Oh the cover is great! Love it!

TOKYO SANPO YES.

I want to eat this cake. Hope the new songs are as delicious as the cover.

I love that cover art, it's such a beautiful tone of pink. I'm very excited for this album since I absolutely loved Watashi and Sakura Hara Hara. I think it's going to have a very different atmosphere than LOVE TRICKY, but Ai has been surprising us lately so I'm sure it'll be good too!

a part of me adores Watashi's music and sound but I really cannot feel the actual melody going anyway. It doessnt take you to new heights unlike the actual music in the background.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVC...rod-AVCD-93665

"Limited edition comes with a fabric refresher."

I wanna know what that is lol.

^I think it's a spray with smell for the room or something. It will probably smell like honey haha

probably you can see ai on the cover when you zoom in

She was taking a picture of food.

xD

I would have preferred the cover to have Ai with cake on her face..HAHAHAHAH
or honey...coz u know...

Jesus. The random crap Japanese artists bundle with their album releases. What next?

New Koda Kumi W Face album limited edition comes with a Kuu-chan tampon with double the absorption?

MIKA NAKASHIMA TOUGH limited edition comes with boxing gloves?

lecca High Street limited edition comes with an actual street's worth of pavement?

I've understood all goods up until now but fabric freshner!?!?!?

coming next: Birth control pills / Condoms / Dish washer powder / Fat Magnet / fart control blanket / Skinnies Instant Arm Lift / Kush Support

Yay for a new album!

They already have sailor moon themed sanitary pads and condoms, so never say never... :D

Didn't Kuu have condoms as a concert goodie back in the day? Am I totally making that up?

or this with her design logo on

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butt_plug

Yep. It was part of her secret ~first class limited live~ tour goods. I think she was throwing them out to the audience from the stage at one point of the concert too. :laugh

and use it right away.

I love the cover. I wonder what the poster is going to look like?

she was like " have some sex boys, you must be horny now after seeing me."

Someone uploaded Watashi's bonus tracks SMILY -cap mix- and Mousou Chop -cap mix- here:
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/5019890403

But i don't read chinese and i couldn't figure out what the password is :P
anyone knows?

i267

It's right below the link.

Edit: Damnit. Nevermind. It says the password is Birthday, uppercase, no spaces. I can't get anything to work.

19820909LOVEHONEY is the password (Ai-chan's birthday + the 8th album's name)

Omg I tried for ever!!

I was thinking it was her birthday plus 8 years. Lol.
And I thought it had to be in "capital" Chinese characters so I was researching those.

Thanks

Yaaay! Thank you!! :D

So these are bonuses off the single, right? First press?

Previews are out! http://avex.jp/ai/discography/

I'm liking what I'm hearing so far. :)

Thanks for sharing; I'm kinda loving it. It's way better than LOVE TRICKY. I like that it's really a great "listening" album it seems. Like I can put this on and enjoy it while cleaning or getting things done around the house, or walking to class, cruising, etc.

I am really looking forward to the new album

loving all the previews so far!!
However, just a little disappointed with the lack of ballads in the album. i just wish ai will give us more grand ballads again

Sounds nice and love the cover!

I like the previews so far. It's a very mellow album.

I was just thinking if the dish on the cover is a jelly or water cake?

I can't see any previews o-O

I can't see any previews either. Actually, every time someone says there are previews available on any avex trax website, I can't see them no matter what browser I use. :dead2

The previews sound nice! I'm liking it so far, although yes it lacks ballads, but it has its quirks which I really welcome.

Lyric video for Starter Pistol was uploaded a few days ago! Features the lyric speaker... which is pretty cool but costs $3000 :tired



And she posted a longer preview of QueeN on her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSQnkkEjuBU/

I love what we can hear from QueeN so far but I don't really like Starter Pistol. The way she sings some parts of the song aren't my cup of tea

QueeN is gonna be such a jam!!
The album feels sweet and light! Very nicely put together :)

I enjoyed the previews and can't wait to order the album!

so excited for this album

I actually really like the previews! I think this will be a nice, cohesive album.

Official site was update with a new promo picture:


A special site was also opened for the album:
http://avex.jp/ai/lovehoney/

Seems like this album is a super collaborative project, with 9 collaborations total. One being the fabric spray, which is why it is an album good lol. The cake on the cover of the album was the second collaboration and it's made by HUGO&VICTOR with Ai having helped design it. If you're in Japan, you can actually buy the cake in the Tokyo H&V store between April 1st and May 7th.

Next, Ai has a collaboration with MyNavi Women where she answers questions regarding love/relationships.

