''Ballada'' is the sixth compilation by Japanese recording artist

Namie Amuro Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...

. It was released by Dimension Point on June 4, 2014 in three physical formats, and for digital consumption. It works as a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

that compiles ballads released during her time with Avex Trax, including three re-worked tracks. Additionally, the album features its only single "

Tsuki derives from the verb , meaning "to thrust". The second syllable is accented, with Japanese's unvoiced vowels making it pronounced almost like "ski" (but preceded by a "t" sound). In Japanese martial arts and Okinawan martial arts, ''tsuki'' is u ...

". Upon its release, ''Ballada'' received positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, most whom praised Amuro's maturity and vocals, alongside the re-worked tracks. Commercially, it was a success in Japan, reaching the top spot on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

and ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Hot Albums Chart. It was certified double platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

(RIAJ), recognizing shipments of 500,000 units. In order to promote the album, Amuro conducted her annual Live Style tour in August 2014, and finished it four months later. A live release—titled ''Namie Amuro Live Style 2014''—was issued inside Asia, and was a commercial success in Japan.

Background and release

In early 2013, Amuro had started her own record label titled Dimension Point, offering her 11th studio album ''

Feel Feel may refer to: *Feeling Music Bands *Feel (New York band), a dance and R&B band *Feel (Polish band), a pop rock band Songs * "Feel" (Kendrick Lamar song), 2017 * "Feel", by Phora, 2018 *"Feel", by Mahmut Orhan, 2016 * "Feel" (Kumi Koda song), ...

'' (2013) as its first commercial work. She then release a series of digital singles: "Neonlight Lipstick" and "Ballerina". These tracks were included on her January 2014 recording "

", a ballad written for the Japanese film '' Dakishimetai: Shinjitsu no Monogatari'' (2014). A month later, the singer revealed a special website that included a voting poll with all her ballad songs on it; this would later be revealed that selected tracks would appear on ''Ballada''. Not long after, Amuro announced the release of ''Ballada''. Out of 38 ballads listed on voting poll, 15 were selected. All apart from four tracks were featured in their original form; "

Sweet 19 Blues ''Sweet 19 Blues'' (stylized ''SWEET 19 BLUES'') is the second studio album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro. The album was released in four different slipcases, with the first three cases limited to 1,000,000 copies each—were put on sa ...

" and "

Can You Celebrate? "Can You Celebrate?" is Namie Amuro's seventh solo single under the Avex Trax label. Released on February 19, 1997, "Can You Celebrate" is the best-selling single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history, with sales of 2,296,200 copies. ...

" were re-recorded for the compilation; "Tsuki" being the only new recording added to the release; and "

Contrail Contrails (; short for "condensation trails") or vapor trails are line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust or changes in air pressure, typically at aircraft cruising altitudes several miles above the Earth's surface. Contrails ar ...

" being re-recorded and re-arranged by Nao'ymt, whom produced the original version. Japanese composer,

Taro Hakase is a Japanese musician who specialises as a violinist and composer. Biography Career Hakase was involved in a Japanese band called Kryzler & Kompany which formed while he was in college. He played the violin, while Tsuneyoshi Saito played ke ...

, was credited as a featured artist on "Can You Celebrate?", performing the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. ''Ballada'' was released by Dimension Point and Avex Trax on June 2, 2014 in three physical formats, and for digital consumption. The three physical formats include a standard package that includes a 15-track compact disc, and the other two are DVD and Blu-Ray bundles that include 17 music videos, respectively. Included in the DVD/Blu-Ray formats are re-created visuals of her singles "Sweet 19 Blues"—blending a mixture of the original video and new footage of Amuro in the same setting—and a completely re-done video of "Can You Celebrate?". The cover art and photoshoot was photographed by Yasunari Kikuma, which has Amuro sitting in an empty room, wearing a red plaid dress and military-esque hat; additionally, art direction and the album's booklet was designed by Masaru Yoshikawa from AEI. First-press editions come with a

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

and a special lenticular photographic print, alongside a generic poster of the album's photoshoot.

