Which lyrics have no substance?

I disagree - I feel like this is Ayu's first album in a while that has dealt with things that are lyrically applicable to people in general rather than herself or people in love. rollin' is basically about the state of the world right now, and I applaud Ayu for referring to such universal topics! :yes

LOL. I'm listening to Energize right now. The intro makes me feel so Britney Spears and Lady GaGa!! I thinks It's great.. I think I'm going to buy this album.

EnergizE, Sparkle, identity, Rule, GREEN

But again, I think it's because I haven't reached that stage in my life to fully understand what her lyrics are trying to express.

rollin' does have good lyrics. As does, Days, LOVE n' HATE, and Curtain Call. But for the most part, I didn't like her lyrics too much this time around. The instumentals were much better.

Hahaha I see. Well, I actually the lyrics. This is a first time for me where an Ayu album has lyrics that outshines the songs themselves. Maybe except for Sparkle.

:roflmao LOL

Just because you may not identify with the lyrics doesn't mean they've got no substance.


:roflmao

Don't get mad guys, they are just saying what they think :) In the end, your opinion is all that counts ;)


Oh, and i loved your review of NL Takasama, your arguments are sooooo good and so consistant, you should write on magazines!!!! i especially gree with your review of NL the song :D

LOLOLOLOLOL

:rolleyes

It's got no substance to me. That's all that matters in an opinion. :yes

My review

Bridge to the sky nice one, a good way to start the album and perfect prelude of NL. I like the sound but I'd wish it had lyrics...
NEXT LEVEL A bit boring for me, but helps me relax somehow. Perfect to hear it while driving :P
Disco-munication One of her BEST interludes ever! It's perfectly placed in the album too! :luv2
EngergizE Best non-single track of the album, specially since ayu is using more english than ever! Powerful and funny
Sparkle Meh... two loud and experimental for me... don't really like it, I would have used EnergizE or identity instead for the single
rollin' Average track, still doesn't convinces me
GREEN I freaking LOVE it!!! The oriental sound is excelent as well as the arrangement and lyrics!
Load of the SHUGYO A typical boring interlude
identity GREAT song, specially the catchy chorus!
Rule Good one, but nothing special... she should have used something more unique as a theme song
LOVE 'n' HATE Interesting song, although too western for me. The best is the intro and the arrangement
Pieces of SEVEN Good interlude, specially the first two minutes. It would have been perfect as an intro to GREEN though
Days Another generic winter ballad :rolleyes
Curtain call Nice way of ending the album, better than Days. Although I don't like two consecutive ballads in an album

Bridge to the sky 8/10
NEXT LEVEL 7,5/10
Disco-munication 8/10
EnergizE 9,5/10
Sparkle 6/10
rollin' 6/10
GREEN 10/10
Load of the SHUGYO 5/10
identity 9/10
Rule 8/10
LOVE ‘n’ HATE 7,5/10
Pieces of SEVEN 7/10
Days 7/10
Curtain call 8/10

I thought that NEXT LEVEL was a so/so album. My least favorite track is LOVE 'n' HATE... That is one of those songs I kind of like and I don't like. Although, my most favorite track on it is identity! LOOOOOVE that song! It's a song that I can see Koshi Inaba doing! <333 That and the song also reminded me of Aya Kamiki. When I listened to the song's preview, it gave me a B'z meets ROCK STEADY feeling.. So yeah, NEXT LEVEL ranks 3rd as my favorite album. :)

OH WOW... I got my copy just today!...

Right now I'm up to rollin'... and... it's absolutely AMAZING... I think that's my favorite up to that point...

i love it

but GREEN and Days seem out of place

Upon first listening to this album, i wasnt a big fan, but after listening to it a few more times, i love it!!! i totally dont regret buying it, support Ayu!!!!

OK, after first listen...

This album is absolutely amazing...

The only new song I really don't like is Curtain Call...

...My favorites are identity, rollin', and LOVE N' HATE...

I don't see why this album has so much hate. o_o

I think NEXT LEVEL is probably her most forgettable album...
Its just not her strongest album, and its doesn't really come close to any of her older ones either

1 - Bridge to the sky - Is a decent opening to the song NEXT LEVEL, nothing really to wow over

2 - NEXT LEVEL - Despite the PV lacking in... everything-the song opened pretty well, the chorus is light and catchy and her voice sounded less force. But 2 minutes into it, it already lost any excitement the opening was trying to build. And is it me or are her bridges sounding more and more alike?

3 - Disco-munication - Sounded very 80s... which isnt a bad sound but lacked something.

4 - EnergizE - Ah~ ayu and english has never sat with me well (well, RAINBOW was always an exception for me) Another 80s sound, Disco-munication did its job with and introduction to this. Voices an sound failed for me. Its sounded like a song more for Morning Musume than and empress of Pop like Ayu... Dont get me wrong, I love MM. This might be a hit during concerts though, hm?

5 - Sparkle - Now this song I liked! Its aggressive lyrics, smoking PV and hard yet soft sound is just what she's being up since she starting having a rockish sound. And I completely understand why its after EnergizE-lyrically, its a continuation of being strong instead of being 'uncool'

6 - Rollin' - A soft, quiet start... an interesting build up... taking forver but lets give it a shot... then some weird sound (her voice in some filter I guess) and finally you'd hear her voice--synthesized and sort of... what's the word... cluttered? Yes, thats what it was. It definitely gives the next level level feeling but it was unwelcome to me.

7 - GREEN - A dramatic shift from Rollin'... this album really needed more fluidity! Amazing start, the traditional sound is very nice to hear. Vocally, its very natural-vibrato and all and even though it might take some time you really like/love its worth it. Songs like this take time to appreciate.

