May

May
Single by B'z
from the album ELEVEN
Released	May 24, 2000
Promotions	#2 (Suntory "Super Chu" CM)
Length	08:32
Label	Rooms Records
Producer	Tak Matsumoto
B'z singles chronology
"Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni (2000) "May" (2000) "juice" (2000)

May is the twenty-eighth single by B'z, released on May 24, 2000. The band's second single of 2000 following "Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni", it likewise debuted at the top of the charts and gave the band their twenty-third consecutive number-one single. The release reached Double Platinum status, with over 457,000 copies sold in the first week alone. After spending thirteen weeks on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart, the song finished 29th in sales for the year of 2000.

The title song went on to be collected on the band's 2000 studio album ELEVEN later that year but was not performed on the subsequent album tour, B'z LIVE-GYM 2001 "ELEVEN". It was, however, performed during the earlier summer tour B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2000 "juice". Since that tour, the song has not been played live. Similarly, its B-side has never been played live. In 2005, the single would be collected for the first time on B'z The Best "Pleasure II" and would be collected for the second time in 2013 with the release of B'z The Best XXV 1999-2012.

For the first time since the release of the band's seventh single, "ZERO", the title song of this release featured no tie-in promotion. Additionally, the single was not performed on television despite it being a common practice for the band in that era. A music video was filmed and broadcast on various music channels at the time, featuring the band and cloaked extras in a ruins setting.

Track listing

1. May

2. You pray, I stay

   A demo of the song was carried out with recording engineer Mike Clink in Los Angeles. However, the recording and production took longer than the recording of the title song. Two months prior to the single's release during the band's March 31, 2000 appearance on Music Station, the band were listening to the song in the dressing room with their supporting band. Upon hearing that iteration of the song, Tak was uncontent, and said, "Let's work on it one more time." It later became the theme to a Suntory commercial, for their drink "Super Chu". The song is one of a number of B'z B-sides that have never been played live.

Personnel

B'z

• Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement
• Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition, Arrangement

Drums

Bass

Production