i'm starting to love CD+DVD+DVD album cover..

its look more natural than the others..

I think it's not so much "turning into a new koda kumi/lady gaga" as "doing things the way she honestly feels about it" or something along that line. This is what she sees fit in her current situation, so maybe it was her intention to provoke both bystanders and fans alike. However, I think when the album is released we'll get more in-depth about what's going on in her mind when she decided all this. With her there's almost always more than meets the eye ;)

^^ Actually I kind of agree...Now that we got the bigger covers & I can see more I think Ayu looks quite pretty in the CD+DVD2 cover :yes. I still think my favorite is the CD only though.

It is amazing how the two images fit one each other...

I looked at the "table" and tried to figure out why it has a bottom and a mirror and I just thought about something (maybe someone likes to read my long interpretation :dead2):

The "table" shouldn't represent a table (if this makes sense, but I don't know how to call this thing, so I will call it "table"). The room around the "table" is very white and bright and so is Ayu's skin. If you would put her directly before the wall it would be hard to recognize her, the black bra and slip form a contrast to her white skin and it isn't that kind of lingerie that you would think of as REALLY sexy. Instead it is very simple and also her hair isn't glamourous at all. Like her underwear the rose petals also form a contrast to all this white.
When I looked at the cover for the first time I didn't noticed the mirror and its reflection at all. All I had seen was Ayu almost naked and in front of her the rose petals. I think that's why she hasn't glamourous hair and isn't wearing special lingerie, simply put there aren't any details concerning what she is wearing. Because if she would wear special lingerie and have a great hairstyle people would get sidetracked by those things.
After noticing Ayu half naked the second thing I noticed was her pose - Ayu on all fours. Of course I had to think of sex, like almost everyone else at ahs also. The rose petals, which stand for romance and passion, intensify this thought.
By a first look on this cover most people will be shocked because all they take notice of will be half naked Hamasaki Ayumi with the image of sex in their minds. It is a very controversial photo of Ayu which leads to people talking about her as a b**** and that sort of things. That's what tabloids are made for, presenting pictures of people to the world to defame them and to satisfy the publics demand of gossip. People buy tabloids not because they are really interested in the life of celebrities and care for them, it is nice to see the beautiful people fail. You don't have to think twice by reading tabloids, you just have to look at the picture and it is clear what its meaning should be. In Ayu's case people will say "she needs to sell sex to sell CDs". In the past there was a lot gossip about her and for long people think of her as a fake doll and don't care besides of what the tabloids write. People woudn't be really surprised that Hamasaki Ayumi now "sells sex to sell CDs".
And because Ayu mentioned Duty and referred to its cover: I think the connection of those two covers is the leopard print, the shoes and her pose. For Duty she posed dressed as a leopard in a cage. For Party Queen you have her on all fours like a cat, this time wearing shoes with leopard print. Furthermore maybe the "table" symbolises a cage and Ayu is caught by the spotlight (indeed it is so bright as if there are spotlights directed at her). But because this time the cage looks so open and more like a table it isn't obvious.
Besides that the "table" might symbolise a cage it looks as if the mirror captures how the room Ayu is in really is. At first sight it seems everything around her is bright, beautiful and perfect, but if you have a closer look you can't really tell how it's really looking. The only things you can for sure see in the mirror are shoes, a flash and Ayu, but everything else is covered in darkness. People who are only looking once at the cover and are satisfied by calling her a b**** and so on because they like to gossip about her won't see the darkness.
And to come back to the "Ayu sells sex to sell CDs" point, by selling sex you always sell yourself, so not the CDs are the product anymore, Ayu becomes the product - what obviously dehumanises her. alterna PV picks up on this topic, but this time for me it seems Ayu isn't referring to avex but to the public and media, because of the tabloid aspect.
And for my last thought I will quote myself from the last page:

After writing so much about the cover I think it is on purpose another color. Because if you have a close look you can see that the brightness became dirty at one point.

Nice long interpretation, the only problems with that is, the photos were taken when it had nothing to do with an album or trying to be tabloid like. These were the photos they had her do for her lifestyle book. They can make all the excuses they want to now for the pics, but it comes down to they had her do one of her most disturbing photoshoots in her career for nothing more than showing off her shoe collection and part of her house in a way that will likely haunt her long after her career is over. This is probably why around the time the photos were being taken was another of her messages to TA saying she's being asked to do something she's uncomfortable with again. But since you would rather support those using her because you get to see her boobs and butt in her underwear regardless of the effects it has on her personally in her life, then feel free to keep accepting the PR that's being done to support a "deep" meaning behind it.