8 - Load of SHUGYO - I like this... starts off pretty slow but its perfect for what comes after.

9 - identity - Haha, the beginning sounded like something from a concert of hers "YEE-AAH YEAH YEEAAAHHH!". It got my attention though. I really liked this one too. The rock sound reminded me of something could have been a leading track on her (m)U album. Its a very cool song.

10 - Rule - At first I didn't like this song when I bought the single. The beginning just jumped into the song... there's something about the sound of it that I didn't like. Maybe it was the voice filter. The best parts were when you'd hear her voice clearly. And I have to say the bridge rocked my world... its the only thing I really look for in this song now... which is a shame. I think if I just heard an instrumental of this song, without her vocals- I'd be just fine.

11 -LOVE'n'HATE - Nice title, very different. The opening with the violins were amazing to hear the counting would have been cool if she suddenly hit zero after saying seven. Lyrically, Im satisfied... not floored but not bored. Not the best song of the album but not the worst.

12 - Pieces of SEVEN - I agree with some of the other people here... why did it start slow and end with rockish/techno? the transition was not smooth at all and was probably the worst interlude Ive heard from Ayu.

13 - Days - I got a No Way To Say feeling at first.... but its quickly went away--finding its own identity. Its a sweet ballad-ish type song. It wont go wont as one of her best ballads but Days is amazing.

14 - Curtain call - At first, while the piano was playing, I got the sense it was a cheap HEAVEN knock off. lyrically, its sort of lazy... her voice is ok but not really expressing any emotion through it. Its nice to listen to, especially toward the end where the choir backs up Ayu's vocals. Its goes back to her voice and then its end with a shaky note--Im not impressed with much but I listen to it.

Overall... hm, Guilty is probably a step or two better than Next Level....
Buying the singles would be better than buying the album
The songs dont move well with each other--random this and that all over the place
smh, not really happy with it

Thank you! :D I wasn't sure anyone read it because it was so long. :thud

I really liked your review of rollin'!^^


My review:

Bridge to the sky: Does not have the impac of her last two intros (Mirror and Not Yet), but flows really well with NEXT LEVEL and it really shows the feeling of the album IMO

NEXT LEVEL: Welcome back DAI! A bright, poppish track with a feeling of summer, and very good lyrics about going almost fearless to the next level that is the theme of this album...

Disco-munication: Amazing and very agressive interlute, makes an amazing transition to the eletro-pop songs of the album

EnergizE: It's like ayu saying "let's go foward together, follow me!" and this kind of thing is very interesting in a album with this thematics! Really like the blend of 50s rock and 80s eletro-pop! Really liked the english lines too^^

Sparkle: Ayu's fierce side is my personal favorite one, seeing this acting like this made me a fan of her and I think that I will aways fall easy when she does something like that. "If you want it go and get it" in a very sexy way!

rollin': My favorite album track from NL... it starts pretty much like marionette, what I think it's reflecting the way the world is on ayu's perspective... To her, the world never appears to be a nice place on her lyrics... Most of my opinion on this track matches with TakaSama's... But I think I'm the only one that like the ending... it's like the world rollin' and still never going to anywhere different... LOVED the lyrics^^

GREEN: this is my favorite single track of the album and one of my favorite ayu ballads! The chinese sounding music and the lyrics go really well together^^ Taking the PV in consideration, I think that this song is about homosexuals (and another kinds of "forbiden" loves), with the ending going like "when society changes, I will stop to hide my feelings". To me, GREEN is placed here to break the album flow... something like "wake up!"

Load of SHUGYO: from oriental to rock, with a "battle" feeling... fighting to the next level? The next 3 songs are about fighting against something... So... I think it's a good interlude^^

identity: agressive rock track about being yourself and taking care of your own life... Really liked the eletronic sounds that appears somewhere in this track, in the end, this is her eletro-pop album =)

Rule: The DBE theme! To me this sounds like a mix of generic anime themes and ayu rock songs (in a very good way), here she is fighting against the rules, what is something that Ayu kind of did during all her career. It's not amazing, but is catchy as hell, what makes this a nice international tie-in^^

LOVE 'n' HATE: sounds like a rpg dungeon theme :O The lyrics are nice, like a angered version of Step you (even with de numbers :P), have a very epic sound... Even if this is my least favorite album track, I have to say that IMO this song have a very powerful feeling, something that can be amazing live^^

pieces of SEVEN: I would like to now if the number seven means anything in japanese culture, really liked this interlude, another break in the album flow... this time again, to me is something like "wake up! the album still has another songs!" again.... this would be an amazing concert intro^^

Days: To me, it sounds like ayu's winter ballads with a "fresh" feeling in the arrangement that make it sounds more like the songs she is doing after Mirrorcle World... Sweet love song, but not my favorite of hers...

Curtain call: Piano+voice ballad... very simple song with very simple lyrics... To me it sounds like... "well my fans, we are together for more than 10 years now... I don't really need to use many words for you to know what I feel about this anymore, I love you all"... doing something simple and good it's way harder than doing anything complex and good... and IMO, ayu could put this out very well with this track^^


-----

To me, the songs are placed over their themes, even when they have similar music styles... It's a very agressive but mature album and I feel the first half as "we are preparing ourselves to change things and go to a next level" and the second half as something like "we are fighting our ways in order to get to this next level", with a soft but optimist conclusion... As a whole, and as a concept (i see this album this way), I thinks it is her best album to date (her older ones had outstanding tracks algo and stuff, but to me, they don't sound like a whole like NL does)

I'm still impressed^^

After having more time with the album, I'd probably upgrade my prior rating of 7/10 to 8/10.

