Ai Otsuka
Love Piece

THE REVIEW

Do you want to listen to an album that is shamelessly frivolous and pop, but also intelligent and creative? An album you can easily hum in the shower, yet at the same time be original and full of ideas? An album to play at a party without risking boredom? The answer is "Love Piece," a strange and unpredictable record, created by a twenty-year-old singer-songwriter from Tokyo, who is a star in Japan, while she is practically unknown in Italy.

The girl in question, whose name is Ai Otsuka, is not only a joy for the eyes (sensual and childlike at the same time, she is perhaps one of the sexiest and most beautiful women in the world) but also for the ears: the melodies of her third album flow, managing to engage the listener without leaving them indifferent, as many Western pop stars do (examples? Hilary Duff, Ashlee Simpson, Christina Aguilera...), everything sounds practically perfect: starting from the initial rock pump that is "Hai Thaitalai Iniku", pop-rock with a catchy chorus that, even if heard just once, sticks in your head like a vivid memory: the guitars race and Otsuka lets loose with her singing, with her very original voice, halfway between sensual depth and childish sharpness. Another noteworthy piece is the single "Peach", a bomb of true genre: an electronic rush that grazes dance, with a chorus that once again proves unforgettable and a frenetic clapping to accompany it all. Then "Heart", a piano ballad à la Tori Amos, which goes back to the composer's roots, when she was alternative, before moving to radio pop. "Mackerel's Canned Food", a track that plunges into the most snobbish dance, and if at first listen seems too ambitious, with subsequent plays it becomes a track to be listened to over and over again. "The Fly" isn’t very successful, but it's worth mentioning: a track that dangerously flies into a punk-hardcore mix, with the girl singing the piece in screamo, not to be despised, but rather useless: the girl is suited for pop.

Not everything in this album is successful, rich in highs and lows, quite inconsistent, but it is a burst of sparkling creativity from perhaps the world's strangest and most innovative country: Japan, for all lovers of good pop or fun.