Then we have Watashi being a drama theme. Sakura was the theme for FLOWERS by NAKED. HEY!BEAR is for a manga. Starter Pistol is for the lyric speaker. And HEART BREAK is a collaboration with KitKat. There's a short performance of it here:


And the last collaboration is ~coming soon~.

She also has a special page on Amazon, where they recommend different products based on the songs on the album.

I loved Starter Pistol! And yes, that speaker is really cool but $3,000 is a little too much :dead2

And Ai looks stunning in that new promo picture! I'm getting more and more excited for this album.

So many tie-ins!!!

I found these videos on YouTube (I didn't know she had a tour to promote LOVE TRICKY) and I'm amazed at how much energy she has performing live, even though it's a really small venus. That's my favorite kind of concert. :heart

^God, that was AMAZING! I need to watch the whole thing. (and I wished Ayu would have done something as simple as that for her TA tours)

That promo pic of her is absolutely gorgeous, now I'm slightly jealous that it wasn't used for an album cover lol

!

I'm actually in love with this song too. It reminds me of stuff she put on LOVE JAM and LOVE COOK. :D

I really love the energy that is laugh, the live rendition and extend sounds so so good!

She looks drop-dead gorgeous in that promo pic. *__* I've always thought Ai was pretty but this is a whole new level.

I'm loving the previews for the new album!

She sounded amazing during that concert! Going to have to watch the full thing!

She looks beautiful too.

And that speaker video... I don't know what it was about because I was too distracted by squealing over the KITTENS! :heart

Her team did a good job with promotion this time in my opinion. Hope it helps with the sales, because i think they certainly do matter.
Haven't listened to anything yet, I'm not really in the mood for listening to her right now but hope the album is good.

Her husband just got caught in a cheating scandal with a model 22 years younger then he is. Hope she'll be ok :(

Oh no!!! Poor Ai :(

WHAAAAAT!?!?!? Husband cheating scandal?????

Oh no... That's not good...

WTH!! OMG Poor Ai :(

omg no! I feel terrible for Ai and her daughter. It's hard enough going through something like that as a normal person, let alone as someone in the spotlight. I hope she's getting the support she needs from her friends & family.

omgoshh.....Poor Ai >< what a time for the scandal to be released honestly...

^She didn't do anything wrong, in fact it could help imo, it gives media coverage..

I hope she's ok...what a jerk, he should burn in hell.

Whoa, I did not expect that! Get rid, Ai!

Whaaaat?! That really sucks! I remember she married him because she got pregnant... but after all this time I assumed their marriage was lasting :(

no more onextime or aisuxtime live I guess

I saw a video on facebook where a man was going around asking Japanese about how they felt about cheating and surprisingly many of them felt it was ok; like it was just a fact of life and they accept it. It disgusted me but others were defending it as a part of their culture...

That is really, really terrible :weep Not that there's ever a good time to be involved in a scandal, but it's even more sad this is happening right when she's about to release LOVE HONEY. I hope she is doing alright... :(

I feel sad about how Ai-chin is feeling after hearing report about her husband cheating. This isn't moral. Ugh. Any news reports regarding this cheating scandal? And was her husband from RIP SLYME (a J-pop group) or something?

Oh no! I really hope Ai is alright... :(
Seems the scandal is everywhere now. :no

I haven't seen any translated articles yet but from what I've gathered, SU is part of a radio program where he regularly acts as the DJ. During Thursday/Friday's program, he mentioned that he called in a guest who was a "friend". The girl in question is Shiori Enatsu.

After the program ended, the two had dinner together and I think they spent the night together as well. The next morning, they spent a few hours in the car and driving around together before splitting up around noon. There's pictures of the two of them both the night of and the morning after.



Scandal aside, here's another promo pic!


And thanks oaristo & Andrenekoi for the LOVE TRiCKY tour videos! It's actually been a long while since I've watched one of her tours but it's amazing to see how grown she's become. I was living for that kind of sassy cockiness she had during I'm lonely and the playful flirtyness during affair. :luv2 The whole tour was amazing. LOVE TRiCKY really is such an outstanding album. Obsessed all over again :cool

http://i.imgur.com/qLiR75C.png

What the hell are they doing?

Vaping?

What an asshole, she better get rid of him now....

And as bad as this sound, this news is perfect for the album release tbh....

Cheating is "accepted" as much as it was "accepted" in America in the 50s and 60s. (And before, really)

It's a very patriarchal society--women don't have as much support and, as many become housewives after marriage, divorce can be extremely difficult with no job to support themselves and little legal help or access to financial aid. It's "accepted" because otherwise they'd be on their own, poor, and their children would most likely go with the father as he would be able to support them.

