Review: Aina Aiba Lead the way
/Leading the way to the start of something new!
Popular voice actress Aina Aiba made her long-awaited re-debut as a solo act with her single “Lead the way” this past week--but was it worth the wait?
Aiba originally made her debut with their track “夢の光、君の未来“ (“Yume no Hikari, Kimi no Mirai”) back in 2016. It was used for the theme of popular trading card game anime Cardfight Vanguard G. Aiba has since been attached to BanG Dream multimedia project as Roselia’s lead singer Yukina Minato and has been using her luxurious vocals for that project among others which have been under Bushiroad. “Lead the way” is currently attached as the opening theme for the current season of Cardfight Vanguard and is a return to form, with Aiba calling this her “0th single”.
The single released with three tracks along with the instrumentals and dropped with both a CD-only standard edition and a CD + Blu-ray limited edition. While the Blu-ray only included the music video for “Lead the way” and making-of for the music video, this review shall only focus on the single’s standard edition.
With dulcet chime ringing in the intro, thus begins our lead track “Lead the way”. Aiba’s softer vocals might come as surprise to fans who discover her through her time with Roselia, for her voice comes off as higher and at a more earnest vocal pitch. The compositions by Agematsu Noriyasu of music creative team Elements Gardens is on point, as his electronic and uplifting compositions work wonders, elevating Aiba’s vocals to places she hasn’t been able to reach before in previous works. One of the only blemishes to this track is that it spends most of its time building up to a major crescendo with a softer outro to follow—until it flat out ends. This in turn brings it to such a jarring halt of an otherwise amazing song and leaves listeners feeling empty and craving resolution.
Switching gears to the dance floor, Aiba leads us to her track “Everyday’s Evidence”. Keeping to a highly rhythmic beat, this is such a surprising departure from everything she has done before. This track bears a heavier dance influence with high paced compositions and Aiba shows off just how much her vocal range has improved with her time with Roselia through her ability to match the arrangement beat for beat. The track is fairly solid overall and I won’t mind if this is the style Aiba will continue with for future work.
Last but certainly not least, Aiba channels her intensity with “ParodoX”. This piece tests the more extreme points of her vocal range. While this is stunning, the composition was lacking, featuring unnecessary pitch switches constantly throughout the track. While some might think these switches might be vital because they do allow “ParodoX” to stand apart from the other two songs, others might find it distracting, thieving the limelight from Aiba’s vocals.
Overall, “Lead the way” is a solid re-debut as a “0th single” with several big pluses and a couple minuses. While some tracks aren’t doing anything groundbreaking for the voice actress-turned-singer genre, this a great base for Aiba’s next single.
★★★★☆
Ken’s rating: 4/5
Order your copy of “Lead the way” in the links below!
