Deep Dive: Ayumi Hamasaki Part Six (RAINBOW)

    I think you could call Ayumi Hamasaki many things. She's talented. She's charismatic. She's absolutely gorgeous inside and out. But she's also colorful. Which she displays in full force here on her fifth studio album, RAINBOW. It's such a display of color sonically, lyrically, and vocally. There's definitely a shift that begins here on this album. We'll get into more of that. Hamasaki begins to change gears and head into a brighter place. Abandoning the seriousness that was present for the beginning of her career, we see Hamasaki blatantly having fun here and she feels freer than ever. Though we still retain the introspection she is known for. After all, there's no RAINBOW without a little rain. The sunshine is equally as important though! Grab your umbrellas, we're about to deep dive!

    The first track "everlasting dream" sets us up for this explosion of color (like those Lisa Frank drawings from the early 2000s. What a throwback, right?!) from the get go. It just sounds like a rainbow complete with a rain shower and sun light. It's already signaling a departure from what we knew and loved about I am... Then we come to the first full-length song, "WE WISH."

    Fun fact. This album was almost titled WE WISH. I'm so glad Hamasaki went with RAINBOW. The true title fully embodies the sounds and themes of this body of work. And just works better conceptually. "WE WISH" the song, however, is a thrilling joy. It's fun. It's colorful. It's confirming that this album will be more poppy than the previous one. It's also a blast to sing. The rock tinges absolutely hype it up, but the pop flavors give it even more depth.

    This album was released not even a year after I am... It's so hard to believe that Hamasaki could pump out such full-fledged and well-thought-out bodies of work in such short amounts of time. This album is 16 tracks! Crazy! And if "WE WISH" was the only good song of the bunch, this album would still be legendary.

    Fortunately, it's not. Hamasaki continues her experimental streak with "Real Me." This is the first album where she incorporates English lyrics. And the chorus is riddled with English here. Hamasaki wished to spread her message worldwide. Which is very ambitious for a Japanese artist. I believe this is her first song with such a strong feminist message too. Which is very cool.

    Musically, it's very much of its time. Borrowing from popular R&B sounds of the early 2000s. But that's not a bad thing. It's still a high energy song. It also has some autotuned parts which adds to the overall coolness. Shoutout to the lyrics "a woman could be having fun/a woman could be like a nun/in order to survive." Those lyrics have always struck me, and I shout sing them. They're peculiar and yet strangely true?

    "Free & Easy" is such a cool song. It was the first single taken from the album, and it's such a left turn from her material from I am... or even Duty. Or any album back, really. The long intro that sets an adventurous tone like it's from Zelda. The symphonic rock. The flute and Hamasaki's airy vocals on the verses. This song alone would make this Hamasaki's most experimental album up till now, but all the songs so far contribute to this. It's an ambitious single, for sure. 

    No surprise that DAI returns to this album, and he actually has the most control this time around. You can just tell. If you listened to any material from Do As Infinity. His distinctive touch is all over the album. And it's very welcomed. We get some ambitious, career-defining artistic choices here that would go on to follow Hamasaki throughout her whole career. Hamasaki has always had tight control over her artistry, but when she experiments, you can say that it's new and innovative yet never strays crazy far from what has established her. This song is the focal point that proves that.

    "Heartplace" honestly hasn't aged a day. Artists (like Coldplay) still make songs like this. Its intro is so special. We're leaning full rock with Hamasaki's vision here. There's cool echoes of her voice throughout that add to the vibe. The English on the chorus adds a great hook. 

    Thematically, we continue the lighthearted and positive themes we saw with I am... just with a more experimental sound to accompany it. Hamasaki wished to make her music more worldly following the September 11th attacks. We see this here with the brilliant and wintery "Over" and also the previous song. Hamasaki sounds great here. The way the chorus opens up is unexpected and a nice twist. The song lowers the energy just a bit.

    Then we come to the next song, "HANABI." Which was released as a triple A-side single called "H." The single was the top-selling single in Japan of 2002 and the only one to sell over a million copies that year. "HANABI" is the most experimental song of the bunch though all three would see Hamasaki shake things up. It's trip hop song that's a ballad with a music box intro that's kinda creepy. A very unique combination. This song would go on to become a sleeper hit over a decade later and become certified Gold by the RIAJ for digital sales. I've always been fascinated by this song just due to its sound. I've yet to find another song like it. 

    Which brings me to my next point, even though this album was released during winter, sonically it is very much a summer album. It just encapsulates summer. Not only because of the songs from the "H" single that was a summer single. But because of songs like "Voyage" and "+" and even "WE WISH." The album cover with all its color even looks summery. 

