On January 28, 1998, the hit single "Morning Coffee" was released as the major debut single of the Japanese girl group, Morning Musume. The single blazed the charts and now, 20 years later, the Japanese girl group is commemorating their roots.

20th-anniversary remake

Morning Musume is now releasing a remake of their first major debut single "Morning Coffee" to celebrate their 20 years as an iconic pop idol group in Japan. The original five Morning Musume members have joined forces with current members of the group to record the groundbreaking tune with a new flair.

This release follows the same path that was taken by the pop idols last year to celebrate the 20Th Anniversary of the release of the single "Ai no Tane", the indies single released sang by the five original members of Morning Musume as their primary musical debut on an indies label. "Morning Coffee (20th Anniversary Ver.)" will be available for download on iTunes and several Japanese music purveyors, such as rechoku. The single is set for release today, January 28th, the 20th anniversary of the original release of "Morning Coffee".

A preview of the song has been released in the form of a short promotional video, which you can check out below. The single tracklist will include both the remake and a karaoke version of the new song arrangement without vocals.

Both the current Morning Musume '18 lineup and the five original members feature in the "Morning Coffee" new release.

Natsumi Abe, Asuka Fukuda, Kaori Iida, Yuko Nakazawa and Aya Ishiguro have been summoned to lend their vocals to the production, and are the voices that sang the original recording of "Morning Coffee". These five women are part of what is called the Morning Musume OG, which refers to the members of Morning Musume in past years that have graduated from the group.

The new arrangement for the song has a rockish vibe, capturing the energetic and youthful aspect of Morning Musume in the modern day.

A surprise for fans

The original five members surprised an audience earlier today by making an appearance and performing "Morning Coffee" at a Hello!Project concert, according to a recent entry that original Morning Musume Member Kaori Iida made on her blog.

Iida reflected further on her surprise appearance at the Hello!Project concert, stating in a blog entry that she made today after her performance: "When the concert started, everyone was wearing their expression, stemming from their reactions to us; with a pounding heart, I can say that this performance was the most nervous one that I've done during my 20 years of concerts that I have sang at."