It's All Me, Vol. 2

It's All Me, Vol. 2 (stylized IT'S ALL ME VOL 2) is an extended play by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Ai. It was released on February 24, 2021, through EMI Records, as a follow-up to It's All Me, Vol. 1 (2020). Ai primarily collaborated with western producers and longtime collaborator Julian Le.

The lead and only single "Not So Different" was released in November 2020 with a remix release featuring Awich in December 2020. "Hope" was released in January 2021 as a promotional single.

Background and release
"When I [wrote Not So Different], I hadn't decided to put this song on "Volume two" [...] At that time, the Black Lives Matter movement expanded, and [I] decided to put [it] out now. I always want[ed] to send a message like this, but often I can't put out a song unless the timing is right."

- Ai reflecting on including "Not So Different" on It's All Me, Vol. 2 Celebrating her twenty-year anniversary in the music industry, Ai released a compilation album, Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best in November 2019 and an extended play, It's All Me, Vol. 1 in July 2020.

The EP's first single, "Not So Different" was released on November 25, 2020 with its music video premiering on the same day. In December 2020, Ai partnered with One Young World and released a special music video of the song in support of the project. A remix of "Not So Different" featuring Japanese rapper Awich was released on December 11, 2020 as a promotional single. The second single, "Hope" was released on January 30, 2021 with its music video premiering the same day. Ai partnered with deleteC, a non-profit organization in Japan aiming to support cancer treatment. A music video of the "Not So Different" remix was released on February 20, 2021, a few days prior to the EP's release on February 24.

Personnel
Credits adapted from album's liner notes and Tidal.

Musicians

 * Ai Carina Uemura – lead vocals, songwriting, production
 * Julian Le – production
 * Felisha "Fury" King – songwriting
 * Fallon King – songwriting
 * Bernard "Harv" Harvey – production
 * Scott Storch – production, songwriting
 * Blaq Tuxedo – production, songwriting
 * Avedon – production, songwriting, remixing
 * Rachel West – songwriting
 * Akiko Urasaki – songwriting, featured artist
 * Matt Cab – production
 * Toma – production

Technical

 * D.O.I – mixing
 * Mark Parfitt – vocal engineering
 * Randy Merrill – mastering
 * Keisuke Fujimaki – vocal engineering
 * Kesiuke Suwa – vocal engineering
 * Shiori Maruoka – vocal engineering
 * Yuki Arai – executive producer
 * Naoshi Fujikura – executive producer

Visuals and imagery

 * Ran Tondabayahsi – art director
 * Yousuke Tsuchida – designer
 * Hiroki Watanabe – photographer
 * Moemi Odo – retouching
 * Akemi Ono – hair, makeup artist
 * Noriko Gota – stylist
 * Akio Kawabata – design coordination
 * Shuma Saito – design coordination

Chart performance
It's All Me, Vol. 2 debuted and peaked at number 47 on the Japan Oricon weekly albums chart, charting for two weeks.