Amuro Namie Retirement Declaration and AmuLoss

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First ( Amuro Namie Retirement Declaration From debut to AmuLoss )

Retirement declaration and AmuLoss Phenomenon

Please be informed my Amuro fan that I decided to retire on September 16th, 2018. On September 20th, 2017, one of the top stars, Amuro Namie, a leading Japanese pop music icon declared her retirement.

September 16th is her 25th anniversary in the industry. Soon after that, TV and mass media focus on her sudden retirement announcement. All news paper and magazines placed the retirement declaration on their top article on the front page. Besides, NHK, which is the public broadcast company in Japan broadcasted it immediately as a news flash after the declaration.

Overnight into the following morning, on the 21st, there’re many posts of her fans that say ‘I was absent from my company since I was shocked to hear about the Amuro Namie’s retirement declaration’ on the BSS. Then the word ‘AmuLoss’ was born which means ‘the mental shock of regret for Amuro Namie’s retirement’.

AmuLoss of Imoto Ayako

Not only general fans of Amuro were affected by the news, but also majority of talents in the entertainment world. Imoto Ayako, a talent who is active on one of the Japanese popular TV programs, ‘Itte Q to the end of the world’ is also a well known enthusiastic fan of Amuro Namie.

By the end of 2014, a big project was given to Imoto Ayako by her TV network. That was to take photos of Aurora in Norway for the next year’s calendar. Unfortunately, the project failed due to a bad weather caused by a storm. To make things worse for her, her flight back to Japan was cancelled as well due to the bad weather. On the same day of her cancelled flight back to Japan was also Amuro Namie’s live concert.

This flight cancellation made a big impact on her. She was very affected and upset. And she cried on national TV for not being able to go to the concert. She even said that going to Amuro Namie’s concert is more important than taking the photos of Aurora. Her crying incident was captured on TV, and this crying scene was used as the cover for the calendar of the following year instead.

By the end of 2015, the TV program challenged Imoto Ayako to do the same project again, to shoot aurora. But as expected, it failed again due to the same reason. The director of the TV program gave Imoto Ayako more time. However, she refused the request immediately. She had already decided to go to Amuro Namie’s live concert this year definitely.

Since she refused the director’s request, the TV program broadcasted Imoto Ayako’s private activity to go to Amuro Namie’s live concert. After all she was looking forward to it for 2 years not the aurora.

In relation to this, there’er also many posts of people who are concerned about Imoto’s AmuLoss on the internet such as ‘Is Imoto Ayako OK?’ or `The first thing that came to my mind upon hearing this news is Imoto’s reaction.`

Imoto Ayako was interviewed about AmuLoss and answered to the media that ‘It’s OK and Amuro-chan is a hero for me forever whatever happens to her’.

The Amuro Namie’s glorious history

On September 1992, Amuro Namie debuted from Toshiba EMI as a member of a girl group of 5 named SUPER MONKEY’s.

She debuted as Amuro Namie, on July 1994. She was in charge of vocals and the other members were the back up dancers. This group started as ‘Amuro Namie with SUPER MONKEY’S’.

On January 1995, the single produced by Matsuura Masato, ‘TRY ME’ was released. That was when the Amuro Namie’s glorious history started.

The single, ‘TRY ME’ ranked in the top 10 in the Oricon CD ranking. It was a big hit to sell 730,000 copies. The title got the 45th place in the Oricon single CD ranking in 1995. This single was the biggest hit song for her in 1995.

On April, 1995, ‘Taiyo no SEASON’ was released and ranked 56th in the Oricon single CD ranking in 1995. The singer name was ‘Amuro Namie’, not ‘Amuro Namie with SUPER MONKEY’S’ anymore since then. Therefore, we can say that the song was her debut song as a soloist.

She transferred record company from Toshiba EMI to Avex in 1995. Komuro Tetsuya was the producer of her songs who happened to be the biggest producer in Japan at that time. Because of this, all of her songs from then on became big hits. The song title ‘Stop the music’ and ‘Body Feels EXIT’ also ranked in the TOP 100 in the Oricon single CD ranking in 1995.

Next year, in 1996, the second album for Amuro Namie, ‘SWEET 19 BLUES’ was released and recorded 3,160,000 sales and ranked as the second place in the Oricon album CD ranking in 1996.

‘Don’t wanna cry’ got the grand prize on the 38th Japan Record Awards. Meanwhile, the best Oricon Album CD was ‘globe’ released by globe who was the most active group in that year. The group globe’s songs were also produced by Komuro Tetsuya and according to him was the best group.

