The Last Ai (stylized THE LAST A.I.) is the eighth studio album by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Ai, released on December 1, 2010, by Island Records and Universal Sigma. The album features guest appearances and collaborations from Namie Amuro, Snoop Dogg, Kato Miliyah, AK-69, Judith Hill, Boyz II Men, K'naan and Chaka Khan.
Four singles were released from The Last Ai. The lead single, "Fake" was certified gold by the RIAJ, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 while "Still..." and "Stronger" charted within the top 30 of the Japan Hot 100.
Background
The reason for giving the meaningful title "Last Ai" is that "I can't say yet"...Would you like [me] to stop singing? That's not the case! I want to aim for the Grammy Awards, and I want to send music to the world including Japan, so I'm relieved for the future.
Ai previously released her 2009 compilation album, Best Ai which became her first album to chart number one on the Oricon Japanese Albums chart. Her 2009 studio album, Viva Ai, also performed well commercially.
In September 2010, the title of the album was revealed and was slated for release in December later that year. With the release of "Stronger" featuring Miliyah as the fourth single and its B-side track featuring American rapper Snoop Dogg, Ai revealed multiple artists from the west coast would be featured on the album. In November 2010, the track listing and album cover was revealed.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from album's liner notes.
Musicians
Technical
Visuals and imagery
- Toshiya Ohno – art direction
- Kenjiro Harigai – designer
- Kyosuke Ochiai – coordination
- Yasunari Kikuma – photography
- Noriko Goto – styling
- Akemi Ono – hair, makeup
- Akilla – tattoo designer
- Hitomi Miyamoto – artwork coordination
Chart performance
The Last Ai debuted and peaked at number 14 on the Japanese Oricon Albums chart, charting for eight weeks.
Release history
References