Energize is still kind of lame, though. Haha.

Is anyone else's favorite track rollin' >_<; Or am I alone in the world.

Don't worry, you're sooo not alone. It my new favorite Ayu song! :love

^ Me three! rollin' is awesome!

I finally recieved my copy of NEXT LEVEL yesterday, and I must say that I am really pleased with it!!! I love all of the tracks and find the music style very refreshing for an Ayu album. I find LOVE'n'HATE to be extremely addicting, along with rollin'. I am also suprised with how much I like Curtain call, as I though I wouldn't like it too much. But ever since I first listened to it, it's constantly been stuck in my head! However I did find the transition for Pieces of SEVEN to Days a bit strange, but somehow it works out pretty good for me!! :yes

I must also say that I am 100% in love with the pv for Sparkle!! OMG it's freaking awesome!! :luv2 As well as the live CDL disc!! :luv2

Overall an amazing purchase for me! :love

LOVE 'n' HATE isn't as good to me anymore, rollin' is now one of my favorite tracks xD

starting to like "identity" now. the beat near 2:30 is so hot.

Most of the tracks on the album seem to be unequivocally bad. I am almost certain I heard the same two chords being stroked over and over again to a completely static drum beat with little synth diddlies thrown around. It is like her writers aren't even trying. Even D.A.I. fell short of what I was expecting, and he has a stellar track record with this stuff. I am really longing for a return of good composition here. As suggested, I played a song from this album and then a song from her older albums and there was no competition in my mind.

I don't doubt that her lyrics are still wonderful as always but when she is so busy that she can't compose her own music anymore, and when her music directly suffers as a result, I would think her other responsibilities should give way. Nothing would please me more than seeing some more CREA tracks. And I don't mind Avex hiring writers for her, but stop hiring bad writers!

Next level is amazing! it's the first album that i am really excited to buy since "memorial address". compare this with the last album, guilty, i bought it several months after it was released, and i still havent listened to it cos i am still uninterested in it.

and after listening to next level, completely fell in love with it. the tracks are amazing, especially sparkle, energize, days and curtain call.

YAY!!!! rollin' for the win!

@ Nintendo, yeah LnH lost it's steam with me as well. But I still like it.

I still dislike rollin' and sparkle, but the rest of the album is AMAZING!

I got to say i agree with you in 90% of what you wrote. Substance is important to me and Ayu totally delivers that :lech Actually, the original mix of Days is kind of generic... i didn't like the song when i heard it, however, the ymck 8 bits remix totally rocks!!!!! :lech i also thought that remix could replace the original one in NL... the orchestra version is amazing as well. :love

i really liked Next level the song. As you said, is very typical of ayu to release "happy, fun, sunny summer tracks" but somehow some of these songs, like glitter and fairyland failed to deliver that feeling completely. You can sense sadness in the music and the lyrics. It's like there is something that does not fit completely well with this "happy feeling" , and probably that reflect how ayu felt back then . But Next level is able to deliver a beautiful sensation when you hear it :yes i was sure i wasn't going to like that song, but i'm happy to say i was mistaken :yes

Hahaha, ok. You're right, my mistake. :)

i really love the album <3

My album review:

Bridge to the sky- Nice opening, not my favorite ever.

NEXT LEVEL- It has a mysterious feel to it and is very summery. I love the bass in this song, it really makes it for me. It's like a classy way to get to the next level without using tons of electro-pop like most of the album, simple and wonderful.

Disco-munication- Very cool, probably my favorite interlude on the album. Fun to jam to!

EnergizE- I <3 this! It's so cute and cheesy, but it's not grossly poppy. She does manage to get some guitars in the chorus which makes it even cooler. The crazy synth she has going on in some parts actually make the song sound a tad bit creepy.

Sparkle- Never got super into this song. It's cool, but yeah.

rollin'- Super crazy dance party! It's cool how it kinda has a little interlude before it starts; actually, the whole song is like one cool long interlude. Would love to dance to it in a club. Why am I suddenly craving ecstasy?

GREEN- Very lovely song. Love the instruments at the beginning, very classic and beautiful.

Load of the SHUGYO- Reminds me of the music from the video game Extreme G back in the day. Would be an awesome song to go laser tagging to. Kickin' some ass!

identity- Glad to know that even though this song was compared to 1LOVE, it's better. I like the random noises that appear once in a while, and love the chorus, especially "watashi no ID ID ID ID". I don't really understand why it gets all bollywood at one point lol.

Rule- It's cool I guess.

LOVE 'n' HATE- Makes me think of something Britney would have sang back in the day. I imagine Britney's I'm a Slave for You video when I hear it xD. It's totally sexy and cool, the violins are a plus. The break is really groovy, it's very r&b meets rock meets electro-pop.

Pieces of SEVEN- When this interlude starts and I hear the pan-flute in the background, I am immediately taken to the great plains. Ayumi is with her tribe of Native American friends. They all ride horses with their hair blowing in the wind. Then the music shifts, it's getting more dire! The sky suddenly darkens and cowboys appear over the horizon, guns and swords in hand. Ayumi gets all Joan of Arc on them (like the Free & Easy cover, just think Native American instead) and starts kicking some major ass. She has a final epic battle with the leader of the cowboys and takes him out by beheading him. Then Days comes on, which totally kills the "I'm Ayumi and I'm here to take your ****ing head" mood.

Days- Just kidding, I love this song lol. It's cute and wintery and blah blah blah. But it's sweet and endearing. "I'm Ayumi and you have to love me."

