''Uncontrolled'' is the 10th studio 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 ...

pop and R&B musician

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 ...

, released on June 27, 2012. The album was released before her 20th anniversary concerts — one in Okinawa in September, and seven across Japan in November and December 2012. The album consists mostly of songs sung in

, however this was the first album of Amuro's to feature several songs sung entirely in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. The album met favorable reception by music critics, and was nominated the Album of the Year by the Asia Association Music Awards. The album spent three weeks at number one on

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 albums chart, making ''Uncontrolled'' the second album of Amuro's to do this after ''

Best Fiction ''Best Fiction'' is the third greatest hits album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro, and the final greatest hits release from Avex Trax, her record company since 1995. The release follows her two previous greatest hits albums, '' 181920'' ( ...

'' (2008) spent six weeks at number one. The album was certified double platinum 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 ...

. This was her fifth consecutive number one album since 2007, and her sixth consecutive double platinum album since 2005.

Background and development

''Uncontrolled'' is Amuro's first original studio album since 2009's '' Past < Future'', and follows her collaboration compilation album '' Checkmate!'', released in 2011. Unlike ''Past < Future'', which was released after only one physical single, ''Uncontrolled'' is a compilation of nine songs from singles released between 2010 and 2012, as well as four new songs. Amuro revealed later in an interview that an idea for the album was conceived in early 2012. The album was created as a collection of songs that Amuro wanted to sing, in contrast to a concept or theme-based album. Of the nine tracks released as singles before the album, four achieved digital sales high enough to receive certifications from

(RIAJ): "Fight Together", "Get Myself Back", and "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" were all certified gold for full-length cellphone downloads, and "Love Story" was certified triple platinum for ringtones and double platinum for full-length cellphone downloads. It was Amuro's highest certified song in four years, since 2008's " New Look." Most of the songs were recorded 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 ...

, at Prime Sound Studio Form, with additional recording at Azabu O Studio, Avex Studio, and Bunkamura Studio. The exception was "Let's Go", which was recorded at

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

Los Angeles 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' ...

, where Amuro had previously recorded in the 1990s for her albums ''

Sweet 19 Blues ''Sweet 19 Blues'' (stylized ''SWEET 19 BLUES'') is the second studio album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro. The album was released in four different slipcases, with the first three cases limited to 1,000,000 copies each—were put on sa ...

'' (1996), ''

Concentration 20 ''Concentration 20'' is the third studio album by Japanese singer Namie Amuro, released July 24, 1997 by Avex Trax. The album's genre is a fusion of styles including pop, dance and rock. Unlike Amuro's previous effort, ''Sweet 19 Blues'', which ...

'' (1997), and ''

Genius 2000 ''Genius 2000'' is the fourth studio album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro, released on January 26, 2000, through Avex Trax. The album was released three years after her last album, ''Concentration 20'' (1997), and was produced by Tetsu ...

'' (2000).

Writing and production

Five of the songs on the album are sung entirely in English — three new tracks "In the Spotlight (Tokyo)," "Hot Girls" and "Only You," as well as English versions of the songs from her preceding single " Go Round / Yeah-Oh!." During an interview with ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

'', Amuro stated that the English tracks were not made with overseas audience in mind. She chose to sing them in English because she thought they would sound better in English. The album's songs featured seven different sound producers, with longtime collaborator Nao'ymt and new collaborator T-SK producing four songs each. Nao'ymt, who had worked with Amuro since 2005 on songs such as " Baby Don't Cry" and "

Hide and Seek Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chose ...

," worked on four tracks, "Break It," "Get Myself Back," "Fight Together" and "Tempest." T-SK, who began working with Amuro in 2011, produced "Go Round," "Let's Go," "Love Story" and "Yeah-Oh" — all songs written by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n band

The Nervo Twins Nervo (stylised as NERVO) are an Australian DJ duo comprising twin sisters Olivia and Miriam Nervo (born 18 February 1982). After signing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 18 years of age, the sisters pursued careers as songwriting partners and ...

