Genic

Background

In 2012, Japanese singer Namie Amuro released her tenth studio album, Uncontrolled. It was her first studio album to incorporate English language, with a total of five album tracks including English. The following year, Amuro released her eleventh studio album Feel, which carried on the use of English language on half of the album's tracks. It was her first album release by her record label Dimension Point, a subsidiary label with Avex Trax. Despite the album's success in Japan, Amuro's English had been criticized on several occasions by critics and was described by David Cirone from Nekopop.com as "a step backwards". During and after both the album's concert tours between 2012 and 2014, she released two maxi single's: "Tsuki" and "Brighter Day". Both the single's carried English language on the corresponding B-side tracks; "Neonlight Lipstick" and "Ballerina" on the former, and "Sweet Kisses" on the latter.

In January 2015, Amuro purchased a home in Los Angeles, California in order to improve her English for her upcoming studio album. That same month, Amuro announced her departure from her management company Rising Productions (formerly Vision Factory) after 22 years, and signed a management contract with Dimension Point and Avex Trax. In June, after the release of Genic, she revealed that she had been signed to her own private management company Stella88, which was credited on the album's liner booklet. Then on April 13, Amuro announced the release of her album Genic for June 10; She also revealed the album's artwork and CD digipak that same day.

Development and recording

Avex Trax and Dimension Point enlisted several musicians and producers to work on the album, including Australian DJ Hook N Sling, German/Russian DJ Zedd, French DJ David Guetta, Swedish songwriter and producer Erik Lidbom, Swedish songwriter Joacim Persson, UK music producer Sophie, and Swedish songwriting team SeventyEight. In an interview with Japanese media magazine Sweet, Amuro stated "My staff understands my vision and made a selection of demo’s for me. As always, I chose the songs which instantly felt right to me. It turns out those songs link to the current trend." In total, more than 200 songs were created during the music sessions. She felt that choosing the final songs were easy because she favoured the intro's rather than the entirety of the tracks; producers then changed and distorted the rest of the songs to appeal to her. She commented that the "full song was different from the impression the intro left on me".

Genic is Amuro's first album not to feature any pre-released singles, her first to do so since her debut album Dance Tracks Vol.1 (1995). Amuro commented that "There’s the view that tie-ups are important and albums should include single songs, but it’s not set in stone. Nothing will ever change if you don’t try when you can. I think there are times when it’s important to simply do something." Amuro's non-album singles: "Tsuki", "Neonlight Lipstick", "Ballerina", "Brighter Day", "Sweet Kisses" and "Still Lovin' You" were all released as part of commercial promotions in Japan, and the decision of using them as commercial tracks was the reason of its omitting from the final cut. Amuro believed that, had any of the non-album singles featured on the album, it would sound too similar to other included tracks already on Genic. She recorded eight of the songs from Genic at Prime Sound Studio in Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, whilst the four remaining tracks were recorded at LAB Recorders in Nishi-Azabu, Minato, Tokyo. "Photogenic" was recorded at ABS Recording and "Space Invader" at Bunkamura Studio, both located in Shibuya. Each track's instrumental backing was recorded or created at personal studios of the songs' producers, while "What I Did for Love", a song originally found on Guetta's studio album Listen (2015), was recorded at Metropolis Studios London, with additional orchestra recording undertaken at Stadthalle Offenbach in Offenbach am Main, Germany. One of Amuro's representatives said her move to Los Angeles was to improve her English-language skills and carry out music ventures in Los Angeles; they also said that Amuro wanted to challenge herself and "step up her game" for Genic.

Composition and songwriting

According to Amuro, she described the sound of Genic as a "revival" of "1970s–1980s dance music and 1990s R&B", stating that she wanted to sound more "edgy". According to Electric Bloom Magazine's Lauren du Plessis, she felt that the fourteen tracks on Genic were a combination of genres that Amuro had experimented since her debut; she specifically identified teen pop, bubblegum pop, R&B, and electronic dance music as examples. Pitchfork Media writer Patrick St. Michel found that "In recent years, she has tacked towards EDM, but where recent attempts have felt like cheap replicas, Genic sounds more inspired and confident." A reviewer from Selective Hearing identified 1980s music influences throughout the album. The review compared the sound to her previous studio album Past Future (2009), but felt Genic was more "radio friendly". In a similar review, Kenichi Shirahara from Utalabo.com compared the sound to Amuro's previous studio album Feel (2013) but identified musical elements such as new wave and disco music.

