''Don't Stop Ai'' (stylized as DON'T STOP A.I.) is the sixth 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 Asia ...

singer-songwriter Ai, released on December 5, 2007, by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

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 featured two successful singles, the mid-tempo R&B song "

I'll Remember You "l'll Remember You" is a song written by Kui Lee in 1964. After he returned to Hawaii from the mainland United States in 1961, Lee worked at the night club Honey's as a doorman. Lee taught himself to sing, and he started to compose songs. He convi ...

" and the ballad "

Taisetsu na Mono ''Don't Stop Ai'' (stylized as DON'T STOP A.I.) is the sixth studio album by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Ai, released on December 5, 2007, by Island Records and Universal Sigma. It featured two successful singles, the mid-tempo R&B son ...

," both of which were certified gold by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

. The album is the first of Ai's on which she extensively collaborated with Japanese musicians, and her first on which she worked closely with

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n producers.

Background and development

The final concert for Ai's tour of her previous album, ''

What's Goin' On Ai ''What's Goin' On Ai'' (stylized as What's goin' on A.I.) is the fifth studio album by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Ai, released on September 27, 2006, by Island Records and Universal Sigma. It was released after the successful ballad si ...

'', was held at the

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...

stadium, which was the first time Ai performed at the venue. The Budokan recording was released as Ai's first live album, '' Live Ai'', in March 2007. In 2007, Ai performed at several Japanese summer rock festivals, including FM802 Meet the World Beat,

Rock in Japan Festival The Rock in Japan Festival is an annual three-day rock festival held during early August at the Hitachi Seaside Park, in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, Japan, organized by ''Rockin'on ''Rockin'On Japan'', often stylized in all caps, is a monthly magazin ...

, Voices of Heart II,

AP Bank Fes AP Bank is a Japanese non-profit organization dedicated to renewable energy and environmental projects, founded in 2003. AP Bank's seed money was provided by record producer Takeshi Kobayashi, musician Kazutoshi Sakurai and composer and musician R ...

and Monster Bash. Ai released three singles before the release of the album, beginning with the double A-side single "

" and " Brand New Day" in July ("Brand New Day" was originally released digitally in June 2007). "I'll Remember You" fared well, becoming certified gold twice by the

. A month prior to the album's release, " One" was released as the theme song for the second series of the drama ''

Team Medical Dragon A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...

''. Ai's 2006 single "

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

" was used as the first season's theme song, and was extremely successful. However, "One" did not mirror "Believe"'s success.

Writing and production

Ai started making the album after she finished her ''What's Goin' On Ai'' tour in December 2006. Because she had just finished touring, Ai felt the strong energy from performing live, and was more conscious as to which songs would sound good performed live, compared to when creating her previous albums. Ai chose "Brand New Day" as the first song to be released from the album (a song she thought was "fun" and "non-serious"), to contrast the serious message songs on her previous album, ''What's Goin' On Ai'' (2006). The album features an almost completely new set of producers. The one exception is T. Kura, who worked on the songs "Don't Stop" and "It's Show Time!!!." Ai worked with Japanese composer The Company on three songs, "Butterfly," "The Answer" and the single "

." The team who worked together on the drama single "One," arranger Keiichi Tomita and composer Toshiaki Matsumoto, were the same pair who created R&B singer

Misia Misaki Itō, commonly known as and stylized as MISIA, is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Born in Nagasaki, Misia moved to Fukuoka at the age of 14 to pursue a recording career. There, she continued her secondary education and briefly attended ...

's 2000 hit ballad "

Everything Everything, every-thing, or every thing is all that exists; the opposite of nothing, or its complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some subject matter. Without expressed or implied limits, it may refer to anything. The universe is ...

