page_title: Next Level (song)
section_title: Composition
hierarchical_section_title: Next Level (song) / Composition
caption_attribution_description: Hamasaki Ayumi concert @ Osaka Jo Hall (Sat Jun 21, 2008)
context_page_description: "Next Level" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist and songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki taken from her tenth studio album Next Level. The song was written by Hamasaki herself while the composition was by Dai Nagao and arrangement by HΛL. The song was conceived while Hamasaki was working on the studio album during her anniversary year, which was in April 2008. This year was to commemorate her ten-year anniversary since her debut single "Poker Face". "Next Level" was released as the album's lead and only promotional single on the same date as the album release digitally.
  Musically, "Next Level" is a dance-oriented song that utilizes several electronic dance music genres, which was very similar to the rest of the Next Level album. The musical composition, noted for its ethereal influences and softer synthesizers, guitar and keyboard instrumentation, was compared to the "light techno" influences throughout her fifth studio album Rainbow. Lyrically, the song talks about Hamasaki leaving her past, embracing the present and getting ready for the future, referring to it as "Next Level".
context_section_description: "Next Level" was written by Hamasaki herself which she has professional done herself since her debut single "Poker Face" and recorded throughout 2008 after completing her Arena tour. Hamasaki had returned with past composers and arrangers for the tracks on the album, including "Next Level". "Next Level" was then composed by her long-time collaborator Dai Nagao, who goes by the alias "D.A.I.". The collaboration with Nagao became their first song together since his last collaboration on her 2006 single "Blue Bird" which was taken from her studio album Secret. This was then his first effort since "Will" from her album (Miss)understood in 2005 . For the song, it featured guitar instrumentation by Takehito Shimizu, who along with Toshiharu Umesaki had programmed the song. The song featured additional background vocals from Junko Hirtani and the song was mixed by long-time collaborator Koji Morimoto, who mixed previous songs for Hamasaki and directed her 2002 music video "Connected".
  Musically, "Next Level" contains the same elements off the parent album which is electronic dance music. Individually, the track is a dance-pop and electronic song. The song features instrumentation of guitars and keyboards that include the "crystalline effects that made it ethereal" and the song was reminiscence towards her previous album Rainbow (2002). Throughout the album and song, the musical structure becomes more "thicker" and contains a transaction from her pop, rock and dance tradition. According to Adam Greenberg from Allmusic, who had written the album review, he focuses on the tracks throughout the album :"Hamasaki went a bit deeper on [Next Level], combining with songwriter Yuta Nakano and club DJ CMJK (formerly of Denki Groove) for a thick, somewhat wild release of dance tracks infused with a healthy dose of technology [...]"
  Lyrically, "Next Level" deals with her moving on from the person she once was, embracing the present and getting up for the future, referring to the "Next Level". According to the review from CDJournal, the reviewer exemplified the English translation lyric ("Even the past to leave scars now dear/Kako ni nokoshita kizuato sae ima wa itoshii") as an example on the past, present, future theme throughout the song. However, the same reviewer from the publication found that the lyric may also have another additional story behind the song and lyrical content.
caption: Hamasaki begun work on "Next Level" while she was touring on her Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2009 A: Next Level (pictured).
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