It’s been two weeks since the announcement that Charice’s second album in Japan will be released on October 5, 2011. And now, we have a title for this special Japan-only album: “Infinity”.
A fitting title, right? There’s just too much potential for Charice as she’s just starting on her path to world super stardom – her career has no specific high point in sight yet and the possibilities are infinite.
The album artwork is also great: simple yet striking. Charice is wearing a black and white printed scarf, a studded black fedora, a knitted off-shoulder top, and black leggings (the Japanese stylists really did an amazing job). A large infinity symbol in transparent white is also a great alternative to the normal text titles in most albums.
The tracks included in her second album are:
Far As The Sky
Louder
New World
Before It Explodes
Lost The Best Thing
One Day
Never Always
Bounce Back
Lighthouse
Lesson For Life
Living It Up
The order of the songs are not yet final, but at least we know what the songs are. Most likely, this track list will be very different from her U.S. edition sophomore album.
“Infinity” is available for pre-order at Amazon Japan for ￥ 1,980. The album will be available on October 5, 2011. Charice’s second album is currently in number 633 in Amazon’s Bestseller list, while it’s number 16 in the RnB category.
Charice and David Foster are featured in this popular Japanese program where they introduce a “great selection of songs just for you!” We then follow Charice and David as they take us to the Robert Mondavi Winery for their fundraiser show in the Napa Valley.
Here are the performance videos for 3 songs: To Love You More, Bodyguard Medley, and I Will Survive. PLUS the complete 30-minute show (translation needed! sorry, but you’ll get the idea…)
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We previously reported that Charice will be featured on NHK’s SONGS show as a part of her promotion for “As Far as the Sky”. But based on some tweets, it appears that this “SONGS” episode will be more than that.
After the concert, it was confirmed that the TV crew was sent by NHK Japan to film a segment for their show, “SONGS”. Below is the tweet that said this:
Based on the official website of “SONGS”, we now know that the Aug. 31 episode will be about Charice and her music, plus David Foster’s involvement. The episode title is “Charice with David Foster”, so that means it will be more centered on Charice than David Foster. Catch Charice on “SONGS” at 10:55 p.m., Aug. 31, 2011 on NHK. Below are the promo image for the episode and the video preview:
Video preview:
This is the second appearance of Charice on “SONGS” this year. Her first one was in early 2011, where she sang four songs live. Below is a video of her “Pyramid” performance. You can watch her three other performances in this YouTube playlist.
Non-Chasters might think that Charice is only famous in the United States and in her native country, the Philippines. They might be surprised to find out that her debut album has gone platinum in Japan – and the people there still can’t get enough of her amazing talent and powerful voice.
In fact, that platinum award is just the beginning of Charice’s invasion of Japan’s music scene. She’s just starting to make her way up to the top of the charts and working on becoming a household name there. Yes, not everyone in Japan might have heard of Charice yet, but for those whose ears have listened to her sing, they’re all impressed.
In the studio recording "Far as the Sky"
One TV producer, Kayuza Toda, became so captivated by her voice, that he sought her out and offered her a stint to record the theme song of a Japanese TV drama (Bull Doctor) that he’s producing. Good thing Charice accepted, as we now can enjoy the great song, “Far as the Sky” with Charice’s vocal power and heartfelt emotion.
The theme song shot up the charts into 4th place, and Warner Japan might have found this a great sign – so they brought in Charice to promote the song, and then announce the early release of her sophomore album in Japan. Here’s her jam-packed schedule:
August 9, 2011
Charice performed “Far as the Sky” live for the first time ever. Watch her performance and appearance in the Japanese show, “Sukkiri”, here. She also sang acapella 1 chorus of the song to cast of the Drama “Bull Doctor” during her visit at their shooting location.
Here are some of the cast/actors’ comments about Charice from m.found.jp news: (English Translation by Japhzinn)
Makiko Esumi: I was just about to break into tears (Telling Satomi Ishihara). Without any instruments, just how amazing it is even in acappella..I was impressed.
Satomi Ishihara: In a moment, the mood/atmosphere has changed…being awed, it was amazing.
Kohinata Fumiyo: Had her autograph, I am very much impressed/touched. YouTube is perfectly stored in my PC as a favorite. Being able to see Her live, such a great happiness.
Shida Mirai: Greatly impressed. There is great power, gave me great energy. I was really moved. Thank you very much.
Takuro Ohno: She really sings great. I think I want to be like that.
Sakura: Really unthinkable from such a petite body… As if we’ve been encouraged by a really powerful voice and a very beautiful, beautiful voice.
