"Rosier" is the third single by Japanese rock band Luna Sea, released by MCA Victor on July 21, 1994. It reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified Platinum by the RIAJ for sales over 400,000. The song's music video won Best Music Video at the 36th Japan Record Awards.

"Rosier"
Single by Luna Sea
from the album Mother
B-side"Rain"
ReleasedJuly 21, 1994
GenreHard rock, alternative rock
Length10:58
LabelMCA Victor
Songwriter(s)Luna Sea
Producer(s)Luna Sea
Luna Sea singles chronology
"In My Dream (With Shiver)"
(1993)
"Rosier"
(1994)
"True Blue"
(1994)
Music video
"Rosier" on YouTube

Composition

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Guitarist Sugizo cited "Rosier" as one of the songs wherein he tried to replicate the "psychedelic feel of shoegaze bands" by using effects, "like playing fast with a wah-wah pedal, or using tape-echo and harmonizers. I couldn’t figure out how they did it, so I just made it into my own thing."[1]

The fast spoken English words in the middle of the song were written and performed by J. As a staple of Luna Sea concerts, J throws his mic stand over his head and behind his back after finishing his vocal part.[2]

This single version of "Rosier" is slightly different from the one on the album, Mother. An 8 cm CD of a live version of the song was given away to winners of a magazine contest. Live versions also appear on the band's Never Sold Out and Never Sold Out 2 albums.

Music video

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The music video for "Rosier" opens with the camera spiraling down on to a coffin, similar to the single's cover art, with roses on it covering the glass window at its head. The majority shows the band performing the song against a white backdrop with smoke flowing along the ground. Black and white and light blue filters were also used, as was slow motion. A dominant feature is the camera work; a crane takes the viewer over the band 180 degrees from the front of its members, ending upside down at their backs, the opposite is also seen. 360 degree shots around the band are also shown.

Close-ups of the band members against a dark backdrop, separated from the camera by fluorescent lights, which provide the shots' only light, are inter-cut. During J's vocal part, the English lyrics appear flashing over the video in a typed font. Instead of ending with the English phrase "I'm the trigger" as heard on the released track, the video's audio fades out while it climaxes with a shot zooming in to the coffin's supposed glass window and a hand reaches out grabbing the camera. However, the phrase is viewable in the video as it is written in red on the white drumhead of Shinya's snare drum and as font during J's vocals.

Reception

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"Rosier" reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles Chart, and charted for 25 weeks.[3] In 1998, it was certified Platinum by the RIAJ for sales over 400,000.[4] The music video for "Rosier" won Best Music Video at the 36th Japan Record Awards.[5]

Track listing

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All tracks written and arranged by Luna Sea.

No.TitleLength
1."Rosier"5:25
2."Rain"5:32

Personnel

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Luna Sea
Production
  • Hitoshi Hiruma – recording and mixing

Covers

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"Rosier" was covered by High and Mighty Color on 2007's Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-,[6] and later included on their album Rock Pit.[7]

It was also covered by defspiral for Crush! 3 - 90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Love Songs-, which was released on June 27, 2012 and features current visual kei bands covering love songs by visual kei bands of the 90's.[8]

Pop singer Tomomi Kahala recorded a version for her 2014 Memories 2 -Kahara All Time Covers- album.[9]

Female heavy metal band Show-Ya released a version of the song for their 2014 cover album Glamorous Show ~ Japanese Legendary Rock Covers.[10]

Fantôme Iris, a fictional visual kei band from multimedia franchise Argonavis from BanG Dream! covered the song on their first solo live Fantôme Iris 1st LIVE -C'est la vie!-.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Luna Sea rockers Sugizo and Inoran talk life at 25". The Japan Times. 2014-06-19. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  2. ^ "「アルゴナビス」3万字超インタビュー。ボーカリスト&音楽統括・北岡Pにニューシングル&メディア展開の話を聞いた". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  3. ^ "ROSIER LUNA SEAのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典". Oricon (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2013-02-19. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  4. ^ "Japanese album certifications" (Enter Luna Sea into the アーティスト then select 検索) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 2021-05-15.
  5. ^ 第36回日本レコード大賞. Japan Record Award (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  6. ^ "Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-". cdjapan.co.jp. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  7. ^ "ハイカラ、より自由度が増した4thアルバム完成". Natalie (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  8. ^ "Crush! 3-90's V-Rock best hit cover LOVE songs-". cdjapan.co.jp. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  9. ^ "華原朋美、中森明菜とLUNA SEAカバー配信". Natalie (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  10. ^ "Glamorous Show - Japanese Legendary Rock". cdjapan.co.jp. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  11. ^ "それは幻想の一夜ーー「Fantôme Iris 1st LIVE -C'est la vie!-」ライブレポート。眷属たちの目に映る,銀の百合咲き乱れし王国". 4gamer.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-07.