Everything about Ai Otsuka totally explained
is a female
Japanese pop singer-songwriter and
pianist from
Osaka,
Osaka Prefecture,
Japan. She is a popular artist on the
avex trax label and is best-known for her 2003 hit
Sakuranbo, which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 101 weeks.
Biography
A piano player since age 4, Otsuka composes and co-produces her songs. She also writes her own lyrics. Her music ranges from upbeat catchy pop/rock music that can be heard in tracks like Happy Days and Sakuranbo to touching ballads like Daisuki da yo and Planetarium.
Ai's debut album LOVE PUNCH was released in March 2004 and was a huge success, earning Otsuka nicknames such as "The New Guru of Love". Her second single called "Sakuranbo" stayed on the Oricon charts for 101 weeks. Surprisingly, Ai's second album, LOVE JAM, was released only 8 months after her first in November 2004. It debuted at #1.
In other works, Ai has acted in the "Tokyo Friends" drama. She also has a radio show called "Otsuka Ai ai-r Jack" and has appeared in various CMs. Furthermore, Otsuka pens column in two Japanese magazines; "Love Column" in Zipper and "Love World ~ Eye Love Pictures" in B-Pass. Kimi iro Omoi, Otsuka's first photobook, was released on March 1st, 2005.
A talented graphic artist as well, the first pressings of her albums and some singles have included a limited edition picture book illustrated by Ai herself. Many of her illustrations can be seen at the Gallery section of her official website.
JAM PUNCH Tour 2005, her first tour began on April 24, 2005. It completed in June 2005 and a Live DVD with footage will be released on July 27, 2005. LOVE COOK, her 3rd album was released on December 14, 2005.
Otsuka Ai performed at Makuhari Messe on July 7th, 2007, for one of Japan's two Live Earth concerts, alongside contemporaries Koda Kumi and ayaka.
Music career
2003-2005: Punch, Jam, and Cook
Love Punch
Her first single, 2003's "
Momo no hanabira", was only a minor hit, peaking at #24 on the
Oricon singles top 100, but stayed on the charts for 21 weeks.
Her next single, "
Sakuranbo", released December of 2003 would become the 12th best selling single of 2004. Gradually climbing the charts to top 5, the single stayed on the chart for 101 weeks (almost two years), and a special "encore press" version was commissioned, which peaked at #4.
In early March, 2004 Otsuka released her last single before her first album. "
Amaenbo" was used in a television advertisement for Sato Healthcare's cold relief tablets . "
Amaenbo" was unable to reach #1 on the Oricon Charts and ended up at #6 while at the same time "
Sakuranbo" was #5. This was the first time in Japanese music history a female artist was able to have two singles in the top ten in the same week, until 2005
Kumi Koda was able to beat Ai with three singles within the same week.
By end of March 2004, her first album "
Love Punch" was released, which debuted at #3 on the Oricon charts and sold 190,265 copies in its first week. She continued to release singles and gradually built a diverse and devoted following.
Love Jam
In November 2004, the follow-up to
Love Punch,
Love Jam, was released, which met even greater popular success. Along with three single released before her second studio album was released. First, "
Happy Days" sold 163,433 units and reached #3 on Oricon weekly chart.
"
Kingyo Hanabi" was the second single to be released after her first album. "
Kingyo Hanabi" also landed in No. 3 on Oricon weekly chart but was able to sell 148,121 units which sold about 20,000 copies less then her
Happy Days single.
Two months later, Otsuka released another single, "
Daisuki da yo." like the previous two singles it was landed at No. 3 on Oricon weekly chart and sold 156,844 units.
Otsuka released her second studio album a month later in November, 2004 "
Love Jam" debuted at No. 1 and sold 224,381 units in its first week. 656,700 units were sold in total. "
Love Jam" became her first album to top the chart at the same time it was her lowest sale studio album. "
Love Jam" was released in two different versions including a CD and a CD+DVD version.
Following the release of "Love Jam" there was one recut singles released after the album because of her big success. That singles was "
Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" released in February of 2005. It's a different version of the "
Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 735 Yen" track on "Love Jam". "
Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" is arranged differently in terms of music and vocals. "
Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 730 Yen" has been described that's more "loving" or "tender" while "
Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" is more "aggressive". This single sold 149,134 units and also debuted at No. 3 on the Oricon weekly chart and was the No. 68 single of 2005.
Love Cook
"
Smily/Biidama" was her 1st single to be released after "Love Jam" both songs were used for commercials, Lion's Ban Powder Spray and Shokubutsu Monogatari Herb Blend Shampoo. "Smily/
Biidama" sold 110,512 copies during its debut week and charted at first place. Smily/
Biidama" had total sold 308,338 copies in 2005, placing it as the #26 single of that year.
It was during this time, in June 2005, that Ai made her acting debut with the drama
Tokyo Friends. Unlike most dramas, the series was directly released on DVD and never aired on TV. The drama used three songs as its theme song,
BOO BEE BENZ's "to me" and "Kimi to Iu Hana," as well the coupling song to her sixth single, "Friends -Sabakan ver.-" All three tracks would eventually be included in the soundtrack for the drama's movie sequel.
Ai released her second single in 2005, "
Neko ni Fusen" was released in middle of the year in July. "
Neko ni Fusen" was her lowest single that year only reaching #3 on the chart and selling 111,324 copies reaching #92 on the 2005 yearly charts.
Her single, "
Planetarium", was released on
September 20,
2005. It was the insert song for the live-action drama
Hana Yori Dango. This was also her last single of the year. "
Planetarium" sales of 315,669 was her second highest single below "
Sakuranbo" before her third studio album was released.
