''My Name Is Ai'' (stylized my name is AI) is the debut studio album by Japanese–American singer-songwriter Ai, released on November 2, 2001, by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

and BMG Fun House. Three singles were released from ''My Name Is Ai'', "Cry, Just Cry", "U Can Do" and "Shining Star". Although the latter of the two did not chart, "Shining Star" charted and peaked at number 98 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

singles chart. Although not commercially successful, ''My Name Is Ai'' peaked at number 86 on the Oricon albums chart.

Background

Ai developed an interest to become a singer in her early teens. After graduating from junior high school in Japan, Ai returned to her hometown,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, to attend high school. Initially attending Glendale High School, Ai later switched to Los Angeles Count High School for the Arts, majoring in ballet. In 1998, she appeared as a dancer in Janet Jackson's song " Go Deep". In 1999, Ai joined an Asian girl group called SX4. While on holiday in

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

, she performed Monica's " For You I Will", which led to her being scouted by BMG. Deciding to take the offer, Ai left SX4 and moved to Tokyo after graduating high school in 2000, signing to BMG Japan's

label.

Track listing

Notes

* Tracks 2–4, 6, 10, 12, and 15–16 are stylized in

all capitals In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in l ...

. * Track 14 is stylized as "Cry, just Cry"

Personnel

Credits adapted from album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

.''My Name Is Ai'' (CD). Ai.

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

/ BMG. 2001. BVCR-11034.

Musicians

* Ai Carina Uemura – lead vocals, songwriting * Takuya Harada – songwriting * Shinnosukue – arrangement, songwriting, production * Junkoo – arrangement, songwriting, production, piano * Genki Hibino – songwriting * Yukiko Mitsui – songwriting * Ars Wizard C-VE – arrangement, songwriting, production * Diggy-Mo – songwriting, vocals * Takao Sugiyama – piano * Masahiko Rokukawa – bass * Ichiro Hada – guitar * Kazu Minamisawa – guitar * Kouyo Murakami – trombone * Kazuo Kamata – sax * Mikio Saito – trumpet * To-Go – guitar * Aogu – DJ * Dave Fromm – background vocals * Jun – background vocals * Tsuyoshi – background vocals * Peco – background vocals * Masaaki Iwami – songwriting

Technical

* Masaaki Iwami –mixing * T. Takizawaa – mixing * T. Kobayashi – mixing * Don Katsumoto – sound production * Ars Wizard CV-E – direction * Junkoo – assistant direction * Shinnosuke – assistant direction * Yukihiro Yahagi – mastering

Visuals and imagery

* Anthony Nishikawa – art direction * Yoshihiro Sugawara – design * Kazuya Morishima – photographer * Ai Carina Uemura – photographer * Rie Inada – hair, makeup * Shuhei Yomo – styling * Mika Itagaki – styling

Charts

Aftermath

Following BMG selling its 50% share of Sony BMG in 2008 to the

Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation SONAM, headquartered in New York City, manages the company's US-based businesses. Sony's principal U.S. business ...

, RCA's Japan division was rebranded as

Ariola Japan , is a Japanese record label that is part of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It is the successor of BMG Japan. History *2008 – Ariola Japan becomes a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. *2009 – Ariola Japan becomes a full-on record label ...

. Subsequently, the ownership of the masters of ''My Name Is Ai'' was transferred to Sony Music Japan. Though physical copies are still manufactured by Sony Japan, the album was never formerly released to digital stores.

Release history

References

{{Ai (singer) 2001 debut albums Ai (singer) albums Japanese-language albums RCA Records albums