Angela Aki is half Japanese and half Italian-American from Hawaii (though she was born in Japan), hence her awesome English skillz. She originally debuted in America, but soon switched to Japan and was able to catch the attention of Uematsu Nobuo after the release of her ONE minialbum. She landed the theme to Final Fantasy XII, and the rest is history!

Angela’s signature style is as a singer-songwriter who mostly features her piano. If you don’t like the piano, then you probably wont like her no matter how good her voice is. If you’re like me, though, and love the piano, this is definitely an artist you don’t want to miss!

Anyway, the usual sampleness! Her music doesn’t really have much of a range. I hesitate to say it is limited, since that is normally a negative trait, but in terms of instruments used and typical style, hers is always identifiable. She also likes to remake songs and feature them on several releases. Still, she has some amazing songs, so give her a try if you haven’t before!

POWER of MUSIC: SD’s Angela BEST! 01. Kiss Me Good-Bye 02. MUSIC 03. This Love 04. Rain (Re-Arrangement) 05. サクラ色 (Sakurairo) 06. TODAY 07. たしかに (Tashika ni) 08. 孤独のカケラ (Kodoku no KAKERA) 09. On & On 10. Kiss From a Rose (Seal Cover) 11. Again 12. Louisiana 1927 (LIVE Randy Newman Cover)

Song reviews, youtube links, etc. under the cut!
01. Kiss Me Good-Bye (Watch Kiss Me Good-Bye LIVE on youtube)
As mentioned, Angela’s breakthrough song for the Final Fantasy XII game. I’m not a gamer, but the song made me want to play it… or at least watch all the cut scenes! A beautiful song, but I like some of her later ones better!

02. MUSIC
This is one of those songs that was remade (into POWER of MUSIC for the curious). I had trouble deciding which to use, but the cool piano bit at the beginning sealed this one. I like both though ^^

03. This Love (Watch This Love LIVE on youtube)
Now THIS song is probably my favorite. It was the first release of hers I actually bought, and remains prominent in my music playlists. It is so beautiful and poignant, and the tiny bit of English just gives it a giant punch of power and “wow”-ness!

04. Rain (Re-Arrangement)
Aaaaand another that has been rearranged! I like this one better, because the piano is cooler I think XD; I love rain, so this song is awesome to me, haha!

05. サクラ色 (Sakurairo) (Watch Sakurairo PV on youtube)
The PV for this song is freaking gorgeous, and it is a little different than the other songs as far as the composition goes.

06. TODAY
The title song from her TODAY album, and a bit different. Took me a few listens to like it, but now I think the pace is really good. You can get a pretty good head-bounce going, a bit rare for Angela songs…

07. たしかに (Tashika ni) (Watch PV on youtube)
And I say that, but then this song is also really upbeat and fun. Silly me!

08. 孤独のカケラ (Kodoku no KAKERA) (Watch Kodoku no KAKERA PV on youtube)
This song I think represents a maturation for Angela. It reminds me a bit of Kiss My Good-bye, but in a different way than just because of the piano. She incorporates a bit of new type of instrumental, and it really has a good flow and sound.

09. On & On
Another cool piano opening. This song also sounds really familiar… I can’t think of the other song if it IS a remake though, so I’m forced to conclude I’m going crazy. Wonderful.

10. Kiss From a Rose (Seal Cover)
This song, besides being a cover of an awesomely amazing song by Seal, also really shows off Angela’s song-writing skillz (no, it is NOT possible to write that word without a “z”.) because most of the song is in fact in Japanese, and not English. So if you ever wondered what it sounded like in Japanese (I know I always have!) wonder no more! XD;

11. Again (Watch PV on youtube)
This was also a cool PV, and another cool piano song (are you… sensing a theme here?) Umm. Not really much different from the rest. Just.. you know… sounds good. Chorus is fun. Umm… yeah.

12. Louisiana 1927 (LIVE Randy Newman Cover)
For those of you who know me or have been here for a long time, you will probably easily figure out why I included this song. Besides showing off her awesomeness live, it is also a really special song that almost never fails to make me cry. I live in New Orleans, if any of you are scratching your heads. This hits really close to home for me.

Links for the interested:
Angela Aki’s Official Site
Official Tofu Records Page (English)
Angela’s wiki page
Cori-chan’s Angela Aki Lyric Page
Angela Aki Fanlisting
- LJ’s Angela Aki Comm.

So, who likes her! (Sorry for the lateness… travelling today, so I didn’t get to internet until now!)