''Be Happy'' is the debut studio album by Japanese singer and songwriter

Rina Aiuchi , professionally known by her stage name, and formerly known as R, is a Japanese singer, songwriter, businesswoman, fashion model, and YouTuber. Born in Higashiōsaka, Japan, she won the first season of the audition ''Super Starlight Contest'', ...

. It was released on 24 January 2001 by

Giza Studio is a Japanese record label. The Giza Studio started as an indie label in the late 1990s under the name Garage Indies Zapping Association, but soon Being Inc. bought it as their sister label company. Giza Studio is located in Osaka, Japan and ...

. The

eurobeat Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influencedAng, Ien & Morley, David (2005). "Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Issue 2". ''Routledge''. pgs. 171, 173, 170. . "Eurorec ...

-sounded

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

album has yielded four singles, including the Japan top 5 hit " Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense". The album reached number 3 on the ''

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

'' albums chart in its first week and charted for seven weeks. In support of the album, Aiuchi embarked on her first concert tour, ''Rina Aiuchi Club Circuit 2001 "Be Happy"'' from January 2001

Promotion

Singles

Close to Your Heart "Close to Your Heart" is the debut single by Japanese singer-songwriter Rina Aiuchi. It was released on 23 March 2000 through Giza Studio, as the lead single from her debut album '' Be Happy''. The song served as the theme song to the Japanese a ...

" was released on 23 March 2000 as the lead single of the album. The song served as the theme song to the Japanese animated television series ''

Monster Rancher ''Monster Rancher'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese media franchise and series of life simulation role-playing video games created by Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo). The series consists of fifteen games across numerous different video game platforms, a ...

''. The

-influenced

song written by Aiuchi herself and

Aika Ohno Aika may refer to: Arts and media * ''Aika'' (album), a 1996 album by Finnish singer-songwriter Aki Sirkesalo *''Agent Aika'', a 1997 anime OVA produced by Bandai Visual and Studio Fantasia *AIKA Online, an MMORPG *Aikakone or Aika, a Finnish mu ...

reached number nineteen on the ''

'' singles chart, selling approximately 64,000 copies nationwide. The second single from the album, " It's Crazy for You" was released on 31 May 2000. The

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

-themed

song peaked at number sixteen on the ''

'' chart. On 26 July 2000, the follow-up single " Ohh! Paradise Taste!!" was released as the third single from the album. The

-influenced

song only managed to reach number twenty-three and sell approximately 43,000 copies in Japan, becoming her second lowest-charting song behind "Hanabi" (2010). The fourth single from the album, " Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense" was released on 25 October 2000. The song served as the opening theme song to the Japanese animated television series ''

Case Closed ''Case Closed'', also known as , is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' since January 1994, with its ch ...

''. The opening movie left a big impression on the viewers, depicting the protagonist of the series,

Conan Edogawa , known in some major English adaptations as Jimmy Kudo, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the manga series ''Case Closed'', created by Gosho Aoyama. A high school detective, he is forced to ingest the lethal poison after an en ...

dancing

Para Para is a synchronized dance that originated in Japan. Unlike most club dancing and rave dancing, there are specific synchronized movements for each song much like line dancing. Para Para has existed since the early 1980s when European countries starte ...

dance to the song. " Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense" was a commercial success, reaching number 5 on the ''Oricon'' singles chart and selling approximately 105,000 copies in Japan. The song has been certificated Gold by

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) and remains as Aiuchi's second best-selling song as of September 2018.

Tour

Rina Aiuchi Club Circuit 2001 "Be Happy"

Rina Aiuchi Club Circuit 2001 "Be Happy" is the first concert tour by Japanese singer and songwriter

. It was launched in support of her debut studio album, ''Be Happy'' (2001).

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Be Happy''. *Rina Aiuchi – vocals, producer, backing vocals *

- backing vocals * Secil Minami - backing vocals *Yujirou - backing vocals *Koji Yamamoto - backing vocals *Takumi Ito - backing vocals * King Opal - rap *

Yoshinobu Ohga is a Japanese musical arranger and guitarist in distributors Being Inc., mainly in their label Giza Studio. In years 2000-2002 he was part of the Japanese soul band ''Nothin' but love'', in years 2004-2009 part of Japanese pop band ''OOM'' and ...

- guitar *Kazuko Ikeda - director *Akio Nakajima - mixing *Taku Oyabu - mixing *Katsuyuki Yoshimatsu - assistant engineer *Masahiro Shimada - mastering *Manabu Uemoto - art director, designer *Teruo Hayashi - photographer *Yumi Inui - hair and make-up artist *Miwa Kamise - styling *Kanonji - executive producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certification and sales

References

{{Authority control 2001 debut albums Being Inc. albums Giza Studio albums Japanese-language albums Albums produced by Daiko Nagato