Beyond the Sea ~ The Style. Edition

Tracklisting
1. SMILY
2. Biidama (ビー玉)
3. SMILY (Instrumental)
4. Biidama (Instrumental)

This is Ai Otsuka’s 8th single and it was released on May 11, 2005. The single reached #1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold 310,323 copies.

SMILY is a prime example of a cute and summery pop song. I thought it was kind of annoying at first because this is probably one of Ai Otsuka’s more frantic tracks, but it has grown on me a little bit since then. The catchy chorus and cute background vocals of the verses are the most charming aspects of this song too. Overall, SMILY is just a fun and carefree number that has its moments.

I definitely prefered the other A-side, Biidama, by a pretty big margin. While it is not as upbeat as the previous track, it makes up for it in terms of overall melody. The arrangement is funky and features various offbeat sounds, giving the music a playful character. It also helps that Otsuka’s vocals are considerably better too.

Overall Rating 

3½ stars