1) LOVE LETTER 2) Rocket Sneaker 3) Bye Bye 4) Kurage , Nagareboshi (Jellyfish , Shooting Star) 5) Ningyou (Doll) 6) Kimi Fechi (You Fetish) 7) Creamy & Spicy 8) Do☆Positive 9) 360° 10) Shachihata (self-inking rubber stamp) 11) One × Time 12) Pocket 13) Ai (Love)
LOVE LETTER is ai otsuka's 5th album . This was released yesterday in Japan .
4 singles inclusive of a double a-side single & a future recut single are included in otsuka's latest album . Prior to yesterday's official album release of LOVE LETTER , the album was already leaked out on the net excluding track 5 Ningyou (Doll) & as such I had about a month or so to get used to the album tracks but at that time there weren't an official tracklist of the album til recently .
For the 1st time in otsuka's music career , she begins her new album with a song of the same title & I don't think it's a good way to start things off as the song's kinda a bit unmemorable for my liking as it's a typical piano driven ballad that otsuka normally will come up with .
Things would have been a bit better if she started things off with the 1st A-side of her 17th single which's Rocket Sneaker . I like the song , too bad the video left something to be desired about which kinda spoil the whole atmosphere of the song .
At least the sound transition from Rocket Sneaker to another new album track is there . Bye Bye is a rather nice upbeat guitar driven no. for that matter of fact . It's frankly nothing particular outstanding though .
I should make a note in that recently it has been announced that Bye Bye will released in due time as a recut single & her overall 19th single next year on Feb 25th & this will be otsuka's 2nd recut single release , the 1st being her 7th single Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen .
Track 4's probably 1 of the best otsuka ballads/singles that she has came up in recent times in the form of Kurage , Nagareboshi (Jellyfish , Shooting Star) which was released to celebrate her 5th anniversary in the music business . This's 1 ballad that I just can't get enough of no matter how many times I listened to it & no doubt it's 1 of the star tracks in LOVE LETTER .
Ningyou (Doll) is the track that wasn't leaked out together with the rest of the album when that happened last month but was it worth the wait ? Absolutely as the sound transition from Kurage , Nagareboshi to Ningyou is there . While you can easily lump LOVE LETTER & Ningyou in the same pic , I prefer Ningyou slightly over the former because it's classic otsuka stuff & at least there's something memorable about the whole package Ningyou has got to offer .
I find the next track Kimi Fechi (You Fetish) cute & it sounds quite dreamy . otsuka allowed her vocals to go with the flow in this no. & this's quite an interesting song , be it the song or the title itself .
& speaking of the title , the next track is titled Creamy & Spicy in which erm I guess it refers to the type of food that she likes to eat that's cooked in this manner ? Regards of which , this's 1 album track that I actually don't mind to listen again as it's a nice & rather simple easy listening guitar driven no. .
The next 2 songs are the 1st 2 album tracks that received videos of their own . 1st up in line's Do☆Positive & as the title of the song suggest , this's a peppy upbeat cheery no. & the music video of Do☆Positive sure fits the theme of the song pretty well .
In the case for 360° , this I feel it's another star track on LOVE LETTER because I really like the music going on in 360° although the lyrics gets a bit repetitive on otsuka's case but other than that , this's a really neat song .
Track 10's titled Shachihata (self-inking rubber stamp) & this song's just so weird on all levels . otsuka just keeps on singing the word Shachihata from the start to the end & nothing else & not to mention she doesn't sound like her normal self in this song . The music which has influences of swinging big jazz which's practically the only saving grace in Shachihata .
The next 2 tracks are singles songs that otsuka has released prior to LOVE LETTER . One × Time is the 2nd double a-side of her 17th single . Unlike Rocket Sneaker where it's an upbeat no. , it's different for One × Time where it's a pleasant piano driven no. .
Pocket's her 16th single & it's an enduring ballad which I adore . I like the sincerity that otsuka puts in this song but it's unfortunate that from Pocket onwards , it's the 1st single since then to start selling less than 100,000 copies .
The final song to close LOVE LETTER is incidentally the last album track to release a music video of its own which's Ai (Love) which's the longest track on the album , clocking in at a whopping 6:27 mins .
Initially I didn't like Ai as it was very long & almost borderline on the boring filler factor but something happened after I watched the video to Ai which changed my perception on the song in which I'm ok with Ai now .
To me , LOVE LETTER's definitely not ai otsuka's best album that she has put out to date . I had a strong dislike towards the album at 1st when the album excluding Ningyou was leaked out last month as I felt her new record's not as fantastic as her previous 4 albums in which something was seriously lacking in her new material & that there wasn't any oomph factor going on in the album tracks in LOVE LETTER .
While my perception towards LOVE LETTER has changed quite significantly since then , I hope that otsuka will be able to step up on her game & come back stronger & musically better in her next album offering .
Blog Personnel
Karen Pang
# 10th Jan
# #1 BREAKERZ fan in Singapore since 2008 debut single ♥
# My music blog consists of JPop/Rock singles & albums reviews that I put my heart , efforts & soul into writing them as I'm disgusted with the way that JPop/Rock music is being treated/written/reviewed in Singapore so to the local media (yes you TEENS , Teenage Magazine & The Strait Times) , screw you all . I basically can write better JPop/Rock reviews , period