Then they'd be branded as a divorced woman and basically become damaged goods.

^yeah that's basically what my female japanese friends said, when the topic once came up. They said they would "accept" it and pretend it didn't happen because what other option would they have?
Btw, cheating is only "accepted" when men do it. The other way around no one would say that.

^I was thinking the same, if Ai was the one cheating her career would be over.

Hearing Ai that "her career is over" would be the LAST thing in our minds... :no

Thankfully it wasn't Ai but SU that was cheating, but overall it's still disgusting to hear nonetheless.

Album Teaser

^ Thank you for posting! I didn't have a chance to listen to the previews before. HEART BREAK and QueeN sound amazing! :luv2 Not a huge fan of HEY! BEAR so far, but let's see once the full version is out.
I'm so excited for this album! :heart :heart It sounds very diverse, yet cohesive at the same time.

There's a live of the full version here:


And also TOKYO散歩

I'm seriously so in love with TOKYO Sanpo. This album is kinda like the love child of LOVE FANTASTIC and LOVE TRiCKY imo.

Additional promo images!

loving the promo pics lots!!

Love her with long hair! She looks so good.

Shouldnt the album be out by now???

It was already on sale for the whole of today...
http://imgsrc.baidu.com/forum/w%3D58...1191138ad2.jpg

^it is actually, it leaked 20 minutes ago...

after first listen i really love this!
especially HONEY is my fave... i only dislike make up for now!
and i use her face from her first promo pic as cover cause she looks so exquisit :heart

this is such a pleasure compaired to Miliyah's Utopia which is a ballad and midtempo guitar disaster after the glorious LIBERTY...

anyways, great album overall, maybe ending up as one of my faves... <3

where can I find it O.O
(And where can i find Utopia too lol)

Can't wait to listen! I hope it will end up on Spotify, which I imagine it will since Watashi ended up on there :)

DL here:

https://www.miusiq.net/single-post/otsuka-lovehoney

Oh, really?
After first listen make up is one of the better tracks and one of the most memorable. Love it as well as FrogFlag, Watashi and QueeN.

Listened through it one time! I probably won't ever listen to FrogFlag again since it's not my cup of tea, but aside from that I think it's a pretty solid album~

make up has me polarized because I actually really like the dark atmosphere that most of the song has... but then the chorus goes in a completely opposite direction??? :confused :confused :confused

Yup, it's already up on Spotify! That's where I plan to listen to it today when I'm at work later :)

@Corvina yeah i really don't like it, the chorus is just not my thing...
but i always have that one track on every album that i don't like (Do*Positive, U-BOAT, that mosquito song [Katori senkou of what it name was] etc)

really enjoy this album...
i just wish they would have her face as cover, because it looks so weird between all the face shots on my iTunes/Apple Music (especially when she looks really beautiful on that promo pic)

Ok! ANOTHER new album release... so, here are my thoughts:

01. HONEY - 9/10

I absolutely love the mix of electronic, tribal drums, and synths. This is a really good opening track. It strikes the perfect feel between interlude and song.

02. Watashi (私; I) - 9/10

I feel like this is the perfect place for Watashi. It's near the beginning, and the samba makes us feel like we're still getting started, but we're on the move. It's nice, relaxing, and a nice build on the activity of HONEY.

03. QueeN - 9/10

NOW WE'RE ON THE MOVE! The placement of these three songs is one of the best starting transitions for an album that I've heard in years. I genuinely applaud Ai for planning these first three tracks out as well as she did. They're all building on each other pretty flawlessly. There's just enough difference between them that they're not boring, but not so much that it's like music shock.

04. TOKYO Sanpo (TOKYO散歩; Tokyo Stroll) - 6/10

It sounds like a big city song with the synths and rolling beat. I do worry that sounds a little more like a throwaway track, something to demo when developing ideas for the album. And I also feel like the song would be a lot more fun if it ended around the 3 minute mark. It does feel about a minute and a half too long.

05. Sakura Harahara (サクラハラハラ; Fluttering Cherry Blossoms) - 9/10

The song reminds me of Hajime Chitose Megumi no Ame and Haru no Katami meets MIKA NAKASHIMA's LEGEND. This is a really good song at this point in the album. It's enough of a slowdown that ballads can follow soon, but not so slow that it doesn't make sense to come after a song like TOKYO Sanpo. I really like the rolling feel of this song. It just ebbs and flows and truly flutters on its own accord. Every synth, beat, instrument, and vocal plays well with each other.

