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 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.The Last Ai (CD). Ai. Island Records/Universal Sigma. 2010. UPCI-9038.
Musicians Ai Carina Uemura – lead vocals, songwriting George Tashiro – songwriting Uta – arrangement, production, songwriting, composition Namie Amuro – featured artist, vocals Cordell Broadus – songwriting DJ2High – composition Snoop Dogg – featured artist Miliyah Kato – featured artist, songwriting, vocals T. Kura – production AK-69 – featured artist, vocals, songwriting Jin – composition DJ Watarai – production, composition Masa Kohama – guitar Judith Hill – featured artist, vocals, songwriting Jeff Miyahara – production, songwriting Yuichi Hayashida – composition Boyz II Men – featured artist Nathan Morris – vocals Shawn Stockman – vocals Wanya Morris – vocals Suamana "Swoop" Brown – production, songwriting, instruments C. Mortimer – songwriting Alia Coley – songwriting, background vocals Erik Hammer – guitar Tim Lou – cello Geott Osika – bass Lisa Liu – violin Mark Robertson – violin Chaka Khan – featured artist, vocals Jeremey Soule – composition Andrew Bloch – songwriting Bruno Mars – songwriting Edmond Dunne – songwriting Jean Duval – songwriting Keinan Abdi Warsame – songwriting Phillip Lawrence – songwriting The Smeezingtons – production David Foster – songwriting Tom Keane – songwriting Cynthia Weil – songwriting Technical Ai Carina Uemura – executive production Ryosuke Kataoka – vocal engineering D.O.I – mixing DJ2High – coordination Okuda Supa – vocal engineering Travis "Shaggy" Marshal – vocal engineering Yasuaki Sakuma – vocal engineering Neeraj Khajanchi – vocal engineering Hiroaki Okuda – recording engineering Hiroki Soshi – recording engineering assistant Satoshi Hosoi – mixing Suamana "Swoop" Brown – vocal arrangement Masashi Kubo – mixing Masato Kamata – vocal editing Phil Tan – mixing Dave McNair – mastering Tremaine "Six 7" Williams – vocal engineering Tiger – vocal directionVisuals 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. + Chart performance for The Last AiChart (2010)PeakpositionJapanese Albums (Oricon)14
Release history + Release history and formats for The Last AiRegionDateFormat(s)VersionLabelJapanDecember 1, 2010OriginalLimitedVariousDecember 5, 2012OriginalUSM Japan
References