
Ai (singer)

, known mononymously as Ai (, stylized as AI or A.I. ) is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter. Ai spent her childhood in both Kagoshima, Japan and Los Angeles, California. She debuted as a singer in 2000, later moving to Def Jam Japan and rising to fame with her album "2004 Ai". Her single "Story" (2005) became one of the biggest singles of the 2000s in Japan, and was the sixth single in history to receive a triple million digital certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
Early life and education.
1981–2000: Early life, SX4.
Ai was born in Los Angeles in 1981. Her father is Japanese and her mother is American of Italian and Japanese descent. She moved to Kagoshima in Japan when she was 4, and went to elementary school and junior high school in Japan.
Ai was motivated to become a singer in her early teens, after singing at a cousin's wedding, having many people ask her if she wanted to be a professional singer, and hearing a gospel performance at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in 1993. After graduating from junior high school in Japan, Ai returned to Los Angeles for high school, enrolling at Glendale High School, however found high school difficult due to never formally studying English. After making it through the audition process, she switched to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, majoring in ballet. She became a member of the school's gospel choir. In 1998, she performed in a gospel choir at a Mary J. Blige concert at the Universal Amphitheatre, performing of "A Dream." In the same year, she appeared as a dancer in the music video for Janet Jackson's song "Go Deep."
In 1999, she joined an Asian girl group called SX4, who were produced by George Brown of Kool & the Gang. Ai was a member of the group for two years, and later in 1999 the group were offered a record label deal. While on her summer holiday in Kagoshima, she performed Monica's "For You I Will" on a local radio station, which led to her being scouted by BMG Japan. She decided to take the offer, and after leaving SX4 and graduating from high school in June 2000, moved to Tokyo and debuted as a musician later in 2000.
Career.
2000–2004: BMG Japan, move to Universal.
Ai debuted under BMG Japan with the single "Cry, Just Cry" in November 2000. Between then and November 2001, she released three singles, culminating in her debut album, "My Name Is Ai". However, the releases were not very commercially successful, and the album debuted at number 86.
In 2002 she moved to Def Jam Japan as the first female artist signed to the label. Ai has said that she felt more at home under Def Jam, as many of her co-workers shared her musical tastes. Her first album under the label in 2003 "Original Ai" debuted at 15 on "Oricon"'s album charts, and her second, "2004 Ai", debuted at number three. In 2004, she won the Space Shower Music Video Awards' award for Best R&B Video, with her song "Thank U."
After moving to Def Jam, Ai increasingly began collaborating with musicians, especially Japanese hip-hop and rap artists (though under BMG Japan, Ai had collaborated with Mao Denda, and Soul'd Out rapper Diggy-Mo'). She was featured as a rapper on the Suite Chic single "Uh Uh,,,", a collaboration between Namie Amuro, Verbal of M-Flo, and music producer Ryōsuke Imai in 2003. Other musicians Ai collaborated with in this period were Afra, Boy-Ken, Joe Budden, Dabo, Deli, Double, Heartsdales, Ken Hirai, M-Flo, Sphere of Influence and Zeebra. Ai's collaborations featured her either as a rapper or a singer.
2005–2010: "Story", rise in fame.
In 2005, Ai released the ballad single "Story", which became the biggest hit of her career. It was a sleeper hit, charting for 20 weeks in the top 30 in 2005 and 2006, however went on to sell over three million ringtones, one million cellphone downloads, and 270,000 physical copies. Ai later performed "Story" at the prestigious New Years music concert. Her next studio album, "Mic-a-holic Ai", was the best selling album of her career, being certified double platinum by the RIAJ.
Ai's first single of 2006, the ballad "Believe", was also a success: it debuted at number two, and sold more than one million ringtones. The song was used as the theme song of the Kenji Sakaguchi starring medical drama, "Team Medical Dragon". Her next two albums, "What's Goin' On Ai" (2006) and "Don't Stop Ai" (2007) were also greatly commercially successful, being certified platinum and gold respectively.
In 2009, Ai released her greatest hits album, "Best Ai". It was the first number one record of her career. In 2010, Ai collaborated with many artists such as Namie Amuro, Miliyah Kato, Chaka Khan and Boyz II Men on her 10th anniversary album, "The Last Ai".
To the end of Ai's career with Universal, her album sales began to decrease. "Viva Ai" (2009) debuted at number 10, and "The Last Ai" (2010) at 14 (despite her gold hit from the album, "Fake" featuring Namie Amuro).
2011–2016: "Independent", "Moriagaro" and "The Best".
In June 2011, Ai signed with EMI Music Japan. She collaborated with The Jacksons on December 13 and 14, 2011, at the "Michael Jackson Tribute Live" tribute concerts held in Tokyo. She performed the vocals in the third act for Michael Jackson's songs. She also performed and released the theme song for the event, "Letter in the Sky" featuring the Jacksons. In November 2011, Ai released the song "Happiness", a collaboration with Coca-Cola for their winter 2011 campaign. The song was a hit, being certified gold in two different mediums. The song revitalized the sales of her ninth studio album, "Independent", which has sold more than 60,000 copies. "Independent" was Ai's first album to be released internationally outside of Asia.
