Okada Nana (Naachan) / 14th Generation

TBS Entame has released a 2'27" digest video of her album launch event yesterday - as usual videos from this channel won't embed here so click on the link below to view:

[video privated]

EDIT: Another video just posted by ANN News:

[video privated]

 

Asymmetry ranks third on release day with 8,047 copies

https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2023-11-07/

This is really decent, especially if you keep in mind Watanabe Mayu's solo debut album "Best Regards!" came out in between her gradcon and her graduation stage, and sold 20k in its first week.

Yamamoto Sayaka's debut album sold 50k, which was while still being a member of NMB48, her first album after graduation sold 18k in its first week and her 2023 sold 10k in its first week.

Matsui Jurina's debut album didn't rank in the top 50 during release week, which means it sold less than ~1500 copies (that was roughly the 50th rank's sales numbers, I recently happened to look it up but forgot the exact number now).

This is not to pit these acts against each other but simply to show what some realistic album sales are for ex-48G soloists! Also, Naachan would've ranked 1st place if they had announced the sales numbers yesterday, which is common practice. Yesterday's top 3 included the album "Minna no Imouto" by SITRA., which was officially released on the 7th. Today's top 3 includes Hinatazaka's new album (released on the 8th), a Valkyrie album (released on the 8th) and Naachan's album (released on the 7th). Technically, it should've been counted yesterday but it seems maybe the albums were shipped out late?

Yesterday's number 1 sold about ~2000 copies, so Naachan's 8,047 copies would've easily taken 1st place. Even though she won't get the official #1, I am definitely treating this as a success!

 

Dates for “Nana Okada LIVE TOUR 2024 ~Asymmetry~” have been released:
https://okada-nana.com/news/detail.php?id=1112354

2/3 - THE BOTTOM LINE, Nagoya
2/4 - LIVE VANQUISH, Hiroshima
2/10 - DRUM LOGOS, Fukuoka
2/17 - UMEDA CLUB QUATTRO, Osaka
2/24 - Sendai Darwin
3/10 - Zepp Haneda, Tokyo

The first application round for tickets is for FC members only:
https://okadanana-fc.jp/ticket/68CDH6TaSzgeIsGTA0LH2U

 

Thank you so much for the breakdown of the other ex-members' numbers! Eight thousand copies seemed really good to me, but I wasn't sure if in practice it was. Knowing about the numbers for the other girls, however, I agree this is a success! And deserved, too. While I really like Naachan's voice I never really followed her super closely, and liking one's voice is different from liking their music style, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I loved the album, though! I'm really happy about that, and look forward to re-listening to it again today

 

I didn't mention it because Miru released singles, not albums, but Shiroma Miru's sales are quite a lot less than Naachan's. Shine Bright and MELTY both sold 2-3k in their first week, and singles are quite a lot cheaper too. Another ex-48G member that released an album this year/recently is Yahagi Moeka, and she unfortunately sold less than 1k in the first week.

Naachan held a lot of events, which was definitely good for sales! I spoke to someone in Naachan's discord yesterday who attended one of the events and said that many fans bought 20-30 copies per event, at multiple events.

It makes me think about the lyrics of the single, which go "I looked into your eyes, held your hands, checked in with you" (similar also to the words mentioned in the long Asahi interview) - Naa has worked very hard to make the fans feel valued, understood and as if they're on eye-level with Naachan, and it has made the fans want to support this release.

According to fans who attended the events, Naa also plans to add international dates to her Asymmetry tour, so let's see how that goes!

 

I tried the album and it's quite good.

Iwata Karen?! I had a feeling but omg...

 

I didn't look up the sales for her album, that's such a shame her album is really good! I listened to it on repeat for a while right after it released. I sure hope she'll do better sales-wise moving forward, she deserves it. She has a good voice and a good sound, imo.

