Harajuku Lovers Live | |
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Video by | |
Released | December 4, 2006 |
Recorded | November 2005; Honda Center (Anaheim, California) |
Genre | |
Length | 83:40(Concert) 25:12 (Bonus content) |
Label | Interscope |
Director | Sophie Muller |
Producer | An Oil Factory Production |
Harajuku Lovers Live is the first live long-form video by American recording artist Gwen Stefani. It was released on DVD on December 4, 2006, by Interscope Records. The DVD was directed by Sophie Muller and produced by Oil Factory Productions. It is a recording of one of Stefani's concerts during her Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005 in late 2005 to promote her first album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. , released in November 2004. The performance was recorded in November 2005, in Anaheim, California. The concert features performances of all twelve songs from Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and two new songs from her second studio album, The Sweet Escape , as well as interviews with the musicians and dancers and a documentary of tour preparation.
Harajuku Lovers Live was released in conjunction with the promotion for The Sweet Escape, which was also released on December 5, 2006. The DVD received mixed reviews, with reviewers praising Stefani's musical performances and stage presence, but criticizing the lack of material and the long costume changes. The DVD was certified gold in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association and platinum in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
During her hiatus from the band No Doubt, Gwen Stefani recorded and released her first solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. on November 23, 2004. [2] Between September 2004 and January 2006, Stefani released six of the album's twelve tracks as singles: "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", "Cool", "Luxurious" and "Crash". [3] The album was a commercial success, selling seven million copies worldwide; [4] it was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, [5] triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, [6] five times platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association [7] and four times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. [8] The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry certified Love. Angel. Music. Baby. platinum at the May 2005 Platinum Europe Awards. [9]
Between October and December 2005, Stefani toured North America in her Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005 to promote Love. Angel. Music. Baby., performing 37 shows in the United States and five in Canada. [10] Her opening acts included Ciara, M.I.A. and The Black Eyed Peas. [10] Her performances received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism about her lack of musical material, frequent costume changes and perceived inability to dance, but praise for her stage presence and elaborate costumes. [11] [12] Stefani finished the recording of her second album, The Sweet Escape , in late 2006, [13] having recorded some of the material in 2005, [14] suspended the project due to pregnancy, [15] and resumed recording in summer 2006. [13]
Harajuku Lovers Live was released on December 5, 2006, the same day as the release of Stefani's second album, The Sweet Escape . [2] Both Harajuku Lovers Live and The Sweet Escape were released a day early in the United Kingdom, on December 4, 2006. [16] The DVD carries a Parental Advisory sticker for profanity, [1] although a clean version of the DVD is also available. [17] The cover image of Stefani sitting in a throne imitates the cover image of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.; both images were photographed by Nick Knight. [1] [18] It was directed by Sophie Muller, [19] who has also produced music videos for Stefani's singles "Cool", "Luxurious" and "Crash" from Love. Angel. Music. Baby. [20] [21] and would later produce music videos for "Wind It Up", "4 in the Morning" and "Early Winter" from The Sweet Escape. [22] [23] [24] The DVD was produced by Oil Factory Productions. [25]
The DVD contains a recording of one of the concerts in Stefani's "Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005". The concert was performed in late November 2005 in the Honda Centre in Anaheim, California, [26] where Gwen Stefani was raised. [27] The concert's set list includes all twelve of the songs from Love. Angel. Music. Baby., plus two new tracks, "Wind It Up" and "Orange County Girl", from The Sweet Escape. [1] [28] "Wind It Up" and "Orange County Girl" were two of the four songs written and recorded in summer 2005 by Stefani during her sessions with Pharrell Williams and had been previewed at the finale of New York's Olympus Fashion Week for the 2006 collection of Stefani's line of clothing, L.A.M.B, in September 2005. [26] [29] "Wind It Up" was later released as the lead single from The Sweet Escape. [30]
The DVD includes extra features: a "Countdown to Tour" documentary of behind-the-scenes preparation footage with Stefani, a series of interviews with Stefani's five band members and eight dancers (including the four Harajuku Girls) called "Meet the Band and Dancers", a photo gallery of images from the concert and a video of an alternative performance of the song "The Real Thing", called "The Real Thing Camera Remix". [31] "Countdown to Tour" was described by one reviewer as "boring", [32] but by another as "fascinating for anyone interested in how massive stadium tours develop", praising how Stefani "shares how she works her strengths". [33]
