''Loveppears'' (stylized as ''LOVEppears'') is the second studio album by Japanese recording artist

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

. It was released in Japan, Hong Kong and China on November 10, 1999 through Avex Trax and the China Record Corporation, and distributed worldwide on April 10, 2001 by Avex Entertainment Inc. It was entirely written by Hamasaki herself, while the production was handled by Japanese musician

Max Matsuura , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese record producer and businessman. He is the founder of Avex Group, one of the largest music labels. He is known mainly for discovering and developing new artists into stars (most notably Ayumi Hamas ...

. Musically, ''Loveppears'' is a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

album and lyrically focuses on themes of love, frustration of life, loneliness, and individualism. Upon its release, ''Loveppears'' received favorable reviews from music critics. Many of those highlighted the singles as some of her best work, and complimented the transition from Hamasaki's previous

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

-inspired music to dance. Commercially, the album was a success in Japan, reaching the top of 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 eventually sold over 2.6 million units there, making it the 40th best selling album in that region. It was certified twice Million 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) for physical shipments of two million units, and is Hamasaki's third highest selling album based on

Oricon Style , 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 database, The album was nominated the Asia Association Music Prize Awards. To promote the album, Hamasaki released 11 singles. One of the singles, "

Love (Destiny) "Love (Destiny)" (stylized as "LOVE ~Destiny~") is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki, serving as the second single for her second studio album, ''Loveppears'' (1999). It was released by Avex Trax in Japan and Taiwan on A ...

", became her first single to top 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 ...

, other singles were able to reach the top ten). " Boys & Girls" and the extended play '' A'' sold over one million units, a first for Hamasaki. The majority of the album's material were promoted through Japanese commercials, which later became a staple for Hamasaki's future work, and some songs appeared on various remix albums conducted by Hamasaki. She performed most of the songs on her 2000 Japan concert tour.

Background and composition

After the success of Hamasaki's January 1999 studio album ''

A Song for ×× ''A Song for ××'' (the "××" is silent) is the debut album by Japanese pop artist Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickn ...

'', she began writing songs for her next studio album. However, her record label Avex Trax decided to release a

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 2007 ...

titled '' Ayu-mi-x''. The record marked the beginning of the incorporation of music elements outside of her

sound, including

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

and

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

. This transition into mainstream dance music made Hamasaki recruit new composers and producers for the then-upcoming studio album, including Japanese dance band HΛL,

Do As Infinity Do As Infinity is a Japanese pop and rock band that formed in 1999 with three members: vocalist Tomiko Van, guitarist Ryo Owatari, and guitarist and composer Dai Nagao. The band's name is sometimes abbreviated as DAI, alluding to the fact that ...

member and composer

Dai Nagao Do As Infinity is a Japanese pop and rock band that formed in 1999 with three members: vocalist Tomiko Van, guitarist Ryo Owatari, and guitarist and composer Dai Nagao. The band's name is sometimes abbreviated as DAI, alluding to the fact that ...

, and

Kazuhito Kikuchi is a Japanese composer. From 2001 to 2005 he was a member of the J-pop duo Breath. He has been one of the main song composers for Ayumi Hamasaki and has also written songs for Kumi Koda, Every Little Thing, Ami Suzuki and others. He won the Bes ...

, amongst others. Avex Trax hired Japanese musician

to produce the entire record, along with Hamasaki and Japanese musician Naoto Suzuki's help, while Hamasaki wrote every song on the album. Recording sessions were handled at Prime Sound Studio, Studio Sound Dali, and Onkio Haus in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

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 ...

, and at Soundtrack Studios 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 ...

, United States; the final material was then mixed at Studio Sound Dali and Conway Studios in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Masterings. ''Loveppears'' was noted by critics as Hamasaki's first transition from her "cautious" pop rock style in ''A Song for ××''. The album includes two instrumental tracks: "Introduction", which was composed by HΛL, and the "Interlude" song that was composed by Naoto Suzuki. Some of the singles on ''Loveppears'' had been remixed and re-composed, including " Fly High"; extended versions of " Whatever", "Too Late", "

Appears "Appears" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released by Avex Trax on November 10, 1999 as the sixth single from her second studio album ''Loveppears'' (1999), which was released on the same day. Alongside thi ...

"; and a revised version of "

", which was re-written and titled "Love: Refrain". The album also includes a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

on the song "Who...", which is the album version of "

Kanariya "Kanariya" (Japanese: "Canary") is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki for her second studio album, ''Loveppears'' (1999). It was released by Avex Trax in Japan and Hong Kong on December 8, 1999, and through Avex USA in No ...

". Lyrically, the material on the album focuses on themes of love, frustration of life, loneliness, and individualism.

