Show Must Go On is really nice. I thought it would be more like snowy kiss, but it isn't THAT similar. It's very positive, when snowy kiss is melancholic/sad. It got more "I am..." feeling than snowy kiss.

I will say it is kind of annoying how Out of control has parts similar to SEVEN DAYS WAR. It's such a troll for my brain, lol.

Definitely my least favorite track out of the ones I listened to so far. This must be the one people were comparing to call / Letter? I can see the comparisons. It's certainly better than those tracks but it still isn't my cup of tea. It's too corny sounding.

I was really surprised with Anything for you...the minor key changed into a major at the end! and yes I agree, she delivered the emotions so well and THATS A TK BALLAD FOR YOU. Ayu can connecct with it so well. and it definitely didn't feel like 7 minutes

Story's ending is super gorgeous!!!! it reminds me so much of her old ballads >< OMG such a beautiful piece

Waiting for the album right now and I'm SO excited, I've not actually been excited for an Ayu release since Love Songs! I'm happy just to *be* excited about Ayu. :')

A One already slayed

WARNING is sooo out of place on this album.

The show must go on could be performed after game, I'M ALREADY SEEING THE TOUR

Listened the whole album. I really love it, this is the first best album from I have been her true fan (2013).
The most surprising to me is Anything to you. It grows on me now; The arrangement of "the show must go on " is so good <3 ; No future is amazing.
Out of control, Story is so, so perfect to me ...
Zutto, The GIFT, WARNING, walk, Last minute are all my cup of tea.

The best album to me <3

So what's the overall 'hue' of the album?

This is probably going to be my main criticism of the album...there are really great songs but the whole thing is so incohesive...there's like 5 dreary ballads that just bring the whole thing down.

FYI, the 320 isn't true 320 from JPOPSUKI. It's been reported and someone commented how it's somewhere between 160-192.

I was wondering if this might happen. But after hearing TSMGO in full, it really isn't THAT similar to snowy kiss. There are small similarities, but not as bad as I previously thought.

What is this magic?! I wasn't keen on WARNING when I heard the previews or when I heard the full song in the video but I am LOVING IT right now!

WARNING, NO FUTURE, Show must go on, Last minute is like from another album. The amount of ballad is the weakest point.

+ maybe Out of control. But it's still a ballad.

yep, it does have... oldschool feeling that snowy kiss don't have.

I wonder if she will perform it in the middle of the set list or during the encore...

I don't know if it is because of that or because of the album mix, but I said to myself "It's a bit noisy"/"Don't feel HQ"...

You think that is?? What about Movin' on without you??

This album is pure perfection. All of the new songs have amazing little intricacies throughout them, especially NO FUTURE and Out of control. I haven't been this happy with an album from Ayu in a long time, since Love songs at least. Even though it is ballad after ballad, they are great ballads! Especially Anything for you.

while waiting for true 320kbps..I just have to say..all the new songs are amazingggggggggg (for me, now The GIFT feels like the weakest LOL)

Just the noise, fast music and high notes are similair. snowy kiss is better.

The Show Must Go On is my least favourite on this album and I consider it even as awful. The verses are nice and I can also get through the chorus but that THE SHOW MUST GO ON YEAH YEAH YEAH is god damn dreadful.

Other than that I love the tracks and the full version of Anything For You is so good.

Well, I haven't gotten that far yet, but obviously the cover is out of place too lol. I didn't even consider it though since it was tacked on to the end at the last minute & hadn't actually been planned as part of the album.

It's actually rather amazing how nasally/higher pitched her voice is again in these tracks. Compare to GUILTY it is totally different (although I love GUILTY voice).

I'm almost 100% sure that NO FUTURE is the song that she might have had trouble reaching the notes in. However it paid off because it's such an intense track. This whole album, I must admit, had me worried, but it's really stellar work so far.

I totally feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz spinning in the tornado towards the end of TSMGO's chorus. Love it!

Somehow I LOVE the transition between NO FUTURE and Anything for You..its like, the heartwarming feeling flowed over from NO FUTURE and it's gorgeous

I think it's safe to say TSMGO is the most grating thing I've ever heard lmao. Major headache now. How did she top snowy kiss in that department???

wow. I definitely think TSMGO >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> snowy kiss

It's better than snowy kiss, and at the same time a thousand times more painful to listen to.

The Show Must Go On is sex. It's exactly in the right place in the tracklisting too..I needed it after Ayu sent me into a coma with the consecutive ballads of genericness.

The Show Must Go On is basically a good version of snowy kiss.

This.

And if that pattern continues, Step by step will be the best version of them all haha

That back cover is so unflattering :laugh

Haha god! I hope you're wrong though! :D
Want Step by step to be quite different!

