The first studio album from the singer, "Sympathy", was released on March 1, 2006. The album came in two formats, CD only and CD+DVD (limited edition), and contained 12 tracks in total, with 7 of them being previously unreleased songs. The album debuted at number ten for its first week on the Oricon Charts, and sold over 30,000 copies. For the release of the album, Hitomi held her first live concert on April 1, 2006. Commenting on how much she enjoyed the concert, Hitomi soon decided to hold more concerts for her "sympathy" album. The concerts were named the "Hitomi Takahashi Live "Sympathy" ~BOXX Series~", and became a way for her to promote new songs. In total, the tour had six lives.