Ai Otsuka (J-Pop)

I think Ai Otsuka is and has been one of the more interesting artists on the J-Pop scene since her debut in 2003. She writes the lyrics and composes the music for her own songs, which gives her a sound unlike anyone else. (She is also an accomplished pianist and sometimes plays the guitar.) She is at times pop to an extreme (it's the happiest, poppiest music you will ever find sometimes), but other times she sings beautiful ballads and yet other times her songs are straight out punk or ska. (Happy Days is an extreme example, a blaring song where the chorus is HAPPY DAYS shouted over and over through a megaphone). She is Osaka born, and her concerts there often get recorded for her tour DVD as the energy in those concerts is off the charts insane. I am not exaggerating at all.

She currently has 5 cd's as well as a greatest hits cds. She is best known probably for her hit Sakuranbo, a cover of an older Japanese song that she infused with her energy that stayed in the Top 100 singles charge in Japan for 86 weeks over a period of 3 separate calendar years. If that's not impressive someone has to explain to me what is.

Ai does not get the credit she deserves because some of her subject matter is so fluffy and used for equally fluffy drama (like the cute song PEACH used for a idol laden drama last year). I think the lyrics and the symbolism contained within are sometimes lost on the J-Pop crowd who is used to fluff for fluff's sake, things like Morning Musume singing about nothing to appeal to 10 year olds. A song like Neko no Fuusen (The Cat's Balloon) has lovely images about a cat walking with a balloon that go much deeper than the simple (and seemingly silly) subject matter.

It may seem silly to say an artist who has a string of hit singles and hit albums doesn't get the credit she deserves but in a market that favors the artist who doesn't want any artistic freedom at all and only wants to sing the cookie cutter single, Ai Otsuka shines, and does so with her own songs.

Don't miss this quirky artist and whatever gem she puts out next. (Some of my favorite Ai Otsuka songs are below.)

Ai Otsuka - Sakuranbo


Ai Otsuka - Neko ni Fuusen


Ai Otsuka - Yumekui

Ai Otsuka - Planetarium

Note: I mentioned a few times how you can see that songs touch people as people perform their own versions. The imagery in Ai's songs clearly touches people in this way if not even more; if you search for her songs not only do people sing them, they create their own videos and strings of images to play along to the song. It's really common for her songs. If that doesn't show the imagery of the lyrics I am not sure what does.

LINK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_otsuka - Wikipedia Site