Namie Amuro - Uncontrolled (CD+DVD)

"I feel alive and tonight's my night. I've got nothing to hide, I'm dancing in the spotlight..."

- Namie Amuro "In The Spotlight (TOKYO)"

What a fantastic way to open to open a 20th anniversary album, Miss Amuro! This song has been stuck in my mind ever since I've listened to it for the very first time when I watched the DVD that came along with this album because it's so catchy.

And, this song, like 4 other songs on this album, is done fully in English!

"Uncontrolled" is her 9th studio album, following her previous album released more than 2 years back "Past < Future", released in Japan in June 27, 2012 and what can I say, it's fantastic!

Here's the cover of her latest creation (the Taiwan press) which was pieced at the beginning of the year after releasing 4 singles prior to this major release. Isn't she extremely gorgeous even without or with minimal make up on? Who would believe this Queen of Hip Hop is already a mom?

Here's the close up of the sticker pasted on the transparent plastic cover of the digipak album. I realized that her recent releases, the albums at least, are all in digipaks, making her the Queen of Digipaks as well but who can blame the production team? The digipaks are always so pretty!

Anyway, the sticker basically describes the album and the big "20" tells the world how she is celebrating her 20th year in the Japanese music industry - with this marvelous album packed with 13 great songs as well as a DVD featuring 11 music videos. That's as good as saying almost every song has a promotional video for it~!

The back of the digipak is also as stunning as well. Pardon the ugly PG sticker because I got it from Singapore's hmv for a chance to meet Namie Amuro in person but unfortunately, I didn't get it *sigh*. Maybe next time, I shall fly to Japan to find her personally! I'll continue dreaming...

Back to this dreamy-looking back of the digipak. Other than the unsightly sticker from Singapore's Board of Censorship (which I seriously find redundant), we have the sticker with the track list of the album stuck onto the plastic cover.

A close up of the track list. Basically, this album features all the songs from her previous four singles plus 4 brand new songs recorded specially for this album. For more information on the tracks, you can visit CDJapan or YesAsia for more details or her official site (link on the side of this blog) because I'm too lazy to type the obvious out here.

I wouldn't be doing this album justice without taking photos of it without the ugly plastic covering on, yes? Here it is! I say, after watching the DVD and listening to the entire album on the train today, I have to say that this is by far the best album I've listened to this year. Yes, I think it does win me over a little bit more than Queen of J-Pop, ayumi hamasaki's "Party Queen".

The rationale is simple - this album is coherent and sounds like a whole album. "Party Queen", on the other hand, explored different themes but got kinda stuck in the middle with the okay-okay ballads which I love but didn't tell a full story with the rest of the upbeat and sudden jazzy songs in the rest of the album. Nevertheless, it's by ayumi hamasaki so I love it anyway!!

What Namie did different to both Koda Kumi and ayumi hamasaki this time round is that out of 13 tracks, 5 were performed either fully in English or 80% in English and that makes a lot more sense to me because even though I understand a bit of Japanese, English still relates to me fully.

And can I say, Miss Amuro's English is actually good! At least we don't hear things like "Come on Twinkle why won't you crap your hands" by Miss Kumi...

The gorgeous back without the track list but that isn't a huge issue because they have the track list inside the digipak (more about it later!). The sticker on the plastic is merely for telling customers who have no clue (shame on them!) of the track list inside this amazing masterpiece.

"Uncontrolled" is definitely an apt name, considering that she went all out with her English songs, unafraid of how people may judge her because we all know, Japanese people aren't the best English speaking people because of the way they pronounce but honestly, I think their pronunciation is really adorable!

Even though she did say that she did not do the songs to reach to her international fans, I think she still did it well! Her real motive of doing them in English is simply because the songs are better done in that language. A creative choice maybe?

The spine of the album. I simply adore the font they used for this album! It's so pretty and classy, just like how she portrayed her almost "naked" self on the album. The "no make up" look really showing off her natural beauty and showing how she can still rock the world with her looks and music.

