I love this crossover vibe in the song! Reminds me of Hitomi Shimatani back in 2005/2006, but with ayu swag <3

O boy yessssssaa i miss that style so much!!?!?

I wished ayu did it more. Like in t2m

woke up this morning and straight away looping WATQ! cant get enough of this badass song!

this is the only song that only Queen Ayu can did it in Japan <33333

man, I freaking love the epic godly war intro that continues to the transition of the EDM/pop/dance song :luv2:luv2:luv2:luv2

Oh.... my... gaaaaaaaaah............
I looooooove... LOOOOOOOVE this song...
:love:love:love:love:love:love:love
EPIC

Just listened to the intro and couldn't stop laughing. Oh it's so good, totally unexpected!

I love it! The song is a complete awesome hot mess and just insanely great! Quintessential Ayu, really.

Definitely love the song. we all miss the awesomeness of AYU!!!!!!!

Is #1 in Malaysia store :love

http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps0bmdbhzr.png

I like it a bit more than I expected, but I'm pretty sure it's mostly because it's new. It's not bad but it's pretty messy as it's been said!
However, I might change my mind with an epic live performance!

Am I the only one who really dislikes the "we are the queens" part? Every time I played it on IG I got scared and annoyed.

Yaaasss AYU bring on that awesomeness!!!
:love:love:love:love:love

Scared? :P
I've seen quite a few people saying it's cringy. I don't mind that it's in English but somehow I feel it doesn't fit the verse and the rest of the chorus so well. It might be because I got "used" to those IG videos playing "yes we are the queens" on repeat.

Only Ayu could have released this

Yeah, I click on the video and then suddenly she starts screaming "we are the pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~zzz" so I am like :shakehead

:laugh

^Ahaha now that you mention it, I might have jumped the first time I opened the video when I wasn't expecting a song at all!

Quick, maybe stupid, question on iTunes: I'm considering buying the song even without being a big fan, because show support and blabla, but if I buy it now and it ends up on an album, will iTunes make me buy it again? I guess it's only 1€ something in any case but just out of curiosity.
I'm asking because I clearly remember iTunes showing something like "complete this album for xx€", with a tiny discount, but although I purchased Many Classic Moments before on the cover album, I paid MIJ full price.

I cut the intro, because I didn't like, but the rest is effing amazing! Those super fast kick-ass drums in verses are so epic! It's my new ringtone now. By the way ultra high quality version of the song is being sold for 540 yen on at least 2 sites.
This song is soooo fun to sing along to, can't wait to sing it at karaoke.

Now #11 on iTunes Japan!

I like this but the intro is quite long and I'm really not into it.

OK! I'm on LSS with this!

I love the song! It's incredibly epic! I'm very glad it's on iTunes USA. : - )

11th spot is still pretty good for a song that basically only got announced to people who follow her social media :P
I wonder if this will get an album pv on her next on, or just appear as the bonus track

oh god !!!!! At last, such a powerful song !!!!!! soooooooo gooodd !!!! The real Queen Ayu is back ! :)

i've purchased the song off of iTunes and listened to the HD version. It's good but i'm still not doing backflips over it. I could do backflips over the intro, though. Maybe it'll grow on me.

I ADORE this single!! Everything from the cover to the song itself is awesome. :heart Only thing I don't really care about is the game though.

Oh and could I kindly please get this cover in this size without the text?


I've had this experience with another release by another artist on iTunes Canada. The answer is NO they won't make you pay again as long as it's listed as the same artist. You have to be careful though. I find on iTunes in my country sometimes they put her name as 'Ayumi Hamasaki' and other times as '浜崎あゆみ' on the song info. Anyways, it won't download that particular track as part of the album when you go to purchase it with all the new songs which you didn't already have (unless as I said it doesn't recognize it as the same artist). At this point you have to edit the information on the single to match everything on the album like the album title, year, genre, cover art etc.

So weird that the song not charting at all on recochoku..it's not released there?

