J-pop girl group AKB48 shared the new music video accompanying its upcoming digital single “Hanareteitemo” (“Even When Apart”).
The song is about being separated from friends, lovers and colleagues during the COVID-19 pandemic and hoping the day will come when we’ll be able to meet again like we used to. It’s a reminder that our hearts are still connected “even when we’re apart.”
The music video is a mini-documentary that captures the post-COVID “new normal,” featuring the members wearing masks and maintaining social distance while going about their daily lives in the city. The video also focuses on the people who work in various businesses as they resume operation after the initial lockdown, intended as a statement of solidarity with those who are doing their best to protect themselves and others during these unprecedented times, with the hope that someday the footage will become a record of a period in history that people can look back on from a safer place. Watch below:
The video also has a big surprise for longtime fans of the group, in that eight central former members — Atsuko Maeda, Yuko Oshima, Tomomi Itano, Mariko Shinoda, Haruna Kojima, Minami Takahashi, Rino Sashihara and Sayaka Yamamoto — were invited to join the current 105 (minus Hitomi Honda of IZ*ONE) and Jurina Matsui (SKE48) in the making of the track and video.
“Hanareteitemo” will drop digitally on July 1, with all proceeds up to Dec. 31 of this year being donated to assist medical and other essential workers on the front lines of the pandemic.
