Delicious Way | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 28, 2000 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 45:51 | |||
Label | Giza Studio | |||
Producer | Kanonji | |||
Mai Kuraki chronology | ||||
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Singles from Delicious Way | ||||
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Delicious Way (stylized in all lowercase) is the debut album by Japanese recording artist Mai Kuraki. It was released by Giza Studio and Giza Inc. in Japan on June 28, 2000. The album was entirely co-written by Kuraki herself, with the help of Michael Africk and Yoko Blaqstone in some tracks, while production was handled by Kanonji. The album's background and development started in mid-to-late 1999 after her American debut single "Baby I Like", where East West Records and Giza Studio sent her back to Japan. To promote the album, four singles were released; "Love, Day After Tomorrow" (which sold over 1.3 million units in Japan), "Stay by My Side", "Secret of My Heart", and "Never Gonna Give You Up".
Musically, Delicious Way is a R&B album with influences of 1980s-inspired pop, hip-hop, and soul music. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from music critics. They commended the composition and her songwriting skills, and a few critics selected the singles as some of the best material in the record. Commercially, the album was a huge success in Japan, peaking at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart. It was the second highest selling album based on first week sales for a solo artist at the time, and sold over 3.5 million units in Japan, making it the ninth best selling album in that region. The success of the album garnered Kuraki the Japan Gold Disc Award for "Rock Album of the Year".
While in high school in Japan, Kuraki sent a demo tape of songs to Giza Studio, who then signed her to their label. [2] However, Giza Studio sent Kuraki to the United States to enter that region, which later attributed to her debut single "Baby I Like". [3] The track impressed executives at East West Records, prompting the label to distribute it. [4] However, it failed to chart on any Billboard chart there. [5] There onward, Giza Studio enlisted Kanonji to produce her debut record whilst Kuraki served as the album's primary songwriter, with the help of Michael Africk on the tracks "Baby Tonight (You & Me)" and "Never Gonna Give You Up", and Yoko Blaqstone with the track "Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)". [6] The record label also hired American producer/songwriters Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) to arrange and mix the majority of the songs from Delicious Way, with the help of Stone. Delicious Way was not engineered in North America, unlike most of Cybersound's work. [7]
The composition of the album's music included Aika Ohno, Stone, Tomoo Kasahara, Miguel Sá Pessoa, Perry Geyer at Cybersound, Masataka Kitaura, and Africk. [6] Musically, Delicious Way is an R&B album with influences of pop music, as described by a staff member from CD Journal. [8] A majority of the album's lyrics include small English language sentences, whilst the tracks "Baby Tonight (You & Me)", "Never Gonna Give You Up", and "Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)" are English-prominent written tracks. [6]
Delicious Way was released by Giza Studio and Giza Inc. in Japan on June 28, 2000. The album contains 11 tracks in both physical and digital formats, and has a cover sleeve photographed by Miho Mori; it features a slightly-sepia tinted image of Mai Kuraki, in front of a blurry background. [6] [9] To promote the album, four singles were released. The first single was "Love, Day After Tomorrow", released on December 8, 1999. [10] It was a success in Japan, reaching number two and 63 on the Oricon Singles Chart and Japan Hot 100 chart. [11] [12] It was certified in two categories by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) and sold over 1.3 million physical units and 100,000 digital sales in that region. [13] [14] [15]
The second single was "Stay by My Side", released on March 15, 2000. [16] The single sold nearly one million units in Japan, and became her first single to reach the top spot on the Oricon Singles Chart in Japan. [17] It was certified double platinum by the RIAJ for shipments of 800,000 units. [18] "Secret of My Heart", the album's third single, was released on April 26, 2000. [19] It stalled at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, [20] but was certified Million by the RIAJ for physical shipments of one million units; [15] [21] it has sold 968,980 physical units, and 100,000 digital copies in that region. [14] The album's final single was "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was released on June 7, 2000. [22] Despite selling 434,250 units in Japan, the lowest sales count for a single on Delicious Way, [15] it managed to reach number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and had received a Platinum certification by the RIAJ. [23] [21]
