It's all in the packaging... きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ and きらきらキラー

Here's the last post in this unplanned series on extensive packaging of music.
Just happened that way as we wrote about a) Wu Tang Clan, b) Rush and c) Blondie.

A mild curiosity in Japanese popular music has exposed us to a land where the selling of physical records has been taken to another level when it comes to tie-ins with movies, shows and commercials plus the packaging. Case in point is the lastest release from singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu that was announced this Friday.
Usually her singles come in two versions. One regular and one limited with the limited one including something extra like a DVD or a photo booklet, a poster or something like that. But this time they went all out on the make-it-special front.

So it was announced on Friday with the release date set to June 11 but instantly available for pre-order. The trick is that this time there was just one limited edition. And when we say limited we mean limited. The single titled きらきらキラー (Kirakira Killer) will only come in 7777 copies. No more, no less.
The song itself is about being lucky so they go with lucky number seven and include seven goodies in the package.

Everybody gets a mini-poster signed by Kyary herself, a Kirakira Killer sticker and an exclusive vinyl bag.

Also included are raffle tickets that you send in to be in the drawing for a sparkly "Kirakira" hair tie (777 winners), a T-shirt that matches the one Kyary is wearing in the coming music video for Kirakira Killer (777 winners), a mask to match Kyary’s in the same music video (77 winners) or a personal thing picked by Kyary herself (1 winner).

Needless to say the record was sold out within a few hours and just as quickly reselling on EBay for seven times the original price of 1777 Yen.
All this a whole month before it is actually out.

And no, we missed out, never got our order in in time and will have to face summer without a sparkly hair tie. And our very own copy of quite a catchy japanese pop song.
(Sad face...)



Like most of Kyary's singles this one is tied to a commercial with lyrics that more or less alludes to the theme of the commercial. It has been airing for a couple of months now preparing the way for the new single.

Case in point; her latest full length album. Of the 12 songs eight has been used in commercials and one as the theme song for a TV cartoon. 

Here's a few more examples of Kyary commercials that all feature her music: