Touch Me!

Touch Me! is Japanese singer-songwriter Mai Kuraki's eighth studio album, which was released on January 21, 2009, in Japan by her record label Northern Music. The album was released in two formats; the regular single CD version and a limited CD+DVD version, whose content contained a behind the scenes look at the making of the album, as well an interview and clips from her 2008 tour. The album follows the same pattern as "One Life", in which Kuraki collaborated with new composers.

Touch Me!
Studio album by
Mai Kuraki
ReleasedJanuary 21, 2009 (2009-01-21)
Recorded2008
GenrePop, R&B
Length47:26
LabelNorthern Music
ProducerMai Kuraki, Daiko Nagato
Mai Kuraki chronology
One Life
(2008)		 Touch Me!
(2009)		 All My Best
(2009)
Singles from Touch Me!
  1. "Yume ga Saku Haru/You and Music and Dream"
    Released: March 19, 2008
  2. "Ichibyōgoto ni Love for You"
    Released: July 9, 2008
  3. "24 Xmas Time"
    Released: November 26, 2008

Three singles were released from the album; the first, "Yume ga Saku Haru/You and Music and Dream", which debuted at number five on the Oricon single weekly chart. The second single and third single were, "Ichibyōgoto ni Love for You" and "24 Xmas Time". Both singles charted at number seven on the Oricon charts.

Selling 50,250 units in its first week, the album debuted at the number-one on the Oricon album weekly chart, becoming Kuraki's first album in five years to appear at the top spot.

Commercial performance
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
allmusic[1]

Released on January 21, 2009, in both Japan and Taiwan, the album proved to be successful in both countries. In Japan, Touch Me! debuted at number-one on the Oricon album daily chart.[2][3] By the end of the charting week the album took the number-one spot on the Oricon album weekly at number-one with 50,250 units sold in its first week.[4][5] This made Touch Me! Kuraki's first number-one album in five years, with this last occurring with her first best of album, Wish You the Best (2004).[5]

In Taiwan, the album debuted at number-one on the J-Pop music chart, with 8.75% of the sales on the chart.[6] The album stayed atop of the chart in its second and third week, with 6.55% and 4.38% of the sales, respectively.[7][8] In its fourth week on the chart, Touch Me! was pushed down to number three, with 2.28% of the sales. The first and second place was occupied by Korean pop boy band TVXQ's twenty-fifth Japanese-language single, "Bolero/Kiss the Baby Sky/Wasurenaide" and the Ponyo soundtrack.[9] However, on the Combo chart the album debuted at number twelve, with 0.66% of sales.[10] By the second week, the album dropped to number twenty, selling 0.44%.[11]

Singles

The first single from the album was the double A-side, "Yume ga Saku Haru/You and Music and Dream" which was released on March 19, 2008. The single debuted at number five on the Oricon weekly chart, selling 20,390 units in the first week.[12] The second single, "Ichibyōgoto ni Love for You", was released on July 9, 2008. The single debuted at number seven on charts and sold 21,061 units in its first week.[13] The third and final single from the album was "24 Xmas Time", which was released on November 26, 2008. Like the previous single, "24 Xmas Time" also charted at number seven selling it sold 21,002 units in its first week, 59 units less than "Ichibyōgoto ni Love for You".[14]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Mai Kuraki, except "Top of the World", which was written by John Bettis.

CD
No.TitleMusicArranger(s)Length
1."Touch Me!"Yue MochizukiCybersound5:09
2."Ichibyōgoto ni Love for You"Aika OhnoCybersound3:57
3."Break the Tone"Mari FujitaFujita, Day Track3:32
4."Yume ga Saku Haru"Akihito TokunagaTokunaga3:54
5."I Can't Believe You!!"Free-role JFree-role J3:50
6."Secret Lover"Free-role JFree-role J3:43
7."Hello!"Hidekazu UchiikeDaisuke Ikeda3:53
8."24 Xmas Time"All The RageAll The Rage, JJ, Carlos H4:14
9."Catch"Takahiro HiragaHiraga4:14
10."You and Music and Dream"Aika OhnoCybersound4:06
11."Top of the World"Richard Lynn Carpenter 3:00
12."Yume ga Saku Haru: Remix (夢が咲く春 -remix-)"Akihito TokunagaRemixed by Tokunaga3:54
Limited Edition DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Inside of Touch Me!: Mai Kuraki ga Kataru "Touch Me!" (Inside of touch Me ! 〜倉木麻衣が語る"touch Me!"〜, Inside of Touch Me!: Mai Kuraki Talks "Touch Me!")" 

Charts
Chart (2009) Peak
position		 Certification
(threshold)
Japan Oricon album Daily Chart[2] 1 Gold[15]
Japan Oricon album Weekly Chart[5] 1
Taiwan Combo Chart[10] 12
Taiwan J-Pop Chart[6] 1

Release history
Country Date Label Format Catalog
Japan January 21, 2009 (2009-01-21) Northern Music CD+DVD VNCM-9004[16]
CD VNCM-9005[17]
Taiwan January 21, 2009 (2009-01-21) SK-Being CD SBCA-9001[18]
Korea[19] February 11, 2009 (2009-02-11) CJ E&M CMAC-8387

References
  1. allmusic review
  2. 倉木麻衣、5年ぶりのアルバム首位に向けて好発進 (in Japanese). Oricon. January 2, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  3. "倉木麻衣、衝撃のデビューから10年に向けて10万人とタッチ". Barks. January 2, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  4. 2009年02第1週の邦楽アルバムランキング情報 (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  5. 倉木麻衣、ニューアルバムで5年ぶり1位. Oricon (in Japanese). January 2, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  6. (in Chinese) On the drop down Select 第3週"Touch Me! first week J-Pop chart". G-Music. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  7. (in Chinese) On the drop down Select 第4週"Touch Me! second week J-Pop chart". G-Music. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  8. (in Chinese) On the drop down Select 第5週"Touch Me! third week J-Pop chart". G-Music. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  9. (in Chinese) On the drop down Select 第6週"Touch Me! fourth week J-Pop chart". G-Music. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  10. (in Chinese) On the drop down Select 第3週"Touch Me! first week Combo chart". G-Music. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  11. (in Chinese) On the drop down Select 第4週"Touch Me! second week Combo chart". G-Music. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  12. 2008年03月第5週の邦楽シングルランキング情報 (in Japanese). Oricon`. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  13. 2008年07月第3週の邦楽シングルランキング情報 (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  14. 2008年12月第2週の邦楽シングルランキング情報 (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  15. 2009年2月度 認定作品 (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  16. "touch Me! (w/ DVD, Limited Edition)". CDJapan. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  17. "(touch Me! Regular Edition)". CDJapan. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  18. "倉木麻衣/ touch Me!" (in Chinese). G-Music. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  19. "Touch Me! – Album by Kuraki Mai". MelOn. LOEN Entertainment.
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