Curtain call- At first I didn't like it that much, then I saw the PV. The PV is definitely my favorite from the album, and probably one of my top favs of all time. So pretty and simple, and that they did it in one shot was amazing. Great way to end the album <3.

sorry to bring back this thread alive...
i don't know why, but i really want to say
that NEXT LEVEL is really working on me..
i mean...this is the first ayu album, that i can hear from first track to last track without skip and in repeat mode...and that show me that this album is really GREAT...because usually i will skip one or two full songs and interlude when i hear an album...but for NEXT LEVEL i can hear it without skip at all...

I bought this album immediately on March 24th at Tower Records (2CD+DVD), and I can say it's been a long time since I loved every track of one of Ayu's albums! =)))
My favourites would be NEXT LEVEL, LOVE'n'HATE and Identity. I really do like these tracks. It's like, the Ayu from RAINBOW I loved so much has come back. Very self-confident and a bit mysterious. And I don't care that there are 4 interludes on the CD. No, to be honest I like Ayu's interlude thing ;))) It gives the whole album a special touch.

Ayu go on!!!

I don't have much of an opinion of it now, but the style of music is definitely different from what I'm used to from her past couple albums XD

I'll go into detail another day, but I can easily say that I don't regret receiving this album. :P

This is one of the best albums she's released, hands down. It's incredibly refreshing after numerous rock albums; I was getting kinda tired of those albums. The beats are amazingly catchy, and I love the electronic/video-game music feeling of the album. Ayumi really outdid herself this time. I expected a good album from her after having listened to all of her singles since last year, but I didn't expect this.

Ayu brings decent songs to the plate as usual. But after listening to the whole album, i'm sort of beginning to understand why sales for this album is quite low. Ayu songs are normally about epic scale instrumentals but this time there's a lot of electronic themes going on. Seems like the budget for producing this album has been lowered substantially and this can be obtained from many many artistes in Japan. So where's the appeal of ayu?

I do not enjoy the 'disco' songs (energize, sparkle and rollin') much. I would say her best songs are clearly the single tracks when her album tracks used to be much on par with them. So there's this filler thing going on for me. I still like the album and give it an overall 3/5. It's just that Secret and Guilty seem so much better. Maybe i need more time to let it grow on me.

I posted my review aaaaaaaages ago, and I remember saying how EnergizE was one of the weakest tracks on the album... It's grown on me after a alot of listens. rollin' can rub me the wrong way depends on my mood. But it's a great song overall.

imo, NEXT LEVEL needs a little time to really give you it's full effect...

Man I love this album I like how it is so light and not heavy emotionally, in terms of the lyrics and the sound of the music. I remember reading on yesasia.com, I think, that the person who reviewed the album thought that the album lacked lyrically especially concerning the single rule. However, I like how this album doesnt sound dark, now granted I like Ayu's dark songs like far away, endless sorrow, marionette, and etc but it is really refreshing to hear an album that reminds me of fly high, blue bird, and fairyland which by the way I love all three of those songs!!! I am sorry that I keep on rambling but I am really thanking Ayu for this fun filled album. Oh yeah did I mention that I love sparkle, next level, and bridge to the sky? Oh yeah and that I love how the video to sparkle shows Ayu's sexy side but she is not advocating sex in order to sell her music, which is cool because many artists can not do that. And I really like the music video to next level because it reminds me of the music video to trust.

oh oh........... i listened to this album when i was driving... SO SURREAL~! love it

^Haha i feel fans will run Next Level through their heads when driving along lonely winding roads instead of Country Road.

I don't like the idea of having all the great songs at the second half of the album and all the meaningless interludes. So I rearranged the album in my MP3 player:

01.Bridge to the sky
02.GREEN
03.identity
04.EnergizE
05.Sparkle
06.NEXT LEVEL
07.Days
08.Disco-munication
09.Rule
10.rollin'
11.LOVE 'n' HATE
12.Curtain call

^ Now I really enjoyed listening to the full album unlike previously when i skipped the first half and start listening to GREEN onwards...

out of curiosity, do people appreciate the album more now that it's been a month+ since it's release? or do people still dislike it as much as when they first heard it? Has time caused you to enjoy it more, or do people still group this as "one of her worst albums ever~~~!!!" haha, just curious :D

(i'm speaking mostly to the people who originally didn't really like the album ^_^)

So after I've been listening to the album for the past couple of weeks, I have to say that it somehow feels way better as most of the songs grew on me. The first part of the album is amazing, though GREEN kinda kills the flow (even though the song itself is a state of art). The only problem with rock part is LOVE'n'HATE which still lacks the hook and a real chorus (imo the weakest song on the album), identity is better but in a way a bit recycled. Over all I only tend to skip Days and LOVE'n'HATE at times, even though I prefer rock songs and ballads, I think the first part of the album + Rule and the interludes are a better part of NEXT LEVEL. But to answer the ^ question, yes my opinion on the album has changed a bit - for better.

The album has grown even more on me, and songs that I didn't really like in the past (EnergizE) have grown on me. The album rocks even more, and every song has like a big "oomph" in it (at least for me)... like I just love how the songs are arranged... so layered and rich, and not loud like I am...

For me, the only album Next Level can beat is GUILTY, and not by much. The album reflects the cover, which was very "eccentric" >_>

She definitely changed it up this time around with the electronic effects, but all the new album songs sound like other songs I've heard before with the "electronic effect" placed upon it for me. The singles for me were not even that great. The only song I liked was days, but then again I could just listen to her old songs to get that :S ~! Next Level the title song was good. It was composed by DAI so i'm nto surprised that its one of the rare tracks I like on this album besides days and probably 2 of her interludes >_> The only rule she broke for that song was with the music video. She looked fatter in black... breaking the rule black makes you look skinnier :S She looked skinnier in the Sparkle PV. Sparke wasn't even likable for me... yes I'm one of the rare people. It sounded like three different songs mashed up into one total mess for me. GREEN was just boring, I Don't know how else to describe it for me and the music video was a waste of money.

