Brand New Era is the second studio album by Japanese hip-hop group Lead. While the album did not chart as well as their debut album, Life On Da Beat, it charted fairly high on the Oricon Albums Charts, ranking at No. 11 and remaining on the charts for three consecutive weeks. On the popular Japanese music site HMV, the album garnered a five star ranking. The album was only released as a standard CD, not carrying a CD+DVD combo. Instead, the corresponding music videos for the singles released for the album were released on Lead Movies 2, which was released both on DVD and VHS on March 2, 2005. Lead Movies 2 carried the music videos for "Get Wild Life" and "Night Deluxe" from the album. The video for "Funky Days!" had been previously placed on their first compilation Lead Movies 1in September 2003. The limited editions of the album included one of four possible posters, a remix of their song "Night Deluxe" and a URL to download specialized wallpapers. The version of "Here goes!" on the album was an alternate arrangement to the version on their single Night Deluxe. For their fifteenth anniversary, member Shinya would return to the streets the group started on and talk about their debut and first tour, , which corresponded with the album.
Background and composition
"Funky Days!" was written and composed by musical composer Shinji Tamura, with lyrics written by Tsuchi Enoki. The song carried both elements of pop and hip-hop music. "Get Wild Life" was written and composed by Shinji Tamura, with the rap lyrics written by KATSU. Shinji is most famous for his works in the Tales of series. KATSU had worked with Lead since their debut Manatsu no Magic. "Night Deluxe" was written and composed by Daisuke "D.I" Imai, who had primarily worked with Avex Group artists, with the lyrics written by Shōko Fujibayashi. Daisuke has worked with famous Japanese singer-songwriter Koda Kumi and South Korean artists BoA and Tohoshinki for top-charting singles. Shoko is best known for their credits with BoA and Foxxi misQ. "Here goes!" was arranged by Ryuichiro Yamaki, who is best known for his remixing work under the name "R.Yamaki," and composed by JUNKOO. The lyrical portion was done by Chokkyuu Murano.
Promotional activities
"Get Wild Life" was used as the theme song to the 2004 filmKamachi, which was directed by Rokurō Mochizuki. The film also featured the members of Lead.