That's a really plausible read-in, Chibi-chan. I hope there will be an interview or something where she confirmed that it is indeed the case.

I begin to think that the thing below her head is a Photoshop failure, but given what I believe about this cover/concept having meaning behind them, I think she's not unaware of this and that behind it, therefore, there's a reason. But maaaaaaan that just plain looks fugly >.<

I hope she speaks up about all this soon :(

Max Matsuura said ayu is very meticulous when working, in that she makes sure everything goes exactly like she wanted it; it doesn't seem likely to me that she's being subjected to someone else's bidding over something as fundamental as her album cover. Even at times when she was forced to do stuff (e.g. the releases of A BEST, UNITE!, NEVER EVER) she still had things done the way she wanted them to be (A BEST featuring a crying face of hers on the cover and containing new versions of songs unusual for a best-of album, UNITE! and NEVER EVER having no PVs). I think the same thing goes on for this cover and concept.

And she once tweeted, never regret what happened because at some point it was exactly what you wanted. I know I sound like a crazy ayu-stan but I think, if anyone, she's the type who stays true to her words...at least most of the time.

And I'm curious about the article. Can you give me the link to it? If it was indeed these covers that she meant (something she "was uncomfortable with"), then it might indeed prove your point that she's making a supermassive-black-hole-sized mistake with this choice. But then again, her tweets following the release of the covers indicate that she "love [the covers] so much".

Maybe the shoot for the lifestyle book involved a tabloid parody already and she decided to rather use it for the album? Your logic is flawed, yet you try to prove someone else wrong with it. We know the shoot isn't new, we do NOT know if the concept has been changed.

EDIT: Then again, I just noticed your user name and using pseudo-logic to "prove" people wrong with questionable "facts" without sources is all you've done on this forum so far.

U r overreacting, really. Nothing tragic and apocalyptic happened - does anybody consider Kylie Minogue to be a b****?

I really don't get what you're trying to say. Are you saying that people are talking about the covers "poor execution" meaning the "sexual" position that she's in, or the overall cheapness of the cover? I'm just confused as to what you think Ayu's "trick" is.

...I just realized as well. This person does that, doesn't s/he? Nevermind my heartfelt response then :grumpy

You guys DO know saigodansu is the jhobo right? This isn't new.
I'd rather support her because this is what she wants :/

I really don't give a **** if the cover has meaning or not. If this is how she wants to market her material, then I'll support her no matter what, because that's my choice.If other people don't want to because they don't like it, then that's their choice.

I think these covers ARE a little uncomfortable, but I think that's a part of their ingenuity. It's like, Ayu showing off all the sides of both who she is, and who the media wants her to be. They're gritty and raw, but gaudy and full of this lifestyle that sometimes she has to be a part of, whether because she wants to, or because she has to. I'd bet my life on both.


In any case, I don't think it was to just show off her shoe collection. Like the world hasn't seen 50 million Louboutins already.

If anything, it was just to show off her boobs and ass.

^ I realized rather late, so. Yeah. ( ._.)\('v' )

Has nothing to do with pseudo logic, I'm just pointing out what she's said herself. If theres any truth to the way she talks about feeling caged or when she talks about being forced into things she's uncomfortable with, then the whole thing of her being in charge of decisions is PR itself anyway. And yeah Emiko, it probably is more to show her off than the shoes, Avex wouldnt want to lose their sales to men and lesbians by just letting her shoe collection be photographed with her other favorite things for a book.

And we all know how many people buy Ayu's albums because they think she is ultra hot, hip and sexy. You're over-reacting. She's done worse pics.

tl;dr

The covers were shot around the time the album was recorded and the PVs were filmed, so, obviously they are old pics.

Still, having the same concept (or even only the same photos) for a album about how sad is to be on the spotlight and for a book about how wonderful her celebrity life is... Well, this is rather smart in my opinion.

lulz

Glad you didn't get me wrong haha. I love A BALLADS covers soooooooooo much <3 :love:love:love

Looking at a better quality pic, I think the CD Only kind of illustrates a "sad" look, but more than anything, her eyes are going in different directions :P

And I'm 99.999999999998% positive it's a mirror placed over a fireplace. That "table" looks like a fancy mantleplace!



