Past Future

The correct title of this article is Past<Future. The substitution or omission of any < > [ ] { } is due to technical restrictions.

Past<Future
Studio album by Namie Amuro
Released	December 16, 2009 (2009-12-16) (Japan)
Genre	Dance pop, R&B, electronic, hip hop
Length	48:47
Label	Avex Trax
Namie Amuro chronology
Best Fiction (2008) Past<Future (2009) Checkmate! (2011)
Alternative cover
CD+DVD edition
Singles from Past<Future
"Wild" Released: March 18, 2009 (2009-03-18)

Past<Future is the ninth studio album released by Japanese pop singer Namie Amuro on December 16, 2009. The album comes over two years after her last original studio album, Play (2007). Amuro states that she sees the album as a "brand new start"^[1] following the highly successful release of the greatest hits compilation, Best Fiction (2008).

Only one single, "Wild/Dr." was released from the album. Several of the album's tracks will be used in promotional campaigns leading up to its release including, "My Love" and "Copy That" currently being used in Vidal Sassoon commercials.^[2] A tour in support of the album has been announced to begin in April 2010.^[3] The album shifted 310,323 units within its first six days.

Background

Past<Future was released in Japan on December 16, 2009 as a singular 12-track CD release plus a dual disc set with the album and a separate DVD containing several music videos. Amuro first revealed in the March 2009 issue of S Kawaii that she was preparing a new album which she would begin recording during her Best Fiction Tour. In the interview, she would also confirm that the direction of the album would be different from her previous album. Confirmation of the impending release of Amuro's ninth studio album occurred several months later when media outlets began to report new commercials with new songs by the singer would appear not in a new single, but a new album towards the end of the year.^[4]

Of the twelve tracks being released on the album, eleven tracks including "Wild", Dr.", "Fast Car", "My Love", "Copy That", "Bad Habit" "Love Game", "The Meaning of Us", "Shut Up, "Defend Love", and "Steal My Night" were announced on her official site on October 22.^[1] The final track, "First Timer" a collaboration with hip hop group Doberman Inc. was announced at a later date.

Unlike Play which was produced solely by Michico and T.Kura of Giant Swing and Nao'ymt, Amuro sought other writers and producers for this project. Dsign Music, a Scandinavian production team was the first to reveal that they had written new material for Amuro on their official website in August 2009.^[5] In a blog entry, songwriter/producer, Hiro, who has written for other artist including Kumi Koda and J Soul Brothers, confirmed that he produced "My Love".^[6]

Promotion

After the release of the singles "Wild" and "Dr.", the first songs to be promoted from the album were "My Love" and "Copy That", which both appeared in new commercials for cosmetics company, Vidal Sassoon. They premiered on the web first and later on television in October 2009.^[7] "My Love" would later make its radio premiere on J-Wave's Groove Line on October 27.^[8] Both "My Love" and "Copy That" were released as ringtones online on November 18. Two more songs from the album, "Fast Car" and "The Meaning Of Us" also made their radio premieres on November 23 and 24.^[2] The music videos for the two respective songs also premiered on music channels. In total, four new music videos have been produced for "Fast Car", "The Meaning Of Us", "Love Game", and "Defend Love." All four videos will appear on a DVD included with the album along with music videos for the previously released "Wild" and "Dr.".^[2]

In November, a poster promoting the new album began to appear across Japan. It bears the image of a woman, her face hidden, ripping a photo from Amuro's famous Best Fiction album shoot. The image is being used both online and offline for the album, with more photos of the poster being more and more ripped, cumulating to the releases of the covers, where the poster is half-ripped, revealing Amuro's face.^{[citation needed]}

The "Defend Love" music video was a collaboration with Sunrise Animation, featuring Namie Amuro as an animated character interacting with Amuro Ray of Mobile Suit Gundam. Part of the video re-creates the encounter between Amuro Ray and Lalah Sune in the Ghost of Solomon event, with Namie Amuro in place of Lalah piloting a pink Elmeth.

Track listing

CD
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Fast Car"	Tiger	Anne Judith Wik, Ronny Svendsen, Robin Jensen, Nermin Harambasic, Chris Young	Dsign Music	3:20
2.	"Copy That"	Michico	T.Kura, Michico	T.Kura for Giant Swing Productions	4:25
3.	"Love Game"	Double	Anthony Anderson, Joleen Belle, Jaden Michaels, Steve Smith	Anthony Anderson & Steve Smith for SA TrackWorks Productions	3:39
4.	"Bad Habit"	Tiger	Hugo Lira, Thomas Gustafsson, Negin, lan-Paolo Lira	H.Lira, T.Gustafsson, I-P Lira for Random Music	3:10
5.	"Steal My Night"	Jeff Miyahara, Kanata Okajima	Jeff Miyahara	Jeff Miyahara	3:32
6.	"First Timer (feat. Doberman Inc)"	Michico, Doberman Inc	T.Kura, Michico, Doberman Inc	T.Kura for Giant Swing Productions	5:24
7.	"Wild"	Michico	T.Kura, Michico	T.Kura for Giant Swing Productions	3:18
8.	"Dr."	Nao'ymt	Nao'ymt	Nao'ymt	5:41
9.	"Shut Up"	Nao'ymt	Nao'ymt	Nao'ymt	4:08
10.	"My Love"	Hiro	Hiro	Hiro for Digz, Inc.	4:04
11.	"The Meaning of Us"	Momo "Mocha" N.	Momo "Mocha" N., U-key Zone	U-Key Zone	4:28
12.	"Defend Love"	Nao'ymt	Nao'ymt	Nao'ymt	4:03
Total length:					48:47

