Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Sweet Vacation -- Ai ni Ikou ~I・NEED・TO・GO~ (あいにいこう)


Sweet Vacation was a Technopop duo comprised of Thai singer May and Japanese producer Daichi Hayakawa (早川大地). They were active between 2007 and 2011.

I mostly remember Sweet Vacation as one of Perfume’s similar Technopop acts that were trying to be successful back in 2009 and 2010. After some five years without giving the proper attention to them, I started looking at some old files and realised that a good portion of their songs were quite nice and deserved more love. One of them is the catchy and fluffy “Ai ni Ikou ~I NEED TO GO~”, which was released in July 2009 as the lead single for Sweet Vanation’s first full lengh album, “pop save the world!!”.

Unlike other contemporary Technopop acts like Aira Mitsuki and saori@destiny, or even Perfume in songs like “GAME” or “edge”, Sweet Vacation didn’t release hard hitting club-oriented Techno songs, focusing mainly on a typical J-Pop sound with a light and fun synth base. According to Daichi, in an interview for J-MELO, he chose working with J-Pop because he thinks of it as “sophisticated and fashionable” music (click here for the interview. It’s in English with Japanese subs, so everyone is a winner here). With that in mind, we can see that the “sweet” in the band’s name was not a mere ornament.

“Ai ni Ikou ~I NEED TO GO~”, for example, is a typical Sweet Vacation song. It’s sugary, happy, catchy and provides a very positive feeling on the listener. I confess that I can’t help but sing along during the chorus (well, I try). As for the video, it’s a nice complement that showcases what Sweet Vacation is really about. I remember that with all the dark-tinged Lady Gaga songs that were constantly popping on TV around 2009 and 2010, listening to Japanese Technopop acts like Sweet Vacation was something very refreshing.

“Ai ni Ikou ~I NEED TO GO~” reached #116 on the Oricon charts. Lyrics were written by Sweet Vacation (May and Daichi), while music and arrangement were done by Daichi himself”.

3 comments:

  1. Hi, Marcos.

    Although the vocals are different, there is a hint of PSY-S in the arrangement with "I Need to Go". It's a catchy enough song in that J-Pop vein as you said, and although it seems as if the duo has become inactive for now, I hope that May has been able to continue in the industry.

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    1. I didn't listen to enough PSY-S songs to conclude that, but I do know the Sweet Vacation project was inspired in 80s pop music and 00s club music. In my opinion, they were more devoted to 80s pop music than 00s club music, but whatever.

      As for "Ai ni Ikou ~I NEED TO GO~", I can't resit this ammount of catchiness. May is such a nice singer with very cute vocals. I don't know if she returned to Thailand of if she stayed in Japan. As far as I can remember, she was studying at a Japanese university and had very good grades, especially in her Japanese classes.

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    2. From what I read on the J-Wiki entry on the duo, May joined another management company so I'm not sure what the status of Sweet Vacation is at this point.

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