Ok at this point ayu needs to just at least give us a song title ��

So, we're getting another tracklist reveal on Saturday same time as last week?

Seeing Kazuyoshi wear his mask the wrong way just makes me cringe so hard.

I hope tomorrow's video brings more "suprises" because last week they were the obvious song choices.

So excited for new PV!!!

I wouldn't get my hopes up. Thinking about playing BINGO with these:

CERTAINLY WILL BE ON (19 !!)

You Were...
BALLAD
Zutto...
Walk
Days
Virgin road
Sunset
Pride
forgiveness
HANABI II
Together When
How beautiful you are
Pray for you
Ohia no Ki
WORDS
Beloved
The GIFT
Walking proud
Curtain call


one or two curveballs from these:

SAKURA
Count down
Return Road
LOVE SONG
SAKURA
untitled
BRILLIANTE
Ivy
Missing
Winter diary
Part of me
Sweet scar
Pray
Angel
Life
GREEN
Last Minute
memorial address
Sweet Season
Mad world
The way I am

gosh I forgot about Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~ completely. this song gives me such a strong nauseated reaction so I always skip it.

it also seems to be one of her most popular ballads so I'm almost 100% sure it will make it in the album.

I came here to post the same thing LOL Especially after Ayu's team already dealt with a Covid outbreak. Can anyone translate what he says to her in the clip?


Ayu looks AMAZING in these photos/clips! I keep getting Part of me stuck in my head after looking at them haha

I also wonder. I did a Google Translate of her caption and hashtags and it appears that the director was teaching her how to act just by using eyes. don't know how accurate this is.

wow I totally love your wallpapers!!! they remind me of those times back in the 00s when people used to make a lot of wallpapers with ayu and the best ones could be found at Divine Ayu :love

btw I think this is the first time when I'm truly excited for the release of the 'BEST' album. finally, it feels natural! and not like, 'wtf avex why would you release a compilation of songs and make us buy it'. now it just makes me excited :luv2 I love the photos with kimono! I wish one of those pics would be a cover, not this greyish one.

She looks absolutely stunning in the cover.

I think he's just directing how she should move on the scene they were about to shoot

Tracklist part 2:

-forgiveness
-You were...
-Beloved
-BALLAD
-HOPE or PAIN
-Curtain Call
-SAKURA
-rainy day
-TODAY
-life

really surprised about HOPE or PAIN and life! The covers are nice but yep, only beauty shots! Next satuday there will be another trailer/tracklist reveal

Justice has been served for Life.

Hope the DVD will include that epic 2011 Music Station performance.

A BALLADS includes:

- forgivenness
- you were
- beloved
- BALLAD
- HOPE or PAIN
- Curtain Call
- Sakura
- rainy day
- TODAY
- Life

I forgot life existed, that was a move.

Interestingly I never thought of Today as a ballad.

Mixed feelings about track list but overall I like it. Thanks god she didn’t forget about Ballad. The covers are really mediocre. I like the colors but everything else is just so uninspiring. It looks like she took some selfies with a Snapchat filter or something lol But we don’t have covers for the limited editions yet, could that mean we could get something different...? And what about the PV she has been teasing all week long? Lol

Today's video was so short! I guess the lack of lives makes it hard to do a video like last week. What a stacked tracklist... Life, SAKURA, TODAY, Curtain Call. BALLAD was a shoe in but I'm happy it's there.

The third cover they showed wasn't as good as the first two but I am really hyped for reveal 3

Yay for Curtain call!!!!! Happy for rainy day, forgiveness and you were! When I saw TODAY I didn't remember she had a song with that name, maybe i've listened that song only once

https://zupimages.net/up/21/08/vx6w.png

https://zupimages.net/up/21/08/y40z.png

It’s up on the website now, the Limited edition has the first cover we saw last week
https://avex.jp/ayu/discography/

so so happy that rainy day will get a remaster! one of my favourite ballads of hers

and yes—talk about curve balls! I guess she's making space for lesser known ballads like HOPE or PAIN and Life, at the expense of some of her more famous songs.

