Colours (Ayumi Hamasaki album)

Background and recording

In October 2014, Hamasaki announced she had worked on new music when she revealed the release details of her single "Feel the Love"/"Merry-Go-Round", which was her first physical release in three years. Then in May 2014, Japanese music publication Jame World confirmed the involvement of Western musicians and producers RedOne, Rodney Jenkins, who uses the alias Darkchild, and Fedde Le Grand, among others that were unannounced at the time. Titled Colours, the songs on the album were entirely written by Hamasaki, while production was led by long-time collaborator Max Matsuura. It also included a variety of Western producers including RedOne Production's members De Paris and Rush, Darkchild, and Grand, plus Andy Kautz, Armin van Buuren, and Benno de Goeij, and Japanese musicians Daishi Dance, DJ Hello Kitty, and M-Flo. This became Hamasaki's first studio album to have not been fully produced by Matsuura, although he did fully contribute to the tracks "Hello New Me", "Pray", and "Now & 4Eva".

Hamasaki began recording the album in 2013 at the Record Plant studios in Los Angeles, California, where she was living at the time. There, she recorded the tracks "Feel the Love", "XOXO", "Terminal", "Angel", "Merry-Go-Round", and "Lelio". In an interview with Japanese magazine S Cawaii, she stated that one of the reasons she moved to Los Angeles was in order to base her work there and her personal life in Japan; she quoted, "Now that I'm living in L.A., I thought 'I want to do work I could only do in L.A.' I was very proactive about it." She carried on with the development of the album while preparing for her annual 2013-2014 Countdown Live concert tour in Japan. While she was in Tokyo, Japan, she recorded the tracks "Hello New Me", "Pray", and "Now & 4Eva" at Prime Sound Studio Form, Avex Studio, and Avex Studio Azabu.

Composition and songs

Musically, Colours is an electronic dance album. In a short commentary on Hamasaki's website, she stated that the album was influenced by dance music. Alongside with several new producers, Hamasaki and Avex Trax enlisted a wide range of musicians and composers to help with the album, including Tetsuya Komuro, John Mamann, AJ Junior, among others. The majority of the album's content was written by Hamasaki in English and Japanese. According to the lyric booklets that came with the physical formats of the album, the tracks "Feel the Love", "XOXO", and "Angel" are performed bilingually, while the remaining content apart from "Lelio" are recorded primarily in Japanese.The track "Lelio" was recorded in English with additional Japanese lyrics throughout the verses. The album track "Merry-Go-Round" includes guest vocals of Japanese rapper Verbal, who also contributed to the song writing and composition of the single.

The album opens with "Feel the Love", which is an EDM–pop song that was composed by Komuro and produced by DJ Hello Kitty. DJ Hello Kitty provided an additional remix to the physical release of the single. "XOXO" was produced by RedOne Production members De Paris and Rush Aziz, while the composition was handled by Junior, Ameerah A. Roelants, Aziz, Mamann, and Yohanne Simon. Musically, it is an uptempo dance-pop song that was compared by a reviewer at KKBox.com to the work of American recording artist Lady Gaga. "What Is Forever Love" is a duet with Japanese recording artist Naoya Urata from the band AAA, and includes the instrumentation of pianos and synthesizers. "Hello New Me" and "Pray" was noted by a CD Journal staff member as pop ballads.

The sixth track on the album is "Terminal", which was composed and produced by Armin van Buuren and Benno de Goeij. It is Hamasaki's second album track to have not been produced by Matsuura, her first being "Connected", which was produced by Ferry Corsten and appeared on her fourth studio album I Am... (2002). Musically, it is a dance song that incorporates elements of trance music and EDM. "Angel" was composed by Darkchild, Andy Kautz, and Ardita Satka, and was noted by Gwendolyn Ng at The Strait Times as an EDM song. The eighth song on the album was the M-Flo-produced "Merry-Go-Round", which was described by Dinah Congying Chen at Asia Pacific Arts, a newspaper published by the University of Southern California, as another EDM track. "Lelio" was noted by Dato at Kkbox.com as an "aggressive" tune by Dato, while the closing song "Now & 4Eva" was composed by Japanese musician Kazuhiro Hara.

Release

Colours was released on July 2, 2014 in Japan by Avex Trax, worldwide by Avex Entertainment Inc., and on July 18 in Taiwan by Avex Taiwan. The album was released in six formats, the first being a stand alone CD that features the 10 songs. The CD and DVD version includes the 10 tracks, plus 10 videos for the official and behind the scenes of the tracks "Feel the Love", "XOXO", "Angel", "Merry-Go-Round", and "Lelio". The CD and Blu-Ray versions feature the same tracks as the CD and DVD version, but display a different album cover. Two limited edition versions of the DVD and Blu-Ray bundles were made available through Hamasaki's fan club website TeamAyu, which featured the same track list on both formats but came with a promo sticker and a Milena's brand aroma candle scented with "Boutique". The final format was the wide digital release, which included the same 10 tracks. The album artwork and promotional photos was photographed by G.T.Gan, which featured Hamasaki holding her arms against her head. The album artworks were published through Hamasaki's website on June 16, 2014, alongside the tracks that were featured.

