Checkmate! (album)
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''Checkmate!'' is a collaboration album by
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
popsinger
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 ...
, featuring a collection of her collaborations with other musicians released between 2003 and 2011, as well as four new collaborations. The album was released on April 27, 2011, about one month after its original release date, due to
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...
. Two songs were released as digital downloads prior to the album, "
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
" in early March prior to the album's postponement, as well as " Make It Happen" on April 20, a week before the album's release.


Background and development

The album was first conceived after Amuro had finished her tour for her 2009 album ''Past Many of the collaborators on the album worked on multiple tracks. Amuro collaborated with Verbal on five songs: "Wet'N Wild" (producer), "Black Out", "Luvotomy" (rapper, songwriter), "Rock U" (lyricist) and on the hidden track, which is a remix of Amuro's single "
Want Me, Want Me "Want Me, Want Me" is Namie Amuro's 28th solo single under the Avex Trax label. It was released in two formats CD and CD&DVD on April 6, 2005. The CD format contained a B-side track and its instrumental while the CD&DVD format had no B-side but ...
" (2005) with additional rapping by Verbal. Ai collaborated with Amuro "Do What U Gotta Do," "Fake" and one of the new songs, "Wonder Woman." Two songs are from
Zeebra , known professionally as , is a Japanese hip hop recording artist and DJ who made his first appearance in 1995. Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group King Giddra, which also included DJ Oasis and K Dub Shine, and the older brother of ...
albums, "After Party" (2003) and "Do What U Gotta Do" (2006).
Taku Takahashi is a Japanese hip hop recording artist, DJ and record producer who debuted in 1997 as a record producer of the hip hop group M-Flo. The group rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with hit singles such as "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Agai ...
contributed on "Luvotomy" (trackmaker) and "Rock U" (co-trackmaker). Double, other than the duet "Black Diamond," wrote the Japanese lyrics to "Make It Happen." For "Wonder Woman," Amuro asked Ai and Tsuchiya to collaborate with her, as she wanted to create a strong song with a chorus of female vocalists. Amuro felt that she had worked with Ai so many times in the past that a collaboration with her could not go wrong. "Make It Happen" is South Korean group After School's first Japanese release. Amuro stated that she had taken notice of the
K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...
scene for some time. For the project, Amuro's staff gave her a list of possible Korean collaborators. Due to her enjoying After School member
Uee Kim Yu-jin (born April 9, 1988), better known by her stage name Uee (sometimes romanized as U-), is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known for being a former member of South Korean girl group After School from 2009 to 2017, and ...
's performance in the Korean drama ''
You're Beautiful "You're Beautiful" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was written by Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album, ''Back to Bedlam'' (2004). It was released as the third single of the album in 2005. In t ...
'', she decided on the group. The song was written by Swedish and North American writers
Jörgen Elofsson Kjell Åke Jörgen Elofsson (born 14 January 1962) is a Swedish songwriter. He was one of the writers of the songwriter-team at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm (along with Denniz PoP, Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Andreas Carlsson, Rami Yacoub, Per ...
, Erik Lidbom and
Bonnie McKee Bonnie Leigh McKee (born January 20, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter. Her debut album, ''Trouble'', was released in 2004 under Reprise Records. After underperforming, McKee was dropped by her label and took a musical hiatus before es ...
, and was originally titled "Shallow." The collaboration with Kaname Kawabata of the R&B vocal duo
Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
started when the two became friends after being introduced through a mutual friend. For the album, Amuro wanted to create a dance/song music video with a male artist. While appearing on a music show in Summer 2010 to promote her single " Break It/Get Myself Back,"
Johnny & Associates is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as . History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...
idol
Tomohisa Yamashita , also widely known as , or Tomo, is a Japanese singer, actor, and TV host. Yamashita joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates as a trainee in 1996 (age 11) and made his small acting debut for NHK's ''Shonentachi'' (1998) and has be ...
was featured on the same program, and Amuro was impressed with his performance of "One in a Million," which inspired the idea for the collaboration.


