Over the Rainbow (Mai Kuraki album)
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| Over the Rainbow | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:MaiKuraki-OvertheRainbow.png | ||||||||||||
| Studio album by Mai Kuraki | ||||||||||||
| Released | January 11, 2012 | |||||||||||
| Recorded | 2011–12 | |||||||||||
| Genre | J-pop, R&B | |||||||||||
| Length | 55:44 | |||||||||||
| Label | Northern Music | |||||||||||
| Producer | Mai Kuraki, Daikō Nagato | |||||||||||
| Mai Kuraki chronology | ||||||||||||
|
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Over the Rainbow is the tenth studio album of Japanese musician Mai Kuraki. It was released on January 11, 2012.[1]
Contents
Background
The album has four singles, namely:
- 1000 Mankai no Kiss (35th single, released March 9, 2011, #4 on Oricon),
- Mou Ichido (36th single, released May 25, 2011, #7 on Oricon),
- Your Best Friend (37th single, released October 19, 2011, #6 on Oricon), and
- Strong Heart (first DVD and 38th overall single, released November 23, 2011, #7 on Oricon).[2]
It also includes the following songs:
- Sayonara wa Madaiwanai de (B-side of 1000 Mankai no Kiss),
- Step by Step (B-side of Your Best Friend),
- Stay the Same (Sanrio's image tie-up song for Wish Me Mell, where the new character, Maimai was named after Kuraki), and
- Brave Your Heart (featuring Chinese actor Alex Ru).[2]
Track listing [3]
All lyrics written by Mai Kuraki, except track 1, 5, 8, 10 (Kuraki/Giorgio Cancemi) and track 9 (Kuraki/Michael Africk).
| CD | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Arranger(s) | Length |
| 1. | "Strong Heart" (first DVD and 38th overall single/theme song for the 2011 Kansai TV/Fuji TV Japanese drama HUNTER ~Sono Onna-tachi, Shoukin Kasegi~[4]) | Cancemi | Cancemi | 4:20 |
| 2. | "Another Day*Another World" | Aika Ohno | Masazumi Ozawa | 3:56 |
| 3. | "Sayonara wa Madaiwanai de (Album Edition)" (B-side of 1000 Mankai no Kiss) | Footbread | Footbread, Park Sang-hyun (guitar) | 4:35 |
| 4. | "Stay the Same" (Sanrio's image song for Wish Me Mell[5]) | Cancemi | Cancemi | 5:12 |
| 5. | "Your Best Friend" (37th single/ending theme for the 20th season of the Yomiuri TV/Nippon Television animation Case Closed) | Cancemi | Cancemi | 5:52 |
| 6. | "Mou Ichido" (36th single/theme song of the 2011 Tokai TV/Fuji TV Japanese drama Devil in the Mist) | Hirokazu Tajiri | Tajiri | 4:00 |
| 7. | "Brave Your Heart (featuring Alex Ru)" (theme song for the 2012 movie The Love Leading to Tomorrow) | Akihito Tokunaga | Tokunaga | 4:58 |
| 8. | "Sun Will Shine on U" (theme song of TV Kanazawa's となりのテレ金ちゃん) | Cancemi | Cancemi | 4:20 |
| 9. | "Love One Another (with Michael Africk)" (digital single for the benefit of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami victims) | Africk | Africk, Miguel Sá Pessoa, Perry Geyer | 3:58 |
| 10. | "Step by Step" (B-side of Your Best Friend/official image song of the Nemu no Sato Hotel and Resort, Mie Prefecture[6]) | Cancemi | Cancemi | 4:58 |
| 11. | "1000 Mankai no Kiss" (35th single/official image song of Kose Corporation's Esprique Precious make-up line) | Ohno | Takeshi Hayama | 5:03 |
| 12. | "La La La * La" | Tokunaga | Tokunaga | 4:29 |
| Bonus DVD | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Director(s) | Length |
| 1. | "1000 Mankai no Kiss" (Music video) | 5:03 | |
| 2. | "Mou Ichido" (Music video) | 4:00 | |
| 3. | "Your Best Friend" (Music video) | 5:52 | |
| 4. | "Brave Your Heart" (Music video) | 4:58 | |
| 5. | "Stay the Same" (Music video) | 5:12 | |
Chart procession
Oricon
(This album finished second behind EXILE's "EXILE Japan/Solo".)
| Released | Chart | Peak | Debut sales | Sales total | Chart run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 11, 2012 | Daily Albums Chart | 2 | 11,080 | 49,998[7] | 11 weeks[7] |
| Weekly Albums Chart | 2 | 29,618 | |||
| Monthly Albums Chart | 14 | 44,374 | |||
| Yearly Albums Chart | TBD | 49,998 |
Billboard Japan
| Release | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| January 11, 2012 | Billboard Japan Hot Albums | 2[8] |
mora.jp
| Released | Chart | Peak | Chart run |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 11, 2012 | Weekly Album Download Chart | 11 | 1 week |
Others
| Released | Chart | Peak | Chart run |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 11, 2012 | Power Countdown Japan Hot 30 (Albums Chart) | 2[9] | 3 weeks |
Reviews
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Amazon Japan |   (link) |
| EmbraceYou | (link) |
| FM 139.7 | (link) |
| HMV Japan | (link) |
| MSN Music Japan | Positive (link) |
| Oricon | 75 of 100 (link) |
| Rakuten |  (link) |
| Yahoo! Japan | (link) |
The album received critical reception from different sites. EmbraceYou, a web magazine (webzine) based in New York, stated that "every track (in this album) sells in its own unique way."[10] FM 139.7, a blogsite dedicated to East Asian pop culture, described Over the Rainbow as "the final stage of Kuraki's evolution from R&B to J-pop, while maintaining some of her earlier youthful R&B momentum."[11]
In Amazon Japan, the album got four out of five stars in 32 reviews, aside from 165 likes. Out of 82 reviews, the album got 4.6 of 5 stars on Rakuten.
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Distributor | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | January 11, 2012 | Northern Music | J-Disc Being | CD, CD+DVD, Digital download |
| Hong Kong | January 13, 2012 | Forward Music | Forward Music | |
| Taiwan | ||||
| South Korea | February 1, 2012 | CNL Music | CJ E&M |
References
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- ↑ Power Countdown Japan Hot 30 (Albums Chart)
- ↑ Review: Mai Kuraki's Over the Rainbow. EmbraceYou. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
- ↑ OVER THE RAINBOW – Kuraki Mai and Love For All. FM 139.7. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