When you open up the digipak, you see the track list on the left - both for the CD and the DVD so you do not have to worry about losing the track list if you throw the plastic cover away. If it wasn't for the two songs without promotional videos, I think they could have just do with a single track list. It's a pity Namie didn't do what Koda Kumi did - have a promotional video for every single track. Come on! It's just 2 more videos~~

A close up of the track list. Want to know what some of my favorite tracks are so far? Here they are...~~

• In The Spotlight (TOKYO)
  A fantastic upbeat song to open the album! The song is catchy and the lyrics are pretty inspirational. Even though it's only addressed to Tokyo, I bet her "Tokyo" is just a metaphor (and a word that actually fits the song anyway). My favorite song on the album so far~ So much so that it's actually my ringtone right now!!
  
• NAKED
  Just like how she portrayed herself on the album. She may be in this industry for 20 years but she still look fresh! NAKED is very "Namie Amuro" - I can't imagine anyone else who can do this hip hop genre better than the Queen herself. This song makes you want to sing "Naked~ Naked~" like a pervert, but in a good way for sure.
  
• Hot Girls
  "Hot girls make the world go round!!" One of the new songs that's done in English and I love the PV! She appears on stage, strutting down the runway in her long hair with those bangs, singing her heart out and dancing so fiercely!  It's also extremely catchy and "hip hop"py. "Namie Amuro makes the world go round!!"
  
• Break It
  The first single of this album and even though it's been out for so long, I never actually went to listen to it because I don't have an original copy of the song. Yes, I rather not listen to something than to pirate it. But I do watch their PVs online but not this time. Another classic "Namie Amuro" song~ If I can summarize this album in one word, I would say "Catchy" because every other song gets stuck in your mind like chicken in between your teeth. It's extremely hard to get over them excellent songs, like this one!!
  
• Fight Together
  One of the first few songs that I listened to before I got the album because it was the theme song for the anime "One Piece". I'm not an anime fan but when I know one of the big threes (ayu, Koda Kumi and Namie) does a theme song, I would go find it out and listen to it. "Fight Together" is a motivational song with a very summer feel. Not one of her classic styles but really inspiring nevertheless~
  
• Tempest
  What can I say? She opened the album with such energy and closed it with a fierce ballad in the form of this storm. "Tempest" was release as a single prior to the album bur I've never heard it too until I listened to the album and boy is it good! She sings so effortlessly and soothingly that even though the title seem chaotic and windy, she brings such inner peace to you. Excellent way to close the album!

These are some of the songs that really grabbed me but they are definitely not the only ones. Other honorable mentions are "Get Myself Back" and "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" but if I go on and on, this post will be extremely lengthy. Now for the next photo~ 

Unlike her previous two albums, "Past < Future" and "Checkmate!", this album is simpler in terms of the creative and looks but still packs a lot of strong content. Here's how the digipak look like when you open it up fully. The gold disc stores the platinum-worthy songs inside while the silver disc is where you get the gorgeous promotional videos. No frills - just simple, straight to the point but still slammin'!

A closer look on the really minimalistic CD design. Less is more~ Less is more~ Even though you get really simple and clean designs on the discs, you get more behind the discs themselves!

The gorgeous Queen herself! I'm adoring the creative of the photo shoot because it's so simple but angelic and pretty. But if there's something that I don't like about this one, it's probably for the fact that the exposure on her face was a little on the under side, making her look darker than usual and playing down on her beautiful features. Perhaps more light in her face would make the album even prettier, don't you think?

If you've been wondering where the lyric booklet disappeared to, don't worry. It's safely tucked in a pocket on the track list side of the digipak. Here, we see her fair skin which we didn't managed to on the album cover. Another simple and classy look~ She should totally be a model, yes? :D

Like "Checkmate!", there aren't many photos inside the lyric booklet and I really think that it's a real pity because she is so photogenic and yet, they don't take enough photos of her to show the world. Maybe she should release like photo books along with her album like what Koda Kumi and ayu are doing to promote even more, yes? This is the first page of the lyric booklet. She sure can rock this minimal make up look without looking like she just woke up~

The lyrics are laid vertically (portrait) instead of the typical landscape and I find that interesting. Well, it definitely doesn't make reading difficult but it does make it slightly more challenging to shoot. But again, not many people enjoy taking photos of their album from even single angle like me... Nothing really special with the lyrics - just white text on a black background.

The only other photo of Namie other than the one on the first pages of the lyric booklet. Well, at least they didn't recycle photos again and again like in her latest compilation album. 

