AI

An American-born performer who secured a recording contract in Japan after establishing herself as a dancer, Ai launched her music path by appearing as a backup dancer in a Janet Jackson video. Although she had received formal dance training, her relocation to Japan opened the door to a singing contract. Initially signed by BMG, she later moved to Def Jam Japan, where her first album, Original Ai, appeared in 2003. The single “Story,” drawn from the 2004 album 2004 Ai, became a major success in 2005 with sales exceeding 300,000 units; the track’s popularity drove her third album, Mic-A-Holic Ai, to sales approaching 500,000 copies. Her fourth studio release, What’s Goin on Ai, came out in September 2006. In March 2007 she issued her first live album, Live Ai, alongside the concert DVD Nippon Budokan Ai, both capturing the final performance of the What’s Goin On tour. That May she received an MTV Japan Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. By year’s end she was already promoting her subsequent album, Don’t Stop Ai, whose supporting tour opened in early 2008. Viva Ai arrived in 2009, extending her blend of Japanese pop, American pop, and bold stylistic explorations. In June 2011 she joined EMI Music Japan and began collaborating with the Jacksons on the Michael Jackson Live Tribute concerts held in Tokyo, where she performed the event’s theme, “Letter in the Sky.” November 2011 brought the release of “Happiness,” a track commissioned by Coca-Cola for its winter campaign. The next year her ninth studio album, Independent, appeared, and she traveled to Los Angeles to develop her American debut project. That December she staged her inaugural “Christmas Dinner Show with Choir” across seven Japanese cities, directing fourteen gospel singers and bandmembers from the United States. Ai opened 2013 with the single “Voice,” the theme for the primetime drama “Midnight Ferris Wheel,” and also released the Mother’s Day single “Dear Mama,” a tribute to mothers worldwide. In 2015 she issued both Be Brave, a collaboration with Exile Atsushi, and the compilation Best.