Colours (Ayumi Hamasaki album)
| Colours | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 CD+DVD and digital download editions' cover | ||||||||||
| Studio album by Ayumi Hamasaki | ||||||||||
| Released | July 2, 2014 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2013-2014; Record Plant Recording Studios, LA, Prime Sound Studio Form, Avex Studio, Avex Studio Azabu[1] | |||||||||
| Genre | J-pop, dance-pop, house, trance | |||||||||
| Label | Avex Trax | |||||||||
| Producer | Max Matsuura | |||||||||
| Ayumi Hamasaki chronology | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Colours is the fifteenth full-length studio album recorded by Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released on July 2, 2014 by Avex Trax.[2]
Background
On December 25, 2013, Hamasaki released "Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round", her first physical single in three years. The single was produced by DJ Hello Kitty and Taku Takahashi. On January 27, 2014, she digitally released a new song "Pray", which was used as the main theme song for the anime film Osamu Tezuka's Budda 2—Owarinaki Tabi. Another new song, "Hello New Me", was released digitally on May 4, 2014. The song was used as the main theme song for the television drama Zoku—Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi. "How Beautiful You Are" was used as theme song for the series' prequel. The album's title was announced on June 6, 2014, through Hamasaki's official website.[2] The album covers were photographed by Alvin Goh; they were revealed on June 16, 2014, on her official website.[3]
In May, 2014, members of Hamasaki's official fan club TeamAyu could download six new songs included on the album; "XOXO", "Terminal", "Angel", "Lelio", "What is Forever Love" and "Now & 4Eva".[4] In late May, Hamasaki started her tour Premium Showcase: Feel the Love, on which some of the new songs from the album were distributed for free as promotional singles; the singles were "XOXO/Terminal" distributed in Nagoya, "Angel/Lelio" distributed in Osaka, and "What is Forever Love/Now & 4Eva" distributed in Tokyo. A special track titled "EDMA", the "A" being Hamasaki's distinctive logo, is a non-stop mega-mix track incorporating six of the EDM-influenced songs of the album; this was digitally released on June 17, 2014, as a preview of the album.[5] The album was finally released on July 2, 2014, in five different editions; CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray, CD only, and CD+DVD/CD+Blu-ray versions with an aromatic candle from Milena's Boutique.[2]
Colours featured productions from RedOne, Armin van Buuren, Rodney Jerkins and Fedde le Grand. This was the first time primarily Western producers had been hired to work on one of Hamasaki's studio albums.[6] The only Western artist who had previously worked with Hamasaki is Armin van Buuren, who remixed "Appears" for Hamasaki's 2001 album Ayu Trance. The track was released as a A-side single in Germany in 2005.Japanese musicians included in the album making are Yuta Nakano ("Pray" and "Hello New Me") and Daishi Dance ("What is Forever Love"), both of whom had worked with Hamasaki in the past: Nakano is a long time collaborator of her and has had arranged several of her songs, while Daishi Dance had previously remixed her 2006 single "Heaven".
On October 1, 2014, "Terminal" and "XOXO" were released as recut singles from the album.[7] While "Terminal" was released physically as a CD single, "XOXO" was released in a limited edition PlugAir single, and caught the attention of Japanese media as it became the first single in history to be released in this format.[8][9]
Commercial performance
On its first week of release, Colours debuted at number five on the Oricon charts, selling 39,295 copies.[10] On its second week, the album dropped to number 16, selling 6,122 copies. It became Hamasaki's first studio album that did not debut within the Top three on its first week of release. It also became her 47th record to chart within the Top 10 on the Japanese charts; Hamasaki became the second artist in Japanese music history to achieve this after Yumi Matsutoya.[11]
Track listing
All lyrics written by Ayumi Hamasaki. Rap lyrics in track 8 written by Verbal.
