Motion

## Singles from *Motion*

1. Motion (LESS)
Released: January 4, 2008
2. Cupid/One Time Lover
Released: March 14, 2008
3. Headlines/Good Boy Gone Bad
Released: October 7, 2008
4. Just...
Released: December 1, 2008

**Motion** is the seventh studio album of Japanese singer Nakashima Yuu, released on October 7, 2008 through DSCOVRY Music. A special edition of the album was exclusively released in South Korea on November 4, 2024, under the name “*섹시존*” (Sexy Zone, in Korean), featuring two songs from the standard edition recorded in Korean.

The album incorporates pop music with elements from hip hop, R&B and middle-eastern music, exploring themes such as sexuality and adulthood more explicitly and often than the singer’s previous album The New Yuu, which explored these themes for the first time. For that reason, the album was met with negative reviews by the Japanese music critics, making heavy remarks about the album’s “*overly obscene lyrics*” and its “*lack of shame and artistry*”. It was considered Yuu’s worst release at the time by many, though it received some positive re-evaluations in the past few years.

Commercially, the album did modest numbers. It entered the Oricon Albums Chart at number one, and spent a further week at the top spot. It also hit number one in the RIAK monhtly albums chart. Overall, the album barely crossed the million mark in Asia, becoming Yuu’s lowest selling album at the time.

Four singles were released to promote the album, among which two reached the top position in Japan – the three-sided single “*Motion (LESS)*” and the double-sided single “*Cupid/One Time Lover*”. “*Headlines/Good Boy Gone Bad*” failed to reach the top, and thus ended Yuu’s streak of number-one singles, while “*Just…*” became his first single to miss the top 10 since 1999’s single “*FRIEND*” peaked at number eleven.

## Background & Composition

In December 2007, on a post made in Yuu’s official blog, the singer announced his first Greatest Hits album Synopsis, which would be released on the Christmas day, and commented about new tracks being recorded for his seventh studio album that would be released sometime in the following year. Later that month, Yuu mentioned in an interview that his next album would be his most daring so far, and he was working with renowned producers from the industry to “*create a memorable experience*”.

On January 4th, 2008, the first single of the album “*Motion (LESS)*” was released physically in Japan. Although it went number one in the country, songs like “*Sexy Zone*” faced serious criticism by the Japaneses, who felt the explicit lyrics had a bad influence on youngsters. Yuu commented about the situation on his official blog, exposing the hypocrisy of Japan towards certain taboo topics and stating he was “*an artist, not a babysitter*”. The single quickly felt out the charts after the tracks “*Sexy Zone*” and “*Motion*” were banned from the main Japanese radio stations after the artist’s comments.

The second single “*Cupid/One Time Lover*” was released on March 14th to celebrate the White Day in Japan, a local feast day centered around celebrating love. A Korean version of the song “*Cupid*” was performed for the first time at the 2008 Mnet Asian Music Awards held in South Korea. It was Nakashima Yuu’s first time attending and performing at the event.

In August 2008, the singer announced he had finished recording his new album and was excited to share the results with his fans. The album was officially released in Asia on October 7th, 2008, amidst a series of controversies surrounding Nakashima Yuu’s personal life summed to a very explicit record. Although it failed to have the same massive success as his previous albums, both the record label and the singer mentioned they were satisfied with the performance, and that the numbers were following the decline of the Japanese music industry

## Release & Packaging

*Motion* was released physically and digitally in all Asian countries on October 7th, 2008 through DSCOVRY Music, and had a special edition released exclusively in South Korea later that year. It was Yuu’s fourth consecutive and last album to have an alternative exclusive South Korean edition. The standard edition of the album included twelve tracks, while the South Korea version also included the tracks “Cupid” and “Motion” re-recorded in Korean.

The official cover art for the Asian and South Korean edition features a shirtless Nakashima Yuu leaning on a wall. The album is packaged with various monochromatic pictures from the singer in a bedroom, some of them are slightly blurred.

## Singles

Four singles were released to promote *Motion*. The first single was the three-sided “*Motion (LESS)*”, featuring the title track plus the songs “*Sexy Zone*” and “*Man*”. It was released on January 4, 2008. The songs faced major backlash by the Japanese critics and public, and was banned from radio stations and TV channels. Still, the single sold over 250,000 physical copies and the song “*Motion*” went two times platinum for over 500,000 ringtones downloaded.

The second single, “*Cupid/One Time Lover*”, saw similar success. Being released on the White Day in Japan, it managed to sell over 800,000 units in Japan (physical and ringtones combined). The song “*Cupid*” was performed at various events throughout 2008, and it re-enters the Japanese charts every Valentine’s Day.

The last two singles “*Headlines/Good Boy Gone Bad*” and “*Just*…” are considered major commercial failures in Nakashima Yuu’s catalogue, failing to reach number one. However, the former sold over 500,000 units (physical and ringtones combined) in Japan. “Just…” was limited to only 50,000 physical copies, but ended up selling less than half of it, becoming Yuu’s first single since 1999 to fail to enter the top 10 in Japan.

## Commercial Performance

*Motion* entered the Oricon Albums Chart at number one, with over 250,000 copies sold, and spent a further week at the top spot. Throughout its run in 2008, the album sold over 600,000 copies in Japan, becoming the thirteenth best selling album of the year. It also managed to hit number-one in the monthly RIAK albums chart. By 2009, the album had sold 1 million copies in Asia.

## Charts

### Weekly Charts

**Weekly chart performance for *Motion***

### Monthly Charts

**Monthly chart performance for *Motion***

### Yearly Charts

**Yearly chart performance for *Motion***

 **South Korean Albums (RIAK)** | 3

## Sales and Certifications

 **Taiwan (RIT)** | 4xPlatinum
 **Worldwide** | 1,000,000