Speed (music Group) - History - 1999: Solo Projects

1999: Solo Projects

Following Moment, Speed released the single "Precious Time". The single's video was shot on location in Los Angeles and the single itself also featured a coupling track to celebrate the cartoon character Doraemon's 40th anniversary. The single went on to sell over 623,000 copies.

Shortly after the release of "Precious Time", news broke that Takako of the group will be releasing a solo single in March. More surprisingly, the producer will not be Hiromasa Ijichi, but instead Ryuichi Kawamura of Luna Sea. Takako's debut single "My First Love" was highly anticipated and came in at number 1, selling over 530,000 copies. The video for the single was shot on location in Hawaii.

Following Takako's solo debut, it was revealed that another Speed member, Hitoe would also be releasing a solo single. For her debut Hitoe decided to go with a much more adult look, appearing in her video wearing mini skirt & bikini with a short coat. The single titled "Inori" was more RnB in nature and show cased Hitoe's impressive dance moves. In fact for the single, Hitoe adopted the pseudonym Hitoe's 57 Move (57 meaning Go-Na - gonna in Japanese). Hence Hitoe's 57 Move. The shock value of her image may have worked against her as Hitoe's debut single sold approximately 230,000 copies - nonetheless an impressive figure for a debut single.

After "Inori", Speed was back on track again and released another upbeat maxi single, this time titled "Breakin' Out the Morning". The single also contained another solo track by Eriko with Crunch titled - "Everyday, Be With You". The single sold over 582,000 copies and at the time was actually Speed's worst selling single. It was also the first single by Speed which was not an original release but a cover.

Following Breakin' Out to the Morning, the time came for Hiroko to show case her solo talents. Her single titled "As Time Goes By" was produced by Hiromasa Ijichi and was the theme song of the drama series Tengoku no Kiss. The video for the single was shot on location in New York (mainly Brooklyn). "As Time Goes By" was an instant hit, high charting at no. 2 selling close to 900,000 copies.

After Hiro's single, Takako released her second single titled: "Come Close to Me". The single was again produced by Ryuichi Kawamura and sold over 200,000 copies.

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