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3.0 out of 5 stars
Finding herself, October 25, 2009
This review is from: Love Letter (Audio CD)
Otsuka Ai has always been the J-pop star who tries most to be all things to all people. Is she a peppy popster, a punk rocker, or an arty chanteuse a la Utada Hikaru? The answer, alas, is all-of-the-above. Which means she never really pleases anyone. I mean, I love silly pop like "Happy Days" and the goofy videos she has made to sell it, but I tend to hate her concerts, where she usually dresses down and tries too hard to be perceived both as a self-aware artiste and as just one of the boys in the band. She comes across as slightly icky and way too eager to please. With her latest album Love Letter, however, she seems to be triangulating all her diverse musical styles and interests into a sort of modernist folk pop of the sort that, say, Noriko Shiina attempted to essay a few years back. Otsuka Ai is singing confidently here and the songs and production are nice indeed. She just may finally be on to something.
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