Namie Amuro - LIVE STYLE 2011

After waiting for more than 14 business days which YesAsia promises to deliver your products by, my order for Queen of Hip Hop Namie Amuro's LIVE STYLE 2011 and another DVD (Stay tuned! Hint: It has something to do with the Queen of J-POP!!) finally arrived last week. YesAsia's delivery service has been getting from bad to worse. My previous order was also delayed but at least I received them eventually. Shame on them for making their customers wait obscenely.

Anyway, this is my second Namie Amuro concert DVD; the first being her Past<Future Tour 2010 (unboxed and reviewed on my tumblr blog last year). Reason why I got this one? Probably because it has some of the songs that I had never ever heard of and want to give a try while watching Miss Hip Hop dance to them and because I wanted to add up enough on YesAsia for the free shipping (true reason. :P)

Namie's concerts, at least judging from the 2 that I have, are relatively simple as compared to Koda Kumi and ayumi hamasaki. She does only a few costume changes and keep the whole concert very simple with minimal props and effects. However, that does not discount her talented singing as well as stage presence when she starts dancing and strutting her stuff. Her light designers are also damn good at the lighting.

Now, let's look at what LIVE STYLE 2011 brings us...

The DVD comes in a slipcase sleeve and here's the cover with the plastic shrink wrap still on. Initially, I didn't really get the story behind the picture because it looks as though she is smiling under water. It was upon watching the introduction cinematics of the concert did I come to realize that she is actually a really cool knight in armor with her helmet exploding. Interesting concept but didn't really deliver via the front cover due to lack of other elements suggesting that she was wearing an armor.

The shiny sticker on the shrink wrap that gives a short summary of the concert in Chinese. Basically, it says that there are 25 songs featured on this DVD and it comes with Chinese subtitles. Nothing very useful.

CDs or DVDs always look better without the shrink wrap because they often come clustered with other stickers that aren't very attractive to begin with. Furthermore, shrink wraps tend to attract a lot of dust and therefore, it makes photographing them difficult. Initially, I didn't really fancy the cover but I think this is one of those covers that will grow on you. She is definitely smiling with her eyes~~ Coolness!!

I'm a fan of Namie but unfortunately, not that big of a fan because I don't collect every single or album she's ever produced. But at least I can still recognize some of the songs in this concert. Some of the older ones or newer ones are foreign to me but when the new album (I heard it's announced already) is released, I will definitely go get that one.

Anyway, here's the track list. What I don't really enjoy about her concert DVDs is that they do not include the making ofs. I think the making ofs are fun to watch because it shows the artist in their every day life "state" and often, it shows the true sides of the singers off stage. Perhaps they wanted to keep all her concert DVDs to one disc? I don't know...

Here's the slipcase cover with the DVD case side by side. A sudden change in theme, yes? I've seen Namie mostly in her sleek outfits and seeing her in a dress is kinda fresh to me. Like I've said, I'm not her ultimate fan but hey, at least I support her original goods yes?

I'm also happy that they used a different cover on the inside so that there are more things to feast our eyes on instead of the same photo over and over again. Here we have the dancing queen sporting a pink dress, looking so feminine in her signature long hair curled up.

On the back of the plastic DVD case are some screen grabs of what you would expect in the concert. I must say, even though there aren't many special effects, Namie commands the entire arena and her presence on stage is not to be missed. The lighting is fantastic and gosh can she sing and dance at the same time! I'm really amazed at how she can keep up with her breath and still sing those really difficult songs like "Defend Love". *applause*

When you open the case, you're greeting with something simple - a poster folded neatly by the side and the black DVD. Unlike Koda Kumi and ayu, Namie's concerts do not include a lyric or photo booklet and I say that is such a pity. But that's probably because of the style of the concert as well since there aren't many costume changes and special effects worthy of making a photo book out of it.

But when I mean her concert is simple, I ain't saying it's sloppy. In fact, it's simple but packed with some really good but minimalistic details. Had to take a photo of the back of the DVD and insert because it's so gorgeous! Running on the theme of her latest compilation album featuring other artists - Checkmate!, the chess pieces are back again and this time, it's not just a prop but also a platform Namie can stand on. Really cool~ The entire stage is also a huge chess board too.

Last but not least - here's the poster that comes folded in the DVD casing. Namie Amuro in her long hair (I've never seen her in short hair before other than for a single song in this concert where she wore a wig) in an armor suit. Well, we can't really be definite that it's really her inside but this is really cool nevertheless. And yes, this is the armor introduced in the opening cinematics which resulted in the cover art we all see.


Namie Amuro is a strong performer who delivers even though her concerts are simple but very refined and sleek. Even if you do not like to watch dances, you can just pop this DVD in to listen to her sing live and I must say, it's amazing! Not many people (e.g. Korean girl bands) can do that without lip sync and I say she pulled it of splendidly.

