An insanely catchy pop track from Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu has gone viral (in a good way) and spread to the top of charts in Korea, Indonesia and beyond – three years after it first appeared!
“Suki!” first appeared as a track on the Stardust group’s first album “Tokiotome” in April 2018, but was not a big hit beyond the group’s fanbase then. In September 2021 the guys at Avex dusted it off and re-recorded it with the current line-up as “Suki! ~Cho ver~” for inclusion on the “Suki Suki Suki Suki Suki Suki!” mini-album, and it seems to have found love second time around, helped by lots of vids of the group performing it, with one of the best being the performance of the six members with Hello Kitty and My Melody at Sanrio Puroland. https://youtu.be/Uq1xdAkcNKk
So, what does “Suki”, a word repeated 114 times in the song, mean? While the word is usually translated as “like” in English, it is much more akin to a fondness and affection, mid-way between a liking and a love. And it certainly has generated a fondness for this earwig of a song with a singalong chorus, from girls in cute outfits, with a sweet dance and heart signs. (A similar feel to Wasuta’s “Dogs & Cats, In Bloom of Youth”).
After being popular in Japan it recently took the No.1 spot on the TikTok chart in Korea – and now the buzz has spread to Indonesia, where the song hit No.1 on Spotify’s daily Indonesia Viral 50 chart (as of November 17).
“Suki!” has even busted out of Asia, and gone global: The song has charted on Apple Music’s country by country charts, reaching No.2 in Azerbaijan, No.10 in Portugal, No.15 in Norway, No.19 in the Netherlands, No.30 in the United Arab Emirates, No.35 in South Africa, No.39 in Ecuador, No.40 in Poland, No.43 in Honduras and No. 50 in Sweden over the past month (to November 17). Will their popularity extend to even more European and American countries? The members certainly hope so.
On hearing that the song was No.1 on Spotify’s Indonesia Viral 50 chart, the six members of Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu commented on their feelings of joy and surprise, which you can read below:
Kanami Tsujino comment
“I’m so happy and excited to think that so many people in Indonesia are listening to ‘Suki!’ My heart is filled with happiness to know that this song has crossed the oceans to connect with people in other countries! We’ll continue to do our best to reach as many people as possible! And someday! I hope we can meet our fans in Indonesia on a tour of Asia!”
Ann Julia comment
“Crossing language barriers and borders, the idea that so many people ‘suki’ (love) our song ‘Suki!’ is a wonderful feeling! And I’m also truly grateful that so many people are following us on social media and checking us out!”
Hitoka Sakai comment
“I’m thrilled and surprised, because I never imagined we’d hit No.1 on a chart in a country outside of Japan! I guess that means people have been listening to ‘Suki!’ a lot, so we’ll do our best to reach even more people and make them ‘suki’ us too!”
Haruka Koizumi comment
“Fans in Indonesia, thanks so much for listening to our song ‘Suki!’! We made it out of Japan! And now we’ll work hard to become even more worldly!”
Aki Suda comment
“Thank you so much for your support of Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu! We’ll do our best to deliver even more ‘tokimeki♡’ (joy) to Indonesia, and to make the world overflow with tokimeki! Please keep supporting us!”
Hiyori Yoshikawa comment
“Let’s make the word ‘Suki!’ a universal language! I hope that more and more people around Japan and the rest of the world can get to know Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu, and that we can perform live for our fans everywhere!! It was amazing to see TikTok users dancing to ‘Suki! ~Cho ver~’ in Korea, and now I hope we can go on a tour of Asia!! I want to visit Korea and Indonesia!!”
Watch the official MV for “Suki! ~Cho ver~” at www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OSrxVXI8wo
Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu profile
Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu are a six-girl idol group produced by Stardust Promotion, the talent agency behind Momoiro Clover Z and Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku. They formed on April 11, 2015, as Tokimeki♡Sendenbu, and were renamed Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu on April 1, 2020. Their philosophy is “Singing again today across the fields, across the mountains, to promote something joyful”, and their catchphrase is “Locking on to your heart ♡”.
◆ Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu official website: http://toki-sen.com
◆ Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu Twitter account: https://twitter.com/sendenbu_staff
◆ Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/tokisen_sd/
◆ Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu TikTok account: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSc4x7FB/
◆ Cho Tokimeki♡Sendenbu YouTube channel (TokiSen Lock’on Channel): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPO-HYS3fdDIKlMMgpcCzdg
Thanks to Avex for providing input to this article.
