^thanks!

Sooo anyone speculating yet about the title being something that grows in Hawaii? Max lives in Hawaii. It's coinciding with the M drama...

Ayu loves to create thinly veiled mysteries for us. :)

What’s to speculate? Ohia is a tree, Lehua is the flower that grows on that tree, and the song is about her child, as referenced by the opening lines, so I think it’s safe to say the Ohia/Lehua references(as well as the tale surrounding it) are just metaphor for her love & devotion for her child.

Obviously. No one ever said it wasn’t.

^ Yeah, I mean there is no doubt the song is for her child. But the legend is actually about two lovers being joined together forever. I think the timing of the release combined with the title being something specific to Hawaii and a legend about lovers, its meant to encourage speculation that it's Max child, whether true or not.

I have though about that aswell lol

Didn't she went to Hawaii with Pei or whatever his name is during that time? Maybe if he's actually the baby's dad the legend is about him lol

#6 today - Recochoku - https://recochoku.jp/ranking/single/daily

I have no doubt in my mind that Araki Syunpei is the father of the child. Their social media accounts are so glaringly obvious. They aren’t even being coy about it. That last image on his Instagram and the lyrics for this song speak volumes.

Anyway, Ayu has always preferred her men post-Max to have good faces and no way is she letting her beloved child inherit Max Matsuura’s face. What’s the point? She doesn’t need his money.

Facts.

lol i used just saw his mother's day post too

"Ohia no Ki" is at #6 on oricon's daily digital singles chart. It seems to have sold under 5K. Looking at the competition, I think ayu can/might reach number 5 weekly, which would be very nice.

Today's ranking:

I really like this song!! I don't think I'll listen to it non-stop but I like the way she sings. It differs from all her other songs tbh. It sounds mature and it very very slightly reminds me of Seiko Matsuda's 'Bara no you ni...'

I thought I was the only one who thought of that song. The song's ok, even though that type of arrangement has been done a lot in her newest songs. I believe that The way I am has a way catcher and pleasing chorus, but her voice is slightly better here.

Oddly enough, besides the "official audio" and snippet videos, there's this 3rd one where the comments section is open.

I think it's auto-generated. All of these have open comment sections.

Sometimes there is just no explanation for who you love, and Ayu clearly loved him.

I don't know why that post would necessarily mean anything. I mean, I assume Pei has a mother. :)

It’s the track they upload for use with YouTube Music. They have them for most of Ayu’s discography.

wow I'm glad I'm not the only one :)

Another piano version

#18 for the week at Oricon. Only had the one day of 5,052 sales.

#8 for the week at Recochoku.

It’s out of the top 10 on the daily list for Oricon.

Makes sense. Had they released it at the beginning of the new week, it would have probably landed in the top 10. Still, top 20 with only one day of sales is good!

I’m happy if she’s happy, but the song is trite👏🏽as👏🏽fuck. It’s the kind she should’ve let go a decade ago. Also, if she keeps that voice up, sis is on the fast track to diabetes.

I think that's the reason why a lot of people are liking it - it sounds like a classic Ayu song, after a whole decade of arguably odd directions & missteps. Certainly better than everything on Trouble, imo.

I think from 2015 onward she attempted to go back to the basics with A ONE and sixxxxxx but then things may have steered in another direction in mostly Just the beginning / TROUBLE eras after she had her knee surgery and worsening ear conditions.

The "letter to her child" aspect is also refreshing for many and probably is the highlight of the song over the arrangement or composition itself.

Oh, I didn't know they would only count one day of sales for the weekly ranking. Hopefully, she gets a better position next week!

I'm shocked to see people call this a classic Ayu song. I see it as standard to the generic ballads shes been making since Love Again. Not classic Ayu to me.
Its the lyrics that make this song. Definitely not the unmemorable basic composition.

Classic Ayu songs for me are from the albums LOVEppears, Duty, I am... and maybe RAINBOW. I don't hear that in this song.

Yeah, it came out the Saturday night of the drama which is basically the very tail end of the charting week. It probably isn't going to do super hot though from here on out since it has dropped considerably in many places but at the same time, it's available for free from YouTube and so on, so many are probably not buying it. The YT upload is almost at million views.

She developed a "classic Ayu ballad" sound in the albums after that. Before that I think it was more experimentation with things compared to MY STORY onward.

