Muzai Moratorium

Muzai Moratorium (無罪モラトリアム), also known as Innocence Moratorium, is the debut studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ringo Sheena, released on February 24, 1999, through Toshiba EMI and Eastworld. Sheena composed nearly all the songs on this album in her teenage years, prior to her major-label debut. The album was produced by Hiroshi Kitashiro and Sheena herself, with arrangements that defy genre boundaries.

The album features an eclectic mix of pop music from the past to the time of its release, including pop songs, punk, grunge, and jazz. Both the album and song titles combine kanji and English, and the lyrics are written using English and historical kana usage. Music critics were impressed by the album’s eclectic fusion of styles. Viewing the arrangements as daring and sophisticated, with unexpected shifts in tempo and instrumentation that challenged conventional pop formulas.

Commercially, the album was a major success, debuting at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart, selling over 1.4 million copies and eventually being certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). It spawned the three hit singles "Kōfukuron," "Kabukichō no Joō," and "Koko de Kiss Shite.," each of which contributed to Sheena's rising stardom and cemented her reputation as a boundary-pushing artist. Sheena supported the album through a series of live performances and public appearances throughout Japan in 1999.