Love Bebop

Love Bebop (stylized as LOVE BEBOP) is the twelfth studio album by Japanese singer Misia. It was released on January 6, 2016, through Ariola Japan.[2] The title, which is synonymous with love freestyle, was inspired by the evolving LGBT movement in Japan, leading Misia to draw a parallel between the growing societal recognition for all forms of love and the various messages of love depicted on the album.[1] On the album's eponymous title track, Misia quotes former American president Barack Obama, who declared "love is love" in a speech given in the aftermath of the Supreme Court of the United States's landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.[3] The album yielded five singles, "Shiroi Kisetsu" / "Sakura Hitohira", "Orphans no Namida" and the digital exclusive double A-side single "Nagareboshi" / "Anata ni Smile :)".

Love Bebop
Studio album by Misia
Released	January 6, 2016 (2016-01-06)
Recorded	March 2014–October 2015[1]
Genre	Pop dance R&B soul
Length	57:33
Label	Ariola Japan
Producer	DJ Gomi Takayuki Hattori her0ism Hiroshi Matsui Shirō Sagisu Sakoshin Tohru Shigemi Hiroto Tanigawa (exec.)
Misia chronology
New Morning (2014) Love Bebop (2016) Misia Hoshizora no Live Song Book: History of Hoshizora Live (2016)
Singles from Love Bebop
"Shiroi Kisetsu" Released: February 18, 2015 "Sakura Hitohira" Released: February 18, 2015 "Nagareboshi" Released: July 8, 2015 "Anata ni Smile :)" Released: July 8, 2015 "Orphans no Namida" Released: November 25, 2015

Background and release

Misia began working on her next material immediately following the release of her eleventh studio album New Morning, and the conclusion of the Hoshizora no Live VII: 15th Celebration concert tour, in March 2014.[1] She scheduled studio sessions with Shirō Sagisu, whom she had not collaborated with since Soul Quest (2011).[1] The writing and recording process wrapped in October 2015, with Misia holding her final sessions with Sakoshin, another producer she had missed.[1] The pair last worked together on "Catch the Rainbow" (2008). For Love Bebop, she collaborated once again with DJ Gomi, Takayuki Hattori, Hiroshi Matsui and Tohru Shigemi, and brought along new collaborators, including the songwriters her0ism, Ki-Yo, Andreas Öberg, Rica and Shirose, from the band White Jam. The album was primarily recorded in Japan but also internationally, including in London, Dallas and Atlanta.

Love Bebop was released almost two years after her last studio album, New Morning (2014). The first pressing of the record came housed in a digipak and included various album-related stickers and a bonus remix.[4] The album was reissued in limited numbers of 1,000 copies on the eve of Misia's thirty-eighth birthday, July 6, 2016, in 12-inch vinyl format.[5] The analog edition includes three additional remixes, of which two were previously unreleased.[6]

Critical reception

CDJournal praised Misia's voice on the record as "expressive", and stated that her "knock-down" vocal performance "left no stone unturned".[7] Writing for Bounce,[8] Koji Dejima gave Love Bebop a warm review, describing himself as "pleasantly surprised" by the "rhythmic" uptempo tracks on the album, especially in the wake of Misia's performance of "Orphans no Namida" at the 66th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, which Dejima describes as "in line with the image of the powerful diva".[8] He noted the presence of early collaborators of Misia and praised their "lively and emotive" contributions. Dejima remarked that the "exciting charm" of Misia makes Love Bebop an "album to lose yourself in".[8]