." One other Japanese producer worked on the album, Bach Logic, who produced the original version of "Get Up." For the first time, Ai worked with European songwriters. Danish producer

Jonas Jeberg Jonas Jeberg (born January 28, 1975), is a Danish songwriter and music producer residing in Los Angeles. He has written and produced hit songs including Panic! at the Disco's " High Hopes", Selena Gomez's " Fetish" featuring Gucci Mane, Fifth Har ...

wrote and produced both songs on the album's first single, "

/ Brand New Day," while Swedish producers Fredrik "Fredro" Ödesjö and Mats Berntoft produced "Feel So Good." Ai also collaborated with three American R&B/hip-hop producers:

Ty Fyffe Tyrone "Ty" Fyffe (also known as Sugarless) is an American record producer from Queens borough of New York City. During his career he produced tracks for MC Lyte, Foxy Brown, Slick Rick, Ja Rule, Canibus, Jayo Felony, Queen Pen, Cam'ron, 54th P ...

on "Ima," Troy Taylor on "My Sweet Home" and Darryl "Da Rulah" Farmer on "Move." The album was primarily recorded at Prime Sound Studio Form and TamStar Studio

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, with additional recording at Real & Beats Studio, Peninsula Studio, Crescente Studio and Tomita Lab Studio, all in Tokyo. Several songs' instrumentals were recorded overseas, at Jayjay Productions Studio,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Murlyn Studios Murlyn Music Group AB or just Murlyn Music (MMG) is Stockholm-based international music production company founded in 1997 by Anders Bagge. The company includes a great number of successful songwriters, producers and musicians and has produced a ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Unlike her previous studio album, ''What's Goin' On Ai'' (2006), where Ai had collaborated with four overseas musicians, she now collaborated with five Japanese musicians. On the song "Butterfly," Ai worked with three other female vocalists, rapper Anty the Kunoichi, rock musician

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...

and reggae artist

Pushim , born 　on November 26, 1975 is a Zainichi Korean reggae artist. She is signed to Sony Music Japan's Ki/oon Records division. She began performing in the Kansai reggae scene in 1995. In 1998, she contributed back-up vocals for the Refugee Camp ...

. This was the first time Ai worked with any of these musicians. Ai was friends with all three musicians, having first met Anty the Kunoichi when she performed at a club in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

, and having first met Tsuchiya on the set of the 2006 film ''

Memories of Matsuko is a 2006 Japanese musical film written and directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. It is based on a Japanese novel by Muneki Yamada. It has not yet received North American distribution, though in its North American premiere at the 2007 New York Asian Fi ...

'', where both artists had made cameo appearances. Ai was later featured on Tsuchiya's single "Crazy World" the next year. On the song "Get Up," Ai collaborated with half-brother hip-hop MCs

Sphere of Influence In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military or political exclusivity. While there may be a formal al ...

and

Zeebra , known professionally as , is a Japanese hip hop recording artist and DJ who made his first appearance in 1995. Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group King Giddra, which also included DJ Oasis and K Dub Shine, and the older brother of f ...

. Ai had collaborated with Sphere of Influence in 2002 on his single "Luv Ya," and with Zeebra twice before ("Golden Mic (Remix)" in 2003 and "Do What U Gotta Do" in 2006). "Don't Stop" samples the melody of the song "

Hush Hush may refer to: Film and television * ''Hush'' (1921 film), starring Clara Kimball Young * ''Hush'' (1998 film), starring Gwyneth Paltrow * ''Hush!'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film directed by Ryosuke Hashiguchi * ''Hush'' (2005 film), starring ...

" written by

Joe South Joe South (born Joseph Alfred Souter; February 28, 1940 – September 5, 2012) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Best known for his songwriting, South won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1970 for " Ga ...

, originally performed by

Billy Joe Royal Billy Joe Royal (April 3, 1942 – October 6, 2015) was an American country soul singer. His most successful record was " Down in the Boondocks" in 1965. Life and career Born in Valdosta, Georgia, to Clarence and Mary Sue Smith Royal, and rai ...

, made famous by

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

in the 1960s. "Brand New Day" is a track based on the same music as American ''

High School Musical ''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 63rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) and first installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, th ...

'' singer

Corbin Bleu Corbin Bleu Reivers (; born February 21, 1989), known professionally as Corbin Bleu, is an American actor and singer. He made his acting debut in the 2004 adventure comedy film ''Catch That Kid''. He has since appeared in the Discovery Kids dra ...

