Style is the sixth studio album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro. It was released on 10 December 2003, through Avex Trax. Her first studio album in nearly three years, Style follows her crossover into R&B and hip hop that began with the collaborative project Suite Chic in 2002. Although Amuro had dabbled with R&B beats in the past, this is her first original studio album to predominantly feature the actual genre. Style was her first album after the termination of her working relationship with longtime producer, Tetsuya Komuro, as well as her last collaboration with American record producer Dallas Austin to date.
Commercially, Style was a disappointment. It debuted at number four on the Oricon Albums Chart with first week sales of over 93,000 copies, the lowest of Amuro's career and her first not to sell over 100,000 during its first week. Despite being the lowest-selling album of her career, it was still certified Platinum for shipments of over 250,000 copies by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. The album spawned four top ten singles, "Wishing on the Same Star", "Shine More", "Put 'Em Up" and "So Crazy/Come". Amuro promoted Style by embarking on her first international concert tour titled the So Crazy Tour.[citation needed]
Background and development
"This year I was also active as part of SUITE CHIC, and I wanted my solo work to link to that. This time I was able to choose what I wanted to do musically, and I feel like I was able to express quite a bit of what I like at the moment. In that sense, it's a really fitting title."[1]
—Amuro talking about the title for Style.
In 2002, Amuro became a part of the collaborative R&B and hip hop project Suite Chic.[2] Ryosuke Imai talked with the rapper Verbal about who was the Japanese Janet Jackson.[3] They reached the conclusion that it was "Namie Amuro," who was struggling with a decline in popularity as a pop singer due to competition with younger stars such as Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki.[4][3] They produced demos without permission and proposed them to Amuro.[5] The project featured up-and-coming DJs and hip-hop producers such as DJ Muro, Dabo and hip-hop singer Ai on the single "Uh Uh......," who would herself go on to find great success.[5][6]
The album Style represents a major shift in Amuro's musical direction, and would set the tone for all of the singer's subsequent releases. It is also Amuro's first full-length urban contemporary record.[7] She had previously recorded hip-hop music with Suite Chic, whose debut album When Pop Hits the Fan was released ten months earlier.[8]Style is primarily made up of hip-hop and R&B influenced pop music and she would later coin the term "Hip-Pop."[7] The song "Namie's Style" is her first work with her one of her future frequent collaborators T.Kura and Michico (she also translated the Dallas Austin-produced tracks "Put 'Em Up" and "So Crazy").[9]AllMusic described the album as "marginally more gritty", taking Amuro "closer in sound to her musical idol, Janet Jackson."[10]
According to Amuro, there was no set theme, and she choose songs while imagining what she want to sing or dance to at a live show.[1] Although the album is focused on R&B and hip-hop, it still features some pop songs; Amuro explained that certain styles of songs were included for variety. With this album, Amuro believed that she finally established her current "style" in a way that is easy to understand.[11] In an interview she stated;
"Thanks to SUITE SHIC, I was able to do things my own way. I think I was able to become like this. Looking back, I think it was great that the people around me changed naturally without forcing me."[11]
Composition and content
"Namie's Style" is a hip-hop-inspired dance tune by T-Kura, with cool sprinkling of slang and boastful phrases such as "It's Namie's Style" over an oriental beat.[12] "Indy Lady" features Teddy Riley's low-pitched, gritty hip-hop beat, and a rap reature from Zeebra.[12] "Put 'Em Up" is a sharp and aggressive hip-hop tune.[13] "So Crazy" is a hip-hop tune that naturally embodies "cool" yet "hot" emotions.[12] "Don't Lie To Me" is a mellow love song with a gentle R&B rhythm.[12] "Lovebite" is a medium tempo number with a melody provided by Takuro of the rock bandGlay.[12]
"Four Seasons" is a pop number with a smooth melody.[12] "Fish" is a dance song with a Japanese-style arrangement and features Verbal from M-Flo and Arkitec from Mic Banditz.[12] "Gimme More" is an R&B song with a heavy beat that is combined with a slightly Japanese-style arrangement.[12] "As Good As" is a medium tempo number with a strong rock influence.[12] "Shine More" is an R&B song with full-bodied vocals and urging minor-key strings.[14] "Come" is a house-style number that features a euphoric, drowsy sound and vocals.[12] "Wishing on the Same Star" is a power ballad written by Diane Warren.[12] First editions of the album included two bonus tracks, the Mad Bear remix of "So Crazy" and the movie version of "Wishing on the Same Star". Several of the album's songs are covers: "Indy Lady" (a cover of "Independent Lady", originally by Toni Estes), "Come" (originally by Sophie Monk), "As Good As" (also recorded by WhatFor) and "Wishing on the Same Star" (originally by Keedy).
Promotion
"Wishing on the Same Star" was used as the theme song of the 2002 film Inochi.[12] "Shine More" and "So Crazy" were used as the Mandom "Lucido L Prism Magic Hair Color" commercial songs.[12] "Four Seasons" was used as the theme song to the third InuYasha motion picture, Swords of an Honorable Ruler. The song "Come" has also been used as the 7th ending theme for InuYasha.[15]
During this period, the number of people attending Amuro's live shows was decreasing; when her staff told her she couldn't fill the arena, she replied, "In that case we'll climb back up from scratch," and so began a hall tour.[16] From November 2003 to April 2004, Amuro held a hall tour called the So Crazy Tour, which was a best-of album -like concert that mixed her own hits and Suite Chic songs.[17] Media outlets reported that all of the concerts in Japan were sold-out immediately, therefore additional concerts were added.[18] The So Crazy Tour was her first international concert tour, making stops at Taipei and Seoul.[19][20]Rain joined her on stage on the final day of the Korean concert.[21] A live DVD chronicling the tour titled Namie Amuro So Crazy Tour Featuring Best Singles 2003–2004 was released on September 23, 2004.[22] It reached number ten on the Oricon DVD chart and sold about 71,000 copies.[23]
Reception
Commercially, Style underperformed in Japan. It debuted at number four on the Oricon Albums Chart, with 93,142 copies sold in its first week.[24] This makes it Amuro's lowest first week sales for a studio set and her only to date not to debut in the top three. It dropped to number eleven the next week, selling 36,718 copies.[25] The album stayed in the top twenty one last week, ranking at number seventeen and selling 45,379 copies.[26]Style continued to rank for a total of 23 weeks.[27] It sold 221,874 copies, becoming the 67th best-selling album of 2004.[28] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for selling 250,000 copies in February 2004.[29]
↑ When Pop Hits the Fan (Liner notes). Suite Chic. Japan: Avex Trax, Avex Taiwan. 2003. AVCD-17233.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ "安室奈美恵、ニュー・シングルは本格R＆B！ 全国ツアーも決定"[Namie Amuro's new single is full-blown R&B! Nationwide tour also announced]. Barks (in Japanese). 8 October 2003. Archived from the original on 1 November 2004. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
↑ "安室奈美恵、ベストシングルをフィーチャーしたライヴ・レポ"[Namie Amuro, live report featuring best singles]. Barks (in Japanese). 22 January 2004. Archived from the original on 21 October 2004. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
↑ "日언론'아무로 나미에 내한공연 성공적'"[Japanese media 'Namie Amuro's performance in Korea was successful']. No Cut News (in Korean). 16 May 2004. Archived from the original on 29 December 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
↑ Amuro, Namie (2004). namie amuro SO CRAZY tour featuring BEST singles 2003-2004 (DVD Liner notes). Namie Amuro. Japan: Avex Trax. AVBD-91187.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