You guys probably think I'm being very critical of her, but thats how I really feel =/ I was shocked to read that people think this album could be one of their favourites. Secret will beat this album for me any day. Secret to me is really underrated. Although it may not be experimental, it was a decent album that got me listening to it.

Her lyrics are so messy now :S. Sure they're bettter than a lot of other artists, but compared to before, I think they've gone down hill by a lot.

Her music videos have REALLY been focused on making her look sexy, which really does not work for me. Unlike kuu she doesn't have the body shape for this image to work. I think she looked REALLY silly especially in Sparkle... The music video was just silly and unappealing for me. I thought the drive for Next Level's music video was WAY better than her weird vinyl scene or w.e. the material was, they should've just stuck with the opening scene because I liked that part the most for the mv.

I'm not surprised at the sales of the album because I think the album wasn't very good. If she's going to release this type of electo-pop, I'd prefer it if she left it for perfume. I feel Ayu is definitely not putting enough effort in her music and too much in her tours. I mean, ur tours are going to fall if no1 likes your music anymore :S

I personally don't really care about emotion. Its nice to have, but a song could be good without the emotion. The only problem for me was that I didn't receive emotion and I still didn't like the songs.

I really hope her next album will actually be a step up, not another album that will just sprial downwards.

I only got my copy last week, and I managed to resist all attempts to download it beforehand. I do like the overall flow of the album, although GREEN being the lone different track from the others made it quite random since it was placed in between rollin' and Load of the SHUGYO (Not to mention it was also randomly put in between HOPE or PAIN and Days in the tour).

I am really in love with Load of the SHUGYO, identity and LOVE 'n' HATE. I kept these three in their own special playlist for a few days. :P I think the only thing that kind of annoys me is the last "Zero" in L'n'H, but that's probably just me. NEXT LEVEL and Curtain Call unfortunately felt pretty dull, and I grew tired of Rule and Days by the time this album came out.

As for the PVs, agh. I'm still so bumped about the fact that there are only 6 PVs. I just watched my (miss)understood DVD then and wondered why can't Ayu made more PVs like she used to in the good old days? Not only that, what she lost in quantity, she didn't even made up in quality.

The best ones were probably Days and Rule, but they definitely could not beat the beauty of momentum. Takahide Ishii should stick to ballad PVs.

I actually quite like Sparkle, since the whole overacting suits the mood of the song. But I still cringe while watching GREEN. Oh my God, Ayu, please stop avoiding people on the street that way next time. I think it would have been better if she rode on a carriage the way the singers often do.

NEXT LEVEL and Curtain Call, bleh. I fell asleep halfway through, and it wasn't even that long. Pride was definitely the better one done by Luis Hernandez. Besides that, what's with him and his PVs? They almost only involve one scene, and not much of a storyline. I have to admit, the way he portrays the PV and the cinematography is really beautiful though.

I wish there was at least a PV for identity, but given the choice of directors we have today, I'm actually quite glad it didn't.

There were no really hard rock in this album unfortunately, other than Rule. This album is so bright and colourful (in terms of both look and music) unlike dark on' GUILTY. This is probably why, unlike other people, I'm still in love with GUILTY. Think about it, even the ballads like Together when... and fated had a hint of rock in them. But yes, NEXT LEVEL is really starting to grow on me.

Totally agree with you (except for Next Level which is tolerable). So many interludes seem pretentious somehow, adding unsubstantial bulk to a short album.

I loved the album in the beginning and now think it's an OK album, definitly not her best, in my list, it would be something like this:

GUILTY
Memorial Address
I Am.../MY STORY/(miss)understood
NEXT LEVEL
Rainbow/Duty
Secret
A Song for XX
LOVEppears

At first I put NEXT LEVEL on top/second place with GUILTY, but I dont think it will drop more in my list, I begin to like the songs more again which i started to dislike(LOVE 'n' HATE grew so boring)

LOVE 'n' HATE has a cool introduction. But then when Ayu keeps counting down over and over. It gets so annoying and it just distracts too much from the song. I wish Ayu didn't bother counting down all the time in the song.

^ The counting is my favourite part!!
And I really like the album, however I like it better as individual tracks, even the interludes, rather than a 'story' album like Guilty, which I like listening to from start to finish.
I find, even though I just like the song, EnergizE is stick in my head, all the time!!

^ Yeah I think GUILTY is an amazing album, but maybe the songs aren't like "whoa epic" as individuals.

to me, this album you really need to rearrange the songs because listening to it in the 'correct' order makes it less enjoyable imo, pieces of SEVEN before Rule is perfect, having it before Days kind of pissed me off LOL

^ For this, I kind of listened to NEXT LEVEL in the order of AT 09... way cooler.

^ I actually have an AT09 playlist on my iPod from the day the setlist became official because it flows so damn well xD

I like all of the songs but i really don't understand why ayu has to go all neon
i mean she never done that before i really dont like the album theme ~my opinion~

^ dito, + it doesnt fit the musical theme THAT well, I think Sparkle and Disco-munication are the only songs fitting the visual style 100%

I've received my copy (CD+DVD) since last week and it came along with GUILTY (CD+DVD OS version).

This is my very first purchase of an album.
Anyways...




