I. Introduction
Loveppears (stylized as LOVEppears) is the second studio album by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released in Japan, Hong Kong and China on November 10, 1999 through Avex Trax and the China Record Corporation, and distributed worldwide on April 10, 2001 by Avex Entertainment Inc. It was entirely written by Hamasaki herself, while the production was handled by Japanese musician Max Matsuura. Musically, Loveppears is a dance album and lyrically focuses on themes of love, frustration of life, loneliness, and individualism. Upon its release, Loveppears received favorable reviews from music critics. Many of those highlighted the singles as some of her best work, and complimented the transition from Hamasaki's previous pop rock-inspired music to dance. Commercially, the album was a success in Japan, reaching the top of the Oricon Albums Chart and eventually sold over 2.6 million units there, making it the 40th best selling album in that region. It was certified twice Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for physical shipments of two million units, and is Hamasaki's third highest selling album based on Oricon Style's database. To promote the album, Hamasaki released 11 singles. One of the singles, "Love (Destiny)", became her first single to top the Oricon Singles Chart, other singles were able to reach the top ten). "Boys & Girls" and the extended play A sold over one million units, a first for Hamasaki. Majority of the album's material were promoted through Japanese commercials, which later became a staple for Hamasaki's future work, and some songs appeared on various remix albums conducted by Hamasaki. She performed most of the songs on her 2000 Japan concert tour.
II. Composition
After the success of Hamasaki's January 1999 studio album A Song for ××, Ayu started writing songs for her second studio album. However, her record label Avex Trax decided to release a remix album titled Ayu-mi-x first. The record marked the beginning of the incorporation of music elements outside of her pop rock sound, including trance, house and electronic music. This transition into mainstream dance music made Hamasaki recruit new composers and producers for the then-upcoming studio album, including Japanese dance band HΛL, Do As Infinity member and composer Dai Nagao, and Kazuhito Kikuchi, amongst others. Avex Trax hired Japanese musician Max Matsuura to produce the entire record, alongside with Hamasaki and Japanese musician Naoto Suzuki's help, while Hamasaki wrote every song on the album. Recording sessions were handled at Prime Sound Studio, Studio Sound Dali, and Onkio Haus in Tokyo, Japan, and at Soundtrack Studios in New York City, United States; the final material was then mixed at Studio Sound Dali and Conway Studios in Los Angeles, California, and mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Masterings. Loveppears was noted by critics as Hamasaki's first transition from her "cautious" pop rock style in A Song for ××. The album includes two instrumental tracks: "Introduction", which was composed by HΛL, and the "Interlude" song that was composed by Naoto Suzuki. Some of the singles on Loveppears had been remixed and re-composed, including "Fly High"; extended versions of "Whatever", "Too Late", "Appears"; and a revised version of "Love (Destiny)", which was re-written and titled "Love: Refrain". The album also includes a hidden track on the song "Who...", which is the album version of "Kanariya". Lyrically, the material on the album focuses on themes of love, frustration of life, loneliness, and individualism.
III. Tracklisting
IIII. CD1/Digital Version
Number | Name | Length |
1 | Introduction | 1:09 |
2 | Fly High | 4:07 |
3 | Trauma | 4:17 |
4 | And Then | 4:14 |
5 | Immature | 4:44 |
6 | Boys & Girls | 3:54 |
7 | To Be | 5:18 |
8 | End Roll | 4:49 |
9 | P.S II | 4:48 |
10 | Whatever (Dub's 1999 Remix) | 7:20 |
11 | Too Late | 4:25 |
12 | Appears | 5:38 |
13 | Monochrome | 4:21 |
14 | Interlude | 0:55 |
15 | Love (Refrain) | 5:21 |
16 | Who... | 5:35 |
17 | Kanariya (Hidden track) | 3:52 |
IIIII. CD 2
1 | Ayu's Euro Mega-Mix (Y&Co. Mix) | 9:48 |
2 | Ayu's House Mega-Mix (N.S House Mix) | 9:58 |
3 | A Song for ×× (Millennium Mix) | 4:46 |
4 | Powder Snow (Acoustic Orchestra Version) | 5:03 |
5 | Friend II (Make My Mad Mix) | 4:31 |
IIIIII. CD3 - Only included on LOVEppears / appears -20th Anniversary Edition-
1 | appears (99 Greeting Mix) |
2 | appears (Scud Filter Mix) |
3 | appears (Dub's Eurotech Remix) |
4 | WHATEVER (Ferry 'System F' Corsten dub mix) |
5 | appears (JP's SoundFactory Mix) |
6 | appears (HAL's MIX) |
7 | immature (D-Z DUAL LUCIFER MIX) |
8 | WHATEVER (Ferry 'System F' Corsten vocal extended mix) |
9 | appears (Keith Litman's Mix of Truth) |
10 | immature (JT Original CM Version) |
11 | appears (99 Greeting Mix Instrumental) |
12 | immature (JT Original CM Version Instrumental) |
IIIIV. CD4 - LOVEppears / appears -20th Anniversary 4CD+DVD Limited Edition-
1 | appears (HΛL‘s Progress) |
2 | appears (Acoustic version) |
3 | appears (Armin van Buuren’s remix) |
4 | appears (Junior‘s Appears On The Air) |
5 | appears (HW Club Mix) |
6 | appears (DJ-TURBO remix) |
7 | appears (Junior’s Club Mix) |
8 | appears (HW Tokyo Hard House Mix) |
9 | appears (Armin van Buuren‘s Sunset Dub) |
10 | appears (Aggressive Extended Mix) |
11 | appears (Melodic Extended Mix) |
12 | appears (Melodic Extended Mix) |
13 | appears (Inst melo version) |
IIIV. DVD - LOVEppears / appears -20th Anniversary 4CD+DVD Limited Edition- (All are Music Videos Unless Noted Otherwise)
1. "Fly high"
2. "Boys & Girls"
3. "TO BE"
4. "WHATEVER"
5. "appears"
6. "kanariya"
7. "LOVE ~Destiny~"
8. "Who... (Live Lyric Video)"
9. "Trauma (Choreography Video) (振り付け映像)"