:Feel the Love (Ayumi Hamasaki song)

On October 24, 2013, it was confirmed through Japanese publication Natalie.mu that Hamasaki would release a new double A-side single titled "Feel the Love/"Merry-Go-Round", and would serve as the singers's first physical release in three years since her EP–single L (2010). It was also her first double A-side single, alongside the track "Merry-Go-Round", since "Moon" and "Blossom" that same year.{{cite news|author=Natalie Staff|url=http://natalie.mu/music/news/102039|title=浜崎あゆみシングル制作陣にDJ Hello Kitty、小室、m-flo|work=Natalie.mu|date=October 23, 2013|access-date=August 5, 2016|language=ja}}{{cite AV media notes |title=L|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2010|type=CD Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVCD-31938|location=Japan}}{{cite AV media notes |title=L|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2010|type=CD Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVCD-31891|location=Japan}} The track was written by Hamasaki, whilst production was handled by Japanese musician and long-time collaborator Max Matsuura with the assistance of DJ Hello Kitty, the latter producer emphasised as a marketing strategy to portray Hello Kitty as a DJ; this marks the singer's first single to be produced with another producer instead of a sole production by Matsuura.{{cite AV media notes |title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2013|type=CD Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVCD-48776|location=Japan}} It also marks the first ever track or recording produced and composed by DJ Hello Kitty.{{cite news|author=Anime News Network Staff|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2013-11-29/dj-hello-kitty-stars-in-ayumi-hamasaki-music-video-shot-in-l.a|title=DJ Hello Kitty Stars in Ayumi Hamasaki's Music Video Shot in L.A.|work=Anime News Network|date=November 30, 2013|access-date=August 6, 2016}} Musically, "Feel the Love" is an electronic dance song that lyrically focuses on love and having a good time.{{cite news|author=CD Journal Staff|url=http://artist.cdjournal.com/d/feel-the-lovemerry-go-round/4113101778|title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round – Ayumi Hamasaki|work=CD Journal|date=December 25, 2013|access-date=August 2, 2016|language=ja}} The song was composed by Japanese Globe member and producer Tetsuya Komuro, and featured backing vocals by Japanese musician Yumi Kawamura; it also features synthesizers and keyboards in its instrumentation. Like the rest of the content on Hamasaki's fifteenth studio album Colours (2014), "Feel the Love" was written in both Japanese and English language, with the latter being most prominent on this song.{{cite AV media notes |title=Colours|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2014|type=CD Album; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVCD-38967|location=Japan}}{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Each track from Colours, apart from full-written Japanese tracks, were recorded with Japanese and English. Can be accessed through lyric booklet on album.}}

"Feel the Love"/"Merry-Go-Round" was released in six different formats on December 25, 2013 by Avex Trax, Avex Taiwan, and Avex Entertainment Inc. worldwide, and served as the lead single and double A-side release from her album Colours. The CD release featured the two original recordings and the original instrumental versions, plus a remix for "Feel the Love" by DJ Hello Kitty and Blasterjaxx. The CD and DVD format featured the same track listing, but also included the video clips to "Feel the Love" and "Merry-Go-Round".{{cite AV media notes |title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2013|type=CD and DVD Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVCD-48775/B|location=Japan}} A limited edition CD and DVD format was distributed through Hamasaki's fan club website TeamAyu, which included the same track listing on both discs but featured a bonus interview by Hamasaki on the latter DVD disc.{{cite AV media notes |title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2013|type=TeamAyu CD and DVD Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVC1-48886/B|location=Japan}} The digital EP included the same track listing.{{cite news|url=https://music.apple.com/jp/album/feel-the-love-merry-go-round/771754141|title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round – EP – by Ayumi Hamasaki|work=iTunes Store (Japan)|date=December 25, 2013|access-date=August 5, 2016}} The DJ Hello Kitty and Blasterjaxx remixes were distributed separated worldwide on iTunes Store the same day, but included the dub and instrumental mixes. To promote the singles' same release date on Christmas Day and for Hamasaki's Countdown Concert tour for New Year's Day for 2014, Avex Trax distributed three music cards featuring the same content; the first was a promotional shot from the single's photoshoot, whilst the latter two celebrated Christmas and New Years with her signature AyuPan character design.{{cite AV media notes |title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2013|type=Music Card 1 Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AQZ1-76128|location=Japan}}{{cite AV media notes |title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2013|type=Music Card 2 Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AQZ1-76129|location=Japan}}{{cite AV media notes |title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2013|type=Music Card 3 Single; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AQZ1-76130|location=Japan}} The cover artwork for the single releases were photographed by Gori Kumamoto, and featured Hamasaki in a beige-colored dress.