Last but not least, here's the poster that I got from hmv for pre-ordering my copy with them! Normally, I would wait for YesAsia to bring in the Hong Kong version of the album but considering that hmv is doing the pre-order for only $21.90, I decided that I might as well get it from them because the price is right! Plus, it's rare that they give posters out so I might as well make use of this opportunity.

Come to think of it, it's been awhile since I've gotten a poster. The recent Koda Kumi and ayu releases either come in slightly better packagings or gave me free plastic folders instead of posters (which I seriously don't mind) but having a poster again made me happy even though they hardly make it onto the wall because I don't have much wall to talk about anyway.

Nevertheless, the poster is gorgeous, no? I think what hmv did was to purchase the albums from CDJapan or YesAsia and got the posters from those online retailers to give out. How else would you explain why their Japan press is ridiculously priced in their store?

Anyway, to end this post (finally on a CD, yeah?) I say Namie Amuro really came back "uncontrolled" because even after 2 and a half years, she still packs such a punch and is able to churn out fantastic albums one after another without compromising on packaging quality and music quality. She is by far the most consistent one because she is always "there" and she definitely does not disappoint.

Can't wait for her to do the tour for this album because the songs are so promising and I would really love to see her perform live! Well, until then, yes? :D

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PINK DOT 2012 - Freedom to Love

You don't know, you don't know

how beautiful you are

あなたが思うよりも

You don't know, you don't know

how beautiful you are

あなたはずっと美しいから

- 浜崎あゆみ "how beautiful you are"

I simply love that song by ayumi hamasaki, Queen of J-Pop, because it reminds everyone of the beauty that they are and will always be, even though sometimes, we do not see ourselves as the wonderful people that we are.

There will always be people who judge on you. There will always be people who discriminiate against a certain group of people. There will always be people telling you that you're not good enough, you're not pretty, you're stupid, etc.

Heck them all!!

Let's throw on some pink and celebrate what others deem as "unnatural". Let's turn on those flash lights to shine in their faces to tell them that being yourself ain't being irresponsible. Let this little pink dot grow into a massive monster that will eventually run the world to show the world that every single individual is beautiful and unique in their own special way.

PINK DOT 2012 ようこそ。
Welcome to Pink Dot 2012

Here I am (or rather, was) again, at the Pink Dot held annually at Hong Lim Park for the last 4 years to raise awareness of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered) community in Singapore, the country where citizens are mostly conservatives because the population is aging and they choose to think like the old hags that they are. Well, obviously less the "hip" people like myself who supports human rights. :)

This year, Pink Dot was held on June 30, 2012 and pardon me for blogging about it like 2 days later. Not going to give any excuses but I was "busy"!! Again, I went with Raven (or whom I affectionately call Chua Ying Ying) as well my other friends. 

What's special about this year's Pink Dot is that instead of having it in the daytime, the organizers decided that it would be really cool to make a glowing pink dot instead (more details afterwards~) and because of that, we went at around 5pm to grab a nice spot in the middle of the park.

Didn't take as many photos as last year partly because this year, we actually got a picnic mat and some snacks to munch on and we got pretty lazy sitting at the same spot, not moving at all but anyway, I still managed to get some shots. :P

First up (before I really start)~

Aren't you honored that you got the first spot, Raven? :P Here's my best pal since my U.R.S. days when I was still working at the female shoe boutique years ago, even before I started my polytechnic education. Don't you find her look adorable? Notice the pants? Those were actually pyjamas but she added a black ribbon to it to make it so much more fashionable~ :D Loving her creativity.

Unlike last year, this time round, we actually managed to see the stage (or at least most of it) because last year, we were stuck at the skirts of the park and all we could see were people in pink. This year, we managed to grab a better spot to park our puwets to enjoy ourselves instead of being trampled on.

Like I've said, Pink Dot is to raise awareness for the LGBT community and it's not a demonstration. It's just a public event to bring everyone who supports the notion of freedom to love together to enjoy a concert and to have fun with their friends and loved ones - no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian or transgendered life.

Here's the crowd that was in front of us when they started the performance at around 6:30pm. Most of the people were minding their own business, enjoying sushi (I saw lots of people having sushi that day) and just having fun on their own. Ain't that lovely?