I only wish Google didn't suck so much at finding better pics, because I've seen this a lot in home improvement shows!

But if you look at these fancy fireplace mantles, you can see that they look "table like", it's not a stretch of the imagination to think Ayu's mantle had two "leg like" posts on it ^^

@Chibi-Chan
Really loved ur interpretation...

And I love how all the covers have a discret hint about how messy her "life" is...

I think it may have been planned for a while since the book's release date was slated to be the same as the new album.

Well originally it was due Dec 31. I think it would be better if it had come out earlier, but right now I'm just hoping my order isn't delayed for a billion years! :P

Well I don't mean "tricks" as some way to deceive consumers but the way we are all talking about it whether in favor or complete disgust over the covers kind of resembles the way we would talk about a scandal on the cover of a tabloid. The execution of the covers as far as the design, clothes, hair, layout, font etc. for aesthetic appeal is irrelevant in that point of view. So what I was saying is people who are talking about it in a negative sense about execution, concept, style, whatever are all mimicking gossipers pointing out flaws in a celebrity during their fall from grace ("omg, look at her hair" "what is she wearing" "she looks so cheap" etc.) In that sense, Ayu's execution is perfect. If Ayu wanted beautiful covers she would have shot beautiful covers. But I think the point of all the terrible execution design-wise was intentional to further her tabloid concept. It's not just what we look at it's HOW we're looking at it. Do you see what I mean?

I totally get what you mean. I wonder if we'll get the shoot that how beautiful you are came from in the near future though.

It seems it's about time (2 weeks before the album is released) for chaku uta to start coming out for the album since Love songs' and Rock'n'Roll Circus' were released in that time frame. I guess we'll see later today or tomorrow!

This; although, I AM GLAD that they DO have a concept/meaning. ayu never ceases to amaze. I love her depth. :heart

Someone's probably already mentioned this, but there's absolutely no way anyone is going to convince me she's a size C or D cup. WTF, she's posed in bikinis before and kept her actual size shown, there's no need for this photoshop/padding bigger than a softball crap. This is what annoys me more than anything.

I think this is just to add to the concept of it being a tabloid parody.

^ Ah, i didn't think of that...

while you guys are arguing about god knows what I'm noticing her ass and is damn fine.


and obviously those are shoes on the floor.

aww as someone who loves push up bras, I always saw it as just a bonus that they look bigger :laugh

CDJapan is now stating that ALL THREE versions of the album are getting a first press bonus, instead of just the CD+2DVD which we thought earlier.

Wonder if this is true and what the bonus is...?

The first press bonus for every copy of the album (on the official website anyway) is a 'stage' for the virtual augmented reality/AR ayupan app.

There might be an external bonus we don't know about though.

^^That's it? Basically an extra for an app that I won't even be able to use? Damn, I was about to order another copy or two...smh...

COME ON B2 POSTER PLEASEEEEE lol

YES! I want a poster too :3

^^Even if they don't come with the album, I'm sure they will produce them, and I WILL get my hands on them. LOL

PS that pic of britney in your avatar is one of the worst pics I've ever seen of her...wow. lol

A poster would be nice...
I wish it would be a different picture though, but ohwell!

A poster ?
I prefer a slipcase with alternate covers

Nahhhh I need to frame a huge poster of the CD+2DVD cover. ahhhh can't wait lol

To be honest... even tho the cover is quite shocking, I dun mind having a cd+2dvd poster on my wall as well... :P

pffft who would mind having a poster like this

GIVE A SUPER GIGANTIC POSTER

Okay, makes sense. So, I guess I don't fall in the category of people who are "falling for tricks" because the things that I'm complaining about are things like the shade of brown that her contacts are :laugh I love wearing contacts, but I've always stayed away from that shade. Its just small irrelevant details that I don't like that make me not love the covers.

15 days until official release.
I wonder how many days until the leak... ;)

Im hopin for the sunday before! ( i would love before that, but Sunday would be fine)
Besides I dont want it to early because I want to enjoy DH4

http://i.imgur.com/mtaXR.jpg
I don't know if someone already said this, but her arm's NOT PHOTOSHOPPED. It's just the angle that makes her left arm not visible when not mirrored...

Yeah, I never thought it was photoshopped :P

I just think her entire position is awkward. I like the photo, but it is almost like they are trying something not nature or not... well, somthing.