The album is recorded entirely in English language, her first album to do so. All fourteen tracks from the album were written by the songwriters in Japanese and English language sets in order for Amuro to decipher the different meanings in both languages. Lyrically, the album focuses on several themes such as beauty, narcissism, self-empowerment, and fashion, amongst others. Amuro exemplified tracks like "Time Has Come" and "It" and said that while they may "pack a punch" in terms of delivery, she believed that they could also be interpreted as love songs. According to du Plessis, she felt Amuro's vocals were refreshing due to the dominance of Japanese idol groups such as AKB48; she felt the vocals of the groups had "omnipresent squeals".

Songs

The album's opening track, "Photogenic", is a pop song that includes heavy guitar riffs. "Time Has Come" was described as a "hyper" mid-tempo 1980s pop song with elements of R&B and rock music. "Golden Touch", one of the album's promotional singles, was described as a "straightforward" pop song, with elements of breakbeat, dance, and R&B music. "Birthday", one of the album's promotional singles, is a pop song that contains rap segments through its verses. "It" is an uptempo track which features consecutive whistle blowing through the song's composition, and was labelled by a Utalabo critic as a throwback to "retro music". "Scream", a EDM-club track, was musically compared to American recording artist Kesha, whilst the seventh track, "Fashionista", is an upbeat pop song that includes music elements of dubstep. Both the song's lyrical content deals with fashion and narcissism. The eighth album track, "Fly", is an upbeat composition, whilst an alternative version was uploaded on Amuro's YouTube channel. "B Who I Want 2 B" sampled a composition piece that was helmed by English musician Sophie; it is a duet with "U hum sneak it", which was revealed to be an anagram for Japanese vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Du Plessis found the collaboration "empty" and Miku as "irritatingly samey", while Patrick St. Michel from Pitchfork Media called it "one of the weirder songs to grace a major-label pop album in 2015". "Stranger" is an upbeat electronic dance track that employs dubstep elements. "Every Woman" and "Space Invader" are both dance tracks, with the former song being referenced by St. Michel as a woman's empowerment anthem. "Anything" is a pop ballad that lyricallys deal with self-confidence and loving yourself. The fourteenth and final track, "What I Did For Love", is an electronic dance song featuring David Guetta, that was originally recorded with British recording artist Emeli Sande.

Release and artwork

Genic was released on June 10, 2015 by Dimension Point and Avex Trax in four different formats. The stand-alone CD featured the fourteen tracks in a jewelcase, with first press editions including a promotional poster and housed in a special digipak design, whilst all versions includes one standard liner booklet and two lyric booklets. The CD and DVD format featured the fourteen tracks and a bonus DVD, including the music videos for: "Golden Touch", "Birthday", "Fashionista", "Stranger", and "Anything"; first press editions included a promotional poster, whilst all versions includes one standard liner booklet and two lyric booklets. The CD and Blu-ray format featured the fourteen tracks and a bonus DVD, including the music videos for: "Golden Touch", "Birthday", "Fashionista", "Stranger", and "Anything", a special video for "Birthday", and a dance only music video for "Fashionista"; first press editions included a promotional poster, whilst all versions includes one standard liner booklet and two lyric booklets. The final format is the digital download, including all fourteen tracks.

The four Genic cover sleeves feature different images, all photographed by Tisch. All four images have close-up shots of Amuro's face wearing a lace veil; the CD only cover features her with long hair. The digipak creations were designed by Jun Hirota, where each three physical formats include a different cut out to reveal a portion of the booklet. According to a music editor at Arcadey.net, they said about the artwork; "The album’s concept is all about how photogenic the backwards-ageing beauty is, which makes a lot of sense; Namie seems to cover about fifty magazines a week and the cheques she gets for all her endorsement deals probably makes her richer than Bill Gates."