Upon its release, Delicious Way received favorable reviews from most music critics. A staff member from CD Journal enjoyed the album, but pointed out "Stepping Out", "Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)", "Everything's All Right", "Happy Days", and "Kimi to no Jikan" as the album's best tracks. [8] Retrospectively, Alexey Eremenko, who contributed in writing the biography of Kuraki at AllMusic, highlighted the album songs "Delicious Way", "Love, Day After Tomorrow", "Never Gonna Give You Up", and "Secret of My Heart", as some of her greatest work. [24] At the 15th Japan Gold Disc Awards in 2001, Delicious Way won the award for "Best Rock Album of the Year". [25] Alongside this, her single "Secret of My Heart" received the "Song of the Year" award, amongst 13 other recipients. [26]
The album was a huge success in Japan. It debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart with 2,218,640 units sold, making it the highest first week sales for a debut album in Japanese music history and sixth overall. [27] It stayed at the top for two consecutive weeks and remained in the top 10 for nine consecutive weeks. [28] By the end of 2000, Delicious Way sold 3.45 million units in Japan, making it the highest selling album of the year. [29] As of July 2016, Delicious Way has sold over 3.5 million units in Japan, making it the 9th best selling album in Japan of all time. Alongside this achievement, it is the third best selling debut album, behind Globe's self-titled album and Hikaru Utada's First Love ), and is the fourth highest selling studio album by a female artist. [30] [upper-alpha 1] Eremenko stated that the album's sales were a milestone in Japan, but commented "Kuraki never topped these results (both singles and album), but neither did she fizzle out after the debut." [31]
In 2015, Kuraki paid tribute to the album by re-creating the artwork for her greatest hits compilation Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope; Arama Japan staff members commented she "recreat[ed] the iconic fresh faced and plain clothed cover with her calm facial expression." According to their staff, the recording is a classic and helped the singer define "her spot in the Japanese music industry." [32]
All lyrics are written by Mai Kuraki except track 5, 7 (co-written with Michael Africk) and track 6 (co-written with Yoko Blaqstone) [6]
No. | Title | Music | Arranger(s) | Length |
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1. | "Delicious Way" | Aika Ohno | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 3:50 |
2. | "Love, Day After Tomorrow" | Ohno | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 4:02 |
3. | "Secret of My Heart" | Ohno | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 4:24 |
4. | "Stepping ∞ Out" | Yoko Blaqstone | Yoko Blaqstone | 4:38 |
5. | "Baby Tonight (You & Me)" | Stone, Tomoo Kasahara | Stone | 3:59 |
6. | "Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)" | Stone | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 3:42 |
7. | "Never Gonna Give You Up" | Michael Africk, Miguel Sá Pessoa, Perry Geyer | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 3:59 |
8. | "Stay by My Side" | Ohno | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 4:26 |
9. | "Everything's All Right" | Masataka Kitaura | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 4:07 |
10. | "Happy Days" | Ohno | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 4:18 |
11. | "Kimi to no Jikan" (君との時間 "My Time With You") | Kasahara | Cybersound (Michael Africk, Perry Geyer, Miguel Pessoa) | 4:15 |
Total length: | 45:51 |
No. | Title | Music | Length |
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12. | "Love, Day After Tomorrow" (China Beat Mix) | Ohno | 4:21 |
Credits adapted from the CD liner notes of Delicious Way. [6]
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Japan (RIAJ) [35] | 3× Million | 3,530,420 [15] |
Region | Date | Format | Label |
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Japan | June 28, 2000 | CD [6] | Giza Studio |
2008 | Digital download [9] |
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Mai Kuraki is a Japanese pop and R&B singer, songwriter and record producer. After releasing her US debut single "Baby I Like" in 1999, Kuraki signed with Giza Studio and released her Japanese debut single "Love, Day After Tomorrow" in 1999. In 2000, she released her debut album, Delicious Way, which debuted at number-one and sold over 2.2 million copies in its first week. The album has spawned four top-three singles, "Love, Day After Tomorrow", "Stay by My Side", "Secret of My Heart", and "Never Gonna Give You Up". Eventually, the album sold over 3.5 million copies nationwide and became the best-selling album in Japan in 2000, and has been the ninth best-selling album in Japan of all-time.
