Magic of Love (song)

"Magic of Love"
Single by Perfume
from the album LEVEL3
B-side"Handy Man"
ReleasedMay 22, 2013
Recorded2013
GenreDance-pop, synthpop
LabelUniversal J
Songwriter(s)Yasutaka Nakata
Producer(s)Yasutaka Nakata
Perfume singles chronology
"Mirai no Museum"
(2013) 		"Magic of Love"
(2013) 		"Sweet Refrain"
(2013)
Music video
"Magic of Love" on YouTube

"Magic of Love" is a song by Japanese girl group Perfume from their fourth studio album Level 3 (2013). The song was released as the album's fourth and final single on 22 May 2013. It was written, composed and produced by Yasutaka Nakata. The song is a calm and mellow dance-pop and synthpop track, which features instrumentation of synthesizers and keyboards.

"Magic of Love" received positive reviews from music critics, whom complimented the song's production and composition. Despite peaking at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, it became the group's third single to top the Billboard Japan Hot 100. An album version of the track was re-composed and re-arranged by Nakata for the parent album. Yusuke Tanaka commissioned the accompanying music video for the single, which shows Perfume dancing in a room and features multiple figures of the members in different rooms.

Background and composition

Japanese girl group Perfume have released three studio albums. All three albums, Game (2008), Triangle (2009) and JPN peaked at number one in Japan.[1] The albums were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) with shipments of 250,000 units; the first was awarded double platinum.[2][3][4] While working on their third album, Perfume departed from Tokuma Japan Communications and signed a deal with Universal Music Japan in order to release their work through global markets.[5] They began work on their fourth studio album not long after.

As with the rest of Level 3, Japanese producer and Capsule musician Yasutaka Nakata had written, arranged and composed the song.[6] Nakata has collaborated with all of Perfume's records and songs from 2003 onwards.[7] It was recorded in Tokyo, Japan and was mixed and mastered by Nakata.[6] It is a "calm" dance-pop and synthpop song,[8][9] and incorporates instrumentation of a synthesizer and keyboards.[6] Writing for Land of Rising, Alex Shenmue commented that its "mellow mood will be there for most of the track’s length, replacing the more instrumentally complex parts and offering a calmer and slightly melancholic feeling, [...]".[9]

Reception

"Magic of Love" received favorable reviews from most music critics. Shenmue highlighted the track as an album standout.[9] Patrick St. Michael, writing for The Japan Times, said the composition wasn't an "improvement" but commented that it was "simple, catchy pop"; he felt the track was better than the two other album mix tracks.[8] Selective Hearing's writer Nia felt "50/50" with the song, saying "It’s not a horrible mix but… were the bagpipes really that necessary?".[10] A writer from CDJournal labelled the track "cute" but also "painful."[11] Ian Martin, who had written their extended biography at Allmusic, had highlighted the song as an album and career standout.[12] Konno Asami from nihongogo.com praised the outcome after the release of Perfume's "childish" single "Mirai no Museum", stating "it’s a fun song with a great dance and funny lyrics."[13]

The song charted in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Reaching number three,[1] it broke the group's eight consecutive singles to stall at number two; all their previous singles "Spring of Life", "Spending All My Time" and "Mirai no Museum" peaked at two.[1] The song also peaked at number three on Japan's Hot 100 chart.[14] The song reached number seventeen and seven in South Korea and Taiwan Overseas chart.[15][16][A] The song was certified gold by RIAJ for shipments of 100,000 units in Japan.[17]

Release and promotion

Selected as the fourth and final single of Level 3, the song was released as a stand-alone digital download on 22 May of that year.[18] Two CD singles were issued; a standalone CD with all four songs, and a CD and DVD edition with a card slipcase.[6] "Magic of Love" was used as in TV commercials of Pure Gummy by Kanro (the second song used for advertising this product after "Communication"). The spot started broadcasting on April 1, 2013 on Japanese television.[19] The song was also used as theme song of TV Tokyo's program Sukkiri in May 2013.[20]

The official music video was directed by Japanese director Yusuke Tanaka and premiered on Perfume's YouTube channel in June 2013. It shows Perfume sitting in miniature room, singing the track. Several shots of the group have them holding frames, opening doors and looking through windows, changing each scene once it happens.[21] During the choruses, it has the girls dancing together in a room with confetti and features duplicate figures of the girls every. It ends with the "Magic of Love" title.[21] The video is the group's highest viewed music video on YouTube as of April 2015, with over seven million views to date.[22]

Credits and personnel

Details adapted from the liner notes of the "Magic of Love" CD single.[6]

Song credits

Visual credits

  • Yusuke Tanaka - director
  • Takahiko Kajima - video producer
  • Kazunali Tajima - camera
  • Mikiko - choreographer

