Tracklist
1. Power of Love
2. alone again
3. Anata ga Iru Kagiri
4. Urban Mermaid
5. HEARTBEAT
6. Colorful
7. Unite As One
8. Mahaloha
9. A Long Walk
10. Moon Rabbit
11. I’m Here
12. Wish
13. Tokyo Days
14. MY HEART WILL GO ON

WISH is Yuna Ito’s second album. Although her debut album sold and charted amazingly, WISH didn’t measure up. So far WISH has sold around 100,000 copies and peaked at #3 on the Oricon charts.

Power of Love is definitely an interesting piece, starting dramatically but changing to a more upbeat and optimistic chorus. While the first verse was serious and intense, the rest o f the song had somewhat of a gospel vibe to it. WISH starts with gospel influence and semi-ends with it in Tokyo Days. I don’t really like Tokyo Days. The gospel backing is pretty cheesy and kind of annoying. Still, if I can ignore it, the song is not bad. It’s a fun optimistic poppy piece and the chorus is pretty good.

One of my favorite tracks off the album, alone again is a mix of relaxing lounge and light R&B. It has a rather nice tempo and the melodies are quite pretty. I especially like the chorus and the instrumental interlude. Although the track moves at a pretty brisk pace, the whole atmosphere of the song really speaks the feeling of being “alone again.”

Anata ga Iru Kagiri is a gorgeous sweeping ballad sung with Celine Dion, who took notice of Yuna after Yuna sang a cover version of My Heart Will Go On for a Celine Dion tribute album. This track is also included at the end of the album as a bonus track. Needless to say, Yuna does a great rendition of this classic.

I still think Urban Mermaid is a rather cheesy song at times, but despite that it’s a nice pop track. For some reason WISH also includes the b-side of the Urban Mermaid single, Colorful. It fits right into the album, though, much better than Urban Mermaid does in terms of style of and feeling. Although I didn’t like this track too much when I first heard it, I’ve come of enjoy it a lot more than Urban Mermaid.

Unite as One is a beautiful ballad with lovely vocals. While it is very beautiful, it gets pretty boring though because it’s almost 7 minutes long! After it passes the five minute mark, generally, the entire thing just gets jumbled up in my head. The better ballad on the album would definitely be album’s namesake, Wish. While it’s not as powerful as some of her previous ballads, it does stand on its own (especially compared to Unite as One). The arrangement isn’t as sweeping, but it is still rather nice. The chorus is really beautiful and Yuna’s vocals are great.

I’ve never particularly liked I’m Here, but it’s grown on me a little. The verses aren’t bad, but the chorus needs work. Yuna just seems out of her league here with more aggressive songs like this.

I really like the chorus of HEARTBEAT. It’s really beautiful and I love the long notes. The arrangement is also very interesting and the strong beat combined with Yuna’s ethereal vocals makes a very enjoyable track. Moon Rabbit is also a great new track, albeit with rather…interesting lyrics. However, the beats and the instrumentation is all very well done, as are the melodies and Yuna’s vocals as usual, deliver a strong performance.

A Long Walk is most definitely my favorite track off the album. The distorted instrumentation is really interesting and coupled with the beats, I just can’t get it out my head! I also really enjoy Yuna’s ethereal vocals and the long moving notes sound really good. The part where Yuna sings “release me now” over and over again is a favorite part of mine too.

WISH is definitely a step up from HEART. Actually, I can’t remember any of the non-single tracks from HEART anymore, but WISH has quite a few stand-out tracks. While the entire package isn’t amazing, it is still an enjoyable listen.

Buy this album: CD only | CD+DVD

Tracklist
1. Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~
2. Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (U.S.A. Mix)
3. Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (Yuna Ito Solo Ver.)
4. Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (Instrumental)

I’ve always thought that Yuna Ito has one of the best voices in the J-pop industry and now I know, I’m not the only one! Yuna participated in a Celine Dion tribute album, singing “My Heart Will Go On,” and Celine Dion heard her version and was so impressed with Yuna’s vocals that she invited Yuna to do a duet with her. Thus, Anata ga Iro Kagiri ~ A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ was born. It was released on January 16, 2008 and peaked at #8 on the weekly charts. It has currently sold just over 21,000 copies.

I watched a video interviewing Yuna Ito and Celine Dion about their duet and Celine said that she was “amazed with [Yuna's] voice.” And Yuna said that she feels so honored and privileged to sing with Celine Dion because she had grown up listening to her songs.

As per usual of both Yuna Ito and Celine Dion, it’s a gorgeous power ballad. It starts out slow, weaving in both voices, and then building to the chorus. The arrangement is very beautiful, especially the strings and the percussion, because it gives that extra ‘umph’ that transforms it into something much more powerful. Both of their vocals actually blend together very well. The USA Mix is pretty much the same as the original mix, except Celine Dion’s vocals are more present in other parts. Yuna’s solo version just change Celine’s lyrics, but besides that, the arrangement is the same.