I love it! It is so... unexpected and random! Face for the front, ass for the back. No in fact it is quite logic.

"The Show Must Go On" part is a bit hectic, but I love the initial chorus. "Kyou mo..." etc. That melody is so good.

It definitely should create for an interesting and intense live atmosphere though.

The GIFT is certainly the weakest track.

Perfect :heart I love all the melodies, the lyrics, her voice, everything.

Ooh NO FUTURE is really good!

The fact that The Show Must Go On doesn't have a music video hurts my heart.

I'm so happy to ready good opinions about the album :yes Really hope it manages to sell well. I know, I know, sales doesn't matter but I want Ayu to slay.

Instrumentals are so rich and deep :o and those twists or sounds in the middle of TSMGO, what a step up from colours!

My mind has been blown and I have no strenght to scoop it off the floor

Thank you AYU for this album.

My review for anyone interested.
http://sky-fits-heaven.blogspot.com/...um-review.html

yeah, this. I was never too partial to snowy kiss anyway; but, I really enjoy TSMGO!

i hope you would be able to upload romanji lyrics too tenshi :D

I guess theres no hidden track?

God I know not everyone is going to agree with me, but Anything For You is literally one of the most majestic ballads she's done in a very long time. Maybe even out of her whole discography. At least for me, I'm glad it was pretty much kept secret because it definitely was worth it.

I WAS SO NOT READY WHAT IT LEAKED.
downloading now.
Ready to be slAyed.

Am I going wait for my A ONE album to come in the mail before I listen to it? Hmm... NOPE! *heads to download section*




YOU GUYS ARE REALLY GETTING ME HYPED WITH ALL THIS POSITIVITY! And if Zeke likes it, I KNOW it's good lol :laugh

Unfortunately, no. I really wish she would do one again!

Who cares about hidden track when the non hidden are so awesome!

IT IS SO. GOOD. OMGOMGOMGOMG. Happy album leak day!!! : D

NO FUTURE is everything! EVERYTHING!!!!

You guys are making me impatient lol
But now that I heard the leak is like 192kbps it's not worth it for me (why is it so hard to rip something even at least 256kbps m4a. Even I can do it so that means anyone can. Hell I can even rip lossless). May as well wait until the album arrives. But seeing all the positive feedback overall is good.

Definitely I feel the A (L) O N E vibe in it:



A WONDERFUL, beautiful and amazing album

Leek is 320, yo.

NO FUTURE is pure orgasm!

I'm really glad everyone is so happy for this album. For the first time in YEARS, AHS forum agrees! hahaha

Is it really?

That cd pic is really scary actually because it reminds me of a horror movie. Maybe ayu saw my signatures before and wanted to channel her inner horror chick. Bless. But I mean it does kinda confirm ALONE. I swear, even when she's married....

That has to be one of, if not the worst CD designs she's ever had lmao

I love this Album! Anything for you is awesome and my favorite!

Anyone got an MF link of Anything for You? it wasn't in the MF folder that Pieces so graciously uploaded 4 me.

XOXO

Comments on Jpopsuki regarding quality:

"Transcode with 16khz cutoff."

"HUE People STILL fake 320 MP3s?? From my Spek analysis seems like something around 160~192 Kb/s, and so is the white noise like drums and synths, waiting for some nice FLAC since this really sounds great from start."

Does anyone else get SURREAL vibes from how NO FUTURE completely changes at the end?

Also, I LOVE how the key change in Anything for you changes the entire mood of the song. It goes from sad and desperate to hopeful and optimistic!!!! Brilliant, to be honest lol.

TSMGO not only share the same composer same music arrangement with "snowy kiss", but also lyrically means she already walk out from winter love hurt and accepting new love in spring summer autumn.

"NO FUTURE" nice too, and "Anything for You" so good until i almost forgot 7min just passed...

hopefully all song she will perform in upcoming tour and will not bury those good song like what she did for those real good song in LOVE again.

I love it full, loved the three single songs, love the others. But now I feel kind of empty. Tomorrow I'll listen to it again.

Why i am blind and can't find anywhere booklet pictures?

So beautiful!! I loved the whole album. My least favorite track is Moving on without you. IMO, it's more out of place than warning. But out of control and No future... they're so beautiful. Anything for you is perfect. And Warning just got a special place in my study fierce songs lol.

This will be my first Ayu album since Party Queen. A ONE is amazing from start to end.

@maxikot
http://tw.weibo.com/1862595650/3827991916472043

NO FUTURE OMGGGGG!!!

