''Delicious Way'' (stylized in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...

) is the debut album by Japanese recording artist

Mai Kuraki (born October 28, 1982) is a Japanese pop and R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. After releasing her US debut single " Baby I Like" in 1999, Kuraki signed with Giza Studio and released her Japanese debut single " Love, Day After Tomorro ...

. It was released 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 ...

and Giza Inc. in Japan on June 28, 2000. The album was entirely co-written by Kuraki herself, with the help of

Michael Africk Michael Africk (born 20 August 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-platinum record producer and software entrepreneur. After signing with Disney's Hollywood Records and releasing a solo album in 1999, he toured with N'Sync and Britne ...

and

Yoko Blaqstone Yoko Ishiguro, known professionally as Yoko Blaqstone, is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, lecturer, and the owner of Japanese independent record label Piza Studio. Based in Osaka, Japan, she has worked with a range of popular Japan ...

in some tracks, while production was handled by Kanonji. The album's background and development started in mid-to-late 1999 after her American debut single "Baby I Like", where

East West Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England. History Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with th ...

and Giza Studio sent her back to Japan. To promote the album, four singles were released; "

Love, Day After Tomorrow "Love, Day After Tomorrow" is a song recorded by Japanese singer Mai Kuraki, taken as the lead single of her debut studio album ''Delicious Way'' (2000). It was released on December 8, 1999, via Giza Studio and Tent House in two physical editions: ...

" (which sold over 1.3 million units in Japan), " Stay by My Side", "

Secret of My Heart "Secret of My Heart" is a song by Japanese singer songwriter Mai Kuraki, taken from her debut album ''Delicious Way'' (2000). It was released on April 26, 2000 and peaked at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. I ...

", and "

Never Gonna Give You Up "Never Gonna Give You Up" is the debut single recorded by English singer and songwriter Rick Astley, released on 27 July 1987. It is one of Astley's most famous songs. It was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, and was released as ...

". Musically, ''Delicious Way'' is a R&B album with influences of

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...

-inspired pop, hip-hop, and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

. Upon its release, the album 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 ...

. They commended the composition and her songwriting skills, and a few critics selected the singles as some of the best material in the record. Commercially, the album was a huge success in Japan, peaking at number one 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 ...

. It was the second highest selling album based on first week sales for a solo artist at the time, and sold over 3.5 million units in Japan, making it the ninth best selling album in that region. The success of the album garnered Kuraki the

Japan Gold Disc Award The is an award presented 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 Associa ...

for "Rock Album of the Year".

Background and composition

While in high school in Japan, Kuraki sent a demo tape of songs to

, who then signed her to their label. However, Giza Studio sent Kuraki to the United States to enter that region, which later attributed to her debut single "Baby I Like". The track impressed executives at

, prompting the label to distribute it. However, it failed to chart on any ''

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 ...

'' chart there. There onward, Giza Studio's enlisted Kanonji to produce her debut record whilst Kuraki served as the album's primary songwriter, with the help of Michael Africk on the tracks "Baby Tonight (You & Me)" and "

", and Yoko Blaqstone with the track "Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)". The record label also hired American engineers Cybersound to arrange and mix majority of the songs from ''Delicious Way'', with the help of Stone. ''Delicious Way '' was not engineered in North America, unlike most of Cybersound's work. The composition of the album's music included

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 m ...

, Stone, Tomoo Kasahara, Miguel Sá Pessoa, Perry Geyer at Cybersound, Masataka Kitaura, and Africk. Musically, ''Delicious Way'' is an R&B album with influences of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

, as described by a staff member from ''CD Journal''. A majority of the album's lyrics include small

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

sentences, whilst the tracks "Baby Tonight (You & Me)", "Never Gonna Give You Up", and "Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)" are English-prominent written tracks.

