I can totally see why some people wouldn't like stuff that's as epic as BRILLIANTE. After all if I for instance listened to kpop everything that wasn't super generic and catchy to the point where it doesn't matter what you're listening to as long as you can listen to it for a few days on repeat I would prolly feel the same way too. In a way BRILLIANTE is a small master piece, but as with every song not all the people will see it for what it truly is for one reason or another. In the end it all comes down to taste...though I have a reason for liking/not liking stuff at least most of the time -.-

I really don't know why people make such a fuss about "BRILLANTE". Don't get me wrong, I like the song - it's really beautiful - but a lot of fans treat the song like it's the MOST EPIC song Ayu has ever made.

It's okay if you think so, but not everbody feels the same about such things. I think that "BRILLANTE" is a wonderful song, but Ayu has many wonderful songs and some of them deserve the description "masterpiece" much more than "BRILLANTE"!

I agree with this. I like the melody of the song, but the arrangement really, really bores me. I like her vocals in it, but I don't care for the chanting at all. Unlike you though, I thought the goodbye chanting at the end was incredibly lame and embarrassing.

Wow, so many mixed reviews on BRILLANTE. I didn't even really know people felt this way about it. I don't particularly have strong feelings about BRILLANTE, whether positive or negative. But I do feel somehow, and please don't take this the wrong way, if you really dislike BRILLANTE that much I don't know what you're looking for in Ayu's music anymore. I'm not really saying that the song is perfection and if you hate it you have no taste but... It just seems to have kind of classic Ayu feel but new at the same time. I thought that's what most people wanted but maybe that's not how people feel about the song. FIVE is an album full of new things Ayu hasn't tried before and it seems to be very poorly received by fans here. What kind of music do you want Ayu to do? What kind of direction do you want her to go in? I might make a thread on this topic... or there might be one in existence xD; Too lazy to check, too lazy to make it lol.

^ SO MUCH THIS.

The cynical side of me wants to say that people who didn't like the BRILLANTE video are those who probably don't get/like Ladies Night, the Love songs PV trilogy, alterna, etc. Ayu's PVs often have storylines to them that are either subtle or quite obvious and overt. BRILLANTE's PV shows this perfectly. Slow paced and curious though the PV undoubtedly is, I don't see how anyone couldn't enjoy it. YMMV aside, that is.

FIVE didn't really tickle my fancy, but I do agree that it was Ayu trying new elements in her work which is what a lot of people here go on and on and on about, and have since... probably MY STORY or something. It's okay if those new things aren't to your taste, but it really seems like some people can't be happy with anything.

I myself LOVE ladies night and alterna ( both songs and pvs) but can't enjoy BRILLANTE and Love song trilogy! These songs are ok but pvs, imo, are so lame! ( they're almost on par with Lady dynamite pv)

Love song PV was beyond terrible...

BRILLANTE and Virgin Road(incredible cinematography) are some of my favorite Ayu PVs lately and BRILLANTE is easily her most inspirational PV for me(as in: for someone aspiring to work with music videos)
I also enjoyed Lady Dynamite as the purely for-fun video it is.

BRILLANTE is good but not so special to me at least. Lyrics are awesome and all but that's it. Music itself makes me think of a sequel to BALLAD. Musically they're very similar and because I love BALLAD like there's no end, I can't find myself enjoying BRILLANTE as much because I feel like I've heard it before. :/

To me masterpieces are everything she released between 2001-2007. Since 2008 her music has changed so much I hardly find any masterpieces in her albums. It's just how I feel. Rock'n'Roll Circus and Love songs are both amazing though in their own ways. RnRC has that experimental tone on it in some songs and Love songs has really cool and touching lyrics.

As for her upcoming album, I wish it's a well collected mix of everything much like what (miss)understood was. Of course I'm trying not to get my hopes too high because that's when I relive the moments of disappointment I felt with NEXT LEVEL back in 2009 and I don't want that. I'd rather have no high hopes instead and I will definitely like at least 2/3 of her album, which is good. XD

^ I think people who weren't disappointed with NEXT LEVEL are quite rare, especially after the epicness GUILTY was. Imo RnRC was missunderstood Part II and I am ready for the next part ^^

I think TK is in London too, he just tried tweeting a photo of him in London but ended up just giving the address to the folder on his computer LOL and he's changed his dp to a photo of Keiko at some BBC building.
https://twitter.com/#!/Tetsuya_Komuro

I always got the feeling NEXT LEVEL was received better than GUILTY. But thinking about it, NEXT LEVEL has much more unique, experimental and somewhat edgy sounds so it only makes sense for people to, at least initially, not like it as much as the "safer" GUILTY.

It was more experimental for sure; I dunno I loved GUILTY from the first moment I've heard it. NEXT LEVEL took months to grow on me.

I think GUILTY is better received than NEXT LEVEL by overseas fans. NEXT LEVEL is always second least favorite on least favorite album polls, right behind ASFXX.

Omg this makes me a lot more happy than it should. It better have something to do with Ayu!

So the new album might be NEXT LEVEL-Rock'n'Roll Circus-Love songs mash up (which means something new) =D
Since all of the composers/arrangers are there!

I remember he said that he had to layer his voice 26 times (or something like that) for the chanting effect in the song~

So yeah, it would probably be hard to sing it live

^ lol that chanting should be prolly done by a choir group or something but since he's only one, it can't be helpped. But I think he was singing live, just with thos other 25 layers in the background xD

:yes:yes:yes:yes

Another reason I think BRILLANTE gets a lot of talk around here is because of the contrast between this and the other four songs on the album. It's the better of the bunch.

Timmy sang live at PoM, but he had a backtrack of course, so he was singing over other layers, his live voice was just the loudest one :)

This was the issue with me, too. I remember my first listen of NEXT LEVEL was one of confusion and mild disappointment. GREEN and Days -- and maybe Curtain call? -- stand out so drastically from the rest of the album that I felt a bit thrown off. Now I'm not so fussed about that; they blend in nicely with the eponymous song's mood. GUILTY, however, was an album I loved from the start.

... NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ALBUM NEEDS TO COME OUT NOW XD