringed at the concept when viewing the advertisements but did enjoy the final video, much more so than Ponytail no Shushu. With the exception of the cat scenes of course, which came across as creepy rather than sexy (perhaps that was the intention) and the rather ridiculous dance.
I particularly liked the other saturated studio setting (the one in the title image) and the camera work during those scenes. Unfortunately, there’s no Youtube link to the video since King Records is much more anal than their last label. Still you can probably find it on some Chinese alternatives if you Google it.
Lyrically, the song isn’t much. It consists of a bunch of random lines about romance. It’s no Iiwake Maybe but it is still much catchier than their other recent songs. Which is why probably why it topped single sales both physical and digital this week despite the lack of attached gimmicks.
I particularly liked the other saturated studio setting (the one in the title image) and the camera work during those scenes. Unfortunately, there’s no Youtube link to the video since King Records is much more anal than their last label. Still you can probably find it on some Chinese alternatives if you Google it.
Lyrically, the song isn’t much. It consists of a bunch of random lines about romance. It’s no Iiwake Maybe but it is still much catchier than their other recent songs. Which is why probably why it topped single sales both physical and digital this week despite the lack of attached gimmicks.
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| Front cover with hologram |
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| Thre's hologram in back cover too |
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| Inside |
There was a holographic cover with Kamikyokutachi and a foil embossed one for Ponytail to Shushu, this time they decided to just foil the whole thing, foldout included. Apart from that, there’s also the usual promo photo for pre-orders of the single, shots differ by stores.
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| Foldout |
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| Bonus photo. Too bad it's identical with the front cover |
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| Like always, there's a ticket as bonus too |
This time round, there also seems to be a free cellphone wallpaper and a ticket for a AKB48 Festival. Fans can look forward to their next single which will include ballots to decided this year’s top 100 songs that will be performed at the AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2011 concert next January.