Commercial performance

Love Bebop entered the daily Oricon Albums Chart at number 4, where it also peaked.[9] It debuted at number 5 on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart, with sales of 14,000 copies,[10] making it Misia's first studio album since "Just Ballade" (2009) to debut in the top five. The album debuted on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart at number 7 and at number 8 on the Top Albums Sales chart.[11][12] Love Bebop charted for twelve non-consecutive weeks on the Oricon Albums Chart, selling a reported total of 27,000 copies during its run.[13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Anata ni Smile :)"	Misia Ki-Yo	Hiroshi Matsui	4:16
2.	"Butterfly Butterfly"	Misia Sakoshin	Sakoshin	4:01
3.	"Love Bebop"	Misia Sakoshin	Sakoshin	3:14
4.	"Orphans no Namida" (Long Version)	Misia Shirō Sagisu	Sagisu	5:42
5.	"Mayonaka no Hide-and-seek" (真夜中のHIDE-AND-SEEK, "Midnight Hide-and-seek")	Misia Sagisu	Sagisu	4:42
6.	"Shiroi Kisetsu"	her0ism Yuuki Idei	her0ism	5:20
7.	"Hana" (花, "Flower")	Rica	Tohru Shigemi	4:27
8.	"Ashita wa Motto Suki ni Naru" (明日はもっと好きになる, "Love You More Tomorrow")	Misia her0ism	her0ism	3:42
9.	"Oh Lovely Day"	Misia Toshiaki Matsumoto	Matsui	4:57
10.	"Freedom"	Misia Jun Sasaki	DJ Gomi	3:33
11.	"Sakura Hitohira"	Misia her0ism Shirose	her0ism	3:49
12.	"Candle of Life"	Misia her0ism Alex Niceforo Andreas Oberg Erika Fatale	her0ism	4:13
13.	"Nagareboshi"	Rica	Takayuki Hattori	5:37
Total length:				57:33

Limited edition bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Remixer(s)	Length
14.	"Love Bebop" (Love Is All Remix)	Bob Crewe Bob Gaudio	Gomi	3:30
Total length:				1:01:15

Analog edition side four bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Remixer(s)	Length
14.	"Love Bebop" (DJ Watarai & DJ Hazime Remix)	Misia Sakoshin	DJ Watarai DJ Hazime
15.	"Nagareboshi" (Gomi's Lair Anthem Mix)	Rica	DJ Gomi
16.	"Candle of Life" (Make a Wish Remix)	Misia her0ism Niceforo Oberg Fatale	DJ Gomi

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Love Bebop.[14]

Locations

• Recorded at Orange Peel Recordings, Atlanta; Luminous Sound Studio, Dallas; Abbey Road Studios, London; Eastcote Studios, London; MSR Studios, New York; Germano Studios, New York; Gomi's Lair Recording Studio, New York; Bass Hit Studio, New York; Beethoven Studio, Paris; Rhythmedia Studio, Tokyo; Sony Music Studios Tokyo, Tokyo; Sound Inn, Tokyo
• Mixed at Rhythmedia Studio, Tokyo; Mirrorball Entertainment Studios, Los Angeles; Bass Hit Studio, New York;
• Mastered at Powers Mastering Studio, New York

Personnel

Lead vocals – Misia Backing vocals – Misia, Lorrain Briscoe, Evette Briscoe, Paul Lee, Lyn, Hanah Spring, Sakoshin, Yuho Yoshioka Production – DJ Gomi, Takayuki Hattori, her0ism, Hiroshi Matsui, Shirō Sagisu, Sakoshin, Tohru Shigemi Programming – DJ Gomi, her0ism, Hiroshi Matsui, Alex Niceforo, Shirō Sagisu, Sakoshin Additional instrumentation – DJ Gomi, her0ism, Hiroshi Matsui, Alex Niceforo, Sakoshin Piano – Sae Konno, Yasuharu Nakanishi Acoustic piano – Yasuharu Nakanishi Electronic keyboard – Chris Rob, Tohru Shigemi Rhodes – Yasuharu Nakanishi, Mark Walker Hammond organ – Mark Walker Guitar – Errol Cooney, Koichi Korenaga, Taichi Nakamura, Andrew Smith, Shuhei Yamaguchi, Satoshi Yoshida Acoustic guitar – Takayuki Hijikata, Taichi Nakamura Electric guitar – Andrew Smith Drums – Gary Husband, Lil John Roberts Percussions – Karlos Edwards Suspended cymbal – Marie Oishi Celesta – Sae Konno Harp – Skaila Kanga English horn – Akiko Mori Flugelhorn – Steve Sidwell Horns arrangement – Shirō Sagisu, Steve Sidwell Trumpet – David Guy, Steve Sidwell Saxophone – Ian Hendrickson Tenor sax – Dave Bishop, Jamie Talbot Baritone sax – Dave Bishop

