Suzuki Ami – One (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)
August 13, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“A 10th Year Anniversary CD single and a refreshing collaboration with capsule’s Nakata Yasutaka”
ARTIST: Suzuki Ami
CD SINGLE: ONE
LABEL: avex trax
CATALOG #: AVCD-31435
DURATION: 21:49
RELEASE DATE: July 2, 2008
- ONE
- A token of love
- ONE (instrumental)
- A token of love (FM88 mix)
DVD: Region 2, 4:3, Duration: 5:23
- ONE (Music Video)
I admit that I was a bit sad that the “Joins” project featuring Suzuki Ami and various music artists and producers would end with her “DOLCE” album but with the announcement of a CD single (her 28th) to commemorate her 10th Anniversary, I admit that I was quite curious to see which direction her music would go.
Since 2005, Suzuki has been mostly doing a lot of collaborations for her “Joins” musical projects and sure enough, her latest CD single “ONE” is not officially a “Joins” project but yet features another collaboration with another team up with capsule’s Nakata Yasutaka.
In true Nakata fashion both tracks “ONE” and “A token of love” are given his musical spin which is more or less electronic dance music featuring vocals going through a vocoder.
Typically I have a disdain towards vocals where the vocoder is used too much. I don’t like the robotic voices or overwarped vocals that I hear on some electronic dance music but I have to admit that for “ONE”, it seems to work well.
As for the coupling song, “A token of love”, the track is another upbeat digital song that has the blips and beeps of a monosynth and even almost a sense of old school Depeche Mode style of vibe and has a mild vocoder style but not as pronounced as in “ONE”.
The third track is an instrumental version of “ONE” and the fourth track is an “FM88 mix” of “A token of love” which sounds totally different from the original and another synth-based interpretation of the song. I’m curious if “FM88″ is a reference to 1988 because the synth music has an old school feel to it.
The DVD features the music video for “ONE” and features Suzuki Ami dancing in an area with many illuminating poles. And some special, groovy effects featuring Suzuki Ami.
If anything, similar to her last music video “Potential Breakup Song”, we are seeing a more sexier version of Suzuki Ami’s persona come out and since this a ten-year anniversary CD single, I just think back to “love the island” and now and just know how much she has grown from her early sugary teen image to now, in her late 20′s and how she has become a beautiful, sultry performer.
The CD insert is strictly a bi-fold. Similar to Suzuki’s last packaging, the main photo for the CD is on the reverse side.
For her tenth CD single, I was hoping for somewhat a maxi-CD single possibly remixing her past songs (of course, from avex and not her Sony years) but nevertheless, her collaboration with Nakata Yasutaka is always refreshingly welcomed.
Even though the “Joins” project is officially over, I do enjoy these collaborations and to see different sides to her music. But as always, I look forward Suzuki Ami’s upcoming releases and moreso to see what direction her music will go if she is not collaborating with any major names.
So, “ONE” is another solid CD single from Suzuki Ami. A cool, fresh, upbeat collaboration with Nakata Yasutaka and a CD single worth checking out!
BUY THIS CD SINGLE:
Suzuki Ami – DOLCE – (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)
June 12, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“The second and final Suzuki Ami “Joins” album features more awesome musical collaborations with Capsule’s Nakata Yasutaka, Aly & AJ, RAM RIDER, CAPTAIN FUNK, Shinohara Tomoe and more. ”
ARTIST: Suzuki Ami
ALBUM: DOLCE
LABEL: avex trax
CATALOG #: AVCD-23432/B
DURATION: 55:49
RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2008
-
- FREE FREE – Suzuki Ami joins Nakata Yasutaka (capsule)
- feel the beat (album version) – Suzuki Ami joins Sugiurumn
- Potential Breakup Song – Suzuki Ami joins Aly & AJ
- Bitter… – Suzuki Ami joins S.A.
