Strawberry Flower: Difference between revisions

'''Strawberry Flower''' was a Japanese music duo, mostly known for their work with [[Nintendo]] in creating songs for TV commercials for the [[Pikmin series|''Pikmin'' franchise]]. Formed in late 2001 specifically to create a song for TV advertisements for {{p1}}, Strawberry Flower made the song "[[Ai no Uta]]". It became a sleeper hit, getting to #2 in the Japanese charts and becoming one of the best-selling singles in Japan in 2002. They later followed with more ''Pikmin''-related single releases until 2004, totalling 1 million singles sold in their home country. Although they have been largely inactive ever since, they briefly reunited in 2015 for the song "arukuhayasade", released independently and with no ties to ''Pikmin''.

In 2001, [[Nintendo]] enlisted singer instrumentist Gan Matsumoto, credited as Takeshi Tomozuma in the project, to create music to be used in the then-upcoming {{p1}} game. Tomozuma composed the song "[[Ai no Uta]]", with Tomoe Watanabe recording the vocals, forming the Strawberry Flower duo. The song was released as a single in December of 2001, climbing to #2 in the Oricon charts in January 2002, becoming a massive hit and selling over 600,000 copies, outselling Japanese sales of ''Pikmin'' itself. The single version of "Ai no Uta" features a B-side song, "[[Namida Ga Afureta]]". In March 2002, a second single was released, "[[Pikmin Dance]]", featuring 3 dance versions of "Ai no Uta". The ''Pikmin'' soundtrack album, [[Pikmin World]], contains "Ai no Uta" and 2 additional versions of it.

In 2004, Nintendo commissioned Strawberry Flower for promotional ''Pikmin'' music again, for TV commercials for {{p2}}. The resulting single was "[[Tane no Uta]]". This was the last time Strawberry Flower made music for the ''Pikmin'' series, though they briefly reunited in 2015 for a new single, called "arukuhayasade".