2007

Commentary on all 37 singles by Namie Amuro herself.

Sep ’77   Born in Naha, Okinawa.

Sep ’92    Koi no cute beat / Mister U.S.A. (Super Monkey’s) – Debut record is in some sense fresh. It took a month to record, I thought that was normal (laughs). When I first heard “this will be debut song” I was impressed. I visited the record shop many times to check how it was selling (laughs).

Mar ’93   Moves to Tokyo. Apr ’93 Regular appearances on children’s TV show ‘Ponkikkies’

May ’93  Dancing Junk (Super Monkey’s 4) – This is also a good song, we shot a music video but it was rejected…. We danced wearing black clothes in a white world simple everyday cool feeling… whether we wore spots I can’t remember (laughs). The b-side was my first solo ballad, but “Daite~” [Embrace me…] has rather adult lyrics for a 14 year-old… (laughs). But it was a time when I wanted to quickly become an adult, so I was happy.

Nov ’93   Ai shite masukatt – This song was called “ai shitemasu ka” [Shall we love ?] but it’s title was changed for use as a CM for “Masukatto Gamu” [Muscat (grape) gum]. This was unusual at that time. The lyrics we sang are connected with the tie-up CM. Also, the dance choreography is pretty difficult!

July ’94   Paradise Train (Namie Amuro with Super Monkey’s) – Theme song to a TBS daytime drama. We danced and sang this song every day for about a month on the program “Ginbura Tengoku”, broadcast live from Ginza’s 7-chome Theater. At that time I was glad to be working and didn’t get tired of it at all. We had had no CD to sell at all that year, at last we had this one. Releasing one a year is ‘album-pace’ isn’t it (bursts out laughing).

Jan ’95    TRY ME ~ watashi o shinjite – A hit song at last! At that time Countdown TV showed a top 50, every time heartbroken it didn’t enter, but this song entered at #40. Rising up to #8 was a dream come true. I said at the time of recording, when Euro-beat genre wasn’t known, “What a fast song” (laughs)

Apr ’95   Regular appearances on NTV music show ‘The yoru mo hippare’ [evening hit parade]

Taiyo no SEASON (First solo single.) – 2nd Euro-beat hit is a really refreshing song. Release pace becoming one every three months was cheering. Steadily got busier from this time.

July ’95   First concert tour ‘Amuro Namie with Super Monkey’s’ starts

Stop the music – 3rd Euro-beat hit. Very hectic recording schedule, trying to memorise the words and learn the dance for a song program being recorded the next day. Around 30 times NG. If I danced seriously I forgot the words, if I concentrated on singing I messed up the dancing… It was hard (laughs).

Oct ’95    Changes record label from Toshiba EMI to Avex

Body feels EXIT – First Tetsuya Komuro production. When I received the demo-tape of this song, it was just Komuro-san singing to one guitar. My first impression hearing the guitar strumming gave me no idea how the song would turn out. What a cool, stand-out live song it would become… (laughs)

Dec ’95   First appearance on NHK’s ‘Kouhaku Utagassen’

Chase the Chance – Another big hit. But back then and now too, I think the [rap] ‘binbin kiteru’ lyrics are …. (照). KABA-san has choreographed since ‘Body~’, but it’s really cool to have kept the live dance the same as it was back then. That’s a great thing, don’t you think. I released five singles that year, truly on the crest of a wave in those days.

Mar ’96   Don’t wanna cry – The foreign chorus gives it a fresh feeling. What? The day after it was released was White Day, wasn’t it. For a special person? … that’s a secret.

June ’96  you’re my sunshine – A summer-feeling song, don’t you think. Sung many times live, lively and in a medley not lacking song.

Aug ’96   Stars in the movie ‘That’s Cunning!’

sweet 19 blues – The lyrics reflect for the first time discussions with Komuro-san how I feel now. Komuro-san recorded many times in L.A, this was L.A. too. I like this song. Doing both a film and a tour at this time was hard.

Oct ’96    First photobook ‘#19770920’ released

a walk in the park – Having unusually received the lyrics the previous day, I memorised them on the way to the studio, Komuro-san said ‘Ah, the song has been changed’, and promptly wrote new lyrics just before the recording. He’s really a genius. Always bursting with ideas… A favourite of many people, dancing this together with other people is really delightful♪

Feb ’97   ‘a walk in the park’ arena tour starts.

Can you celebrate ? – This was the theme song of the drama “Virgin Road”, but now has “wedding song” image (laughs). Actually, when recording the previous song, already knew this one would be next. But when jet-lagged, the grand orchestral sound makes you feel sleepy… (laughs). Truly a good song, I think.

May ’97  First overseas concert in Taiwan on ‘TK pan-pacific Tour’ with TRF, globe etc.

How to be a girl – This was after the arena tour, once again very busy with rehearsals for dome tour. And I was also a television regular… I remember arguing ‘I won’t do the Tour if I can’t get rehearsal time!’…  I was young (bursts out laughing).

July ’77   First Dome tour ‘Concentration 20’ starts.

Oct ’97    Announces her marriage to Sam [real name Masaharu Maruyama] from TRF

Nov ’97   Dreaming I was dreaming – This song has a peaceful melody. Quite different from my songs until then. Perhaps at that time I wanted to surprise people ? (laughs)

Dec ’97   Appears on ‘Kouhaku’

May ’98  Her son, Haruto is born

Dec ’98   Appears on ‘Kouhaku’. Starts crying at the end of ‘Can you celebrate ?’

