I always liked the interludes since they served as nice little bites inbetween songs that would otherwise clash.

The thing is, we wanted an album without interludes because we didn't know how that would sound. Now we know that they help building up the album, we want them back ^^

Closest thing we had was Duty at the time IIRC, and honestly she knew what she wanted from that album, so it was amazing. However, without interludes, her albums feel a little jarring.

Yoake, thank you for the quote. :)

I think for Party queen it worked well. She made a concept album and the songs wouldn't work as singles. That seems to be her reason: wanting to release an album as a "whole". Tell a story, instead of release a single for sales.

However, after Party queen she really hasn't done that, so she might as well have released more singles. I think she might just be more comfortable following her own schedule and creating what she wants without worrying about singles and release dates.

It's a pity, because we used to have new Ayu material several times a year, and it was great fun to guess what the album would be based on the singles. Now just an album drops and that's it....nothing else to look forward to for another year+.

Even with western releases at least we have PVs and performances to look forward to AFTER the album.

The MADE IN JAPAN era would've been a lot better if she had released a new single before CDL and performed at CDL. Then another single in March, then release in May at the start of the tour. (Of course, this is assuming the album is really just going to drop soon without any singles.)

Edit: Lastly, singles are just vastly superior in quality to album tracks. I generally prefer album tracks: they're more interesting and raw. But it's just fact that singles are much "better". They have to be. I kinda miss knowing that each album will have at least a few of those "hit songs". Those songs act as a guide to the rest of the album.

I don't mind interludes. I like shorter albums, but I also wound't mind if she included one or two interludes on MADE IN JAPAN.

I still think Love Songs is her most cohesive album lyrically and musically. Lyrically the songs describe what its like to fall in love someone so fast and unexpectedly. Musically, TK and Ayu's signature dosages of melodrama slays us.

Agreed
The album has this magical fusion of cliche and innovation. Didn't know how exactly they did it. Lol

The introduction of Komuro was nice.

She needs to work with producers that she never has before to get that freshness IMO. Sweetbox did it, Komuro did it... who is next? DAISHI DANCE? A female singer-songwriter? B'z?

interludes are great for the most part and they make me wish they were a bit longer as well ^^

a cup of tea SLAYED!! <3

XD it will never happen she never works with women for her music lol

She has sung with them so I have hope!

Just remembered how much I love Song 4 u. I have good memories of getting LOVE and listening to Song 4 u every day in high school when I transitioned from math to creative writing. My campus was big so it'd take the entire song to get from one class to another. I'd always sit down right at the "2 u yeah, 4 u yeah" part. :)

Lol don't say that! :D I want her so badly to work more with women xD

Same. It sounded okay in context, but now it just sounds REALLY thin to me.

Well we've gotten DAISHI DANCE more than once and it has not been his best work.

I do think Tak Matsumoto would have been a very good fit for her at one point but his sound (when he writes for other people) is a bit cheesy for the current climate... but clearly he CAN do "pop that rocks" really well, as shown in the songs he wrote for KAT-TUN, Misia, etc.... Hell, he can do it well as shown by his work in B'z lol. I'd love to hear what he would compose for Ayu.

I would mostly really like for Ayu to bring in unknowns (or relative unknowns) again though. Do As Infinity and HAL and Miki Watanabe and Huge and so many other writers, producers, and remixers have (or had, RIP Huge) their old school Ayu work to thank for either their discovery or a huge boost to their early careers, and Ayu picked those people not because they were well known names but because their sound matched up with what she wanted. I think far too many of Ayu's producers & songwriters lately have been trusted, established names rather than people who "get" what Ayu wants to do.

When do you guys think we'll get a change of troupe? It's been almost 5 years since her last performance with just two female backup singers. I hope she goes back to that format in the next few years. Or at least stop with the circus/show concept. It was never my cup of tea, so having it non-stop for 4 years is truly agonizing.

1 year... WARNING performance hahahahahahahaha :P

I think just having one song sometimes isn't enough like for DAISHI DANCE. If he has a whole album to work on things, maybe it would turn out different?

Also I love how a lot of the one off songs on mid-2000s albums were like accidents a la Liar and how it was never supposed to be given to Ayu and yet she made it anyway and it was AMAZING.

Having listened to DAISHI DANCE's material for YEARS, nah, his stuff pretty much all sounds the same. It sounds nice, but honestly so little of it recaptures the magic of "Haru Haru." Even with Ayu we've gotten his "HEAVEN" remix (which was fantastic, and Chieko Kinbara's violin really added a nice earthy sound to the mix that was delightful), "What is forever love" (which was really tinny and thin and not his best work at all, REALLY not as epic as it could have and should have been) and now "Sayonara" (which was a departure for DAISHI DANCE.... into the land of more generic EDM, which I am not glad happened because it didn't play to his strengths at all).

But in general, DAISHI DANCE does these things: common time, synth piano, heavy dance bass, pretty melodies, and cheesy spoken or rapped intros & outros. That's his thing, it's what he does, and it usually works really well. But listening to his whole solo album, or listening to a playlist of his stuff, is EXHAUSTINGLY BORING.

That's actually an amazing example of Ayu going with a song that felt right for what she wanted rather than the person's name or past work. She never needs to make those songs "hers" because they're already right in line with what she's feeling. This, so much this.

Thinking about it...

Merry-go-round was a fucking amazing track and I need to listen to it for like 2 weeks right now.

Merry-go-round is an extremely refreshing track imo. It's well produced and is very breezy and just...well done. The problem is that because it's featuring someone we'll probably never hear it live again -_-