A (Ayumi Hamasaki album)

"A"
Single by Ayumi Hamasaki
from the album Loveppears
Released August 11, 1999
Format JPN CD Single
USA Digital Single [1]
Genre J-pop
Length 1:15:48
Label Avex Trax
Writer(s) Ayumi Hamasaki (lyrics)
DAI (music)
Producer(s) Max Matsuura
Ayumi Hamasaki singles chronology
"Boys & Girls"
(1999)		 "A"
(1999)		 "Appears"
(1999)

"A" is an EP recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki for her second studio album, Loveppears (1999). The songs on the EP consists off "Monochrome", "Too Late", "Trauma" and "End roll". The songs were written all by Hamasaki herself, composed by Dai Nagao and production was handled by Max Matsuura. The songs featured the same instrumentation and composition like the parent album Loveppears, utilizing an influence in dance music and electronic music. Lyrically, the songs still deal with loneliness and sadness, a prominent theme for both the parent album and the previous record Hamasaki released.

A received favorable reception from most music critics, who cited it as an album and career standout. The song was an success in Japan, peaking at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart. It became her best selling single to date and 57th best Japanese single, with over 1.6 million units shipped there. No music videos were issued for the single, becoming her first EP to not feature any singles.

Background

Hamasaki's first album A Song for ×× was released on New Years Day, 1999 and became an enormous success in her native Japan, becoming her first number one album and had sold over 1.4 million units there. The album has been certified million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of one million copies.[upper-alpha 1][2][3] The album spawned five singles; "Poker Face", "You", "Trust", "For My Dear..." and "Depend on You". All off the albums singles performed moderately on Oricon, but "Trust" and "Depend on You" were both certified gold by the RIAJ.[4][5] Despite never being hits, however each release was better than the last, thus gradually increasing her exposure and presence on the market.

During the promotion off A Song for xx, Hamasaki begun work on her second studio album immediately. To tie over the anticipation, Hamasaki released the first single "Whatever". The song peaked at number four on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified gold.[6] The following singles achieved more success; "Love (Destiny)" sold over 600,000 copies, certified platinum and became her first number one on the singles chart, and the following single "Boys & Girls" became her first million selling single.[7][8]

Composition

A is a dance-oriented album that utilizes various genres of electronic dance music. With Loveppears departing from Hamasaki's early pop rock sound, she begun to incorporate different styles including trance, dance, and orchestra.[9] Prominently, the album and EP incorporates strong dance music.[10] Like her previous album, Hamasaki wrote the lyrics all herself. The lyrical content still dealt with loneliness, many of them were written from a third-person perspective.[11] These themes and composition arrangements are expressive in the songs off A.

A consists off four main songs; "Monochrome", "Too Late", "Trauma" and "End roll". All songs were written by Hamasaki and were composed by Dai Nagao and production was handled by Max Matsuura.[12] Nagao had first started his collaboration with Hamasaki on the parent album, while Matsuura, to this day, producers all of Hamasaki's work.[12] "Monochrome" is an electronic song that features the instrumentation off guitars and synthesizers, programmed by Naoki Hayashibe and Naoto Suzuki.[13] 'Too Late" was programmed with the same instrumentation by Hidetoshi Suzuki, Hayashibe and Suzuki.[13] The guitar functions were played by Jun Kajiwara for the track "Trauma" and resumed arrangement by Hayashibe and Suzuki on "End Roll".[13]

Musically, the first track featured some off Hamasaki's most "piercing vocals" and was complimented with drum beats and synthesizers.[14] The song enters with a forty second introduction and then continues with Hamasaki singing.[14] The second song begin with cymbals and some electronic sounds. The song then picks up with guitar instrumentation near the middle section off the song and the songs music is influenced by club music.[14] The third track incorporates dance music and starts with cheering and electric guitars.[14] The middle section then starts with more "pulsing" synthesizers and drum beats, and near the end features Hamasaki singing in "high pitched notes."[14] The fourth and final song starts with bells and starts arrangements off synthesizers. The vocals are particularly slower than the previous three and the arrangement is somewhat "sparse."[14]

Release

A was released on August 11, 1999 by Avex Trax as a compact disc. "A," is unique among Hamasaki's singles, as it is her only single with quadruple A-sides. However, the Recording Industry Association of Japan claimed that "A" is not a single but an album.[15] When the song became her millionth selling, six different versions in colors were released. The first press featured Hamasaki holding an digitally animated string with the title off her logo and her name there.[16] Six different colors were released for the single; blue, green, orange, red, gold and shining gold.[17][18][19][20][21] The Shining Gold version incorporated real gold material and was released exclusively to commemorate the 1.5 million sales off the single.

The tracks themselves had altered position with each individual color, with a different track being the introduction track. The songs featured a remix for each song and featured the instrumental versions off the songs.[1] A was released digitally worldwide in 2001.[1]

Reception

A received favorable reviews from most music critics. Alexey Eremenko, who had written the extended biography off Hamasaki on Allmusic, had listed all the songs except for "Too Late" as an album and career standout.[22] Hamasaki had hosted an online voting poll for fans to choose their favorite tracks to be featured on her Ayumi Hamasaki 15th Anniversary Tour ~Best Live Tour~. As a result, all the songs apart from "Too Late" were listed.[23] A website powered by Last.fm had only listed "Trauma" as her most played song on the website, listed at number 19.[24]

Commercially, the EP was a success. The song debuted at number one on the Oricon Daily Chart, continuing her streak of number one. In the first week, the song sold half a million copies and peaked at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart. It eventually sold over 1.6 million copies in Japan and was certified million by RIAJ for shipments off one million units.[upper-alpha 2][25] This became her best selling single off all time, her second consecutive million-selling single since "Boys & Girls" and her second single from Loveppears to sell one million copies. It spent fourteen weeks on the singles chart.