Alto sax – Jamie Talbot Flute – Jamie Talbot Cello – Shinichi Eguchi, Masami Horisawa, Tomoki Iwanaga, Martin Loveday, Jun Nakamura, Takayoshi Okuizumi, Takahiro Yuki Bass – Nathan Watts Contrabass – Koji Akaike, Shigeki Ippon, Atsushi Kuramochi, Chris Laurence, Yoshinobu Takeshita Strings – Koichiro Muroya Strings Orchestra – London Studio Orchestra Conducting – Takayuki Hattori, Nick Ingman Orchestra arrangement – Shirō Sagisu Violin – Akane Irie, Naoko Ishibashi, Kyoko Ishigame, Aya Ito, Shizuka Kawaguchi, Perry Montague-Mason, Koichiro Muroya, Aya Notomi, Machi Okabe, Shoko Oki, Natsumi Okimasu, Emlyn Singleton, Toshihiro Takai, Shiori Takeda, Rina Tanaka, Tomomi Tokunaga, Risa Yamamoto, Yuya Yanagihara, Hanako Uesato, Emiko Ujikawa Viola – Mikiyo Kikuchi, Peter Lale, Yuya Minorikawa, Saori Oka, Gentaro Sakaguchi, Tomoko Shimaoka, Masaki Shono Choir – United Voices Choir arrangement – Myron Butler Engineering – Jonathan Allen, Raheem Amlani, Philip Bagenal, DJ Gomi, Roy Hendrickson, Masahiro Kawaguchi, Shirō Sagisu, Sakoshin, Kenta Yonesaka Mixing – Dave Darlington, Masahiro Kawaguchi, Tony Maserati Mastering – Herb Powers Jr. Design – Hiroki Kato Musician coordinator – Noriko Sekiya Art direction – Mitsuo Shindō Photography – Kazunali Tajima Executive producer – Hiroto Tanigawa

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
Japan Daily Albums (Oricon)[9]	4
Japan Weekly Albums (Oricon)[10]	5
Japan Monthly Albums (Oricon)[13]	18
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard)[11]	7
Japan Top Albums Sales (Billboard)[12]	8
Japan Weekly Albums (RecoChoku)[15]	6

Sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)		27,000[13]
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label	Ref.
Japan	January 6, 2016	CD digital download	Ariola Japan	[16][17][18]
	July 6, 2016	LP		[19]
Taiwan	January 8, 2016	CD	Sony Music Taiwan	[20]
Various	January 22, 2016	Digital download		[21]

References

1. "MISIA「LOVE BEBOP」インタビュー (1/3)". Natalie. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
2. "MISIA、2016年の幕開けとともに12thアルバム「LOVE BEBOP」をリリース". Musicman-Net. December 10, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
3. "'Love is love': Obama lauds gay marriage activists in hailing 'a victory for America'". The Guardian. June 26, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
4. "注目の新譜：MISIA「LOVE BEBOP」　世界各地で一流ミュージシャンと制作". Mantanweb. January 6, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
5. "MISIA最新アルバムが1000枚限定アナログ化、未発表音源も収録". Natalie. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
6. "MISIA 未発表Remix音源入り『LOVE BEBOP』アナログ盤リリース". Billboard Japan. June 2, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
7. "MISIA / LOVE BEBOP". CDJournal. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
8. "MISIAの2年ぶり新作は自身の初期に寄与した敏腕が躍動感注ぐリズミックなアップが充実、本来の弾むような魅力に聴き惚れるべし". Mikiki. February 1, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
9. "オリコンデイリー CDアルバムランキング 2016年01月05日付". January 6, 2016. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
10. "オリコン週間 CDアルバムランキング 2016年01月04日〜2016年01月10日". January 13, 2016. Archived from the original on January 13, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
11. "Billboard Japan Hot Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
12. "Billboard Japan Top Albums Sales". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
13. "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Taiju']. Oricon. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
14. Misia (2016). Love Bebop (Booklet). Misia. Tokyo, Japan: Ariola Japan. pp. 14–17. 4988017695609.
15. "シングルランキング 週間【レコチョク】音楽ダウンロード". Recochoku. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
16. "LOVE BEBOP【初回生産限定盤】･MISIA". Sony Music Entertainment. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
17. "LOVE BEBOP【通常盤】･MISIA". Sony Music Entertainment. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
18. "MISIA「LOVE BEBOP」をApple Musicで". JP: iTunes Store. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
19. "LOVE BEBOP【アナログ盤】･MISIA". Sony Music Entertainment. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
20. "美聲愛神 - 台灣索尼音樂娛樂股份有限公司". Sony Music Taiwan. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
21. "米希亞在 Apple Music 上的《Love Bebop》專輯". TW: iTunes Store. Retrieved March 5, 2018.

External links

• Official website