"Wonder Woman" is a song by Japanese recording artist

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 ...

, featuring R&B singer and rapper Ai as well as rock musician

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

. The song was the lead promotional single for Amuro's collaboration-compilation album, '' Checkmate!'', released in April 2011. Namie Amuro had previously collaborated with Ai on the songs "Uh Uh,,,,,," (

Suite Chic Suite Chic was a collaborative project between some of Japan's top and up-and-coming R&B and hip hop artists, writers, and producers, which debuted on December 18, 2002. Suite Chic served as a vehicle for pop singer Namie Amuro, who at the time ...

, 2003), ""Do What U Gotta Do" feat. Ai, Namie Amuro & Mummy-D (

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 ...

, 2006) and Ai 2010 single "

Fake Fake may refer to: * Deception, an act or a statement intended to deceive ** Charlatan, a person who practices deception to obtain money or other advantages ** Counterfeit, a reproduction of an item, intended to deceive ** Cover-up, an attempt to ...

." Ai and Tsuchiya had previously collaborated on Ai's 2007 album ''Don't Stop Ai'' with "Butterfly" featuring Anna Tsuchiya, Anty the Kunoichi,

Pushim , born 　on November 26, 1975 is a Zainichi Korean reggae artist. She is signed to Sony Music Japan's Ki/oon Records division. She began performing in the Kansai reggae scene in 1995. In 1998, she contributed back-up vocals for the Refugee Camp ...

, as well as on Tsuchiya's 2008 single "Crazy World". Amuro and Tsuchiya have not previously collaborated. The song was the most successful of the four new songs from the album, peaking at number five on 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 ...

's Digital Track Chart, and being certified gold twice, for downloads to cellphones as well as PC downloads.

Composition and production

The song is an up-beat

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 ...

song, sung in a vocal trio with verses sung alternatively by each singer and the chorus sung by all three. The verses are arranged sparsely, with a bass guitar and beats, while the chorus features a full band backing with drums, bass guitar, and guitar. The lyrics are split roughly half and half between English and Japanese, with the singers alternating between the two languages throughout the song. The lyrics describe somebody trying to reassure someone that they will be their "wonder woman" who will be there to help them in times of need. The person is someone who is always acting strong, and the song's protagonist wants them to "tell erthose SOS oments so that they can help them. Amuro wanted to create a collaboration featuring a chorus of strong female vocalists. When thinking of such musicians, Ai and Anna Tsuchiya came to mind. Amuro felt that she had worked with Ai so many times in the past that a collaboration with her could not go wrong.

Promotion

The song was featured in a high-profile marketing campaign for ''

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'', the third of Amuro's songs to be used, after "

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 " Break It" (2010). The commercial first aired on February 13, 2011. The commercial featured Amuro on a motorbike in the desert, racing several androids on bikes. All three musicians billed in the song appeared on the cover of fashion magazine

S Cawaii S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...

's April issue, in promotion of the single. On June 25, 2011, all three musicians attended the

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 ...

award ceremony and performed the song.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Hideaki Sunaga Hideaki (ひであき) is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Hideaki can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *秀秋, "excellent", "autumn" *英秋, "outstanding", "autumn" *秀明, "excellent", "bright" ...

, who had previously not worked with Amuro, Tsuchiya or Ai on a music video. The video features the three vocalists in a darkly lit, wet parking lot. One musician performs the song while walking across a road, another in a white car, and another in a red elevator. Each vocalist switches roles, appearing in each of these separately. After one cycle of this, two vocalists are seen entering separate elevators, and the cycle repeats. Only in the final scene of the video do all three vocalists appear together in the red elevator. The music video first aired on

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 ...

, on February 18. The video is featured as a part of ''Checkmate!''s DVD edition.

Charts

Certification

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Checkmate!s liner notes booklet. *Ai – vocals *D.O.I. – mixing (at Daimonion Recordings) *Hitomi Joko – recording *Shigeki Kashii – recording *Ryosuke Kataoka – recording *Chantal Kreviazuk – writing *Tanya Lacey – writing *Paul NZA – instruments, production, recording, writing *Marek Pompetzki – instruments, production, recording, writing *Tiger – writing, vocal direction for Ai, Namie Amuro *

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

– vocals *Yuko Yasumoto – production coordination

Release history

References

{{Aisinger 2011 singles Japanese-language songs Ai (singer) songs Namie Amuro songs Anna Tsuchiya songs Songs written by Chantal Kreviazuk Songs written by Tanya Lacey Songs about comics Songs about fictional female characters Songs about superheroes 2011 songs Avex Trax singles