August 13, 2011
Charice performed live “Louder” and “Far as the Sky” in Fuji TV’s summer concert series, “United States of Odaiba”, which was broadcasted on the show, “Mezamashi Live”. Checkout the two videos below:
Charice featured on “Mezamashi Live”
“Far as the Sky” live performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3SpqleSJvw
“Louder” live performance:
August 31, 2011
Charice will be featured on the NHK TV show, “SONGS”. The focus will be her music and her performances with David Foster. Japan Chasters, don’t forget to tune in at 10:55-11:24 p.m. For those living elsewhere, check this article again for fan-uploaded videos of that show.
Other new Charice-Japan stuff:
Charice featured in Warner Music Japan’s website for “100 Years of Music”
This feature is in Japanese, so you just have to make do with Google Translate, since we don’t have the full English translation. Read the machine-translation here.
(English Translation by Japhzinn)
Charice’s Top 10 Favorite Album (Artist)
1. Lady Gaga – Gaga (Born This Way) - She’s a great songwriter and I think she really is a real singer.
2. Lady Antebellum – (Need You Now) - I don’t listen to country music that often but the moment I listened to their music I was attracted to it at once. Love it.
3. Usher – (Raymond v. Raymond) - They’re cool.That’s it.
4. Michael Jackson – (All Albums) - When asked why I like Michael, couldn’t answer anything but because it’s Michael.His music, His whole being, has given me inspiration.
5. Eminem – (All Albums) - Even after a 100 years, we’re gonna need a great rapper. And I think Eminem is just the one.
6. Beyonce – (All Albums) – I love the way she sings. Very powerful.Even her performances are really great/amazing.
7. Bruno Mars – (Doo wops and hooligans) - Great singer, super cool singer-songwriter.And he also has the Filipino blood.
8. Justin Timberlake – Future Sex Love Sounds - If you say now,Wouldn’t you think of him as the male version of Lady Gaga?!A great songwirter, and I think an amazing performer.
9. Ne-Yo – (All Albums) - I love all his songs. Ne-Yo is really the best/greatest.
10. Westlife – (Westlife) - I have always been their fan. Please listen to “Flying Without Wings” You will definitely wanna buy their album.
Behind the Scenes Photos from Charice’s Aug 2011 Japan Trip
There are lots of cute photos of Charice’s things and candid photos of her in the official Japan blog/website of hers maintained by Warner Music Japan. All the blog entries are in Japanese, but you can still use Google Translate, to get a little bit of meaning. Checkout the newest entry here.
This piece of news might surprise a lot of people since most artists based in America release their albums first there, and then when it’s successful, release it in other countries.
But remember that Charice is Asian, so that might have been a big factor in the way that she has become so famous in Japan – so famous that Warner Japan is building on this popularity and releasing her second album just a year after her debut.
Charice in "Sukkiri!"
A deciding factor in her early Japan release might be the beautiful single, “Far as the Sky”, which is the theme song of the hit Japanese TV drama, “Bull Doctor”. Coupled with the popularity of the drama and Charice, her second album might just beat her debut’s platinum sales record.
The release date of Charice’s sophomore album was announced during her August 9 appearance on NTV’s morning show, “Freshen Up!” or “Sukkiri”. The early Japan release of her album is scheduled on October 5, 2011, though the album is still untitled to this date. Thee 11-track album is now available for pre-order at a price of¥1980 (about $26). You can reserve and pay for your copy here.
The Platinum Debut Album of Charice (Japan Edition)
The tracks included in her second album are:
Far As The Sky
Louder
New World
Before It Explodes
Lost The Best Thing
One Day
Never Always
Bounce Back
Lighthouse
Lesson For Life
Living It Up
Based on this article from HMV.com, this album is a special Japan-only album. If that’s true, then this is not actually the same as Charice’s sophomore album that will be released in early 2012. For sure, the singles that she released like “Louder”, “Lost the Best Thing”, and “Before It Explodes” will still be included in her 2nd US album, but could be accompanied by other songs.
It’s still not clear whether Charice’s sophomore album is already this early Japan edition, but it could be similar, maybe without the “Far as the Sky” song. It’s highly possible that Charice would really release her album first in Asia, as she said in this interview with ology.com:
- Interview by Sharon Tharp
So what are you working on right now?
Actually it’s my day off right now, but this week I am going to fly to Japan to promote my album. And I am going to be there for a few days, finish my album that is coming out this fall, and then I am going to do an Asian tour.
Great. Do we have a date yet?
We don’t have a date yet, but it is definitely going to be the fall. It is going to come out in Asia first then here.