Upon its release, "Feel the Love" received favorable reviews from music critics. A staff member at Japanese music magazine CD Journal highlighted DJ Hello Kitty and Tetsuya Komuro's contribution to the single, and praised the electronic dance composition. Alongside this, a separate review for her album Colours at CD Journal selected it as one of the best tracks.{{cite news|author=CD Journal Staff|url=http://artist.cdjournal.com/d/colours/4114050881|title=Colours – Ayumi Hamasaki|work=CD Journal|date=July 2, 2014|access-date=August 2, 2016|language=ja}} Dato from KKbox.com was generally positive towards the composition by Komuro, but criticized the generic and "brainwashing" production for following the electronic sound. However, he selected it as one of his recommended tracks from the album.{{cite news|author=Dato|url=https://www.kkbox.com/tw/tc/column/reviews-46-1977-1.html|script-title=zh:等待濱崎步蛻變後的璀璨，聽【Colours 濱紛】|work=KKbox.com|date=August 12, 2014|access-date=August 2, 2016|language=zh}} Similarly, a member from Mojim.com praised the "bright" and "catchy" production and commended its overall commercial appeal.{{cite news|author=Mojim Staff|url=https://mojim.com/tw100408x73.htm|script-title=zh:Feel the love / Merry-go-round 日文|work=Mojim.com|date=December 25, 2013|access-date=August 2, 2016|language=zh}}

Charting together with "Merry-Go-Round", it under performed in Japan. It debuted at number five on the Oricon Singles Chart, selling 30,385 units in its first week. It became her first single to miss the top spot since her single "Daybreak" twelve years earlier, and one of her lowest first week sales in her career.{{cite web|url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/w/2014-01-06/|title=Oricon Singles Chart|work=Oricon Style|date=January 6, 2014|access-date=August 5, 2016|language=ja}}{{cite web|url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/246497/products/music/473136/1/|title=Ayumi Hamasaki – Daybreak|work=Oricon Style|date=March 6, 2003|access-date=August 5, 2016|language=ja|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925191939/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/246497/products/music/473136/1/|archive-date=September 25, 2012}} It fell to number 16 the following week, selling 4,704 units, and eventually lasted for six weeks on the chart. By the end of 2014, it sold 37,366 units.{{cite web|url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/w/2014-01-13/|title=Oricon Singles Chart|work=Oricon Style|date=January 13, 2014|access-date=August 5, 2016|language=ja}}{{cite web | script-title=ja:オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」 |trans-title=Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree' | url=http://ranking.oricon.co.jp |language=ja | work=Oricon |url-access=subscription | access-date=May 21, 2014}} It reached number seven on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart in Japan as a collective, and number 51 and 13 as a singular track on the Radio Songs and Japan Hot 100 chart.{{cite web|url=http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=sales&year=2014&month=01&day=13|title=Billboard Hot Single Sales Chart|work=Billboard|date=January 13, 2014|access-date=August 5, 2016|language=ja}}{{cite web|url=http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=radio_songs&year=2014&month=01&day=20|title=Billboard Hot Radio Songs Chart|work=Billboard|date=January 20, 2014|access-date=August 5, 2016|language=ja|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018113043/http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=radio_songs&year=2014&month=01&day=20|archive-date=October 18, 2016|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=hot100&year=2014&month=01&day=13|title=Japan Hot 100 Chart|work=Billboard|date=January 13, 2014|access-date=August 5, 2016|language=ja}}