Reception

Upon its release, Colours received favorable reviews from music critics. An editor from CD Journal complimented Hamasaki's approach to electronic dance music, and commended the variety of producers who helmed the album. Specifically, the review pointed out "Feel the Love", "Merry-Go-Round", and "Hello New Me" as the best tracks on the album. Similarly, Dato from KKbox.com was positive in his review and praised Hamasaki's approach to electronic dance music. He also noted the "fun" appeal to the album, and recommended the tracks "Feel the Love", "Hello New Me", "Pray", "XOXO", "What Is Forever Love", and "Lelio" from the album. Linshu Yan from The China Times did not review the album extensively, but labelled the sound and production as "fine", and highlighted the track "XOXO".

Commercially, it was not as successful as her previous records in Japan. It debuted at number five on the Oricon Albums Chart and sold 39,295 units, making it Hamasaki's lowest first week sales in her career at the time and was her first album to miss the top three position. Its low first week sales were attributed to the lack of promotion of the album and stiff competition by other artists at the time, as described by Japanese publications. It dropped to number 16 the following week, her first album not to stay inside the top ten for at least two weeks, with sales of 6,122 units. The following week, it slipped to number 31 with 2,922 units sold, and fell outside the top 50 the following week. It sold 53,406 units by the end of 2014, and was ranked number 98 on Oricon's Annual Chart. Despite its much lower success, it became her 47th record to chart within the top ten on the Oricon Albums Chart; Hamasaki became the second artist in Japanese music history to achieve this after Yumi Matsutoya. Elsewhere, the album reached number 75 and 16 on the South Korean Gaon Albums Chart and Gaon International Chart.

Singles

Every song from Colours was released as a single. The first was a double A-side single that featured the songs "Feel the Love" and "Merry-Go-Round", released on December 25, 2013. It was her first physical release in three years, after her EP–single L, and both tracks received a music video. It under performed in Japan, reaching number five on the Oricon Singles Chart, and made it her lowest charting single at the time of its release. The second single was "Terminal", which was released on October 1, 2014. It was her first single to not feature a music video, her first since "Unite!" in 2001. It became her first single to miss the top 20 since her debut single "Poker Face" in 1998, and is her lowest selling single as of August 2016. "XOXO" was released on the same day as "Terminal", but was distributed as a PlugAir device in Japan and North American through Machine Shop Recordings, featuring the song, one remix, and three additional videos. The tracks "Pray" and "Hello New Me" were released as digital singles on January 27 and May 14, 2014. Both tracks peaked at number 76 and 29 on the Japan Hot 100 chart, hosted by Billboard.

To promote Hamasaki's 2014 Premium Showcase: Feel the Love concert tour in Japan, Avex Trax released three double A-side singles in specific arenas to promote the tracks as a free gift. The first release was "XOXO"/"Terminal", released between May 30 and June 1, 2014 in Nagoya, Japan. Both tracks had been promoted separately not long after, and "XOXO" received a music video that appeared on its own release format and the DVD and Blu-Ray versions of Colours. The second release was "Angel"/"Lelio", released between June 12 and June 15 in Osaka, Japan. Both tracks received a music video each, and was included on the DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the parent album. The third and final release was "What Is Forever Love"/"Now & 4Eva", released between June 3 and June 6 in Tokyo, Japan. These six tracks had been distributed through Hamasaki's TeamAyu fan club website on May 23 for streaming and digital downloads.

Live performances and promotion

To promote the album, Hamasaki conducted two live concert tours and several other endorsements and releases. Hamasaki commenced her 2013–2014 A Countdown Live show at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. At the three concert date tour, she performed "Feel the Love" and "Merry-Go-Round" from the parent album, and eventually distributed a live DVD on April 30, 2014. She then commenced her 2014 Premium Showcase: Feel the Love concert tour in Japan, where she performed the album tracks "What Is Forever Love", "Hello New Me", "Angel", "Terminal", "XOXO", "Lelio", and "Feel the Love". The tour was hosted in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya city, destinations which could only allow "the newest technology and performance techniques" that "allow mechanisms only achievable in these locations". The live performance was then filmed and distributed through Avex Trax in Japan, both on DVD and Blu-Ray discs on October 22, 2014. On October 18, 2014, Hamasaki performed as the closing act in the A-Nation premium concert held at the Marina Bay Sands’ MasterCard Theatres in Singapore. She had performed "XOXO" and "Lelio", alongside several other tracks from her discography; this was the second time performing in Singapore after her MTV Asia Awards performance 12 years previously.

One day before the album's release, Hamasaki promoted the album at an album launch at Tower Records in Shibuya. On June 18, 2014, weeks prior to the release of Colours, Hamasaki released a non-stop megamix album entitled EDMA; the album included short versions of the tracks "XOXO", "Lelio", "Feel the Love", "Terminal", "Angel", "Merry-Go-Round", and "What Is Forever Love". Three of the albums tracks: "Feel the Love", "Pray", and "Hello New Me" were used in advertising endorsements and films in Japan. "Feel the Love" was used as the commercial theme song for Dwango.jp, the Count Down TV chart hosted by the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), and the Christmas Fair commercial. "Pray" was used as the theme song for the Japanese animated movie Buddha 2, her first recording for a movie in 12 years; Hamasaki attended the world premiere of the film in Paris, France. "Hello New Me" was used as the theme song for the 2014 Fuji television series Zoku: Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi.

Track listing and formats

All lyrics written by Ayumi Hamasaki. Rap lyrics in track 8 written by Verbal.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the CD liner notes of Colours.