When you think of influential Japanese artists, you most likely will not think about Aya Ueto. However, when
you’re thinking about the idols of the new generation, Aya will certainly be at the center of the attention. Movies, TV dramas,
commercials, CDs, photo books, Aya does it all, and more importantly, she does it with success. Normally I would not even consider buying
an idol CD, but after hearing Aya’s hit song “Kaze” playing on the radio, I was immediately hooked.
With only eleven tracks and a rehash of “Ai no tame ni”, the listener is left with only a few memorable tracks. I was disappointed at first when I realized that they turned the highly energetic “Kaze” into a winter ballad. It didn’t seem to fit the song at all, but after a few times of listening to it, I grew to love it as much as the original. Apart from “Kaze” the only really good songs on the album are “Usotsuki” and “Fuyu no Hanabi”, tracks two and six respectively. “Usotsuki” has a great Celtic musical score and has pretty mature lyrics for an Aya song. “Fuyu no Hanabi” is a happy winter song, complete with mandatory winter bells and miscellaneous winter instruments. Sounds boring, but the end result is a very smooth listening track.
“Namida wo Fuite”, “Afure sou na ai, daite” and “Shinjirare nai = Shinjitai” are all
rather basic Aya songs, and I can’t say that I particularly fancy any of them. However they do help to keep the album’s
coherency. What I truly don’t understand is why “Ano hito ni aitai” and “Ai no tame ni” were added to
this album. The first is a song used for a soft-drink commercial and has no real reason for being on this album. The beat sounds
interesting for the first 15 seconds, but the completely uninteresting lyrics and vocals make this a horrible track. As for
“Ai no tame ni”, I loved that song back when Aya was playing in “Ace wo Nerae”, but enough is enough.
I don’t think it’s Aya’s best song, so I don’t know why they keep putting new remixes of this song on albums
and singles. The remix on this album doesn’t really improve the song at all. I would have rather had a nice ballad to finish the
album, but I guess I can’t complain…too much.
If you’re looking for innovative music or dazzling vocal performances, Aya’s not your girl. But if you don’t mind spending a good $30 on a pretty decent pop album, then this one is not a bad choice. The photography for the album was nice, but inferior to that of the “Usotsuki” limited edition single.
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