"Wonder Woman" 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 ...

, featuring R&B singer and rapper Ai as well as rock musician

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon p ...

. The song was the lead promotional single for Amuro's collaboration-compilation album, '' Checkmate!'', released in April 2011. Namie Amuro had previously collaborated with Ai on the songs "Uh Uh,,,,,," (

Suite Chic Suite Chic was a collaborative project between some of Japan's top and up-and-coming R&B and hip hop artists, writers, and producers, which debuted on December 18, 2002. Suite Chic served as a vehicle for pop singer Namie Amuro, who at the time w ...

, 2003), ""Do What U Gotta Do" feat. Ai, Namie Amuro & Mummy-D (

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, 2006) and Ai 2010 single "

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." Ai and Tsuchiya had previously collaborated on Ai's 2007 album ''Don't Stop Ai'' with "Butterfly" featuring Anna Tsuchiya, Anty the Kunoichi, Pushim, as well as on Tsuchiya's 2008 single "Crazy World". Amuro and Tsuchiya have not previously collaborated. The song was the most successful of the four new songs from the album, peaking at number five on 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 ...

's Digital Track Chart, and being certified gold twice, for downloads to cellphones as well as PC downloads.

Composition and production

The song is an up-beat

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

song, sung in a vocal trio with verses sung alternatively by each singer and the chorus sung by all three. The verses are arranged sparsely, with a bass guitar and beats, while the chorus features a full band backing with drums, bass guitar, and guitar. The lyrics are split roughly half and half between English and Japanese, with the singers alternating between the two languages throughout the song. The lyrics describe somebody trying to reassure someone that they will be their "wonder woman" who will be there to help them in times of need. The person is someone who is always acting strong, and the song's protagonist wants them to "tell erthose SOS oments so that they can help them. Amuro wanted to create a collaboration featuring a chorus of strong female vocalists. When thinking of such musicians, Ai and Anna Tsuchiya came to mind. Amuro felt that she had worked with Ai so many times in the past that a collaboration with her could not go wrong.

Promotion

The song was featured in a high-profile marketing campaign for ''

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'', the third of Amuro's songs to be used, after "

Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildlife, an undomesticated organism * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild ...

" (2009) and " Break It" (2010). The commercial first aired on February 13, 2011. The commercial featured Amuro on a motorbike in the desert, racing several androids on bikes. All three musicians billed in the song appeared on the cover of fashion magazine S Cawaii's April issue, in promotion of the single. On June 25, 2011, all three musicians attended the

2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan The 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan were held in Chiba on June 25, 2011, at the Makuhari Messe. The VMAJ were the culmination of MTV Japan's Music of Hope campaign, the channel's multiplatform response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Th ...

award ceremony and performed the song.

Music video

The music video was directed by Hideaki Sunaga, who had previously not worked with Amuro, Tsuchiya or Ai on a music video. The video features the three vocalists in a darkly lit, wet parking lot. One musician performs the song while walking across a road, another in a white car, and another in a red elevator. Each vocalist switches roles, appearing in each of these separately. After one cycle of this, two vocalists are seen entering separate elevators, and the cycle repeats. Only in the final scene of the video do all three vocalists appear together in the red elevator. The music video first aired on Space Shower, on February 18. The video is featured as a part of ''Checkmate!''s DVD edition.

Charts

Certification

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Checkmate!s liner notes booklet. *Ai – vocals *D.O.I. – mixing (at Daimonion Recordings) *Hitomi Joko – recording *Shigeki Kashii – recording *Ryosuke Kataoka – recording *Chantal Kreviazuk – writing *Tanya Lacey – writing *Paul NZA – instruments, production, recording, writing *Marek Pompetzki – instruments, production, recording, writing *Tiger – writing, vocal direction for Ai, Namie Amuro *

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon p ...

– vocals *Yuko Yasumoto – production coordination

Release history

References

{{Aisinger 2011 singles Songs in Japanese Ai (singer) songs Namie Amuro songs Anna Tsuchiya songs Songs written by Chantal Kreviazuk Songs written by Tanya Lacey Songs about comics Songs about fictional female characters Songs about superheroes 2011 songs Avex Trax singles