- SWEET DANCE – Suzuki Ami joins RAM RIDER
- THe WeekeND – Suzuki Ami joins CAPTAIN FUNK
- SUPER MUSIC MAKER (radio edit) – Suzuki Ami joins Nakata Yasutaka (capsule)
- MUSIC – Suzuki Ami joins RAM RIDER
- Stereo Love – Suzuki Ami joins Tomoe Shinohara***
- アイノウタ – Suzuki Ami joins ROCKETMAN Feat. YOU THE ROCK*
- 2人はPOP – Suzuki Ami joins Hoff Dylan
- 新しい日々 – Suzuki Ami joins YO-KING
DVD: Region 2, 4:3, Duration: 21:07 minutes
- Bitter… (Music video)
- DOLCE – BEHIND THE SCENES
Reinventing Suzuki Ami. With the release of her last album “CONNETTA”, in my last review, I was quite impressed by her collaborations project and somehow injecting new life in to the musical career of Suzuki Ami.
Although many will remember Suzuki Ami, one of the top selling J-Pop artists in the late 90′s and one of the most successful teenage artist’s at the time, now going on her late 20′s, the collaborations with popular club DJ’s, producers and Indie artists has definitely made things fresh and new.
The question is if people can move past her old J-Pop years and embrace her music now. I surely have.
In the second “Joins” album, Suzuki Ami has teamed up with a good number of artists and producers.
For the first track “FREE FREE” and the eight track “SUPER MUSIC MAKER”, Suzuki Ami joins Nakata Yasutaka of capsule. Nakata known for fusing elements of fhouse, lounge, electronica, and bossa nova to his music definitely has given some life to Suzuki Ami for the double A-side CD single and has slated to work with the artist again for her upcoming 10th Anniversary CD single.
For the second and third track “feel the beat (album version” and “Potential Breakup Song”, I was head over heels with this “joins” CD single as the collaboration with music producer sugiurumn was just awesome and her teaming up with California-based Aly & AJ (for a Japanese cover of their popular song) was also well done and showcasing a sexy side to the pop singer.
Suzuki also joins S.A., RAM RIDER (for two tracks), CAPTAIN FUNK, Shinohara Tomoe, ROCKET MAN feat. YOU THE ROCK, Hoff Dylan and Yo-King for more upbeat tracks.
The track that stood out was definitely “Futari wa POP”, a collaboration between Suzuki Ami and Hoff Dylan. The song is a surf-rock/pop song.
And then there is “Atarashii Hibi” which is a rock song featuring Suzuki Ami and rock band YO-KING.
All in all, the experimental collaborations were fun and although not much as an impact such as a “m-flo loves” project, the “Suzuki Ami joins” project was great while it lasted (note: this album is the last “joins” project album).
As for the DVD, you get the music video for “Bitter…” which features Suzuki Ami joins S.A. And similar to last year’s DVD for “Connetta”, the behind-the-scenes featurette features Suzuki Ami at the studio for each song recording for the collaborations, so really good behind-the-scenes material and great to see Nakata Yasutaka, RAM RIDER working on the music.
The CD insert is more of a folded out poster with track listings on one side and photos of Suzuki Ami on the other.
I have to admit that I wasn’t the biggest Suzuki Ami fan in the 90′s. As a Morning Musume fan, I would always dislike the ASAYAN competitions pitting the two against each other and of course, Suzuki was aligned with Komuro Tetsuya during the time the TK family was still on top.
Sure, there were some song such as “White Key” that I enjoyed but I found myself supporting her when she made her return after some hard times. There hasn’t been many music artists who had gone through what she has and although not the record sales dominating force that she once was, she is still among the top names with Avex as a music performer and now as an actress.
“DOLCE” is a fun, entertaining album but for old school fans who want her to return to Suzuki Ami style of J-Pop, then I can understand why they are not into the “Join” projects.
If anything, I embraced the experimentations and also this sexy look that she has brought to her most recent music videos. Sexy but not trashy and it works for her now that she’s matured beautifully.
I recommend the two “Joins” albums for the experimentation and bringing in something overall fresh for Suzuki Ami’s music.
Buy this album today!
