Light Ahead


Light Ahead is Japanese pop musician Iconiq's first extended play, released on September 15, 2010. The extended play features three songs from Change Myself, the lead single "Tokyo Lady," and three previously unpublished songs. The DVD features three music videos directed by Diane Martel, as well as footage from Iconiq's debut Japanese concert in May, 2010. On the cover she is shown turning round with some kind of headdress made of animal fur.

Background

The extended play is Iconiq's third physical release in Japan, after her debut album Change Myself in March 2010, and her first physical single "Tokyo Lady" a month prior. Change Myself saw moderate commercial success, debuting at #3 and eventually selling over 60,000 copies. "Tokyo Lady" also saw some success, debuting in the top 20.

Promotion

Much of the promotion of the EP centred on "Tokyo Lady," which was her fourth song used as the Shiseido Maquillage range commercial song, and the third commercial to feature Iconiq personally. The song was also used in a range of commercials for Recochoku, Weider and Jelly products and A-Nation 2010. Iconiq performed at A-Nation concerts in early August, including being one of the featured musicians on the Tetsuya Komuro-written theme song for the event, "Thx a Lot".
Three music videos were produced for the songs on the EP, including the video for "Tokyo Lady." The videos were all directed by veteran American music video director Diane Martel. One of these songs, the title track "Light Ahead," was used in commercials for Maquillage in September.

Track listing

Chart rankings

Charts Peak
position
Oricon daily albums10
Oricon weekly albums18

Reported sales

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from Light Aheads liner notes booklet.
Managerial
  • Akira Akutsu – advisory producer
  • Hidemi Arasaki – advisory producer
  • Ryuhei Chiba – general producer
  • Shinya Egawa – A&R assistant
  • Hideki Endo – advisory producer
  • Tomomi Fujisawa – A&R
  • Shinji Hayashi – general producer
  • Yasuto Hoyamatsu – artist management supervisor
  • Hiroshi Inagaki – executive supervisor
  • Hitoshi Itagaki – artist management chief
  • Nae Kodama – A&R desk
  • Takuji Koga – sound director
  • Takuya Konishi – artist management
  • Harumasa Maeda – advisory producer
  • Masato "Max" Matsuura – executive supervisor
  • Hiroaki Nishiyama – A&R supervisor
  • Nobutoshi Ono – Chief A&R
  • Yoshihiro Seki – executive supervisor
  • Hiroshi Shibuya – production co-ordinator
  • Shigekazu Takeuchi – general producer
  • Masatoshi Uchida – A&R supervisor
  • Akihiko Yamamoto – Chief A&R
  • Kyoko Yoshioka – artist management desk
Performance credits
  • Hiro – instruments
  • Iconiq – vocals, background vocals
  • T. Kura – instruments
  • Tomokazu "T.O.M" Matsuzawa – instruments
  • U-key Zone – instruments
  • UTA – instruments
  • Verbal – rap
Visuals and imagery
  • Masaki Hanahara – designer
  • Tadashi Harada – hair
  • Satoshi Hirota – stylist
  • Shiho Kikuchi – graphic designer
  • Yasuyuki Nagashima – producer
  • Ai Nieda – make-up
  • Yuki Otani – designer
  • Sonomi Sato – art director
  • Satoshi Saikusa – photographer
  • Nobuko Yamada – make-up
  • Koji Yamamoto – creative director
  • Yoshihiro Yoshida – graphic designer
Technical and production'