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''Stay Alive'' is the sixth studio album by Filipino singer Nina, released in the Philippines on November 19, 2011 by Universal Records. After a long recording hiatus, Nina started working on a new album with her new label during the second half of 2010. She described the album's sound as "sexy-soul," and stated that they wanted to show the "other side" (dancer ) of her by means of a dance album. The album covers a wide range of genres, consisting of upbeat house, dance songs, but still possessing Nina's distinctive mellow sound. Aside from keeping a close watch to the production and song arrangement, the singer also contributed to the album art when she designed the packaging together with her brother King. She described the new look as "different, slightly futuristic and edgy." The album had a star-studded production. In August 2011, it was revealed that American singer-songwriter Keith Martin and Filipino R&B musician Jay R worked together on the upbeat title track "Staying Alive". Jazz singer and Nina's co-Sessionista Richard Poon wrote the acoustic ballad "I Don't Want to Fight" in late 2010, while R&B singer Amber Davis wrote the electropop-dance cuts "Only with You" and "I Came to Dance". Nina also wrote a song for the album together with Martin. The song was entitled "You Should Know". As she made sure to include an inspirational song about "following your dreams," a Jude Gitamondoc-penned power ballad, later revealed to be entitled "Believe in the Dream", was included in the album's final track list. ''Stay Alive'' was a universal acclaim, being well-received by critics and fans alike. ''The Philippine Star'' tagged Nina as the "new dance diva," and predicted that the album "may set new trends in Filipino music." Philippine Entertainment Portal praised both the singer and the album, saying that the album is "a testament to Nina's evolution as an artist" and "distinctly Nina." PhilCharts.com commented "quite a risky move, commercial wise, but the product is solid () The album shows the potential of Nina to grow more as an artist." ''Stay Alive'' is supposed to be the first of her two-album recording deal with Universal. However, in February 2012, Nina revealed that her contract with the label has already expired. She also expressed her disappointment regarding the album's promotion, and how the label took no action for it. The album was later released on digital download through iTunes and Amazon.com MP3 Download with a slightly altered cover. The album was accompanied by three official singles. "Dance" was initially released in August 2011, but was immediately pulled out of the airwaves after the album's release date was pushed back. On October 6, 2011, the song was commercially released, and was later followed by a critically acclaimed music video. The video for "Dance" features Nina in Gaga-ish costumes, doing choreographed moves at the same time. She performed the song live in ''Happy Yipee Yehey!'' and ''Party Pilipinas'', where she also launched the album. On January 30, 2012, "However Much Love" was released as the album's second single to boost up album sales. It also served as a radio-only Valentine single, since no video was recorded for the song. It became a commercial success, becoming Nina's first chart-topper since 2008. "Believe in the Dream" was released in April 2012 as the third official single from the album, accompanied by an official lyric video. ==Background and development== Before production for the album began, Nina was in a long recording hiatus. The last album that she recorded, ''Nina Sings the Hits of Diane Warren'', was released in 2008. Her 2009 album ''Renditions of the Soul'' is only a collection of her performances on the Wave 89.1 radio show of the same title, and her 2010 album is only a compilation of her greatest hits. On August 7, 2010, she performed on ''Pilipinas Win na Win'' as a guest together with Erik Santos. During the show, she revealed that she was working on a new album, and added that it will be released early in 2011 due to heavy preparation. In November 2010 after her Think Pink concert at Cebu City, she openly talked about the album she was working on, and stated that her new sound is going to be "sexy-soul." She also shared ideas on the content of the album, and added that it will hopefully be released in mid-January.〔 Before 2010 ended, her brother King revealed via Pinoy Exchange that Nina was planning to include ''Sabels theme song "Hagkan" on the album as a bonus track. He also stated that Richard Poon wrote a song for the album entitled "I Don't Want to Fight". However, the album was pushed back to a February release. It was mid-February and there was still no update on the album's release. In an interview for the February 2011 issue of ''Woman Today'' magazine, Nina stated that the album's release was, again, pushed back to June 2011 due to the fact that she and her new label wanted the album to be perfect.〔''Woman Today'' (February 2011), upcoming album's release date〕 On February 22, 2011, she posted on Twitter a photo of her, recording a new song in the studio. On February 28, she posted another photo in the studio with the tweet "getting ready for recording. :)...SO much love<3 (HREF="http://www.kotoba.ne.jp/word/11/sic" TITLE="sic">sic'' )." In an interview after her arrival from Pattaya International Music Festival in Thailand, Nina mentioned working on her first album under Universal, stating "Expect few pleasant surprises from this new album of mine. We’re working very hard to make this project truly groundbreaking." On April 15, 2011, she wrote a Pattaya Music Fest article on ''The Philippine Star'' where she also talked about the album, saying "Late last year, I moved to my new record label Universal Records and I consider it one of the biggest blessings in my career. In a few months, my latest album will be released, and it will showcase a new, yet familiar Nina, which I hope everyone will appreciate." In May, the label's head Kathleen Dy-Go stated that Nina had not yet finished recording the album, which may result the release date to be pushed back to July or August. On May 31, Nina confirmed that "Hagkan" will be included in the album. On July 15, she confirmed that the album will be released by the end of month, and that they were just finishing up three songs. She further stated that her commitment to the album was the reason behind her constant absence in ''ASAP''.〔 On August 5, 2011, Jay R tweeted that he was working on a collaboration song between Nina and Jimmy Muna. On August 16, Nina tweeted her first publicized picture from the album's photo shoot. In September 2011, she confirmed that the album will finally be released by the last week of the month, proudly expressing the time and effort she exerted for it. She also stated that she did not pressure herself during its production, saying that her main goal is to create a different kind of music for her fans and that she does not expect for it to be a huge hit. Despite announcements, the album was not released until November 2011. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stay Alive (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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