I see. When I tell them that it was a new song, they was quite surprised. But some of them still like it. Guess people's preferences differs from each other.

Wow that is strange. The song sounds so far from any of her past songs, apart from the "fantasy" theme in the background music.

Yep!

It's still hard for me to realize how a person that listens metal/hard rock and plays his electric guitar all day long, liked fated lol I was so shocked I asked him "But don't you listen to metal music!? this is a japanese pop/rock!"
And he just said "but it sounds beautiful so send me please" well I sent him not really talk to him much and he didn't want to try other jpop songs or other songs of ayu .. oh well. I didn't know fated is that strong x_x.
Saw him on MSN playing fated already 9 times lol.

i have a few Korean-freak friends who have listened to ayu's glitter and fated.
they said these two songs are superb!
see, even though, ayu's old fans keep on complaining on her new songs, but still, there are some new fans who start to like ayu..
we should be proud of her, right?
i'm so PROUD of her!!

we can't expect ayu to release a song that is according to what WE want..

NOTE: i don't force them to listen..

^I'm always proud of ayu no matter what tbh ^_^.
Even if I wouldn't like the songs.

In the end avex and Ayu will release stuff which will sell well. It has been proven that these upbeat, summerish songs like glitter/BLUE BIRD/fairyland, etc manage to sell fairly well and I doubt avex will stop the summer formula any soon.

I doubt Ayu wants to go through summer without a summer song either.

It allows her to have a song that has everyone jumping around and singing, plus it'd be dumb for her to stop since she seems to enjoy it as well..

[she's had a summer song every year since like 1999-2000?]

Well She's been doing songs like "BLUE BIRD" and stuff since Memorial address just no one seemed to notice back then.

Memorial address: Greatful Days
MY STORY:(this one was hard to pin point because of the theme of the album) HONEY
(miss)understood: Fairyland
Secret: BLUE BIRD
New unknonw Album: glitter

So its not like it's new but the way it has been for me is that I will not like the summery songs on the single but when the album come out I start to like them but this time its different I just LOVE glitter. It makes you happy and you just ant to go to the beach and blare it and dance around in you bathing suit pretending your ayumi and make you own music video (has actually done that once, with BLUE BIRD)

And fated is another one that she has one of on almost every album since (miss) understood.
(miss) understood: HEAVEN
Secret: probably momentum, could possibly be Secret
BNut I mean you have to love the song because its so dark and mysterious, you know that Ayumi has something planned. I think that this new album is gonna be a hit! there hasnt been a REALLY good single like this by her since STEP you/is this LOVE? I really loved that single (and it had NOTHING to do with the fact that it came out on my birthday)

I think the fact that she hasn't had as much involvement in the composition of her songs since July 1st / independent is part of the reason.

Before that she also had UNITE! as a summer song to her name.. now we get very similar, but also different beats/melodies for summer songs. With most artists, such repetition would get old, but I don't think that's the case with Ayu's songs. I don't think that she releases the songs without the intention of having that summer feeling. That's why she chooses these compositions after all. It's not like she's blindly given any track that sounds like it would be summer-ish. She chooses them most likely because the fans react well to it and enjoy the songs. I'm sure that the majority of Japanese fans really REALLY like glitter [we usually just see complaints at the Overseas Ayu forums and such..]

I think that if you ask people who generally aren't fans of Ayu, it's not exactly fair to see if they know it's a "new song" or not. It's like asking someone who has no ideas who Kelly Clarkson is if "Never Again" is her latest single or not. Anyways, if they can't tell if it's new, wouldn't that be a good thing? After all, if it doesn't sound like "new Ayu that everyone hates", then it must be good! >>

If you're referring to me, some of the persons whom I showed the song are old fans of Ayu.

I kinda see what you, Keishi, mean
and I agree with ya position all the way :)
(just a lil support...eh? :D)

well...we can't compare Ayu with other artists of avex, can we?
but if still to compare...new single is weak to other summer releases of other avex artists
and this due to the fact, that Ayu is the face of avex...

Both songs are very strong and unpredictable!!!
The beginning of fated totally reminds me of the beginning of Voyage and HANABI.
glitter is just omg! So different from her other summer songs!

I hope she composed the music for fated!! haha

Well, we can easily assume from your friends there was only one ayu fan. I mean, glitter might sound somewhat recycled, but a fan not noticing it's a new song is quite....bizarre? LOL

Maybe they just liked one Ayu song and stopped after that. LOL

I think I kinda worded them wrongly. By ayu fans, I don't mean it as...someone who religiously followed her discography and listen to her 24/7. Just someone who actually like 10-14 songs from her. I'm not in a spot where everyone frequents J-Pop you know.
From to time to time, I recommended them Ayu songs and when I showed them this one, they actually didn't notice it's a new song and thought that they have heard it somewhere/resembles her old songs.


I'm not saying it's completely a bad thing though. I just backed up my opinion when I say that glitter sounds like a recycle.

Just to clarify a bit - although she has been releasing music in summer and then autumn for a longgggg time, I feel like the songs for these seasons have sounded too similar to each other in the past few years (since maybe the & single).

glitter does not sound like a recycled song or a clone, IMO. It is distinct from other songs with its interlude and its chorus; I think it's very different from her other summer singles. It's an awesome song, and it actually is now one of my favorite Ayu songs. Ayumi did an awesome job with this song and with fated as well.

This summer has so many good singles and albums. I want to buy them, but I don't want to spend so much money. :thud Maybe I should just start buying Overseas editions. glitter and fated are such good songs that I really do want to buy the single, but there are other CDs that sound really awesome. I'm not sure what to do. :shrug

I admit that I actually was a bit skeptical of how glitter would turn out after having watched the Zespri Kiwi CM, but I realize that the CM didn't do the song justice. It's so much better than the preview. :yes

Personally, whether or not songs sound similar to each other shouldn't matter.

It just depends on if you like the song or not on its own, since it's not like Ayu releases music just to make people compare it with her other tracks. She probably knows that they sound similar and has the intention of having people enjoy the tracks on their own and so on.. :|

You recommend them Ayu songs they don't follow her so they wouldn't know if it's a new song or not. But whatever. lol It's just a song. not life or death.

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
glitter is sooooooooooooooooooooo nice..
actually it kinds of remind me like UNITE!..but a happier version...since UNITE! is like.......rockish one

but really.glitter is soooooooooooooooo different..ayu tires higher pitch

fated also sounded really different

i think ayu has tried really different style in improvements...hahahah

but nice...love 'em

I download only half part of both songs
coz dun wanna ruin my single later...hahahah