Release and promotion

''Delicious Way'' was released by

and Giza Inc. in Japan on June 28, 2000. The album contains 11 tracks in both physical and digital formats, and has a cover sleeve photographed by Miho Mori; it features a slightly-sepia tinted image of Mai Kuraki, in front of a blurry background. To promote the album, four singles were released. The first single was "

", released on December 8, 1999. It was a success in Japan, reaching number two and 63 on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

and

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. It was certified in two categories 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) and sold over 1.3 million physical units and 100,000 digital sales in that region. The second single was " Stay by My Side", released on March 15, 2000. The single sold nearly one million units in Japan, and became her first single to reach the top spot on the Oricon Singles Chart in Japan. It was certified double platinum by the RIAJ for shipments of 800,000 units. "

", the album's third single, was released on April 26, 2000. It managed to reach number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, but was certified Million by the RIAJ for physical shipments of one million units; it has sold 968,980 physical units, and 100,000 digital copies in that region. The album's final single was "

", which was released on June 7, 2000. Despite selling 434,250 units in Japan, the lowest sales count for a single on ''Delicious Way'', it managed to reach number two on the Oricon Singles Chart was received a Platinum certification by the RIAJ.

Reception and legacy

Upon its release, ''Delicious Way'' received favorable reviews from most

. A staff member from ''CD Journal'' enjoyed the album, but pointed out "Stepping Out", "Can't Get Enough (Gimme Your Love)", "Everything's All Right", "Happy Days", and "Kimi to no Jikan" as the album's best tracks. Retrospectively, Alexey Eremenko, who contributed in writing the biography of Kuraki at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, highlighted the album songs "Delicious Way", "Love, Day After Tomorrow", "Never Gonna Give You Up", and "Secret of My Heart", as some of her greatest work. At the 15th

Japan Gold Disc Awards The is an award presented 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 Associa ...

in 2001, ''Delicious Way'' won the award for "Best Rock Album of the Year". Alongside this, her single "Secret of My Heart" received the "Song of the Year" award, amongst 13 other recipients. The album was a huge success in Japan. It debuted at number one on the

with 2,218,640 units sold, making it the highest first week sales for a debut album in Japanese music history and sixth overall. It stayed at the top for two consecutive weeks and remained in the top 10 for nine consecutive weeks. By the end of 2000, ''Delicious Way'' sold 3.45 million units in Japan, making it the highest selling album of the year. As of July 2016, ''Delicious Way'' has sold over 3.5 million units in Japan, making it the 9th best selling album in Japan of all time. Alongside this achievement, it is the third best selling debut album, behind

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's self-titled album and

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

's ''

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''), and is the fourth highest selling studio album by a female artist. Eremenko stated that the album's sales were a milestone in Japan, but commented "Kuraki never topped these results (both singles and album), but neither did she fizzle out after the debut." In 2015, Kuraki paid tribute to the album by re-creating the artwork for her greatest hits compilation ''Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope''; Arama Japan staff members commented she "recreat dthe iconic fresh faced and plain clothed cover with her calm facial expression." According to their staff, the recording is a classic and helped the singer defining "her spot in the Japanese music industry."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the CD liner notes of ''Delicious Way''. *Mai Kuraki – vocals, backing vocals, songwriting *

– composer. backing vocals *Cybersound – tracking, arranging, mixing *

– composer. backing vocals, tracking, arranging *Michael Africk – backing vocals, tracking, arranging, composer. songwriting *Miguel Sá Pessoa – composer. tracking, mixing *Perry Geyer – composer. tracking, recording *Masatake Kitaura – composing *Tomoo Kasahara – composing *Gan Kojima – art direction *Tokiko Nishimuro – direction *Yasuko Yamamoto – co-direction *Akio Nakajima – mixing, recording *Takayuki Ichikawa – mixing, recording *DJ Dopejack – musician *Greg Hawkes – musician *Larry Thomas – musician *Miho Mori – photography *Kanonji – producer, executive producer *Katsuyuki Yoshimatsu – recording *Sawako Ryuko – mixing *Shigeru Kajita – mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Yearly charts

All-time charts

Certification and sales

Release history

Notes

References

External links

''Delicious Way''
at Mai Kuraki's official website. {{Authority control 2000 debut albums Mai Kuraki albums Giza Studio albums Being Inc. albums Japanese-language albums Albums produced by Daiko Nagato