. In addition to the songs with the Nervo Twins, Amuro worked on three additional songs with the Nervo Twins' music publishing company, the

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

based

Razor Boy Music Publishing Razor Boy Music Publishing is a Swedish independent music publishing company. It launched its operations on June 1, 2008. Company profile Founded and owned by Fredrik Olsson, who is managing the day-to-day operations creatively and administrati ...

. "In the Spotlight (Tokyo)," "Hot Girls" and "Only You" were produced by Henrik Nordenback, Michael Smith and

Peter Mansson Peter Månsson is a Swedish music producer and songwriter, who often writes his name as Peter Mansson when working with non-Swedish artists. Of the seven songs featuring Razor Boy Music Publishing artists, five were sung entirely in English. Of these songs, Tiger wrote Japanese lyrics for "Let's Go" "Love Story," and the Japanese versions of " Go Round / Yeah-Oh!" that appear on the single were written by Aili and

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 ...

respectively. The remaining two producers are also previous collaborators of Amuro's: T. Kura ("

Funky Town "Funkytown" is a song by the American disco/ funk band Lipps Inc., released in 1980 as the second single from their 1979 debut album, '' Mouth to Mouth''. It was successful globally, reaching top spots in places such as the United States, Wes ...

" (2007), " New Look" (2008)) worked with Michico on the track "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!," while Japanese DJ

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 albu ...

(" What a Feeling" (2008)) produced "Naked" with

M-Flo is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of record producer DJ Taku Takahashi, Verbal and Lisa. Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists fo ...

member Verbal writing the lyrics.

Promotion and release

Songs from ''Uncontrolled'' were featured in two major commercial campaigns featuring Amuro as their spokeswoman. "Break It" was used for the ''

Coca-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 n ...

'' "Wild Heart" campaign in 2010, a tie-up that has also featured her songs "

Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

" (2009) and "

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 ...

" (2011). Japanese cosmetic firm KOSÉ used "Naked" and "Go Round" in campaigns for their ''Esprique'' line of eye-make up. "Hot Girls" was also used in a commercial campaign. Amuro had previously worked with Kosé in 2001, in a lipstick campaign featuring " Say the Word." Of the single tracks, four were used in prime-time television shows as their theme songs. "Fight Together" was used as the third theme song for the anime ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

''s 14th season. This was the first time in eight years since Amuro had a song associated with a popular Japanese animation, the last being "

Come Come may refer to: *Comè, a city and commune in Benin *Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece Music *Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990 *Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979 **Come ...

" and "Four Seasons" from her 2003 album ''

Style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

''. "Tempest" was the eponymous theme song of ''

Tempest Tempest is a synonym for a storm. '' The Tempest'' is a play by William Shakespeare. Tempest or The Tempest may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''The Tempest'' (1908 film), a British silent film * ''The Tempest'' (1911 film), a ...

'' (2010), based on Okinawan novelist Eiichi Ikegami's 2008 novel. "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" were used as the theme songs for the ensemble drama '' Watashi ga Ren'ai Dekinai Riyū'' (2011), starring actresses Karina,

Yuriko Yoshitaka is a Japanese actress. She has played numerous roles in film and television, including lead roles in ''Snakes and Earrings'', ''Yurigokoro'', and the NHK asadora ''Hanako to Anne''. Career At age 16, her first year of high school, Yoshitaka join ...

and

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

member

Yuko Oshima is a Japanese actress and former member of Japanese idol girl group AKB48, of which she was the captain of Team K. She was also a member of the AKB48 subunit Not Yet. In addition to the singles that involved the rock-paper-scissors tournaments, ...

. Amuro made a cameo performance on the December 12, 2011 episode of the drama, performing the theme song. "Only You," an album track, was used as the theme song for the WOWOW TV broadcast of the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

soccer tournament. WOWOW also broadcast three TV specials about Amuro for her anniversary. ''Namie Amuro 20th Anniversary Special: Live History & Document of Namie Amuro'', broadcast on June 2, 2012, featured behind the scenes footage of the "Only You" video, as well as archive footage of Amuro's lives, music videos and an interview. On November 3 and 4, 2012, ''Namie Amuro 20th Anniversary Special #2: Live Future & Document of Namie Amuro'' was released, followed the next day by live footage from her September 16 performance ''Namie Amuro 0th Anniversary Live in Okinawa''. The preceding documentary featured rehearsal footage for the live, interviews with collaborators who participated in the concert, and footage of Amuro's promotional tour across Asia. In May 2012, a

smart phone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...

application was released to

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...

and

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...