06. HEART BREAK - 5/10

I'm having a real hard time getting into this. It sounds heavy-fisted and loud compared to everything else. The one thing I can appreciate this song for is that it's not the same style as previous songs. It's more of a jpop-rock track. A little diversity goes a long way, as I've noticed the lack of it in so many releases this year.

07. Monochrome (モノクロ) - 10/10

This is a step in the direction of those classic Ai ballads we all miss. It doesn't necessarily have the same feel as Kurage, Narageboshi, or Kingyo Hanabi, or Ren'ai Shashin, but it's a little more like Planetarium without the beat. I think this song would have been all the more special with a little more production, a-la Kingyo Hanabi or Planetarium. It's special nonetheless.

08. make up - 7/10

This is so Aural Vampire it's sweet. I feel like this should have been a halloween-themed song. But it's whatever. It's an interesting style for Ai. Certainly different from anything I can remember her doing. It's more the type of fun song she'd do back on LOVE JAM and LOVE COOK. Again though, it's diversity!

09. FrogFlag - 8/10

I have no clue what to call this. It's like she's channeling Matsutoya Yumi. And in a way, I love the song because I know I'd be super into it if Matsutoya Yumi sang it. (I never thought I'd sing along to a song called "Babies are popstars", but I just think Matsutoya Yumi is really cool. And let's face it: Cosmos Library really deserved it's #1 debut on Oricon. Still my favorite album of 2016.)

10. HEY!BEAR - 8/10

Here's where I'm mixed about the place for this song in the track list. I feel like this should be before make up and FrogFlag, but it should also be after them. It's the track that brings all the experimenting back to the album's core sound. Like TOKYO Sanpo, I feel this track is about a minute too long.

11. Starting Pistol (スターターピストル) - 10/10

I can't get enough of this song. The samba, the playfulness, the joyfulness. It's Ai's take on a track like Miliyah Kato's H.I.K.A.R.I. It's a song you put on to get in or stay in a good mood. Doesn't matter the time of day. Just put this on and dance around -- it's hope bottled up in a song. My only complaint is the song should be around 10% faster. If you have AIMP, increase the speed to 1.10 - it sounds like the intended pace for this track.

12. Hibi, Ikite Ireba (日々、生きていれば; Everyday, As Long As I Live) - 7/10

I'm not sure what kind of opinion to have for this song. It's a different style ballad for Ai. It feels like the cousin of TOKYO Sanpo. It should be called "Park Stroll" or "City Evening Stroll". I get a lot of New Orleans vibes from this. Like I should be walking past the jazz bars on my way home after a nice date.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.08 / 10
THOUGHTS:

A lot of this album walks the edge of being too similar. It does, however, stay far enough away from that cliff that it's a genuinely interesting album. I'm glad Ai followed in Utada's footsteps and made a record that's a bit calm. I like the diversity toward the end of the record, and I really like that she tied it all up by not ditching the initial sound entirely by the last song. I totally love the style similarities to Aural Vampire on make up and Matsutoya Yumi on FrogFlag. To me, there's nothing super standout about the songs, but I feel like this album strikes the balance LOVE TRiCKY didn't. It's very much Ai, but it's still different.

Funny enough, I feel like more of these songs will stick with me than what I heard on LOVE TRiCKY or LOVE FANTASTIC.

Also, I like that Monochrome is here. It shows Ai can still write those ballads she's so talented at doing. I just hope the next album has something like Monochrome that reflects more of the atmosphere of her older ballads with the production.

For a woman who practically made this album herself, both music and lyrics, I love that she's truly showing off talent here. No big producers, no famous collaborations. Just a good record from a really talented Japanese artist.

Oh, great! I was waiting for it to be available on Spotify so I could listen, thanks for letting us know! :)

Monochrome was written in seven-eighth tempo, its so freakin unique and it makes me appreciate her composing skills a lot more. such a genius!

Between new album releases (Mika's and Ai's) and a bunch of older albums I still need to buy, I'm torn with what CD to order on payday. Maybe I'll go for both Mika's and Ai's!

After giving it a listen through for about 4 times, I kinda like this album.

My biggest problem is HEART BREAK, I don't like it when she changes the direction (?) from the verse to chorus, imo it just doesn't work at all. And the singing style isn't helping either.

And I love love when she do Big Band arrangements like FrogFlag or Piano ballads Monokuro :heart

FrogFlag reminds me of Shachihata LOL..

and how FrogFlag leads into to HEY!BEAR just bewilders me. Its like two different people singing