I see it at no.3 on Recochoku.

Recochoku is a daily chart.
Sales from yesterday are published today.
iTunes e.g. is an hourly chart.

#3 on iTunes Malaysia today

I know...I even make a daily updated thread for recochoku if u remember..but I don't see it charting yesterday..maybe I need to refresh my browser...

^ if you click on "Ranking" from the recochoku home page it takes you to the chart for September 29th for some reason. But if, for example, you go to the album ranking (or just remove the "affiliate" part from the link) and then back to single ranking, it shows you the ranking for September 30th. Maybe that will solve the issue?

There is an error on recochoku chart? Thx.. I will give it a try.

Yeah, I also see the 29/09 thing. But I see We are the QUEENS at #1 in the single section.

Ugh, I wasn't all that into the song the first time I heard it but now I can't stop listening to it. I love the chorus now. It's going to be killer live.

The verses now that I think about it really do sound kind of like an Ami Suzuki track, lol.

The first line in the verses in really similar to Delightful


(awhhh mid 2000s jpop was so good)

Seriously, her best song in 2016. I need more music like this from her. Everything is perfection, music, lyrics, even her voice sounds better than it did in MIJ.

I agree with it being the best song of this year:love

I also have to say that We are the QUEENS is the best song by Ayu in 2016. I mean, I love songs like FLOWER, Survivor or Mad World too but I'd still prefer We are the QUEENS, although the lyrics aren't that good as in Mad World, FLOWER and so on (but I still find them very motivating). But I also have to say that when I first heard the line "Yes we are the QUEENS" at a-nation (although she first sang queen not queens right? They also wrote queen without the s I think but I'm glad they changed that) I just hoped it'll be a song and when I first heard the chorus in the CM I was like "OMG! YESSS!" and I couldn't wait for it's release! Now I'm listening to it on repeat as f**k! xD Btw the name gives me my name's WOMEN vibes. :D

^^its not better than FLOWER or Mad World...it rather far behind those two

Definitely not.

Comparing We are the QUEENS with FLOWER or Mad World is kinda difficult, they are pretty different, We are the QUEENS is totally pop while the other 2 are more Rock influenced, so if you like more one than the other is probably due it's style :rolleyes

Well I get your point but I'm more that person for Rock influenced music so if I would choose after that it wouldn't be We are the QUEENS! Of course I like other genres too like pop and many others but what I try to say is that I don't like We are the QUEENS more because it's 'totally pop' but also because of it's epic intro. But I agree with you that it's hard to compare them. :/

Yeah, I get you, I'm also more attracted to her rock (well pop/rock) style but sometimes her pop songs are way better, but at the end that's the cool thing about Ayu, she has so many styles, you can go from ballads to really dance pop and then for a more rock song, it's pretty cool :yes

i think ayu is too diverse to compare such different tracks of hers. we are the queens is j-pop 1-0-1 while flower is more rock. If we had a ballad instead, most of the people would argue that it is a ballad and they are too apart, so for me, its very hard to compare those songs. what i can say is that i prefer flower and madworld to we are the queens without saying i dont love it.

ayu has been on fire lately, im really happy with her stuff and how she is presenting herself. even the story with the divorce is not THAT much on focus. keep fighting ayu, this is what you have always done!

I'm completely addicted to this song, it's so good.

Btw did I miss something or did the Clash of Queens 30 secs CM on YouTube suddenly boomed after the release of We are the QUEENS!? I know it had many views before (can't remember how many tbh) but now it has so much like Ayu's more famous today as some maybe think just not that popular. I'm just so surprised!

It needs a MV, a good one.

So yeah this song is a masterpiece. Often with her music lately it's like "this song is great but would be better if ______". This song is perfect in every way.

Oh wow...you are right...I remember open the CM 3 days ago..the viewers still around 40k..and now BOOM 800k! But the like VS dislike is on same level.. (O_O) WHAT?!

Posted on her official channel

^That's really really late promotion..her marketting staff really need to be more attentive..