ALSO: kind of disappointed that there are only three covers?

Noooo I don't like very much the 2CD only cover and it is my version :(

:weep I can’t with the fact we only have three covers. Where did the times we had completely different covers for each version went? I’m saaad.
The regular 2CD+DVD is the best among the bad lol

^^The CD only version is my favourite but I'm getting the 2Bluray edition lol. So typical! :laugh

Sorry for double post but:

Hello to TeamAyu♪


◆The main cover photo of "A BALLADS 2" to be released on April 8 has been released!

The main cover photo of the ballad best album "A BALLADS 2" to be released on April 8 has been released!

In addition, the specifications of the TeamAyu / mu-mo store limited edition have also been revealed!
It will come with a luxury boxed set, digipak, special book, photo cards, and a T-shirt featuring the new photos!

Please look forward to the release date.

>>For more information on the released the main cover photo and the additional contents announced today, please click here!
https://avex.jp/ayu/discography/

>>Click here to see the video released today on YouTube that reveals some of the contents of "A BALLADS 2"!
https://youtu.be/8oTEqsTns_I

>>Pre-order "A BALLADS 2" from here!
https://avex.lnk.to/aballads2

hmm. it does say "main cover photo" so there seems to be a chance that not all of the covers have been released?

plus, the end of the preview released today says "See you next Saturday" so, there's hope for more covers, it seems?

3rd part of tracklist

The covers are not amazing, but they are OK...

And I hope for winding road and Pride for next week!

Website has been updated:


https://avex.jp/ayu/discography/

・ TeamAyu / mu-mo shop limited edition
・ Luxury BOX specifications
・ Digipak specifications
・ With jacket photo print T-shirt
・ With SPECIAL BOOK
・ Other jacket card included

Really quick edit I did half asleep as a tribute to the original covers lol

OH MAN THEY SHOULD HAVE HIRED YOU

I hate T-shirts with square pictures, they are so lame

I think the second batch of songs are full of (pleasant) surprises!

Evan I really like your edit!

If the shirt has all three photos in a row across the chest it probably won't look bad but I'm also unlikely to wear it lol

First a light stick then photocards... Avex sees how groups like TWICE print money and decided to go for it haha. I know Ayu did cards back in her early days but I really hope they don't go the kpop route with randomised cards in the future. Maybe a single card in the first press would be a nice bonus but I'm probably getting ahead of myself. At least the value for money is coming out in the package goodies even if the video discs are recycled af

big covers from ayu's twitter

Photos by Kazutaka Nakamura

Stylist: Kei Ito
Haute couture: Masataka Kato
Hair: Takayuki Shibata
Makeup: Akemi Kibe

https://i.imgur.com/fRuTC8wl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/AIqVZrIl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/YVL15GLl.jpg

Wow, life, HOPE or PAIN, TODAY, those are rare gems. Setlist is really good and cover photos are amazing. I wonder what will happen next Saturday? Maybe announcement of new PV?

Me. I couldn't care less for the best-of albums lol But i'm glad she's got more action than just touring, so i keep coming back here lol.

I think I like these covers as much as I do because it’s not pink. More of a cooler purple to me. Ayu looks great!

better than A BEST 2 covers a lot, IMO.
A BEST 2 covers look like ayu got beheaded and we would not see her alive again.

For this week I guess they didn’t want to put the full DVD content in YouTube haha

No walking proud (yet)... I hope for next week!
I love the cover where she is lying.lovely

I totally expected Life, she even performed it on TV. But I forgot HOPE or PAIN, which i really like.

I'm so happy that Life and Curtain Call made it :) I love the cd/dvd cover, so beautiful!

TODAY is a blemish on this record.

Adore that they included Life though!!

Why are the covers like fucking blurry?? I had hope for at least the shots to become progressively zoomed out, creating some atmosphere of her surroundings...

With so many songs I doubt they will do reworkings or re-recordings at all.