We also had our own "picnic" of junk food ranging from seaweeds in big packets to these really yummy Crisp Choco that's basically chocolate coated cereal. Initially, the plan was for me to bring my Tarot cards but unfortunately, I forgot (oops) but thank goodness I didn't though because Raven only got a small mat that was barely enough for 5 butts and our bags and there probably wouldn't be space anyway.

The whole purpose of Pink Dot every year is to get people from all over the country to wear pink and then, they will gather everyone together to take an aerial shot of the whole pink dot but in recent years, the "dot" has expanded so quickly that it kinda turned into a "blob". Maybe they should change the name to Pink Blob next year.

Anyway, last year, they had balloons carrying cameras into the sky to take photos but this time round, the organizers felt richer and actually managed to get this rig to bring the camera into the sky via propellors and other high tech gadgetries. So cool!

This robot with a DSLR camera mounted on it flew around the whole park, apparently snapping photos now and then. I'm truly amazed by how strong this device is to actually hold the weight of the camera as well as itself and be able to fly so high into the air. Believe it or not, when it flew past us, it was as though someone turned on the fan because the wind from it was so strong~

And yes, all of us were like "Come here come here" because we wanted the breeze...

But I think in the end, the robot got stuck in a tree because I didn't see it after the crowd went "Ooooohhh!!!"

Another photo of the amazing crowd. Somehow, I felt that this year was more organized as last year, even though someone did stepped on my toes, because there were lesser people shouting around to get people to move their butts and definitely less pushing. Or maybe it's because I was in the centre so there wasn't a need to push us or anything.

The Pink Dot balloons make their reappearances again!!

The concert started at around 6:30pm and honestly, I think they should do something about the sound system because from where we were, we could barely hear what those people were singing. Especially when helicopters and fighter jets decide to roar across the sky. Turns out that on the day of Pink Dot, they were having the National Day Parade rehearsal at the Floating Platform. Well, at least we, lucky people in pink, managed to catch glimpses of the air show~

I think most of the people who went there couldn't be bothered about the concert if they sat down like Raven, stuffing their own faces with food. That's exactly what I did most of the time and that also explains why I took significantly lesser photos than I did last year. :P But again, the concert was, to be brutally honest, mediocre so we didn't miss much.

Well, less Kumar's appearance on stage and the cast of La Cage (or I believe it's them) because those were the only acts that caught my attention...

What's an event without freebies right?! I love freebies! This year, the concept is all about getting everyone to gather together to shine their bright pink light into the sky to demonstrate that love shouldn't have any boundaries, just like light, and therefore, they requested us to bring pink flashlights.

Well, knowing Singaporeans who are too stingy to buy a flashlight, let alone spend the efforts to find one that's actually pink (Come on~ Who uses a pink light in reality?), Pink Dot this year gave out these really adorable flash lights that, according to my friend, is actually a good quality LED light! Isn't this flash light pretty? I especially love the fact that they have the words "pinkdot.sg - supporting the freedom to love" on it. Makes it so much more meaningful, this flashlight...

Unfortunately though, it can only produce pink light because the filter is stuck at the front and there's no way to remove it unless you break it. Does that mean we will be having another night Pink Dot so that we get to recycle this flash light? :P

Besides raising awareness for the LGBT community, Pink Dot is also an event where people get to dress up as whatever they want and however they want because no one is going to judge you because you're free to be who you really are! And if you want to dress up as a chicken, go right ahead!!

Well, that was a joke. Who would dress up as a chicken for fun? Here, we see Nando's chicken mascot parading around the park, taking photos with everyone and being so adorable! It makes me happy that there are companies out there like Google and Nando's who support the cause of freedom to love.

Messing around with the flash light while waiting for the formation of the pink dot to start. Here's Raven with Hidayat, who I've first met last year at Pink Dot. 

As the sun sets steadily and the crowd grows, the sky got darker, revealing the silvery moon above this angular building. Well, considering that I had nothing better to do anyway, might as well take a photo of it and try to make it look "HDR-ish" in post processing. Even the moon appeared to lend its support to shine upon the people who supports freedom and yearns to be free~

Another photo of us messing around with the pink flashlight. It was difficult to get this shot because Kumar was on stage and Raven was so excited that she constantly turned around to tell me, "Look! It's Kumar!!" while the rest pretended that nothing was going on, drowning in their own chuckles. Eventually, we still managed to get the shot and yes, when Raven found out, she was like, "Bitches!!"

