It is Amuro's first release with the label since leaving Toshiba-EMI, as well as her first album free of material associated with her previous band, Super Monkey's.

Sweet 19 Blues was executive produced by Tetsuya Komuro and features a diverse group of collaborators, including Cozy Kubo, Akio Togashi, Takahiro Maeda, M.c.A.T, and Randy Waldman.

Music critics gave Sweet 19 Blues positive reviews, praising the album's themes, overall sound, and production quality, while some were divided over Amuro's vocal performance.

In the early 1990s, Amuro began her music career in her native Okinawa with the Toshiba-EMI idol group Super Monkey's, who made their move to Tokyo in 1993.

[3] Although the group's singles were not commercially successful, Amuro began to receive media attention for her work as an aspiring actress and model.

[4] They changed their name to Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's as a result, and released two singles under this iteration, including the breakthrough "Try Me (Watashi o Shinjite)" in January 1995.

[5][6] Their final two singles, "Taiyou no Season" and "Stop the Music", were primarily billed to Amuro, with Super Monkey's appearing on the back covers.

[14] Sweet 19 Blues featured a diverse cast of collaborators and composers, including Cozy Kubo, Akio Togashi, Takahiro Maeda, M.c.A.T, and Randy Waldman.

[20] Three additional singles were released during the album's production: "Chase the Chance", "Don't Wanna Cry", and "You're My Sunshine", all of which echoed similar dance-oriented elements.

[a] According to AllMusic, the album "typified the songwriting and production values of Komuro-namely, a highly polished dance-pop sound characterised by disco rhythms and funky basslines.

"[31] According to Ted Mills of the same publication, the album includes "some slinky dance numbers that could have been singles in their own right," as well as re-works of "Body Feels Exit," "Chase the Chance," "Don't Wanna Cry," and "You're My Sunshine" with remixes, new arrangements, or extended jams.

[14] The rework of "Don't Wanna Cry" features a groovy blues-inspired sound with piano riffs and replaces the original composition's bass guitars with various live instruments.

[14] The title track is the album's final full-length recording, replacing guitar riffs by Kazuhiro Matsuo with Michael Thompson.

[47] Wearing a dress and high heels, Komuro stated that Amuro had an insecurity about her bare feet and found that the monochrome was "a good way to offset [this], and not make the photos look sexy".

[47] Komuro was impressed with the finished work and contacted Avex Trax's upper management to have different artworks for the album printed, resulting in four limited slipcase editions.

[48] In a retrospective interview with Spur magazine, Annie Fuku compared the photographs to the work of English model Kate Moss from the same period, to which Komuro referenced her Calvin Klein ads, which were also monochrome, "a bit decadent and not at all vulgar.

[53][54] "Don't Wanna Cry" was released on March 13, 1996, and served as the commercial theme for the Japanese beverage company DyDo Drinks.

[22][55] It was a success in Japan, reaching number one on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified triple platinum by the RIAJ for shipments of over 1.2 million units.

[61] It was a commercial success in Japan, reaching number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the RIAJ for sales of over 400,000 units.

[62][63] In addition to the singles, several album tracks were used as commercial themes in Japanese campaigns, including "Private" for Nissan, "I'll Jump" for DyDo Drinks, and "Joy" for Maxwell.

She performed songs from Sweet 19 Blues at a Nippon Budokan event before heading to Tokyo for the album's live release party.

[25] Despite his reservations about Amuro's "limited[ed]" vocal abilities, he concluded that "Listenable and danceable, from beginning to end, any 19-year-old pop wunderkind couldn't ask for anything more... and secured a place in J-Pop history.

[27] OKMusic editor Tomoyuki Hokari praised Amuro's singing abilities, Komuro's involvement, and the album's overall sound, calling it a "historical masterpiece".

At the 1996 Japan Record Awards, "Don't Wanna Cry" and "Sweet 19 Blues" received the Excellence Award, the album was named Best Album, and "Don't Wanna Cry" won the Grand Prize, making Amuro the youngest recipient in the latter category at the age of 19.

[71] It remains Amuro's highest first-week sales to date, the first female act to sell over a million copies in a week, and the ninth fastest-selling album in the country overall.

[76] Sweet 19 Blues briefly became the best-selling album by a Japanese solo act and female artist, outselling Mariya Takeuchi's Impressions (1994), which sold 3,067,000 copies.

"[89] Mr. Miyoshi of Polygram told The New York Post, "Because of her [Amuro], all the other record companies in Japan are looking for their own idol singers to promote.

"[20] Journalists and commentators cited Amuro's fashion and style during the time as a trend for the Japanese public, and her fan base was dubbed "Amura".

[90] She rose to prominence in fashion magazines and the general press as a result of the traditional Japanese idol departure, which includes "dying their hair brown, plucking their brows... High heels, a miniskirt, and tattoos.

[91][92] Furthermore, an author from the United States-Japan Women's Centre believed the singer's success with Sweet 19 Blues was the reason many people looked to her as a role model from 1996 to 1997.