Love (Ayumi Hamasaki EP)

Love
EP by Ayumi Hamasaki
Released November 8, 2012
Recorded 2012
Genre Pop, dance-pop, pop rock
Length 61:53
Label Avex Trax
Producer Max Matsuura
Ayumi Hamasaki chronology

A Summer Best
(2012)
Love
(2012)
Again
(2012)

Love (stylized as LOVE) is the third mini-album by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released on 8 November 2012 in three editions: CD+DVD, CD-Only and a limited Tales of Xillia 2 Edition.[1]

Love's track-list is formatted similarly to Hamasaki's singles, including remixes and instrumentals, which was different on how she present her mini-albums in the past.

Information

Love is the first from five consecutive monthly releases from Hamasaki to celebrate her 15th anniversary in the music industry. It has three new songs: "Song 4 U", "Missing" and "Melody" as well as remixes of them and remixes of "You & Me", which was released digitally few months earlier.

The first track on the album, "Song 4 U", was used as the theme song for the 2012 video game Tales of Xillia 2.

At first, Hamasaki included a music video for "Melody" for the tracklist in the DVD was eventually replace by a music video for "Missing". "Melody"'s music video will then be included on her 14th studio album, Love Again.

Love is Hamasaki first mini-album not to top the oricon charts, debuting at number 4 with sales of just 64,841. It sold a total of 88,435 in 2012, ending up as the 76th best selling album of the year. Hamasaki had stated that these five releases, including Love, are meant for her fans and not about sales and ranking. Love also charted at 7 at Japan Billboard Top Albums. In Taiwan, it charted at #2 at its debut week and rise to #1 in the following week. Her last number one album in Taiwan was Rock 'n' Roll Circus in 2010.[2]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Ayumi Hamasaki. 

CD
No. TitleMusicArranger(s) Length
1. "Song 4 U" (Original Mix)HINATAspring, Yuta NakanoYuta Nakano 3:51
2. "Missing" (Original Mix)Kazuhiro HaraYuta Nakano 4:58
3. "Melody" (Original Mix)Yasuhiko HoshinoYuta Nakano 5:26
4. "Song 4 U" (Orchestra version)HINATAspring, Yuta NakanoYuta Nakano 4:22
5. "You & Me" (Remo-con rmx - Extended)Tetsuya KomuroRemo-con 7:28
6. "You & Me" (Shinichi Osawa remix)Tetsuya KomuroShinichi Osawa 5:01
7. "Missing" (Dubscribe remix)Kazuhiro HaraDubscribe 5:07
8. "Melody" (Broken Haze remix)Yasuhiko HoshinoBroken Haze 5:58
9. "Song 4 U" (instrumental)HINATAspring, Yuta NakanoYuta Nakano 3:50
10. "Missing" (instrumental)Kazuhiro HaraYuta Nakano 4:57
11. "Melody" (instrumental)Yasuhiko HoshinoYuta Nakano 5:24
12. "You & Me" (instrumental)Tetsuya KomuroTasuku 5:39

Charts

Oricon Chart

Chart Peak position Debut sales Total sales
Oricon Daily Chart 3 21,743[3] 94,347
Oricon Weekly Chart 4[4] 64,841
Oricon Monthly Chart 11 86,095
Oricon Yearly Chart 76 88,345

G-Music Chart (Taiwan)

Release Chart Peak position Percentage sales
November 8, 2012
Combo Chart 4 1.82%
Japanese Chart 1 16.53%

References

  1. ORICON STYLE編集長のTwitter 2012年11月7日の発言 on Twitter. November 7, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  2. "2012年11月05日~2012年11月11日のCDアルバム週間ランキング(2012年11月19日付)" (in Japanese). Oricon. November 14, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2012.