Listening to the album for the second time, i overplayed Zutto...'s single too much that i actually got pissed when it was the "Last Minute - Zutto..." part because i was like "alright fine i already know these by heart gimme the new songs" but otherwise it was nice.
I cried almost non-stop during WARNING, then a little for NO FUTURE, Anything for you and after that i had no more tears left haha. TSMGO is super catchy and it must slay live, the intro is exactly snowy kiss so to me it's not a coincidence AT ALL.

NO FUTURE reminded me of Immature and idk why because i never listen to this song, Story gave me My Story feels, and yeah who would have thought she'd go back to such an high pitched voice.

I'm in looove

Thank you

Story doesn't remind me of MY STORY at all. It's more on par with LOVE again.

OMG, I love the atmosphere on AHS!! This is one of those unique times when we get an ayu album. For me, this is the sixth experience of this kind (Party Queen - LOVE - again - LOVE again - Colours - and now A ONE)
So, I'm super impressed with this album.

No Future is epic, maybe her most epic song since BRILLANTE. I agree with the comment from earlier, it really sounds a bit like Immature. Also, a bit like Trauma, Friend II and A Song For XX. But still original and fresh.

Story is nothing like that atrocious album. Story has a warmth and fullness to it that nothing on LOVE again came close to. If anything, Story reminds me of a track that would've been on Secret, or maybe RnRC.

Everybody is so happy with this release, I need to get home and download it ASAP !!

Out of Control is a bit similar to call and Letter but at the same time it has this different feeling. I don't get this warmth from those tracks (even if I like them). Her voice is soo different here than it was in the Party Queen era.

That's the one word that I think sums up this album perfectly: warmth. The more upbeat tracks have more of a "fire" kind of warmth to them, and the ballads are all very fully realized, tender, and beautiful. This album is everything I wanted LOVE again to be in the best of ways. I love A ONE so very much.

I agree that the ballads are really great. I think its a good balance : 5 uptempo - 5 ballads.
Anything For You doesn't disappoints at all. Those verses almost made me cry. And the fact that its a bit similar to Walk its even better cuz I love that one.

Omg, no I figured out what song it reminds me of!

Fucking Meaning of love. YUUUUUUUCK.

It certainly is better but definitely similar.

Hahahah I like both but this is better :D

okay..so
a Bell - Aria & overture brother
NO FUTURE - Friend II meets Trauma meets Like a Doll
Anything For You - Pray meets Walk
Zutto.. - Scar meets petal
Out Of Control - call/Letter sister
Story - Haru Yo Koi meets Meaning Of Love
THE Gift - Ayumi Hamasaki meets Jay Chou (more specifically his song "Maple")
The Show Must Go On - Snowy kiss's party cousin

I made this because I'm super excited about the album and when its all fresh I can notice some similarities with other songs

Well, I don't know how I'll sleep! A ONE is so amazing that I don't stop to listen to it. And I can't stop it!!! I'm not powerful enough to resist my desire to hear each song again and again!

Interesting WARNING and Walk both begin with "Lalalalai"s.

I hadn't listened to the whole thing yet, but what i've heard so far is brilliant, not to mention she sounds completely breathtaking!I am also overwhelmed that AHS actually agrees on this one. I felt like the girl won't disappoint this time. This whole era was giving me really good vibes from the beginning. I always have faith in her. <3 Totally forgave Colours lol

Now that we've seen CD scans and booklets and stuff, I wonder what the 'hidden message' is for "A ONE". I don't see a letter in between.

We got the complete booklet scans?

ALONE seems the answer.

Just as a title, "Movin' on without you" supports the ALONE thing, kind of. But then again I dunno in what sense since she has found love.

I hope avex will release A ONE worldwide on iTunes. If not I'll wait for the proper rip. I mean they even released A Theme Songs (Drama Edition) but never released Colours, should have been other way around.

I love this album from beginning to end. I can get through it without skipping a song, haven't done that since GUILTY. I love all of the new songs and even Zutto... is growing on me.

This may be my favorite J-Pop album of 2015. Ayu nailed it.

this album is so much better than COLOUR

I see you always speaking about love when I don't see romantic love in her lyrics or messages. Why Alone if she has a husband? Because her life, her art is not romantic love only, there are a lot of things. I'm starting to think that I'm the problem hahaha because where people only can see romantic love in her art I can see a lot of things and a lot of diferents types of love thar no are romantic. Obviusly she talks about romantic love in the lyrics too, but normally her lyrics are wrote to look a little like romantic love but it isn't.
She is alone and she can feel alone, having a husband could not change it.

