Pop (Mao Abe album) explained

Pop
Type:Album
Artist:Mao Abe
Cover:Mao_Pop.jpg
Recorded:2009
Genre:J-pop
Length:53:58
Label:Pony Canyon
Prev Title:Free
Prev Year:2009

is Mao Abe's second album, released on .[1] The album was released in two versions: a regular version and a limited edition CD+DVD version.

Recording

The album consists of songs Abe wrote in her second and third years of high school. There are three exceptions: "Salaryman no Uta", "Itsu no Hi mo" and .[2] "15 no Kotoba" was written just after Abe's first album was released in early 2009, and "Itsu no Hi mo" in September.[3] [4] Abe has not written any songs since then, blaming personal stress though finding live performance easy in this time, due to its passive nature and the lack of a need to quietly concentrate.[4]

Abe started creating the album in June 2008.[4] Unlike her first album, she made it without a specific theme or concept in mind.[3] Some songs Abe had made a conscious effort to leave until her second album, such as (which is influenced by the Yasutaka Nakata electro-pop sound of Perfume).[3] Abe found they clashed with the image she created of herself for the first album, instead wanting to focus on songs that would solidify her sound.[4]

Promotion

The album was preceded by three singles. "Tsutaetai Koto/I Wanna See You", Abe's first physically released single, featured tie-ups for both A-sides: "Tsutaetai Koto" was the music variety show Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champs ending theme song, while "I Wanna See You" was used in Calpis Water commercials. "I Wanna See You", along with her next single "Anata no Koibito ni Naritai no Desu", were originally released in 2008 on iTunes as acoustic demos. The third single, "Itsu no Hi mo", was used as the ending theme song for the Fuji TV documentary variety talk show .

"Mada" was used as a radio single to coincide with the album's release. It reached #23 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.[5]

An album track, "15 no Kotoba", was used as the theme song to the film Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora, starring Sosuke Ikematsu.

Track listing

CD track list

All songs written by Mao Abe.

DVD track list

Singles[6]

DateTitlePeak positionWeeksSales
"Tsutaetai Koto/I Wanna See You"19 (Oricon)1013,290
"Anata no Koibito ni Naritai no Desu"19 (Oricon)58,768
"Itsu no Hi mo"12 (Oricon)59,216

Japan sales rankings[6]

ReleaseChartPeak positionFirst week salesSales total
Oricon Daily Albums Chart3
Oricon Weekly Albums Chart523,00054,000

Notes and References

  1. Web site: リリース|すけじゅーる|阿部真央オフィシャルサイト . 2009-12-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091108034253/http://abemao.com/schedule/release/ . November 8, 2009 .
  2. Web site: クローズアップ『阿部真央(アベマオ)』|エキサイトミュージック(音楽). Excite . 2010-01-20 . 2010-01-28.
  3. Web site: 阿部真央、デビューから1年を経た待望の2ndアルバム『ポっぷ』リリース特集 (2) / BARKS 特集. Barks . 2010-01-25 . 2010-01-28.
  4. Web site: "ナタリー - [Power Push] 阿部真央"| url=http://natalie.mu/pp/abemao04. 2010-01-06. Morihide, Yuki (もりひでゆき). 2010-01-06. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100108055237/http://natalie.mu/pp/abemao04. 2010-01-08.
  5. Web site: Japan Billboard Hot 100 . Billboard . 2010-02-08 . 2010-02-03.
  6. Web site: オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」 . . 2010-01-28. (subscription only)