^I don't think so. Imo, it's a sexy, natural, albeit unoriginal pose.

after seeing the bigger pic, i notice there are some plant thing on the mentalpiece...

Well, I definitely think that the CD+2DVD version is my favorite cover. Its the cover that I'm going to be using on iTunes. The picture itself is pretty amazing, looking at it as just the picture alone, minus any text, etc. I really do love sexy Ayu.

I think everytime Ayu has leopard prints, we get a really introspective album. I hope this doesnt differ :) the more i see the big CD+2DVD, the more beautiful i think she is hahah

It kind of looks to me like the photos are on a leopard print carpet. There's some type of greenery by the title on the cd DVD DVD version that looks like a rose leaf. Porportionatley it looks like its outside of the actual picture, as if someone is cutting up and cropping the pictures before going to print, or something.

But I guess that can't work...

Me too!!!!

I think I NEED a poster of that cover...

...

And I'm still waiting for a 1000000x1000000 wallpaper... xD

I wish she would of done something different with her hair..
this image just reminds me too much of true lies (minus the shoes)

lol yes! Jamie Lee Curtis! omg.

^ LOL, you remember.. i was thinking after i posted this.. man, that was almost 20 years ago.. who would remember that!
But.. its almost down to the same undies too I think... lol
Maybe she was inspired!

I'm not entirely sure about this, but apparently the track order changed for Party Queen? Originally call was the first track or something like that. This came from the SCawaii interview so I won't know if it's 'legit' until we see it for sure.

The weird looking thing below her head is the photoshopped arm that's missing, their idea of fixing her face blending in with her arm. Epic Fail, but that's Avex photoshop pros for ya.

that makes no sense darling.

look at where her arm is in the mirror, from the front you would see that arm below her head

omg you are so right!
Her arm in the mirror!

....why is it colored like the paneling on the wall?

maybe I'm not seeing this right lol I don't think her arm is visible at all.


you know what I'm more interested in...like, WHERE in the house, IS this?

There's like cabinets back there...and we're in some corner...with this gaudy piece of furniture...that has a mirror...and then her shoes are all strewn about.

God the whole thing has been an excessive why?-galore..

I hope some of the lyrics are like rollin'
I'm just starting to really like that song. Ayu is incredible

call is giving me criminal-esque vibes suddenly...lol. I need darker songs >.<

Hm no her arm is thin, it's the shadow of her face. You can see her eyelashes in the shadow. ^^

the stripes below her head are from a poor job of the cloning tool in photo editing, i've done that before myself.

^
That kinda looks like her hair and the dark parts are the wall I think.

The stripes are wall parts, but you can't see them on the actual walls because it's very white. If you increase the contrast, you'll see.

If they were wall parts the lines would continue both aboe and below her head and that missing arm wouldnt be missing. Look closer at the mirror instead of adjusting contrast, her arm should be going up to grab the table top over her head and part of it should be visible below her cheek.

omg this is so interesting, i love it.

Yeah I know haha!

I wish we had some preview already!

Are you kidding me ?
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/9...nstitre1lr.jpg

It's bad photoshopping, you're right.
They wanted to make a "shadow" out of this mess, but it's obvious that's just a bad editing. But it's definitely not cloning tool.

Wow, I don't think Ayu covers have ever been discussed this much before. o_o

ok theres lines back there but the shaded part still doesnt match and her arm should still show, it's almost like they cloned the wall over her arm and shaded it. Real messed up job whatever they did, almost as bad as the idea for the shoot.

how beautiful you are PV is listed on SSTV. No broadcast date yet.
http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/299752Sanstitre8.jpg

I am glad we will have PV for song I already knew. Cause I want to hear album before the pv's x3

Btw. I can see her arm. There's nothing weird about it, get over it, sheez ~_~

^yup!

Not since SUNRISE/SUNSET lmao God I will never get over that.


unnnnnfff yes.

There's no way that shadow is her arm because her left sholder is too high to match with the shadow (or her arm whatever you call). Stop resisting the truth.

And yeah for how beautiful you are PV, hope that it's not a -short ver.- again :D

Stop resisting the truth. = Awesome!