Exactly. This song is straight off Love Again. Lyrics are good, but composition is just blaaaaand.

It’s a post-peak “classic” (ie a shitton of iterations of the same song exist so let’s call it classic) ballad Ayu track, not a classic Ayu track, arguably, but I’ve no energy cause I heard it a second time and I’m falling asleep.

Lovely lyrics though, but c’est la Ayu I guess.

Hands up if you thought pregnancy/motherhood would be the second coming of Crea.

Overall, I think the song was rather well received but it doesn't really have legs due to lacking consistent promotion and other things. It's probably a taste of more stuff to come given Max's push to be a creator again.

I found out that photo in the tv-cm a little bit wider, so I combined it with promo to make full picture.

http://i.imgur.com/xMsJQ8gl.jpg

also if you interested in having most HQ covers, on iTunes it's 2000x2000
http://i.imgur.com/RnbkCppm.jpg

I was afraid to say this. lol But you are right. This isn't classic Ayu. If at all it's "classic" in the sense that it's the same typical generic stuff she's been doing for years now with no variation at all. The lyrics a nice, but other than that this song is boring, generic and so predictable that it hurts. To be honest, this doesn't do her ballads justice and I would prefer it if that song wouldn't exist.

To a degree though if she's been doing it long enough, it's sort of "classic Ayu" at that point. There's a place for these kinds of ballads just as much as any other kind of track she does. Anyway, I don't think she's going to only be doing these kinds of songs from now on, in fact if that songwriter camp was any indication they're probably gonna do upbeat stuff too.

The song is charming. I keep playing it from time to time and even before I learned the translation of the lyrics it managed to wrap my heart with warm emotions. It's her singing that does it and in general, it's a very pretty song. I'm so glad we got it :)

Ok then we can call it Neo-classic Ayu lol

What I like about the song is that it feels like she finally was able to restrain that sort of typically too sweet sounding ballad she does (meaning of Love-type songs) and there's a maturity to the way it sounds. This song seems tailored for the Japanese fans for sure however so I do understand why people may not like it too much or aren't impressed but at the same time... we haven't gotten music since TROUBLE, it's almost like a miracle to have gotten this, lol.

We can debate whether it’s boring, whether it has the classic ayu sound which it does. The song however is definitely not predictable. From beginning and to the end it keeps changing and it’s very dynamic. Except from the first verse the song keeps getting better and better and I do love the way she sings the rest of the it. The composition is mediocre at best, but the way she sings it gives it a good twist and makes it enjoyable.

I really enjoy the song and while it might be 'basic', it does not follow Ayu's usual structure (guitar bridge -> quiet singing of the chorus before repeating the 2nd chorus etc). That felt very refreshing to me.

We even got upbeat stuff on Trouble. Even if most of Ayu's discography is lyrics focused, there are those tracks the lyrics are so central the melody and arragment are used more as a background sound meant to not distract you from what is written than anything else... This song and The way I am are both produced with that mindset.

And that's fine... Those won't be on my repeat list, even because I don't speak japanese, but they tend to be the moments she is being more open and transparent about her feelings, and that serves a purpose on her body of work.

I keep listening the song everyday since it's release, guess I was really missing new material lol I feel good with this song, ayu knows how to deliver emotions with her voice, always gets me!

Btw, after a full week on spotify Ohia no Ki has reached 61.880 plays, and 880.769 views on youtube.

''The way I am'' had a good melody and I simply adore the lyrics. I think the arrangement was even a bit too much for the song, it could have been softer (like Who...) and I think I would have liked it better and would have been more fitting. I still love the song for what it is.

^ I would love an studio recording of the a capella version of The way I am

- translated by tenshi no hane

This was from the 15th anni. TA issue and I was wondering how she'd answer this regarding Ohia. I assume it'd be like "I needed this to be in Japanese, there is no way it would have been made any other way" if she had to.

I can't speak for others who are disappointed in the song, but I know for me, it is purely Yuta's arrangement that ruins the song.

And yes, you can argue that the decision lies in Ayu wanting the arrangement that way, fine, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the arrangement is the single thing that ruins it. The cheesy chimes at the beginning and end, the synthetic instruments, the melodrama of it all. I love Ayu ballads, but they continuously get worse every time she releases them nowadays.

