Style (Namie Amuro album)

Style is the sixth studio album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro. It was released on December 10, 2003, through Avex Trax. Her first studio album in nearly three years, Style follows her crossover into R&B and hip hop that began with the collaborative project Suite Chic in 2002. Although Amuro had dabbled with R&B beats in the past, this is her first original studio album to predominantly feature the actual genre. Style was her first album after the termination of her working relationship with longtime producer, Tetsuya Komuro, as well as her last collaboration with American record producer Dallas Austin to date.

Commercially, Style was a disappointment. It debuted at number four on the Oricon Albums Chart with first week sales of over 93,000 copies, the lowest of Amuro's career and her first not to sell over 100,000 during its first week. Despite being the lowest-selling album of her career, it was still certified Platinum for shipments of over 250,000 copies by the RIAJ. The album spawned four top ten singles, "Wishing on the Same Star", "Shine More", "Put 'Em Up" and "So Crazy/Come". Amuro promoted Style by embarking on her first international concert tour titled the So Crazy Tour.

Overview
The album represents a major shift in Amuro's musical direction, and would set the tone for all of the singer's subsequent releases. AllMusic described the album as "marginally more gritty", taking Amuro "closer in sound to her musical idol, Janet Jackson". Although the album is focused on R&B and hip-hop, it still features some pop songs; Amuro explained that certain styles of songs were included for variety. First editions of the album included two bonus tracks, the Mad Bear remix of "So Crazy" and the movie version of "Wishing on the Same Star".

Several of the album's songs are covers: "Indy Lady" (a cover of "Independent Lady", originally by Toni Estes), "Come" (originally by Sophie Monk), "As Good As" (also recorded by WhatFor) and "Wishing on the Same Star" (originally by Keedy).

The song "Put 'Em Up", which was released as the second single preceding the album, is slightly edited from its original form; instead of fading out, the song comes to an abrupt end. "Lovebite" is a collaboration with Takuro of the Japanese rock band Glay. Takuro and Amuro had previously spoken about collaborating years ago and they finally had an opportunity with this album. "Four Seasons" was used as the theme song to the third InuYasha motion picture, Swords of an Honorable Ruler. The song "Come" has also been used as the 7th ending theme for InuYasha.

Style is Amuro's lowest ranking and selling album. Before its release, Amuro launched her largest tour at the time, Namie Amuro So Crazy Tour featuring Best Singles 2003-2004. Due to the nature of the tour, she only performed the singles from the album. Ultimately, many of the songs from the album have never been performed to a public audience, although she did perform them on an exclusive fan club tour in 2004 that was not open to the public.

Personnel

 * Namie Amuro – vocals, background vocals
 * Arkitec – vocals
 * Verbal – vocals
 * Zeebra – vocals
 * Mr. Blistah – additional vocals
 * Clench – additional vocals
 * Coyass – additional vocals
 * Kareb James – background vocals
 * L.L. Brothers – background vocals
 * Yuko Kawai – background vocals
 * Michico – background vocals
 * Dave Cleveland – electric guitar
 * Cobra Endo – multiple instruments
 * Ron Harris – multiple instruments
 * Jeff Lorber – keyboard, guitar
 * Monk – multiple instruments
 * Murayama-Kishiyama Strings – strings (bonus track: Wishing on the Same Star [Movie Version])
 * Jeff Pescetto – guitar
 * Yasuharu Nakanishi – piano (bonus track: Wishing on the Same Star [Movie Version])

Production

 * Producers – Full Force, Dallas Austin, T.Kura, Michico, Teddy Riley
 * Arrangement – Akira, Dallas Austin, Cobra Endo, Masaki Iehara, T.Kura, Monk, Teddy Riley
 * String Arrangement – Tatsuya Murayama
 * Mixing – Rob Chiarelli, Kevin "KD" Davis, Junya Endo, T.Kura, Peter Mokran, Koji Morimoto, Yoshiaki Onishi, Teddy Riley, David Z.
 * Vocal Direction – Akira, Mayumi Harada, Daisuke Imai, T.Kura, Michico, Kenji Sano
 * Remixing – Mad Bear Sound System (bonus track: So Crazy[Mad Bear Mix])
 * Photography – Kazunali Tajima
 * Art Direction – Tyg