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Singer Namie Amuro, Virtual Idol Hatsune Miku Collaborate on New Song
posted on by Egan Loo
The next album from popular Japanese singer Namie Amuro will feature a collaboration with Crypton Future Media's virtual Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku. "B Who I Want 2 B feat. Hatsune Miku" is one of the tracks debuting on the _genic album on Wednesday.
Amuro's record label Dimension Point already released the album's track listing, but deliberately listed the song as "B Who I Want 2 B feat. U hum sneak it" before now, to keep the collaboration a secret. Only the song's instrumentals had been previewed until now, leaving people to guess the guest vocalist on the track.
Sophie, a producer in the British underground scene who collaborated on Madonna's new song "Bitch I'm Madonna," produced "B Who I Want 2 B." Sophie co-wrote the lyrics with Mitchie M, a producer of Vocaloid songs whose music videos have garnered over 20 million views on video-sharing sites.
Shigenori Soejima, the character designer and art director on such Atlus games as Persona 3, Persona 4, and Catherine, drew the song's visual that debuted on Tuesday.
Amuro has enjoyed chart-topping success in Japan since her 1995 album Body Feels Exit. The title of her new album _genic refers to the English word "photogenic" and the symbol for "blank," and Amuro intends it to symbolize her message to listeners, "I want you imagine what you like." Amuro performed theme songs for Pokémon 2000 - The Movie, Inuyasha, One Piece, and Nintama Rantaro.
The anime studio Sunrise had worked with Kamikaze Douga and Telecom Animation Film to animate Amuro in the 2009 music video for the "Defend Love" single from her Past < Future album. In the video, Namie Amuro meets another Amuro — Amuro Ray, the main character of the Gundam franchise. Kamikaze Douga, Sunrise Ogikubo Studio, and Studio Jack animated an earlier music video for her "Dr." song. The anime studio Tatsunoko turned Amuro into one of its characters for her 2010 tour.
