Sweet 19 Blues

Background and development

After splitting with the Japanese girl-group Super Monkey's, Amuro signed a solo contract with Avex Trax in 1995. Avex enlisted Japanese musician and Globe member Tetsuya Komuro to produce Amuro's record Sweet 19 Blues, with the assistance of co-producer Cozy Kubo and executive Max Matsuura. This was Matsuura's second time working with Amuro, whom crafted majority of the content—alongside remixing additional tracks—on the singer's debut album Dance Tracks Vol. 1 (1995). Between 1995–96, Komuro was in the process of producing Globe's debut self-titled album and Matsuura had continued scoping other young upcoming artists, resulting into limited studio sessions with Amuro.

Komuro, with the help of Kubo and Akio Togashi, incorporated several instrumentation into the album's composition including synthesizers, keyboards, string ensembles, a grand piano and a drum machine. Furthermore, Avex enlisted several English-speaking backing vocalists to record with Amuro; this effect reflected on the tracks "Let's Do the Motion", "Private", "Rainy Dance", "I'll Jump", "I Was a Fool", "Present" and the title track. The album was recorded at various studios in Japan, such as Avex Studios and Prime Studios, and additionally recorded vocals at studios throughout Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York. By the second quarter of 1996, the material from Sweet 19 Blues was mixed and mastered by Avaco Creative Studios and Souds Innc Studios.

Composition

Musically, Sweet 19 Blues is a J-Pop record that incorporates elements of contemporary dance music, acid house and jungle. Each of the album's singles, apart from the title track, were remixed and re-arranged by Komuro, adding a "slinky dance" aesthetic to the sound. Additionally, AllMusic's Ted Mills described the sound of entries "I'll Jump" and "I Was a Fool" as "1970s jazzy-soul". Mills explained that the "sophisticated" appeal of the album's tracks "came as a shock", as he described Amuro's prominent work as a "eurotechno" sound. Alongside this, staff members from the same publication believed Sweet 19 Blues was a collection of "highly polished dance-pop sound(s) characterized by disco rhythms and funky basslines." It featured eight interlude tracks, two of which were a cappella deliveries by the singer: "Watch Your Step" and "Scratch Voices". Two of the six remaining interludes: "Don't Wanna Cry (Symphonic Style)" and "...Soon Nineteen", were altered versions of already-added tracks to Sweet 19 Blues—an orchestral version of "Don't Wanna Cry" and an alternative edit of the title track—whilst the final five were original compositions made by Komuro and Cubo.

Release

Sweet 19 Blues was released on July 22, 1996 by Avex Trax and their Hong Kong headquarters, her first record with the label after Dance Tracks Vol. 1 (1995). The cover art was photographed by Himaru Itaru, depicting Amuro sitting on a small sofa with a camera next to her. Additionally, the record was distributed in four different cardboard sleeves photographed by Itaru and with art direction by Tycoon Graphics. The first has Amuro tying up her hair on the small sofa, the second is a close-up of her face, the third being a body shot whilst the singer is standing in front of a intricate wallpaper, and the final sleeve being a low-angle shot of her legs and the small sofa. Avex printed one million sleeves for the first three slipcases, whilst the latter served for digital consumption. In order to promote Amuro's 20th anniversary, Avex Trax re-issued Sweet 19 Blues on September 19, 2012 at a "special price edition"; the latter sleeve was used as its official cover. According to Ted Mills from AllMusic, the title of the album was a reflection of a "melancholic passing of another sweet year of youth", which he described as a "particular Japanese obsession".

Singles

The album contains five singles, released between October 1995 and August 1996. They were very successful; four reached the million mark and all hit the top five on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart.

The first single from the album was the upbeat dance number Body Feels Exit, released only nine days after the Dance Tracks Vol.1 album. Her two previous singles, Taiyou no Season and Stop the music, featured the singer exclusively and the four others members were only credited as backup singers, so although Body Feels Exit can be considered as her third single, it marks her official solo debut. It opened at No. 3 with over 200,000 copies sold in its first week and spent 4 consecutives weeks in the top 10. The single also became the 70th best-selling single of 1995 with over 500,000 units purchased that year.

