Originally Posted by Tom Punks (Post 3135743)

It's funny that you see it that way, because for me personally MY STORY feels like a sort of final culmination of everything Ayu's career and artistry had been building up to till then. Like it's not artistically risky because she finally polished the sound she had been crafting from the beginning and for the first time got everything just how she wanted and was satisfied. And so (miss)understood and everything after it has just felt like business as usual lol.

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0 (Post 3135699)

And this is a very, very understandable attitude for Ayu fans who became fans later and know her more for her slicker and more polished work. Up until RAINBOW, her work was a huge mix of genres, the only common thread between all of it being this sort of darkness. When "I am..." was released, honestly, we couldn't imagine her doing a song like "BLUE BIRD" or "Greatful days" or "Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~" - the very idea would have been completely ridiculous. "I am..." had a very rough-around-the-edges sound for the most part, which seemed at the time like a very natural development. She seemed like a dance-rock artist who happened to do the occasional ballad.... since about 2003, though, she's become more of a general dance/pop ballad artist who happens to do the occasional rock song, you know? The tracks on "Duty" were harder to remix, and ayu-mi-x III was definitely less solid than ayu-mi-x II had been, because it was getting more raw and more unconventional. When "I am..." was even MORE so, it was no shock, it was expected, and it was the next step that we all wanted because it started to narrow her sound down and get to its essential aspects of honesty and expression. "RAINBOW" seemed to go against that entirely. The English lyrics were off-putting in a way that was kind of inexplicable at the time - the novelty of her singing in English seemed cool at first, but after awhile the whole album started to feel a bit "cold" compared to her past work.

Originally Posted by Toniayu123 (Post 3135847)

I love Delirium-Zer0 posts, I always learn something new about Ayu's past. I became her fan in 2008, kinda late, and it is interesting to know how was being an ayu fan prior that.

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold (Post 3135865)

Can anyone explain why Love songs was seen as a comeback for ayu?
Were next level and rock n roll circus that polarizing and dividing?

Originally Posted by Ashen Twilight (Post 3135937)

Love songs was pretty much universally loved when it came it because it was true to its concept from start to end. It is so cohesive. I remember back then it was at or near the top of everyone's ranking of albums.

NEXT LEVEL received a lot of hate when it was release because people thought it didn't go far enough into the "next level." No one really liked the covers, it wasn't cohesive and didn't have any flow, and everyone thought that Sparkle was really the only "next level" song. rollin' was just a new version of everywhere nowhere, the rock section could be on any of her other albums, GREEN didn't fit at all, curtain call was terrible, etc. The interludes were well loved though. People finally started turning around though.

As for Rock'n'Roll Circus, everyone thought that the title was misleading and that lead to the controversy. Microphone was really the only song that fit the title. Lady Dynamite did as well but that song wasn't well received. People only really liked Microphone, SLT, and Don't look back. Everything else was snoozefest for a lot of people.

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold (Post 3135941)

what about last links?

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I thought a lot of the album was well received.................... other than meaning of Love, lol.

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Funny enough this describes about 90% of her discography

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I thought the album tracks other than Curtain call were all very cohesive on NEXT LEVEL. It was the portion of the album in the latter half where the concept began to fall apart.