Create (song)

It features several references to Nintendo, such as the start-up jingle to their GameCube console, sound effects from Super Mario, and homages to the company's history.

From his time with the instrumental band Sakerock (2005–15), Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino composed all of his songs using the guitar and, by his own admission, only knew how to play piano with his pointer finger.

The commercial, directed by Santa Yamagishi [ja], featured Hoshino performing his new song, "Create", on guitar, marimba, and drums in a recording studio.

[11] As part of both "Create" and the double A-side's promotion, Victor held give-away raffles for stickers based on their respective cover art.

After finishing "Halfway", he worked on a remix of "Good in Bed" for Dua Lipa's Club Future Nostalgia (2020), and then began to rearrange "Create" using keyboards.

Due to the lack of live performances in his schedule as a result of the pandemic, Hoshino felt able to focus his energy on writing and meticulously crafting the song.

'Originality')—a motto used and plastered in offices by Nintendo founder Fusajiro Yamauchi—but opted for the broader "Create" (創造, Sōzō) to avoid classification as a shaka  [ja] (song used by a company to boost worker morale).

Among the sounds practiced was the start-up jingle to the GameCube console and the World 1-1 theme from Super Mario Land (1989), which Hoshino told Cinra in an interview were the most fun to rearrange.

Noriyasu Kawamura plays the surigane  [ja]—a Japanese bell instrument—and Hoshino additionally provided handclapping and stomping sounds, the former alongside Mabanua.

[22][23] Rockin'On Japan's Tomohiro Ogawa described the track as high-tempo soul, like a broken metronome, mixed with 8-bit music, that sounds like three minutes of Mario "flashing and B-dashing with a Super Star".

[18] Composition-wise, Rockin'On Japan's Emi Sugiura viewed "Create" as a return to fundamental J-pop music and wrote that its lyrics on creativity proved Hoshino as a pop scene frontrunner.

[21] Ryūtarō Amano, for the web magazine Mikiki, found the song's message on creativity uplifting and the references to his hemorrhage as representative of Hoshino as an artist.

The single opened at number one on the Top Download Songs chart, where it dethroned the four-week reigning "Usseewa" (2020) by singer Ado.

[32] A first-time collaborator with Hoshino, Yoshiyuki Okuyama [ja] directed the music video to "Create" using various camera methods, including an iPhone and 8mm film.

[11][36] On December 16, 2024, Hoshino performed a Christmas rendition of the song alongside a "Snow" version of his 2023 single "Why" for an episode of the music program CDTV Live!

The headquarters of Nintendo since 2010, pictured in 2014. The company's gray logo is seen on the building in the top right.
"Create" was inspired by the creative philosophy of Nintendo (headquarters pictured, 2014) .
The standard purple GameCube console with one controller attached.
One critic highlighted the song's vibraphone arrangement of the GameCube start-up jingle (console pictured) .