But there are bunch of nasty comments about her on the video. :irked:irked:irked

800k views but only has 1k likes :shakehead:shakehead:shakehead

It's basically the same trash one can read on girlschannel. No wonder AVEX doesn't allow likes/dislikes and comments on Ayu videos, she's so hated.

more like hated by a bunch of bitches who are just jealous of her, honestly she did nothing wrong, I just cant brain their hate and nasty comments, meh

Well, yeah. I couldn't help replying some of this comments.
What irritates me the most is when people call her old. That's so stupid on so many levels. Japanese people age slowly, 38 is not old at all, especially when someone looks so young and fresh like her. She might be using high quality collagen and other beauty supplements, who cares, but she ain't old.
What's wrong with getting older anyway? Japanese are obsessed with cutesy and Ayu is still cute.

She wouldn't be considered old if she kept her music fresh.

Are you serious? They would say it no matter what.

I decided not to get hurt by those comments anymore and not to get into any argument about it. Haters gonna hate no matter how good she looks, sings, performs, do... That's a fact. It's not up to me decide if she's old or not. Let Ayu and everyone else be who they want to be. Happiness and self confidence is ageless and shouldn't be something to be pointed out as bad.

I'm really anxious to watch her performing this song. <3 Hope it becomes a classic track in her concerts.

I guess another problem is that many young people consider her as old because their favourite artist is in their twenties or at least that's what I often noticed.

^ And Japan pop culture these days is obsessed with prepubescent girls which still creeps me out and makes me cringe. I just think it's pathetic people waste so much time hating on her. Have they no actual interest in which to put that energy into?

I can't read the comments... are they complaining about her look or about the song?

the song is old fashioned and I understand that she might not simply interest the young.
yet, it is honest, that the quality of her music hasn't been really good.
her music has been very very stale, imo.

however, I actually love the song!

After watching Oricon chart songs compilation on YouTube I'd say that Ayu's music is outstanding.
It's filled with idol groups with crappy music.

Totally thought the same.

I agree completely...
+ these idol groups all looks and sounds exactly the same - and this is sooo boring...

I think we are being a bit hard on her. She is releasing a looooot of music each year. Clearly not all her song are memorable hits but I've been following her for more than 10 years and I often add some of her recent work in my all time classics. Mad World, Last Minute, Many Classic Moments (even if it is a cover) are all amazing songs. and there are more. Though... it is true that her sound isn't trendy... but it is authentic, and I like it... It's more a question of taste.

Lol, I can't with J-Pop today. That's why I usually stick to ayu. If currently J-Pop is what "fresh" is, I'll stick with recycled. At least I know it'll be decent.

By "these days" you mean "for the last 5 decades", don't you?

Lol
Ayu just outgrew her girl look :P
Thing I dont get you have thesae haggy women and old men who say what is too old on tv :P when they are like 30 years older then the person they are commenting on :P

I also gave up on the Ayu hate community. I mean, I totally get it if someone just doesn't like her music because everyone has their personal taste. But I just don't get why people hate her for her appearance, or age, or her personal life. Ayu doesn't bother ANYONE. She mostly keeps to herself and her main fans. She is low drama and is not too outspoken. I can't think of a reason to be mean to her. Ayu is so nice and kind to everyone.

I see ayu as one of the nicest diva's out there. She makes time for her fans, even her overseas fans. She doesnt seem stuck up at all and you can tell she actually cares for her fans. Its sad when she stands up for herself (love and her beliefs) and she gets bashed for it.
She needs to get a Beyonce status lol, she could throw her kid off a boat into shark infested waters and her fans would be supporting her lol
But i think its a little to do with the Japanese culture too. If ayumi was a male Japanese singer, whould she get the same amount of rar doing the same type of things. They even bashed her over her donations with the tsunami, if I remember correctly, and she was the leading celebrity for donations to the relief.

