supercell

Supercell (stylized as supercell) is the eponymous debut studio album of Japanese J-pop band Supercell, released on March 4, 2009 by Sony Music. Supercell had originally released a dōjin (independent) version at Comiket 74 on August 16, 2008, before the band signed a record deal with Sony Music. The album contains twelve music tracks written by Ryo and the singing synthesizer Hatsune Miku was used to provide the vocals. The major release of the album featured two songs not on the independent (indie) version, "Melt" and "Hajimete no Koi ga Owaru Toki", but which had already previously been released online and on the Nico Nico Douga video sharing website. All of the music on the indie release was remixed and remastered for the major release to greatly improve the sound quality. The album was released in limited and regular editions, each containing a bonus DVD containing music videos for four of the songs, but only the limited edition came bundled with a special illustration booklet titled Supercell Works; the indie release also came with the booklet. Supercell peaked at No. 4 on the Japanese Oricon weekly albums chart, and in June 2009 was awarded a Gold Disc by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for having exceeded 100,000 copies shipped in a single year. Production Original recordings of songs on Supercell date back to the release of the song "Melt" online on the Nico Nico Douga video sharing website on December 7, 2007. Composer and lyricist Ryo used the Vocaloid singing synthesizer software Hatsune Miku for the vocals and continued to use the program for the remaining songs on the album. The video of "Melt" posted online used an illustration of Miku without the permission of the drawing's illustrator 119 (pronounced Hikeshi). After Ryo contacted 119 with an apology, 119 responded with great interest in "Melt" and began to work together with Ryo, thus forming Supercell. Supercell continued to gain members—including the illustrators Shirow Miwa, Redjuice, and Huke—and released three more songs online in 2008: "Koi wa Sensō" on February 22, "The World Is Mine" on May 31, and "Black Rock Shooter" on June 13. Ryo continued to be the sole member involved in musical composition and the writing of lyrics, while the other members provided illustrations, animation, design, and photography in album booklets, cases, and music videos.