Buy this single: CD only

Tracklist
1. Urban Mermaid
2. Colorful
3. Mahaloha -Gira Mundo ‘City Lights at Night’ Remix-
4. Urban Mermaid -Instrumental-

Urban Mermaid is Yuna Ito’s 9th single and her first to have an extra CD+DVD version. It was released on October 24, 2006 and debuted at #10 on the Oricon weekly (though it reached #8 on daily charts), selling just over 12,000 copies in the first week. I especially liked Yuna’s image for this single; her bangs look amazing!

Urban Mermaid is a pretty standard optimistic pop song. The verse melody is rather nice and I like the chorus, but the line “”I’m a beautiful mermaid” sounds rather cheesy. The rhythm is pretty good and there’s a nice guitar solo in the middle. There’s nothing too special about this song, but Yuna’s vocals sounds great.

Colorful starts off with a harpsichord like instrument, pretty interesting. The whole arrangement is actually rather interestin, there are a lot of interesting and unexpected elements. And then half-way through, it turns into a trance song for a little while. I like the chorus melody and vocals are again really good.

I often wonder who names Yuna’s remixes; they are so….interesting. Anyway, the music in this remix is really nice, love the brass! I would have really liked this if it wasn’t a remix of Mahaloha. The new arrangement is great! Just not for Mahaloha; I don’t think the two go together at all. It’s worth a listen or two, mainly for the interludes, because the who Hawaiian themed song doesn’t go with brass.

Buy this single: CD only | CD+DVD

Happy NANA Day Everyone!! (Well not yet in the states, but since I’m overseas, it is for me. =) )

Tracklist
1. Mahaloha
2. Shining On
3. stuck on you -Reggae Disco Rockers Kiss & Tell Remix-
4. Mahaloha -Instrumental-

Mahaloha is Yuna Ito’s eight single. It was released on June 27, 2007 and peaked at #4 on the Oricon daily charts and #5 on the weekly charts. Mahaloha was a collaboration between Yuna and Micro of Def Tech. It has currently sold over 20,000 copies.

Mahaloha is such a great summer song. The term ‘Mahaloha’ was a term coined by Yuna and Micro, a combination of the Hawaiian worlds for ‘love’ and ‘thanks;’ naturally the theme of the song is love. It’s upbeat and has a folksy feel to it - especially with the clapping throughout the song. The melody is fairly simplistic and the chorus is pretty catchy - after listening to it for a couple of times I had the chorus stuck in my head for awhile.

Shining On has a jazzy R&B feel to it. I really enjoy the beat and the brass together here. Some of the lyrics are kind of random (like ‘good day sunshine’), but her voice sounds great at some points. I like the arrangement in this one, especially the interlude three-fourths of the way through.

The new arrangement of stuck on you takes out a lot of the brass that the original mix had. It also adds in the marimba and some other funky sounds. I’m not sure if I like this new arrangement. stuck on you is too much of a pop song to turn it into a “Reggae Disco Rocker” song, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Buy this single: CD only

Yuna Ito is a Japanese-Korean-American singer born in the States, but making her mark in the J-pop industry. She was cast as the powerful songstress Reira in a huge hit movie: NANA -Live Action- in 2005, which brought her huge fame. NANA is shoujo manga written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa and has completely enchanted readers around the world. The Live Action version was highly-anticipated and made millions. Her debut was kept a secret from the public, which kept everyone wondering - who is this Yuna Ito girl whose supposedly playing and singing the part of Reira, an extremely talented vocalist with the voice of an angel?

She’s had a fairly good career thus far. Her debut single (Sept. 7, 2005) ENDLESS STORY (Reira starring Yuna Ito) peaked at an impressive #2 on the Oricon charts, selling 467,000 copies. Her second, Faith/Pureyes peaked at #6, selling a mere 56,000 copies. Her third single, Precious, brought her back up a bit to #3 with 211,000 copies. Her fourth (stuck on you) and fifth (losin’) single, however did not sell as much. The second half the to NANA -Live Action- movie is coming out soon, as will Yuna’s sixth single Truth (Reira starring Yuna Ito).

I’m still in love with ENDLESS STORY and the b-side, JOURNEY is a great song as well, though they give off a bit more of a poppish sound than I would have though TRAPNEST (the band that Reira is part of in NANA) to be. Faith/Pureyes was not as good as ENDLESS STORY, but it would have been very difficult no matter what single, because Yuna recieved a lot of praise for her debut single. Precious is a really beautiful song, but the two b-sides were only so-so. I have to admit, I’m not much of a fan of stuck on you, but I do like the b-side, These Boots are Made for Walkin’ and its variation (actually, I like the variation more). I’m really disappointed in the sales for losin’, because I really enjoyed the single and the b-side, Stay for Love, was also great. I haven’t listened much to Truth, so there’s not much I can say yet. I’m very excited for the second movie! Yuna wasn’t in the first movie very much and had one line - in English. Reira plays a much bigger part in the second part - I can’t wait to see how she acts.

It’s been over a year since her debut, so here’s what I want to know - when’s her album coming out? Her sixth single will be released in only a few weeks, but as far as I hear, there’s no plan for a studio album. Hopefully, at the beginning of the year, we’ll hear something about Yuna’s debut album.