''True'', stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

, is the first album by Japanese recording artist

Mika Nakashima is a Japanese singer and actress. Five of her studio albums, one of her mini-albums and one of her compilation albums have reached number one in Japan's Oricon album chart. She also embarked on an acting career, most notably as Nana Osaki in th ...

. The album's lyrics were written by a team of songwriters including Nakashima herself,

Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, ma ...

, Minako Yoshida, Kenn Kato, Takashi Matsumoto, among others. In contrast to the typical Japanese J-pop and Western pop artist at the time, ''True'' was one in which Nakashima established a sound that would become her trademark for future albums: a mature,

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

-influenced mixture of

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

and soft pop. Upon its release, ''True'' received favorable reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. Many of those highlighted the

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

as some of her best work, and complimented the album's production and Nakashima's vocals throughout. Commercially, the album was a success in Japan, reaching the top of the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...

and eventually sold over one million units nationwide, earning it a million certification from the

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). It won Nakashima the Album of the Year Award at the 2003

Japan Gold Disc Awards The is an award presented by the Record music Industry Association of Japan in the field of music. The Japan Gold Disc Awards have multiple Grand Prix categories, including: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year (download and ...

. To promote the album, Nakashima released five singles. The first and final singles, "

Stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

" and "

Will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

," both peaked at number three on the

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 ...

, with "Stars" becoming her highest-selling single based on Oricon Style's database. The singles " Crescent Moon," " One Survive" and " Helpless Rain" were limited to 100,000 copies each. Furthermore, two video collections titled ''Film Lotus'' and ''Film Lotus II'' were released, which included all of the album's

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

Background and composition

When Nakashima was 15 years old, she moved to

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

, and shared an apartment with several people; she often traveled back and forth between Fukuoka and

Kagoshima , is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 583,966 in 285,992 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Etymology While the ...

. At this time, she had accepted some auditions, but as a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

, not a singer, but she failed in all the auditions. In the fall of 2000, while accepting some modeling auditions and determined to become a singer, she decided to send a

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

. In 2001, after hearing the demo tape sent by Nakashima, a record company employee recommended her to appear in "Sony Audition," a joint audition held by

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

and

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- ...

, in which she was selected. Later, she was selected for the lead role in a

dorama , also called or J-drama, are television programs that are a staple of Television in Japan, Japanese television and are broadcast daily. Format All major Television networks, TV networks in Japan produce a variety of Drama (genre), drama serie ...

, and out of 3,000 applicants, she was qualified to be the lead role in the Fuji TV series '' Tainted Love Song'', where she made her debut as a singer by singing the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

," and made her debut as both a singer and actor. For the album ''True'', Sony Music Japan hired an array of musicians to work on it such as

, Minako Yoshida, Kenn Kato, Takashi Matsumoto, among many others. The album was

mastered Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source from which all copies will be ...

by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis Mastering in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The opening track "Amazing Grace" is a cover of the famous

Christian hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery Abolitionism, abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Nav ...

. The

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

"Will" is a romantic number depicting the love and friendship of young people. "One Survive" is a

dance tune Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance music ...

with light keyboards and taut choruses. "Heaven on Earth" is a funky, upbeat tune with a touch of

acid jazz Acid jazz (also known as club jazz, psychedelic jazz, or groove jazz) is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul music, soul, and hip hop music, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1 ...

. "Destiny's Lotus" is an upbeat tune with pure lyrics about continuing to sing for your dreams. "Helpless Rain" is a collaboration with the sister unit

Heartsdales Heartsdales was a Japanese-American hip pop duo composed of sisters and , known by their stage names Rum and Jewels, respectively. Yumi was born on December 17, 1981, and Emi on December 4, 1976, in Tokyo, Japan. Their family moved to the Yon ...

, and is a somewhat melancholic medium-tempo ballad. "I" is a medium tempo number that combines a

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

-infused melody with folky vocals. "Tears~Konayuki ga Mau You ni...~" is a ballad that served as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

song to her debut single "Stars." "True Eyes" is a

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

and

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

song influenced by R&B that talks about how trusting each other has many more benefits than expected. "Crescent Moon" is a groovy dance number with an 80's flavor. "Just Trust in Our Love" is a pop number with a four-on-the-floor beat. "Stars" is a romantic and grand love ballad. The closing track "A Miracle for You" is a

pop ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Ballads ...

Singles

Nakashima's debut single, "

," was released on November 7, 2001. It served as the

for the Kansai TV/

'' Tainted Love Song''. Despite being her debut work, the single debuted at number three on the

, boasting her highest sales to date with over 469,000 copies sold and being certified platinum.

Track listing

Charts and sales

Oricon sales charts (Japan)

Singles

References

External links

* http://www.mikanakashima.com/ {{Authority control 2002 debut albums Mika Nakashima albums