Promotion and release

"Rock U" was used in television commercials for the
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
game '' Call of Duty: Black Ops'' from November 2010 onwards, seven and a half months after its release. The song was also one of two songs broadcast exclusively on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
Japan to promote Amuro's DVD ''Namie Amuro PastCoca-Cola Zero Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is a diet cola produced by The Coca-Cola Company. In some countries, it is sold as Coca-Cola No Sugar. The drink was introduced in 2005 as Coca-Cola Zero as a new no-calorie cola. In 2017, the formula was modified and the ...
'' Wild Race commercial campaign in Japan, the fourth set of commercials to feature Amuro as the spokesperson for the brand, with commercials first airing on February 13. During album promotions, Amuro was also featured as the first spokesperson for cosmetic firm Kosé's ''Esprique'' range. The commercials began airing in late March, and featured "Naked," a song on her first single to be released after the album. "Make It Happen" was used as background music for two commercials: one for
Sharp Sharp or SHARP may refer to: Acronyms * SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme * Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...
's au 1S05 cellphone, and another for
Recochoku is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other bus ...
. Three of the four new songs on album were released as ringtones prior to the album's release: "Wonder Woman" on February 16, "Make It Happen" on February 23 and "Unusual" on March 9. Amuro was featured in several fashion magazines during album promotions, including ''Gisele'', ''Ray'', ''S Cawaii'', ''Sweet'' and '' Vivi''. On June 25, 2011, Amuro attended the 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan award ceremony, performing "Wonder Woman" with Ai and Anna Tsuchiya. This was the first performance of the song, as well as the first performance of any of the new songs from the album.


Promotional singles

"Wonder Woman" featuring singer/rapper Ai and rock musician
Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...
was the first song released in promotion of the album, released as full-length a cellphone download on March 9. The song had earlier debuted on radio, during
J-Wave J-Wave is a commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, covering a wide range of formats. The station is considered the most popular among FM broad ...
's ''Groove Line Z'' program on February 17. Before the album's release, the song has received mid-level radio play, allowing it to reach number 42 on ''
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 ...
''s
Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...
chart. During the week of the album's release, however, increased airplay as well as downloads on
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
Japan made the song peak at number five. The song received a larger response on adult alternative radio stations in Japan, as shown by the song reaching number 2 on ''Billboards Adult Contemporary Airplay chart, when in the same time period only reaching number 5 on the general airplay chart. The song debuted at number 5 on 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 ...
's cellphone download chart in the special two-week postponed chart that was released due to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. All three musicians billed in the song appeared on the cover of fashion magazine
S Cawaii S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...
's April issue, in promotion of the single. "Make It Happen" was released digitally to cellphones on April 20, a week before the album's release. On RIAJ's digital track chart, the song debuted at number ten. "#1" received a digital release simultaneous with the album's release date, however, "Unusual" was released a week after the album, on May 4.


Music videos

Four MVs for the new songs were filmed, which were released to music video channels in February and March. On MTV Japan, an hour's length episode of ''MTV A Class'' was dedicated to these, which was first aired on March 19. "Wonder Woman" was the first video to be released, and was debuted on
Space Shower is a Japanese music television channel operated by Space Shower Networks, Inc. The company is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The channel launched at 6:00 on December 1, 1989. The idea behind establishing Space Shower TV was to create a special ...
on February 18. "Make It Happen" was debuted on online streaming service
GyaO! is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Ter ...
on February 17, and was debuted on TV on MTV Japan on February 21. "#1" was first aired on March 9 as a
Space Shower is a Japanese music television channel operated by Space Shower Networks, Inc. The company is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The channel launched at 6:00 on December 1, 1989. The idea behind establishing Space Shower TV was to create a special ...
exclusive video. , A Music video for unusual was made March 9, 2011. It begins with Yamashita Tomohisa in a white jacket then it disappears by its own fire affect. Throughout the music video, Namie and Yamashita Tomohisa dance together, there are affections what make new scenes, the video ends with namie in the white jacket. This video was reported that it was filmed 28 February 2011 to 1 March 2011. The songs "Black Diamond," "Do What U Gotta Do" and "Fake" already had music videos filmed for their respective releases. The music videos for these songs were put on the CD+DVD edition of the album. A music video for "Black Out" was shot in mid February by
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
ian direction tea
Division
but due to the aftermath of 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the music video remains unaired.