But my main point :P
It comes with being a diva, look at madonna, Britney spears, mariah cherry, they all have bad things said about them for no reason. Madonna being a better example

It makes sense if you think about it, Ayu stands for something completely different than what they are into. Imo Ayu should be way more outspoken than she is. Less apologetic as she didn't really do anything wrong.

:laugh well yeah, but it's way more in your face now due to the world becoming smaller.

I really like your comment! :yes

From my experience western people usually go for jpop because it's "tamer" than western pop culture on some aspects that are very prevalent on Ayu's body of work.

For the Japanese people on the other side, well, she is a highly controversial public figure whose career is older than the same teenagers pop culture is usually targeted to. The polarizing way people react to her isn't much different than the way people react towards any star on her position on the planet.

I agree with you so much.

I don't understand why other overseas artist like Madonna, or somebody with a lot of years in the industry is valored by the public and ayu looking in what I read here, isn't it Japan.

Anyway I see a lot of people going to her Arena Tours and Countdown. And there are a lot of avex new girlbands but ayu is timeless but the new commercial artists are ended to be forget so I'm happy with ayu music history.

Madonna is not valored by the public. She is held in high regard and respected amongst her peers, but the youth don't really care for her, and her age was a big topic around the MDNA era, when her music went completely juvenile.

I wouldn't say either isn't valored by the public, if that was the case they wouldn't be able to perform to the huge audiences they do. Madonna still is the biggest touring solo act in the world more than 30 years into her career, and Ayu still have one of the largest audiences in Japan even if she tours every single year for the last 16 years, and you have both older and younger people watching their lives... But neither have teenagers as their main audiences anymore, something really common for someone with a long career.

IMO The day they can't tour the numbers they do, or don't get tie-ins, or aren't invited to perform on big events is the day we could actually worry about the state of their careers... But I don't think we will ever get there.

I am surprised. Thought her time passed already away. Kinda like her stuff she is releasing!

Downloaded the FLAC version; nonetheless I'm having problems with the sound quality. The instrumental partially sounds so noisy and distorted. Actually a problem Ayu's more rockish songs have been suffering from for quite a while now.

Can anyone relate with that?

^got the same problem

Also I think tours are more important for artists... They earn much more money mostly!

I relate xD Sixxxxxx and M(A)DE IN JAPAN were really good in this aspect (comparing to Last Minute and WARNING), but We are the QUEENS is the worst.

Was there even a losless version? I mean since it's a digital single I'm not quite sure if there is a legit losless version around.
But you're right nontheless that her more rockish songs are suffering from a noisy and distorted sound for quite a while now.

I also noticed the distortion on the itunes version... I am waiting for the next album to see if they will master it... also... my headphones needs an upgrade!

yep - WARNING was the biggest offender for me, and most of the A ONE album

I'm already done with this song lol

I'm craving a beautifully done ballad with depth.

I want a new album/single coming soon u.u

At least that's what I thought :O I've downloaded a FLAC file and my idea was that it had to be an authentic digital lossless release. Maybe I have fallen for a transcode, I don't know D:

^I don't think I ever saw a lossless digital single, so my guess would be that it's a transcode and you have to wait for a physical release.

^ Iirc they sell ultra-HQ versions or whatever on some websites sometimes. I've seen someone saying that We are the QUEENS was sold on one of them, so maybe it's that?

this song is such a mess... sorry, I never liked songs like Mirrorcle world :(

I love her messy loud songs :love

Haha, same here!

this is so animeish ^____^ It sound like TM Revolution, isnt it?
Its kinda cheesy, but I like it :)

i also thought there is something really off with the mixing with this. And it bothers me too. Cuz i cannot make a clear opinion about the song because of his.

http://mora.jp/package/43000002/ANTCD-19677_F/

It is on Mora.

yes, we are the queens!

Sounds like a song that could have been on Secret album.

I too am disappointed in the sound of We are the Queens. It was mastered REALLY loud with a very low dynamic range.:no
It's such a terrible practice in the music industry.