''Mic-a-holic Ai'' (stylized as MIC-A-HOLIC A.I.) is the fourth studio album by

Japanese-American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

singer-songwriter Ai, released on July 7, 2005, by Island Records and

Universal Sigma Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

. It is the best selling album of Ai's career to date, being released just after Ai's single "

Story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

" became a hit. The album was certified double platinum by the RIAJ for 500,000 shipped copies.

Background and development

Ai had been signed to Def Jam Japan for three years, after releasing the albums '' Original Ai'' in 2003, and '' 2004 Ai''. Ai was seeing a steady increase in popularity, with ''2004 Ai'' selling double her previous album's amount. In late 2004, two project albums of Ai's were released, '' Flashback to Ai'' featuring rarity material from her

BMG Japan Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...

era, and '' Feat Ai'', featuring all of her outside collaborations from 2002 until mid-2004, which also featured a new song, "Hot Spot," which was a collaboration with

Uzi The Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the ...

. The first single from the album, "

365 365 may refer to: * 365 (number), an integer * a common year, consisting of 365 calendar days * AD 365, a year of the Julian calendar * 365 BC, a year of the 4th century BC Media outlets * 365 (media corporation), Icelandic TV company * 365 Med ...

," released in February 2005, was Ai's first top 20 single. Ai also released the single " Crayon Beats" in April that was the children's anime Crayon Shin-chan theme song, although it is not included in the album. "

" was released in May, two months before the album.

Writing and production

The album was recorded in 2005, mostly in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

at Prime Sound Studio Form, Magnet Studio and Real & Beats Studio. "Queen" was recorded at Landmark Studio in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

. Additional instrument recording occurred in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in the United States. The album featured continued production work from previous Ai collaborators 813, T. Kura and 2 Soul, who had all worked together with Ai on '' 2004 Ai''. T. Kura produced three new songs ("If," "Sha La La" and "Sunshine"), while 813 produced "Summer Breeze," and 813 member

DJ Yutaka A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

produced "California" on his own. 2 Soul worked on the ballad "

," as well as Ai's first

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

track, "Passion." Ai worked together with

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainme ...

on the first single "365," which also featured Aquarius member

Deli Deli may refer to: * Delicatessen, a shop selling specially prepared food, or food prepared by such a shop * Sultanate of Deli, a former sultanate in North Sumatra, Indonesia Places * Deli, Boyer-Ahmad, a village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Pro ...

as a guest rapper. "Another Day" and "Queen" were produced by Icedown, who worked with Ai for the first time on the album. Ai self-produced the song "Once in a Lifetime," also writing and composing the song. The song also featured additional production by D/R Period. "Summer Breeze" is a slowed down version of a song from Ai's album '' Original Ai'' (2003), called "Summer Time."

Promotion and concerts

"Story" was promoted the most from the album, appearing in TV commercials fo
Fuji TV Flower Center
download services ''M-Up'' and ''Recochoku', and

Morinaga Morinaga (written: ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ai Morinaga, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese voice actress *Masaki Morinaga, Japanese long jumper *, Japanese singer *Milk Morinaga, Japanese manga artist * Sō ...

's ''Jelly Weider'' drink range. "Story" was also the June 2005 ending theme song for the

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

music show ''Japan Countdown''. In 2012, "Story" was used as the ending theme song for the Nintendo 3DS game '' Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure''. Two other songs from the album received commercial tie-ups. "365" was the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

music comedy show ''

Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ ''Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ'' was a Japanese music variety show on Fuji Television hosted by the comedy duo Downtown, which consists of Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada. It is a very popular show with comical hosts who like to pick on the ...

'' ending theme song, and in October 2005, the song "Queen" was made the

Yu Shirota is a Japanese-Spanish actor and singer, most known for his role as Kagurazaka Makoto in the Japanese television drama live action adaption of ''Hana-Kimi'', Kunimitsu Tezuka in the '' Prince of Tennis Musicals'', Tuxedo Mask in the Sailor Moon ...

horror film ''

Pray Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

s theme song. Ai made appearances on two famous radio shows to promote the album, NHK-FM '' Saturday Hot Request'' on May 28, 2005, and her own once off show on ''

All Night Nippon is a Japanese radio program broadcast by Nippon Broadcasting System and other radio stations from 1–5 am (JST). It preempts broadcasts from TBS Radio's programming heard on stations under both JRN and NRN (TBC Radio, CBC Radio, etc.). ...

'', on July 15, 2005. Ai toured the album from July to October 2005 with the Japanese seven city tour, ''Mic-a-holic Ai Japan Tour '05''. The tour final at Zepp Tokyo on October 24, 2005, was filmed for Ai's second live DVD, also titled ''Mic-a-holic Ai Japan Tour '05''. Three songs from this album were sent to music video channels to promote the DVD, "California," "If" and "Story." Ai performed "Story" at the 56th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen music competition on December 31, 2005, her first appearance on the program.

Critical reception

Critics received the album well. The reviews at CDJournal were impressed by the variety of genres, and were extremely impressed with her lyrics. They called "Story" a "genreless dramatic pure ballad," praising her big vocals and the "deep love overflowing" in the lyrics, calling it her version of

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including " Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), " Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (197 ...