File:Ayumifeelthelovevideo.png

Three music videos were shot for the single; one by Yusuke Azumaya, the second being a lyric video, and the third directed and animated by Riff Studios.{{cite news|author=Azumaya, Yusuke (director)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuSEIruqbQg|title=Feel the Love / Ayumi Hamasaki (short music video)|work=Avex Trax; published through YouTube|date=November 27, 2013|access-date=August 6, 2016|language=ja}} Azumaya's version opens with a large-figured woman cutting images of herself and sticking them on portraits of a blonde male. As she sticks it on her wall, she begins a quest to lose weight for the man in the photo, and starts running and exercising in Los Angeles, California. Throughout the entire video, it has the woman running to different locations and trying different workouts with the public, whilst small animations of her exercising are added into small parts. Near the end of the video, the girl decides to get a makeover, whilst a stylist dresses her in a pink dress. She runs towards the man in a park, though he is disinterested and walks away. A man holding a balloon bumps into the woman, and as the camera pans away to the balloons floating towards the sky, the woman turns into Hamasaki. The man who walked away from the woman then sees Hamasaki, walks to her, and both hug each other.

The second version was a lyric video, which features Hamasaki in a recording studio. It also features candid photos of Hamasaki in Los Angeles, Japan, and doing other endeavours outside of music.{{cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9pLmxmskSM|title=Feel the Love / Ayumi Hamasaki (short lyric video)|work=Avex Trax; published through YouTube|date=October 22, 2013|access-date=August 6, 2016|language=ja}} The Riff Studio version features Hamasaki as her character design AyuPan and a character titled the Bloody Bunny. Both of them are in a space ship, and travel throughout different worlds and atmospheres, until landing on a planet with blue aliens. The aliens appear to be sad, whist AyuPan and the Bloody Bunny stand there. AyuPan then plays the song from her space ship, and makes the aliens feel happy; they all begin dancing to the track. It ends with the world turning pink instead of blue, and has heart shapes around it.{{cite news|author=Riff Studio (director)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5xUrRQYQ4M|title=Feel the Love / Ayumi Hamasaki (AyuPan × Bloody Bunny" version)|work=Avex Trax; published through YouTube|date=June 24, 2014|access-date=August 6, 2016|language=ja}} This version premiered one week before the album's release on July 2, and was included on the DVD and Blu-Ray versions of Colours.{{cite AV media notes |title=Colours|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2014|type=CD and DVD Album; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVCD-38965/B|location=Japan}}{{cite AV media notes |title=Colours|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2014|type=CD and Blu-Ray Album; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVCD-38966/B|location=Japan}}

To promote the single, it was used as the theme song for the December 2013 Count Down TV chart, hosted by Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), and the Christmas Fair commercial in Japan. Hamasaki performed the track on her 2013–2014 A Countdown Live show at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. It was included on the track listing for the live DVD, released on April 30, 2014.{{cite AV media notes |title=Countdown Live 2013-2014 A|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2014|type=Live DVD; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVBD-92110|location=Japan}} She then commenced her 2014 Premium Showcase: Feel the Love concert tour in Japan, and included it on the track listing for Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya cities. The live performance was then filmed and distributed through Avex Trax in Japan, both on DVD and Blu-Ray discs on October 22, 2014.{{cite AV media notes |title=Premium Showcase: Feel the Love|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2014|type=Live DVD; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVBD-92166|location=Japan}}{{cite AV media notes |title=Premium Showcase: Feel the Love|others=Ayumi Hamasaki|first=Ayumi|last=Hamasaki|year=2014|type=Live Blu-Ray; Liner notes|publisher=Avex Trax|id=AVXD-92167|location=Japan}} On June 18, 2014, weeks prior to the release of Colours, Hamasaki released a non-stop megamix album entitled EDMA, which included the track and other songs from Colours.{{cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/jp/album/edma-ep/888205209|title=EDMA – Album – by Ayumi Hamasaki|work=iTunes Store (Japan)|date=June 18, 2014|access-date=August 3, 2016}}

