It would be a change from the more upbeat songs that she's been doing lately, but when writing a song one connects personal refrence and emotion into it. Ayumi doesn't seem like shes had heavy romances to relate to like some other artists do.

Hmm I agree for the most part that her songs express the "happiness within sadness" or the "sadness within happiness." In other words, songs that are generally happy often have a tinge of sadness, nostalgia, or bittersweetness to give the song fullness and profundity. Likewise, generally sad songs have a tinge of hope. But the reason why Memorial Address's lyrics hit me like a wall is that it doesn't end on a hopeful note. There are changes in mood throughout the song, but she decided not to put a turn (volta) in the lyrics. That's why I think MA's lyrics are "heavy." There aren't many uplifting elements.

Footnote: I use the word turn here as a technical literary term meaning a major change in theme, mood, subject matter, etc. It's like when you write a song like

sad sad
sad sad
sad sad
sad sad
happy happy
happy

It's like as you're reading, when you get to the turn, you have a revelation because you see the sadness in a new light; you see the happiness that was hidden in the sadness and you're like whoaaaaa...

I agree... especially fits the ending of SHINOBI...
"sayonara nante iwanai"

I feel that Ayu writes her lyrics out of true feelings... that's why I love all of them... So if she were to write a heavy romantic love song, it'd be true and sincere, and I'd most probably like it as well...

Oh btw, is HONEY considered a heavy romantic love song??

I do, Ayumi please write a romantic rock song! Not heavy, but rock thank you :yes

lol personally I don't consider "heavy romantic love song" and rock compatible; I think rock has too much energy to allow it.

And no HONEY is DEFINITELY not...lol. That is like her most sugariest song evaaaaaaaa. It's like...super light and the antithesis of heavy. It's cute though :)

Could you give some examples of "heavy romantic love song"? I'm really not sure what you mean. Do you mean a love song that has no bittersweetness in it, such as "Especially for you" by Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan?

According to Ayu herself,

[Translation] oricon style (magazine) 2004-12-27 issue - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25381

"-Interviewer:So you put a lot of thought into these 17 songs. And, you said that you just picked songs you liked; there are a lot of different types of music on this album.
-That’s right. There were some songs that I ended up resurrecting. When I listened to it all when it was almost finished I thought, “I should add in one that’s a little fun.’, and I added in ‘HONEY’. So ‘HONEY’ is very light, easy to listen to, and the vocals are kind of silly. (she laughs)

-They are quite cute.
-I don’t know if I could handle it if it was a single. (she laughs) I made it myself, but I don’t really know what I’ll do when I sing it live. I think I’ll be kind of embaressed. (she laughs)"

Uhmm...examples...anou ne...Michael Bolton? I think? I guess some of Celine Dion's stuff. Uhhh my earlier example was "Drive" by The Cars: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...e=UTF8&s=music
there's a sample for "Drive" if you scroll down.

OMG Michael Bolton songs have such lame lyrics...(obviously I don't listen to this guy, I just remember him from a compilation CD infomercial). I tire of lame lyrics in English. Ok screw Bolton.

Bocelli is awesome. He's like pop-opera. I just realized that I think a lot of what contributes to a song being heavy romantic is the melody and the arrangement.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...e=UTF8&s=music
Listen to the "Caruso" and "Romanza" samples. I love these two. Now obviously his voice and Ayu's differ A LOT...so perhaps imagine Ayu singing to the instrumentals.

Aww that HONEY bit was cute.

Hmm. I think the lyrics of 'Dearest' are really heavy as a love song, but I think the arrangement is that of a more depressing love song.

'Close to you', definitely, is the only love song of hers that gives me warm feelings inside. It makes me want to cuddle and yeah, the lyrics are romantic and sappy.

'rainy day' is similar I think, both have that lullaby-ish feeling to them. I just think her vocals are more warm and raw in 'Close to you'.

I'm fine with how Ayu's "love" songs already are, and don't want her trying to do one either!
Unlike many other artists, I think that what makes Ayu's "love" songs special is that either she's talking about a universal sort of love (Unite!, Independent, Memorial Address, or Dearest), where she doesn't exactly specify whom she is refering to-- it could be her family, friends, or as most of us are led to believe, her lover. And whenever she does talk about love, its not as a one-night-passion or some feeling built over attraction, but an emotion that overcomes time and space (Heaven, Hanabi, Far Away, Close to You etc.)

I agree. As far as her ballads are concerned, I just hope she continues to write honest lyrics, based on her sincere thoughts and feelings, as she has been doing so far, and more importantly, continues to sing from her heart, which is what mainly endears her to her fans, I think.

http://www.eneabba.net/ayu/video/liv...estiny0401.jpg

I agree. Some songs might be a mix of people as well and many events. Also, I believe I remember her saying once she sometimes writes from her friends experiences.

Memorial Address is about her father? I always thought it was about her grandmother. The song seems to more about death, kind of like Heaven.

^The theory is that her father died, and she wrote a song about it. The whole 0630 (is that even the right numbers? bah) thing in the MA book is a part of a conspiracy that that's the day her father died...if he even did die...and Ayu knows. Although I see where you're coming from about her grandmother, and to me that makes more sense.

Heavy love song? No, thanks. I'm not much into love like that, so I really don't want to hear songs about them. That's why I like Ayu's "love" songs. They're so broad and open to interpretation. I usually interpret them as a friendly love.

I always wondered if the 0630 thing and the song July 1st were in any way related... hmm. But she wrote July 1st long before she released Memorial Address.

July 1st was described by Ayu as the song that would represent the day after when she goes to an old friend's bar or something and parties all night with them ;D

At least, that's what I remember.. o_o;

As quoted from masa's site:

I need to brush up my masa. With more knowledge, we can better interpret the things we observe.

We need to have a translation team put together D: The magazine articles often tell us more about the song/s around at the time..

but we rarely get translations :< :<

/pokes at Hikki and her fans that translate everything ever

Yay that would be awesome. Like elite team awesome. I could help...I'm still a bit of an early student of Japanese, but I'm not bad at working the radical lookup. Four years in highschool and planning to start in taking it in college this coming term. The four years in highschool actually count for far less than four years should...

A few of you non-Japanese regulars out there seem like you're pretty good at Japanese, indeed beyond my level. How are your Japanese skills, truehappiness? You serious about the translation team thing? I'm totally up for it. More kanji learning for me.

Not good at all! :] XD

I will brush up my Kanji first..haven been learning for a month XD