the fruit of the girls’ low-key efforts

結成10周年を迎えたAKB48の歴史を振り返ります。紅白歌合戦では、元メンバーによるサプライズ演出があったようですね。

Popular girl idol group AKB48 celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, with two big celebrations taking place earlier this month participated by former members.

During the last decade, the girls have rewritten numerous pop industry records in Japan. Let’s look back on their history.

AKB48’s latest single, “Kuchibiru Ni Be My Baby,” sold 813,000 copies on Dec. 9, the day it was released, according to Oricon Inc. This brought the group’s total CD sales of singles to a record 36,158,000 copies, surpassing the previous record of 35,809,000 set by rock duo B’z.

AKB48 has broken record after record, but the group’s path was not as smooth in the beginning. There were only seven people in the audience on Dec. 8, 2005, when AKB48 gave its first show at its exclusive AKB48 Theater in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. After releasing two independent label CDs, the group made its major-label debut with the single “Aitakatta” (Wanted to see you).

In 2007, AKB48 made its first appearance on NHK’s “Red & White Year-end Song Festival” on New Year’s Eve, although it was a joint performance of a medley with Shoko Nakagawa and Leah Dizon, who also became popular among people who flock to Akihabara.

The door to a breakthrough opened in 2008. “Oogoe Diamond” (Shout diamond), the group’s first single since transferring to King Records, reached No. 3 in the Oricon weekly music rankings. It was the first time one of the group’s singles had broken into the top three. The triumph was the fruit of the girls’ low-key efforts in promotion campaigns at shopping malls around the country.

In 2009, the single “Namida Surprise!” (Tears surprise!) became the official song for the 135th anniversary of The Yomiuri Shimbun. The song was used in commercials for the newspaper, which ran a series of articles in collaboration with AKB48. The group’s first “general election,” a popularity contest in which fans vote for their favorite members, also became a talking point.

In October 2009, “RIVER” became the group’s first No. 1 single on the Oricon chart. AKB48 also won its own berth on the “Red & White Year-end Song Festival” — confirmation of its rise to stardom in name and reality.

（後略）

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002644195

“the fruit of the girls’ low-key efforts”をとりあげます。

最初のfruitですが「果物」でなく、最後に実を実らせる植物の成長過程を語源とした“the good results that you have from something, after you have worked very hard - LDOCE”という意味になります。最近ですとninetails君がとりあげていました。low-keyはご存知のように「控えめな、地味な（“not intended to attract a lot of attention to an event, subject, or thing - LDOCE”）」という意味で、あまり人に知られたくない事柄等に用いられます（『Wisdom英和辞典第3版』三省堂）。しかし、ここで「控えめな（地味な）努力」としてしまうと違和感が生じてしまいます。そこで、「英辞郎 on the WEB」をみてみると「low-key efforts : 地道な努力」とありました。つまり、この表現は「地道な努力の賜物（結晶、成果）」と解釈できます。（Chris）

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