There’s not much info yet for her U.S. album. Charice has revealed two dates for her album release: Fall 2011 and Early 2012. To avoid major disappointment, just expect the her second album to drop in the first quarter of 2012 – and this is the most believable date since Charice said this in her latest interview at the Teen Choice Awards 2011.
The Japanese TV Drama Series “Bull Doctor” has been airing for almost a month now, and they are planning a new set of promotions that will push the ratings way up high.
Based on the information posted by Japan’s Warner Music Group on their official website, Charice will have two “Bull Doctor” related events in Japan this August 2011, while a third event will be all about her and David Foster. Read the full story
UPDATE JULY 7 – For a 24-hour viewing period till July 8th 3PM (Japan time), Warner Music Japan has made the music video available for Charice’s new song “Far As The Sky.” This is the theme song for the Japanese TV drama “Bull Doctor” which airs Wednesday evenings on Nippon Television Network.
The first episode aired this week and you can hear a portion of the song clearly in this video as the end credits are rolling. Read the full story
Charice is, no doubt, already famous in Japan. She has just won the J-Wave Best Newcomer Award last February, beating Justin Bieber in the process. But her star is about to get even bigger, as she’s becoming highly requested for singing theme songs for various programs in Japan. That means greater exposure to the television –viewing public. And just a few weeks ago, it was announced that Charice will be recording a song for “Bull Doctor”, a new Japanese TV Show.
“Bull Doctor” is a mystery/crime drama starring two famous Japanese actresses, Esumi Makiko and Ishihara Satomi. They play a forensic scientist and a police detective, respectively. These two characters are always in conflict because of their different methods and beliefs on solving crime. The scriptwriter for the show, Hashibe Atsuko, revealed that “Bull Doctor” is based on numerous real life stories.
Though this is Charice’s first time to record an original song for a Japanese series, she has already lent her voice to “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon for J-Wave’s winter programming theme song. Her latest single, “Louder”, was also used by the Japanese morning show “Mezmashi TV” as a theme song.
The producer of “Bull Doctor”, Kayuza Toda, has specifically chosen Charice to sing its theme song titled, “Far as the Sky”. All because her powerful and unique voice amazed him when he first heard her sing. Below is Toda’s praise for Charice as translated by Harry Yasu Clark from Warner Japan’s official website:
“It was shocking when I first heard Charice’s songs. I was so fascinated by her voice which is so stretching and powerful, and the experience got me reaching out to her and asking for a song. I have this strong confidence and conviction in my heart that the message of humanism this drama will give, and the emotions that Charice will bring to this drama, will make a fantastic collaboration.”
-Kayuza Toda, producer
Charice happily accepted the offer to sing “Far as the Sky”, and she only has great things to say about the song – which was a group effort from songwriter Seiji Hiratoko, composer Yusuke Tanaka, and song arranger Akimitsu Honma. Charice’s statement below is translated from Japanese (as posted on Warner Japan’s website) to English by Harry Clark:
This song has full of inspiration, tensions to attractions…it has a clear message that even when you tend to get down by encountering obstacles, difficulties in life, there IS always hope.
Please think of this song, as it’s for your loving family, friends, and all the people you dearly love. This song will send people a lot of inspiration so I’d like to have as many people as possible to listen to this song. And, just like it was from me, the song will send you a lot of sympathies too. And, I would like to dedicate this song to all of the Japanese people.
My heart is breaking and aching because of the devastatingly disastrous event that has happened to Japan last March 11. And because of that, I want to dedicate this song to the Japanese people. Please remember to feel that this is not the end of the world, there is still hope, and there will come a “tomorrow”. You all can overcome this, and win this. And please remember we each have given all of our support for you.
-Charice (as translated by Harry Clark, from Warner Japan’s website)
Listen to “Far as the Sky” when “Bull Doctor” starts next month, July 2011, at 10 p.m. every Wedenesday on Nihon TV Network. The song will also be released as a digital single on July 6, but most probably will be limited to Japan residents. There’s always Youtube, right? Hopefully, the numerous Chasters in Japan will post a video of the opening or closing credits for “Bull Doctor”, which should feature “Far as the Sky”. So are you excited to hear this new song from Charice? You should be! Even the lead star of “Bull Doctor”, Esumi Makiko, is all praise for Charice and how she sang the song:
“The amazingly powerful, crystal clear voice of Charice is truly miraculous, or is a miracle itself. The vision and the message of the drama does match her straight-forward, energetic and positive way of her life pursuing her visions and dreams, hence with this wonderful song she brought, it makes the drama truly completely a great story. I am so impressed and moved!”
-Esumi Makiko (as translated by Harry Clark, from Warner Japan’s website)
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