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• CD single

1. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) – 5:22
2. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) – 5:09
3. "Feel the Love" (DJ Hello Kitty Remix) – 5:25
4. "Feel the Love" (Blasterjaxx Remix) – 5:30
5. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:22
6. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:09

• CD and DVD single

1. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) – 5:22
2. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) – 5:09
3. "Feel the Love" (DJ Hello Kitty Remix) – 5:25
4. "Feel the Love" (Blasterjaxx Remix) – 5:30
5. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:22
6. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:09
7. "Feel the Love" (Music video)
8. "Merry-Go-Round" (Music video)

• DJ Hello Kitty Remixes{{cite news|url=https://music.apple.com/jp/album/feel-love-dj-hello-kitty-remix/771754286|title=Feel the Love (DJ Hello Kitty Remixes) – EP – by Ayumi Hamasaki|work=iTunes Store (Japan)|date=December 25, 2013|access-date=August 5, 2016}}

1. "Feel the Love" (DJ Hello Kitty Dub Remix) – 5:25
2. "Feel the Love" (DJ Hello Kitty Instrumental Remix) – 5:25

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• Music cards

1. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) – 5:22
2. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) – 5:09
3. "Feel the Love" (DJ Hello Kitty Remix) – 5:25
4. "Feel the Love" (Blasterjaxx Remix) – 5:30
5. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:22
6. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:09

• Digital EP

1. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) – 5:22
2. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) – 5:09
3. "Feel the Love" (DJ Hello Kitty Remix) – 5:25
4. "Feel the Love" (Blasterjaxx Remix) – 5:30
5. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:22
6. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) [Instrumental] – 5:09

• Blasterjaxx Remixes{{cite news|url=https://music.apple.com/jp/album/feel-the-love-blasterjaxx-remix-single/785214349|title=Feel the Love (Blasterjaxx Remixes) – EP – by Ayumi Hamasaki|work=iTunes Store (Japan)|date=December 25, 2013|access-date=August 5, 2016}}

1. "Feel the Love" (Blasterjaxx Dub Remix) – 5:29
2. "Feel the Love" (Blasterjaxx Instrumental Remix) – 5:29

• US digital single{{cite news|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/feel-love-merry-go-round-single/775752938|title=Feel the Love/Merry-Go-Round – Single – by Ayumi Hamasaki|work=iTunes Store (United States)|date=December 25, 2013|access-date=August 5, 2016}}

1. "Feel the Love" (Original mix) – 5:22
2. "Merry-Go-Round" (Original mix) – 5:09

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Credits adapted from the CD liner notes of "Feel the Love"/"Merry-Go-Round".

;Recording and management

• Recorded and mixed at Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles, California in 2013. Management by Avex Trax.

;Credits

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• Ayumi Hamasaki – vocals, songwriting, backing vocals
• Yumi Kawamura – backing vocals
• Tetsuya Komuro – composition
• DJ Hello Kitty – production, arrangement, programming
• Hidetomo Yoneda – art direction
• Tomokazu Suzuki – art design
• Dave Kutch – mastering
• Jaycen Joshua – mixing
• Gori Kumamoto – photography
• Max Matsuura – production
• Yusuke Azumaya – music video director

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan|artist=Ayumi Hamasaki|type=single|title=Feel the Love |nocert=true|salesamount=37,366|salesref=}}

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{{reflist|2}}

• [http://www.avex.jp/ayu/discography/detail.php?id=1006202 "Feel the Love"/"Merry-Go-Round"] at Ayumi Hamasaki's official website. {{in lang|ja}}

{{Ayumi Hamasaki}}

{{Ayumi Hamasaki singles}}

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Category:2013 songs

Category:Songs written by Ayumi Hamasaki

Category:Ayumi Hamasaki songs

Category:Avex Trax singles

Category:2013 singles