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am going to give my thoughts on each tracks:

Bridge to the sky - "nice intro! I love the opening! It really takes me to the sky! hehehe..." :D
*Musicality styling rate: 7 (the ending was too sudden :( )



NEXT LEVEL - "Cool song for the road trip! A new summery song in this album!"
*Musicality styling rate: 9.5 (There are times I feel the dullness in this track)



Disco-munication - "Very catchy and danceable! I think this is the interlude I really love to dance with. The opening sounds like a chain-saw!" :laugh
"I hope it was longer (about 2 minutes more)"
*Musicality styling rate: 10
*FAVORITE TRACK!!!



EnergizE - "WOAH! This is the coolest track ever! Very bouncy and the lyrics was so nice! Another Beautiful Fighters indeed!"
*Musically styling rate: 9.8 (The guitar is a little bit heavy for the cheerful themed song)
*FAVORITE TRACK EVAHHHH!!!



Sparkle - "WHAT THE?!? A Britney song?!? LOLZ!"
"I like the dark themed techno and its really refreshing from the genres she used to"
"Lyrics-wise, it reminds me of Boys & girls. Musicality wise, it reminds me of alterna"
*Musicality styling rate: 10



rollin' - "Hmmm a ballad... no! ANOTHER Eletronica-pop! YAHOOO!!!"
"highly addictive especially the choruses and Ayu turned robot?!? Cool!!!" :cool:thumbsup
"I like how it fused the traditional with Eletronica and dance."
"The ending is really weird, it sounds like Pacman being died on the arcade".
*Musicality styling rate: 10
*FAVORITE TRACK EVAHHHH!!!



GREEN - "I love the traditional Chinese style opening on this track, and the vocals are great!"
*Musicality styling rate: 9.0 (I love the artistic appeal, but there are some parts left me bored or something)



Load of the SHUGYO - "It reminds me of Mortal Kombat, the only interlude that I can do a head bang".
*Musicality styling rate: 7 (I found this interlude somewhat too loud)



identity - "The 'yeah yeahs' are so addicting! I love the edgy rock musicality stylings especially the drum beat! Great opening track for the rock-themed tracks".
*Musicality styling rate: 9.8
*FAVORITE TRACK EVAHHHH!!!



Rule - "One of the best Ayu rock songs I've heard, I love Miki Watanabe composistion and this is one of my faves."
*Musicality styling rate: 9.8



LOVE 'n' HATE - "WOAH! An R n B! The lyrics is so strong as the music does".
"The 1,2,3 part was very interesting!
*Musicality styling rate: 9.5
*FAVORITE TRACK EVAHHHH!!!



Pieces of SEVEN - "This is would be the most interesting interlude I've heard so far. The fast phased rock effect is a blast and really groovy!"
*Musicality styling rate: 10/9.5 (10 for the excellent composition and 9.5 for the transition)



Days - "My favorite winter ballad ever and I really love the lyrics. Very touching and warm". "There's a peace and Christmas-y factor on this track, that's why I love this song so much".
*Musicality styling rate: 10
*FAVORITE TRACK!!!



Curtain call - *silence* "I love... how the album ends with this song, very calm and soothing".
"The piano and lyrics are amazing".
*Musicality styling rate: 9.9 (I love the song but she uses her vibrato TOO MUCH!)
*FAVORITE TRACK!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Overall, this album is a great leap from the dark and heavily emoted GUILTY.



The album art is really interesting: futuristic and colorful.
Im somewhat disappointed on the CD art and the back cover of an album cover.






My Overall rating
Album Art: 9.5
CD art: 6.0 (Solid color was too simple for a wonderful album)
Musicality: 10
Theme used: 10 (very refreshing and bright)


That's it! And Im getting tired :tired
I type this for 4 hours and repeatingly listen to the album. :o

the interludes, while good, really ruin the album. i mean, the songs are amazing, and then you hear this really amazing music, but it ends before you can even really enjoy it. They should have been full songs. Overall the album is solid. Not as good as Secret (my fav alltime ayu album).

I think that Secret is so... over the place o_O
All the tracks are very strong (minus It was...), but I feel that it doesn't really works as a whole

^ I agree with you, it was a bit all over the place (and I love It was!!)
But it's still enjoyable ;)

I said that Next Level was my favorite album from her... now that the hype is gone, I'm afraid it took only the 2nd place :P

(miss)understood
Next Level
RAINBOW
Guilty
Memorial Address
My Story
Duty
LOVEppears
Secret
I am...
a song for xx

That's really subjective. Kuu is far from having the best body. She doesn't have the shape of a model. Though i do believe Ayu went too far and tried too hard to look sexy with her Sparkle video and ended up looking -a bit- ridiculous.

I'm going to tell you the exact same thing i said to Corikaru. Next Level has sell more than This Is The One (at least double), so that probably means Next Level is a waaaaaayyy better album than Utada's one, according to your standards. :) Oh, and saying that the album flopped because is for the american market is not true, because Exodus sold a more than a million copies in Japan and it was created for the american market. :)

Honestly, i believe that standard is ridiculous. Secret - to you- is an good album and it's the first cd by Ayu that wasn't able to get a million copies. So i guess it's not such a good album, according to you, after all. :innocent

Quality has so nothing to do with commercial success :yes Pop music is a business, not an art. That's why i love Ayu, because she doesn't make music thinking she must sell lots of records; she makes music according to her feelings and to express who she really is, as a real artist always should do.

Oh, and my review is coming very soon! hehehe LOL :P

i love this album

i think ayu tried something very different in this album

definitely a 'next level' for ayu!

If if could give you an award for the best post in this whole topic, I'd give it right away! Thats one of the reasons I appreciate Ayu that much as well

Your argument makes no sense. First off, i said I'm not surprised about the sales of the album, and I think the album is bad. I never said the sales were bad because I always state in her sales thread that its decent. 2nd off Its just my opinion that her album is bad, and I expected decent sales over high sales because i didn't like it, I'm not ranking any ****. You're the one taking my words and twisting it like crazy... And now they're my standards? Obviously you're the one ranking sales too highly because I still like TITO and Love Letter even if they didnt do that well. I stated before that Next Level was a better album to me than GUILTY and it sold lower. Please don't put random words in my mouth.