' " Lean on Me." ''What's In?'' called the album " i'sreal masterpiece," and called the piano introduction to "Story" "memorable." At the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, "Story" won the award for Best R&B Video.

Chart performance

The album debuted at number four in Japan underneath

Ketsumeishi is a four-member Japanese pop and hip hop group that incorporates singing and rapping into their music. They have had several major hits in Japan, including " Sakura", which reached number two on the Oricon yearly chart for 2005 and was featured ...

Shōgo Hamada is a Japanese singer-songwriter and former member of the group Aido. He is a part of Sony Music Japan's SME Records division. He was born in Takehara City in Hiroshima Prefecture, and graduated from Kuremitsuta High School (where he was a member ...

and

Def Tech Def Tech is a Japanese pop band signed to 2VOX Ltd, an independent label. Career Jesse, the vocalist from Rize, named the band, the members of which did their own songwriting, arranging, and production. Def Tech had the 3rd best-selling alb ...

, selling 85,000 copies. In its second week, it remained at number four. The album spent seven weeks in the top 10, and 33 in the top 100. When it had stopped charting in November 2006, it had spent a total of 76 weeks on the charts, selling five and a half times its first week sales. It was initially certified platinum by the RIAJ after its release, but was eventually certified double platinum in October 2006. This is Ai's most commercially successful work, as of 2012. In

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, ''Mic-a-holic Ai'' spent two weeks charting on

G-Music G-Music Limited is a company built in 2002 by Rose Records and Tachung Records, both are the largest local music retails and wholesale chains in Taiwan. The physical retail arms have been kept separate, for different customer bases and brand ident ...

's top 20 Japanese/Korean subchart, peaking at number 18. It did not chart on the main combination chart, however.

Track listing

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Mic-a-holic Ais liner notes booklet. Managerial *Yuki Arai – co-executive producer *Naoshi Fujikura – head publicity and promotion *Etsuro Iida – artwork coordination *Nobuhiko Kakihara – promotion planning *Aiichiro Kiyohara – A&R director *Kaz Koike – co-executive producer *Malu-K – executive producer (#7) *Shinki Miura – co-executive producer *Atsushi Nakaue – publisher *Koichi Sakakibara – artist management *Teruhisa Tanaka – publisher Performance credits *Ai –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Aaron "AB" Belinfanti – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(#12, #15) *Damon Bennet –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(#7) *Dave Burnett – bass (#12, #15) *Donald "Scooch: Burnside –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

(#7) *Andrea "The Phoenix" Coln – background vocals (#7) *Tom Coyne – mastering *Jamar "G" Davis – guitar (#7) *Deli – rap (#2) *D/R Period – all instruments (#4, #6) *Ebony Fay – backing vocals (#3) *Michael "Bump" Fountain – cuts (#7) *Eric "DJ Groove" Harvey – cuts (#7) *Icedown – instruments (#3, #5) *Noriko Iso –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

(#5) *Jino (aka Kenji Hino) – bass (#11) *Kenneth Kobori – acoustic guitar (#12), keyboards (#12, #15), synthesizers (#12, #15) *T. Kura – all instruments (#1, #8, #13) *Wilson Montuori – classical guitar, electric guitar (#12, #15) *Daniel O. Morgan – backing vocals (#3) *Pochi – keyboard (#11) *Steph Pockets – background vocals (#7) *Shingo S. – keyboard (#11) *Sachi – announcement voice (#9) *Miyuki Saito – background vocals (#7) *Yumi Sakakibara – strings (#5) *James Spears – piano (#15) *Emily Taguchi – strings (#5) Visuals and imagery *Noriko Goto – Stylist *Akihisa Inoue – design assisting *Misato Kumamoto – art direction, design *Hiroshi Nomura – photographer *Akemi Ono – hair, make-up *Emu Yanagihara – microphone sculpture Technical and production *2 Soul – arrangement, production (#12, #15) *Ai – production (#4) *Aquarius – production (#2) *Aaron "AB" Belinfanti – editing, instrument recording, programming (#12, #15) *C-murder – vocal recording (#10-#11) *D.O.I – mixing (#2-#3, #5, #10) *DJ Yutaka – arrangement (#11), production (#10, #11), sound effects (#9) *D/R Period – co-production (#4), programming (#4, #6) *Michael "Bump" Fountain – co-production, engineering (#7) *Icedown – programming, production (#3, #5) *Masahiro Kawaguchi – mixing (#11) *Rich Keller – mixing (#12, #15) *T. Kura – arrangement, instrument recording, mixing, production (#1, #8, #13) *Yasufumi Maruyama – recording (#2) *Taiji Okada – vocal recording (#1, #3-#4, #8, #13) *Steph Pockets – production (#7) *Geoffrey Rice – assistant engineer (#15) *Mitsuro "Boo" Shibamoto – vocal recording (#12, #15) *Shingo S. – arrangement, production (#11) *Tatsuya Sato – mixing (#4) *Yuya Suzuki – recording (#5) *Mike Tschupp – assistant engineer (#12)

Charts

Sales and certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums Ai (singer) albums Japanese-language albums Universal Music Group albums Island Records albums Universal Sigma albums