Chase the Chance

"Chase the Chance"
Single by Namie Amuro
from the album Sweet 19 Blues
Released	December 4, 1995
Genre	Dance-pop electronic
Length	4:25
Label	Avex Trax
Songwriter(s)	Tetsuya Komuro Takahiro Maeda
Producer(s)	Tetsuya Komuro
Namie Amuro singles chronology
"Body Feels Exit" (1995) "Chase the Chance" (1995) "Don't Wanna Cry" (1996)

"Chase the Chance" is the fourth single by Japanese singer Namie Amuro from her second studio album, Sweet 19 Blues (1996). It was released as the album's second single on December 4, 1995, through Avex Trax.

It debuted at number one on the Oricon charts, becoming her first of five singles to sell over a million copies. As of August 2012, the single has sold 1.3 million copies in Japan.^[1] At the end of the month, she would make her first appearance as a solo artist on Kōhaku Uta Gassen performing the single.

A pre-release TV commercial for the single features excerpts from the music videos for her four previous singles (including three singles released by Toshiba-EMI) in slow motion and in black and white.

Background and release

"Chase the Chance" was Amuro's second single for the Avex Trax label, following "Body Feels Exit" which was released a month prior. 1995 became Amuro's breakthrough year as she parted ways with her former girl group, Super Monkey's, and saw her first run of solo singles reach top five on the Oricon charts.^[2] The rest of Super Monkey's regrouped as MAX earlier that same year and continued to dance backup for Amuro, with "Chase the Chance" marking the last single they performed with her.^[3] The group would go on to achieve success in their own right.^[4]

"Chase the Chance" was a runaway success and debuted as her first chart-topper.^[2] It outsold its predecessor by a third, and became her first of five singles to move more than a million copies.^[5]

Commercial tie-in

"Chase the Chance" was used as the theme song to the Nihon TV drama, "The Chef."

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Tetsuya Komuro and Takahiro Maeda; all music is composed by Tetsuya Komuro, arranged by Tetsuya Komuro

CD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Chase the Chance" (Original Mix)	4:25
2.	"Chase the Chance" (Trip Club Mix)	5:30
3.	"Chase the Chance" (G.Wright Jungle Mix)	6:43
4.	"Chase the Chance" (Original Karaoke)	4:22
Total length:		21:02

Personnel

• Namie Amuro – vocals, background vocals

Production

• Producer – Tetsuya Komuro
• Arranger – Tetsuya Komuro
• Mixing – Gary Thomas Wright

TV performances

• December 31, 1995 – Kōhaku Uta Gassen

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Chart	Peak Position	First Week Sales	Sales Total	Chart Run
December 4, 1995	Oricon Weekly Singles Chart	1	225,090	1,361,710	20 weeks

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Chart	Position	Sales Total
December 4, 1995	Oricon 1996 Year-End Chart	10	1,361,710

References

1. 安室奈美恵がツイッターやらない宣言 交流の場はライブのみ. NEWSポストセブン (in Japanese). Shogakukan, Inc. 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
2. "安室奈美恵のシングル作品 2ページ目". ORICON NEWS. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
3. "安室奈美恵がJ-POPの女王になれた秘密――「売れたモノこそ実は先鋭的である」". ITmedia ビジネスオンライン (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-22.
4. "MAX 2作連続不発…「TORA TORA TORA」売れなければ"解散"だった 「沖縄に帰すって」 - スポニチ Sponichi Annex 芸能". スポニチ Sponichi Annex (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-11-22.
5. "安室奈美恵のCDシングル売り上げトップ10は？ あの名曲たちがズラリ。". ハフポスト (in Japanese). 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2023-11-22.

External links

• Songwriter, Takahiro Maeda's thoughts on the single (Japanese)