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Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story

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"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! / Love Story"
Namie Amuro kneeling down, hugging a Great Dane
CD only edition
Single by Namie Amuro
from the album Uncontrolled
ReleasedDecember 7, 2011 (2011-12-07)
Genre
Length29:08
LabelAvex Trax
Producer(s)
Namie Amuro singles chronology
"Naked/Fight Together/Tempest"
(2011) 		"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! / Love Story"
(2011) 		"Go Round"
(2012)

"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! / Love Story" is an extended play (marketed as a single) by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro from her tenth studio album and debut bilingual album Uncontrolled (2012). The EP contains the songs "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" from the parent album and two new tracks "Higher" and "Arigatou". The EP was produced by Michico, T. Kura, Miriam Nervo, Olivia Nervo, T-SK, Tesung Kim, and Nao'ymt, and is divided into two dance-pop songs and two pop ballads.

"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story" was released on December 7, 2011, through Avex Trax and received positive reviews from most music critics; many highlighted Amuro's vocals and the B-side "Higher", while some felt the rest of the songs were boring and outdated. Charted as a single on the Oricon Singles Chart, it reached number three and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" were released as the two lead singles and charted on the Japan Hot 100 at three and two, respectively.

Background

[edit]
"Love Story"
"Love Story is a pop ballad with lyrics containing themes of love and heartbreak.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

This single was released approximately four months after Amuro's previous single "NAKED/Fight Together/Tempest".[1] In addition to the two title tracks, two new songs were included as B-side tracks, making it her first single with four songs.[2] This is also the first time since her 33rd single "Funky Town," released on April 4, 2007, that B-side songs have been included in one of her singles.[3]

"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Arigatou" were written by Michico and co-produced by T.kura, "Love Story" was written by Tiger and produced by T-SK, Tesung Kim and Nervo, and Japanese record producer Nao'ymt produced and wrote "Higher".[2] "Love Story" was used as a theme song for the dorama The Reason I Can't Find My Love.[4] "Arigatou" was used as the jingle for Kosé's Esprique TV commercial.[5] On the release date of this song, a free download was also made available on Amuro's own official Facebook page for a limited time until April 2, 2012.[6] "Higher" was performed on her Namie Amuro Live Style 2011 Japan arena tour.[7] It was also broadcast in some areas as the commercial jingle for Coca-Cola Japan's Coca-Cola Zero.[8]

"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" is a fast-paced R&B number with a jack-in-the-box structure; the song lyrically relates a significant other to a dog.[9] "Love Story" is a pop ballad with lyrics that express gratitude to someone you loved but broke up with.[9] "Higher" is a techno-infused number with a tense electronic sound and powerful vocals.[9] "Arigatou" is a mellow ballad with ethereal string sounds and a soft melody; it expresses gratitude to those who helped with reconstruction efforts after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[9]

Critical reception

[edit]

"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story" received positive reviews from most music critics. David Cirone from J-Generation labelled the first single "sexy" and "tongue-in-cheek", while he commented on the latter single ""Love Story" are great ballads, featuring flawless and sincere vocals, just as memorable as some of the greats on Best Fiction." Cirone highlighted "Love Story" as a stand out from Uncontrolled.[10] CDJournal.com praised the first two singles for its composition, calling "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" full of tension and "humorous" and liking Amuro's painful and sad vocals on "Love Story". The website also commended the latter two tracks, labelling "Higher" "full of tension" and a "thrilling electropop song" while calling "Arigatou" "beautiful".[9]

However, Michael McCarthy from Otakudx.com had overall criticized the album's musical direction and lyrical content, but criticized the lyrics of "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" for its sexual innuendos and references to doggy style; he deemed it "ridiculous" and said "if a guy sang this song, talking to a girl like she was a dog, people would be outraged. But since Namie is a female we're supposed to take it as some brilliant role reversal or otherwise be turned on by it? Sorry, I just found it slightly disturbing and extremely boring."[11] Random J from his online blog commended the first single's title for sounding "ridiculously cool and straight to the point." However, he pointed out the song's composition by stating "It sounds like shit we've all heard before and the chorus just sounds like a droned out mess until "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" gets chanted."[12] He also praised the track "Higher" for its "high energy" and having a "stronger melody", but criticized "Love Story" and "Arigatou" for being boring.[12] He awarded three stars out of ten, highlighting "Higher" as the best song but said the EP was one of her weakest singles in her career.[12]

