''Unlimited'' (stylized as ''UNLIMITED'') is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Shouta Aoi , is a Japanese singer and actor. Under the stage name Showta (stylized as "SHOWTA."), he debuted as a singer with the song "Negaiboshi" in 2006 and released his first studio album, ''Eve'', in 2008. In 2009, he left his agency and briefly releas ...

and his second overall. The album was released on April 22, 2015.

Background and release

''Unlimited'' is Shouta Aoi's debut studio album and the first under his voice acting stage name. The album compiles songs from his previous singles, "

Virginal The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...

", " True Hearts", and " Himitsu no Kuchizuke", as well as his work in the stage play ''Margarita: Sengoku no Tenshi-tachi'', along with seven new original songs. The album was released on April 22, 2015 under the B-green label. The album was also released in two different limited edition versions with alternate covers and DVD exclusives. The limited edition A version's DVD exclusive contains the music video for "Unlimited" and making-of footage, while the limited edition B's version includes a short documentary and a dance lesson for the choreography featured in "Unlimited."

Music

Aoi called the album his "crystal" and created it with an image of a "jewelry box", where each song was a "jewelry hunt", with listeners finding something new with every song. He worked with

Elements Garden Elements Garden is a Japanese group of music composers, or a "music production brand" as they call themselves. They generally produce music for video games, anime and recording artists. They are attached to Aria Entertainment. The group was form ...

and requested them to produce songs where "multicolored gems would pop out when opened." The album's title track, "Unlimited", was produced by

Junpei Fujita is a Japanese arranger and composer, and a founding member of Elements Garden. His work includes composition and arrangement of some tracks of singles and albums of Nana Mizuki including albums ''Hybrid Universe'', ''Ultimate Diamond'' and ''Impac ...

and is a "digital-ic" dance tune that represents the key to Aoi's future activities. Aoi described the song as a duet with himself, where one side of him looks towards important events in the future while the other side of him looks at himself with a lack of self-confidence. The music video was shot over the course of two days and used four back-up dancers, two of whom previously appeared in the music video for " True Hearts." In the video, Aoi wore a costume he requested to contain the meaning of his past and future self. The dual concept also carried over to the CD cover shooting, where he is pictured "slowly removing" himself from his "past days." Aside from seven new original songs, ''Unlimited'' also contained Aoi's singles previously released in 2014, including "

", the ending theme song for ''Break Out''; " True Hearts"; and " Himitsu no Kuchizuke." The album also contains Aoi's work in the stage play ''Margarita: Sengoku no Tenshi-tachi'', with "Tenshi no Inori" was featured as the theme song as well as a CD version of the song "Sora wa Tomei na Chikai."

Reception

The album debuted at #7 in 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 Nov ...

Weekly Albums Chart and

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

Background and release

Music

Reception

Track listing

Charts

Notes

References