Critical reception

Jun Watanabe of ''What's In?'' described the album as "...vividly transmitting artistic power and cool beauty." He believed that the work challenged forefronts in R&B, hip-hop, electropop and rock, without diminishing Amuro's personality. Tetsuo Hiraga of ''Hot Express'' was extremely positive on the album, feeling that it "explodes massively with personality and talent." Hiraga felt that Amuro's music had the ability to make the listener forget Tomohisa Yamashita's ''idol'' status, and to express his "cool and sexy vocals." When listening to Kaname Kawabata's voice in "#1," he could have been fooled that he was listening to American R&B music. Hiraga quoted Amuro on her thoughts on the album, and how she simply said that she "wants to do cool things." He felt like with such pure and innocent sentiment, only the greatest music could be made. ''Listen Japan''s Morio Mori called the four new songs "perfect tunes," and called the album a "project that couldn't get any more wonderful."


Chart performance

In Japan, the album debuted at number one on physical data provider ''
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 daily album charts, selling 93,000 copies—85,000 more than her closest competitor,
Hideaki Tokunaga is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter and actor. Although Tokunaga failed to pass the test of ''Star Tanjō!'' in 1982, he debuted as a recording singer in 1986. After he released hit songs such as " Yume o Shinjite" (the first ending theme of t ...
with ''Vocalist & Ballade Best''. In its first week, the album debuted at number one, selling a total of 253,000 copies. The album charted at number one for two consecutive weeks. ''Checkmate!'' debuted at number one on ''Oricon'' monthly charts, despite only one week of charting counting to the April monthly chart. The album sold more than double the second place holder for the month,
Kazumasa Oda is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and composer. He was the leader of folk rock band Off Course from 1969 to 1989, and has done solo work since 1985. As the vocalist of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 70s and 80s. Th ...
's ''Dōmo''. Halfway through the 2011 Oricon year, the album was the third most sold. On the Taiwanese ''G-Music'' charts, the album debuted at number six, the second highest debut of the week after
Rachel Liang Wen Yin Liang (, Rukai: Leheane Palray; or Rachel Liang born 8 April 1987) is a Taiwanese Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai kno ...
's third album, ''Soul Mate''. The album debuted at number one on the international sub-chart, as well as the East Asian sub-chart.


Song charting positions

Many songs on the album have charted on Japanese music charts, due to their release in promotion for either their original works, or ''Checkmate!''. *Charted on monthly ringtone chart


