Personal

## Singles from *Personal*

1. Side A
Released: March 18, 2009
2. Side B
Released: April 29, 2009
3. Side C
Released: June 10, 2009

**Personal** is the eight studio album of Japanese singer Nakashima Yuu. It was released on April 17, 2009 through DSCOVRY Music as a double disc record, and recorded from December 2007 to February 2009. Most songs from this album were recorded during Motion recording sessions, reason why many fans call them “sibling albums”. The first disc includes nine new songs, while the second disc contains live recordings of Yuu’s **2009 TRUE∞SELF Dome Tour**, which was held from January to March in Japan. It’s the singer first album not to have an exclusive version released in South Korea.

The album follows the same sonority as its previous album *Motion*, a mix of pop and R&B songs incorporating hip hop, electronic and middle-eastern elements. Lyrically, however, the album is centered around love, relationships and personal feelings, and occasionally goes into themes such as sexuality.

While it was received with mixed reviews by Japanese music critics, they observed an evolution in *Personal* lyrics compared to Yuu’s previous album, but felt it wasn’t enough. *Personal* figured among many lists of worst releases of the year and, contrary to Motion, didn’t get the same re-evaluation treatment in the following decade, being often cited as one of the worst J-Pop albums of the 2000s.

The album topped the Japanese charts for three weeks, selling little less than 500,000 copies throughout its run. This was, and still is to this date, Nakashima Yuu’s lowest-selling studio album since his debut in 2001, and third lowest-selling studio album overall, only behind 1998’s *Okimoto Kuwata* and 1999’s *Hana Sae Utau*. However, *Personal* was the eight best-selling album of 2009 in Japan.

Three limited singles were released physically to promote the album, and they were simply named “*Side A*”, “*Side B*” and “*Side C*”. Each one of them included a live version of a previous single. All singles managed to reach the top spot of the Oricon Singles Chart.

## Background & Composition

The recording sessions of *Personal* occurred in three different times. During the recording sessions for *Motion*, Yuu felt many songs were not fit for the album because they were not aligned with its ideas. Five of those songs were initially scrapped, but would later be reworked for the release of *Personal*. After *Motion* was released, more sessions took place to record enough songs for an album to be released.

On December 2008, DSCOVRY Music announced on its official page the TRUE∞SELF Dome Tour, a 10-date show held across three months in Japanese stadiums to celebrate Yuu’s 10th career anniversary. These shows were held in 2009, from January to March, and its live recordings were included in a double disc released along with the new songs.

At the time, Yuu mentioned he decided to call the album “*Personal*”, because he felt it was his most personal and introspective album to date. It was the first time he co-written and co-produced songs. He also mentioned he decided to release the album on April 17th, because it was his birthday and the album was part of him.

## Release & Packaging

Personal was released physically, as a double disc, and digitally in all Asian countries on April 17th, 2007 through DSCOVRY Music. In total, the first disc contains nine new tracks, and the second disc contains sixteen live recordings of the TRUE∞SELF Dome Tour.

The official cover art for the album features a picture of Nakashima Yuu naked between the sheets of a bed, in monochromatic colors. The album is packaged with pictures of the singer that follow a similar pattern.

## Singles

Three singles were released to promote Personal, all of them limited to 250,000 copies. Though almost no promotion was done, all of them managed to sell over 100,000 physical copies and reach number one in the Oricon Singles Chart. Songs like "*1000 顔*" from the single "*Side A*" and "*Heartbeats*" from the single "Side C" were downloaded over 250,000 times in the ringtone format, and thus were certified platinum in Japan.

## Commercial Performance

*Personal* entered the charts at number one, with 150,000 copies sold, and stayed two more weeks at the top spot. The album quickly felt out the charts after the initial good reception, barely selling 500,000 copies in Japan by the year-end. Still, due to the decline of the music industry, *Personal* was the eight best-selling album of 2009 in Japan.

## Track listing

**Disc A**

**Disc B**

## Charts

### Weekly Charts

**Weekly chart performance for *Personal***

### Monthly Charts

**Monthly chart performance for *Personal***

### Yearly Charts

**Yearly chart performance for *Personal***

 **South Korean Albums (RIAK)** | 8

## Sales and Certifications

 **Taiwan (RIT)** | 2xPlatinum
 **Worldwide** | 800,000