, in promotion for the album, Amuro's 2012 tour, and her 20th anniversary. In late May 2012 outside of

Shinjuku Station is a major railway station in the Shinjuku and Shibuya wards in Tokyo, Japan. In Shinjuku, it is part of the Nishi-Shinjuku and Shinjuku districts. In Shibuya, it is located in the Yoyogi and Sendagaya districts. It is the world's busiest rai ...

in Tokyo, an 8m high billboard painting of the album cover was created over two days, revealing the album cover for the first time. The background of the cover features the annular solar eclipse of May 21, 2012, which was seen as a total eclipse in Tokyo. Amuro made appearances at radio stations in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. In

Sapporo Station is a railway station in Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It is served by Hakodate Main Line and other lines of Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), and is also connected to the Subway Sapporo Station. Sapporo Station is the starting p ...

, a temporary Namie Amuro exhibit was erected at the Paseo department store. For promotion of the album, Amuro was featured in many fashion magazines, including ''Blenda'', ''Gisele'', ''Glamorous'', '' Mina'', '' S Cawaii!'', ''Spring'', ''Sweet'' and '' Vivi''. Namie Amuro travelled to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in late June and early July 2012 to promote the album. During the stop, Amuro held several press conferences, and a series of club dance events called ''Amuro Night'' were held. While Amuro herself did not dance at the events, she attended the event at

St James Power Station St James Power Station is a building located in HarbourFront, Singapore. Built in 1926, it was Singapore's first power station, having supplied electricity to the nearby port and the surrounding industries, shipyards and residences. It was previ ...

Promotional singles

The four new songs from the album received a gradual ringtone release before the album. The first of which, "Only You," was released as a digital download to cellphones on the day of the album's release. Prior to the album's release, "Only You" received enough radio airplay to chart at number 7 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. on

RIAJ 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 p ...

's cellphone download chart, "Only You" charted at number five for two consecutive weeks. "In the Spotlight (Tokyo)" was released on July 4, 2012 as a full-length cellphone download. The song received enough radio airplay prior to the album's release to chart on the Japan Hot 100 at number 46. The song reached number 15 on RIAJ's download chart. "Let's Go" was released in full on July 11, 2012, and "Hot Girls" was released later on July 25. "Let's Go" reached number 29 on RIAJ.

Music videos

Dresses at the Namie Amuro exhibit at Paseo in Sapporo

''Uncontrolled'' features the largest number of MVs in Amuro's career: seven MVs from singles, and the remaining four of the new tracks. "Get Myself Back" was shot at her birthplace,

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, and was the first video of hers to be shot there. The location was chosen to express the sentiment of the song. "Only You" was directed by American director Thomas Kloss. The music video for "Only You" was shot overseas, in a desert near

. "In the Spotlight (Tokyo)"'s music video was shot with the concept of "making Tokyo a gigantic dance floor," with scenes of the

Shuto Expressway is a network of toll expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the . Most routes are grade-separated (elevated roads or tunnels) and central routes have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that requi ...

, the

pedestrian scramble A pedestrian scramble, also known as scramble intersection and scramble corner (Canada), 'X' Crossing (UK), diagonal crossing (US), (Japan), exclusive pedestrian interval, or Barnes Dance, is a type of traffic signal movement that temporarily s ...

s in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower in the Shiba-koen district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, built in 1958. At , it is the second- tallest structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and i ...

featured in the video. "Let's Go" features scenes shot with a high-speed camera that revolved about Amuro while she was performing the song. At the

2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan was held in Chiba on June 23, 2012, at the Makuhari Messe and was hosted by Japanese trio Perfume. The nominees were announced on March 21, 2012. Awards Video of the Year Exile — " Rising Sun" *Lady Gaga � ...

