Probably some time in the evening? I think it's midnight the morning of the 27th right now over there.

My first impression - generic ballad that can't be compared to her best ballads like Carols, Together when, Jewel, Sakura, etc. Hell, I think even Life is better. Her voice sounds strained and forced in this song. Although lyrics are nice and I like the beginning of verses.

I hear this too and it makes this song even less refreshing for me.

A lot of her 'best' ballads also really sound generic too, so I'm unsure why people look back and think of those tracks as better than something that came out more recently.

The song is not impressive, the chorus isn't catchy, i don't like it, but i hope she could gain attention since this is a ballad with a good tie-in.

AMAZING!!! Definitely one of her best ballad...

not really sad, not too happy, but uplifting and give a hope....

i love the oriental piano part on opening and middle part of the song.

the verse a little weak...not the best but its good.

the chorus definitely very strong and emotional, the ending part of the chorus really build up the song.

love the interlude part.

the bridge is amazing!!! too bad that she not overtune the song and made the key higher from the bridge. but still its very touching.

the arrangement is a little cheap, but it works, and not really cheap towards the end.

9.5/10 and definitely one of her best ballad!

it needs PV so badly!

Shame that the song not promoted in a grand scale...

LOVE IT!!!! OMG!

HQ single cover

I think this may eventually get a retail release soon. (Announce it alongside CDL already, Ayu)

Omg I can see the guy taking the photo in her eye in the HQ cover. o_O

Agreed about first impression. Best ballads don't sound generic to me at all. Maybe generic as in predictable, but for me, predictable just means they got the nail on the head as to how the song should sound and it's full potential. HANABI and JEWEL are relatively easy to swallow, which makes them so pleasing to the ear.

The term "generic" gets thrown around a lot, and misused when describing ayus songs specifically. I would not say those epic ballads are generic, but predictable? Yeah, I might agree to that. Generic refers to something that isn't special, and something that any other artist could have released with identical results. The catalog of hits she has built over the years of those epic, perhaps predictable, songs have something to them that just screams ayu. Lately it hasn't been the case, hence the term generic being used in the correct manner. For me, when a song progresses and it hits in all the right places that you felt it was growing toward, that's perfection. But when it hits and you're all "oh, so this is how it's going to be? Ok, I think I can get into/used to this." Then it's already a battle to enjoy the song as much as you enjoy the former experience.

I LOVED IT!!! its so beautiful and omg I can picture the most beautiful PV for this song ever!!

does anyone imagine a PV something like alan's Red Cliff PV something super EPIC super beautiful traditional to the song omg XD it would be so beautifullll!!! full scale leggo ayu :P

the song is predictable in its arrangement but its still beautiful

It's a lovely song.

hell yeah ahahaha :cool

Eh, for me Carols, Together When, And Sakura are so not her best ballads. Don't even care for them much. So I can't really agree. If I compared this to forgivness maybe, that would be hard.

I do like this. It sounds good to me as her ballads usually do. Not a new fav. But quite good.

I think it's totally possible for a song to be generic within the context of Ayu's discography, especially so late in her career when she has 250 songs. Are "Together When..." and "CAROLS" generic in the world of JPop? Goodness no. They're VERY ayu. But are they generic among Ayu ballads? Absofrickinglutely. She has a ton of mid-tempo sweeping ballads that I can't immediately identify because they're all in a pool swimming around in my head. The ones with more distinctive arrangements within the pool of Ayu tracks - like HANABI with its echoing percussion & music box, JEWEL with its piano basis and "fuller" sound than teddy bear - I'm going to enjoy much more.

This one feels different than Together When..., CAROLS, MOON, part of Me, etc. Those songs are all in a similar key with a similar feel and outside of the intros they're not that different from one another, at least to someone with my music (both listening and performing) background - someone who listens to or studies different genres than I do will probably not feel the same way. But to me, Pray does stand out among them.

If you can predict how it will sound because it sounds like tons of other ballads, it is generic. You are welcome.

About Pray, I love how I couldn't really predict it's direction... It also sounds very... mature, I believe, would be the therm.

Is this the topic where we can discuss Pray?

I can understand why people think this is "generic," but it makes sense for being used in an anime. It's an epic, emotional ballad. Sounds like something you listen to in the aftermath of an epic battle that the good side had just won.

Apparently people hear HANABI near the end, I can sort-of understand where y'all coming from. But I don't care because it's gorgeous nonetheless omfg!

Pray isn't a song I'll be stanning for as with "Merry-go-round," but it is definitely gorgeous.

But in the sense that people use the term, it is as I described. I would say most of her best songs gave me a sense of "Ah, this is how it should be" when the song progressed. Feeling natural and somewhat predictable in a good sense, meaning the flow of the song set you up for what was to come. It's not just ballads. And it's not because it sounds like other songs. Pray is a bit all over the place, and instead of feeling like I was listening to a song, it felt more like a bunch of notes put together in a sequence that wasn't as fluid.

I really really love it!

true that this is surely from LOVE again, I can hear certain parts sounding so like Sakura and the guitar seems similar to Gloria, BUT hey the intro is epic for me, I got goosebumps, I can imagine the scene in the movie with the melody. her singing voice I really like so emotional, fragile <3

and really for those who are saying before that the arrangement is bland, NO its so rich with so many strings and I love how I can hear the flute I think which made me think the environnement in this movie (I've watched the Buddha 1 so it fits the movie background for me)

shes the queen of emotional ballad, it is worth the wait for me, you know if you say Ivy is the best but sometimes it does sound repetitive for me(no but im a fan of it too) even Sakura could be boring (also a fan of it really) so this is generic? like really?

Well, it's certainly a gorgeous song. Almost too gorgeous, in the sense that it's actually somewhat boring and MOR.

My first impression is that it's in the same class as HEAVEN and Voyage. Really beautiful ballads at face value, but unabashedly overproduced, schmaltzy, and trying way too hard to capture that "timeless" essence... and well, the sentiment just ends up feeling halfhearted for me.

JEWEL, walking proud, Key, TO BE, Dearest, Together When..., November, Wishing (that's right), no more words, Who... These are just a few of her ballads that best capture that distinct pathos that only Ayu can convey, IMO.

After finishing Pray, I was left with the exact same feeling I had after listening to HEAVEN after its initial leak back in 2005. Just incredibly unmoved.

People forget that some of her most popular ballads are actually pretty subdued and "folky." SEASONS, for instance. Dearest as well. I actually find the chorus of the latter song to be discordant (always have), but it's so inexplicably moving! And so Ayu!

tl;dr: Ayu falls flat doing grand-scale theatrical ballads.

My wish for now is High end budget for Pray PV...
I want symbolsym type PV with lot of creativity and meaning!

by the way

credit : Orient Extrême@youtube

very touching, Ayu looks so sincere and humble and pretty and very young