“A short but sweet Ai Otsuka CD single. Her 19th CD single ‘Bye Bye’ is an upbeat, fun rock track with a DVD featuring the Japanese pop star in the middle of the desert in Palmdale, California.”
ARTIST: Ai Otsuka
CD SINGLE: ãƒã‚¤ãƒã‚¤ (Bye Bye)
LABEL: avex trax
CATALOG #: AVCD-31592
DURATION: 8:53
RELEASE DATE:Â February 25, 2009
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- ãƒã‚¤ãƒã‚¤
- ãƒã‚¤ãƒã‚¤ (Instrumental)
DVD: Region 2, 16×9, Duration: 6:49
- ãƒã‚¤ãƒã‚¤ (Music Clip)
Ai Otsuka returns with her 19th CD single featuring an enjoyable, upbeat rock track with “Bye Bye”. The track is the fourth CD single from her fifth full-length album “Love Letter” and is featured on the commercial for Asahi Breweries “Asahi Slat” low alcohol beverage.
For an Otsuka release, I was surprise to find only two tracks included on the CD single (original track and the instrumental). But overall, the song is Ai Otsuka type of music, upbeat but not overly happy like her previous releases.
As for the DVD, the DVD features Ai in the deserts of Palmdale, California. Featuring the pop star taking Polaroid pictures of her visit to California, stuck in the desert and having to resort to hitchhiking and fortunately getting picked up by a cowboy (played by Bryden Lando) and his dog (Nemo) who take her to a gas station but eventually, the cowboy asks her to join him on his ride which she accepts. Overall, the music video is fun and I find it quite amusing of how many music videos of Japanese music artists (especially from avex trax) are being shot in America, especially in California as of late.
Following the music video are production credits featuring Otsuka’s Polaroid photos and a few video clips from the trip.
Insert booklet features photos of Ai Otsuka in the deserted road in Palmdale, lyrics to “Bye Bye” and production credits. Inside is a mini-flier promoting her fifth album “Love Letter” and her fifth anniversary live DVD “LOVE IS BORN”.
The CD single is enjoyable and Ai fans will not be disappointed by the song. I enjoyed “Bye Bye” and it captures Otsuka’s fun and upbeat style of music.  But with not much included in terms of a lack of a coupling track, the CD single is quite short in duration and therefore, I definitely recommend a purchase of this CD single along with the DVD.
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