I don't think people want a song about her child to be some weird, quirky pop song, but this could have been so much more poignant with even just a simple piano, maybe an acoustic guitar to touch on the Hawaiian influence? A million other directions this song could have gone in, arrangement-wise, without being "weird" and still retaining the softness and beauty of a ballad.

^Most, if not all, songs popstars made to their children I can think of are cheesy as fuck. It's not a big deal tbh.

I think the problem that a lot of people have is that it has sort of been the default sound even though she hasn't really released much at all just in general since she's only been touring in that time, it's all that people have had to go on since TROUBLE so between this, aeternal, The way I am, there's a thirst for something "different" but personally I was just happy something new actually came out. There'll be other new songs it looks like soon so it's not like this is all that's coming.

I think the song is lovely, I like the melody and the lyrics are beautiful, but I agree with all of these:

I'm a huge Yuta fan so maybe that's my blind spot when it comes to her ballads, but I think someone here said it best (can't remember who, sorry!); I think the point of this song is to let the lyrics shine. The arrangement being something that ayu is the most comfortable with kind of fits in this case, in my opinion. Creatively, I agree, the song is not the greatest thing ever but that's not something I would personally care about for a song like this. I think lyrically, it's classic ayu at her best.

Listening to the song, I still get a warm feeling from it and I like it more every time it does come up. Her vocals feel smoother than some of the stuff that was on TROUBLE.

I'm glad though that Ayu is typically able to satisfy different parts of her fanbase with various tracks but sometimes you just can't please any of them but for the people that do enjoy most or all of it, it's even better!

I strongly feel that the sense of fandom-community would be a lot more pleasant if we stopped having this divide between “the Grateful Fans” and “the Perceived-as-Hypercritical Fans”. This is probably more of a comment on Stan culture in general though. (I wouldn’t know because this is the only forum I’ve ever spent any degree of time on.) It’s so funny how human beings find ways to splinter themselves even in an increasingly thinning Japanese pop music forum dedicated to one nostalgia-act.

All these years later I’m still nonplussed af tbh.

I think it's just a difference of opinion in most cases. Some people like it, some people don't. It's not that complicated. If you don't like it though, that doesn't make it so that the people who do like it have invalid feelings toward the song.

Ohia no Ki is at #14 in its second week with 5,819 copies sold, bringing its total sales to 10,871 so far.

Had it been released a day later it would've debuted in the top 10, but definitely not top 5. Nevertheless, it was released a day early and I'm just glad it managed to climb up a few positions. :)

The fact that it's pretty easily available on YT seems to be affecting things and it's where people are listening to it. It has about a million streams at the moment.

I agree, that's what I meant by predictable. From the first cheesy chimes it wasn't hard to guess how this would continue. At this point, her ballads add nothing to her catalogue, on the contrary, they weaken it. Therefore, I would prefer no song at all over something that just reminds me of percieved 100 bad and weak other ballads.

This one in particular I feel does add something. There's a maturity here that typically isn't in the ballads made in this fashion and lyrically it's new ground for her as a topic.

Listened to this several days ago, but didn't get a chance to post my thoughts.

Well... the lyrics are a nice change, of course, she now has a new subject matter to write about lol Very sweet

The music itself? Completely forgettable for me!

Her ballads on the last few albums were impressive! Last minute, Out of control, Walk, Mad world, Breakdown, Sorrows, Shape of Love, The Way I am are all superb tracks and stand hand in hand with her classics.

I think a lot of people have equated the ballads from TROUBLE as representative of her ballads as a whole for a certain period especially since she only has had those songs to represent new music since 2018. It’s a shame though that A ONE and the two releases that came after are so easily overlooked.

I really wouldn't count Last minute, Mad World and Sorrows as ballads tbh but I'd have to disagree about them and the other tracks being equal as her classics.

What counts as "classic" era? Debut to I am...? Because if so, her ballad quality has increased exponentially, in my opinion. To me, her recent ballads blow them out of the water. I don't listen to any of her ballads pre-MY STORY with the exception of maybe Who..., scar and HANABI.

Then what does? She has had output that is just as strong as some of her older tracks on recent albums but it’s often disregarded due to simply being newer. This has happened with basically every Ayu release after I am... then people come around on the newer stuff like when a large percentage hated RAINBOW back in 2003. NEXT LEVEL also had to deal with a large amount of negative reception until lit had been out for a while.