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The discography of Japanese singer Mai Kuraki consists of fifteen studio albums, six compilation albums, twenty-three video albums, three remix albums, fifty-six singles, and sixteen promotional singles. Kuraki debuted in 1999, while she was still in high school, through Giza Studio. The label initially marketed Kuraki in the United States under the name Mai K, and released the single "Baby I Like" (1999). However, the single was a commercial failure which prompted the label to send her back to Japan. There, they released her single "Love, Day After Tomorrow", which peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). The second single, "Stay by My Side" became her first number one single on the chart. Kuraki's debut album, Delicious Way, topped the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified triple million by the RIAJ.
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"Love, Day After Tomorrow" is a song recorded by Japanese singer Mai Kuraki, taken as the lead single of her debut studio album Delicious Way (2000). It was released on December 8, 1999, via Giza Studio and Tent House in two physical editions: a CD single and 12-inch vinyl. The track was written by Kuraki herself, while production was handled by Kanonji. The conception of the song started after the commercial failure of her English language single "Baby I Like", which led her American label Bip! Records to send her back to Japan, and she subsequently reverted to the Japanese market.
"Stay by My Side" a song recorded by Japanese singer Mai Kuraki. It was released on March 15, 2000, as the second single from Kuraki's debut studio album, Delicious Way (2000). It was written by Kuraki, Aika Ohno, and the Boston-based music production team, Cybersound. It is a gospel-infused J-pop and R&B song that talks about the protagonist's dream to be with her partner as long as possible.
"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a song recorded by Japanese singer Mai Kuraki. It was released on June 7, 2000, in Japan as a CD single and as a 12" vinyl by Giza Studio, Giza Inc., and Tent House as the fourth and final single from her debut studio album, Delicious Way (2000). The track features lyrics in Japanese and English language, written by Kuraki and Michael Africk, respectively. He also served as the single's composer, backing singer and producer, alongside Kanonji, Miguel Sá Pessoa, and Perry Geyer. The CD release of the track included the B-side recording "Trying to Find My Way". Musically, "Never Gonna Give You Up" is an R&B and pop song whose lyrics delve on themes of love and relationships, a common trait on its parent album.
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Michael Africk is an American singer, songwriter, multi-platinum record producer and software entrepreneur. After signing with Disney's Hollywood Records and releasing a solo album in 1999, he toured with N'Sync and Britney Spears. He collaborated with Mai Kuraki on several singles, including the platinum Never Gonna Give You Up. Africk also collaborated with her on the album Delicious Way which debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart and had the highest first week sales for a debut album in Japanese music history and sixth overall. In 2011, Africk released his second studio album with Japanese record label Northern Music/Being Music. The album was co-produced by Africk and Louis Bell.
Secret of My Heart is the first English-language studio album by Japanese recording artist Mai Kuraki, under the name Mai-K. It was released on January 10, 2002 under Giza USA. Secret of My Heart consists of two songs from the lead single "Baby I Like" and English versions of 8 songs from her debut album Delicious Way, which sold over 3.5 million copies in Japan. However, her fourth Japanese single "Never Gonna Give You Up" is included as the original version.
Japanese singer-songwriter Mai Kuraki has released twenty-five video albums and three video singles, and been featured in sixty-six music videos, two television series, and eleven commercials. Kuraki debuted in 1999, while she was still in high school, through Giza Studio. The label initially marketed Kuraki in the United States under the name Mai K, and released the single "Baby I Like" (1999). However, the single was a commercial failure which prompted the label to send her back to Japan. There, they released her single "Love, Day After Tomorrow", which peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified million by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAJ). The second single, "Stay by My Side" became her first number one single on the chart. Kuraki's debut album, Delicious Way, topped the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified triple million by the RIAJ.