On April 1, 2013, EMI Music Japan was completely merged into Universal Music Japan as a sublabel by the name of EMI Records Japan as a result of Universal Music's purchase of EMI in September 2012. Ai's tenth studio album, "Moriagaro", was released in July 2013, serving as her first release under EMI Japan, although was not released outside of Asia. 
Ai's single "Story" was featured in the Japanese dub of the Disney film "Big Hero 6" in October 2014.
In November 2015, Ai released a compilation album, "The Best", to celebrate fifteen years in the music industry. The compilation album was reissued in mid-2016. A third compilation release of tracks with featured artists titled "The Feat. Best" was issued in November 2016.
2017-present: "Wa To Yo" and twenty-year anniversary.
Ai teased her eleventh studio album, "Wa To Yo" on social media in April 2017. Wanting to "convey the goodness of Japan" to the rest of the world and "the goodness of the overseas to Japanese people", Ai collaborated with several producers, artists and songwriters from both Japan and the west. The lead single "Justice Will Prevail At Last" was released in May 2017. "Wa To Yo" was released in June 2017 and was her second international album release outside of Asia. The album was reissued in October 2017, titled "Wa To Yo To". The album peaked at number 11 on the "Oricon" weekly chart.
In early 2019, Ai traveled to her hometown, Los Angeles, California, to record new material to celebrate twenty years in the music industry and for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Her fourth compilation album, "Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best", was released in November 2019, serving as her first international compilation release. Ai's extended play, "It's All Me, Vol.1" was planned to be released on the start of the 2020 Olympics, but instead was released on July 8, 2020 after the event was postponed to summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead single of "It's All Me, Vol. 1", "Summer Magic" was her first single to be released to the United States. Its Japanese version was included in an advertisement for the Amazon Echo. In November 2020, "Not So Different" was released digitally as the lead single for Ai's extended play, "It's All Me, Vol. 2". In December 2020, Ai partnered with One Young World and released a special music video of the song in support of the project. A remix of "Not So Different" featuring Japanese rapper Awich was released on December 11, 2020 as a promotional single. The second single, "Hope" was released on January 30, 2021 with its music video premiering the same day. Ai partnered with deleteC, a non-profit organization in Japan aiming to support cancer treatment. "It's All Me, Vol. 2" later was released in February 2021. In March 2021, Ai released her fifth compilation album, "Self Selection "Hip Hop"".
Other ventures.
In April 2011, Ai presented a music documentary, "Ai Miss Michael Jackson: King of Pop no Kiseki", that was recorded for "Music On! TV". In the documentary, she traveled to the United States and interviewed members of the Jackson family in their home.
For the American musical comedy "Glee"'s season two episode "Britney/Brittany", Ai dubbed the voice of Britney Spears in the Japanese release.
Products and endorsements.
As is standard for Japanese musicians, Ai has featured as a spokesman, or has her music featured, for many products. Ai's songs have been used as TV commercial songs, drama theme songs, film theme songs and TV show ending theme songs.
Ai has worked on four major Coca-Cola TV commercial campaigns, two featuring her own songs ("You Are My Star" (2009), "Happiness" (2011)) and two featuring collaborations (K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" (2009), Namie Amuro's "Wonder Woman" (2011)). She has also been featured in two Audio-Technica campaigns (using "My Friend (Live Version)" and "I'll Remember You", a campaign for Japan Airlines ("Brand New Day") and Pepsi Nex with "I Wanna Know."
Ai's most high-profile work for a TV drama was the theme song for 2006's primetime drama "Team Medical Dragon", "Believe", which was one of her greatest hits, selling over one million ringtones. Ai also sung the theme song for the drama's second series, "One." Ai also worked on the theme song for the 2010 primetime drama "", "Nemurenai Machi." Other program theme songs include the Japanese theme song for the American drama "Heroes" ("Taisetsu na Mono"), and the 15th ending theme for the children's animation "Crayon Shin-chan", "Crayon Beats"). In 2005, Ai's song "Alive (English Version)" was used as an insert song for the South Korean drama "Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang".
Many of Ai's songs have been used in films. Her "Story" song was remade (also with its English version) for Disney's box office "Big Hero 6" in 2014. She performed the theme song for "Departures" (2008), the winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009. She has also sung the theme songs for ' (2005), "Pray" (2005), "Lalapipo" (2009) and "Berserk Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the High King" (2012). Her music has been featured on the soundtracks of "TKO Hiphop" (2005), the musical film "Memories of Matsuko" (2006), in which Ai cameoed to perform the song, and ' (2007).
Personal life.
On March 6, 2013, Ai announced her engagement to Hiro, the leader and vocalist of the rock band Kaikigesshoku. The pair had been dating for 10 years, and wed in January 2014. On August 28, 2015, Ai gave birth to her first child, a baby girl. On July 24, 2018, it was revealed Ai was pregnant with her second child. Her second child, a boy, was born on December 29, 2018.