Miru's sales don't surprise me as much since she was going for a K-Pop sort of sound, which may be popular in Japan now but perhaps not necessarily with her fans specifically. Not sure. I mean, speaking for myself, I do like K-Pop well enough but did not enjoy her singles at all, despite the fact that I liked her a lot when she was in NMB. You would think, though, that her fans would buy the singles, but I suppose maybe she has a smaller or less dedicated fanbase than Naachan, not to mention, as you said, Naachan does really try to connect with her fans. Most people I see on my feeds who like Naachan really like her. I don't see many people feeling lukewarm about her (which is my case). So that definitely plays a part, and I'm very glad for her. Also very interested to see which countries Naachan will be visiting!

 

Some more information about the album I've been meaning to share. Source is @ extomomi on twitter and discord! Not sure if the user on S48 with the same name is the same person so was hesitant to @ directly but I asked for permission to share on here.

The following information is taken from the listening parties Nana held in Japan before the album released.

1. Uragiri no Yuutousei - the lyrics for this song were written within 3 days. Apparently, the staff asked Nana if they really wanted to keep the lyrics this way because they were rather direct/explicit, but Naa is happy that the lyrics stayed as they were.
2. Green Bird - this song is about Michieda Saki, who stayed with Nana during the pandemic for a bit. Saki has a big family and people kept giving each other COVID-19, so Saki had to isolate a lot. During her time with Naachan, Naachan suffered from a sore throat at one point and Saki looked after them.
3. "Arigatou, Shiawase ni Natte." - this song was written 2 years after breaking up with the person that this song is about (the name of this person wasn't given). That being said, the person was beside Naachan when they wrote the lyrics for this song, and also, the title of the song is what that person told Naa directly.
4. Koe wo Ushinatta Ningyo Hime - title translates to "the mermaid princess who lost her voice" and Nana wrote this song in February when they suffered from a sore throat again and had to cancel 2 concerts on the tour.
5. Net Benkei no Mina-sama e - "to all the dear internet haters" basically is actually not about arguing or fighting with haters, but encouraging other victims of cyber bullying not to let online bullies rule your life
6. Kono Yo kara Boku dake ga Kieru Koto ga Dekitara - didn't talk much about this song because it isn't new
7. Shuuen no Countdown - when Nana said this song was written in response to the people telling her to kill herself, the MC thought at first she was joking but was quite shocked when they explained they were being serious. After the song played, the MC noted that the words "die"/"death" came up 17 times
8. TAKOYAKI ROCK - this song is a reference to the AKB48 Cooking Senbatsu competition. Apparently, there was a rumour that Naachan went to one of the cafés where members' dishes were sold and personally bought takoyaki to boost the team's numbers. Shinozaki Ayana heard about the rumour and got mad at Naachan, even though it turned out to be wrong.
9. Ikiru Riyuu - as the title (reason to live/reason of life) suggests, a deep song about questioning the meaning of life and death
10. Mayday - the most emotional song. Nana wrote this song while super emotional and also drunk
11. Saran - this song is about Nana's first and oldest dog, who is currently 15 years old. It is completely deaf and the family hopes the dog will make it to age 16; Nana's mother cried when she heard this song for the first time
12. Nozomarenai Asa - source forgot to take notes during this song

 

The Okada Sisters :
https://www.instagram.com/p/CzWAM-JSTnq/

 

Rem and Ram were from the anime Re:zero

 

RE:Zero bud!

 

Naachan has posted a 'close-up' video of her album launch event:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

WWS Channel has posted a long interview with Naachan:
https://www.wws-channel.com/music2/465449.html?view=more

It's too long for an electronic translation but one particular item of interest is that she says that she has a dream to collaborate one day with Sayanee.

 

A lesson on how to apply tattoo stickers:


if the video does not show watch the video here

(at the end there's some footage of a backstage birthday celebration with staff)

EDIT: Naachan at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Umeda, Osaka on 11/17:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Second week on Oricon, "Asymmetry" ranked 59th and sold 672 copies.

This puts the overall number at 10,180. Congrats Naachan on hitting the 10k line with your debut!