The biggest hit song for Amuro Namie was ‘Can you celebrate?’ released in 1997. The single recorded 2,220,000 sales and ranked top 1 in the Oricon single CD ranking in 1997.
This song, ‘Can you celebrate?’ was used as the official soundtrack in a drama entitled ‘Virgin Road’. Since then, the song was used as the opening song at wedding or wedding ceremonies. It became a standard wedding song in the 90’s.

In addition, this song, ‘Can you celebrate?’ also got the grand prize on the 39th Japan Record Awards. Amuro Namie got the grand prize for two consecutive years.

Amurer Phenomenon

The number of girls who copied Amuro Namie’s fashion had been increasing, thanks to the exploding popularity of Amuro Namie from 1995 to 1997. We called them Amurer. The fashion is mainly mini skirt, thick base boots, long brown hair and thin painted eyebrows.

Regarding the origin of the term `Amurer`, it`s related to Chaneler that means women who like Chanel brand products. That’s why we called girls who copy Amuro’s fashion Amurer, Amuro plus er.

Not only her fashion but also the brown color of her skin became popular at the same time. Moreover, some girls even went to tanning salons to achieve the ‘Amuro skin color’. However at that time, fashion trends like ‘Yamanba’ and ‘Ganguro’ also became prevalent in the latter half of the 1990’s. This fashion is a monster-like appearance that also requires a dark brown to light black skin color.

Early background of Amuro Namie

Now, even in 2017, Amuro Namie is supported by a widened generation regardless of age and gender. It’s too difficult to get a live ticket of Amuro Namie live that is being held every year. The tickets are usually sold out immediately. However, before becoming Japan’s leading top artist she also experienced to be unpopular for long years.

Her career as an artist started in a tour to Okinawa Actor’s School. In 1988, she visited the school accompanying her friend when she was in elementary school 5th grade. At the time, the head teacher of the school scouted her. Then she enrolled to the school and started her artist life.

In 1991, A group named ‘SUPER MONKEY’S’ was formed as a dance group in the Okinawa Actors School. Amuro Namie was selected as a group member.

On September, 1992, the group made a major debut with the song ‘Mister U.S.A’. Although the group’s songs were used as TV anime song and TV commercial song, they didn’t make it big time.

The group reorganized many times. As I mentioned above, on January 1995, a single ‘TRY ME’ produced by Matsuura Masato became a hit as Amuro Namie with SUPER MONKEY’S. And the next single, ‘Taiyo no SEASON’ was also hit, which led her to become one of the biggest artists in Japan.

Furthermore, the group name ‘SUPER MONKEY’S’ came from the school principal’s usual words to them. He would always say ‘You’re just monkeys not talents yet. But I’ll give you a name SUPER MONKEY’S because I feel sorry for you’.

Another unit, MAX

On April 1995, other four members who danced with Amuro Namie as back up dancers debuted as ‘MAX’ after Amuro Namie debuted with the single ‘Taiyo no SEASON’ as a soloist.

Although they’re not so popular compared to Amuro Namie, their single ‘TORA TORA TORA’ released in 1996 hit a little. Another single, ‘Seventies’ was ranked in the top 7 in the Oricon CD ranking weekly.

However, the popularity of MAX had been declining due to various causes since the lead vocal Mina left from the group. As of this year, the group are still active.

Marriage, giving birth, coming back and divorce

The year 1997 is the best period for Amuro Namie. She got married to SAM who is one of the dancers of a group ‘TRF’. She took a maternity leave for a year. On December 1998, she came back with the single ‘I HAVE NEVER SEEN’ after giving birth to their first son.

A major blow happened to her when her mother was allegedly killed. A lot of people speculated that she’d retire soon since the incident must have hurt her badly. However, she remained active as an artist.

However, In 2002, she had another private breakdown. She divorced SAM. The right to raise their child was granted to SAM initially. But, the right moved to her eventually. She started her new life as a single mother.

Her independence

On the 14th of January 2015, the exclusive contract with ‘RISINGPRO Holdings Co., Ltd.’ for 23 years after her debut ended.
On 15th, January 2015, ‘Dimension Point’ which is the record label in avex entertainment had been in charge of creating sound, advertisement, live activity and management.
Then on the 9th of June 2015, Amuro Namie founded her private office named stella88 and got the right to manage. She fulfilled her independence finally.

The reason for her retirement

There’re rumors such as ‘She is 40. So, it must be hard for her to dance briskly due to her old age’ or ‘She is 40. So, she wants to spend her time slowly with her family since she spent most of her days in the entertainment world’.
However, Amuro Namie hasn’t announced anything about the reasons for her retirement. Therefore, only her knows the truth.

