To Love (Kana Nishino Album)

''To Love'' (stylized as ''to LOVE'') is Japanese R&B singer- lyricist Kana Nishino's second studio album. It was released on June 23, 2010, by SME Records. Beginning sometime in 2009, the album's production was handled by several music producers, such as Jeff Miyahara, Giorgio Cancemi, Daniel Sherman, Mats Lie Skåre, ViVi, Andreas Levander, among others. It also features a guest appearance from Japanese hip-hop and reggae musician Minmi. Nishino contributed towards the album as the executive songwriter. ''to LOVE'' is primarily a J-pop album with numerous elements of dance-pop, pop rock, R&B, electropop, adult contemporary, and pop ballads.

The album spawned four Oricon Top 10 singles, " Motto...", " Dear.../Maybe", " Best Friend" and "Aitakute Aitakute". All of the singles went on to be certified "million" for full song downloads of over 1 million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), establishing Nishino as a dominant force on music charts and digital platforms. "Aitakute Aitakute" in particular is one of the best-selling multi-format singles in Japan with total sales of excess 5,097,000 (5,000,000 downloads and 97,000 physical units).

A commercial success, ''to LOVE'' became Nishino's first number-one album in Japan, premiring at the top spot with first week sales of 290,048 units. By the end of 2010, ''to LOVE'' sold 645,417 units and became the third best-selling album of the year in Japan behind Ikimonogakari's Ikimonobakari: Members Best Selection and Arashi's Boku no Miteiru Fūkei. In its astonishing 104-week chart run, ''to LOVE'' went on to sell an additional 66,769 units in 2011, and 15,211 more in 2012. This is Nishino's best selling album, with 727,945 units sold in total.

Background

"To Love" is Nishino's first album released after she solidified her popularity in the digital market. Despite Nishino's initial singles for her first album, '' Love One.'', not seeing much success, the songs promoted around the album's release (" Tōkutemo" feat. Wise, "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara" and " Kimi no Koe o" feat. Verbal ( M-Flo)) were gradual hits in the digital market. Since then, all of her singles have hit No. 1 on RIAJ's Digital Track Chart, which tracks full-length song downloads to cellphones. " Best Friend" stayed at No. 1 for three consecutive weeks, while "Aitakute Aitakute" and " Motto..." reached No. 1 for two.

Currently, "Aitakute Aitakute", "Best Friend," "Dear..." and "Motto..." are all certified for 750,000+ ringtone downloads and 500,000+ full-length cellphone downloads. "Maybe" has been downloaded on cellphones more than 100,000 times, along with a B-side to " Best Friend" " One Way Love" that is not present on the album.

Writing

Much like her first album, ''To Love'' is centred around a theme of love. As exactly one year had passed from her previous album, Nishino wanted to express the growth in her values and view on love. In an interview with Yahoo! Japan, Nishino stated that for the lyrics on the album she "makes an image from the music, then creates a short film made of images in her head, and from there creates the basis for the scenario for the lyrics.

Many of the songwriters from Nishino's first album worked with her again for ''To Love''. Sizk, who worked on the prologue/epilogues from her first album worked on the second albums, while the singles were created with Giorgio Cancemi (who worked with Nishino on 2/3 of the later promotional tracks from ''Love One.'', "Tōkutemo" and "Kimi no Koe o"). One song was written by Australian songwriters Nervo ("Hey Boy"), much like the songs "Girlfriend" and Nishino's debut single " I"). Jeff Miyahara also returned to work with Nishino once again (after producing the single "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara"), with "Summer Girl" feat. Minmi.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 1 on Oricon's daily albums chart, selling 71,000 units on its first day. It stayed at No. 1 for the first week, selling 290,000 units. The album's first week sales are currently the highest for a solo artist in 2010. The album was certified triple platinum selling over 750,000 physical units

Many album tracks were popular enough to chart digitally after the album's release. "Love & Smile", released a week before the album, was the most successful, peaking at No. 3. Others included "Summer Girl" feat. Minmi (No. 8), "Kono Mama de" (No. 14) and "You Are the One" (No. 64).

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Charts

Sales and certifications

Personnel

* Bachlogic - arrangement/music/production/programming (#9)
* Giorgio Cancemi - arrangement/music/production/recording (#2, #5, #8, #11-12), lyrics (#8, #12)
* DJ Mass (Vivid Neon*) - cuts/lyrics/music (#10), instruments (#4)
* Kotaro Egami (Supa Love) - arrangement/production (#7)
* Exxxit - music (#10)
* Grumpy (Digz, inc) - mixing (#6)
* Takuya Harada - vocal direction (#9, #13)
* Yuki Hasegawa - child chorus member (#6)
* Kenji "Jino" Hino - arrangement/music (#3)
* Hiro (Digz, inc) - vocal direction (#6)
* Satoshi Hosoi - mixing (#3-4, #9-10, #13)
* Marin Iitsuka - child chorus member (#6)
* Yuma Iitsuka - child chorus member (#6)
* Gonta Kawamoto - mixing (#7)
* Yuki Keity (Exxxit) - lyrics (#10)
* Kgro (Digz, inc) - recording (#6)
* Masa Kohama - arrangement/music (#3)
* Andreas Levander - music (#4)
* Mats Lie Skare - music (#13)
* Yasuo Matsumoto - mastering/mixing (#5)
* Minmi - lyrics/music/vocals (#3)
* Jeff Miyahara - arrangement/music (#3)
* Toshihiko Miyoshi - mastering (#2, #8, #11), mixing (#2, #8, #11-12)

* Miriam Nervo - music (#4)
* Olivia Nervo - music (#4)
* Kana Nishino - lyrics (all tracks), vocals (all tracks)
* Jonas Nordelius - music (#4)
* Mitsuki Ogasawara - child chorus member (#6)
* Kazuma Ogawa - child chorus member (#6)
* Shinquo Ogura - music (#11)
* Saeki Youthk - music (#7)
* Kazuhito Saito - mixing (#7), recording (#1, #4, #6, #9-10, #13-14)
* Hidekazu Sakai - mastering (all tracks)
* Winston Sela - music (#9)
* Daniel Sherman - music (#9)
* Sizk (Star Guitar) - arrangement/mixing/production (#1, #14)
* Rock Sakurai (Exxxit) - instruments (#4)
* So-Hey! (Nerdhead) - violin (#11-12)
* Himari Suzuki - child chorus member (#6)
* Toiza71 (Digz, inc) - arrangement/music (#6)
* ViVi - music (#1, #14)
* Vivid Neon* - arrangement/production (#4, #10)
* Yamachi - guitar (#2)
* Yuichi Yamada (Nerdhead) - keyboard (#2, #5, #8, #11-12)
* Takashi Yamaguchi - guitar (#4, #6)
* Zetton - arrangement/music/programming (#13)

References

{{Authority control

2010 albums
Kana Nishino albums
SME Records albums