Critical reception and legacy

Upon its release, ''Ballada'' received positive reviews from

. Japanese magazine ''CDJournal'' praised Amuro's "subtle vocal techniques" and "rich emotional expression" displayed in the ballad collection. Kanako Hayakawa of EMTG felt that no matter which era of Amuro's music the songs were from, her ballads showcased the strength of women, where fragile parts of herself were sung with boldly real vocals. She felt that her ballads had similar lyrical matters to her up-tempo songs, such as the joy of feeling loved or someone starting again after a loss. Hayakawa felt that many of the songs on the compilation were not strictly ballads, such as the mid-tempo R&B "

", the 1990s UK club jazz "

Dreaming I Was Dreaming "Dreaming I was Dreaming" is Namie Amuro's ninth single on the Avex Trax label. Released after the announcement of her pregnancy and marriage to SAM of the group, TRF, it debuted at #1 on December 8, 1997. The single does not appear on any of A ...

", and the slow R&B "White Light". Hayakawa praised the album's re-recorded tracks, noting the "divine beauty" of the Taro Hakase pairing and the dignity in her voice. Commercially, the album was a success in Asia. ''Ballada'' debuted at number one on the daily and weekly

in Japan, opening with a six-day sales of 254,944 copies; this made it her highest-selling first week sales for a compilation since ''

Best Fiction ''Best Fiction'' is the third greatest hits album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro, and the final greatest hits release from Avex Trax, her record company since 1995. The release follows her two previous greatest hits albums, '' 181920'' ( ...

'' in 2008. It remained at number one on the weekly chart for a second run, but only shifted 66,274 units. In total, ''Ballada'' lasted six weeks in the top ten, and stay in the top 300 chart for 40 weeks. Additionally, it was ranked the fourth best-selling album of 2014 with 431,356 copies sold in Japan, making Amuro the highest-selling solo artist in terms of album sales that year. ''Ballada'' was certified double platinum by the

(RIAJ) for shipments of 500,000 units. ''Ballada'' reached number six on the Taiwanese G-Music chart, and topped the East Asian category for a sole week. In September 2017, Amuro announced her retirement from the music industry. Because of this, her music catalogue skyrocketed on several digital stores; ''Ballada'' was included, and debuted at number 7 on the Oricon Digital Albums Chart with sales of 1,933 copies. In total, the compilation has achieved 3,541 recognized digital downloads.

Promotion

In order to promote the album, Amuro announced her annual Live Style tour in early April 2014. The dates were confirmed via a flyer given out with the purchases of ''Ballada'', enclosed in the album's booklet. Tickets were offered to the public that were subscribed to the singer's Fan Space fan club, which gave them early access and a unique code to submit to secure tickets; the entire ticket system was handled as a general lottery. A total of 36 shows in thirteen different cities were scheduled in Japan, spanning from August 22 at the Shizuoka Eco-Pure Arena, and finishing on December 23 at the

Yoyogi National Gymnasium Yoyogi National Gymnasium, officially is an indoor arena located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, which is famous for its suspension roof design. It was designed by Kenzo Tange and built between 1961 and 1964 to house swimming and d ...

in Shibuya, Tokyo. One show in Kobe was cancelled for unknown reasons, but rescheduled two extra dates. In order to promote the material from ''Ballada'', Amuro added a particular song from the album on the setlist of every performance. A

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

and DVD/Blu-Ray were recorded at the Yoyogi National Gym on November 6, alongside a bonus disc that featured the selected ballads performed. A total of 30 songs were added on the track list, alongside the bonus disc that included an extra 11 live recordings. Titled ''Namie Amuro Live Style 2014'', the formats were a success in Japan; it reached the top spot on the Oricon DVD and Blu-Ray Chart, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of 100,000 copies.

Track listing

Charts

Daily and weekly charts

Rankings

Certification and sales

Release history

References

External links

Special ''Ballada'' page
by Dimension Point. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballada 2014 compilation albums Namie Amuro compilation albums Japanese-language compilation albums Pop compilation albums Contemporary R&B compilation albums