20th Single: 'Zokkondition / Lucky Star'

At last! The newest, 20th single ‘Zokkondition / Lucky Star’ is out, awaiting you in your favourite music store. Fortunately, the single wasn’t released only as a mp3, as many fans feared, but it has got a CD, a cover and a plastic case, which is the set that many of us like ;) Not only because we still like CDs which are tangible and together they really create a collection, but also because of the lossless quality of sound and, last but not least, the availability. As many of you know, Japanese digital releases are accessible only in Japan, so, dear non-Japanese, even if you really cared for Ai’s position on Oricon chart, you couldn’t help her, if she published her new song as a mp3 only. Luckily for her and for us, she didn’t do it, so feel free to buy the 20th single here or here. Once you have done it, enjoy the brilliant sound, bless Ai-chin for still caring for her fans-audiophiles and feel proud of yourself for increasing her chances in reaching the top :)

What about the single itself? I must admit that ‘Lucky Star’ which was a song dedicated for Japanese sportspeople taking part in the Olympic Games didn’t impress me, really. Surely the song is positive, so all the people for whom this piece of music was composed had their morale elevated. However, ‘Lucky Star’ hasn’t got this magical something that would make it noticeable. I would say that it is rather... average. Except of the mildly catchy chorus, the song doesn’t have much to offer. What I particularly hate about ‘Lucky Star’ is English which shouldn’t be there! Ai has always had quite poor English pronunciation; whenever I listen to her speaking / singing in English, I barely understand anything. It’s too bad, since only a half of the chorus is in Japanese... What is even more annoying is the lack of sense in this catchy chorus. The random mixture of Japanese and English words is... well, an eyesore. (Sorry, Ai, you deserved it this time...) ‘Love, so family, sea, 空, 夢に見たstar, つかんだ 今 CHANCE! / Love, so family, sea, 空、心にLUCKY STARはこかむ今日Sunny day’ – it doesn’t make any sense! What is she singing about? I’m constantly asking myself this question whenever this song gets stuck in my head. Anyway, if I was to assess ‘Lucky Star’, I would give it 3,5/5.

The second track on the single is a completely new song which has leaked to the net quite recently: ‘Zokkondition’. Now this is something that I call a BANG! Somebody on Ai Otsuka’s shoutbox on last.fm moaned that Ai doesn’t write crazy songs anymore... This person must have discovered their mistake by now ;) When it comes to my feelings, I definitely love this song, even though my love had to mellow – it came after 4th listening (for me, as usual). I was delighted to learn that there was a PV planned. According to the fans writing on last.fm, ‘the preview is as random as “360º”’. I didn’t watch the preview, because 1) it’s only a preview, 2) everything might change, 3) it would spoil all the fun. It doesn’t mean that I wasn’t curious, of course I was. The alleged randomness attracted me like hell! When the PV finally appeared on YouTube, I clicked the Pause button and while waiting for the clip to buffer, I was fidgeting and biting my nails in excitement. A few moments later I made up my mind about the video...

My thoughts about ‘Zokkondition’ in a nutshell:

• It isn’t random at all! The video has got a scenario. The story is consistent with the song’s lyrics: a girl dreams about marrying her boyfriend but she’s afraid that the man won’t feel like it. She is sad and full of doubts, dreamy and absent-minded, busy doing simple domestic things such as picking up a paper or feeding a goldfish  (it looks like a reference to ‘Kingyo Hanabi’ - ‘goldfish swimming in my heart’). However, when she’s expressing strongly what she wants (‘With all my heart, I want to marry you, and have my HAPPY LIFE’), she becomes a seductive and beautiful star (see point 2 below), trying to convince her beloved one to decide... When he eventually appears, our cutie turns into a regular, somewhat blue, wannabe housewife. It turns out that he has finally made up his mind and Ai gets what she wants – an engagement ring. Well, without knowing what the song is about, we might assume that the video doesn’t make sense. That’s why many fans felt puzzled and disappointed after watching ‘Zokkondition’ for the first time. That’s why the video was proclaimed ‘random’ and ‘senseless’. It’s too bad, really, that you don’t read the lyrics, people! You can find the full text and the translation here. 

• I don’t like Ai-chin’s alter ego. The one with blonde hair. I can’t explain why, but in this video I can’t say that she’s pretty. I don’t know... It’s very hard to tell why, because I loved blonde Ai in CHU-LIP, A-Nation '09 and even in Aisu x Time. In ‘Zokkondition’ her fair hair look highly artificial, in addition the colour doesn’t go together with her complexion... I think that Ai’s stylists just overdid it. She was meant to look extremely glamorous and sexy, the effect is contrary. She looks much better as a normal girl than a celebrity, compare:

• Once again! I hate this blonde wig!

OK., enough my complaining. To sum it all up, I must admit that ‘Zokkondition / Lucky Star’ isn’t the best Ai’s single. It’s quite good, but I know that she can do better. I hope that her next release will be something like ‘Kurage, Nagareboshi’, which had a wonderful A-side, not less brilliant B-side (‘H2O’ was so good that it should have become a single...) and a beautiful PV with absolutely breathtaking Ai Otsuka. Good luck, Ai-chin! ;)

Don’t hesitate to share your opinions with me, dear readers! :)