I knew about Again. But that's great news. I checked Ai Otsuka and such artists, but even if they were to release anything, it wouldn't threat Ayu.

The covers look a bit better on a black background :) The colors are more vivid. This might give a better idea on how the actual single would look like when you hold it in your hands, since the printing quality would be good and you won't hold them against a white background.

Now we'll have to wait for the HQ pictures and we can really imagine what it'll be like :D

http://img515.imageshack.us/i/sunriseblack.jpg/

This was morning musume's single from May's last week.

137　*81　***,591　*53,634　**4　モーニング娘。 「しょうがない 夢追い人」

They don't stand a chance against ayu and Crystal Kay isn't a competition as well as it seems.
morning musume and crystal kay could be in a competition for the #2 though.
unless if there will be surprises of course.

supercell might do well, since they're a pretty ~rising star~ production group.

And as for MoMusu, they have 4 versions this time around with different coupling songs.. so expect slightly higher sales in the 50-60k range for their first week.

See her abs in this picture:
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...l/ayu_rule.jpg

This picture IS NOT photoshopped and it is from the rehersal to RULE PV.
Her bellys looks so good! And that time she hadn't started the tour yet.
3 months of constant exercising during her concerts definitely would show some results!!!

^Doesn't mean they aren't photoshopped. It just proves they didn't have to photoshop them at all. And that's what's annoying. I'm not saying they created them, like her breasts, I'm just saying that they did so much work to them that they look like plastic.


So anyway, isn't this some big Morning Musume release or something?

or is it just a single?

With any star or celebrity, photoshop is almost a certainty O_O; And I am actually NOT photoshop savvy whatsoever, but even I can see almost everything they shopped in such a small photo... I'm not so much annoyed with the photoshop as I am with the background and her pose/expressions. But it is what it is. I just hope HQ versions will bring the better qualities of this cover to light...?

:( why are the covers so cheaply done? i agree with most of you guys who said it looks bland, badly photophopped, ayu looks bored... hence i don't need to go into detail again. i completely agree.

i was expecting something different and interesting, because of the pictures of ayu's diary. she can have anybody in the world shooting a cover for her, so WHY OH WHY does she settle for the most bland solutions?? SADFACE!!

these covers are not selling the music on it IMO.
but yeah, music matters most :) ayu, call me to shoot your next cover please ;p

40th single, but it probably won't beat Ayu unless it somehow sells over 90k [which they haven't hit since 2004], and not even in the first week! Usually it would be at like 70-80k at most. Don't worry.. she has barely any competition, I think.

I believe you already said that.

And, it's not illegal.

But when it's that cheaply done, maybe it should be. Jbrat is right.

@Anthony: okay I see. Well...I hope her single sells...I don't know what to expect for the first week...but I expect like 150k total.

Because it's her first summer single since glitter [110k+ first week] and because this seems to be a big single in terms of musical quality, I'd say 160-170k is possible.

I guess we can just see it.

@Anthony: That makes sense...I guess it could sell as much as glitter overall. That's a pretty good comparison.

First week...yeah 100k - 120k...and then the sales after that.

The way her sales have been going, I'd be very surprised if she could match those.

Ok the images are really small so its hard to tell.. so take this for what its worth.. But I will give my point of view from a photographers perspective. (having a lot of experience with SLR cameras and PS)

I think what makes the photo look so plastic is that the shades and colours are so unreal. There is no real consistency with where the shadows fall.. A lot can be done with lighting.. My guess is that they used a flash for the photo. The flash can be very helpful if its done right (in this case I would not of pointed it directly at the subject) But I think they probably had good lighting to begin with and the flash acted as a filler removing all the natural shadows making the image look flat and removing the dimension. The contrast of the image also looks very off... This could also have been a result of the flash or photoshop. Flash images look very fake to begin with (its a very rude lighting and hard to work with) so it takes very little to make the image look plastic and overworked. + I don't know if they used reflectors to bounce the lighting back at her. I would need to see a higher resolution, It could of also contributed to the lack of shadows.

I don't think photoshop is a crime.. Its very helpful and can be an amazing creative tool! And maybe this is the image she was going for.. And I don't think anyone has the right to say what is art and what is not..

Having said that... The balance and cropping is way off.. The image is just not in harmony. I would not want this image in my portfolio and I know for a fact that very few photographers would. It goes against everything they teach you in art school..

But again I don't think you can teach art.

I want to be fair... You can disagree.. Its simply my point of view! ^ ^


edit:
I think she had her back to the sun so everything behind her would of been bright and ayumi facing the camera would of been a shadow... But with the flash coming straight at her.. and the natural light coming from behind her just gives the light no real source...

Again I'm french its hard to explain in english.. haha I hope you guys understand.. ^ ^

For being released super close to the album, Rule/Sparkle did quite well, so I think she should do fine.. perhaps..

You're so right, Quebec, haha. I wonder just what the designers were thinking when they cropped this and etc.. hm. They could've easily fixed the colors in post-production or something, but instead it seems as though they made it worse! I guess we'll have to see the making of photos in order to find out more..

Awe ^^

I'm actually really excited to see the making of photos.. I would like to see if I'm even remotely accurate with the lighting. Well now I will just have to wait! :innocent