The DVD was certified gold in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association, [34] indicating sales of at least 7,500 copies; [35] and platinum in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association, indicating sales of over 10,000 copies. [36]
Chart Attack reviewer Jodi Goulart gave Harajuku Lovers Live two out of five stars, criticising the DVD for being "no frills" and an "essentially word-for-word, dance-move-for-dance-move" copy of a performance fans saw a year earlier. Goulart comments that "concert experience doesn't translate well", notes the long gaps for costume changes and calls the extra features "boring". [32] Shawn Revelle, in the Mid-Atlantic Edition of EXP magazine, gave Harajuku Lovers Live four stars, describing the DVD as "spectacular" and Stefani's performance as "energetic". He complimented the performances of "Rich Girl", "Long Way to Go" and "Hollaback Girl", calling them "steller" and the "highlights" of the DVD. [37]
Manchester Evening News reviewer Glenn Meads gave the DVD three out of five stars and compared Stefani to Madonna. Meads described the show as "stunning" and "polished to perfection", praising Stefani for "[involving] the audience on every level" and "[bringing] an assertiveness back to pop music". He compliments the performances of the songs "What You Waiting For?", "Crash", "Hollaback Girl" and "The Real Thing", calling the former the "strongest" of all the songs and its performance "infectious". However, he criticised Stefani's wide variety of musical styles and the long gaps between songs needed for costume changes. [16] DJ Pusspuss Benji of the San Francisco Bay Times reviewed the DVD, calling it a "wet-dream to any Gwen fan" and describing Stefani as "a fashion icon, a blond threat and visionary artist" and her music as "delicious dance" and full of "pop insta-classics". [33]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Harajuku Girls" | Stefani, Bobby Avila, I J Avila, James Harris, Terry Lewis, J Wright | 5:20 |
2. | "What You Waiting For?" | Stefani, Linda Perry | 4:44 |
3. | "The Real Thing" | Stefani, Perry, GMR | 6:25 |
4. | "Crash" | Stefani, Tony Kanal | 9:19 |
5. | "Luxurious" | Stefani, O'Kelly Isley, Rudolph Isley, Vernon Isley, Marvin Isley, Chris Jasper, Kanal | 7:16 |
6. | "Rich Girl" | Stefani, Eve, Dr. Dre, Kara DioGuardi, Chantal Kreviazuk, Mark Batson, Jerry Bock, Mike Elizondo, Sheldon Harnick | 4:17 |
7. | "Danger Zone" | Stefani, D Austin, Perry | 4:04 |
8. | "Long Way to Go" | Stefani, A Benjamin | 5:12 |
9. | "Wind It Up" | Stefani, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Pharrell Williams | 3:35 |
10. | "Orange County Girl" | Stefani, Williams | 5:06 |
11. | "Cool" | Stefani, Austin | 3:25 |
12. | "Serious" | Stefani, Kanal | 8:25 |
13. | "Bubble Pop Electric" | Stefani, Benjamin, Seven | 4:50 |
14. | "Hollaback Girl" | Stefani, P Williams, C Hugo | 5:51 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [39] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
Canada (Music Canada) [40] | Platinum | 10,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton is an American singer-songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. is the debut solo studio album by American singer Gwen Stefani, released on November 12, 2004, by Interscope Records. Stefani, who had previously released five studio albums as lead singer of the rock band No Doubt, began recording solo material in early 2003. She began working on Love. Angel. Music. Baby. as a side project that would become a full album after No Doubt went on hiatus. Stefani co-wrote every song on the album, collaborating with various songwriters and producers including André 3000, Dallas Austin, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the Neptunes and Linda Perry. The album also features guest appearances by Eve and André 3000.
"What You Waiting For?" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). Written by Stefani and Linda Perry, the song is the album's opening track and was released as Stefani's debut solo single. Lyrically, "What You Waiting For?" details Stefani's lack of inspiration and fear of producing the album, as well as her reaction to pressures exerted by her record label. It is primarily an electropop song and introduces Stefani's four backup dancers, the Harajuku Girls, who had a major input into the album's production.
"Rich Girl" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). Produced by Dr. Dre, the track features American rapper Eve, and is a remake of Louchie Lou & Michie One's 1993 song of the same name, which in turn interpolates the Fiddler on the Roof song "If I Were a Rich Man". The song discusses Stefani's dreams of fame and riches from the perspective of "when she was just an Orange County girl".
"Hollaback Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). It is a hip-hop song that draws influence from 1980s hip-hop and dance music. The song was written by Stefani, Pharrell Williams, and Chad Hugo, with the latter two handling production as the Neptunes. The song was released as the album's third single on March 22, 2005, and was one of the year's most popular songs, peaking inside the top 10 of the majority of the charts it entered. It reached number one in Australia and the United States, where it became the first digital download to sell one million copies.
The Harajuku Girls are four Japanese and Japanese-American backup dancers featured in stage shows and music videos for Gwen Stefani during her solo pop/dance-record career. The women also act as an entourage at Stefani's public appearances.
"Luxurious" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). Written by Stefani and fellow No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal, the track contains a sample of the Isley Brothers' 1983 song "Between the Sheets".