Release and packaging

''Loveppears'' was released in Japan, Hong Kong and China on November 10, 1999 through Avex Trax and the China Record Corporation. The album included the seventeen tracks and, apart from the Chinese release, included a bonus Enhanced CD that features commercial files, small audio samples of all her recordings, internet links, images of magazine appearances, files of Hamasaki's voice, and images of Hamasaki being photographed in

New York City, New York 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 ...

. The enhanced CD also includes five remixes; two non-stop mega mixes of

Eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

and

inspired music, the Millennium mix of "A Song for ××", an acoustic mix of "Powder Snow", and the Make Me Mad remix of "Friend II". On April 10, 2001, the album was re-released worldwide by Avex Entertainment Inc. through digital outlets. The artwork for ''Loveppears'' was shot by Toru Kumazawa in New York City and

. The cover features Hamasaki topless with a light brown wig covering her breasts. Hamasaki believed that the material on the album influenced her decision in calling the album ''Loveappears'', stating "While working on ''A Song for ××'', during the sad times that I couldn't shake, I'd always be saying 'I'm very sad, I can't shake this.' Quietly crying, quietly wounded, quietly mourning. But with ''Loveppears'', I express it with furious sounds, shouting out, screaming." During an interview with Japanese magazine ''Beatfreak'' in November 1999, Hamasaki explained that the title represented the visual aspects of a relationship (appears) and how people see love; she explained in full detail;

Singles

11 singles were released to promote ''Loveppears'', including one

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

and three limited edition releases. The first single was " Whatever", which was released on February 10, 1999 on physical and digital formats. In Japan, it became her highest charting single on the

at the time, reaching number five. The following single, "

", was released on April 14, 1999 on physical and digital formats. It became Hamasaki's first single to reach the top of the Oricon Single Chart. "

To Be In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' i ...

" was released as the album's third single on May 12, 1999, and reached the top five on the Oricon Singles Chart. The next two singles; " Boys & Girls" and the extended play '' A'' (included the songs "Trauma", "End Roll", "Monochrome", "Too Late"), managed to sell over one million units each, with the latter release becoming Hamasaki best selling single according to the data base at

. Each individual track from ''A'' were promoted through commercial endorsements in Japan. The next three singles; "

", "

", and " Fly High", had a limited availability of 300,000 copies. "Appears" was released on November 10, 1999 in physical and digital formats. The single was also Hamasaki's first release outside of Japan, having been remixed by

Junior Vasquez Junior Vasquez (born Donald Gregory Mattern, August 24, 1949) is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He has been referred to as one of the only DJs of his time to gain international attention. Career Mattern moved to New York City a ...

and

Armin Van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted ''A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&nbs ...

, and distributed in 2001–2002 throughout North America and Europe. "Kanariya" was released on December 8, 1999, and was her only limited edition single from the album to peak at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart. It was her second single to have been released in North America, having been remixed by

Jonathan Peters Jonathan Peters (born January 25, 1969) is an American DJ, remixer and producer. He is known for his remix of Whitney Houston's "My Love Is Your Love". He was the long-time resident DJ of the Manhattan nightclub The Sound Factory The Sound ...

. The album's final single was "Fly High", which was released in Japan on February 9, 2000, her first single inside of the 2000s decade. Avex Trax USA and Europe decided to release promotional 12 inch vinyls of various tracks from ''Loveppears''. "Monochrome" was remixed by Keith Litman and released in North America, while

The Orb The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential 19 ...

remixed the track and released it in the United Kingdom. American duo

Thunderpuss Thunderpuss is the (mainly dance) remix/production team of Los Angeles-based music producers Barry Harris and Chris Cox. Harris had previously worked as part of several music groups including Kon Kan, Top Kat, Killer Bunnies and Outta Cont ...

remixed the track "Trauma" and released it in North America through Avex Trax USA. "Too Late" was remixed by Soul Solution and was released in North America, while the original mix of the album track "Immature" was released as a double

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

single with "Appears" in Japan, as part of a promotion for her 2000 concert tour.

Reception

Upon its release, ''Loveppears'' received positive reviews from most

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 ...

. A staff member working for ''CD Journal'' enjoyed the album and labeled it "bold". The review also stated that the music on ''Loveppears'' was at "high quality", and praised the producers and composers work on the material. The album brought Hamasaki several nominations and accolades, including a win at the

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 ...

for Best Pop Album of the Year, marking her second win after ''A Song for xx''. Alongside this, her single ''A'' won the award for Song of the Year. Commercially, ''Loveppears'' was a success in Japan. The album debuted at number one on the

, selling over 1.2 million units in its first week of sales. The record became the 34th album with the highest first week sales, and is Hamasaki's third feat. By the end of 1999, the album was ranked at number 14 on the Oricon Yearly Albums Chart with over 1,443,490 units sold; this made it the fourth highest selling album by a female artist, just behind

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

Ami Suzuki is a Japanese recording artist, DJ, and actress from Zama, Kanagawa, Japan. Having been discovered at the talent TV show ''Asayan'', she was one of the most popular female teen idols in the late 1990s. However, in 2000, Suzuki faced legal probl ...