Chase the Chance, the second single, became her first number one and million selling single. It went straight to number one with opening sales similar to those of her previous single. and spent 9 non-consecutive weeks inside the top 10. She also made her first appearance at the annual Kokaku Uta Gassen performing the song.

The album's third single, Don't Wanna Cry, helped her to win the "Grand Prix Award" from the 38th Annual Japan Record Awards. Today, she still remains the youngest artist awarded this prize. The single was a huge success, spending three non-consecutives weeks at No. 1 and reaching sales of over 1,5 million copies in Japan. Don't Wanna Cry is her second most successful single after the ballad Can You Celebrate?. The 13th track of the album, Present, was a b-side to the single. It is not stated on the liner notes of the booklet, but the album version of the song is different from the version included on the Don't Wanna Cry single.

You're My Sunshine, her 4th single, was also a big hit, spending two consecutive weeks at the top spot. The song is mix of dance and gospel and became one of her signature songs. It became her third consecutive number one and million selling single, debuting at No. 1 with over 430,000 units purchased. You're my sunshine became the 13th best-selling single at the end of the year.

The final single, Sweet 19 Blues, was released as a recut single a month after the album due to popular demand. It did not achieve the success of her previous records but debut at No. 2 with over 100,000 copies sold in its first week and sold about 500,000 units, a great feat for a post-album single. This single also contains an extended version of the interlude Joy. The single version of the song is slightly different from the album version.

Others songs from the album I'll Jump, Private and Let's Do the Motion were not released in a physical format, but were also popular hits across Japan, as they were used as radio singles prior to the release of the album.

Commercial tie-ups and theme songs

Many songs of this album were used as themes songs for movies or dramas and commercials, or were simply used to promote the album itself.

Let's Do the Motion was a special avex commercial to promote the album.

Private was the theme song of four ad campaigns for the Nissan cars.

Body Feels Exit, the first single released from the album, was used in eight Taito X-55 TV ads as the image song. Amuro appeared in some of the commercials.

Chase the Chance, the album's second single, was the theme song of the drama the The Chief, that was broadcast on Nihon TV.

Don't Wanna Cry was the CM song of two commercials for the DyDo Mistio Soft drinks. I'll Jump was also used in a commercial for the brand. Amuro appeared herself in the two commercials promoting the brand.

You're my sunshine was the theme song of the three commercials for the Sea Breeze products. The first ad was promoting a sun lotion, the second a shampoo and the last a deodorant. It was also used in commercial for the "Digital Dance Mix", a video game developed and published by Sega. Namie is the main character of the video game.

Joy was used in a commercial for the Maxell UD2 as its image song.

The title track, Sweet 19 Blues, was choose as theme song of the teenage Japanese movie That's Cunning!: Shijousaidai no Sakusen, which Namie starred in as the lead female role, and was available on the film's soundtrack. The singer appeared at the movie premiere in Japan. The song was also used to promote the Namie Amuro World '96 home video.

Sales

When the album was released, it debut at the top spot with nearly two millions units purchased in its opening week, which was the largest opening sales for a record at that time.

Sweet 19 Blues reached No. 1 in on the Oricon Album Chart with 1,921,850 copies sold, which is Namie's best first week sales for an album to date and 9th highest opening sales of all time in Japanese music history. The album was also at No. 1 in its second week on stores, but with only over 300,000 units sold. It stayed in the top 10 for nine consecutive weeks and in the top 20 for twelve weeks, selling over 3.3 million units in Japan during its original chart run Sweet 19 Blues is currently Namie's highest selling album and is the 104th million selling album in Japan.

For a brief period in 1996, the album became the biggest selling album of Japanese music history before being outsold by her own producer. Sweet 19 Blues ranked 2nd in 1996 Oricon Yearly Chart after globe (to which Tetsuya Komuro belongs). This album ranks at 13th for total sales in Japanese music history and 6th best-selling album from a Female Solo Artist.

Sweet 19 Blues was the biggest selling album of all time album by a female artist in Japan until the release of First Love, Hikaru Utada's debut album, which is now the best-selling album ever in the country.

Track listing

The liner notes included in the album are not clear on who wrote what particular song. As it is presented in the CD booklet, all songs are attributed to Tetsuya Komuro, Cozy Kubo, Akio Togashi, Takahiro Maeda and Randy Waldman as it makes no other distinction otherwise.

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album – Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Singles – Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)