, "Love Story" won the Best Female Video award, while "Naked" received a nomination for Best Pop Video. At the previous year's

2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan The 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan were held in Chiba on June 25, 2011 at the Makuhari Messe. The VMAJ were the culmination of MTV Japan's Music of Hope campaign, the channel's multiplatform response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The ...

awards, "Break It" was nominated for the video of the year. For the upcoming is nominated for the Best Female Video award, and "Naked" is nominated for the Best Pop Video award. On June 23, 2012,

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 ...

music video channel aired a special compilation of Amuro's music videos. Amuro was chosen as the "artist of the month" at MTV Japan for July 2012.

Tours

On September 16, 2012, the 20th anniversary of her debut as a member of the

Super Monkey's were a Japanese pop-singing and dancing group that spawned the careers of Namie Amuro and some members of the girl group MAX, the group was active between 1992 till 1995 and that disbanded on 1996. History Pre-debut The group was originall ...

, Amuro was planned to hold a special live concert in her birthplace of Okinawa. The live features guest appearances by Ai,

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 ...

's Kaname Kawabata, Mummy-D (of

Rhymester Poetaster , like rhymester or versifier, is a derogatory term applied to bad or inferior poets. Specifically, ''poetaster'' has implications of unwarranted pretensions to artistic value. The word was coined in Latin by Erasmus in 1521. It was fir ...

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...

, Verbal (of

) and

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 f ...

. However, due to the approach of Typhoon Samba, the concert was cancelled the day before the show. Because of the nature of the concert, the management of Amuro announced that the concert would not be rescheduled. An 8-day dome tour across Japan was held in November and December 2012 featuring performances in

and

. On July 24 after all of the concert dates selling out, an extra concert was added in

. Some songs featured on the album were previously performed in past tours of Amuro's. "Break It" and "Get Myself Back" were performed on Amuro's ''Past

Critical reception

Yoshiki Aoyuki of ''Listen Japan'' agreed with the album's title, hearing that the music sounded unrestrained. He was impressed with the variety of songs even though many of them were dance tunes. He likened the "euro-disco" sound of "Only You" to the sound of

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

. Tetsu Hiraga of ''Hot Express'' was extremely impressed with the album, in particular "In the Spotlight (Tokyo)," calling it "the best kind of electro pop." He felt that every song had a similar impressive impact. He described the first single, "Break It," as "Amuro's voice dancing over a tricky guitar and bass." He found her "aggressively shouted singing" very exciting. He enjoyed the mis-match in the song "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" between the music, a "thick track with deep vocals" and the "girly in-love lyrics." Hiraga felt that "Yeah-Oh" had a "densely Western sound" that was not seen in any other Japanese musicians. Hiraga believed in all the reviews of her singles that Amuro's music was "aiming for the highest quality music." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

Japan'' author Kazumi Namba felt the album was "consistent and unshaking," and called the album "approximately Western" and noted how it followed current global trends in global pop music. He called the English recordings "ambitious," and was surprised at how different the work was to her roots in 1990s

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

. He rated the album three out of five.

Chart performance

''Uncontrolled'' was Amuro's 10th album to debut at number one on physical data provider ''

''s weekly albums chart, with 292,000 copies. The album stayed at number one for three weeks, and was the second album in her career to achieve this after ''Best Fiction''. Much like her previous album ''Checkmate!'' 105,000 copies of the album were sold on the first day. In its first week, it outsold the second place album,

Greeeen Greeeen (stylized as GReeeeN) is a Japanese vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, comprising the all-male four members: HIDE, navi, 92 (read as "kuni"), and SOH. They made their debut with Universal Music in 2007. Their logo image i ...

's '' Uta...'', by 200,000 copies. The album after one week's sales became the top selling album by a soloist released by that point in 2012 — surpassing

Ayaka , known simply as Ayaka, is a female Japanese singer, songwriter and record producer formerly signed to Warner Music Japan. Born in Osaka, she moved to Tokyo to pursue a singing career. She married actor Hiro Mizushima on February 22, 2009. B ...

's ''The Beginning''s total sales by 84,000 copies. It has since been topped by

Keisuke Kuwata is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and frontman for the Southern All Stars, as well of his own solo band, the Kuwata band. He has also done a significant amount of scoring music for films. He went to Aoyama Gakuin Universit ...

