PLAY / Amuro Namie

11 August 2007

安室奈美恵 Amuro Namie
PLAY

27.6.07
7th album
AVCD-23342/B

tracklisting
CD
1 HIDE & SEEK
2 FULL MOON
3 CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK
4 IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU
5 FUNKY TOWN
6 STEP WITH IT!
7 HELLO
8 SHOULD I LOVE HIM?
9 TOP SECRET
10 Violet Sauce (Spicy)
11 Baby Don't Cry
12 PINK KEY
DVD
1 HIDE & SEEK (VIDEO CLIP)
2 CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK (VIDEO CLIP)
3 FUNKY TOWN (VIDEO CLIP)
4 HELLO (VIDEO CLIP)
5 Baby Don't Cry (VIDEO CLIP)
-SPECIAL CONTENTS-
6 NAMIE AMURO × The World of GOLDEN EGGS SPECIAL MOVIE

purchase date 14.7.07

review
After a long 2 years wait, Namie finally released her 7th original album "PLAY". This is her 1st original album to be released in both CD and CD+DVD format. For the first time in history, Namie took on the role of producer for this album, giving her full creative control in making this album. "PLAY" contains 4 previously released singles and 8 new songs. T.Kura produced 6 songs and Nao'ymt produced the remaining 6. The cover art of the CD format features Namie in blue nurse cosplay costume, whereas the CD+DVD format shows Namie wearing a SM Queen cosplay costume.

"PLAY" opens with the lead song "HIDE & SEEK", a march-style funk number composed and produced by Nao'ymt. "HIDE & SEEK" is a pretty good work that is in line with her recent hip-pop and funk style. This song is a lot better than her previous single "FUNKY TOWN". The PV of "HIDE & SEEK" shares the same SM-influenced image as the album cover art and it suits the theme of this song.

"FULL MOON" reminds me of "Violet Sauce". In this song, sound of wolf howling is heard, which relates to the concept and relationship of werewolf and full moon. "FULL MOON" is one of the better new song in this album.

"CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK" is my favourite single last year and till now, this energetic funk number produced by T.Kura is still among one of my highest airplay. Despite being choreographed by world renowned Shawnette Heard, "CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK" has one of the most boring PV, filming Namie dancing in front of lights with her dancers only.

"IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU" is Namie's 1st attempt in rock music, but unfortunately, it is not up to expectation. Namie can't bring out the essence of rock tune, hence making it sounds like hip-pop with bad vocal technique. It is the exact problem with BoA's "Rock With You" years ago.

"FUNKY TOWN" is the worst single among the 4 included singles. The killer factor of this song is, it has a music style and PV that is similar to "CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK", but yet it is not better or memorable. I still think that its B-side "DARLING" is much better than "FUNKY TOWN" and deserve a place in this album instead.

"STEP WITH IT!" sounds like an out-take from SUITE CHIC, whereas "HELLO" sounds like Namie earlier R&B song after her maternity comeback. Both styles sound pretty old school now. Furthermore, the pv of "HELLO" is quite plain and boring. "SHOULD I LOVE HIM?" is the only ballad in this album. It is Namie's typical R&B ballad that can be found in many b-sides and album filler, nothing spectacular, but nothing bad either.

"TOP SECRET" is inevitably the best new song in this album. This song features a dark spooky atmosphere with constant whispering that totally communicates the concept of secret. It has very strong beat and contemporary disruptive arrangement. I think "TOP SECRET" deserves to have a pv more than "HELLO", as I foresee more potential in creativity.

Instead of including the main A-side "White Light", Namie decided to include the alternate A-side of the same single "Violet Sauce" in the tracklisting. This makes "White Light" the 3rd A-side to be omitted from an original album after "toi et moi" and "the SPEED STAR". It is in no doubt that "Violet Sauce" fits in more appropriately with the overall concept of this album and other songs. "Violet Sauce" is also of better quality and far more popular than "White Light". This might explain the reason why the omission of "White Light" triggers minimal unhappiness among fans as compared to "the SPEED STAR" being left out from the tracklisting of "Queen of Hip-Pop". Initially, the original version was listed to be included, but the confirmed tracklisting indicated the inclusion of a new album version instead. Creatively titled "Violet Sauce (Spicy)", this album version is named in a similar fusion as the remix previously included in the single. But after listening to this new mix, I'm quite disappointed with the amendments made. Firstly, the attention-grabbing glockenspiel was blunt throughout the song, making "Violet Sauce" loses its cool and mysterious appeal. By enhancing the electone parts makes the song sounds harsh and rugged and it seems out of place with the sophisticated lyrics. Changing the much hyped "Welcome to Sin City" distorted voice into "Enjoy my PLAY LAND" sounds childish and stylistically awkward with the remaining lyrics. I like the original version a lot more for its creativity and cool elements.

Unless there is a really supreme work to be released in the remaining months of 2007, "Baby Don't Cry" is likely going to be crowned my favourite single for this year. "Baby Don't Cry" is the big hit spring-themed medium R&B ballad with positive and encouraging lyrics. The PV for this song filmed Namie walking elegantly around the streets and parks of Tokyo. Althrough simple, the pv fits in perfectly with the overall image of this song.

"PINK KEY" easily becomes the most annoying track in this album. It has a very irritating march-style arrangement, which will force me to skip this song everytime I listen to this album. "PINK KEY" and "IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU" are the worst songs in this album, if not the worst in Namie's career.

The DVD contains the video clip for "HIDE & SEEK", "CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK", "FUNKY TOWN", "HELLO" and "Baby Don't Cry" plus a special content titled "NAMIE AMURO × The World of GOLDEN EGGS SPECIAL MOVIE". Although credited as a huge collaboration, "NAMIE AMURO × The World of GOLDEN EGGS SPECIAL MOVIE" looks like a low budget 2D cartoon. Basically the video shows a fictional interview of GUSHIKEN BAND FEAT. NAMIE AMURO and it is interesting to note that Namie did not use her actual kanji name for her character in this clip. The worst moment in this bonus video is that horrible unmelodic singing, or more correctly, random screaming and yelling in unknown language by the trio. In conclusion, "NAMIE AMURO × The World of GOLDEN EGGS SPECIAL MOVIE" is a terrible nonsense added to the collection for longer playtime.

I'm afraid that "PLAY" isn't as good as "Queen of Hip-Pop", which I think was Namie's best original album after "SWEET 19 BLUES". "PLAY" offers very limited improvement and surprise as compared to "STYLE" and "Queen of Hip-Pop". Furthermore, among the 8 new songs, only "TOP SECRET", "HIDE & SEEK", "FULL MOON" and "SHOULD I LOVE HIM?" are good. Many new songs included in "PLAY" are boring (e.g. "HELLO" and "STEP WITH IT!") or downright bad (e.g. "PINK KEY" and "IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU"). Overall, "PLAY" is a disappointment that did not meet my expectation. It is the worst post SUITE CHIC album, being slightly better than "break the rules" only by a small margin.

recommending #9 TOP SECRET, #2 FULL MOON, #1 HIDE & SEEK
rating 4/10 poor

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