Track listing


Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Checkmate!s liner notes booklet. Managerial *Hiromi Amano – A&R *Shinji Hayashi – executive producer *Shintaro Higuchi – producer *Hisahiko Iida – producer *Takashi Kasuga – executive producer *Rui Maeda – producer * Masato "Max" Matsuura – executive supervisor *Hayato Mori – creative coordination *Hiromi Owada – A&R desk *Michiharu Sato – A&R supervisor *Tetsuo Taira – executive supervisor *Kazumi Yanagi – A&R chief *Rika Yasumoto –artist management *Yuko Yasumoto – production coordination (#1) Performance credits * Ai –
vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
(#1, #5, #8) * After School – vocals (#3) *Namie Amuro – vocals,
background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
*
Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...
 – vocals, background vocals (#11) *
Heartsdales Heartsdales was a Japanese-American hip pop duo composed of sisters and , known by their stage names Rum and Jewels, respectively. Yumi was born on December 17, 1981 and Emi on December 4, 1976 in Tokyo, Japan. Their family moved to the Yonke ...
 – vocals (#6) *
Emi Hinouchi is a Japanese urban music singer-songwriter. She was formerly signed under King Records' sub-label Venus-B and Taku Takahashi's Tachytelic Records. She is best known for writing songs for Heartsdales and for her collaborations with M-Flo. ...
 – background vocals (#4) * Daisuke Imai – background vocals, keyboards (#6) * Kaname Kawabata – vocals (#9) *
Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...
 – rap (#10) * Minami (
CREAM Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
) – background vocals (#10) * Mummy-D – vocals (#4) *Paul NZA – instruments (#1) *
Shinichi Osawa , also known by his stage name Mondo Grosso, is a Japanese musician, DJ, record producer and composer currently signed onto Avex Trax's Rhythm Zone label. Previously he was signed to Sony Music Japan's FEARLESS RECORDS division and released alb ...
 – "Rock" voice (#4) *Marek Pompetzki – instruments (#1) *Chris Rojas – instruments (#9) *
Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...
 – vocals (#1) * Verbal – rap (#6, #10) *
Tomohisa Yamashita , also widely known as , or Tomo, is a Japanese singer, actor, and TV host. Yamashita joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates as a trainee in 1996 (age 11) and made his small acting debut for NHK's ''Shonentachi'' (1998) and has be ...
 – vocals (#2) *
Zeebra , known professionally as , is a Japanese hip hop recording artist and DJ who made his first appearance in 1995. Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group King Giddra, which also included DJ Oasis and K Dub Shine, and the older brother of ...
 – vocals (#4, #13) Visuals and imagery *Mamoru Furumoto – stage set design *Shinichi Mita – stylist *Akemi Nakano – hair, make-up *Takuya Nakashiro – art direction, design *Shoji Uchida – photographer Technical and production *D.O.I. – mixing (at Daimonion Recordings) (#1—3, #7—9, #11) *DJ Ken-Bo –
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
(#13) *Double – production (#11) *
Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...
 – production (#10) *
Jörgen Elofsson Kjell Åke Jörgen Elofsson (born 14 January 1962) is a Swedish songwriter. He was one of the writers of the songwriter-team at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm (along with Denniz PoP, Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Andreas Carlsson, Rami Yacoub, Per ...
 – production (#3) *Chris Gahringer – mastering *Kohei Hatakeyama – Namie Amuro vocals recording (#2—#3, #9) *Daisuke Imai – production, programming (#6) *Ryosuke Imai – production (#11, #13) *Osamu "Shu" Imamoto – engineering (#4), mixing (#10), recording (#10) *Jhett – arrangement, production, programming (#7) *Hitomi Joko – recording (#1) *Takefumi Kanaya – recording (#6) *Shigeki Kashii – recording (#1) *Hyuga Kashiwai – recording (#7) *Ryosuke Kataoka – recording (#1, #4, #8, #10) *Gonta Kawamoto – mixing (#6) *Kim Min Hee – After School vocals recording (#3) *Erik Lidbom – production (#3) *Major Dude – production (#10) *Michico – production, vocal production and direction (#7) *Rie Mimoto – Kaname Kawabata vocal recording (#9) *Chieko Nakayama – Kaname Kawabata vocal direction (#9) *Nao'ymt – production (#2) *Paul NZA – production, recording (#1) *Supa Okuda – Ai vocals recording (#8) *Shinichi Osawa – mixing (at Tomigaya Lounge) (#4), production (#4) *Marek Pompetzki – production, recording (#1) *Chris Rojas – production (#9) *
Taku Takahashi is a Japanese hip hop recording artist, DJ and record producer who debuted in 1997 as a record producer of the hip hop group M-Flo. The group rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with hit singles such as "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Agai ...
 – production (#4, #12), sound programming (#12) *Take-C for T.O.P – recording, mixing (#5, #13) *Teturo Takeuchi – Tomohisa Yamashita vocals recording (#2) *
Tomoyuki Tanaka was a Japanese film producer. He is best known for co-creating the ''Godzilla'' franchise and its associated spin-offs. Early life Tanaka was born on April 26, 1910, in Kashiwara, Osaka. As a child, he would often walk miles to the nearest th ...
 – production (#4) *Tiger – vocal direction (#1, #3, #8—9) *Masaya Wada – vocal direction (#10) *UTA – production (#8, #11) *Verbal – production (#6, #10, #12), sound programming (#12) *Zeebra – production (#5, #13)


Chart rankings


Sales and certifications


Release history


References


External links


''Checkmate!'' official mini-site
{{Authority control 2011 compilation albums Collaborative albums Namie Amuro albums Japanese-language albums Pop compilation albums Contemporary R&B compilation albums