Track listing

All tracks are written by Yasutaka Nakata

CD
No.TitleLength
1."Magic of Love"3:41
2."Handy Man"4:07
3."Magic of Love" (Original Instrumental)3:41
4."Handy Man" (Original Instrumental)4:07

Charts

Chart (2000) Peak
position
Japan (Oricon)[1] 2
Japan (Billboard)[14] 2
Japan Hot Airplay (Billboard)[23] 4
Japan Hot Airplay (Billboard)[24] 7
Japan Hot Single Sales (Billboard)[25] 3
South Korea (Gaon Chart)[15] 23
Taiwan (G-Music)[16] 13

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[26] Gold 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Country Date Format Label Ref.
Japan 27 February 2013 CD single Universal Music Japan, Perfume Records [6]
Digipak [27]
Taiwan [27]
Japan Digital download [18]
United States [28]
Australia [29]
New Zealand [30]
Canada [31]
United Kingdom [32]

Notes

  1. ^ Week references for G-Music: JPN 2012 week 15, "Spending All My Time" 2012 week 35, Love the World 2012 week 41, "Mirai no Museum" 2013 week 10, "Magic of Love" and Perfume World Tour 1st 2013 week 21, Level3 2013 week 40, "Sweet Refrain" 2013 week 48, "Cling Cling" 2014 week 30, Perfume 3rd Tour JPN and Perfume 4th Tour in Dome: Level3 2014 week 44.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Perfumeの作品 [Perfume Products]. Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  2. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧 2009年3月" [Works Receiving Certifications List (Gold, etc) (March 2009)] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. 10 April 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  3. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧 2009年7月" [Works Receiving Certifications List (Gold, etc) (July 2009)] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. 10 August 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  4. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧 2011年11月" [Works Receiving Certifications List (Gold, etc) (November 2011)] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  5. ^ "Perfume世界展開に向けレーベル移籍！今春CM曲リリース" (in Japanese). Natalie. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Level 3 (Album). Perfume. Universal Music Japan; Universal J; Perfume Records. 2013.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ^ "Perfume" (in Japanese). Tokuma Japan Communications. Archived from the original on 16 March 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  8. ^ a b St. Michael, Patrick (22 October 2015). "Perfume "Level 3"". The Japan Times. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  9. ^ a b c Shenmue, Alex (29 October 2014). "Perfume - Level 3 album review". Land of Rising. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  10. ^ Nia (29 November 2013). "Perfume - Level 3 album review". Selective Hearing. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  11. ^ Unknown, author. "Perfume / Magic of Love [CD/DVD]". CDJournal. Retrieved 21 April 2015. {{cite journal}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ Martin, Ian (29 November 2013). "Perfume - Songs, Highlights, Awards and Credits". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  13. ^ Asami, Konno (1 July 2013). "Review: Perfume – Magic of Love". nihongogo.com. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  14. ^ a b "Japan Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (in Japanese). 30 May 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  15. ^ a b "2013년 11주차 Album Chart 국외". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  16. ^ a b "G-Music J-Pop Chart" (in Chinese). G-Music. Archived from the original on 12 May 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  17. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧 2013年5月" [Works Receiving Certifications List (Gold, etc) (May 2013)] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  18. ^ a b "Magic of Love - Single - Perfume". iTunes Store (JP). 22 May 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  19. ^ "Perfume、〈ピュレグミ〉新CMソング"Magic of Love"を今夏リリース" (in Japanese). Tower Records Online. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  20. ^ "Perfume「Magic of Love」│HotShotDiscs". Billboard JAPAN. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  21. ^ a b "[MV] Perfume 「Magic of Love」". Youtube.com. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  22. ^ "Perfume - Click the 'Most Popular' button on top-right". Youtube.com. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  23. ^ "Japan Billboard Hot Airplay Chart". Billboard (in Japanese). 10 June 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  24. ^ "Japan Billboard Hot Airplay Chart". Billboard (in Japanese). 3 June 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  25. ^ "Japan Billboard Hot Singles Sales". Billboard (in Japanese). 3 June 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  26. ^ "Japanese single certifications – Perfume – Magic of Love" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2013年5月 on the drop-down menu
  27. ^ a b "Magic of Love" (CD and DVD single). Perfume. Universal Music Japan; Universal J; Perfume Records. 2013.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  28. ^ "Magic of Love - Single - Perfume". iTunes Store (US). 22 May 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  29. ^ "Magic of Love - Single - Perfume". iTunes Store (AU). 22 May 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  30. ^ "Magic of Love - Single - Perfume". iTunes Store (NZ). 22 May 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  31. ^ "Magic of Love - Single - Perfume". iTunes Store (CA). 22 May 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  32. ^ "Magic of Love - Single - Perfume". iTunes Store (GB). 22 May 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2015.