No Inspiration

The title is basically because I don't know what to call this post and the music that I have listened to recently hasn't sparked anything of interest, don't get me wrong I have heard some good songs but to be honest I feel let down by the music industry in these months, the start of the year was much better. Anyway I have recently listened to Jill Vidal's new album Jillympics (one of the biggest letdowns ever) and Lee Hyori's It's Hyorish. If I'm interested I'll blog them. I have a lot of other albums though so I may skip Jill's because it was dissapointing. Also I listened to Kary Ng's new album which was bad to be honest and Kay Tse's which was a good album but not as good as some of her other albums. Haven't really been listening to English songs recently because I haven't been able to find anything I want to listen to lately (as I'm currently in Hong Kong) anyway I'll see what happens with the blogging but the Cantopop industry is leaving me feeling depressed.

Namie Amuro

Born: September 20 1977

Birthplace: Naha City, Okinawaw


Height: 5'2''


Weight: 40kg


Ethnicity: 3/4 Japanese and 1/4 Italian

Namie Amuro is a Japanese Hip-Pop artist from Okinawaw. In 1992 she debuted as the lead singer of SUPER MONKEYS (a girl group). SUPER MONKEYS found fame with the song TRY ME ~Watashi wo Shinjite~ whiched peaked at #8. In 1996 Namie Amuro switched to the popular brand name Avex. Her debut as a solo artiste garnered her 3.3 million sales and CAN YOU CELEBRATE? became the top single of 1997. Since her return to prominence Namie Amuro has shown a change in style, putting more emphasis on R&B and Hip Hop. Since her debut she has sold over 27 million in Japan.


Full Biography


Amuro was born in Okinawa from a Half Italian mother. She has two sisters and one brother who were all brought up by her mother after she divorced her husband when Namie Amuro was 4. Amuro's first influence is stated as Janet Jackson who inspired her to sing and dance, because of her inspiration she decided to enter the Okinawa Actor's School (being awarded a scholarship). Amuro with her fellow classmates began the group SUPER MONKEYS who debuted on February 1992. After their success with TRY ME Namie Amuro was seen as the sole lead of the group. By Taiyou no SEASON her band mates were credited as back up singers.


In 1995 SUPER MONKEYS switched from Toshiba EMI to Avex. However Avex Group decided to change their image and produced two new acts; one being the solo Namie Amuro and the other group memebers who formed MAX. Amuro debuted with Body Feels EXIT (peaked at #3), whilst her first No.1 single Chase the Chance (being her second single) Chase the Chance stayed on the charts for 19 weeks and sold over 1.3 million copies placing it at #10 in 1996. With two further No.1's Don't Wanna Cry which ended at #9 in 1996 year end charts and You're My Sunshine at #13, she released her debut album SWEET 19 BLUES which went to #1 with 3.3 million copies sold. She quickly solidified herself as the Queen of Jpop. Her greatest success came in 1997 with the single CAN YOU CELEBRATE which was her first #1 year end hit. On October 22 1997 she announced her marriage to SAM (a member of the dance group TRF). She further stated that she was three months pregnant leading to her hiatus of the industry. On May 19 1998 Namie's son Haruto was born.


In December 1998 Amuro decided to return to the industry with I HAVE NEVER SEEN which became a #1 hit. Her next single Respect the Power of Love went to #2. However the prominent news on the release day of Respect was the shocking news of Taira Emiko (Amuro's mother) being murdered by Amuro's step-uncle, Taira Kenji. It was said that Emiko was walking along the street with her second husband (step father to Namie) when Kenji ran the couple over and assaulted them with an axe. This lead to a second break from Amuro who was thinking of retiring at this time. She returned with the single toi et moi (the end theme song for the Pokemon: The Movie 2000) as well as Something 'Bout the Kiss which was produced by Dallas Austin.


In 2001 Amuro worked in a R&B project called SUITE CHIC. On July 10th Amuro divorced her hsuband. Though through declining sales Amuro's 26th and 27th singles landed her at #2 on the Oricon charts both of which sold around 100,000 copies. Want Me Want Me became her next single in April 2005 to reach #2, the single also gave her the highest debut sales of any of her singles in the last 3 years. In 2005 she became the first person to win an award for 4 years in a row on the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. Afterwards she released her 6th Studio Album Queen of Hip Pop which peaked at #2.


On May 17th 2006 Amuro's 29th single was released, being CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK which sold around 80,000 copies. She then decided to embark on her Live Style 2006 tour which was to celebrate her career of 15 years. Baby Don't Cry became her next hit which debuted at No.3, this single managed to sell over 50,000 copies in its first week (this was a feat she hadn't achieved since 2001).


Amuro's seventh studio album PLAY was released on June 27th 2997. Play debuted at #1 and stayed at the top for 2 weeks. The album also peaked at #4 on the United World Chart. On March 12th 2008 Namie released the single 60's 70's 80's - a campaign for Vidal Sassoon. In just two days the single sold in excess of the first week sales of Baby Don't Cry. This single became her first #1 since 1998.