I absolutely LOVE the covers now! I usually order my ayu stuff on Yesasia while my classmates pays for it (she has PayPal and stuff), but I don't think I can get the CD+DVD+DVD version. It would be extremely awkward if the delivery man delivered that to her, lol. A hot Japanese woman posing like that on a CD cover. Others would assume it's porn..... O3O. Guess I'll get the CD only ver. :lech

I don't why so many people are afraid of being seen as the receiver of a CD with that cover...
The postman doesn't open the packages, and, no one else... (besides the customs if the package looks suspicious).
So chill out! No one will see it before you open it ^^

Wow.. still talking about her arm... haha.
Im a little confused.. call was suppose to be the first track?
But Party Queen beat it out?

wow where did u get that frmo?

I'm surprised nobody pointed this out:

http://i43.tinypic.com/1zoudmf.jpg

What's that around her face area??? Bad PS?

wow there's even bigger pic of the covers!

^

i think that is a shadow of her arm, just take a longer look into it.
it caused by the flash of the camera, so shadow is reflected on the wall back there.

and now we know what are those things at the reflection of the mirror near her legs.. they are her high heels haha XD

truehappiness posted something about it in this thread a few pages ago but you guys were too busy talking about her arm on CD+2DVD cover and surely didn't notice it haha

You didn't read the latest ... hmmm.... twenty posts, right ?

It's a shadow!!!! Has no one ever taken a picture with flash before. This thread is stupid :grumpy

Well, that's not fair. There are people who live in parts of the world where this kind of thing, no matter how innocent it may seem to you, is actually very sexual compared to the normal images they see everyday. Some countries are more conservative than others, and some do look inside packages. When I buy an album I buy it strictly based on content, not the covers. So, if I really wanted the CD+2DVD version, I would be stuck with that cover. And if I live in a conservative country where I know they might check my package, then I have a problem. Also, you don't know who lives with these people, perhaps they have very strict parents, who wouldn't care about "seeing a deeper meaning" in the pictures, all they see is that their kid has "porn". And again, if the kid really wanted the 2DVD version, then they have a problem. Different people have different circumstances.

Its not a shadow




It is...



.





.







.










VOLDEMORT!!

It is her shadow you can see her eyelash or whatever and they used the burn tool.
You can see the lines of the walls continuing and they are darker.

And about her arm idk where the hell it go.

how beautiful you are PV will be broadcasted on 03/09 in SSTV
http://www.spaceshowertv.com/search/...u=0089291&ch=0

Yai! :D

It seems to me, as if people are really looking hard to find what's wrong with the cover.
That's the first time I say it too.

^YAY! 2 more days!!

I wouldn't call those countries conservative. If someone orders the CD+2DVD version and s/he is getting trouble only because of the cover then those countries constrict the freedom of their citizen. Those countries are to blame, not the cover.
Despite Ayu creates her covers for the japanese (western) market, I don't see why she should care about her covers looking like porn in the United Arab Emirates.

Maybe I'm just having a really, really, really bad blank out moment, but....

Shadows DON'T LOOK LIKE THAT right?

If something casts a shadow, the whole entire shadow is all the same level of darkness.

Shadows don't discriminate and say "okay, here's Ayu's face, that part should be lighter, and here's her hair, those parts should be darker."

Furthermore, her hair is hidden behind her head, so there's no way it would be reflected in the shadow in the first place.

It does look like the shadow of her face with some random lines somehow added onto it (really really bad PS?), but then, why doesn't her arm which is just an inch or two in front of her face cast a shadow on the wall?

Yes..i missed it >.<
but wow..makes me wonder how amazing call is and what kind of song it would be. but where did that news come from in the first place lol

o dear..time to avoid spoilers! HAHAHA

^^ it's not a shadow but a background with curtains/a tile/another wall, lol
they had a background then decided to make it white, and thus cut her arm above the head (I noticed they cut her haircut too) and didn't blend the area around face to new white background properly. they just cut it and left it like this, I can't believe it! :( very unprofessional!
when you do photoshop you can see 'crappy photoshop' really well :D

uff

maybe some ppl here can try to take pic of her/himself with flash in that pose, then see the result to compare with the cd+2dvd cover.

o yea, please ZOOM IN the picture to take a closer look.

Lord, people this is suppose to be bad photoshop and crap.. It's suppose to represent a tabloid picture!
they suck at stuff like that!

I have not idea what it means really:

I like you more than I should now. I don't understand why administrative in AHS allows the bad drama and bad complains here but ban all dry sense of humor but speaking the truth? Because they like drama?

I don't know how many times I got warning in AHS because of speaking the truth.