MNL48 revealed their second single “Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie” and introduced the new Senbatsu members during the Aitakatta – Gustong Makita Handshake event at Movie Stars Cafe on November 25, 2018.
Brei, Belle, Coleen, Rans, Lei, Mari, Jan and Kay were formally introduced as the new Senbatsu members for the group’s second single, together with Faith, Alyssa, Jem, Gabb, Sela, Abby and Sheki who remains to be the Center Girl. These girls underwent a meticulous audition process to become part of the Senbatsu following the AKB48 system wherein each new single, a new batch of 16 members will perform the song in the new album.
After the launch of their latest single, which started its pre-selling at MNL48 official website on the same day and the debut of the new Senbatsu members, an exclusive viewing of “Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie” music video was held followed by a live performance of their newest single.
“Sobrang excited po ako sa ‘Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie’ dahil feeling ko po papatok po sa mga Pilipino, nakaka-LSS po talaga siya. Siguro makakasabay po sila sa aming sayaw lalo na ‘yung sa chorus part,” Kay shared.
Brei also expressed her excitement to watch their fans dance along with their second single. “Sobrang saya ko po at the same time na-challenge rin kasi kailangan po naming mabigyan ng justice itong ‘Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie’ kaya we need to entertain people lalo na sa mga taong kasama dito at kailangan din namin sila mapa-indak in our song.”
The song is so catchy and ifectious that I stopped covering and danced with the fans. Clearly, the magic of Sashihara Rino’s first centered song has been retained.
Their second album consists of six tracks namely, “Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie” by MNL48 Senbatsu, “Palusot ko’y Maybe” by MNL48 NIV, “First Rabbit” by MNL48 Senbatsu, and its instrumental versions where its original versions were first popularized by AKB48.
One of the long-time AKB48 fans and also a solid supporter of MNL48, Thea Torres shared her excitement about the group’s second single. “The costume is so beautiful, and I love that the they are so close to the original AKB48 costume, and seeing people like police officers, students, firemen all dancing to the song. I love that they incorporated this detail and showed that this is the official sister group.”
Thea also exclaimed that she wanted to become part of the music video since she was there when it was filmed. “I should have been in that video too, I could’ve learned the dance, I wish I could dance too and support MNL48 by being in the video. It was nice seeing Filipinos being part of the music video, now you see other ages, genders, aside from students taking part in the music video so they’ll learn more about it and MNL48 will grow and grow.”
“It makes me happy that whoever decided that Senbatsu line up [for Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie], they see what I see. I like these members and they like these members too, I’m really happy that the members I like are being appreciated and being promoted by the management,” she added.
“Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie” is MNL48’s 4th Tagalized song from Japan’s highest selling all-girl idol group, AKB48. The song, originally entitled “Koisuru Fortune Cookie”, sold more than 1 million copies on its first day of release on August 2013 in Japan and reached the No. 1 spot on the Oricon weekly charts, Japan’s music industry standard singles popularity chart. Following the success of its single, its music video gained positive feedback with more than 157 million views on its official Youtube channel since it was released on October 2013.
Other international sister groups like BNK48 (Bangkok, Thailand) and JKT48 (Jakarta, Indonesia) also created their own version of the song. BNK48’s Thai-language rendition entitled “Khukki Siangthai” has sold more than 30,000 copies and was streamed 2 million times on Spotify upon its release on December 2017. The mega-hit single went viral online where its music video also garnered more than 157 million views on its official Youtube channel, and ranking No. 1 on Thailand iTunes Chart and Spotify Top 200 Thailand, topping the Thailand music charts with its catchy melody since its release up until early 2018.
Meanwhile, JKT48 released their version “Fortune Cookie Yang Mencinta” in 2013 which gained the same buzz and success in Indonesia, making the Fortune Cookie melody a phenomenon taking the Asian countries by storm and soon will hit the airwaves in the Philippines with its Tagalog version by our very own MNL48. With the success of their sister groups’ version of Fortune Cookie, the MNL48 idols are hoping for their newest single to be a big hit to their fans and to Filipinos as well.
“Sakto po talaga ito sa lahat ng age, hindi lang po sa mga millennial, lahat po ng tao makaka-relate sa kanta namin kaya we look forward po na mag-hit siya and ma-introduce namin sa Pilipinas ‘yung kanta and MNL48. Gusto rin po namin ipakita na makakapag-bigay po kami ng magagandang music po na patok sa lahat at sa masa,” Center Girl Sheki said.
On the same day of the launch of the Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie single, the official music video was also released on MNL48’s official YouTube channel. As of writing, the video has garnered 133 thousand views.
Meanwhile, fans can pre-order the Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie album with one free handshake ticket and poster at www.mnl48.ph for only Php250 on November 25 until November 30, 2018, and will be released on the first week of December 2018. Fans can who will pre-order the album online will get an additional one ticket for the next handshake event.
Other announcements regarding the single release of “Pag-ibig Fortune Cookie” will be posted on the MNL48 social media accounts, so follow the official accounts to get the latest news and updates.