    We get "taskinillusion" to change gears once again marking the return of Tasuku. Pretty much all of Hamasaki's previous collaborators return including CMJK and HAL. D.A.I is just all over this album though. Thank God. This interlude is nice and very pop and trance driven. This could have been a killer full length song. Just saying.

    "everywhere nowhere" continues the trend set by the previous interlude. The atmosphere is moody and a direct departure from the brightness we have come to know. Hamasaki speaks to us through an English intro that also helps set the mood. It's a cool song. It helps circle us back to the album's mostly-pop with some rock sound.

    You CANNOT have a summer without "July 1st." If you've not heard this song, then please let it dominate your fourth of July party playlists from now onwards. It reminds you of the beach or just July 4th in general. It is summer. Hamasaki was actually inspired by Independence Day for this song, and she absolutely nailed it. The pop. The rock. The acoustic guitar. The singability. It's perfect. I love it. I've always been in love with this song. I also think you could argue that this song set the tone going forward for her yearly summer singles like "Greatful Days" from the follow-up, Memorial Address, and "Glitter" from GUILTY.

    Each song on this record does flow so well into the next one. I'd argue this is her best album for transitions. It's very well-thought out. Which at this point in her career, I'd expect nothing less from Hamasaki. She definitely felt like she had something to prove. Even though Hamasaki was so popular and an icon, she was an artist too. An artist with something to say and something intriguing to add to the zeitgeist. 

    "Dolls" continues to be experimental. The first 10 seconds of the song proves that. The strings are a welcomed addition. There's just this sound that permeates the whole album in songs like this one "WE WISH," "Real Me," "Heartplace," and the interludes. It ties everything together well. Her overall experimentation with instrumentation continues here on RAINBOW. "Dolls" showcases some new instruments for the first time including traditional Japanese ones during the verses. The bridge is insane here. It's a crafty ballad from Hamasaki.

    We continue our trend of themed interludes with "neverending dream." Leading us into the album's final act. 

    "Voyage" is such an oddity in Hamasaki's discography. One of her most experimental takes that was very successful (it topped the singles chart for 3 weeks). She shakes up her vocal style so much here, and it would go on to carry over into all of her future works. It's a vibrato and she's now no longer afraid to tap into her lower registers. Sonically, it's an adventure just like "Free & Easy." The hook is one of her most memorable. The music video was insane as well. It's like an adventure on the high seas. But in song form. Just an insane, rare ballad that you don't find that much anymore. 

    Most of the songs on RAINBOW clock in at over 5 minutes long. "Close to You" is no exception. Remember when albums weren't hung up on length for streaming purposes? Pepperidge Farms remembers. This gives Hamasaki time to really let her inhibitions go. She doesn't have to get in and then get out. She can flex a little. The results are all just gorgeous. It contributes to the overall adventure, journey, summer vibe that RAINBOW employs so well. And it helps the replay value of the songs because you notice new things about them even 50+ plays in. 

    "independent" is that song. And it always will be forever. It's probably one of my top 5 favorite Hamasaki songs. If not my top 5 favorites ever. Hamasaki experimented with every minor detail here on RAINBOW and tweaked it. Especially with instrumentation. We get handclaps here (you'll be clapping along in no time). We get cheers. That guitar kicks in and you're just in for a ride. It never gets old. Then it opens up and you're on a high until the last second. It's a song that screams summer and never lets up. When Hamasaki takes the composing reigns, she never misses. That much is for sure. You can sing along to this song all day long. 

    Our final song leads off of "independent." It's the strangely titled "+." If you thought we were ending on a high note with "independent," then "+" keeps the party going with more chants and beach vibes. It also continues to prove that everything about this album was thought out and planned with how this secret-ish track leads from the first to the last and then ends the way that it does. The pop rock throughout the album is just spectacular. Hamasaki truly grips the genre in a way that no one else has or will. 

    Overall, I'm thrilled to listen to this album again as it has been a while. I've always had a soft spot for it as the highs are like mountains. It lacks lows. I'd argue the closest thing that comes to it is that "Close to You" is a little more boring than the rest of album. But still, it's a nice ballad. Hamasaki lets her hair down here in ways she hasn't before, and it feels free. It's fun that just doesn't let up even during the ballads. I hope everyone will add it to their summer playlist because it's already in mine! Even though it's winter, it's still nice to have a summer pick-me-up, right?

Rank: S. The forecast calls for rainbows.

Recommendation: I always listen to this while surfing the web. Or right before going to the grocery store, strangely. I just realized that.

Standouts:

    The singles! Good Lord! The singles!

    And the promotional tracks like "WE WISH" and "Real Me!"

    "+"