Selected Discography


1st album: (1996) SWEET 19 BLUES (#1 ~3.3 million copies) NB. stayed on the charts for 41 weeks and is the 12th best selling album in Japan.


2nd album: (1997) Concentration 20 (#1 ~2 million copies)


3rd album: (2000) Genius 2000 (#1 ~800,000 copies)


4th album: (2000) Break the Rules (#2 ~300,000 copies)


5th album: (2003) Style (#4 ~200,000 copies) stayed on the chart for 23 weeks.


6th album: (2005) Queen of Hip-Pop (#2 ~500,000 copies)


7th album: (2007) Play (#1 ~550,000 copies)



Singles
1st: (1995) Body Feels Exit (#3 ~900,000 copies) charted for 18 weeks
2nd: (1995) Chase the Chance (#1 ~1.35 million copies) charted for 19 weeks No.10 in 1996
3rd: (1996) Don't Wanna Cry (#1 ~1.4 million copies) charted for 21 weeks and No.9 in 1996
4th: (1996) You're My Sunshine (#1 ~1.1 million copies) No.13 in 1996
6th: (1996) A walk In the Park (#1 ~1.05 million copies) charted for 15 weeks and No.13 in 1997
7th: (1997) Can You Celebrate (#1 ~2.3 million copies) charted for 39 weeks and No.1 in 1997. Is the 14th best single selling single of alltime in Japan.
8th: (1997) How to Be a Girl (#1 ~800,000 copies)
9th: (1997) Dreaming I was Dreaming (#1 ~550,000 copies)
10th: (1998) I Have Never Seen (#1 ~650,000 copies)
12th: (1999) toi et moi (#3 ~270,000 copies) NB: used as end theme for Pokemon: The Movie 2000
15th: (2000) Never End (#2 ~650,000 copies)
26th: (2004) Girl Talk/ The Speed Star (#2 ~100,000 copies) charted for 14 weeks
27th: (2005) Want Me Want Me (#2~ 100,000 copies) NB, banned in Korea
30th: (2007) Baby Don't Cry (#3 ~150,000 copies)
32nd: (2008) 60's 70's 80's (#1 ~250,000 copies)

Diversification

I just love this word! I have decided to add American and British artistes into my blog which will take a long time to collaborate but don't worry I'll still do the Asian artistes as well. My next project is Namie Amuro!

OneRepublic - Dreaming Out Loud

I just thought as I was doing the music album thing I would do one of my favourite albums last year and probably one of my favourite albums of all time. This is of course OneRepublic's "Dreaming Out Loud". There are so many good songs in this album it seems like it is a Best album rather than their first. I liked so many of the songs that within a month a few of the songs probably reached my most played list. It is definitely at the top of the charts for me. I've been thinking of doing a list of my favourite songs (probably Top 100) and a lot of the songs in this album will definitely make the cut, though it would take a long time to do.

Anyway back to the album - there are three songs which I find are great those are "All We Are", "Apologize" and "Stop and Stare". These three songs are just too good really I found myself playing these songs over and over again! Anyway All Fall Down, Say (All I Need) and Goodbye Apathy are also great songs which deserve a mentioning in this album full of fantastic songs. I basically like all the songs in this album but I have to be realistic and say the ones I like the least (but remember I still like them!) those are Dreaming Out Loud, Prodigal, Somethings Not Right Here and Tyrant, these songs are good fillers but of course their needs to be great songs in the album to lift it up as an album full of fillers would just be an awful one! Anyway this album is fantastic to the core and I just love it, I have very little to critique about it. Though I'm slightly dissapointed with the album sales of it but anyway, praises to "Think 2 Twice" for awarding this 5 stars and boo to "AbsolutePunk.net", "Digital Spy", "Rolling Stone" and "Patrol Magazine" for giving this album average reviews. Anyway good job to OneRepublic , Greg Wells and Joe Zook for making this fabulous album.

Ashanti - The Declaration

Normally when I critique an album I do it after my second listen but I just wanted to get this one over and done with as I didn't think my mind was going to chance that quickly. An album I found myself changing my mind after probably the 3rd listen was Jolin Tsai's Agent J which at start I felt seemed very reused but afterwards I started liking it and I found myself listening to the plug songs over and over again! Anyway back to the topic of The Declaration.

I found myself really liking the album at the start with "The Way That I Love You" and "Your Gonna Miss" being two songs that I liked however after a while I just found the songs repetitive and nothing really stood out after the third or fourth song for me - that's why I normally rate things after the second listening because it gives me time to reflect on it. Anyway I ascept I may come to like the album after a second listening I found the first time I listened to it being kind of boring. I found most songs around average or slightly below whilst "So Over You" and "Mother" stood out from the many repetitive songs for me. The one song I didn't like was "Things You Make Me Do" It just sounded awkward to me.

In the end this album is an average album in my opinion, it has it's selection of good songs but after you get past those you don't have much to listen to. If I do listen to it again and change my opinion I will post it on here.

