''Smile'' is the eleventh
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by Japanese singer and songwriter
Mai Kuraki. The album was released on February 15, 2017, by
Northern Music
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
. It is the follow-up to her 2014
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
, ''
Mai Kuraki Best 151A: Love & Hope''. The album was released on three editions: standard edition, fan club edition, and limited edition, which is accompanied with a bonus disc. ''Smile''
The album was preceded by three singles, "
Serendipity
Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery.
Etymology
The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. I ...
", "
Sawage Life", and "
Yesterday Love", which was released as the
video single and peaked at number six in Japan. To promote the album, Kuraki embarked on the national tour, "Mai Kuraki Live Project 2017 "Sawage Life"" from March 18, 2017.
Promotion
Singles
"
Serendipity
Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery.
Etymology
The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. I ...
" was released as the lead single from the album on May 20, 2015. It has peaked at number 6 on the
RecoChoku Weekly Singles Chart, but failed to enter the
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 ...
. The song was used by
West Japan Railway Company for the promotion of
San'yō Shinkansen.
"Sawage Life" was released as the second single from the album on July 30, 2016. The song was written by the American singer-songwriter
Porcelain Black and Bobby Huff and featured as the ending theme song for the Japanese animation program
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 ...
.
"Yesterday Love" was released as the third single from the album on January 11, 2017. The song was released on
Blu-ray and
DVD format and has peaked at number 3 on the
Oricon Music Blu-ray Chart. The song was also featured as the ending theme song for
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 ...
.
Commercial performance
''Smile'' sold 11,910 copies in its release date and debuted at number 4 on the
Oricon daily chart behind
Big Bang
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
's ''
Made'',
Scandal's ''Best Album "Scandal"'' and
Leo Ieiri's ''5th Anniversary Best''.
It peaked at number 2 on the chart on February 16, 2017 with selling 4,220 copies in a day. The album debuted at number 4 on the
Oricon weekly chart with selling 21,222 copies in its first week.
As of March, 2018, the album has sold 29,716 physical copies in Japan.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the CD booklet of ''Smile''.
[Mai Kuraki (2017). Smile (CD Album; Booklet). Mai Kuraki. Japan: Northern Music. VNCM-9033.]
*Mai Kuraki – vocals, producer, songwriting,
*
Akihito Tokunaga - composing, tracking
*Toshiya Kubota - composing, backing vocals
*Daikō Nagato - producer, composing, tracking
*Shibu - composing, tracking
*Command Freaks- composing, tracking
*Tesung Kim - composing, tracking
*Sophia Pae - composing, tracking
*Jake K - composing, tracking
*Takashi Fukuda - composing, tracking
*Maxx song - composing, tracking
*Yongshin Kim - composing, tracking
*
Alaina Beaton - composing
*Bobby Huff - composing
*Makoto Watanabe - composing
*Manabu Marutani - composing
*Nanna Larsen - composing
*Sidnie Tipton - composing
*Shane Pittman - composing
*
Michael Africk - backing vocals
*Taito - tracking
*Shoko Mochiyama - tracking
*
Nash Overstreet - tracking
*Naoki Morioka - guitar
*Yumemoto Tsuresawa - guitar, tracking
*Takayuki Ichikawa - recording, mixing
*Seiji Motoyama - mixing, composing, tracking
*Ethan Brand - mixing
*Miguel Sa Pessoa - mixing
*Asumi Narita - coordinator
*Masahiro Shimada- mastering
*Miho Saito - A&R
*Asako Watanabe - artist management
*Chiharu Kurosawa - artist management
*Tetsuo Sato - art direction, art design
Charts
Daily charts
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
Certification and sales
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2017 albums
Mai Kuraki albums
Northern Music albums
2010s Japanese-language albums
Albums produced by Daiko Nagato