Although I still look at old episodes of Haro!Moni I had stopped looking for new information about Ai Takahashi since most of her work seemed to be revolved around plays and such (which I can’t find, are they even redcorded?). Every once in a while I do stop and look for information but I had not found anything too interesting aside from photos and the occasional appearance on a show (although they were usually bellow five minutes). Recently she has become more active though and in some rare instances I have managed to find some full program appearances on variety shows and just recently on the J-melo show where she not only met with fans but also sang along side Risa Niigaki. For those who have not seen it I highly recommend you see them:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvka66_2012-12-02-j-melo-in-europe-part-1-with-ai-takahashi-and-risa-niigaki-eng-subs_people?search_algo=2#.UQm_Fr8-L0s

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvqpse_2012-12-09-j-melo-in-europe-part-2_people?search_algo=2#.UQm_GL8-L0s

But these are not the recordings I was mentioning, after all these appearances were not released until the last weeks of 2012. No the recordings I am talking about are actually much more recent. I actually envy those who were able to attend her show quite a bit. Not only did the fans get to meet her, but they (to my understanding) also received a signed calendar as well as actually hearing Ai chan singing some old songs that we know and love as well as some covers from not only new Morning Musume songs but also from other artists even a special song that was composed by LinLin! and the lyrics written by of course LinLin chan and Ai chan. Although that song was definitely for me the highlight of the whole fan meeting (which was named “CRoss RoAD”, sounds cool doesn’t it?), another thing that captured my attention and really made me happy was hearing Ai chan covering a song by Utada Hikaru.

here are some of the song recordings:

Ai’s cover of “Hate You” (2NE1)

Ai’s classic “Yume kara samete”

Ai’s cover of one of Morning Musume’s singles after her graduation (personally I really love this version, although I would like to here what this would sound like with all the Platinum Era)

Ai’s cover of Utada Hikaru’s “Automatic”. I guess you guys probably do not know but I am a big fan of Utada Hikaru, like with all fans out side of Japan I first learned about her from her song “Hikari” or in my case “Simple and Clean” that was featured in the Kingdom Hearts game (another thing I follow). In any case, hearing Ai Takahashi covering songs from probably my favorite singer is just absolute magic. I really love the way she handled it. I really can’t express how big a deal this is for me.

And this last video is the song composed by LinLin the youtube video is naming it “Forever Loving You” but I hear some are saying it is still unnamed (I’ll have to study this up at some point). This was an absolutely amazing song. The melody is just so soothing and relaxing, add to that Ai chan’s amazing vocals and you have one of the best songs sung by Ai. I was actually very surprised at how touching it is (although I do wish I understood all the lyrics). What do y0u guys think?