Namie Amuro success

[Toniayu123]

Hello, I have to write my degree project this year and I'm considering analyzing Namie's success. I became a fan a little bit latter than when 60s70s80s was released when I was in high school and that inspired me to study advertising later in university. For me that single and the vidal sasson ads remains one of the best campaigns ever.
I do think Namie's career was not so good in the past but after so much effort, change in image and good advertising contracts her career went up and make her one of the most successful artist in japan.
I wanted to know more about it, what was exactly what made her career become stronger? Was the Vidal Sasson's campaign in 2008 with 60s70s80s new single really that impactful?
Any information about her career is more than welcome as well as anything regarding to music/music video role in advertising.
Thanks in advance!

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

Hello, I have to write my degree project this year and I'm considering analyzing Namie's success. I became a fan a little bit latter than when 60s70s80s was released when I was in high school and that inspired me to study advertising later in university. For me that single and the vidal sasson ads remains one of the best campaigns ever.
I do think Namie's career was not so good in the past but after so much effort, change in image and good advertising contracts her career went up and make her one of the most successful artist in japan.
I wanted to know more about it, what was exactly what made her career become stronger? Was the Vidal Sasson's campaign in 2008 with 60s70s80s new single really that impactful?
Any information about her career is more than welcome as well as anything regarding to music/music video role in advertising.
Thanks in advance!

She was already experiencing her resurgence before 60s70s80s and the Vidal Sassoon campaign, although that helped cement it.

The real turning point was the Queen of Hip Pop singles and album. Those singles were where you see her popularity start to rise again, though sales wise it was still comparatively low to other popular artists at the time, but you could see it really starting to take hold. Then the album came out and that album charted FOREVER. I think she was a bit ahead of the trend at the time and tapped into it really nicely. Every album after that just continued to build on that success.

Also, after her "scandal" of getting married, having a kid, etc., she managed to stay extremely low key and as a result gained an aura of mystery around her. That helped tremendously. Staying out of the tabloids in a negative light in Japan is huge for your popularity.

I really just scratched the surface, but those are some things you could look into. btw, I became a Namie fan around 2004, so just prior to this era.

[CatGirl]

My memory is a little hazy, so I may be wrong, but I think the release of the "Baby Don't Cry" single is what really started to bring Namie back to the forefront. That song was huge when it came out. From there, she released PLAY and BEST FICTION, which pretty much solidified her popularity again.

[ExodusUK]

It was Baby Don't Cry. I remember Ayu fans on that Jpopmusic forum would troll Namie fans constantly when her singles would fail to even make the top 5 meanwhile Ayu was having near 100k first week singles still. How the tables have turned..

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by CatGirl

My memory is a little hazy, so I may be wrong, but I think the release of the "Baby Don't Cry" single is what really started to bring Namie back to the forefront. That song was huge when it came out. From there, she released PLAY and BEST FICTION, which pretty much solidified her popularity again.

I second this, baby don't cry was a huge turning point. Play was the revival and best fiction was her rise to stardom again.

@ExodusUK I remember that, haha they aint laughing no more. Namie has been in power over ayu for 10 years now.

[Toniayu123]

Thank you so much guys! I'll look on everything you said. And besides her change in music style and image, was there any happening at the time Queen of hip-pop was released which helped her start gaining popularity again?

[YUKARI]

Originally Posted by ExodusUK

It was Baby Don't Cry. I remember Ayu fans on that Jpopmusic forum would troll Namie fans constantly when her singles would fail to even make the top 5 meanwhile Ayu was having near 100k first week singles still. How the tables have turned..

I remember when she released WANT ME, WANT ME people at AYUNITE! would write something like "Oh, Namie, why so desperate?!"

I think her secret is simple: she makes well-produced high-quality stuff. She was struggling during Style era. It was kind of sad looking at her that time, though I really loved SO CRAZY/Come single. But she kept making music she liked and never gave up.

Time passed by but she kept looking great, showing no sings of aging, being really slim and having cute small face. She kept appearing in fashion magazines though almost ignoring tv.

And I think she gained respect among common people just by being persistent like Japanese love saying "work hard and someday you'll success".

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by ExodusUK

It was Baby Don't Cry. I remember Ayu fans on that Jpopmusic forum would troll Namie fans constantly when her singles would fail to even make the top 5 meanwhile Ayu was having near 100k first week singles still. How the tables have turned..

Even after Baby Don't Cry though, some of Namie's singles didn't chart that well. She's never been (in her second peak) that amazing across the board on singles. Her albums though were steadily building.

I still say, from having been a fan prior to that, the turning point was Queen of Hip Pop, which then built into the success of Baby Don't Cry.

Style charted for 23 weeks and sold 221,000 copies and Queen of Hip Hop charted for 70 weeks and sold 494,000. That's a huge upward jump in a one album span after her career had been on a steady downhill for several years. Next, Play charted for 53 weeks and while it sold more than QOHP, it wasn't by a landslide, at 540,000 copies.

[KarenPang]

Not every artiste is lucky to have a resurge in popularity after being so long in the business & Namie is 1 of the rare artistes to experience it

Namie is blessed to have a great team supporting her & like what SunshineSlayer said , certain things Namie did at that particular time it was seen as innovative which revolutionised things

After what Namie went through so publicly in the early parts of her career , I'm sure she doesn't want history to repeat itself

And having a block out of your personal life and just focus on music is not an easy thing to do but she managed to achieve that and gain respect with people in the media circle

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Even after Baby Don't Cry though, some of Namie's singles didn't chart that well. She's never been (in her second peak) that amazing across the board on singles. Her albums though were steadily building.

I still say, from having been a fan prior to that, the turning point was Queen of Hip Pop, which then built into the success of Baby Don't Cry.

Style charted for 23 weeks and sold 221,000 copies and Queen of Hip Hop charted for 70 weeks and sold 494,000. That's a huge upward jump in a one album span after her career had been on a steady downhill for several years. Next, Play charted for 53 weeks and while it sold more than QOHP, it wasn't by a landslide, at 540,000 copies.

I 2nd this, I started following Jpop +- in 2003, and as, funny enought the success of jpop acts in the west tends to mirror they success back in Japan, it was probably during TQOHP that I started seeing Namie being mentioned on the foruns as a current act, and not as some has been. Want me, want me was pretty much that must see video/must hear track when it was released, and from that time on you pretty much would be aware of what Namie was releasing if you tried to be on day with overall jpop news.

Also, it's important to notice Namie was always recognized as a top performer, even at her lowest, so she never really had much problem touring, even if the scale went a little down for some time.

[Rocky Raven]

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

Hello, I have to write my degree project this year and I'm considering analyzing Namie's success. I became a fan a little bit latter than when 60s70s80s was released when I was in high school and that inspired me to study advertising later in university. For me that single and the vidal sasson ads remains one of the best campaigns ever.
I do think Namie's career was not so good in the past but after so much effort, change in image and good advertising contracts her career went up and make her one of the most successful artist in japan.
I wanted to know more about it, what was exactly what made her career become stronger? Was the Vidal Sasson's campaign in 2008 with 60s70s80s new single really that impactful?
Any information about her career is more than welcome as well as anything regarding to music/music video role in advertising.
Thanks in advance!

Omg, I also did my Marketing degree project using Vidal Sassoon 60s70s80s campaign back then in 2009!!!! You're doing the right thing, you'll see! That campaign is pure GOLD. It started with premium product line and premium customer range so, by any way, any how or any mean it did (not 100% percent but still) lift up Namie's reputation in a proud and premium way. Wish you luck and all with the project!

[Toniayu123]

^Thank you! If it's in english, could you share your project? I would love to read it