I believe Ayu's output from Memorial Address to Guilty, the time spam a lot of her overseas fandom was formed, was pretty safe and low risk. As she started experiementing again, people tended to mistake not liking something at the first listen to disliking it, and some of her work actually needed time to digest.

Starting from A One, her sound became safer again, and people warmed up a little.

idk I love it and listen to it everyday lol

Totally agree on this, it is a difference of opinion after all, and thanks god we don't all love the same thing, life would be SO boring... :)
If I may complete this awesome quote and just add this last part :

I feel this sentence is now more balanced and both feelings are legitimate... ;)

As for what is classic Ayu / ballad, to each one his definition, so keep in mind there's no right / wrong in this field
(I personally don't see the point in looking for "the factual classic Ayu songs" when this is such a subjective issue and there'll be no definitive answer, but whatever, just my opinion...)

This new song will never make it to my playlist, but I'm just happy to listen again & again to "my classic Ayu songs" (Mirrorcle World, Song 4 u, alterna, M) and "my classic ballads" (HANABI, RAINBOW, CAROLS, Together When...) :D #queen

I think all in all the general consensus here is that she should fire Yuta Nakano and hire someone who’s a tad bit more sonically adventurous. It’d be cool to see her collaborate with Clarence Clarity tbh but still with compositions from Japanese composers. Like I’d absolutely PAY to hear it.

I don't think Yuta is the problem though, he is rather good at doing all kinds of things but it hinges on what Ayu wants from him. That's why he's the one that has stuck around for this long somewhat but tasuku also does good work. We've seen him do all sorts of different arrangements with Ayu so it's not like he has been doing the same thing from the start, in fact he was probably the part of H/\L that did the most for her sound which is why he was able to split from them and do it on his own. To me, this kind of 'problem' is similar to the people who don't like what Timmy wears or looks like in Ayu's concerts. Ayu is the one who decides that for Timmy and in the same vein, she is the one who dictates the sound that she wants from Yuta.

I think it's a bit contradictory in that sense because the people who don't necessarily like the arrangement too much have also said it is sort of the 'classic' Ayu sound. It seems to depend on what you think of as classic to begin with. Is it a song or sound that is timeless and encapsulates her best work? Or is it one that is representative of a standard sound she goes back to?

Also, I don't believe that anyone who does like the song feels it's a masterpiece or anything but it's just something that they've enjoyed. It almost feels like liking the song somehow ended up getting equated with thinking it's a 'new classic' (in the sense of being among her best work) in her repertoire but it's two separate feelings about the song. The sound that people are talking about has become a bit of an Ayu staple in these last few albums so in that sense it is hard to argue that it has not been typical Ayu which is also valid as a definition of classic.

The classic comments are referring to the song in the second definition which is basically universally agreed upon.

I think ballads aren't Yuta Nakano's strengths. He has uses the same formula of arrangements for ballads minus a few exceptions: Curtain call, BALLAD, hbya, Sweet scar

Also ayu probably likes the generic ballad arrangement which is probably why Yuta Nakano applies it to her songs even though its gotten very repetitive (ex. Walk and Anything for you)

It is more that the team isn't diversified enough, I suppose. At this point Yuta takes on nearly all the songs Ayu does with tasuku taking a few here and there and the remnants of H/\L on even less than tasuku. Yuta is basically the only one touching most songs so it's easy to blame him. The solution is probably to bring back some other arrangers or just not to push it all on Yuta, but it seems unlikely given how long he's been the "her" arranger.

One thing I saw recently was that CMJK was helping with rearranging for POWER of A^3 and TROUBLE tour, so it's possible he could be back soon.

Nothing can beat her classic ballads: End roll, TO BE, Who…, SCAR, SEASONS, teddy bear, Dearest, Endless sorrow, HANABI, Voyage, RAINBOW. I mean, it's just my taste. No one needs to agree with me. And I absolutely adore her ballads from the albums MY STORY and (miss)understood.

I think some recent ballads that pack a punch are like... Out of control or Shape of love. That period specifically had some really strong work overall.