[WORLD GROOVE] Currently listening to AMI SUZUKI joins ALY & AJ – Potential Breakup Song
January 12, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
ARTIST: AMI SUZUKI joins ALY & AJ
CD SINGLE: Potential Breakup Song
Label: Avex Trax
CATALOG #: AVCD-31326/B
DURATION: 24:24
RELEASED ON November 28, 2007
- Potential Breakup Song
- feel the beat
- Potential Breakup Song [sugiurumn Remix]
- Potential Breakup Song [Instrumental]
DVD: Region 2, 4:3, Duration: 4 minutes
- Potential Breakup Song Music Video
Wow! That is the word that came to mind when I first listened to this CD single.
In 2007, Avex Trax has been doing these cool collaborations between Suzuki Ami and various artists with her album “CONNETTA” and various CD single releases featuring Suzuki Ami collaborating with Otsuka Ai, HAL, Buffalo Daughter, Nakata Yasutaka (capsule) and many others in Japan.
But in November 2007, Suzuki Ami’s latest CD single release would feature a collaboration with the California sisters Aly & AJ who had the Summer 2007 hit “Potential Breakup Song” and do a Japanese version of the song but overseeing the project was DJ and producer Sugiurumn (many J-Pop remix listeners are familiar with his work with Hamasaki Ayumi, m-flo, hitomi, CHEMISTRY, Ketsumeishi, etc.).
If anything, the song gave Suzuki Ami some International recognition because when Aly & AJ performed the song in Japan with her, automatically fans in America started to put out YouTube videos featuring Aly & AJ with Suzuki Ami and fans of the American sisters started to dig the Suzuki Ami Japanese version.
I enjoyed Aly & AJ’s version of the song but was blown away when I first heard Suzuki Ami and ALY & AJ’s Japanese version. The song was catchy and Suzuki Ami sung the song smoothly and personally, I just dig it! Overall, a very cool pop song and rendition of the English original.
As for the coupling song, “feel the beat”, the song features Suzuki Ami singing all in English with repetitive lyrics of “I feel the beat”, “I feel the sound”, “I feel the music”, etc. It’s more or less a long instrumental with Suzuki repeating the lyrics over and over. The song is produced by Sugiurumn and mixed by Kumasaka Satoshi.
The Sugiurumn remix of “Potential Breakup Song” has that Avex – VELFARRE house, dance club feel to it. I’m more biased to the title track version though, which is a very good version.
The DVD of “Potential Breakup Song” is actually very cool and features Suzuki Ami in a different light. No funky hair extensions or diva-ish look. Pretty much Suzuki Ami showcasing her sexiness and her curves. A very sexy music video and definitely made me forget those “infinity 18″ pre-Avex years and definitely gave me a new impression of the singer. HOT!
As for the CD insert, just a bifold with the interior featuring the lyrics and the other page featuring photos of Suzuki Ami, ALY & AJ and Sugiurumn and song credits.
Although Suzuki Ami may not have the chart topping hits when she dominated the late 90′s as a teen but I really enjoy what Avex is doing with her music and really pumping new life into her as a music artist and to her music overall.
There are way too many women on the Avex sub-labels who have their identity of dance music and now, Avex is giving an identity to Suzuki Ami as of late by not staying within certain boundaries but breaking the J-Pop paradigm by aligning herself with a variety of musical producers of different musical genres.
With “Potential Breakup Song”, the collaboration with ALY & AJ and working closely with them as opposed to just doing a cover of their hit song was a very cool move on Avex’s part and also to have them sing together in Japan showcasing both the English and Japanese versions and definitely introducing Suzuki to ALY & AJ’s fans outside of Japan.
All in all, I really dig the Japanese version of “Potential Breakup Song” and the collaboration with Sugiurumn worked out positively and with the CD+DVD has definitely caught my interest and seeing what further collaborations Avex has up their sleeves for Suzuki. I look forward to that.
I definitely recommend AMI SUZUKI joins ALY & AJ’s “Potential Breakup Song”.
