ALARM

Posted by Die on November 12, 2008 · 4 Comments 

ALARM was Namie Amuro’s 24th single. It was released on March 17, 2004 and reached number 11 on the charts with 21,049 copies. In all this single has sold over 50,262+ copies, yet it is her lowest charting single and only one to not chart in the top 10. The title track was used in the Mandom Lucido-L Prism Magic Hair Colour CM. This was the first single in the Queen of Hip-Pop Era.

Tracks:
1. ALARM
2. STROBE
3. ALARM (Instrumental)
4. STROBE (Instrumental)

Review:
With some incredible beats, ALARM begins Namie’s new era. The song is guitar driven, but it’s filled with so much R&B/synth beats and music that it’s drowned out. The music itself sounds rather dark, and a little depressing. But it also sounds a little slow, it’s got to be the beats. Although at the same time, it’s just a tad aggressive. Namie’s vocals are deeper than usually, and her vocals for the most part are monotone. There’s a minor change here of there, but it’s not all that different. I liked the song for the most part, it sounded nice, but it has difficult to actually find the chorus at first. It’s probably because there’s no climax and no unique vocals. The song just needs some work, and new vocals, and better music wouldn’t hurt either.

A little more urban and hip-hop oriented is STROBE. The disc scratching is one of the many obvious instrumentals featured. The beats are smooth and fit very well in the song. However this time the vocals are a lot better, there’s a lot more variety. And if that wasn’t good enough the song is somewhat catchy. The chorus is clearly defined, and it’s infectious. The beats were more up-beat along with the music, and I loved the gentle music towards the end. And the English was great too. I also loved that towards the end the more gentle music returned and it was so calming, and Namie’s vocals were beautiful. The acoustic guitar was a nice little bonus.

Overall Review: ALARM was dark R&B regression. For the most part I loved all of Namie’s singles during this era, but this single fell short. It just wasn’t all that memorable. And the repetitive music with the monotone vocals didn’t really work for the single. I did enjoy STROBE though, very worthy of Namie, and it probably could have been the title track. On the bright side though, at least her singles from this point got continually better. Not the best way to begin the Queen of Hip-Pop Era.

Final Grade: 93B+

Filed under Namie Amuro · Tagged with Amuro, Amuro Namie, Namie, Namie Amuro