"Lemon" is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu, released as a single through Sony Music Entertainment Japan on March 14, 2018. It is the theme song for the TV series Unnatural. It has sold more than 500,000 physical copies and 3,000,000 digital copies in Japan.
Background Kenshi accepted several interviews about "Lemon", talked about the background of "Lemon" and others. The temporary title was "Memento." He said, "I think it came from somewhere in my memory, but I can't really explain it well either." Even the day before recording, he was still writing the lyrics, the last two sentences "Like one half of a fruit sliced in two, even now, you are my light" suddenly appeared in his brain and he said, "Ahh, so this song really was "Lemon."" He also did the cover illustration himself. He focused on liveliness and freshness of a lemon, giving it an image quite unlike what's typically associated with death. For the song, he wanted to go for a ballad, but a simple ballad is not very interesting for him, and he did not want it to be purely gloomy. As a result, he made a hybrid of sorts, with sad words over a dancing, skipping rhythm. He made the song while on his nationwide tour, during which his grandfather died. He agonized over it a lot, so it took even longer to finish than usual.
Music video On February 27, 2018, the music video was published on YouTube.
Live performances On December 31, 2018, Yonezu gave his first performance on television, singing the track on 69th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes.
Kenshi Yonezu - production, arrangement, vocal, guitar Koichiro Muroya - string arrangement, strings Yu Suto - bass Masaki Huri - drums Ichiyo Izawa - piano Tatsuya Mochizuki - guitar technician Koji Imamura - drum technician Akira Miyake - vocal direction Masahito Komori - recording, mixing Ted Jensen - mastering
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2018) Peakposition Japan (Hot 100) 1 Japan (Oricon) 2 Japan (Oricon Combined) 1
Chart (2023–2025) Peakposition South Korea (Circle) 108
Year-end charts Chart (2018) Position Japan (Hot 100) 1 Japan (Oricon) 18 Taiwan (Hito Radio) 6
Chart (2019) Position Japan (Hot 100) 1 Japan (Oricon)34 Japan (Oricon Combined)10
Chart (2020)Position Japan Hot 10017
Chart (2021)Position Japan Hot 10047
Chart (2022)Position Japan Hot 10073
Chart (2023)Position Japan Hot 10073
Chart (2024)Position Japan Hot 10063
Chart (2025)Position Japan Hot 10065 South Korea (Circle) 169
All-time charts Chart (2008–2022) Position Japan (Japan Hot 100) 1
Certifications
Accolades Year Ceremony Award Result2018MTV Video Music Awards JapanBest Video of the YearBest Male Video 96th Television Drama Academy Awards Best Theme Song International Drama Festival in TokyoTheme Song AwardBillboard Japan Music AwardsHot 100 of the Year2019 Space Shower Music AwardsSong of the Year2020JASRAC AwardsGold Award2025Music Awards JapanTop Japanese Song in Asia
References