Choice is Yours (Japan Version)

Crash (Track 1) announces AAA the boy band with a strong and catchy dance pop melody hardened with a pounding intro, potent beats, synth-rock undertones, and rap interlude. The whole pop-on-the-rocks music and arrangement makes Crash sound a lot like something KAT-TUN would put out as a single, which is a rather unexpected association.

Choice is Yours continues with the absolutely fabulous Hasta la vista (Track 2). Is it possible to dislike a song that delivers such poetic pearls of wisdom as "Hasta la vista la baby / A'spera rastro journey"? I think not. Chockful of giggle-inducing lyrics, the fast-tempo song sways to a funky fusion of hip-hop beats and Middle Eastern twangs that add up to a dangerously catchy track. If you find yourself humming "Hasta la vista la baby" out loud, don't say I didn't warn you. In comparison, ZAPPER (Track 3) is more of a prototype light J-pop dance number with a retro tune, but the cheeky arrangement of guitar plunks and zapping sounds snazzes things up considerably. Crying Freeman (Track 4), however, is not much more than a filler uptempo ballad that reveals the group's vocal weaknesses.

The pace picks up again with the hollering hip-pop number BET (Track 5) written and composed by member Hidaka Mitsuhiro. If Crash channeled KAT-TUN, then BET could pass as the next hit from Korean boy band Big Bang, with some Nelly circa 2002 thrown in. The rapping and harmonizing sections are actually arranged and performed quite well here, making it easy enough to like this energetic track. AAA ends the album with a straight-out bubble gum ballad, Akireru kurai Wagamama na Jiyuu (Track 6). As slow songs go, Akireru is as safe as they come with a standard melody, standard arrangement, mid-tempo R&B rhythm, and some truly cheesy lyrics. But since there are actually precious few such songs in the AAA repertoire, Akireru makes for an agreeable break from the group's usual light and fast fare, and it may be one of AAA's best slow numbers in terms of singing.

Choice is Yours is an interesting aberration from AAA, and not just because the girls aren't around. Though still working with genre-fusing uptempo dance tracks, the album generally pitches a harder pop sound than the group's usual light eurobeat style. The synth-rock and hip-hop of Crash and BET, for example, are a lot more prominent than in their previous songs, such that while the AAA elements are still there, they accent rather than define the tracks. I expected Choice is Yours to basically just sound like AAA without the girls, so it's a pleasant surprise that the guys did use the opportunity to push some new sounds for the group.