KAT TUN III: Queen of Pirates

Album information

The album was recorded in Tokyo and at the NRG Recording Studios in Los Angeles. With the exception of Koki Tanaka who composed his own rap verses, it is the first album to not feature any songs written by KAT-TUN. The album's musical styles consist mostly of hard rock, pop and dance. KAT-TUN employed a variety of songwriters with a history of producing hit singles to helm the record. The former lead vocalist of acclaimed rock band Boøwy, Kyosuke Himuro, composed the second single "Keep the Faith" with frequent KAT-TUN collaborator, Spin. Akio Shimizu, guitarist for heavy metal band Anthem and lyricist of Tokio's 2006 number one single "Mr. Traveling Man", co-wrote "Ai no Command" with N.B.Comics. The latter penned the first single "Yorokobi no Uta". Erykah, who wrote KAT-TUN's kōhai Hey! Say! 7's 2007 number one debut single "Hey! Say!", composed the last track of the regular edition, "Nannen Tattemo". Narumi Yamamoto, the lyricist who co-wrote hit singles for Kou Shibasaki and Yuna Ito, also contributed a song to the album with the tenth track, "Our Story: Prologue"."Six Senses", a song KAT-TUN had been performing since their junior days, was also recorded for the first time and included as a bonus track.

Promotion

Tanaka, Junnosuke Taguchi, Yuichi Nakamaru and Tatsuya Ueda began playing a minute and a half long previews of several tracks of the album on their respective radio shows, KAT-TUN Style and R-One KAT-TUN, from May 21–28, 2008. The songs that were leaked were: "Taboo", "Mother/Father", "Affection: Mō Modorenai", "Hell, No", "Un" and "Distance".

Chart performance

In its first week of release, KAT-TUN III -Queen of Pirates- sold 240,317 copies, a slight drop from the first-week sales of the group's second album. Despite the downward pattern of sales for KAT-TUN's studio albums, the singles from the album which were all released months in advance had already racked up over a million shipments altogether by the time the album was available in stores. KAT-TUN debuted at number 1 for the tenth consecutive time (albums and singles combined) and became one of only four groups in Japanese music history to reach this record; the others being Johnny & Associates labelmates, NEWS, KinKi Kids and the disbanded Hikaru Genji.

The album stayed on the Oricon albums chart for five weeks and has sold over 282,402 copies to date. The album was the twenty-fifth best-selling album for the first half of the year and RIAJ certified it platinum denoting more than 250,000 shipments.

Track listing

1. "Taboo" (Masanco, M.Y) - 3:20
2. "Keep the Faith" (Kyosuke Himuro, Spin, Joker, Ha-j) - 3:45
3. "Affection: Mō Modorenai (Affection ～もう戻れない～)" (Soba, Erik Lidbom) - 3:34
4. "Hell, No" (Yuki Shirai, Mika Arata, Joker, Steven Lee, Joey Carbone) - 3:58
5. "Distance" (Gin.K, Erik Lidbom) - 3:08
6. "Mother/Father" (Ami, Joker, Yoshinao Mikami, A.k.a.) - 4:14
7. "Lips" (Axel-G, Joker, Yukihide "YT" Takiyama) - 4:16
8. "Yorokobi no Uta" (N.B.Comics, Joker, Zero-rock, Gin.K) - 3:59
9. "Un" (Hidenori Tanaka, Kōsuke Noma) - 4:45
10. "Our Story: Prologue (Our Story ～プロローグ～, Our Story: Purorōgū)" (Narumi Yamamoto, Erik Lidbom) - 3:47
11. "Nannen Tattemo (何年たっても)" (Erykah, Joker, Mike Rose, Masayuki Iwata) - 4:56
12. "Shot!"¹ (Ami, Yoshinao Mikami, Dreadstore Cowboy) - 3:57
13. "12 o'clock'"¹ (A.k.a., Joker, Mike Rose) - 4:19
14. "Ai no Command (愛のコマンド, Love's Command)"¹ (Akio Shimizu, N.B. Comics, Joker) - 4:17
15. "Six Senses"¹ (Joker, Yokono Kōhei, Peter Funk) - 4:39

¹Limited edition bonus tracks.
DVD track listing

1. "Don't U Ever Stop: Limited Edition" (Extended music video)
2. "Don't U Ever Stop" (Making of)