Dream was Yuna Ito’s 3rd album. It was released on May 27, 2009 and reached no. 7 on the Oricon Weekly Charts with 19,528 copies sold. The track LOVE MACHINE GUN was used as an insert song for the cell phone novel Tenshi no Koi. Ima Demo Aitai yo… was used to push the album.

Tracks:
1. love you
2. Ima Demo Aitai yo… feat. Spontania
3. Brand New World
4. Koi wa groovy×2
5. trust you
6. BAILA BAILA
7. BREEEEEZIN!!!!!!!
8. miss you
9. LOVE MACHINE GUN
10. No one else
11. Body

Review:
Leave it to Yuna to being her album with a track names love you. And contrary to what I thought, this song isn’t a ballad. It’s very much alive and up-beat. It has such a different atmosphere when compared to her other songs, that and different music. There’s more of an emphasis on the percussion for sure, it’s just blaring throughout the entire song. There’s some brass, but the percussion is just so overpowering. Despite the repetitive music this song does sound great. During the bridge it developed a bit of an island vibe, giving it some variety. There’s a lot of English but that’s part of it’s charm I guess. I love you I do…

Definitely one of the hottest tracks on the album is by Ima Demo Aitai yo… It was originally released as a digital single back in March and it’s currently being used to promote the album. It’s an R&B infused ballad with an elegant array of strings, both classical and oriental, and underlying synth. It’s a beautiful example of a fusion between traditional and modern music. Anyway as far as vocals go Yuna sounds amazing, lots of power and emotion, and Spontania was actually good too. There music just flowed very smoothly altogether. Best collaboration ever.

Sounds like she’s getting all of the up-beat songs out of the way early, especially with Brand New World. It was originally the B-Side on trust you and I’m ecstatic to see that it’s on the album. It’s an extremely up-beat pop song, but at the same time it’s no bubblegum thankfully. More like light synth pop with some occasional strings. It’s pretty infectious too, especially with all the English. And the distorted vocals towards the end were amazing!!!

Continuing with the up-beat songs is Koi wa groovy×2. It’s by far one of her most up-beat songs, as well as the loudest. Besides all that and the nanananana’s Yuna really displays some great vocals, loud and powerful. As far as the sound goes it’s pretty much a pop song, keyboard chords, percussion, some brass, and lots of catchy beats. And it was an island vibe to it. Pretty catchy and unforgettable, just don’t overdo it.

I’m not sure what she was thinking when she placed trust you right after Koi wa groovy×2. On one hand you have a spectacular ballad and the other an extremely up-beat pop song, contradictory but that’s Yuna for you. Despite the bad placement I have to say that I still love this song. It’s rather traditional for a ballad featuring the strings, piano chords, and naturally some R&B beats. The background vocals actually fit well along with Yuna’s own vocals, which were actually quite powerful at a few points. Spectacular and dazzling ballad.

The second new song on the album after a while is BAILA BAILA. Not sure what she was going for as far the song goes but music wise it’s extremely island driven. Lots of brass that simulate island music, Caribbean specifically. Sadly that’s the most exciting thing about this song. After the music it’s pretty ordinary. I did like her vocals and how refreshing the music sounded, whistling and acoustic guitar, but that’s it. Not much of a melody either sadly, kinda hinders the whole thing.

For some reason unknown to me I just LOVE BREEEEEZIN!!!!!!!. Perhaps it’s the island arrangement that’s up-beat. Or it’s the extremely infectious melody and lyrics during the chorus, probably the chorus. I just love the sound of it for some reason. Switch this with trust you and the album flows a lot better.

After mostly pop songs we finally come to another ballad. miss you has actually grown on me quite a bit. It’s still a solemn and somber ballad but this time it seems more beautiful and lovely. The acoustics somehow resonate with the vocals better along with the accordion. And now I can appreciate the melody more than ever. It sounds a lot better after a few months.

Even though LOVE MACHINE GUN has been out for a while, being and insert song for the cell phone novel Tenshi no Koi. I really wasn’t all that excited about it but now that I’ve heard it I have to admit that it’s just that amazing. It does take a while to get used to but after the first minute this song sounds superb. I guess she decided to tackle the rock genre this time because she’s used the guitar a lot, along with the percussion and brass. The vocals are muffled a little just like Ayu in Rule. But at the same time there are points where she sings unaltered, and when she does it sounds impressive and uplifting. The chorus is a mixture of catchy English and Japanese that really make it stand out, and the melody is top notch. It’s got to be her greatest album-only track.

At this point I’m pretty sure that Yuna can’t hear. It’s one thing to misplace maybe one ballad but three is too many. She really missed it with No one else. On the bright side she does make up for it with this enchanting R&B flavored ballad. Maybe I shouldn’t say R&B but to some extent it does sound R&B, but it’s more string drive with various acoustics and beats. It’s actually a very epic song that’s just phenomenal when it comes to arrangement, especially during the bridge with the guitar riffs and the awesome vocals, she really surprised me. It’s a shame that it’s a little too short though.

More hip and far more dance oriented is Body. The dance music is euphoric, synth oriented and has an island vibe, a toxic combination. The rhythmic claps are a little annoying but it does grow on you. I’m not entirely thrilled with the talking instead of singing but she does make it sound good somehow. I find the music to be relaxing and at the same time energetic in its own way. The chorus was the highlight of the song and did it sound fantastic. It’s actually quite catchy. She’s tackled yet another genre and that suites her.

I’m sure the majority of people were wondering why Body was so long. In case you didn’t know it was because of groovy×2. It’s actually a hidden track and it’s sung by none other than Cristine Ito aka Yuna Ito. After a lengthly intro it pretty much turns into the English version of Koi wa groovy×2. Same instrumentals and everything but as with most Japanese songs that are covered the lyrics are changed. And like most covers this song falls flat. It’s one thing when you take the melody and alter it and change the music like Bentley Jones but when you just replace English with Japanese it just stinks. Anyone remember BoA’s GoT???? Remember who corny it was??? Well think that but more up-beat and pop. Epic failure.

Overall Review: Dream was an AMAZINGLY CHEERFUL HAPPY album! Okay perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit, but it was a great album. For my first album from Yuna Ito I have to say that I’m impressed. Overall there’s such an overwhelming sense of celebrations and a festival mood, I realize it’s worded awkwardly but you get the general idea. It’s just a very up-beat festive album with a few ballads here and there. The strongest asset was the fact that the majority of the songs were generally pop and up-beat, and most had some island vibe. However the placement was just terrible. I mean it’s one thing to misplace a ballad, but it’s worse when it’s after an extremely joyful and up-beat song. And not only once but twice, or three times depending on how you look at it. If the ballads were grouped together with Ima Demo Aitai yo… beforehand it would’ve been a lot better. As for the ballads, they were spectacular, and so heart wrenching at the same time. So despite the horrible placement this album was phenomenal!!! Can’t wait for her next release.

Final Grade