It's a pity that some of the songs in this concert were meant to be performed with the featured artists on their original tracks (songs like "make it happen" and "WONDER WOMAN") but was performed by Namie alone. But again, getting other artists with other works to do to make a guest appearance is quite challenging but I would really want to watch them perform live together on these really good songs.

Overall, this concert is worth watching for the dances and Namie's amazing singing and stamina as well as stage presence. She's also the only artiste I know that can strut the runway while singing and dancing like a true top model! For a single mother aged 34, she maintains her energy and youth (and of course body) for the entertainment of everyone, I say that's extremely remarkable!

Can't wait for her next studio album! The singles so far are promising and I hope that every single track released thus far will make it to the album because they sound really good~

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Amuro Namie - Checkmate!

I know this album is way overdue because it was released in April and it's already mid-September. Originally, this album was scheduled to be released on March 23 but due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it was delayed - just like how ayumi's remix albums were also delayed.

But what delayed this post is because I never took notice of this album until recently. Okay - I did take notice of the awesome cover art because Namie looked stunning but considering that this is just a compilation album with other artistes, it didn't really struck me as something that I would listen to...

Until I saw that this album was second to Adele's "21" album on some chart that I thought that maybe I didn't give this album enough of a second chance so, to get that free toy from YesAsia, I purchased this album along with the CD+DVD version of ayumi hamasaki's "FIVE" - which will be featured in another post.

Introducing Amuro Namie's compilation album which came in a digipak format - Checkmate! Ain't that wind in the air and pose fierce for this really tall singer? Like I always said, I would love to see her in a runway show because of her long legs and how she strut her stuff during her tours - damn cool! I'm loving the whole concept of the album art - the chess pieces with her standing out like the Queen - the Queen of R&B in J-Pop~

What's special about this album is that it features songs that Namie collaborated with other artistes - therefore, I believe the term they use for this album is an collaboration compilation album. What a mouthful! Unfortunately though, there are lots of artistes that I've never seen before and the only few that I can recognize are like Anna Tsuchiya - the one who tries too hard to top Koda Kumi but still hasn't capture my attention. As for the rest, I think my knowledge of the J-pop industry isn't vast enough to recognize their names. Maybe I've seen them somewhere before but they don't really ring a siren in my mind.

I believe this is like the third digipak album that I have of Namie and I guess that's like her trademark packaging though since BEST FICTION. Did you know that this packaging style is actually patented? Which means I think they have to like seek permission if they want to use this packaging but that's the label's business. What I'm concern about is how they make it work. For instance in Checkmate!, they greet you with a fierce photo of Namie alongside the CD.

And to do her justice, I shall zoom in for you! Loving her outfit and how flawless her skin is it almost looks airbrushed~

And when you lift up the other side, you see the DVD inside and I wonder when I will actually have the time to watch the DVD. Well, that shall go onto my endless list of things to do. I'm surprised that ever since I started reviewing packagings, I have been taking photos again and again and again and I don't even get bored of it even though I may repeat a lot of the same things again and again and again. In the middle there, you see the lyric booklet. Let's zoom in!

Onto the small easel that I got from Daiso for 2 bucks~ The lyric booklet replaces Namie with a huge chess piece and I thought that was clever because otherwise, Namie's photos will be kinda reused over and over again considering that the photos inside the lyric booklet seems reused anyway. Why waste the outfit right? They should have taken more shots of her playing around with the set for a variety of poses as opposed to the same old standing-there-looking-fierce ones.

Well this photo looks familiar, no? The first page of the lyric booklet reused the photo of the digipak and it makes me wonder why they refuse to take more photos of this gorgeous lady! Even close ups of her face or something else to give this album more variety in terms of the aesthetics wouldn't do much harm right? On the left of the front page is the track list. Yeap.

How the lyrics look like. They used the concept of black and white marbles are the back of the lyric booklet and other than that, there was nothing really special about the lyrics section. Like the norm of all compilation albums in Japan, the pictures inside the lyric booklet is kept to a bare minimum for some weird reason. Maybe because the budget allocated for compilation albums is smaller? That's my bet.

And the last page of the lyric booklet finally features Namie with a slightly different pose and different facial expression but the camera angle did not change at all.


Musically wise, I think the album is a good album to listen to when you want to feel hyped up or you want to practice your runway walk because it's very upbeat and electronic. Some of the songs sound a little familiar but they somehow manage to differentiate themselves pretty well. The album also features a bonus song which is unlisted in the track list - Want Me, Want Me featuring another artiste with Namie in her classic. Really interesting reinterpretation~ I like!

Once again, Amuro Namie released a really aesthetically pleasing album in the form of yet another digipak with some repeated photos which are nevertheless stunning and gorgeous. Hopefully her next album will feature slightly more angles of this beautiful R&B queen as opposed to taking her in the same static shot over and over again. Come on photographer~ Do her some justice!

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