^I kinda wanted a full body picture too, like in MY STORY covers but since she's pregnant and she clearly doesn't want to show her belly I understand, it would be awkward to photoshop her belly or hide it with some object

The only thing I really don’t like about the cover is the title - why are they translucent? Why are they NOT THE SAME SIZE ACROSS THE VERSIONS? Photos are ok, though I wish there were less blur and more natural lighting so we could see her skin. But the color is lovely.

Wow I totally forgot about "Life". I have not listened to that song in such a long time!

So the unbolded ones are what’s left. It’s like Survivor! She has so many, the third reveal is going to be satisfying or devastating many people lol

This is what bugs me the most. The photos are ok (not great either) but that blur is just so disgusting. It does look like a cheap attempt to hide skin imperfections. My desire to purchase a new release from Ayu is so strong that I still don’t lose hope until the last minute lol But the only interesting thing left seems to be that new PV.... (if they decide to add some kind of first press bonus, I’ll get the regular bluray one I guess).

It's literally just a shallow focal length. Her eyes (or just the one in the lying down cover) are in focus, then the rest of the image slowly falls out of focus. It's a technique to give a soft, intimate, dreamy and romantic look.
Skin imperfections can be easily hidden with photoshop, so that's not likely what they're trying to do here.

It's nice seeing all the buzz and activity in the forum right now. The way she's rolling out updates is fun and certainly giving us lots to talk about!

haha I totally forgot to check MY STORY and (miss) understood yesterday.evening.
I even had rainy day, HOPE or PAIN and HAPPY ENDING in my playlist.

TODAY is a surprise.
Even if I'm not a fan of either TODAY or SAKURA, I'm happy for the ones who like it and get a better quality of those two.


And I really like the double-ayu fancover on the page before. i already said the colors are pretty in line with A BALLADS, but someone else pointed out the original A BALLADS and RAINBOW were already about coming to terms with herself, so she may did not want to reuse it (although i'd have like a twist on it to keep the concept - maybe a mirror?)

You took the words out of my mouth. Can't expect people who don't mess with photography know of these things. lol However, i have to say, me as a total amateur could do this sort of crap and get away with it, but a pro photographer? They should know their stuff to be able to get the focal point in control, right where it needs to be and the rest softly blurring out. This looks like something i could take rather than an actual pro lol It's all over the place...:dead2 The skin thing? I mean how often do we ACTUALLY see skin texture in Japanese covers? or anything for that matter. The faces are airbrushed to oblivion, sometimes to the point where it looks like it was taken with a phone camera rather than professional equipment. The light, to me from what i know and by the reflection in her eyes - it looks like a massive panoramic window to me.
https://i.imgur.com/UhE8sac.jpg
Natural light can be very harsh but also very flattering, if you know what you're doing and get a good angle to "wash out" the imperfections.

I completely forgot that TA live 2016 wasn't released and cuts from it are "rare". Also PoM 2018 and what else? One of CDL?
That annoys me so much! We already have everything, well as tv versions but whatever. I'm afraid post 2012 a-nations are also can be counted as rare

I hope they will do a good remaster to the horrendous SAKURA mastering on the original album. I like the song but when the glass-breaking chorus kick in its just game over for my ears.

I'm so happy for Life, but TODAY... well, i think this is the song that i really hate from Ayu. :x

at least it is not THANK U

I really wasn't expecting HOPE or PAIN, TODAY, Curtain call and Life to be featured, especially Life, but I'm not complaining. I quite like TODAY, it's one of my favorites from MIJ.

About the covers, she looks good on them, but that's it.

Also, I know the performances on DVD/BD1 have already been released before, but they could've chosen better ones (Iike, I'd rather have HEAVEN from AT06 or CDL05-06 than from ABL)

I'm so glad Life is on there!
I was genuinely shocked by the covers (in a good way). For those who say they aren't meaningful and are just beauty shots I disagree. The moment I saw them I got a feeling of loneliness from them, perhaps from the cooler tones and her expressions that, to me, make it look like she just got done crying or is deep in thought about her life. I think they're extremely well done and some of the most beautiful photos I've seen from her in a long while.