's song "Marchin'" from his debut album '' Another Side''. The song was released on Bleu's album one month before Ai's full length digital release of "Brand New Day," but one month after the ringtone release of Ai's version. The song "The Answer" was originally made for ''Team Medical Dragons season two theme song, however the drama producers were looking for a "peaceful" song for the theme song instead. "One" was created by Ai after hearing the creators' decision. In "I Remember You," Ai tried to write lyrics to remember the people who encouraged her to become a singer. She did not write the song with love in mind.

Promotion and concerts

The four singles released from the album all received major tie-ups. "Brand New Day" was the

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

''JAL+One World'' television commercial song, and "I'll Remember You" was used in headphone company

Audio-Technica (stylized as audio-technica) is a Japanese company that designs and manufactures professional microphones, headphones, turntables, phonographic magnetic cartridges, and other audio equipment. Company history Audio-Technica was established ...

's 2007 campaign. The song was also featured in commercials for digital download provider ''music.jp'' commercials. "One" was the theme song to the second season of ''

'', for which Ai's "

" (2006) served as the theme song in the initial series. "Taisetsu na Mono" was used in a 2008 campaign for

Chartis American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

Insurance, which cheered on athletes at the

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. It also was used as the theme song for the American drama series ''

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

'' in Japan. Ai debuted her single "I'll Remember You" live at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards Japan on May 26, 2007. Ai also performed at the

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, ''Live Earth'' was built upon the beli ...

charity concert on July 7, 2007, performing seven songs including "I'll Remember You" and "Brand New Day." She performed a free concert outside of the

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building The , also referred to as the for short, is the seat of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which governs the special wards, cities, towns, and villages that constitute the Tokyo Metropolis. Located in Shinjuku ward, the building was designed b ...

on December 22, 2007, as a part of the Beijing Olympics promotion campaign. Beginning February 2008, Ai toured the album extensively across Japan, performing 32 concerts at 28 venues on her ''Don't Stop Ai Japan Tour 2008''. The tour ended on May 27 and May 28, with two performances at the Nippon Budokan. The final concert was released to DVD on November 26, 2008. Ai appeared on music TV shows

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

on June 6, 2008, and

Bokura no Ongaku was a Japanese music television show which aired weekly from April 3, 2004 to September 19, 2014 on the Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, ...

on June 13, 2008, performing "Taisetsu na Mono."

Critical reception

''Listen Japans Morio Mori called the album splendid and impressive, and felt it was a signature album of Ai's. He was impressed by the collaboration track "Butterfly," calling it a "current day "

Lady Marmalade "Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, originally for Nolan's disco group. The song is famous for the repeated refrain of " ''Voulez-vous coucher avec moi''?" in French as part of the chorus, a sexually suggestive line ...

."" ''What's In?'' reviewers called "Brand New Day" an "awesome uptempo number" that brought images of marching, with the song's "tight beats and Ai's powerful vocals." They praised the single "Taisetsu na Mono," calling the vocals "warm" and the chorus work "profound." Tetsuo Hiraga of ''Hot Express'' felt that the lyrics of "One" were "deep, kind and straight forward." CDJournal reviewers described "Brand New Day" as having "funky and fat beats." Ai won one award for the videos from the album, and was nominated twice. She won the Best Buzz Asia - Japan award at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards Japan for "I'll Remember You," which was also nominated for the best R&B video award. "Brand New Day" was nominated for Best Female Video at the 2008

Space Shower Music Video Awards Space Shower Music Awards (old name: SPACE SHOWER Music Video Awards, abbr. to SPACE SHOWER MVA) are an annual set of music awards sponsored by Japanese Space Shower TV is a Japanese music television channel operated by Space Shower Networks, In ...

Chart performance

The album debuted at number four in Japan with 45,000 copies sold, underneath B'z,

Kazumasa Oda is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and composer. He was the leader of folk rock band Off Course from 1969 to 1989, and has done solo work since 1985. As the vocalist of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 70s and 80s. Th ...

and

Yui Aragaki is a Ryukyuan Japanese actress, model, singer and occasional radio show host. She has been selected several times as the most desired girlfriend and the most desired female celebrity face in Oricon's yearly survey. Early life She was born on J ...

