It's those synthesized strings, ffffu. (It kind of sounds like they used both real strings -and- synth ones though...)

This song is so sweeeet!

this.
I keep listening to beloved but eh :shrug it sounds like a random ayuish ballad to me.
Although I'm really impressed by her vocals O_O woah she's great.

She sounds absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, the song itself doesn't do much for me. It's wayyyy too J-pop.

Beloved is quite nice yet is it unoriginal and those cheap arrangements... argh. I really don't understand her. One day "she uses" beautiful strings and real instruments, the other there is just some terrible fake sounds. How can she be happy with this...
Yet I think I'm fine with the song. Well I just heard it once. I hated meaning of Love, but this one is fine IMO. Her voice is really gentle. But I don't really see any improvement from crossroad for example.
Unfortunately, this mini is shaping to be very uninspired, forgettable. Somewhere I don't understand why she is not trying to go further.

By the way, when did ayu take the vocal training? Before PoM? Did she speak about it on tweeter or TA? I want to read something about it as I missed it...

Not listening to anything til the album leaks in full in HQ but I like the "cheap" sound everyone seems to be complaining about. I heard untitled ~for her~ thrown out there and I loved that little instrumental in the background. Who... has that "cheap" sound too.

^ I am not sure if I would call it "cheap" more like plain sounding? It's simpler and toned down. Along the lines of untitled, Sweet Season, meaning of Love etc. it's not half bad ;) Not really a PV/single material imo. The song isn't bad though.

It should be a while before the tour, though I think she kept taking lessons during the tour as well. It's her TA posts if I remember well.

I'm totally agree with every single word! She should evolve.

And about the vocal training, yes, in one TA entry she said that during a rehearsal of PoM tour, her voice just stopped, she couldn't sing, so she called a vocal trainer (the one who teached her to sing for the first time so much years ago, I think) to take some lessons. Apparently, she started taking lessons from the most basic things.

After that, she could sing correctly.

I used to find these boring as well but lately I have been loving these type of songs from Ayu more than my favorites! Yes it's that "relaxing" feeling and I like that feeling. However, I hate meaning of Love so hopefully it's nothing like that hot steaming pile of garbage!!

It's weird how her tracks can really vary in quality. I mean progress is a standout in her discography and effing amazing in every single way but then we get songs like beloved that are extremely average and not even half as good.

The arrangement is nothing like meaning of Love, but I think the overall feel of the song is really similar.

This is one of the things that really turned me off to her music from NEXT LEVEL to Rock'n'Roll Circus. On those two albums, there's such a huge variation in song quality. There's one or two standout tracks on each album, and that's it. >_< (For me, at least.)

Up until maybe GUILTY, I seriously loved almost every single song she put out and thought that there was sooo little variation in the quality of the songs on each album.

I don't hear the cheapness in beloved. Honestly my first thought was if it may have been another arrangement by that American guy. If the strings are "fake" not all of them are because some make sounds uncommon from midi-strings - and they are background instruments in this song so I don't care, especially as we're getting an orchestra version.
IMO some of Ayu's best vocals, a really pretty arrangement(but not her best) and an average melody. Together creating a song that stands out for the technical aspects moreso than for the creative ones. However I'd call it different from what she released the last years, Who... may be closest.

meaning of Love was at least "Ayu-ish", beloved sounds more like a Yuna Ito b-side.

i love these type of ballads from ayu. sweet & simple. :heart "beloved" is so nice! i really do love it.

I think it's just very special in a subtle way, which is usually interpreted as boring or plain. It happens with a large handful of songs in Ayu's discography.

Am I the only one that loves Meaning of Love? Meaning of love is one of my favorite ballad on Rock n Roll Circus, so, if it has that mellow/bittersweet sound, I may like it. I wasn't a big fan of Sweet Season though. I'd prefer the 'climatic' songs like You were... Together when and Moon.

waiting for a translation of beloved.

I guess the same could be said about Secret (the song) which I absolutely loathe. The most boring song ever. Hope it's not like that.

I also LOVE Meaning of love, it is just so beautiful and one of my most played songs on the album

As a professional violinist, I give a wag of my finger to the beloved arrangement. Seriously, Ayu, I'll work for free. ;)

OH SHE DIDN'T!!!!