"
Love Cook", her third studio album, came out on
December 14 2005. In its first week, it sold 335,000 copies. Her promotional videos were filmed as mini-dramas. She also hosts a radio show on JOQR Recomen!! AM1134hHz called
Otsuka Ai no ai-r jack.
2005-2007:Tokyo Friends plus Best and PiEce
Love PiEce
Her Spring 2006 single, "
Frienger" (a
portmanteau of the words
Friend and
Ranger), was released on
April 12 2006. The
PV music video was shot in Taiwan and is used as the commercial song for the Toshiba W41T 4 GB MP3 Mobile Phone.
Soon after the release of "
Frienger," Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for, which hit theatres in Japan on
August 12,
2006. The movie is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. Otsuka also sang the opening theme for Tokyo Friends, "
Yumekui," which was released as a new single on
August 2,
2006. It debuted at #5 on the weekly chart, selling 63,428 copies in the first week and a total of 145,281 copies.
Two months after "
Yumekui," Otsuka released another single entitled "
Renai Shashin" on
October 25,
2006, which was used as the opening theme song for the movie "Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru". The title of the movie was actually taken from the lyrics of the song. "
Renai Shashin" debuted at #2 and sold 129,855 copies, making it the 75th best-selling single of the year. At the end of 2006, Otsuka had released a total of three singles and charted on Oricon's 2006 yearly chart with "
Frienger" at #60, "
Yumekui" at #66, and "
Renai Shashin" at #75.
Otsuka released her first 2007 single, "
Chu-Lip," on
February 21,
2007. The single was used as the theme song for the TBS drama "Kirakira Kenshui," starring
Manami Konishi and
Wentz Eiji of
WaT and managed to claim #3 on the ORICON charts.
Ai am Best
Otsuka released her first best hits compilation album entitled "
Ai am Best" on
March 28,
2007, which features 13 pre-2006 songs and their respective promotional videos . There are 11 songs from her singles, one song from
Love Cook and one song from a NANA sound track: Love for Nana ~Only 1 Tribute~.
"Ai am Best" sold 64,396 copies on the first day and debuted at #1, making it Otsuka's best selling album; it sold over 350,000 copies in its first week. "Ai am Best" also features two bonus tracks--one for the DVD, "Best of Babashi", and one for the CD, "Babashi". First Press "Ai am Best" includes an Ai stamp and Ai wallet calendar. Some also include an Ai pin (Yellow or White).
Otsuka went on a tour entitled "Ai am Best Tour" that featured songs from "Ai am Best" and more. The tour started on
May 18 and ended on
July 7 2007. There were be tour goods such as Ai CD cases, Ai stickers, and Ai clear files.
2007-present:PiEce take two and Love-chan
Love-chan and Love PiEce (continued)
On
April 11,
2007 Otsuka released a new single, "
Love no Theme," as the self-created bunny rabbit character "
Love-chan". "Love
no Theme" was shown on her Jam Punch Tour 2005. It was called "
I canChu♥" before it was changed to "Love
no Theme". "Love
no Theme" was written about a character bunny name Love-chan In the single it also included an extra trick preview of the new single to be released sometime soon entitled "
White Choco" also a previous unreleased song on her "Momo no hanabira" promotional disc originally entitled "White Chocolate" (White; White Choko).
Otsuka released her first single after "
Ai am Best" named "
Peach / Heart" on
July 25,
2007. The first A-side "Peach" is an up-beat summer song and was used as the end song of the summer drama
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (starring
Maki Horikita and
Shun Oguri), while the second
Heart is a mid-tempo track. The single also includes the rearranged version of "
Renai Shashin", titled .
A triple-release is announced for
September 26,
2007. The first of these releases is Otsuka's fourth original album, titled "
Love Piece". The album will include all her singles thus far, from "Frienger" all the way to "Peach/Heart", resulting in only five new songs in an 11-track album. The album will be released in CD+DVD and CD-only formats, with the DVD including newly filmed PV of "Heart" and a new song entitled on the album. The first-edition DVD also includes the PV of "U-Boat," a song from the last album, while the first-edition of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook.
The second release on that day will the a DVD of her
Ai am Best Tour 2007: at Tokyo International Forum Hall A on 9th of July 2007, which will be released in a single-disc edition, as well as a special two-disc edition, which includes offshots of the tour and a 40-page photobook. The third release announced for the day is a re-release of the best album "
Ai am Best" in CD-only format, limited press.
Love-chan (continued) and Post Love PiECE
Two months after the triple-release of
Love PiECE, CD version of
Ai am Best and
Ai am Best Tour 2007, Ai Released her next single on
November 7,
2007 including two B-sides: "
Ticket" and "Life - Love CiRcle."
Love's long awaited single "
White Choco" was released two weeks after the release of "
Pocket" on
November 21,
2007.
Ai's fourth solo tour, entitled "
Love PiEce Tour 2008", is scheduled to start on February 2nd and end on May 6th.
Ai’s 17th single,
Rocket Sneaker/OnexTime, was released on
May 21, six months after the release of "Pocket."
Discography
Original studio albums
Compilation albums
2007:
DVD drama
Tokyo Friends (External Link
) ((June 8 2005)
Radio shows
Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Otsuka Ai ai-r Jack
Photobooks
Kimi iro Omoi (External Link) (キミイロオモイ) (February 25, 2005)
Love World (September 25, 2007)Further Information
Get more info on 'Ai Otsuka'.
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