^that is FAR from looking like someone who cried her eyes out XD

Finally, the tracklist gets interesting!

True. And I don’t dislike it. Her skin is always edited to perfection (and nicely done imo). I said in this case it looks like those kind of pics where blur is used to hide imperfections (myself included with PicsArt lol). I studied photography for only a year so I’m not a pro at all, it’s true what you guys mention, it is just so poorly done that I didn’t even think that could be the case :laugh

I didn't say or mean cry her eyes out to the point of looking swollen and red, I just said cried. You don't need to agree though, that's just the feeling I get and I just love that she is doing photo shoots that give me more feeling and aren't just beauty shots. It has been a while.

Maybe someone who cried for a MINUTE or three :D

Yep! Exactly.

Anyway, I haven't checked all the other pages - there are still 10 tracks they need to announce right? Do we know if we should be expecting the reveal of them soon or should we expect to wait a while?

10, but only 9 if we aren't counting Pray for you

I think Ayu is the happiest she's been in years. She just had a baby a year ago and is coming out with another baby. She's living her best life right now. I don't think she is lonely. She also lives with her mother and staff is always around her.

But I agree that the covers are amazing.

next saturday we will probably get the rest

I don't think they're sooo poorly done. They're fine photographically.
The cd only version is the weakest, where the focus isn't super crisp on her eyes. It feels more like the sharpest focus is on her nose or the top of her lip.

But for me, the most distracting part of the covers is that her lips are two different colours.

Orange on top. Pink on the bottom.
https://i.imgur.com/dC7CWDs.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/SwfiXR5.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/UoATnFZ.png

Maybe they will show the pv at the end of the 3rd announcement!

Video for Life performance seems to be missing from the dvd/blu ray tracklists...
Certainly is shaping up to be an interesting track list. Not really a fan of Rainy Day or Today, but I'm pleased with the vast majority of the songs included so far. When they showed the photo of miss(understood) I got excited for Will, but it turned out to be rainy day.
As for the videos...most of their choices are fine, but for me the better performances were MOON (AT 2010), Momentum (CDL 2013-14), You were (CDL 2009-10), Together When (CDL 2007-08) and No Way to Say (A Museum).

I’m hoping that blossom makes the cut. Also, definitely not gonna happen but what if the Xmas Live version of M was included as a hidden or bonus track...

I love the inclusion of TODAY. a pleasant surprise and one of my favorites from MIJ. It's a well done song imo.

HOPE or PAIN and rainy day are also exciting.

I do wonder her motivation for selecting certain songs. I hope we find out at some point.

I also love the covers lol. She looks beautiful and soft and I love the colors. Something about her expressions. I can't put my finger on it.

I was just reading an old thread from 2003 about the first A BALLADS and it's pretty funny since a few people back then also had a problem with the release :laugh

http://ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3854

Guess they won't include it because it's from a private company, they would have to pay to Asahi TV to sell it. NHK is a public channel, so I guess they could get the footage rights easier.

So tonight 19:00 will have making/ documentary of evolution from xmas Eve performance?

^seems so.

The comments then are funny :D The comments about recycled contents...... If only they knew :tired

And now this thread's comments are bitter and toxic.

They should create their own A BALLADS 2 covers if they don't like it.

As I said before, the fandom here is toxic af.

I usually get the TA full bonus edition... But I think I will get the standard 2CD+1Bluray this time because I find that cover very pretty.

The new released songs in the soundtrack are surprising as a lot of them are not hits or singles. I like that.

That’s very possible. I hope that’s not the case but it would just be disappointing that that rare clip won’t be included on a official compilation dvd of rare clips

Very surprised and happy that Life got included :love:love
TODAY in an interesting choice, not a ballad in my opinion, but since I love the song, can't complain!

Disappointed with the other 2 covers, nothing new here... :( the lying pose might be my favourite of the 3 though.

