''Cross My Palm'' is the eleventh studio album by

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese singer

Akina Nakamori is a Japanese Singing, singer and Actor, actress. She is one of the most popular and best-selling artists in Japan. Akina achieved national recognition after winning the 1981 season of the talent show ''Star Tanjō!''. Her debut single "Slow M ...

, released on 25 August 1987 by

Warner Pioneer Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

. It was Nakamori's first English-language album.

Background

''Cross My Palm'' is the second studio album to be recorded in the United States, five years after her debut album ''

Prologue (Jomaku) is the debut studio album by Japanese entertainer Akina Nakamori. It was released on July 1, 1982 by Warner Pioneer under the Reprise Records label. The album includes the debut single "Slow Motion". It was recorded in the Los Angeles music studio ...

'' and the first studio album to be produced by western musicians and writers as

David Batteau David Hurst Batteau (born June 25, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter. Batteau is the son of Blanca Batteau and Dr. Dwight Wayne Batteau, of Harvard University and Tufts University. He is the brother of singer-songwriter Robin Batteau. H ...

, Tony Humecke,

Roger Daltrey Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the Rock music, rock band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Ge ...

, Julia Downes and Sandy Stewart. Nakamori come up with the inspiration of this album from American films such as ''

Top Gun ''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an a ...

'' and ''

Footloose Footloose may refer to: * ''Footloose'' (1984 film), a musical film ** ''Footloose'' (1984 soundtrack) ** "Footloose" (song), performed by Kenny Loggins * ''Footloose'' (2011 film), a remake of the 1984 film ** ''Footloose'' (2011 soundtrack) ...

''. "Modern Woman" is a cover of "Femmes d'aujourd'hui" by French singer

Jeanne Mas Jeanne Mas is a French pop singer. She is well known in France, Switzerland, Canada and Belgium for a number of hit singles released in the 1980s. Her first success was "Toute première fois" in 1984. This song was simultaneously released in the ...

and the title track is a cover of the song by British writer Chris Morris. "The Look That Kills" is an English-language self-cover of her 1987 No. 1 hit "

Blonde Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...

". The single was released two months before the album's release. While the melody line resembles to the original, she performs it in the higher key tune than original, arrangement is slightly renewed and is sixteen seconds shorter.

Marketing

Pioneer Corporation's television commercial

"Modern Woman" was used by

Pioneer Corporation commonly referred to as Pioneer, is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Tokyo, that specializes in digital entertainment products. The company was founded by Nozomu Matsumoto in January 1, 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair s ...

in a commercial to promote the Private CD770D mini component stereo system.

Music video album

Four months after the release of album, a companion music video album was released on 21 December 1987. The video album features Nakamori as a musician who aims to go professional. It was filmed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

between 13 and 24 April 1987. "No More" includes a new remixed intro not found in the album version. The video received an award at the ''AVA Digital Content Grand Prix'' in 1987.

Photo book

The companion photo book was released on 24 December 1987.

Stage performances

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...

's music show ''Yoru no Hit Studio'', Nakamori performed "Soft Touch" in Paris in 1989. She performed "The Look That Kills" on the 25 December 1987 episode of

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

's ''

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

''. Some tracks were performed in her live shows as well: During the live tour for ''A Hundred Days'' in 1987 she performed "Soft Touch", "Political Moves", and "The Look That Kills". She performed "Cross My Palm", "My Position", "Soft Touch", "The Look That Kills" and "No More" in the 1991 special live show "Yume".

Chart performance

''Cross My Palm'' hit No. 1 on

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 ...

's weekly albums chart and sold 347,700 copies. The album remained at number 19 on Oricon's yearly albums chart in 1987. The album was released in the United States in 1989 under

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

; however, it sold poorly in the country, peaking at No. 90 on the ''

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

''.

Track listing

Notes: *"Modern Woman" is titled as "Modern Woman (Femme d'aujourd'hui)" in the album liner notes.

References

{{Authority control 1987 albums Akina Nakamori albums Warner Music Japan albums English-language Japanese albums