's ''I Love You: Now & Forever''. The CD+DVD version of the album outsold the CD Only edition by more than eight times in the first week, according to physical data tracker ''SoundScan Japan''. The first week total was better than Amuro's previous album, the collaboration compilation '' Checkmate!'', which had sold 252,000 copies. However, Amuro's previous studio album, '' Past'', outsold ''Uncontrolled''s first week by 39,000 copies. In

, ''Uncontrolled'' debuted at number five, underneath

Yoga Lin Yoga Lin (; born July 1, 1987) is a Taiwanese singer. He was the winner of One Million Star, Season 1, a reality TV singing competition in Taiwan during his study at National Dong Hwa University. During the competition, he once contemplated quit ...

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 ...

Nick Chou Nick Chou (; born August 2, 1988) is a Taiwanese singer, rapper and actor."Nick Chou Offici ...

and

Christine Fan Christine Fan (born March 18, 1976), better known by her stage name FanFan or her Chinese name Fan Wei-chi, is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, TV presenter, record producer, actress, author and philanthropist. She sings mostly in Mandarin, but ha ...

. In its second week, it fell to number 15. In

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, the album reached number 36 on the '' Gaon'' albums charts, and in its second week fell out of the top 100.

Track listing

The finalised track list was first released on Amuro's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on June 8, 2012.

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Uncontrolleds liner notes booklet. Managerial *Hiromi Amano – A&R *Shinji Hayashi – executive producer *Shintaro Higuchi – producer *Hisahiko Iida – producer *Toru Ishitsuka – orchestra coordinator (#13) *Takashi Kasuga – executive producer *Koji Makuuchi – musician coordinator (#13) * Masato "Max" Matsuura – executive supervisor *Kazutaka Naya – musician coordinator (#13) *Hiromi Owada – A&R desk *Michiharu Sato – A&R supervisor *Ryosuke Sekii – A&R *Daisuke Shimokawa – producer *Tetsuo Taira – executive supervisor *Rie Wada – artist management *Kazumi Yanagi – A&R chief Performance credits *Namie Amuro –

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 ...

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 ...

*Tomoyuki Asakawa – harp (#13) *Kenshow Hagiwara – horn (#13) *Masaaki Kawamura – oboe (#13) *Mari Ishida – piano (#13) *Tsutomu Isohata – horn (#13) *Yoichi Murata – trombone (#13) *Mim Nervo – background vocals (#5) *Liv Nervo – background vocals (#5) *Shin Ohmura – guitars (#6) *Koh Okumura – trombone (#13) *Masahiko Sugasaka – trumpet (#13) *Hideyo Takakuwa – flute (#13) *Tokunaga Tomomi Strings – string section (#13) *Junko Wakamitsu – flute (#13) *Kimio Yamane – clarinet (#13) *Hitoshi Yokoyama – trumpet (#13) Visuals and imagery *Takeshi Hanzawa – photographer *Taku Hatao – photographic operation *Akemi Nakano – hair, make-up *Akira Noda – stylist *Through. – art direction, design Technical and production *Tom Coyne – mastering (at Sterling Sound) *D.O.I. – mixing (at Daimonion Recordings) (#1, #3—13) *Kohei Hatakeyama – recording (#8) *Susumu Isa – vocal direction (#8) *Ryosuke Kataoka – recording (#1—13) *Chifumi Karasawa – orchestra recording (at Sound City) (#13) * HiDE Kawada – music direction (#3, #8—10) *Neeraj Khajanchi – recording (#10) *Peter Mansson –

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 ...

(#12) *Michico – vocal production (#4) *Tatsuya Murayama – orchestra arrangement (#13) *Nao'ymt – production (#6—7, #11, #13) *Henrik Nordenback – production (#1) *Shinichi Osawa – arrangement, mixing, production (#2) *Kenji Sano – vocal direction (#1, #3, #5, #9, #12) *Michael "Smidi" Smith – production (#5) *Tiger – chorus arrangement (#2), vocal direction (#2, #8, #10) *T. Kura – production (#4) *T-SK – production (#3, #8—10)

Chart rankings

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Release history

References

{{Authority control 2012 albums Namie Amuro albums Avex Group albums Japanese-language albums Contemporary R&B albums by Japanese artists