Promotion

Amuro promoted the album on several radio and live appearances. The album track, "Anything", was publicized as the first music video produced by Google Chrome. According to a detailed review by Business Wire, "The new music video leverages Google Chrome Extensions to allow viewers to easily enjoy an enhanced version of the video. The Google Chrome version offers a brand new experience, unraveling mysteries in the standard version, and uses windows and tabs to express the music featured in the video." To activate the music video, it had to be downloaded through the Google Play store or through Amuro's website. The song's lyrics appeared on the URL address bar, and after watching the entire music video without skipping or interruptions, a special zip file was made available to download; it included a special message by Amuro in several different languages. That same month, she confirmed on her website that the album tracks would premiere throughout several radio stations in Japan, days before the album's release.

On April 10, 2015, Amuro confirmed an accompanying concert tour named Namie Amuro Livegenic 2015–2016. The concert tour started on September 5 at Saitama Super Arena, Chūō-ku, Saitama and carried out 44 shows in 15 different cities throughout Japan. That same month, Amuro revealed that she would extend the concert tour outside of Japan to Taiwan on March 5 and 6, and Hong Kong on March 26, 2016. She set up a special Twitter account in support of the concert tour. The concert tour was released in two formats; a DVD, and a Blu-ray release. Both the DVD and Blu-ray formats peaked at number one on the Oricon DVD and Blu-ray Charts, respectively. Staying in the chart for 10 weeks equally, the video album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of 100,000 units.

Singles and promoted tracks

"What I Did for Love", a duet with French musician David Guetta, was released as the album's only single; it was distributed digitally in Japan on July 1, 2015. The song received mixed reviews from most music critics; some commended the production and collaboration between Amuro and Guetta, whilst some felt the production was "formulaic". A short lyric video was included on the album's track preview on Amuro's YouTube channel. Although the album track "B Who I Want 2 Be", a duet with vocaloid Hatsune Miku, was not a single, an digitised Amuro and Miku both appeared on Nylon, with Amuro confirming the work of a music video. The music video premiered on Amuro's YouTube channel on October 13, 2015. The album tracks: "Golden Touch", "Birthday", "Fashionista", "Stranger", and "Anything" were promoted with music videos, all of which premiered on Amuro's YouTube channel between May 11 to May 26. Both "Birthday" and "Golden Touch" charted on two Billboard Japan charts; the former peaking at number 36 on Japan Hot 100, and the latter reaching number 43 on the Radio Songs chart.

After the music video for "Golden Touch" was released, it was widely received by Western media. According to the director Masashi Kawamura, the video was shot over a three-month period. Elle magazine compared the video to the effects of optical illusions, calling it "Colorful, fun, gay ... but especially interactive." A member at Japantrends.com commented that "Golden Touch" is "a good marketing stunt for a dying industry and overseas media has picked the story up too." Several international blogs and magazines, including Buzzfeed, Adobo magazine, Australia's Hello Asia website, and Australia's Hello Asia publicized the video positively, and was listed as music video of the month by Creative Review in the United Kingdom. On June 5, "Golden Touch" debuted in North America on SiriusXM Hits 1 as part of their YouTube 15 schedule, hosted and selected by American blogger and YouTube personality Jenna Marbles. After the original music video achieved 10 million views on YouTube, a second video premiered that included shots of Amuro.

Critical reception

Genic received positive reviews from most music critics. A music editor from Amazon was positive in their review, commending the diverse amount of genres and labelled the album "state-of-the-art". Similarly, CD Journal staff members reviewed the album, and complimented its "colorful" music blend of dance, R&B, rock, and pop music. Lauren Du Pressis from Electric Bloom Magazine awarded the album 7.5 stars out of ten. She praised Amuro's musical exploration and mature image, finding her a "chameleon force to the music industry". Although De Pressis criticized the album's featuring artists, particular production sections and repetition, she concluded "Any listeners of J-pop looking for something a little more mature should give it a go... You can't hide from an album this contagious." Kenichi Shirahara from Utalabo.com enjoyed the album and labelled it a "masterpiece".