MTV Asia Music Awards

Just wanted to post about these Awards because I have been in an awards craze recently anyway I just wanted to talk about the nominations.
For the China Award I only know Li YuChun but please don't vote her as winner! I wish Jane Zhang was in this as she has great vocals.
Anyway why doesn't India have their own award but instead have to vote for other world wide awards. I personally think the MTV Asia award is actually more of an American award but with Asians voting!
Anyway not going to talk about Indonesia as I know none of them!
Hong Kong of course if the one I'm more familiar with - I'll be cheering on Joey because she is my favourite Hong Kong artiste! I hope you do to!
Though I do listen to Korean music I actually haven't much of an idea on any of the Korean nominees, I know who they are but I haven't really listened to them! And why are they all groups put some people like BoA in their! With Korea it seems weird because the best artistes they have that are in Asia are not winning many awards in Korea!
Anyway I thought I knew a bit about Malaysian music but I have only heard of Nicolas Teo! Anyway we'll see what happens their.
Singapore is also one which I'm slightly more familiar with. To all the fans of Electrico sorry I don't know who they are! I personally don't like Stephanie Sun that much even if she is really really famous. Tanya Chua and JJ Lin are OK but I don't have that many songs by them on my Ipod or just haven't listened to them. I would like Tanya to win for some reason maybe because JJ annoys me a bit even though I like his vocals.
Taiwan is my second most familiar as I know all the artistes! YEAH! Anyway I do need to start listening to more Mayday songs because I just haven't been that interested for some reason. I will support Jolin here because she is the best out of the 4! S.H.E. was one of my favourites at the start of their career but I have just developed a disliking for their recent music choices! I much prefer F.I.R. who should be here. Show Luo also is what his name is he is more of a show-er(not anything bad though) I basically mean he is more of a performer - I actually don't really like many of his songs! Anyway it's so bad that A-mei Chang and Leehom Wang aren't nominated as they are the best in Taiwan! Also I thought Jay Chou had an album recently so wouldn't he be a likely candidate to choose? Anyway if it was my decision it would be A-mei, Jolin, Leehom and F.I.R.! They are definitely the top 4 of Taiwan!
Now let's calm down and talk about the other awards
The Favourite International Artist in Asia annoys me a bit to be honest. Ok I know Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing was real hot in Asia because I basically heard it everywhere I went and I accept she is one of the favourites in Asia but why Fergie and Linkin Park! I think Fergie was more enforced by the Americans rather than being a favourite of the Asian population because she did so well in America. I don't remember liking "the Duchess" that much but it seemed to do fantastically in America. I don't really like Glamorous and I have never heard of the songs London Bridge and Big Girls Don't Cry and don't make me start on Linkin Park. I like Justin Timberlake though!
The Breakthrough Artist award doesn't shock me at all because all of them have done well around the world, though I'm not too knowledgeable about Daughtry. Anyway my favourite here is OneRepublic I just loved their album and I'm sure I've went through this in my blog already. Mika isn't a favourite of mine but he seems to have been a huge hit in Asia. Leona is also doing well and it's nice to see two british acts doing so well here. I'll be cheering for OneRepublic though.
I don't really want to talk about the Innovation award as it doesn't really click with me! What is it for!
The Best Hook Up Award is interesting in my opinion. I don't know much about the Avril and Lil' Mama collab. because I haven't heard of the remix of Girlfriend. To be honest I much rather "When You're Gone" being one of the biggets hits because I like that song however it flopped compared to Girlfriend.
The Shakira and Beyonce collab was Ok but it wasn't my favourite song to be honest ("Beautiful Liar"). Rihanna ft. Jay-Z's "Umbrella" is a good song and very catchy so I'll put a mark on that one but my favourite is Timbaland ft. OneRepublic's "Apologize" I am just in love with the song and to be honest the song actually was much better with the help of Timbaland!
I don't want to talk about Bring Da House Down or Video Star award either because they don't have my favourite artists in their!

F.I.R. - Fairlyland in Reality

As I said I will be giving my opinion on certain albums be it new or old. Fairyland In Reality is my first one, it is the first album of the band F.I.R. which subsequently shot them to fame and rightly so. Fairyland In Reality is probably one of the best albums I own where I like nearly all the songs.

My favourite songs in this album are the smash hit Lydia and Our Love "Wo Men de Ai". Both are very moving and beautiful pieces of music.

Other great songs are "Liu Lang Zhe Zhi Ge" and Flame "Guang Mang". Fly Away, Hou Luo Yuen and You Make Me Want to Fall In Love are also good songs which makes this album full of great music. The only song which I didn't like as much was "Ta Luo Pai". I also think F.I.R. have great choruses, every song sort of builds up till you reach the climax - being the chorus. I just loved this album and it is a great debut album even though this is the third F.I.R. album I listened to as I only started on their third album. F.I.R. is probably my favourite Asian group because of their fantastic vocals and soothing songs, it's a shame I only started this craze for them halfway into their career. This album managed to stay on the Hito Board Top 10 for 19 weeks whilst being at No.1 for 8 weeks. On the G-Music charts (which is more familiar to me) they stayed on for 26 weeks whilst gaining 11 weeks at the top position (G-Music Charts are solely based on the sales). Currently I don't know how many sales this album produced so it would be nice if someone could inform me of that!