This is the album Love Again was trying to be. It feels so much richer and more complete. Her vocals alone on NO FUTURE and Anything for You are way more nostalgic than anything on Love Again.

this album has more COLOURS too lol

Does anyone remember that one quote she said around the Party Queen era? I believe it was this (found on tumblr):

This could correlate to the album title and why she could still be ALONE even if she has a husband. And a lot of her early works discuss being alone, whether due to her parents or what have you. Sometimes people can feel alone no matter who they have around them.

MY GOD... ANYTHING FOR YOU MAKES ME CRY !!!!!! SO SAD but also very hopeful
the ending is just..... cant even describe it

01 a Bell - 10/10
One of the best interludes since NEXT LEVEL.

02 WARNING - 9/10
I haven't heard Ayumi rock this hard since Microphone.

03 NO FUTURE - 8/10
Reminds me of Like a doll.
May be a bit unmemorable, but this is what old Ayu would sound like today.

04 Anything for You - 9/10
For a stereotypical Ayu ballad, this feels oddly refreshing.
I realized at 5:30, this song will be among the LOVE ~Destiny~'s/Voyage's/No way to say's/CAROLS' of Ayu's career.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Listen to Anything for You -> Walk for an emotional 12-minute mix.

05 Last minute - 7/10
This was remastered from the single. It sounds less electronic on the album.

06 Zutto... - 7/10
Zutto... doesn't stick out on the album like it did on the single.

07 Out of control - 9/10
This reminds me of MY STORY/(miss)understood era.

08 Story - 9/10
This strongly reminds me of (miss)understood/Secret era.

09 The GIFT - 6/10
If A ONE's songs were each a beautifully wrapped Christmas present, The GIFT would be a christmas sweater.

10 The Show Must Go On - 10/10
Heavily reminds me of Ayu's crazy tracks like AUDIENCE from the Duty era.
This is snowy kiss' more attractive sister.
This doesn't feel like it's six minutes long.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Listen to snowy kiss -> The Show Must Go On for a 12-minute high NRG mix.

11 Walk - 10/10
The chorus pops into my thoughts all the time.
Easily some of Ayu's best vocals in years.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Listen to Anything for You -> Walk for an emotional 12-minute mix.

12 Movin' on without you - 9/10
Does not fit AT ALL with the record, but nice to include for the sake that people loved this cover.

FAMILIARITIES
01 a Bell - MY STORY, Secret, GUILTY
02 WARNING - I am..., GUILTY, NEXT LEVEL, Rock'n'Roll Circus
03 NO FUTURE - Loveppears, I am..., Love songs
04 Anything for You - Love songs
05 Last minute - Rock'n'Roll Circus
06 Zutto... - (miss)understood, LOVE again
07 Out of control - MY STORY, (miss)understood, Secret
08 Story - (miss)understood, Secret
09 The GIFT - Party Queen
10 The Show Must Go On - Duty, LOVE again
11 Walk - Love songs
12 Movin' on without you - Colours

OVERALL SCORE: 8.58 / 10

A ONE does not beat my review score for NEXT LEVEL, but it does beat my review score for Secret, which has been my second favorite recording from Ayu. That puts A ONE in my top two on first listen.

The GIFT and Zutto... are the odd children on this album. As much as Ayumi loves The GIFT, it is the weakest written song, the weakest performance, weakest production, and comes off as the unwanted step-child of the album. Zutto... is forgettable compared to other tracks on the album. I am glad it was placed in the middle of the track-listing to give more attention to more impressive tracks.

I think the PVs for The GIFT, Last minute, and Zutto... don't add to the experience. This is my first Ayu album that would've been more fulfilling without PVs. Sure, I would've imagined what Ayu could do for some of these songs, but I probably would've much rather preferred not having PVs to knowing that a song like The GIFT was chosen over a song like The Show Must Go On. After hearing Out of control, I think it better fits the video Ayu shot for Last minute instead of Last minute. WARNING was a good choice, and I think it will remain the one PV that added something to A ONE.

On a final note, a Bell easily joins tracks like kaleidoscope, Labyrinth, Rebirth, and the tasking-ludes. I wish there were just a few more to pad the track-list. I would've been happy with four interludes and ten tracks too.

Finally got a chance to listen to A ONE.
OMG THIS ALBUM. I'm like

http://i.imgur.com/4sEtsbQ.gif

I haven't fangirled so much over an Ayu album for ages lmao.

no

It leaked afterall!!! My copy will arrive in two days and i'm seriously keeping myself from DLing the album!! LOL I wish there'd be a venue only promotion for A ONE on Saitama as the tour starts with free goods etc.

If the pictures in the booklet somehow had similarities with the pictures of photo goodies, then it's gonna be so damn boring and big disappointment to me...

There are photos of the booklet. It is the same.