Oct 24 2007
Thoughts on Aika
It’s been kind of a roller coaster with Aika. At first, I was not impressed. Weird looking girl with a bad haircut in a grey sweatsuit who can’t really dance or sing. Nice….
Then her first single came out, and hey! She looked adorable! She sounded good on her lines! Okay, I could get to like this girl. Again, in Kanashimi Twilight, I really liked how her line sounded in the song, and while not the best dancer out there, she certainly wasn’t standing out as a bad dancer either.
Then came watching footage of the Sexy 8 Beat concert, and I was quite disappointed in little Aika. Some of her lines in the live performance were downright cringe-worthy, and though I wanted to like her, my opinion dropped quickly.
Finally, Onna ni Sachi Are comes out, and I’m loving the new longer hair. She sounds good on the recording, but she usually does, so I’m not that impressed. Then, live performances start to come out, and she’s actually singing live! And in tune! And then in a fan recording of the recent Summer H!P concert, she hits her line in KT spot on. Yay!! I feel free to like her again. She still needs to work on her live performance skills, but she’s proven that she is at least capable of singing well live, so I’m confident that she will continue to improve.
In summary, Aika wins the award for fastest improvement. Not to be crude, but you can tell that she is seriously busting her ass out there to get better at dancing and singing. I’m also giving her the award for most potential. She has a very strong voice, which is something that you can’t teach, and as she continues to learn better control I think we can expect to hear great things from Aika.