The Harajuku Lovers Tour was the first solo concert tour of American recording artist Gwen Stefani. The tour began through October to December 2005, to support of her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). Although Stefani embarked on multiple tours with her band No Doubt, she initially opted not to participate in a tour to promote her album, an attitude that the singer eventually abandoned due to the commercial success of Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
Rock Steady Live is a video album by American ska punk band No Doubt, released on DVD on November 25, 2003 under the Interscope records label. The DVD was directed by Sophie Muller. It is a recording of two of No Doubt's concerts during their Rock Steady Tour in 2002 to promote their fifth studio album, Rock Steady, which was released in December 2001. The material was recorded in November 2002 in Long Beach Arena, California. The concert features performances of seventeen songs from the band's previous three albums: Tragic Kingdom, Return of Saturn and Rock Steady; extras include performances of four extra songs, interviews with the band members, and backstage footage of the tour.
The Sweet Escape is the second solo studio album by American singer Gwen Stefani, released on December 1, 2006, by Interscope Records. Having originally intended to return to No Doubt after her debut solo album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004), Stefani decided to record a second album as a way to release some of the material left over from the Love. Angel. Music. Baby. writing sessions. The album musically resembles its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds. It was released to generally mixed reviews from contemporary music critics, receiving criticism for its strong similarities to Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
"Wind It Up" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani, released as the lead single from her second solo studio album, The Sweet Escape (2006). Originally written for inclusion on Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour, the song was later recorded for the album.
American singer Gwen Stefani has released four studio albums, two extended plays, 34 singles, six promotional singles, one video album, and 28 music videos. She has sold more than nine million albums as a solo artist. Stefani is also the lead singer of the rock band No Doubt, with which she has released several albums.
"The Sweet Escape" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani from her 2006 second solo studio album of the same name. It was written by Stefani, Aliaune "Akon" Thiam and Giorgio Tuinfort, and produced by the latter two. Akon, who is also a featured artist, developed the song's beat before collaborating with Stefani. He designed it based on her previous work with No Doubt, and Stefani later commented that it put her "on the yellow brick road to the No Doubt record I might do". "The Sweet Escape" is an apology for a fight between two lovers and describes a dream of a pleasant life for them. As the album's title track, its title was chosen to help market Stefani's music and fashion lines.
"Now That You Got It" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her second solo studio album, The Sweet Escape (2006). Stefani co-wrote the song with its producers Sean Garrett and Swizz Beatz. "Now That You Got It" is a reggae song featuring hip hop beats, staccato piano sample and military snare drums. Lyrically, the song places Gwen asking her lover to give all that she wants. A remix featuring Damian Marley was produced for the song's release as the album's fourth single on August 26, 2007, by Interscope Records.
"Yummy" is a song written and performed by American singer Gwen Stefani featuring Pharrell Williams from Stefani's second solo studio album, The Sweet Escape (2006). The track was released on November 11, 2006, as a promotional single for the parent album's release through Interscope Records. It was developed during several sessions in Miami, Florida, and Hollywood, California, in July 2005, for an intended EP or as extra tracks on Stefani's video album Harajuku Lovers Live (2005). The song was produced by the Neptunes. Musically, the collaboration is a dance-pop recording with a "day-glo" rap. Its lyrics deal with food, sexual intercourse, and the roles that an individual may have within a household.
"Serious" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani for her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). It was released on November 12, 2004, along with the rest of the aforementioned album by Interscope Records. The track was written by Stefani and her No Doubt bandmate, Tony Kanal. The latter also produced the song with Mark "Spike" Stent, who Stefani and Kanal previously worked with on No Doubt's fifth studio album, Rock Steady (2001). "Serious" is a synth-pop song with lyrics pertaining to a strong romantic interest in a significant other.
Kuu Kuu Harajuku is a Japanese-influenced animated children's television series created by singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani. It is based on her Harajuku Lovers merchandise brand, and the show doubles as a brand itself, with a line of tie-in products by Mattel. The show follows a teenage girl group called HJ5 and their manager Rudie who live in a fantasy version of Tokyo called Harajuku City. HJ5 is a quintet: the four Harajuku Girls with their leader G. Episodes follow the band members and Rudie overcoming obstacles preventing them from performing.
"Long Way to Go" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani and American rapper André 3000. The song appears as the closing track on Stefani's debut studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). It was released on November 23, 2004, along with the rest of Love. Angel. Music. Baby. by Interscope Records. The track was written by both Stefani and 3000, while 3000 was the sole producer of the track. Despite being scrapped from André 3000's OutKast studio album, The Love Below (2003), Stefani and 3000 finalized a reworked version of the song to be included on the former's album. The song prominently features a sample from Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech in its closing outro. King is credited for contributed lyrics to the song. Musically, "Long Way to Go" is influenced by electronic music and alternative hip hop, with partial influence from both dance music and soul music.
MasterCard Priceless Surprises Presents Gwen Stefani is a promotional concert tour by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani as part of their Priceless campaign. This became Stefani's first tour since 2007's The Sweet Escape Tour; however, tickets available for the tour were only accessible to MasterCard holders. Stefani's recent partnership with MasterCard allowed her to create a concert experience for her fans in a more intimate setting, as she did not perform in large concert venues. The shows contained material from Stefani's first two studio albums, as well as songs that would later appear on her third release, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016).
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