Review: A.I. - Original A.I.

Released: July 22, 2003

Buy it here More Buys

Artist: A.I.

Other songs you might enjoy: Ain’t Yours - Suite Chic You Said, You Did (feat. HI-D) - Emi Hinouchi Call U Every Night - Michico

The year 2003 brought new changes for 22 year old Ai. After signing a new contract with Def Jam Japan, she went to work on a new album. One that would soon catapult her to stardom. On January 29. 2003 she release Saishu Senkoku (Last Words), and quickly gained favor with urban fans, later earning her the title b-girl (black girl) because of her hard-hitting R&B style.

Her second album, ORIGINAL A.I., was released on July 22, 2003. It quickly became a favorite among urban fans. The album's mix of old school R&B and modern grooves created danceable tracks that provided a breath of fresh air in an overly "poppy" Japanese music scene. The album is one of the most hardcore collections of songs that I’ve heard in the Japanese music scene.

The album opens up with Saishu Senkoku. (Last Words) The song's old school feel with a modern hard hitting twist won fans over when it first came out. The smooth sounds over her airy voice make this track an excellent choice for first time Ai listeners. It gives a good insight to her vocal talent, represents the overall tone of the album well, and is extremely addictive. I found myself easily listening to this track for or five times straight before moving on to the next track.

Ai is no stranger to samples and covers. She samples or covers four tracks in the album, doing all but one justice. The first of the samples comes from Kool and the Gang’s hit Too Hot. Ai almost directly lifted the melody and beat for her song of the same title, which features rapper Sphere of Influence. The high energy mood of the song complements the beat and is another excellent choice for those looking to get into Ai.

Luther Vandross’ Change was sampled for Paradise. Although the sample is out in the open where you can hear it, it fits in with the song very nicely. The only cover song on the album is Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. She did the song justice with powerful vocals and a decent beat behind the melody.

The only sample that she could have done without is R. Kelly’s Ignition, which she sampled for Summertime. I didn’t Ignition the song to begin with, and Ai only made it worse. The sampled piano gets rather annoying as it’s played throughout the song.

Ai does an excellent job with her original material as well. Upbeat songs like Thank U and Playboy, which features rapper DABO, are perfect for when you’re in a dancing mood. Her mid tempo songs like My Friend and Life have the same powerful effect on listeners, all backed by amazing vocals from Ai, who had a hand in the creation of every song on the album.

There are some songs however that are below the standards set by the rest of the album. Two of those being the rock flavored Girl’s Talk, and club song 2Face. The latter, which is the better of the two, seems to be just plain annoying. The beat comes off as rather noisy, and Ai’s rap is just out of place. Girl’s talk just doesn’t fit the mood of the album. Not only is it badly done, but coming off of Playboy you’re left to wonder what was going through Ai’s head when that song made it to the album.

Perhaps the most disappointing song is the English version of Saishuu Senkoku, which features rapper Joe Budden. If this had been done by an artist who wasn’t relatively familiar with English, it would have been ok. Ai is fluent, and there’s no excuse for really botching the song in the lyrics department. Although the lyrics are grammatically correct and sound ok, they don’t fit well together in terms of a song. Joe Budden doesn’t make it any better. His lyrics have always been mediocre, and he doesn’t disappoint in Last Words, as he tries to convince Ai to take him back after cheating on her. The second chorus is probably the worst part of the song though:

“No matter what people see
I gotta keep on walking (I cry)
Wanna loose all my memories of you
This is it
My last goodbye”

On the whole, this is an excellent album for all fans to enjoy. It’s one of the few albums that I can listen to almost in its entirety with skipping too many songs. Although it does have some rough spots, they pale in comparison of the vocal styling of Ai, who will hopefully be around for years to come.