This photo is also prove that when you're waiting for something to happen, you tend to do all sorts of funny things with whatever you have in your hands.

As night fell, everyone found a reason to turn on the pink light and the entire atmosphere was so pretty and romantic because it was just a sea of pink. I hate to say this but you have to be there in order to experience it yourself - it's better than the Lantern/Mooncake Festival. :P

When it got significantly darker, the concert drew to an end and it was time for the annual gathering for the formation of the epic pink dot! It was getting darker and before we (or our belongings) get trampled on by the crowd, we decided to get our lazy asses off the ground and started to pack. You wouldn't want to be trampled by the 15,000+ strong crowd that night, yes?

Under the instructions of the hosts and ambassadors of this year's Pink Dot, namely Sharon Au (oh my gosh I miss her so much!!), Kumar and Lim Yu-Beng (famed by the series "999"), everyone started to gather to the center of the park for the formation of the dot. Before moving, I decided to take a group photo of these amazing people!

Chanelle (extreme right), also went for the Pink Dot with me last year and I'm glad that she could make it again this year! :D

Oh yes! Did you know that there were apparently lots of local celebrities that made their appearances as well? Celebs like Patricia Mok, Nat Ho, Dawn Yeoh amongst others were present but unfortunately, I didn't see none of them but it's good to know that they are there to support as well! :D I wonder when the Noose team (Michelle Chong, Chua En Lai, Alaric Tay) will appear or even be the ambassadors of the event. I miss Lulu!! :P

I've always been wondering where they took the aerial photo of the pink dot from and this year, the mystery is solved when the hosts ask everyone to shine the light at the pink heart located at this hotel. Initially, I thought they would fix the flying robot with the camera for the aerial but it turned out that the camera is actually located elsewhere. Nevertheless, the photo is still stunning...

Source: Yahoo! Singapore
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/record-high-of-about-15k-s%E2%80%99poreans-turn-out-for-pink-dot.html

Isn't this PRETTY?! According to the ambassadors and the local news, this year, there were over 15,000 people who attended Pink Dot 2012 - that's 50% up from the 10,000 from last year! This shows that Singapore is one step closer to becoming a nation who is more open-minded, accepting and definitely more matured (but not old fashioned!). I say, if this pink dot continues to expand, future events might have to be held somewhere else because the park will not be able to accomodate everyone but that's a good thing, yes? :D

I might not have the honor to photograph the aerial shot of the pink dot but I'm definitely glad that I'm part of it, squeezing with people and flashing our lights in the sky with everyone else. And of course, I'm also glad that I had the opportunity to photograph the whole crowd with their symbolic light in the air. This is so gorgeous~~

To end of this post, here's another photo of the three of them playing with the pink lights before we headed over to Central for dinner. 

Well, I would say Pink Dot this year was definitely much better than the previous year because of the new concept of forming the dot at night. It definitely injected some freshness into this 4 year old event and I will definitely go for it again next year to suppor the cause of freedom to love.

I strongly believe that every single individual is given the right to be who they are because they were born the way that they are. It does not simply apply to just whether someone is gay or straight but also to people who are of different races. I admit that sometimes, it's hard not to be racist but I'm doing my best not to because I do not want to be of double standards.

Who cares if people tell you something is unnatural? Who cares if they think that your lifestyle is less than desirable? Are they the one who defines what is natural? Are they the ones who define how you should live your life? Are they the ones who define how you should live your happy life?

If you do not believe in their causes, don't. You're your own free bitch and you should be proud of it. No one can force you to become something or do something that you're not or do not believe in.

Everyone is born with the right to survive and to live to their own standards and we should all respect that, yes?

Shall close with my favorite line of ayu's "how beautiful you are"... But before that, if you want to find out about last year's Pink Dot 2011, here's the link: http://wordshutter.blogspot.sg/2011/06/pink-dot.html. Yessi~

あなたはずっと美しいから。。。

Because you're definitely beautiful...

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