Nobody came out of 2020 feeling particularly cheery, even the most upbeat of Japan¡¯s pop acts. For Anna Takeuchi, however, all that pandemic-era uncertainty soon turned into artistic clarity.
She resolved to make her guitar-based pop ¡±more¡± ¡ª more upbeat, more optimistic, more aggressively cheerful. The result is ¡°Tickets,¡± Takeuchi¡¯s second full-length album, which was released via Teichiku Music last month. It¡¯s a set of 13 deliriously delightful tunes that find the young creator dabbling in gospel vocals, skittering beats and synth melodies. Plenty of J-pop artists make happy music, but few elevate their craft into a full-blown production like Takeuchi does across this collection.
¡°I¡¯m a positive and generally optimistic person,¡± the 23-year-old tells The Japan Times. ¡°Even if I write a sad song, I want to make sure at the end there is a bit of hope.¡±
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