| CD track listing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Arranger(s)/Producer | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Feel the Love" | Tetsuya Komuro | DJ Hello Kitty | 5:19 | ||||||
| 2. | "XOXO" | Ameerah Roelants, Yohanne Simon, John Mamann, Rush Aziz, AJ Junior | De Paris and Rush (RedOne Production) | 4:19 | ||||||
| 3. | "What Is Forever Love" | Daishi Dance, Tomoharu Moriya | Daishi Dance | 4:14 | ||||||
| 4. | "Hello New Me" | Kunio Tago | Yuta Nakano | 4:14 | ||||||
| 5. | "Pray" | Tago | Nakano | 6:17 | ||||||
| 6. | "Terminal" | Armin van Buuren, Benno de Goeij | van Buuren, de Goeij | 5:42 | ||||||
| 7. | "Angel" | Rodney Jerkins, Andy Kautz, Ardita Satka | Jerkins, Kautz | 3:44 | ||||||
| 8. | "Merry-Go-Round" | M-Flo, Unico, Jeb | Taku Takahashi, Mitsunori Ikeda | 5:07 | ||||||
| 9. | "Lelio" | Fedde le Grand, Robin Morssink, Thomas Hagenbeek, Ross Palmer, Maruja Retana | le Grand | 3:36 | ||||||
| 10. | "Now & 4Eva" | Kazuhiro Hara | Nakano | 4:34 | ||||||
| DVD/Blu-ray track listing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Director(s) | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Feel the Love" (Video Clip - "Ayupan × Bloody Bunny" ver.) | |||||||||
| 2. | "XOXO" (Video Clip) | |||||||||
| 3. | "Angel" (Video Clip) | |||||||||
| 4. | "Merry-Go-Round" (Video Clip - Appearance by Verbal ver.) | |||||||||
| 5. | "Lelio" (Video Clip) | |||||||||
| 6. | "Feel the Love" (Making Clip) | |||||||||
| 7. | "XOXO" (Making Clip) | |||||||||
| 8. | "Angel" (Making Clip) | |||||||||
| 9. | "Merry-Go-Round" (Making Clip) | |||||||||
| 10. | "Lelio" (Making Clip) | |||||||||
| 11. | "Creators Special Interview" (TeamAyu Versions only) | |||||||||
| 12. | "A Interview" (TeamAyu Versions only) | |||||||||
Personnel
- Mastered by - Dave Kutch
- Recorded by Naoki Yamada, Yuichi Nagayama, Koji Morimoto, Hiroshi Sato, Hideaki Jinbu
- Second Engineers: Bradford H. Smith, Dustin Capulong, Ryan Kaul, Yujiro Yonetsu, Yuji Tanaka, Ryota Gomi, Shuhei Shimizu, Yushi Iwata
- Mixing: Jaycen Joshua (1, 3, 7), Trevor Muzzy (2), Naoki Yamada (4, 10), David Reitzas (5), Robin Morssink (9)
- Additional vocals: Naoya Urata (3), Verbal (8)
- Background vocal arrangements: Yuta Nakano (1-3, 7-9), Jordan Sapp (track 2)
- Additional background vocals: Yumi Kawamura (2, 10)
- Programming: DJ Hello Kitty (1), Yuta Nakano (4, 5), Taku Takahashi (8)
- Acoustic guitar: Tomoki Ihira (4), Ryota Akizuki (10)
- Electric guitar: Takehito Shimizu (10)
- Strings: Juko Kajitani Strings (4, 5)
- Strings arrangement: Yuta Nakano (4, 5)
- Oboe: Takayuki Mogami (5)
Credits for Colours adapted from liner notes.[1]
Charts
| Chart | Peak position | Debut sales | Total sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oricon Daily Chart | 5 | N/A | 53,406 (10 weeks) |
| Oricon Weekly Chart | 5 | 39,295 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Colours (liner notes). Ayumi Hamasaki. Avex Trax. 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "浜崎あゆみ 7月2日オリジナル・アルバム「Colours」発売！！" (in Japanese). Ayumi Hamasaki official website. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
- ↑ "7/2 Release NEW ALBUM『Colours』ジャケット写真公開！" (in Japanese). Ayumi Hamasaki Official website. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
- ↑ 浜崎あゆみ、新曲をファンクラブ会員限定で先行配信 (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 July 2014.
- ↑ "ニュー・アルバム『Colours』の先行デジタル・リリース＆配信限定ノンストップMIX「EDMA(ロゴ)」デジタル・リリース！！" (in Japanese). Ayumi Hamasaki official website. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
- ↑ 浜崎あゆみの新アルバムに、レディ･ガガのプロデューサーら参加! (in Japanese). Excite. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
- ↑ "浜崎あゆみ、ニューシングル ＆ PlugAirモデル、2タイトルを同時リリース". Yahoo! News Japan. The Page. September 10, 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ↑ "浜崎あゆみ CDシングル＆初のPlugAir形式で2タイトル同時リリース". Billboard Japan. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ↑ "浜崎あゆみ、史上初のPlugAirシングル「XOXO」を触ってみた". Yahoo! News Japan. Barks. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ↑ "6/30～7/6 CDアルバム 週間ランキング-ORICON STYLE ランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ↑ 浜崎あゆみ、松任谷由実と並び歴代1位に「アルバムトップ10獲得数」記録で. Yahoo Japan News (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 July 2014.