Namie Amuro
60s 70s 80s

o1. NEW LOOK
o2. ROCK STEADY
o3. WHAT A FEELING
04. NEW LOOK(INSTRUMENTAL)
05. ROCK STEADY(INSTRUMENTAL)
06. WHAT A FEELING(INSTRUMENTAL)
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Fresh, funky, fun. Packs in everything you’d want in a single and more.

Now, are those covers hot or what? And judging by the previews of Namie Amuro’s latest offering (to be released on March 12 2008), I’m pretty sure this single is going to be hot on the Oricon charts too.

60s 70s 80s is a triple A-side single, meaning all three songs have promotional videos. The interesting thing about this is that Namie samples three different American songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s respectively – Baby Love by the Supremes (1964) for NEW LOOK, Rock Steady by Aretha Franklin (1972) for ROCK STEADY and Flashdance…What a Feelin’ by Irene Cara (1983) for WHAT A FEELING. I love the way Namie reinvents these classics with her distinctive urban / hip hop influence. While you can recognise the parts of the original melody in the songs, there’s no mistake about them being truly Namie.

What’s even more special about this single is that the PVs are tied up with Premium Vidal Sasson – the tagline is “The changing of times starts from the change of hairstyles”. Each promotional video features costumes, sets and dancing that is unique to its particular era. Costumes are designed by Patricia Field and the hair and make-up is by Orlando Pita – strengthening the ‘collaborative’ aspects of this single.

It’s hard to explain the charisma of these songs until you listen to the tracks themselves. At first, I thought NEW LOOK was cute but tuneless. I forced myself to give it a few more listens because the PV was just too cute, and fell in love with the ‘pure’ and ’sweet’ feel of the song. It’s very light on the ears, but the music is there, the tune is surprisingly catchy. However, out of the three songs it seems to sample the original Supremes song the least. The themes are very different, for instance – Baby Love is about breaking up while NEW LOOK is all about fashion and well, getting a ‘new look’. The opening melody of Baby Love is heard very often in NEW LOOK, though. Namie also adds a special mention to the original in a line that’s repeated a lot, “How do I look, Baby tell me”. Sweeet.

ROCK STEADY is a dance track right from the beginning. I hear some similarities between it and one of Namie’s other songs, Can’t Sleep, Can’t Eat, I’m Sick. It’s very very street and urban, and the PV reflects that in it’s storyline – it tracks the meteoric rise of an unknown girl who shows up at a street party with a tape, makes her way into the exclusive dance clubs, gets discovered by a big shot manager, releases a CD, tops the disco charts, and finally, gets hounded by the papparazzi. One of my favourite lines is actually said by a black guy – “Hey sista, whatcha doin’?” when she shows up uninvited on ‘his’ street. The song itself also takes a bit of getting used to (like the original, imo), but once you catch on to the groovy beats it’s so infectious. It makes you wanna dance. )

WHAT A FEELING is probably my favourite track because it’s inspired by Flashdance… What a Feelin! I actually hadn’t heard the original before Namie’s version came along (where have I been, yeah) but when I found the Flashdance music video on youtube I fell in love with it on first listen. The original is wonderful, thus Namie can’t do much wrong in sampling that infectious melody. Of course, she gives it a modern twist with a bit of rap and spicing it up with eurobeats. I love eurobeat so I’m pretty sold. Some people were disappointed by this track because it they thought it lacked something musically, but I think it’s made complete by the other two songs on the single. It is the perfect final track, because it wraps up the musical ’story’ and takes it to a higher level before ending it off sensationally. Not sure if you know what I’m talking about but trust me and listened to this together with the others.

The PV screams Star Wars with the psychedelic sets and backdancers in droid helmets. Even one of Namie’s outfits seems C3PO-inspired. And don’t forget the signature 80’s perm – since this is a tie-up with Vidal Sassoon. (Don’t worry, it’s a modern take on the perm.) Veryy 80’s. In a good way.

It’s not hard to tell that I love this single. I think Namie’s really outdone herself here, it’s a ‘remake’ but a fresh concept, I’d bet that no other Japanese artist has done this before. All I can say is, WOW.