I think no matter your tastes, when ayu finally retires her music will be sorely missed as I don't think anyone right now holds a candle. But admittedly, I haven't been checking out any current or upcoming acts.

Who else wants more like Terminal? A bop. A masterpiece. Hope she brings something in this vein for the upcoming projects.

Yeah, a lot of the acts that are pretty "hot" right now are either groups or male soloists. There's a few artists that have been making slight waves and are sort of considered J-pop darlings by the overseas community but none of them quite have the impact Ayu did/does.

With the presence of Dave Rodgers, I wonder if there'll be a Eurobeat flair to some upcoming music. Daisuke Suzuki also has done a lot of that kind of "hi NRG" type feel stuff and he was present too.

for me she has released some of her best ballads with her most recent outputs. Pray, Anything for You, Walk and You are the only one are examples.

I don't know why Anything For You isn't more popular, its probably one of my favourite ballads of the last few albums. Maybe people just don't like the long run time? It clocks in at 7 minutes.

I think it's pretty often compared to Walk and between both, people choose one or the other.

I love it! Especially the key change at the end! It's like it changes the mood of the entire song and makes it completely different. It IS a bit long though lol. I love all the songs on A ONE, even The GIFT (which is one of my favorite songs of hers in general).

I love Anything For You..at least something actually happens in the songs..the other ballads from around that time and since just plod along in MOR land.

the length can be a problem for some people but I like some tracks that are 10-13min so that's not a problem for me lol. I also love the key change in the end and the chorus is very very beautiful.

I love both songs, but I like Walk more.

I love eurobeat, but hope Ayu doesn't decide to release a eurobeat single like Da Pump's USA. Even if I LOVE that song, it's basically a novelty / comedy act that doesn't go with Ayu's image. Although it would be so funny to see Ayu dancing around stage screaming COME ON BABY AMERICA! :D

Connected is sooo much better. Terminal gets on my nerves, sounds depressing and I dislike her screamy vocals.

Same.

Blasphemy.

I also prefer walk but both songs are beautiful. Now that I think about it, even ayu’s worst song (what is forever love btw) is better than other’s whole discographies imo lol Damn Avex and her secret plans, this period of Ayu’s “hitus” made my almost lost interest in Ayu spike strongly again.

Terminal and Connected are pretty even IMO. I'm excited either way for w/e comes next even if it does end up being more midtempo stuff.

Isn't he Rina Sawayama's collaborator? Alterlife is a perfect update of the early Ayu style.

I feel like all my favourite recent songs are people inspired by Ayu and taking parts of her sound.

I really like both A ONE and Made in Japan, but six and TROUBLE have that indestinct mid-tempo sound for me. I've only listened to Ohia no Ki a few times because it's more of the same.

That's why I like Terminal to begin with, the sense of urgency and the stress she puts on her voice. It fits so well with the message she's trying to convey. And the verses of the song are pretty soothing and not screamy, so there's some dynamic going on.

Neo-classic Ayu. I like that term :)

For me the "classic Ayu era" ended with the release of "GUILTY" but quite a lot of Her newer songs do still appeal to me, nonetheless.

I for one didn't like "Ohia no Ki" due to its very generic and uninspired nature. However, there are many songs from Ayu that are just as generic but for some reason I can't get enough from them. I'm still having a hard time to enjoy Ayu's more mature vocals, though, so this may cast a better light on older songs for me in the first place.

Ohia no Ki hit a million views on YT! Here's to a million more perhaps~

It also has 100 000+ plays on Spotify!

Nice! I think that should go up too after Natsu no Trouble.

I think it's her fastest song to get to 100k on Spotify.

And the other version with comments allowed have 76k views as of now

Yeah that's the YouTube Music one. It's pretty nice that they have that as an option, seems to be dependent on what "isn't" available with a video already for her older stuff. Their system for adding songs to that is really bizarre but it works.

I know it's out of the Top 20 on the Oricon charts, but anyone know how much it sold this week?

This is great news! I'm glad fans in Japan are receptive to the song!

Yeah, I agree! This discussion here has made me realise that Ayu's ballads over the past few years have been...serviceable but she's capable of so much more!

I thought she had pretty good ones since 2015. Out of control, Shape of Love, Breakdown, Sorrows, You are the only one, Last minute... for all of the ones that may have been lacking, there was also one that was stellar too.