The song was listed at number three on the Oricon Yearly Chart, just behind Glay's single "Winter, Again" and "Dango 3 Kyoudai", which sold over three million copies that year.[26] A is also the 57th best-selling single of all time in her native Japan.[27]

Promotion

No music videos were issued for the single, becoming her first EP to not feature any singles. This continued with her next EP H. However, commercial promotions were featured with Hamasaki. "Trauma" and "Monochrome" were used as the background music of two TV commercials for the JT Peach Water drinks. "Too Late" was the theme song of a TV ad for Honda Giorno Crea. "End Roll (Hal's Mix)" featured in commercial for Morinaga as background music.

Ayumi appeared in the four commercials.

Track listing

  1. "Monochrome"
  2. "Too Late"
  3. "Trauma"
  4. "End Roll"
  5. "Monochrome" (Keith Litman's Big City Vocal Mix)
  6. "Too Late" (Razor 'N Guido Remix)
  7. "Trauma" (Heavy Shuffle Mix)
  8. "End Roll" (Hal's Mix)
  9. "Monochrome" (Instrumental)
  10. "Too Late" (Instrumental)
  11. "Trauma" (Instrumental)
  12. "End Roll" (Instrumental)
  13. "End Roll" (Neuro-mantic Mix)
  14. "Monochrome" (Dub's full color Remix)

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release Chart Peak Position First Week Sales Sales Total Chart Run
11 August 1999 Oricon Daily Singles Chart 1
Oricon Weekly Singles Chart 1 508,940 1,670,000 17
Oricon Yearly Singles Chart 3

Live performances

Notes

  1. ↑ A Song for ×× received a 3× Platinum certification for 1,200,000 copies, however the 3× Platinum threshold was redefined as 750,000 copies in 2003.
  2. ↑ "A" received a 4× Platinum certification for 1,600,000 copies, however the 4× Platinum threshold was depreciated in 2003.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "iTunes - Music - ayumi hamasaki". Phobos.apple.com. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  2. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1999年3月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. March 1999 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 474: 9. May 10, 1999. Archived from the original on January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1999年2月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. February 1999 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 473: 9. April 10, 1999. Archived from the original on January 23, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  4. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1998年9月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. September 1998 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 468: 9. November 10, 1998. Archived from the original on January 24, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  5. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1999年1月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. January 1999 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 472: 9. March 10, 1999. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  6. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1999年2月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. February 1999 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 473: 9. April 10, 1999. Archived from the original on January 23, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  7. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1999年5月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. May 1999 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 476: 9. July 10, 1999. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  8. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1999年8月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. August 1999 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 479: 9. October 10, 1999. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  9. ↑ Walters, Barry (March 5, 2002). "Turning (Japanese) Point". The Village Voice. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
  10. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/loveppears-mw0000372208
  11. ↑ "Loveppears". Beatfreak (in Japanese) 142. November 1999.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Liner notes off A by Ayumi Hamasaki. 1999.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Ayumi Hamasaki - LOVEppears. Discogs.com.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 https://japanesealbumreview.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/album-review-loveppears-ayumi-hamasaki/
  15. ↑ 年度別ミリオンセラー一覧　1999年 (in Japanese). RIAJ. Archived from the original on 21 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  16. ↑ Ayumi Hamasaki - A (Master release). Discogs.com. 1999.
  17. ↑ Ayumi Hamasaki - A (Gold). Discogs.com. 1999.
  18. ↑ Ayumi Hamasaki - A (Red). Discogs.com. 1999.
  19. ↑ Ayumi Hamasaki - A (Orange). Discogs.com. 1999.
  20. ↑ Ayumi Hamasaki - A (Green). Discogs.com. 1999.
  21. ↑ A (Blue). Discogs.com. 1999.
  22. ↑ Ayumi Hamasaki | Songs | Highlights. Allmusic.com. Retrieved on 4 February 2015.
  23. ↑ http://avexnet.or.jp/ayu/abestlive/
  24. ↑ http://www.top50songs.org/artist.php?artist=Ayumi%20Hamasaki
  25. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2000年5月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. May 2000 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese) (Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan) 488: 8. July 10, 2000. Archived from the original on December 29, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  26. ↑ http://www.generasia.com/wiki/1999_Oricon_Top_100_Singles
  27. ↑ 歴代シングルランキング (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-07-11.

External links

Preceded by
"Boys & Girls" by Ayumi Hamasaki		 Oricon Weekly number one single
August 23, 1999 - August 30, 1999 - October 4, 1999 		Succeeded by
"Koko de wa nai, Doko ka e" by Glay
Preceded by
"Koko de wa nai, Doko ka e" by Glay		 Oricon Weekly number one single
September 13, 1999 		Succeeded by
"Love Machine" by Morning Musume