| "Cube" | ||||
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| Single by Gen Hoshino | ||||
| Language | Japanese | |||
| Released | October 18, 2021 | |||
| Length | 3:25 | |||
| Label | Speedstar | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Gen Hoshino | |||
| Gen Hoshino singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Cube" on YouTube | ||||
"Cube" (Japanese pronunciation: [kʲɯꜜːbɯ]) is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino, released as a digital-exclusive single by Speedstar Records on October 18, 2021. It was written and produced by Hoshino, who co-arranged and programmed it with Mabanua. Written for the 2021 film of the same name – a remake of the 1997 Canadian thriller – "Cube" was inspired by a sense of anger Hoshino felt in the original. Its instrumentation primarily consists of bass, organ, guitar, and programmed drums, drawing influence from alternative rock, punk, soul, and gospel. Lyrically, it compares the world to an inescapable cube and includes references to the film, with later lines introducing a more hopeful message.
"Cube" was first previewed in a trailer over film clips upon its announcement. Hoshino promoted the song alongside the remake's lead actor Masaki Suda, appearing on each other's segments of the radio program All Night Nippon and co-starring in an interview released to film distributor Shochiku's YouTube channel. The song was received positively by music critics, who praised the composition as unpredictable and compared its beat to "Create". Upon release, "Cube" reached numbers four and 25 on Billboard Japan's Hot 100 and the Oricon Combined Singles Charts, respectively. It reached second place on both Oricon and Billboard's digital download charts, and held two consecutive weeks atop Plantech's airplay ranking. The black-and-white music video is the directorial debut of choreographer Mikiko, and features a cameo from Suda.