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 ...

. The album continued to chart in 2000, and effectively sold an additional 1,077,960 units by the end of that year, reaching number 14 on the annual chart. The album stayed in the Oricon Top 200 chart for 64 weeks, becoming Hamasaki's longest spanning entry to date. It was certified double Million by the

(RIAJ) for physical shipments of two million units, and is Hamasaki's third highest selling album based on Oricon Style's database. As of July 2016, ''Loveppears'' has sold over 2.5 million units in Japan, and is the 40th best selling album in Japan of all time; this marks it Hamasaki's second highest studio album behind ''

Duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...

'', and the 10th highest selling album by a female artist.

Promotion

Hamasaki promoted the album with extensive commercial deals in Japan; according to Alexey Eremenko from

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 ...

, he commented in his biography of Hamasaki, "its success boosted by ad contracts that Hamasaki has raked in ever since as a spokesman, beginning with the Asian cosmetics juggernaut Kose (later she also worked for the likes of

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

and

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

)." She went onto promote several other products within Asia, including various food snacks, vehicles, and technology. In retrospect of the commercial deals, although Hamasaki initially supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, saying that it was "necessary that

he is He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

viewed as a product", she eventually opposed Avex's decision to market her as a "product rather than a person". Several tracks from ''Loveppears'' were featured on remix compilations during 1999 and 2000. The first was her February 2000

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 ...

compilation '' Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix''. A four album series were then released to support ''Loveppears''; the first three were the Japanese remix album '' Ayu-mi-x II Version JPN'', the American and European remix album '' ayu-mi-x II Version US+EU'' and the acoustic '' Ayu-mi-x II Version Acoustic Orchestra'', all released on March 8, 2000. The final album, ''

Ayu-mi-x II Version Non-Stop Mega Mix ''Ayu-mi-x'' (stylized as ''ayu-mi-x'') is the first remix album by Japanese musician Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released on March 17, 1999, to promote A Song for ××. Ayu-mi-x remix album contains 2 discs. Disc 1 is the Remix Club Side which contain ...

'', reached number six and was certified platinum by RIAJ. Hamasaki then performed several tracks from ''Loveppears'' on concert tours, including ''

Ayumi Hamasaki Concert Tour 2000 Vol. 1 ''Ayumi Hamasaki Concert Tour 2000 Vol.1'' is the first session DVD of the live tour of the Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki ...

'', '' Ayumi Hamasaki Concert Tour 2000 Vol. 2'', ''

Ayumi Hamasaki Stadium Tour 2002 A ''Ayumi Hamasaki Stadium Tour 2002 A'' DVD was released on January 29, 2003, the same day as ''Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2002 A ''Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2002 A'' is a Japanese-language live album released on January 29, 2003, the same day ' ...

'' and ''

Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2003–2004 A Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her su ...

''. The music videos to "Whatever", "Love (Destiny)", "To Be", "Boys & Girls", "Appears", "Kanariya", "Fly High" and other album promotional footage were featured on her 2004 video

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

Ayumi Hamasaki Complete Clip Box A ''Ayumi Hamasaki Complete Clip Box A'', by Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity ...

''.

Track listing

Additional notes

is credited as the alias D.A.I. in the liner notes.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the CD liner notes of ''Loveppears''. *Tatsuyan Ikeda – marketing *Kentaro Furusawa – marketing *Yasuhiro Yamamoto – marketing *Akiiro Terada – marketing *Ayumi Hamasaki – 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 ...

, songwriting *Toru Kumazawa – photography *Koji Matsumoto – glam team *Tadamasa Tagami – glam team *Gina – assistant photography *Chika – glam team *Taro – glam team *Kananko Miura – glam team *Shinichi Hara – art direction *Michiho Ogasawara – design *Toshikazu Sakawa – creative co-ordination *Jun Kujiwara – guitar *Masayoshi Furukawa – guitar *Naoki Harashibe – guitar *Naoya Akimoto – guitar *Hidetoshi Suzukie – guitar *Naoto Suzuki – keyboards, synthesizers, mixing, arrangement, composer, additional production *Hal – mixing, arrangement, composer, keyboards, synthesizers *

- producer, additional production *Eddy Schreyer - mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certification and sales

Release history

Notes

References

External links

''Loveppears''
at Ayumi Hamasaki's official website. * {{Authority control 1999 albums Ayumi Hamasaki albums Avex Group albums Japanese-language albums