DVD
No.	Title	Director(s)	Length
1.	"Fast Car" (Music video)	Shigeaki Kubo	3:25
2.	"Love Game" (Music video)	Shigeaki Kubo	3:56
3.	"Wild" (Music video)	Caviar	3:22
4.	"The Meaning of Us" (Music video)	Shigeaki Kubo	4:35
5.	"Dr." (Music video)	Junpei Mizusaki (Kamikaze Douga), Shuichi Sato, Yasuhiko Shimizu	5:54
6.	"Defend Love" (Music video)	Tanakazoo & Yusuke Tanaka	4:26

Chart performance

The album debuted at number one on the Oricon daily album chart, with a first day sales tally of around 112,000 copies.^[9] At the end of its first week of release, the album went on to top the Oricon weekly album chart, selling around 331,000 copies.^[10] According to Oricon, the album sold 545,929 copies within ten weeks, surpassing the sales of Amuro's previous studio album, Play. According to Oricon, Amuro's new album Past<Future was the number one album of 2010 for eight months. As of October 2010, Past<Future is the sixth best-selling album of 2010 in Japan. surpassing her 1998 album, Concentration 20 in terms of ranking.

Reception

Takurō Ueno (上野 拓朗, Ueno Takurō^?) rated the album four and a half out of five stars on Rolling Stone Japan.^[11]

Charts, peaks and certifications

Charts Chart (2009) Peak position Japan Oricon Daily Album Chart[9] 1 Japan Oricon Weekly Album Chart[10] 1 Japan Oricon yearly album chart[12] 6 Japan Soundscan Albums Chart (CD+DVD)[13] 1 Japan Soundscan Albums Chart (CD-Only)[13] 1 Taiwan G-Music Combo Chart [14] 1 Taiwan G-Music J-pop Chart [15] 1 Korea Hanteo Weekly Albums Chart 1 Korea Hanteo Monthly Albums Chart 1

Sales and certifications Country Provider Sales Certification Japan RIAJ 600,000[16] 2x Platinum[17]

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by J Album by KinKi Kids

Oricon weekly number-one album December 28, 2009

Succeeded by Hajimari no Uta by Ikimono-gakari

Singles - Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Single	Chart	Peak Position
18 March 2009	Wild/Dr.	Oricon Daily Singles Chart	1
		Oricon Weekly Singles Chart	1

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "安室奈美恵NEWアルバムのタイトル・収録曲が決定!!". http://www.visionfactory.jp/news/news_archives/0911180000_amuro.html. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "～待望のオリジナルアルバム発売決定!!!～". http://www.avexnet.or.jp/amuro/info.html. 
3. ^ "安室奈美恵：全国ツアー開催決定！！". http://www.visionfactory.jp/news/news_archives/0910262000_amuro.html. 
4. ^ "アムロ３変化☆「ヴィダルサスーン」新ＣＭ". Sankei Sports. 2009-09-25. http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090925/gnj0909250506010-n1.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-14. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "DSign Music AS". http://www.dsign.no/. 
6. ^ "安室奈美恵 "MY LOVE"". http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/hiro777com/diary/200909300000/. 
7. ^ "安室が宇宙でリボーン！ヴィダルサスーン新CM公開". http://natalie.mu/news/show/id/21592. 
8. ^ "新曲「MY LOVE」をラジオ初オンエア！〜". http://www.avexnet.or.jp/amuro/info.html#info_091026. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "安室奈美恵、2年半ぶりのオリジナルアルバムが1位スタート" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2009-12-17. http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/71709/. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "30代でもアルバム1位、安室奈美恵が女性初10〜30代首位制覇" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2009-12-22. http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/71830/full/. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
11. ^ Ueno, Takurō. "Past<Future CD Review" (in Japanese). Rolling Stone Japan. http://www.rollingstonejapan.com/?p=4142. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
12. ^ "アルバム 年間ランキング-ORICON STYLE ランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. December 20, 2010. Archived from the original on December 20, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5v6zwRQHp. Retrieved December 20, 2010. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Soundscan Albums
14. ^ G-Music Combo
15. ^ G-Music J-Pop
16. ^ "安室奈美恵、デビュー以来初の上半期アルバム1位". Oricon. 2010-06-24. http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/77484/full/. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
17. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2009年12月" (in Japanese). RIAJ. http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/gold/200912.html. Retrieved 2010-09-11.