UA -- Ai ni Ikou（会いにいこう）

 

In all the years since the 1990s that I've known about smoky singer-songwriter UA, she's usually been about the cool and groovy with her music whether it's the kakkoii soul of "Rhythm"（リズム）or the club music of "Kazoetarianai Yoru no Ashioto"（数え足りない夜の足音）. I believe that there was also even some shoegaze or avant-pop in her discography. However, I also remember highlighting her in the article for the traditional classic "Haru ga Kita" （春がきた）that's included in every kid's textbook since she gave her own wonderful rendition.

I don't think any of us UA fans had any idea though that the Osakan singer would ever do as something as upbeat and sunny and pop as "Ai ni Ikou" (Let's Go See 'Em!). This was released as her first digital single a little less than a month ago, and this time, she didn't have any official say into the songwriting with Kenichi Nozaki（野崎賢一）who works for one of the largest advertising companies on the planet, Dentsu, and musician Taisei Iwasaki（岩崎太整）providing words and music.

As you can gather from Nozaki's name, the song was meant to be a new commercial tune for railway company JR Tokai and "Ai ni Ikou" has that same vibe that another jingle of theirs from twenty years previously has had, TOKIO's "AMBITIOUS JAPAN" (good golly, has it been that long?). The song and the campaign possess that hopeful and joyful ambiance of family and friends being able to get in touch in person once more after a few years of the pandemic. Apparently, the song has also been converted into the onboard chime on their Bullet Trains.

To be honest, when I first heard this yesterday, I couldn't quite believe that it was actually UA singing "Ai ni Ikou". It didn't strike me as being her type of song but her vocals were certainly there, albeit a little lighter-sounding. Regardless, I'll have to talk with my student tonight about this development since he's a veteran in the tourism industry.