And I love how u bring up hikki. There is a difference, but obviously you don't know much about hikki's career to make a comment like this. Exodus was jsut an experimental album that was released in the US. She only did it because she was tired of releasing the same japanese songs over and over. It was not meant to capture the attention of the US. On the other hand TITO was geared towards americans. So maybe her experimental music for exodus was favoured even if she didn't really mean for it to sell. Maybe it was just luck, but i'm pretty sure mainstream japanese music is different from american mainstream music, hence u don't see many american artists topping the japanese charts. Like I said , thats why Exodus was kind of just there, and didn't relaly get promoted in the US. She wasn't focused on capturing the attention of the US, she only wanted to experiment. TITO is actually focused as a good american pop album, but its a shame its still not doing well at all in the US : ( ~!

Lastly, for an Ayu Stan, you should've known that (miss)understood was her first album not to sell a million not secret. IT might've gotten shipments of a million (i'm not sure about this) but it didn't sell a million. If you're going to say this at least get the information right....

Honestly, we have different opinions on this album and if you like Next Level thats fine. THat doesn't mean you have to go and take a sentence I said and make it into some kind of argument bringing up an artist I like more than ayu at the moment and making a comparison that is irrelevant to what I posted. All I posted was that i'm not surprised by the sales which I think aren't as high as usual, but they're definitely not bad either(hence I never said they were bad). And I thinkthe album wasn't good so I didnt expect it to sell as much as her others(but I was acutally surprised it lost to GUILTY). What the japanese people think is what they think. Maybe I should've been more specific, but seriously I don't see what the point in bringing up hikki's english album and comparing it to a japanese album. Would you want me to compare two japanese albums heart station and guilty and talk about how much WORSE guilty is because HEART STATION beat it? Like seriously this is a thread about what u think about next level, not to discuss about how people's opinions are wrong =_=. Seriously, you get TOO defensive when it comes to Ayu. I might not like all her new works, but like I said, I stil like some of her songs and plus i'm a bigger fan of her older works. Its just the last 2 albums have been very dissapointing for me.

As for the Kuu thing, it might be subjective; but unlike most japanese singers, she's like the only artist who actually pulled off that ero-kakkoi look and got super famous so I think she kind of deserves to be called sexy but thats just my opinion again.

I don't like this album, like, at all.. and I'm a hardcore Ayu since '04.. It just sucks.. everything sounds so unpolished. The only songs I REALLY like are Next Level & Sparkle. That's it.

This is her worst album for me, I mean I liked more songs off friggin ASFXX and that used to be her worst imo. This album maked ASFXX seem like a masterpiece

ayumixfan, I can't help but think what you posted is the best thing on this forum xD Anyway

Album Rankings
(miss)understood
Duty / Memorial address
LOVEppears / I am...
MY STORY
A Song for XX
GUILTY
Secret
NEXT LEVEL
RAINBOW

i like NEXT LEVEL~the songs are very addictive and new to me

the only things that i dun really like are the PVs...they can make it better

huge walls of TEXT. :o
anyway i am still majorly addicted to this album. i seem to love it more and more with each listen :yes

oh ya album ranks

LOVEppears
Duty
(miss)understood
I am...
Memorial Address
RAINBOW
A song for XX
Secret
NEXT LEVEL
GUILTY
MY STORY

oh album ranking is allowed on this thread? ok

RAINBOW
(miss)understood
LOVEppears
NEXT LEVEL
Secret
Memorial Address
GUILTY
I am...
Duty
A song for XX
MY STORY

lol album rankings! Funnnn

1) MY STORY
2) RAINBOW
3) GUILTY
4) NEXT LEVEL
5) (miss)understood
6) Memorial address
7) Secret
8) Duty
9) LOVEppears
10) A Song For xx
11) I am...

Long story short to avoid a wall of text: I really like this album, and it's a solid effort despite some randomazz interludes. Too much comparing going on around these here parts.

Note: Curtain call is being called emotionless.. HOW IS TH-- I don't even... it doesn't make sense to me. identity has a hot dance break, rollin' is HOT as is LOVE 'n' HATE, and Bridge to the sky -> NEXT LEVEL are soooooo soothing. Album is a good listen, mmm.

^When I first listened to "Curtain call" I was really moved. So I won't call it emotionless. ^^

The thing is that I have hardly listened to "NEXT LEVEL" from start to finish. I usually listen to various songs. Seeing as the arrangements were done by the same people who composed the interludes (Nakano Yuta, CMJK, HAL) one could expect a better flow. "GUILTY" was a good example as to how to use interludes. To me it doesn't really feel like an album, because the tracks can be devided into several groups.

NEXT LEVEL
GREEN
Rule
Days
Curtain call

EnergizE
Sparkle
rollin'
identity
LOVE'n'HATE

Bridge to the sky
Disco-munication
Load of the SHUGYO
Pieces of SEVEN
(While "Bridge to the sky" fits into the first group and the others into the second.)

There are several songs on there, which seem rather random on first listen, because they have random parts ("rollin'", "identity", "LOVE'n'HATE") or end somehow unexpected ("rollin'", "Load of the SHUGYO").

Really? I believe Bridge to the sky was made in order to transition to NEXT LEVEL.. I believe the two lines that are found in Bridge are also found in NEXT LEVEL or something like that.. also, they perfectly fit together imo..