There is a strong observation about her retirement. It might be related to some trouble with her independence.

The reason why she decided to become an independent artist seemed to be about her complaint regarding her salary. She argued with the company claiming that her salary was too low and that the company didn’t consider her sales profit and the others. Then she decided to make her independent recording company and did it finally in 2015.

While RISINGPRO Holdings Co., Ltd. doesn’t agree with her decision, we can’t clearly tell whether the reason is related to her troubles
paying the penalty fine for becoming independent or the pressure to TV company by the production company she belonged to. Some media say that the reason must be related to some trouble with the production company after her independence.

In addition, someone predicted that she’ll come back within a few years once the problem is solved thanks to her retirement.

As of now, October 2017, she hasn’t announced the reason about her retirement or anything about it so far.

Announcement of releasing her last album and her last live show

On 8th November 2017, Amuro Namie’s last album, ‘Finally’ will be released.

It’ll contain 52 songs in the album including ‘Mister U.S.A’ released in 1992 as her debut song, ‘Just You and I’ released as a new single in 2017, ‘Christmas Wish’ which will officially become a part of this album and other 6 new songs.

In addition, she announced she’ll start her last live tour from the four biggest cities in Japan namely Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka to Asian countries from February 2018.

Question

You can hear a conversation between two people after you play the sound. Answer the questions about the conversation.

Sound 1

Conversation 1

Some clerical women in my company were absent due to AmuLoss yesterday.

Ah. AmuLoss. I heard of that. It means that a person is absent at work due to the shock that Amuro Namie’s retirement declaration caused.

I understand that an enthusiastic fan of Amuro will be shocked. But I wonder if it’s OK to be absent due to AmuLoss on that day.

That’s what I’m thinking about too. It’s OK if the person has a valid reason such as sickness. For instance ‘I have got a fever suddenly’ or ‘My stomach is bad today’ like that. But the reason is AmuLoss, is it a disease? By the way, why will Amuro-chan retire? She just had her 25th anniversary. Is the reason her age since it’s not easy for her to dance hard anymore? Or does she just want to spend her time slowly?

It’s a good reason to retire. But according to the information from weekly magazines, the reason doesn’t seem to be such. But according to some, she had an argument with her previous management after her independence.

Ah. there was the news that Amuro-chan became independent 2 years ago. But what is the relation between it and her retirement?

After her independence, her relationship with her previous management company became sour. I heard that the company required her to pay the penalty fine for breaking the contract. Therefore, she wants to retire temporarily so that she can fully be free from her previous management without paying the penalty. Then she’ll come back and start a new life in a new office independently.

Wow. The relation was so dark, wasn’t it? I didn’t know that.

But we don’t know the fact. That’s just information on a weekly magazine. Because she hasn’t announced the reason about her retirement or anything. So, she only knows the truth.

Question 1

Answer and Explanation 1

Sound 2

Conversation 2

A song ‘Can you celebrate?’ was popular for a while. The song always had been used at weddings. We sang that song in Karaoke many times.

Yes. That song was the most hit song for Amuro Namie. By the way, I have no idea what the title means, ‘Can you celebrate?’.

I don’t have any idea either. I can understand if we insert ‘with me’ after celebrate. According to the information on the web, ‘Can you celebrate?’ means ‘Hijinks’. If it’s so, it doesn’t suit as a wedding song.

I know a little about it, but I have another information about that. There was a time, on NHK TV program, Mrs. Torikai Kumiko and a native man talked about the meaning of ‘Can you celebrate?’. ‘What does it mean?’ and ‘I can’t figure it’. Even the native man can’t answer it clearly. So, I think the meaning isn’t also ‘Hijinks’.

Ah. OK. The song was produced by Komuro Tetsuya, wasn’t it? So, did he come up with the title ‘Can you celebrate?’? Was that his English? Also, he produced other songs for her, didn’t he?

There’re some songs such as ‘a walk in the park’. I’m also worried about the song meaning. The sentence ‘It’s a walk in the park’ seems to be slang and means ‘It’s very easy’. But it doesn’t match with the meaning of the lyrics. So, is the meaning just about taking a walk in the park?

Well. Let’s not think about the title deeply.

Question 2

Answer and Explanation 2

Let’s talk more!

What do you think about Amuro Namie?
Let’s talk about it with your friend.
Ask your teacher or a foreigner about it.

Example

1. What’s your favorite Amuro Namie song?
2. Do you know any details about the murder of Amuro Namie’s mother-in-law?
3. Which do you like better, the Namie Amuro now or the Namie Amuro 20 years ago?

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