. It was not as much of a long seller album as Ai's previous works, spending only two weeks in the top 20, and 12 weeks in the top 300. The album was certified gold by the

for 100,000 physical copies shipped to stores in its month of release. As of 2012, this album is Ai's fifth most successful release, and fourth most successful original album.

Track listing

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Don't Stop Ai''s liner notes booklet. Managerial *Yuki Arai – executive producer *Naoshi Fujikura – executive producer *Masahiro "Bob" Hasegawa – chorus coordination (#6) *Kaleb James – chorus coordination (#6) *Justin Kalifowitz – production coordination (#10) *Mie Kato – A&R administration *Kaz Koike – executive producer *Hitomi Miyamoto – artwork coordination *Kazutaka Naya – musician coordination (#6) *Kenya "Malu.k" Orita – chief producer (#7-#8, #15) *Koichi Sakakibara – artist management *Hide Yasuda – A&R administration *Yuko Yasumoto – production coordination (#10) 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 without ...

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 used ...

*Thomas Anderson – guitars (#7) *Erik Arvinder – strings (#8) *Anty the Kunoichi – vocals (#5) *Mats Berntoft – instruments (#8) *Darryl "Darylah" Farmer – instruments (#9) *Fredro – arrangement, production, programming (#8) *Gakushi – keyboards (#4-#5, #12-#13) *Kaleb James – chorus vocals (#6) *Jonas Jeberg – all instruments (#7, #15) *

Wornell Jones Wornell Jones (born November 14) is an American bassist. He has performed with many people and groups in the United States and Japan, including likes of Sly and the Family Stone, Koko Taylor, Chage and Aska, Hiromi Go, and Omega Tribe. He is ...

– chorus vocals (#6) *Martin G. Johnson – chorus vocals (#6) *Chieko Kinbara Strings – strings (#6) *

Maxayn Lewis Maxayn Lewis is an American soul singer, musician, songwriter, and producer. She began her career in the 1960s, under her birth name Paulette Parker, as member of the Ikettes in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. In the 1970s, Lewis sang lead in the ba ...

– chorus vocals (#6) *Mataro Misawa – alto flute, clarinet, flute (#6) *Pei Shantea – electric bass (#5) *Sphere of Influence – rap vocals (#14) *Argie Phine – chorus vocals (#6) *

– vocals (#5) *Melodie Sexton – chorus vocals (#6) *R. Stone Stafford – movie trailer voice (#1) * Keiichi Tomita – instruments (#6) *

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...

– vocals (#5) *Takuo Yamamoto – alto flute, clarinet, flute (#6) *

– rap vocals (#14) Visuals and imagery *Noriko Goto – stylist *Yasunari Kikuma – photographer *Misato Kumamoto – art direction, design *Akemi Ono – hair, make-up *Junichi Shimizu – design Technical and production *Bach Logic – arrangement, production (both original and remix) (#14) *Mats Berntoft – arrangement, production, programming (#8) *Simon Brenting – drum programming (#15) *C-murder – recording (#5) *The Company – arrangement, production (#4-#5, #12-#13) *Tom Coyne – mastering *DJ Hirakatsu – scratching (#2) *D.O.I – mixing (#2-#5, #7-#14) *Darryl "Darylah" Farmer – arrangement, production (#9) *Fredro – arrangement, production, programming (#8) *Ty Fyffe – arrangement, production (#11) *Takeshi Hirata – recording (#5) *Jonas Jeberg – drum programming (#15), production (#7, #15) *T. Kura – arrangement, production (#1-#3) *Marco – mixing (#15) *Lyuta Mazda – recording (#6) *Y. Morita – pre-production recording (#7-#12, #15) *OQD – recording (#2-#3, #5, #7-#15) *Ken Sato – recording direction (#6) *Troy Taylor – production (#10) *Keiichi Tomita – arrangement, instrument treatment, production, mixing, recording (#6)

Charts

Sales and certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2007 albums Ai (singer) albums Japanese-language albums Universal Music Group albums Universal Sigma albums Island Records albums Albums produced by Jonas Jeberg Albums produced by Ty Fyffe