Wish By Yuna Ito – Of Moon Rabbit, Urban Mermaid, And A Titanic Theme Song

Strange to say, I thought Yuna Ito’s 2nd album “Wish” is much better than her debut “Heart” in so many different ways but yet, the sales figure so far doesn’t agree with me.  Perhaps the movies “Nana” and “Nana 2” that she has acted in and her accompanying soundtracks did help to push the sales of her previous album.  Usually, Cynthia cringed at almost all my Japanese collection screaming, “She doesn’t hit it, she doesn’t hit it” (i.e. pitchy problem especially at high notes).  This time, as I yet again tortured her with yet another Japanese album and surprisingly, she screamed – in excitement I suppose – “Yes!  She hits it!  Is she the same girl who sang …?”

Of course, having showcased the last track of the album the other evening with Yuna Ito’s own interpretation of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” certainly helps.  It is a difficult song to pull it off.  It is big (Celine Dion!) and it has a wide vocal range.  Yuna Ito can easily be one of the better J-pop singers (I do have lots of respect to the Japanese jazz singers by the way) and being born in America, her English pronunciation is a notch above her peers.  It seems to me that her vocal skill has improved since her last album.  Her middle voice in “Wish” is richer, more pleasant to the ears.

Her duet track with Celine Dion “あなたがいる限り ～A World to Believe In～” is perhaps the biggest track of the album although my personal preference would be the more memorable tracks towards the second half of the album: “A Long Walk”, “Moon Rabbit”, “I’m Here”, and “Wish”.  From what I have read, Celine Dion was impressed with Yuna Ito’s interpretation of her Titanic theme song and Dion proposed the idea of a duet with a song taken from her latest album.  I am not a fan of “A World to Believe In” though I appreciate the novelty.  “Wish” falls under the category of some tracks work for some but not others.  Some songs tend to have unusual key switch and also between minor and major.  You will have to sample the album to see if it is your cup of tea.

Below is the duet track “あなたがいる限り ～A World to Believe In～”.  Probably a rare moment to hear Celine Dion singing Japanese.