|
If you've had any exposure at all to J-pop in the last few years, you must have undoubtedly heard of Namie Amuro. Dubbed "The Queen of J-pop" by many, Namie is the most popular and beloved Asian female pop diva of the 90's. Even though she's only in her early twenties, some people compare her fame in Asia with that of Madonna in America. A pretty shallow comparison, but it should give you an idea of how well-known she has become.
But in all honesty,
she has yet to return to her former glory. Obviously she is well established
as a media icon which means her music releases and concerts are guaranteed
to sell well no matter what. But she's no longer the trendsetter and
musical diva she once was. The excitement surrounding her career just
faded as has the quality of the music in my opinion. Personally of the
last 5 singles she's released, none of them have really held my interest
that much. They're good songs, but still have failed to amaze me as
all of her previous music has. I listened to them over and over trying
to give them a fair chance, but in the end they still sounded a bit
mediocre to me. Maybe my expectations for Amuro has been raised to high.
I'm still her fan and love her the same as I always had. Because of
that I really want her to recapture that old magic and glamour. Whether
or not she can do it, only time will tell.
|
Namie Amuro, was born in Naha City of Okinawa Prefecture (the southwestern
most islands of Japan). As a youth Namie was moved to attend the Okinawa
Actors School on the side of her regular schooling. There she took up
dancing, singing and acting. [Note: OAS has since become a famous school
of performing arts producing many other currently popular pop stars
such as Speed, D&D, Da Pump and Rina Chinen but Namie is the one who
made it a household name]. To attend a two hour class each day she'd
have to make a three hour commute there and back. Less dedicated students
would have quit but still she kept at it. In 1992 at the age of 14 she
and four of her schoolmates started a group called The Super Monkeys
and had their first single soon after.
Through the career of the Super Monkeys a few members left and and new
ones joined. After a while Namie became the leader and the band then
became known as "Namie Amuro and the Super Monkeys". Little by little
their sound evolved from a dance pop sound to a very fast paced house
music sound. They really made it big after their fifth single "Try Me"
sold 7.5 million copies. By the seventh single, Namie split from the
group to start her solo career. Some months later she was picked up
by influential record producer Komuro Tetsuya (known as TK) under Avex
Trax [for more about Komuro, see the 
Now Amuro already had a pretty large following in the dance music scene,
but under the production of TK she became unstoppable and a leader in
the TK family of artists. Amuro practically owned the music scene in
1996 with her first Avex Trax album 'Sweet 19 Blues' and continued her
success in 1997 with 'Concentration 20'. Both were so successful that
she became a pop megastar and sweetheart of the media in a fraction
of the time it has taken most other media icons of similar fame to accomplish.
She's had this much success and she's only my age. Under the wing of
TK her music took a huge change of direction. It went from the fast
dance songs that were her trademark to a stronger soul influence. Now
Namie Amuro's mixes many styles like soul, electronica, R&B, rock and
of course dance to make a very appealing form of pop. She has been consistently
releasing some of the most enjoyable pop tunes to come out in ages.
It seems to me that some of the best of Komuro Tetsuya's song writing
abilities have been put into Amuro's career. I say this because to me
next to 
Her smooth and sultry vocals are among the best with obvious influences
from Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Maki Ohguro (another famous Japanese
pop singer). In fact, when I listen to her early songs, she sounds exactly
like Ohguro. Her cool singing combined with her sexy cuteness and a
pop sound that is hip and cutting edge have made her the first name
in Japanese pop. While we're on the subject of her sexy-cute look it's
interesting how her dark Okinawan complexion, her tough but glamourous
attitude and her hip sense of fashion has inspired legions of young
women to emulate her style. Called "Amrers", women trying to look like
Namie became widespread a couple of years ago and even now it continues
to some extent.
In 1997 she got pregnant and married Sam, the male dancer of one of
TK's other well-known groups TRF. Sometime after the news she announced
she'd go on hiatus for the sake of her baby. Many fans were in a panic
since it could lead to permanent retirement. Japanese pop fans have
seen many famous idols stop making music after getting married and having
a family so there is good reason to worry about Namie's career. For
most of 1998 Namie has been out of the limelight and never performed.
Other than the news of her giving birth to a baby boy, very little has
been known about her activities. However last New Years Eve she returned
to the music scene making an appearance on the annual "Kouhaku Utagassen"
(a long running New Years show where a red and a white team made up
of big name recording artists of all types compeat against each other
singing their hit songs). Namie sang one of her favorite songs "Can
You Celebrate" and was moved to the point where she broke into tears
and could barely finish the song. Proof that Namie still has a passion
for singing and doesn't take her success for granted. She has also released
new single prior to her comeback appearance to prove that she has truly
returned to the music scene. While her activities were unseen for a
year, it had no affect on her popularity. The new single took only 2
days to sell over a million copies.
