Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story

Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story is an extended play by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro from her tenth studio album and debut bilingual album Uncontrolled (2012). The EP contains the songs "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" from the parent album and two new tracks "Higher" and "Arigatou". The EP was produced by Michico, T. Kura, Miriam Nervo, Olivia Nervo, T-SK, Tesung Kim, and Nao'ymt, and is divided into two dance-pop songs and two pop ballads.

Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story
CD only edition
EP by
Namie Amuro
ReleasedDecember 7, 2011 (2011-12-07)
Genre
Length29:08
LabelAvex Trax
Producer

Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story was released on December 7, 2011 through Avex Trax and received positive reviews from most music critics; many highlighted Amuro's vocals and the B-side "Higher", while some felt the rest of the songs were boring and outdated. Charted as a single on the Oricon Singles Chart, it reached number three and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" were released as the two lead singles and charted on the Japan Hot 100 at three and two, respectively.

Background

Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story features two lead singles "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" and two unreleased tracks "Higher" and "Arigatou".[1] "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Arigatou" were written by Michico and co-produced by T.kura, "Love Story" was written by Tiger and produced by T-SK, Tesung Kim and Nervo, and Japanese record producer Nao'ymt produced and wrote "Higher".[1] "Love Story" was used as a theme song for the drama series Watashi Ga Renai Dekinai Riyuu.[2] "Arigatou" was used as the theme song for Kose's Esprique TV commercial.[3] "Higher" was performed on her Namie Amuro Live Style 2014 Japan arena tour.[3]

Critical reception

Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story received positive reviews from most music critics. David Cirone from J-Generation labelled the first single "sexy" and "tongue-in-cheek", while he commented on the latter single ""Love Story" are great ballads, featuring flawless and sincere vocals, just as memorable as some of the greats on Best Fiction." Cirone highlighted "Love Story" as a stand out from Uncontrolled.[4] CDJournal.com praised the first two singles for its composition, calling "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" full of tension and "humorous" and liking Amuro's painful and sad vocals on "Love Story". The website also commended the latter two tracks, labelling "Higher" "full of tension" and a "thrilling electropop song" while calling "Arigatou" "beautiful".[5]

However, Michael McCarthy from Otakudx.com had overall criticized the album's musical direction and lyrical content, but criticized the lyrics of "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" for its sexual innuendos and references to doggy style; he deemed it "ridiculous" and said "if a guy sang this song, talking to a girl like she was a dog, people would be outraged. But since Namie is a female we're supposed to take it as some brilliant role reversal or otherwise be turned on by it? Sorry, I just found it slightly disturbing and extremely boring."[6] Random J from his online blog commended the first single's title for sounding "ridiculously cool and straight to the point." However, he pointed out the song's composition by stating "It sounds like shit we've all heard before and the chorus just sounds like a droned out mess until "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" gets chanted."[7] He also praised the track "Higher" for its "high energy" and having a "stronger melody", but criticized "Love Story" and "Arigatou" for being boring.[7] He awarded three stars out of ten, highlighting "Higher" as the best song but said the EP was one of her weakest singles in her career.[7]

Commercial response

Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story charted as a single on the Oricon Singles Chart and peaked at number three.[8] The EP stayed in the singles charts for twenty weeks, becoming Amuro's longest charting single since her 2008 EP 60s 70s 80s with twenty-one weeks.[8][upper-alpha 1] The single sold over 162,000 units in Japan, her highest selling single since 60s 70s 80s and remains her highest inside the 2010s era.[9][upper-alpha 2] Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for exceeding 100,000 shipments in Japan.[10] "Love Story" and "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" charted at the Recochoku charts, peaking at number one and two respectively, making Amuro the first artist to have a double A-side single to do so.[3]

Both "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" and "Love Story" individually on the Japan Hot 100 and the RIAJ Digital Track Chart. "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" peaked at number three on the Japan Hot 100 chart and sixteen on the Japan Hot Airplay Chart, while "Love Story" reached number two and seven respectively.[11][12] Both songs peaked at number one on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart, making Amuro the first artist to have both double a-side singles reach the top spot.[13][14] "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" was certified platinum by RIAJ for digital sales of 250,000 units; this tallied to total sales of 350,000 including the physical shipment.[10][15] "Love Story" was certified million for cell phone ringtone and digital shipments of one million units; this tallied to total sales of 3.6 million units including the physical shipment.[10][15][16] "Love Story" became Amuro's first million-selling single since her 2007 single "Baby Don't Cry".[17][upper-alpha 3]

