''Aio Punch'' is an

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese singer-songwritter

Ai Otsuka is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit " Sakuranbo", which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks. A piano player ...

. It was released on March 26, 2014, through

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

Background

Following the release of her love-song compilation ''Love Is Best'', Otsuka would not release a new album under her real name for approximately four and half years. During this period, she released her first extended play under the name

Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

, entitled '' Love It'', while between 2012 and 2013, she served as vocalist of the band

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, and they released their first and only album in December 2012. In 2013, in order to commemorate Otsuka's tenth anniversary in the music industry, on March 19, 2014, Avex released the DVD and Blu-ray ''Love Is Born 10th Anniversary 2013''. This album became the second installment to commemorate such occasion. ''Aio Punch'' is a self-cover mini album, including six tracks with completely different arrangements, and new vocals. On her Official website, the songs were described as to been "reborn with a mature charm, creating a stylish atmosphere." Four of the six tracks included on the album are heavily influenced by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

elements, except the two songs re-arranged by Noboru Abe from

Studio Apartment A studio apartment, or studio Condominium, condo also known as a studio flat (United Kingdom, UK), self-contained apartment (Nigeria, Ghana), efficiency apartment, bed-sitter (Kenya), or bachelor apartment, is a small apartment, dwelling in ...

, which are influenced by electronic music. This was the first time Abe collaborated with Otsuka, and he would eventually be in charge of the sound of two studio albums for her in the future, '' Love Tricky'' (2015) and ''

Love Honey ''Love Honey'' is the eighth studio album by Japanese singer-songwritter Ai Otsuka. It was released on April 12, 2017, through Avex Trax. Development and concept For her eighth studio album, Otsuka aimed to create a record that blended the appro ...

'' (2017). All the songs on the album include subtitles referencing drinks, both

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

and non-alcoholic. One month before the release of this EP, an album titled ''10th Anniversary Commemorative “Aio Punch” Original Ver. Collection +4'' was made available on iTunes, including the original versions of the songs from the album plus four bonus tracks.

Promotion

The album was preceded by the digital single " Sakuranbo -Cocktail-", a re-arranged version of Otsuka's second single. The song was released in December 2013 on digital platforms, and was also performed live on

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

's online event ''

Toyota Wish The is an automobile produced by the Japanese automaker Toyota from 2003 to 2017. It is a compact MPV with standard three-row seating, and was positioned between the Toyota Corolla Spacio, Corolla Spacio and the Toyota Ipsum, Ipsum in Toyota's m ...

presents Kurohaku Uta Gassen'' on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Background

Promotion

Track listing

Charts

Notes

References