Patrick St. Michel from Pitchfork Media awarded the album 6.7 points out of ten. St. Michel noted, "Her English-speaking fans tend to mock her relentlessly for [her English language], and at times she slips over pronunciation.” He did commended the production and "smooth" vocal deliveries by Amuro. St. Michel concluded that while Genic's best point is its most “straightforward” production, "It's great pop because no one involved sounds like they're worrying about how to tailor her music to new audiences. If Amuro ever takes advantage of her new digs and tries to debut properly in the U.S., she should try to hold onto the simplicity of this feeling." An editor from Selective Hearing was positive; though he did criticize her English language at some points on the album, he stated "With that said she has improved." They concluded saying, "Overall this should please many Amuro fans immensely," and believed many J-Pop fans and Amuro's fans, who do not enjoy her English work, should "give it a listen".

Due to the album's success, it has garnered Amuro with several accolades and awards. The music video for "Anything" was recognized by the FWA Designs Awards for website of the day and month (June 15, 2015). It was also recognized by the Asia Design Awards of 2015; it received three specific ranking strategies: creativity (8.4 points), its content (8 points), and its visuals (7.8 points). The music video won the best innovative integration bronze award at the Spike Asia 2015 Awards, Amuro's first recognition at that ceremony. "Birthday" was nominated for the MTV Japan Music Video Award for Best Female Video, and independently nominated for Best Creativity Award on October 15, 2015; this was Amuro's first nominations in six years. Amuro won both awards respectively but did not attend the ceremony. On December 18, the music video for "Golden Touch" was nominated for Song of the Year by the Hello Asia! Music Awards.

Commercial performance

Billboard Japan reported a statement by Nielsen SoundScan Japan that Genic had a high chance at debuting at number one on both Japan's Oricon Albums Chart and Billboard's Top Albums Sales chart, pushing back entries by Japanese band Mr. Children and Japanese solo artist Superfly. As predicted, Genic topped both the Billboard Top Albums and Top Albums Sales chart on chart week June 22, replacing Mr. Children's album Reflection (2015). On June 20, 2015, according to the World Music Awards organisation, they tallied up album sales of that week around the world, and Genic was the second best selling album with the sales of 160,000 units; this was behind Drones by British band The Muse. The album slipped to number three and number four during the chart week of June 29. In its third week the album slipped again to number six on both charts. The album had its final charting appearance on the Hot Album Sales chart on December 7, stalling at number 94 with a total of 25 weeks in that chart. It also had its final charting appearance on the Hot Albums chart on December 28, stalling at number 67 with a total of 28 weeks in that chart.

Genic debuted at number one on the Oricon Daily Albums Chart with first day sales of 81,491 units; these sales were lower than Feel, which sold over 110,000 units. On June 16, the album entered at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart with 160,474 units sold; this is her third lowest first week sales for a studio album since her 2001 album Break the Rules (157,850 first week sales), and her 2003 album Style (93,142 first week sales). Despite this, Genic became the highest selling album by a female artist of 2015, which surpassed Superfly's entry White that accumulated 119,000 first week sales. Genic fell to number the five the following week with 29,474 units, being replaced by Golden Bomber's No Music No Weapon (2014) and number six in its third week with 14,509 units. By the end of June, her album debuted at number two on the Oricon Monthly Albums Chart, with 204,457 units sold, just behind Mr. Children's Reflection with 499,316 units. The following month, it fell to number 18 with 23,505 units sold. By the end of 2015, Genic was ranked at number 16 on the Oricon Yearly Albums Chart with over 246,269 units sold in that region; this made it the best selling album by a female solo artist, and the third best selling album by a female performing artist/group. As of May 2016, Genic has sold over 249,266 units, and was certified platinum in July 2015 by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for physical shipments of 250,000 units.

Formats

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from Genic's liner notes booklet.

Musicians

Imagery

Production