"Love Story" received many forms of recognition: LISMO, an online music player provided by the cell phone company au, selected "Love Story" as the winner of LISMO Award; the karaoke company Daiichi Kosho announced that the song is the most popular Valentine's Day song for a female artist, along with Exile's "Lovers Again",[19] while the song won "Song of the Year by Download" and second place for the Top 5 Downloaded songs at the annual 27th Japan Gold Disc Awards.[20]

Music video

"Love Story" received a music video and was directed by Kensuke Kawamura.[21] The video was shot in London and features scenes of Amuro walking down a street, sitting outside a cafe and inside a cafe.[21] A teaser video was uploaded on Amuro's YouTube channel on March 18, 2012.[22] The music video was featured on the DVD version of the single.[1]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!"MichicoT.kura, Michico3:16
2."Love Story"TigerT-SK, Tesung Kim, Olivia Nervo, Miriam Nervo4:45
3."Higher"Nao'ymtNao'ymt4:29
4."Arigatou" (thank the world for LOVE... gift song for 2011)MichicoT.kura, Michico4:14
5."Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!" (Instrumental) T.kura, Michico3:15
6."Love Story" (Instrumental) T-SK, Tesung Kim, Olivia Nervo, Miriam Nervo4:45
7."Higher" (Instrumental) Nao'ymt4:27
Total length:29:08
DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Love Story" (Music video) 

Charts

Notes
  1. Although Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story is recognized as an extended play with over four original songs and three additional instrumental tracks, it is registered as a single by Oricon.
  2. Sales provided by Oricon database and are rounded to the nearest thousand copies.
  3. "Love Story" was certified million for both ringtone and digital downloads; her last singles to reach million status for each format was "Baby Don't Cry" (ringtone), "How to Be a Girl" (physical) and "Love Story" being her first single to sell over one million digital units.[17][18]

References
  1. Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story (Album liner notes). Namie Amuro. 2011.CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. "The reason I can't find my love" (in Japanese). Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  3. "「Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story」/Namie Amuro". Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  4. "Namie Amuro – Uncontrolled (Review)". J-Generation. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  5. "Namie Amuro / Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story". CDJournal.com. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  6. McCarthy, Michael. "Namie Amuro – Uncontrolled (Review)". Otakudx.com. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  7. Random J. "Single review: Namie Amuro - Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! / Love story". Random J Pop. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  8. 安室奈美恵のリリース一覧 [List of Namie Amuro's Releases]. Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  9. "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree']. Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  10. ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2011年12月 [Works Receiving Certifications List (Gold, etc) (December 2011)] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. January 10, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  11. "■安室奈美恵■ 両A面シングル「Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story」が、リリースと共に2位、3位を独占！". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Prometheus Global Media. 2011-12-14. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  12. "安室奈美恵、両A面シングル「Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story」、2位＆3 位" (in Japanese). Barks.jp. ITMedia Ltd. 2011-12-15. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  13. 一般社団法人 日本レコード協会｜各種情報 (Select 2011/11/14~2011/12/20 from the dropdown list and click Go.) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  14. 一般社団法人 日本レコード協会｜各種情報 (Select 2011/11/30~2011/12/06 from the dropdown list and click Go.) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  15. レコード協会調べ　1月度有料音楽配信認定 [Record Association Investigation: January Digital Music Download Certifications] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. February 28, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  16. レコード協会調べ　9月度有料音楽配信認定 [Record Association Investigation: September Digital Music Download Certifications] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. October 18, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  17. レコード協会調べ　5月度有料音楽配信認定 [Record Association Investigation: May Digital Music Download Certifications] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. June 20, 2007. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  18. "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1997年6月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. June 1997 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan. 454: 9. August 10, 1997. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  19. "Songs by Namie Amuro, EXILE most popular for Valentine's Day". Japan Today. Feb 10, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  20. "Japan Gold Disc Award 2013". Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  21. "Love Story: ミュージックビデオサーチ" (in Japanese). Space Shower TV. Space Shower Network Ltd. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  22. "Love Story / Namie Amuro (安室奈美恵)". Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  23. "Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story 安室奈美恵のプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
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