What's so toxic about people not liking something and stating that? It's the same as liking something and doing it. What is the big deal? It almost seems like people can't stand the fact that what they think is great isn't on the same page for others. Chill, it's just music, entertainment. Having an opinion and constructive criticism doesn't equal toxicity. I maybe saw like one comment, and even that could be interpreted in different ways. For some reason we always have that same conversation every time she releases something and people are not on board with it - the toxic fandom. If you think this is toxic fandom, you haven't seen one i guess. Can we stop with this BS for once and for all? I know it's hard to accept that someone doesn't like what you like, i've been there, too. Try not to take it SO seriously? There will always be a division of the opinions and preferences. This is how world works. Just because someone doesn't like something doesn't make that point of view toxic.:rolleyes At the end of the day she's gonna do whatever the fuck she wants to do. It doesn't even matter what any of us think, you included lol

I might just take your suggestion to make my own covers, though. Haven't done anything in ages :D

I didn't understand why TODAY isn't a ballad for a lot of people. For me, even "Mad World" and "Marionette" are ballads.

"Mad World" maybe is more of a mid tempo thing, while I agree with Marionette, that's totally a power ballad. Today is something in between i'd say, could totally work as a ballad.

So far, I like the content she's teasing us with.
Covers are beautiful. Tracklist is great so far. It's not complete yet, right? Because so many song are missing, I thought she would actually include songs like Virgin Road, Missing, The GIFT, Pray, Zutto... Walk, Ivy, how beautiful you are... etc.

I really wish she would include Sweet Scar. That song deserves so much more credit.

I really wish for Ivy to be included!

There’s no way she fits all of her great ballads into this, so I’m curious to see which ones will be left out.

Don’t forget that A Ballads did not include End Roll back then!

A Ballad is not defined by its tempo but by its structure, hence songs like Mad world, Last Minute, memorial address, a song for xx, alterna, return road and maybe even fairyland and sweet season and so on are technically ballads or at least have traits of one. If you strip some of these of their music, they become proper ballads (the ASfXX version on A BALLAD or the Orchestra Version of alterna for example).


ballad: a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. but in music it indeed usually refers to a slower sentimental or romantic song - but not necessarily.

16 of the 20 songs revealed are pre-2010. I hope there's no more of those on the remaining tracklist.

I had no idea the art for A BALLADS was considered recycled at the time. Is there more information about that?

If only people in that thread would have known about her soft focus photos era from L onwards.

That old forum link is so funny ahahahah, it made my day

I still miss Pray (really love this song), Zutto and Mad World :/

I'm really loving all the teases and reveals she's doing lately. It's so much fun to join in on the Discord. The only song I feel is taking up another ballads place is Curtain Call. I know we're not getting rearrangements etc but I feel this is one song that would benefit from it for me.

Yes, so much yes :yes

^Sweet scar indeed is amazing, it's one of my favourites. I also love Ivy. I don't care for Sakura, Melody or Missing and always found the other two way more creative and beautiful.

^Yeah I agree, I like SAKURA tho but I have to be in a really specific mood to really enjoy it somehow haha the acoustic piano version of Melody is really nice but neither are tracks I listen often and missing is fun live but not a big fan of the studio version, it's "missing" something for me :laugh

I feel a bit more optimist about this release after reading all those reactions for the past compilation :laugh

As an Ayufan A BALLADS was the most unnecessary release ever but I can't hate it since:
i) the covers were epic and massive
ii) it unveiled RAINBOW and the lovely Sotsugyou Shashin

Now for A BALLADS 2 I'm glad she's releasing SOMETHING if lucky she can pull off a Mai Kuraki and live off best albums and release new music in between

A BALLADS has RAINBOW, excellent rearrangements, and a track list that flows SO well. I have no complaints.

What's the point of doing these videos to promote the album just to make them private the following week? .-.

^ understanding Avex is a waste of your mental resources, you’ve more luck discovering the meaning of life

Post of the decade.

I am so excited this is my first purchase since the 15th anniversary of A best was released!