“Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” is a track recorded by TWICE, a girl group from JYP Entertainment. It was the second track from #TWICE2, TWICE’s second Japanese compilation album. The album was released by JYP Entertainment in collaboration with Warner Music Japan on March 6th, 2019. The Japanese version of “Heart Shaker” is almost similar to the original Korean version. The instrumentals stayed the same, and they only changed the lyrics to Japanese. “Heart Shaker” is an upbeat jam that will make you dance and make your head spin around. The song also has a positive message for girls to be confident when they fall in love and meet their crush for the first time.
Background of “Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)”
The original version of “Heart Shaker” gained huge success in South Korea and reached peak positions on various music charts as well as surpassed 2.5 million downloads on GAON. Hence, JYP Entertainment decided to include “Heart Shaker” as part of the Japanese compilation album along with other popular tracks like “What Is Love?” and “Likey Japanese ver.” As reported in an article by Korea JoongAng Daily, JYP Entertainment officially announced that they were about to release the second Japanese compilation album titled #TWICE2 on March 6. The new album was produced in response to the previous successful debut of TWICE’s first Japanese compilation album #TWICE. In the same announcement, it was also revealed that TWICE would embark on their Japanese dome tour in late March 2019. Later, on February 13, JYP Entertainment released the album sneak peek. The video featured the official album tracklist and track preview for all songs on the album, which includes the Japanese version of “Heart Shaker.” The song’s preview lasted for 10 seconds.
A week later, on February 20, JYP Entertainment published the album’s information video. This included the official album tracklist, the details, perks for the physical album, and the price of the album.
“Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” and the rest of the songs on #TWICE2 were officially launched on March 6, 2019, on various digital music platforms as well as physical albums throughout Japan.
Story of “Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)”
Similar to the original Korean version, the song was musically composed by David Amber and Sean Alexander. The music was arranged by David Amber and Avenue 52. “Heart Shaker” is a vibrant bubble pop song with an upbeat melody. The combination of synths, xylophone, and guitar riffs make this song more energetic. It is indeed an upbeat jam that makes you dance in an instant. Just like the original version, there were no changes in line distribution. Nayeon and Jihyo were the vocal leads in “Heart Shaker.” Nayeon sang 20% of the lines while Jihyo sang 17% of the lines. On the contrary, Sana has the least lines in the song, comprising only 5% of the song. The Japanese lyrics were written by Galactika, Risa Horie, Na-Zu-Na, and Yuki Kokubo. As usual, the lyrics pursued the theme of innocent love. The lyrics try to portray a girl’s perspective on falling in love for the first time. The lyrics attempted to describe the feeling of awkwardness and lack of confidence that girls might feel when they fell in love for the first time. The word “heart shaker” in this case means falling in love will make a girl’s heart beat a lot faster. The Japanese lyrics tended to have a more straightforward message than the original Korean version. The Korean version of the song illustrated the doubts of the girl about whether she deserves the love as she feels awkward and acts weird when her crush is around. On the other hand, the Japanese lyrics convey a similar message but with a slight twist. As the Japanese language tends to be short and less expressive, the song’s meaning focuses a lot more on encouraging girls to express their love despite being awkward and confused when falling in love for the first time.
“Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” MV
JYP Entertainment did not upload an official music video for the Japanese version of “Heart Shaker” as it was not the official title track of the album. Nevertheless, JYP Entertainment uploaded the official audio for “Heart Shaker” on YouTube on April 30, 2016. Currently, the “Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” official audio video has been viewed over 800,000 times.
The MV of “Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” is included as a part of the physical album and DVD. Someone uploaded the Japanese version of the music video on YouTube.
The concept is 100% similar to the original Korean version. All TWICE members wore white t-shirts and danced on a set that resembles a retro grocery store and an old-school diner. The only difference that can be noticed is the members singing all the lyrics in Japanese. Instead of having the Japanese version of the music video, JYP Entertainment included the “Heart Shaker” MV behind the scenes as a part of the physical album package. The video is narrated by Momo, Sana, and Mina in Japanese.
“Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” Performance
The song was performed in Japan for their dome tour in 2019, “#DreamDay.” They performed “Heart Shaker” live. This was the 20th song TWICE sang at the concert. The concept of this performance was rather unique. Instead of all the members performing on one large main stage, they all performed on small individual stages located around the audience. All of the members looked so impressive in their white suits. At the end of the performance, all of the members gathered on the main stage and did the signature choreography for “Heart Shaker.”
The Japanese version of “Heart Shaker” was also performed on Nizi Project, JYP Entertainment’s Japanese reality show that was formed to find members for the new Japanese girl group, NiziU. The contestants Riku, Yuna, and Momoka sang this song as part of a teamwork challenge.
“Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” Achievements
The track has achieved huge success in Japan. “Heart Shaker” has secured top positions on Japanese digital music platform weekly charts such as Billboard and Oricon.
“Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” Weekly Charts
“Heart Shaker (Japanese Version)” Year-End Charts
