She'll be releasing a new album, "Uncontrolled" on June 25th. There will be three versions: CD, CD+DVD, and PLAYBUTTON (there will also be CD and CD+DVD bundles including a PLAYBUTTON). PLAYBUTTON is a new listening format that encapsulates an album release in the form of a designer button that can play the album for up to 5 hours on a single charge. I think you'll be able to pull off either MP3 or OGG Vorbis files and charge via USB. The CD contains 13 songs (4 new) and the DVD includes 11 music videos (4 new).
Updated tracklist+links:
[spoiler2]Hi-res cover:
[spoiler2]
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- In The Spotlight(TOKYO) (new, English)
- NAKED
※Kose ESPRIQUE CM song - GO ROUND ('N ROUND 'N ROUND)
※Kose ESPRIQUE CM song, English re-dub - Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!
※Theme song for the FujiTV drama "Watashi ga Renai Dekinai Riyuu" - Hot Girls (new, English)
- Break It
※Coca Cola Zero CM song, uncredited remix - Get Myself Back
※Recochoku CM song - Love Story
※Featured on the FujiTV drama "Watashi ga Renai Dekinai Riyuu" - Let' s Go (new)
- SINGING "YEAH-OH"
※ English re-dub - Fight Together
※FujiTV anime "ONE PIECE" theme song - ONLY YOU (new)
※WOWOW UEFA FIFA 2012 theme song - Tempest
※NHK BS TV movie "Tempest" theme song
<DVD>
ONLY YOU (Music Video)
Hot Girls (Music Video)
In The Spotlight (Tokyo) (Music Video)
Let's Go (Music Video)
Go Round (Music Video)
YEAH-OH (Music Video)
Love Story (Music Video)
NAKED (Music Video)
Tempest (Music Video)
Break It (Music Video)
Get Myself Back (Music Video)
[/spoiler2]
One of the new songs, ONLY YOU, has had its PV released and is the theme song for WOWOW's broadcast of the UEFA FIFA 2012 games. WOWOW will also be airing "Namie Amuro 20th Anniversary Special LIVE HISTORY & DOCUMENT OF NAMIE AMURO" on June 2nd and they're hinting at more WOWOWxNamie programming.
Namie is also holding a special live show in Okinawa on the date of her 20th anniversary, September 16th. "namie amuro 20th ANNIVERSARY LIVE in OKINAWA" sold out in 5 minutes and will host 27,000 in attendance, a record for a solo artist in Okinawa.Through Facebook, a number oftickets were also sold specifically for foreign fans. After the Okinawa show, Namie will start a 7-night "5 Major Dome Tour" ending with two performances at the Tokyo Dome in December.
For the tour and special live, Namie's staff solicited the fan's favorite singles through Facebook and her official 20th anniversary site. They received over 200,000 votes (Can You Celebrate topped the list) and are continuing to take votes via PC on the 20th anniversary site. For tour goods, a similar vote was held on Facebook. The top results included towels, t-shirts, and pamphlets. There is now a logo contest being held. Submissions and info here. There was also a vote for the most popular Namie Amuro Jenny Doll. The most popular results were the outfits from the make it happen, FAST CAR, and Hide & Seek PVs (1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively).
As a promotion, a "live painting" of Namie's new cover was painted publicly in front of Alata in Shinjuku, Tokyo. When the painting was complete, they unveiled the final cover image (above).
[upd] Forgot about this! For the September 16 special live, a number of collaboration artists will be performing as well! VERBAL (Luvotomy, Blackout, Want Me Want Me), AI (FAKE, Wonder Woman), Mummy-D, Kaname Kawabata (#1) and Anna Tsuchiya (Wonder Woman) were all listed as appearing. This is super cool, because the LIVE STYLE 2011 tour (which came off of Checkmate!, the collab album/best-of) was only her in all the songs, even the duos/collabs. During Blackout, they played VERBAL's first rap verse, so it was basically an extended dance break <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />
Christ, that's a lot. 20 years is a big deal and they're pulling out all the stops. They've been very active on Facebook and reaching out to the English-speaking audience. A new big show from Namie is something I'm looking forward to most, if only because the album will only have 4 new songs, which is crazy to me. I'm also pissed that, of the two single-tracks left off Uncontrolled, my favorite modern-era Namie song (Higher) was left off (the other, arigatou, was released as a free download online for a long time). The PLAYBUTTON format is a neat idea and it seems to be priced decently, I suppose.
I'm not the only one excited for more Namie, am I? Sometimes I feel like I am... <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... pyeyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':puppyeyes:' />
[Update] Tracklist confirmed and edited.