Birthday (Namie Amuro song)
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| Song by Namie Amuro from the album Genic | ||||
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| Length | 3:08 | |||
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"Birthday" is a song by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro, included on her twelfth studio album and third bilingual album Genic (2015). "Birthday" was written by Emyli, Andreas Carlsson, Gabrielle Symon,s Michael Lerios, Demitri Lerios, Svante Halldin and Jakob Hazell, while it was produced by Emyli. Musically, "Birthday" is a dance-pop song and is lyrically about celebrating her life, birthday and other anniversaries. It was released as a promotional single alongside Genic tracks "Golden Touch", "Fashionista", "Stranger" and "Anything".
Upon the album's release, "Birthday" was met with positive reviews by most music critics, many of whom commended the production and composition for being fun and entertaining. However, critics had criticized the lyrical content. "Birthday" charted at thirty-six on the Japan Hot 100 and five on the Japan Radio Songs Chart. A music video was shot for the single, featuring Amuro celebrating her birthday.
Background and composition
"Birthday" was written by Emyli, Andreas Carlsson, Gabrielle Symon,s Michael Lerios, Demitri Lerios, Svante Halldin and Jakob Hazell, while it was produced by Emyli.[1] "Birthday" is Amuro's first recorded song that lyrically deals with celebrations, anniversaries and birthdays.[2][3][4] Musically, "Birthday" is a dance-pop song that talks about celebrations and anniversaries. Michael McCarthy from Otakudx.com commented on the lyrical themes; “'I'll celebrate my wedding night,' she sings, the song being about anniversaries as much as it is about birthdays. Which just makes it suitable for even more celebrations.”
A reviewer for Kpopbreaks compared the introduction to the song "Into the Groove" by American recording artist Madonna, but later compared the song to "Birthday by American recording artist Katy Perry; “Unfortunately, the song goes from 80’s Madonna to Prism-era Katy Perry rather quickly.”[4] McCarthy also compared, but favored the musical composition over Perry's song and "Birthday" by American recording artist Selena Gomez; he commented “There's also a song called "Birthday," but it has nothing to do with the lovable "Birthday" by Katy Perry or the even better "Birthday" by Selena Gomez. Nope. It's another Namie original.”[5] He compared the music to bubblegum pop.[5]
Release and reception
"Birthday" first premiered as a snippet on Amuro's YouTube channel, together with the rest of the Genic tracks.[6][7] "Birthday" was released as a promotional single alongside Genic tracks "Golden Touch", "Fashionista", "Stranger" and "Anything"; the music video's were featured on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of Genic.[1] "Birthday" was the first song, which premiered on Amuro's Youtube channel on May 11, 2015.[8] "Birthday" received positive reviews from most music critics. McCarthy was positive in his review, saying “Like most of the album, this song is pure fun. Maybe it's slightly bubble gum but it's delicious and instead of losing its flavor it's making me fall more and more in love with it with each listening.”[5] The reviewer from Kpopbreaks rated the song six points out of ten. Despite praising the songs musical composition and influences from both Madonna and Perry, he was critical on the lyrics by saying ”Also, I don’t know why she’s going on about her 'double-birthday' (is she actually 74 years old?).”[4] Ronald from Aramajapan.com labelled the song “a sugary, celebratory pop song”.[9]
"Birthday" debuted at number thirty-six on the Japan Hot 100.[10] "Birthday" debuted at number sixty-eight on the Japan Radio Songs Chart, and rose to number five the following week.[11][12]
Music video
The music video for "Birthday" premiered on Amuro's Youtube channel on May 11, 2015.[8] Amuro hired several dancers to rehearse before shooting the video.[13] Amuro told all the dancers and actors participating in the video that it would be shot in one entire take, prompting several rehearsals for the video itself.[13] Pre-production had to be conducted several times because the dancers and actors had made mistakes, and they felt it was “difficult” to shoot in one take. After the video was shot, the dancers and actors reportedly made no mistakes and was shot successfully.[14]
The video starts with Amuro talking on a phone in a pink room. She exits her room and starts dancing with the back-up dancers.[8] During the second verse and second chorus, it features Amuro walking into a changing room and puts on a pink dress while the back up dancers keep dancing.[8] The final chorus has Amuro entering a room, which has all the dancers, actor and crew dance to the song; the video finishes with an aerial shot of the crew.[1] A behind-the-scenes video was featured as a hidden track on the Blu-ray and DVD versions of Genic.[1]
Charts
| Chart (2015) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japan Hot 100 (Billboard)[10] | 36 |
Personnel
Personnel details were sourced from Genic's liner notes booklet.[1]
Musicians
- Gary Adkins – chorus vocals
- Alisa – chorus vocals
- Namie Amuro – main vocals
- Olivia Burrell – chorus vocals
- Emyli – chorus vocals
Personnel
- Dimension Point – sound production, A&R
- D.O.I. – mixing
- Svante Halldin – producer
- Jakob Hazell – producer
- Wataru Namiusa – vocal recording
Music video personnel
- Yuki Akagi – cast hair and make-up
- Ayano – dancer
- Satomi Fujieda – production designers
- Haruka Furuya – director
- Hiroyuki – dancer
- Norio Honda – cast stylist, dancer stylist
- Masako Ide – hair and make-up for dancers
- Eriko Ishida – hair and make-up for Namie Amuro
- Izumi – dance producer
- Koji Matsuura – cinematographer
- Miki – dancer
- Nanako – choreographer
- Akira Noda – stylist for Namie Amuro
- Ryoji – dancer
- Risa – dancer
- Shikino – dancer
- Uno – dancer
- Koji Yoshino – lighting direction
- Yuu – dancer
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 _genic (Album liner notes). Namie Amuro. June 10, 2015.
- ↑ "Watch: This music video lets you interact with it by simply holding your finger on the screen". Entertainment.ie. May 29, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ↑ "Namie Amuro: Golden Touch (Interactive Video)". Nowness. June 15, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- 1 2 3 "NAMIE AMURO – _GENIC: ALBUM REVIEW". Kpopbreak. June 6, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- 1 2 3 McCarthy, Michael (June 10, 2015). "NAMIE AMURO: _genic review". Otakudx.com. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
- ↑ "安室奈美恵 NEW ALBUM「_genic」SPECIAL WEBSITE". Dimension Point. April 10, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ↑ "安室奈美恵 / New Album「_genic」 -Trial listening of all songs-" on YouTube
- 1 2 3 4 "安室奈美恵 / 「Birthday」 (from New Album「_genic」)" on YouTube
- ↑ "Namie Amuro's new PV to "Birthday"". Aramajapan.com. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- 1 2 "Billboard Japan Hot 100". Billboard (in Japanese). June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Japan Hot Radio Songs". Billboard (in Japanese). June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Adult Contemporary Airplay 2014/02/03". Billboard (in Japanese). June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
- 1 2 "Amuro Namie releases new one-cut MV". Musicjapanplus.com. May 14, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ↑ "Check out Amuro Namie's 'Birthday' MV from her upcoming album". Tokyohive.com. May 12, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
External links
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