Commercial response

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"Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story" charted as a single on the Oricon Singles Chart and peaked at number three, selling 77,758 copies in its first week.[13] It dropped to number four the next week, selling 28,384 copies.[14] The single stayed in the top ten one last week, ranking at number five and selling 21,110 copies.[15] "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story" stayed in the singles charts for twenty weeks, becoming Amuro's longest charting single since "60s 70s 80s" in 2008 with twenty weeks.[16][A] The single sold over 162,000 units in Japan, her highest selling single since "60s 70s 80s" and remains her highest inside the 2010s.[17][B] "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for exceeding 100,000 shipments in Japan.[18]

"Love Story" was made available as a ringtone on November 2, 2011, and together with "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!," it was the first song in the history of Recochoku to top the charts for two consecutive weeks,[19][20] and it was ranked first place in the single download charts for the following year.[21] It also ranked first for the year in the ringtone song and ringtone movie categories.[22] "Love Story" was ranked number one for three consecutive months from December 2011 to February 2012 in the "LISMO Award Music Playback Ranking," which recognizes the most played songs on LISMO-compatible au mobile phones and smartphones that month. Amuro is the third to top the charts for three consecutive months in the history of the LISMO Award Music Playback Ranking.[23] "Love Story" is the biggest-selling song she has released in the 2010s.

Both "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" charted individually on the Japan Hot 100 and the RIAJ Digital Track Chart. "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" peaked at number three on the Japan Hot 100 chart and sixteen on the Japan Hot Airplay Chart, while "Love Story" reached number two and seven respectively.[24][25] Both songs peaked at number one on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart, making Amuro the first artist to have both double a-side singles reach the top spot.[26][27] "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" was certified platinum by RIAJ for digital sales of 250,000 units.[28] "Love Story" was certified million for cell phone ringtone and digital shipments of one million units; this tallied to total sales of 3.6 million units including the physical shipment.[29][28][30] "Love Story" became Amuro's first million-selling single since her 2007 single "Baby Don't Cry".[31][C]

Accolades

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"Love Story" received many forms of recognition: LISMO, an online music player provided by the cell phone company au, selected "Love Story" as the winner of LISMO Award; the karaoke company Daiichi Kosho announced that the song is the most popular Valentine's Day song for a female artist, along with Exile's "Lovers Again",[33] while the song won "Song of the Year by Download" and second place for the Top 5 Downloaded songs at the annual 27th Japan Gold Disc Awards.[34] On June 23, 2012, the video for "Love Story" won the "Best Female Video" award at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan; Amuro also won the "Best Collaboration Video" award for "Make It Happen" (a song from the best collaboration album Checkmate!).[35]

Music video

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"Love Story" received a music video and was directed by Kensuke Kawamura.[36] The video was shot in London and features scenes of Amuro walking down a street, sitting outside a café and inside a café.[37] A teaser video was uploaded on Amuro's YouTube channel on March 18, 2012.[38] The music video was featured on the DVD version of the single.[2]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!"MichicoT.kura, Michico3:16
2."Love Story"TigerT-SK, Tesung Kim, Olivia Nervo, Miriam Nervo4:45
3."Higher"Nao'ymtNao'ymt4:29
4."Arigatou" (thank the world for LOVE... gift song for 2011)MichicoT.kura, Michico4:14
5."Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" (Instrumental) T.kura, Michico3:15
6."Love Story" (Instrumental) T-SK, Tesung Kim, Olivia Nervo, Miriam Nervo4:45
7."Higher" (Instrumental) Nao'ymt4:27
Total length:29:08
DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Love Story" (Music video) 

Charts

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Certification

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[42]
CD version. 		Gold 100,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[43]
Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! (digital) 		Platinum 250,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[43]
Love Story (digital) 		Million 1,000,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[30]
Love Story (ringtone) 		Million 1,000,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes

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  1. ^ Although "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story" is recognized as an extended play with over four original songs and three additional instrumental tracks, it is registered as a single by Oricon.
  2. ^ Sales provided by Oricon database and are rounded to the nearest thousand copies.
  3. ^ "Love Story" was certified million for both ringtone and digital downloads; her last singles to reach million status for each format was "Baby Don't Cry" (ringtone), "How to Be a Girl" (physical) and "Love Story" being her first single to sell over one million digital units.[31][32]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Amuro, Namie (2011). Naked / Fight Together / Tempest (CD Single; Liner notes). Namie Amuro. Japan: Avex Trax. AVCD-48139.
  2. ^ a b c Amuro, Namie (2011). Sit!Stay!Wait!Down! / Love Story (CD Single; Liner notes). Namie Amuro. Japan: Avex Trax. AVCD-48268.
  3. ^ Amuro, Namie (2007). Funky Town (CD Single; Liner notes). Namie Amuro. Japan: Avex Trax. AVCD-31216.
  4. ^ "The reason I can't find my love" (in Japanese). Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  5. ^ "ESPRIQUE – エスプリーク ｜ 安室奈美恵 TVCF 30秒 ｜ 2011 Winter – arigatou篇". YouTube. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  6. ^ "安室奈美恵Facebookで新曲「arigatou」フリーDL開始" (in Japanese). Natalie. December 7, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  7. ^ Namie Amuro Live Style 2011 (Live DVD). Namie Amuro. 2011. AVBD-91885.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ^ "Coca-Cola Zero「Higher」篇 / 15秒 TV-CM". youtube.com (in Japanese). Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Namie Amuro / Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story". CDJournal.com. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  10. ^ "Namie Amuro – Uncontrolled (Review)". J-Generation. September 13, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  11. ^ McCarthy, Michael. "Namie Amuro – Uncontrolled (Review)". Otakudx.com. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  12. ^ a b c Random J. "Single review: Namie Amuro – Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! / Love story". Random J Pop. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  13. ^ Oricon Style Staff (December 19, 2011). "Oricon Singles Chart – Chart Week December 19, 2011". Oricon; published through Yahoo! GeoCities (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  14. ^ Oricon Style Staff (December 26, 2011). "Oricon Singles Chart – Chart Week December 26, 2011". Oricon; published through Yahoo! GeoCities (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  15. ^ Oricon Style Staff (January 2, 2012). "Oricon Singles Chart – Chart Week January 2, 2012". Oricon; published through Yahoo! GeoCities (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  16. ^ a b "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story – Namie Amuro" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  17. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree']. Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  18. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2011年12月" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  19. ^ "安室奈美恵、新曲は14年9カ月ぶりの月9主題歌" (in Japanese). Natalie. October 10, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  20. ^ "安室奈美恵、レコチョク史上初の着うた（R）ランキング2週連続1位2位独占" (in Japanese). Bark News. December 2, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  21. ^ "レコチョク年間ランキング2012を発表" (PDF). Recochoku (in Japanese). December 7, 2012. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 16, 2013.
  22. ^ "安室奈美恵 人気バラードが3部門で年間1位に". Billboard (in Japanese). December 4, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  23. ^ 2月「LISMO Award」安室奈美恵「Love Story」が3連覇 (in Japanese). musicman-net.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  24. ^ "■安室奈美恵■ 両A面シングル「Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story」が、リリースと共に2位、3位を独占！". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Prometheus Global Media. December 14, 2011. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  25. ^ a b c "安室奈美恵、両A面シングル「Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story」、2位＆3 位" (in Japanese). Barks.jp. ITMedia Ltd. December 15, 2011. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  26. ^ a b 一般社団法人 日本レコード協会｜各種情報 (Select 2011/11/14~2011/12/20 from the dropdown list and click Go.) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  27. ^ 一般社団法人 日本レコード協会｜各種情報 (Select 2011/11/30~2011/12/06 from the dropdown list and click Go.) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  28. ^ a b "レコード協会調べ　1月度有料音楽配信認定＜略称：1月度認定＞" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  29. ^ "レコード協会調べ　9月度有料音楽配信認定＜略称：9月度認定＞" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Archived from the original on March 26, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  30. ^ a b "Japanese ringtone certifications – 安室 奈美恵 – Love Story" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2013年9月 on the drop-down menu
  31. ^ a b "レコード協会調べ　5月度有料音楽配信認定＜略称：5月度認定＞" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Archived from the original on June 27, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  32. ^ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1997年6月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. June 1997 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). 454. Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan: 9. August 10, 1997. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  33. ^ "Songs by Namie Amuro, EXILE most popular for Valentine's Day". Japan Today. February 10, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  34. ^ "Japan Gold Disc Award 2013". Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  35. ^ "安室奈美恵:"MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2012"で2冠達成!" (in Japanese). Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  36. ^ "Love Story: ミュージックビデオサーチ" (in Japanese). Space Shower TV. Space Shower Network Ltd. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  37. ^ "安室奈美恵、「Love Story」初披露ライヴで「月9も見てね！」と笑顔をみせる" (in Japanese). Bark News. December 6, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  38. ^ "Love Story / Namie Amuro (安室奈美恵)". YouTube. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  39. ^ "Hot Singles Sales". Billboard Japan. Archived from the original on December 16, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  40. ^ a b "Japan Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (in Japanese). December 19, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  41. ^ "Year End Japan Hot 100 Chart". Billboard (in Japanese). 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  42. ^ "Japanese single certifications – 安室 奈美恵 – Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2011年12月 on the drop-down menu
  43. ^ a b "Japanese digital single certifications – 安室 奈美恵 – Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2014年1月 on the drop-down menu
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