Aesthetic Rhapsody

Artist: Ami Suzuki
Release Date: November 12, 2008
Label: Avex Trax
Personal Rating: 5/5

1. TEN
2. can’t stop the DISCO
3. climb up to the top
4. SUPER MUSIC MAKER (SA’08S/A mix)
5. Mysterious
6. change my life
7. LOVE MAIL
8. A token of love
9. TRUE
10. flower
11. ONE
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Celebrating her 10 long years as an artist, she showcases “Supreme Show,” starting with her first track, TEN! (How funny, her last track happens to be called “ONE.”) Despite the fact that it had the elements of a typical dance track, the main difference is that there’s an addition of the piano and electronica elements within the background beats. Throughout the whole song, it doesn’t seem that Ami annunciates her words very well… Otherwise, it’s a great song!

For some reason, it seems that Can’t stop the DISCO is the kind of dance song that grows on me. Which is strange since most J-pop dance songs attach to me right away. Maybe because of the fact that it’s disco-ish? Anyways, Ami sings in a lower tone than usual but her vocals still seem strong with all of the laid back dance elements. Overall, I thought the song exceed to what I was expecting…great song.

Looks like Ami already got her screaming habit from this single. climb up to the top is actually in English with some shouting…BIG TIME. And it’s not laid back dance music that’s featured, it’s ultimately aggressive; which also explains for the annoying shouting…Sadly, I couldn’t really get myself to like this song.

I wasn’t able to review SUPER MUSIC MAKER (SA’08S/A mix) from the “can’t stop the DISCO” single review so I guess I’ll review it already. Surprisingly, Ami was willing to add in a remix track to the album. It’s a great remix and all but the Radio Edit mix of SUPER MUSIC MAKER was already added onto one of her most recent album, “Dolce.”

Although there isn’t really much of a difference with Ami’s voice throughout the song, Mysterious was still a memorable track with all of the unique rhythms  and beats.  Despite the vocals, I would probably consider this my favorite song of the newer tracks. Not to mention, the awesome background music is what makes this song so popular. Wish they released an instrumental version of this track!

change of my life is a perfect combination of new and old. Although the vocal style is pretty modern, the instrumental elements of disco and retro sounded pretty old-fashioned. change of my life was a great song but not as good as “Mysterious.”

LOVE MAIL takes on that “cute” vibe with all of the high pitched fragments and upbeat rhythms and vocals. Since I haven’t actually listened to Ami Suzuki for a really long period of time, this “cute” song from her was a first…but I thought she pulled it off really well.

Another great dance track is A token of love which takes the beats a little slower than the first track. Looks like Avex was trying to experience with Ami’s vocals since she began to sing long notes throughout the song. I thought the song was great but not as great as the A-side.

TRUE is probably the most dance orientated song on the album. From the looks of it, it seems that people are surprised that Ami has started a new style for the dance genre because for some reason, the sound of an organ makes its entrance during the song’s bridge despite of the aggressiveness of the instrumentation. Pretty cool, huh?

However, flower also seems to be another track with unique dance factors. The acoustics in the background is has a combination of the strings and dance synths. Although it’s a hard combination to make a song successful, Ami actually does a great job with it since there were no part of the song that didn’t sound all that sloppy. As I recall, I remember that Dream (an old J-pop dance trio) attempted to combine strings and synth together into one song. (And yes, they failed.) But this is Ami Suzuki we’re talking about here so expect surprises whenever she releases a great album!

ONE shows listeners exactly what Ami is popular for: upbeat dance tracks! I loved how the instrumentals had synchs and beats that really put me in the mood to dance. (Although I really can’t dance, lol.) Compared to her newer release (Reincarnation) the producer of “ONE” made the song have chemistry with Ami’s voice.

Believe it or not, I think Ms. Suzuki here has just released her most epic album of the year!!! (2008)

Personal Rating: 5/5