"Brighter Day" is a song by Japanese recording artist

Namie Amuro Namie Amuro ( ; ; born September 20, 1977) is a retired Japanese singer. She rose to prominence as a Japanese idol, teen idol, and transitioned into a leading Pop music, pop artist due to her versatility across music styles and visual presentatio ...

. Released as a single on November 12, 2014 by Amuro's label Dimension Point through

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

, the release contained the B-sides "Sweet Kisses", and "Still Lovin' You". It received mixed reviews from music critics; many commended Amuro's vocal abilities while some criticized the song's composition and production. Charted as a single on the Japanese

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...

, it reached number eight, becoming her lowest chart single since "

Alarm ALARM (Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile) is a British anti-radiation missile designed primarily to destroy enemy radars for the purpose of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). It was used by the Royal Air Force, RAF and is still used by ...

" which peaked at eleven. The title track was certified platinum by

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pro ...

(RIAJ) for digital sales of 250,000 and all three tracks charted on the

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and Hanshin Contents Link since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thursday ...

Background and release

Following the trend of "Tsuki", "Brighter Day" and its three tracks were released through commercial deals and television appearances. Japanese beauty company Kosee premiered both "Still Lovin' You" and "Sweet Kisses" through a commercial; this was the second EP to conduct songs for Kosee, following "Neonlight Lipstick" from "Tsuki". "Brighter Day" was used as the theme song for the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

film ''First Class''. The title track was described to "open with an impressive string instrument arrangement and transitions into a vocal performance by Namie on top of a strong beat." The lyrical content talks about helping loved ones in bad situations. "Brighter Day" premiered on Japanese radio station J-Wave on October 15, 2013, followed by "Still Lovin' You" on October 16 and October 20. Although released on November 5 through Chaku-Uta, Amuro confirmed the release of "Brighter Day" on her website and was subsequently released physically in both CD and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

formats in Japan and digitally worldwide on November 12, 2014. The DVD version came with a limited edition poster of the cover artwork and featured the videos of "Brighter Day" and "Sweet Kisses". The CD features all three tracks, along with their instrumental versions.

Reception

"Brighter Day" charted as a single on the

and peaked at number eight. Present for thirteen weeks in the chart, "Brighter Day" became Amuro's lowest charting single since her 2004 single "

" which peaked at eleven. The single sold over 53,000 units in Japan. The title track was certified platinum by the

(RIAJ) for exceeding 250,000 digital sales. "Brighter Day", "Sweet Kisses" and "Still Lovin' You" charted individually on the

at three, fifty-six and forty-nine respectively.

Promotion

The teaser music video to "Brighter Day" premiered on Amuro's YouTube channel on November 4, 2014, showing her in a white room in front of a car and making finger gestures. The teaser music video to "Sweet Kisses" premiered on November 11, showing Amuro in a

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-like stage with back up dancers. All three tracks were included in her ''Namie Amuro Live Style 2014 Tour''.

Track listing

;CD single/Digital EP # "Brighter Day" – 3:51 # "Sweet Kisses" – 2:45 # "Still Lovin' You" – 4:09 # "Brighter Day" (Instrumental) – 3:51 # "Sweet Kisses" (Instrumental) – 2:45 # "Still Lovin' You" (Instrumental) – 4:09

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Songs in Japanese Japanese television drama theme songs Namie Amuro songs Avex Trax singles