"Any Love" is the seventeenth single by Japanese recording artist Misia

MISIA (Japanese singer)

, commonly stylized as MISIA, is a Japanese R&B singer originally from Fukuoka. She debuted in 1998 on BMG Japan, but has since moved to Sony Music Japan's Ariola Japan imprint...

. It was released on July 4, 2007 as the first single from Misia's eighth studio album Eighth World

Eighth World

-Oricon Sales Chart:- Physical Sales Charts :-External links:**...

.

Background

"Any Love" is Misia's first release since switching record labels, from Avex back to BMG Japan. The single was released simultaneously with The Tour of Misia 2007 Ascension

The Tour of Misia 2007 Ascension

The Tour of Misia 2007 Ascension was the eleventh concert tour by Japanese recording artist Misia, in support of her album Ascension . Comprising a set list of songs from Ascension and previous albums, including two hip-hop and house medleys, the tour visited arenas nationwide for a duration of...

 concert DVD and Blu-ray. The first press edition of the single comes with a bonus DVD, which includes the music video for "Any Love" and a special film documenting Misia's stay in Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, where the video and artwork for the single cover were shot.

Composition

The A-side, "Any Love," was written by Misia, while the composition and production were handled by Sinkiroh. The song was inspired by Misia's visit to the Kibera

Kibera

Kibera is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, located from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa...

 slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Coming from Ascension

Ascension (Misia album)

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, which dealt with the broad themes of life and its origins, Misia wanted to write about something more familiar and close to home, namely love or everyday life. After writing lyrics that seemed too perfect and lacking a sense of reality, Misia felt at a loss and decided to take a trip to Africa, a place she had long wanted to visit. The culture and people left a deep impression on Misia which lead her to rewrite "Any Love."

In an interview with music site Vibe, she commented, "(the song) was done before I left for Africa, but when I came back I realized there was more that I wanted to say, so I rewrote the lyrics and recorded it over again. In today's society, it's hard to discern between "reality" and "truth" and I wanted this song to reflect what I think makes them different."

When asked about the importance of the line "Honki de aishiteku" , which is repeated throughout the choruses, Misia elaborated:

When I came back to Tokyo, I was taken aback by the contrast between the world I had been living in and the world I had just visited. I didn't know what was real anymore. But as I got back to my friends and family and music, I realized that love is what makes it all real. It's what's needed to distinguish "reality" from "truth." The message of the song is that when facing love, you have to take it seriously.

The B-side, "Soba ni Ite...," was also written by Misia and composed and produced by Sinkiroh. When asked about the song's message, Misia explained:

("Soba ni Ite...") speaks of a message I've wanted to express for a few years now. I think it's great that, with the Internet, cell phones, and e-mail, there are now a variety of ways for us to communicate with each other, but they've somewhat become substitutes for direct interactions. The reason people feel the need to be close to each other is because, as humans, we connect with more than just our eyes or our ears, but with our entire body. We can never be entirely sastified without meeting face-to-face.

"Soba ni Ite..." was used in commercials for Kose cosmetics Sekkisei, starring Nanako Matsushima

Nanako Matsushima

is a Japanese actress and model. She is known outside Japan for her role in the horror film Ring. She was also a main character in A Story of Love, where she starred next to Hiroyuki Sanada, who also played Ryuji Takayama in Ring....

.

Chart performance

"Any Love" debuted on the Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 Daily Singles chart at number 8 on July 3, 2007 and climbed to number 7 the following day. It peaked at number 8 on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart, with 13,811 copies sold in its first week. "Any Love" is Misia's first top ten single in three years, since "Namae no Nai Sora o Miagete." It charted for five weeks and sold a total of 22,876 copies.

Track listing

Charts

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...  Daily Singles	7
Oricon Weekly Singles	8
SoundScan Nielsen SoundScan Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...  Japan Weekly Singles (Limited Edition)	11
Taiwan Five Music J-pop/K-pop Chart	9

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
Japan	July 4, 2007	CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... +DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... , digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...	BMG Japan
Taiwan	July 6, 2007	CD	Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
Hong Kong	July 17, 2007	CD+DVD