I have never seen – Resumed activity with this song, came back to sing it on Kouhaku. It was enjoyable to be recording again after a long absence. Komuro-san says this song came to him in a dream (laughs).

Mar ’99   Respect the Power of Love – I like the lyrics to this song too. This is the first PV I made overseas. Light breaking in the L.A. desert… All the site staff took a one hour meal-break. That was a bit of a culture-shock for me. What ? That has nothing to do with the song ? (laughs)

July ’99   Toi et moi – This is a Pokemon theme song. With lyrics like “leaping about children ~ courage and hope ~”, it feels like an anime theme song, but the sound is really cool! Using nunchaku on stage makes a cool dance number.

Aug ’99   ‘Final Summer Dream Stage’ at Chiba Marine Stadium, her first live shows in two years

Sept ’99   Something ‘bout the kiss – First Dallas Austin song. He came to Japan expressly for the recording and said ‘It’s your song so sing it the way you want’. He’s a really cool guy♪

Jan ’00    Love 2000 – This is another outstanding stage dance number. By the way, for the last year-end of the 20th Century…I spent it normally, greeted the new year normally (laughs)

Mar ’00   ‘Genius 2000’ tour starts. May ’00 First overseas solo concert in Hawaii.

July ’00   Never End – Okinawa Summit song. Someone said I tried to invite President Clinton on stage while singing, but, after all, that was impossible. (laughs)

Sep ’00   Please smile again – This song is good to sing live. Recording it in a high key was hard. The impact of the interlude sound is cool.

Jan ’01    think of me / no more tears – at this time song sung by Janet was really cool, so I wanted to make and sing no more~ like that. The PV for Think~ is interesting, filmed by one camera not moving. They said ‘can you cry’ so I shed tears♪

Mar ’01   ‘Break the rules’ tour starts

Aug ’01   Say the word – From this song onwards I myself have selected the songs, arrangements, proposals… I was able to order a dance music video style PV for this song. I felt great satisfaction when finished, to have achieved it all by myself.

Dec ’01   lovin’ it – First collaboration song. Working with VERBAL-san from m-flo was stimulating and enjoyable. Having had this experience, I was then able to think about doing ‘SUITE CHIC’.

Feb ’02   I will – My first credited lyrics, with my words put together with the music I was given, I thought the finished song was really good. I had written lyrics for an album before this, but credit was kept hidden. I rewrote it several times after nursing it in my mind, I was nervous about how people would respond.

July ’02   Announces divorce from Sam

Sep ’02   Wishing on the same star – Ballad which became the theme song for Esumi-san’s film [Inochi]. This started when he privately got a ticket and came to a live concert. I was glad to also receive a letter from him at that time.♪

Dec ’02   Suite Chic – ‘Good Life’ feat. ZEEBRA single

Feb ’03    ‘Uh Uh…’ feat AI single. ‘When pop hits the fan’ album.

Mar ’03   shine more – This record, along with the following two singles, was planned as a dance number trilogy. It was after Suite Chic and I could see a new direction. I think with these three songs I met my destiny.

July ’03   Put ‘Em Up – This edgy, cool song was a landmark for me. I really love it. At this time I gained strength from my feelings about various things, I think. It lifts me up when I perform it live♪

Oct ’03    So Crazy – A suitable song to close the trilogy. The rap-like part was difficult (laughs). Am I a bit nervous about singing it live? Perhaps.

Nov ’03   ‘So Crazy’ tour starts

Mar ’04   Alarm – I wanted a Rock-style but danceable song. From the start cool and a favourite. If I say each one is cool, each one is a favourite, do I praise myself too much ? (laughs)

May ’04  First Asian solo shows in Taipei, and Seoul.

July ’04   All For You – First ballad in over a year. I did an unusually pretty jacket picture. The PV is also very pretty. We had a barbecue after the shoot in Okinawa, but what I really remember is the typhoon in Tateyama, Chiba…

Oct ’04    Girl Talk / the SPEED STAR – Two songs with completely different moods. Strong female image song follows cute sounding not angry thing. At demo stage, chorus part was really sweet. I look forward to doing Speed~ live.♪

Apr ’05   Want me, Want me – This was initially intended to be an album track, but I had the intuition ‘This is good!’ so made it a single despite opposition from people around. The lyrics were shocking, but I only recently found out the meaning of the most extreme word(s?)… I’m astounded (laughs).

Sep ’05   ‘Space of Hip-Pop’ tour starts

Nov ’05   White light / Violet sauce – My first Christmas song. This ballad has a pretty melody. Violet~ was made as image song for a movie [Sin City], but became a cool piece of work I think.

May ’06  Can’t sleep, Can’t eat, I’m sick / Ningyo – Can’t~ sounded really fresh when I first heard it. Put in the live setlist, when it starts whole atmosphere suddenly changes. That much colour dark song, but that’s cool. This song helped decide the next album’s direction I think. We shall see….Ningyo is a famous song by NOKKO-san that I have loved to sing for ages.

Aug ’06   ‘Live Style’ tour starts