I really liked NEXT LEVEL, it fits today's music, more electro-pop kind of songs, and the interludes (even though they are not needed at all, and should
be replaced with full songs, obviously) I liked them, specially BRIDGE TO THE SKY and DISCO-MUNICATION...

And the songs are so freakin' cool, totally different from GUILTY. Curtain Call is beautiful, Identity and Love 'n' hate, energize and rollin' (even though the first minute of it should have been cut off) are fantastic...

What could have made it a better album would have been another rock song, kind like marionette... Yet I liked it.

My one complain... Next Level cover... (no, no, no...):innocent

I highly recommend everyone to watch this. The songs in piano form are so.. intriguing and powerful. abottchen = amazing.

they really are~ and they're really nice

i love how they played sparkle and mirrorcle world together <3

Well, the transitions between "Bridge to the sky" and "EnergizE" are quite good.

THansk for posting this. :love

Thanks for sharing the YT vid, it was really awesome *__*

I'm still loving the album. It's something so different from Ayu...I mean, the last time she dabbled in electro-pop was LOVEppears, which is coming up to being 10 years old!

My fave tracks change often, I love the whole album. The only things that are "bad" is that GREEN is out of place and sometimes the songs don't flow well together, but who really cares? I still find it enjoyable, I still play it at least once per day. I'm loving the interludes, they could really be full tracks if she had more time, but interludes are built for concerts really. I can't wait to hear Bridge to the Sky played live, it will be epic!

I think that Ayu needs more fun songs. I don't think that to be a great artist, she has to constantly write about how "the wings of hope will protect you" or w/e. Ayu is a great artist because she takes chances. Not every genre she tries is guaranteed to sell well, but she does it anyway. A lot of her albums have been divisive between fans lately. I remember when (m)u came out and it was trashed for ages before people turned around and decided that they liked it after all. (not saying everyone did, but there were some!)

Ayu wouldn't be the artist we love if she did work that pleased us every time. I think that makes her so wonderful. I love NL and rank it highly:

1) RAINBOW
2) MY STORY
3) LOVEppears
4) NEXT LEVEL/GUILTY
5) (miss)understood
6) Duty
7) I Am...
8) Secret
9) A Song for XX
10) Memorial Address

Pure gold ^_^ Commercial success has at times little to do with the quality of the songs, of course it has up to some point, though I know many examples when crap sold (EXILE lol). Great songs ! = great sales. Of course it all depends on what you think the great music is. Since Ayu's albums always sold less & less I am positive the NL sales have nothing to do with the music.

First of all, the bold part is pure nonsense - someone was that desperate they had to try the EU in the end cuz it flopped in the States (now you don't go further and release singles for an album you don't have faith it will sell). Excuses aren't always the best arguments :)

Oh and I just love how people were all comparing Ayu's and Hikki's NINKI and now that NEXT LEVEL outsold TiTO the two became instantly incomparable. End the needless Hikki talk before a fight breaks out.

(miss)understood was the last Ayu album that was certified as a million seller (shiped copies) by RIAJ :)

So, my Ayu album list:
I am../MY STORY
GUILTY/LOVEppears
(miss)understood/Secret/Memorial Address
RAINBOW/NEXT LEVEL/A Song For XX/Duty

I still love all the albums ^_^

Well said. This is true, there was lots of it going on before the albums came out. As for Exodus, the fact it was even released in the US shows it was an attempt to go mainstream there-it's silly to spend the money releasing in the West if you "don't expect it to sell" :no

i love this album very much...the way they arrange the songs...like disco-minication before energize...and the it starts with those hype songs and slowly slow down the tempo to days and curtain calls.
one of my favourite album <3

^ they just don't like it when people rip the audio out of the video~

I wonder if they count embedding through YouTube as the same? It's sort of weird that they'd say that and enable embedding, but oh well. It's YouTube.

^ Actually embedding can be disabled by the uploader. Unless these dudes only know piano and nothing else, I'm sure they would disable embedding if they don't want it "distributed". It's not like we're doing anything malicious to their works... oh well.

they also need to embed their videos on TAF, so that's probably why they don't have the option turned off

I love the piano versions of the songs from NEXT LEVEL in that youtube video, they are really good. *__*

^I love their Sparkle X MW piece...it's just brilliant..makes me think that Sparkle is gonna be superb in Rock (same for the MY ALL X momentum piece)

as rude as it is to continue this off-topic discussion, i'm going to do it anyways because I don't think your point makes sense. She didn't know the american pop scene well at the time. If you watched her exodus interview she even stated that she doesn't understand the pop radio and that she was experimenting with english because its different from japanese. Yes she tried to sell her music to the american market, but in terms of releasing it to make it favourable was another thing. Honestly i think her experimenting was the reason why exodus was able to sell well in Japan. She was just lucky her experimenting was favourable in japan :S and VERY unfavourable in the US, which was unlucky.

Second Hikki does not choose her releases, DefJam Island does. Its just like How avex can throw out A best and ayu really cant argue with it. I thought this was common knowledge...

I think the NINKI wasn't a comparison and u're taking it too seriously... everyone knows NINKI is just a interest survey, and people were just shocked to see TITO's ninki higher than next level. I never said you couldn't compare them :S but I mean the way she compares them against me is so stupid and then calls it my standards. I just htink its ridculous. I personally feel that comparing hikki's TITO that was directed towards an american audience to Next Level which was directed towards a japanese audience which is the selling target is unfair, but of course you're free to compare it. Its just my personal opinion. I might've pushed that point too much lately, and I'm sorry if I did. I'll admit sometimes I get a little defensive about this album, but thats because people call it a FLOP or try to make her look bad with it and ignore the fact that her HEART STATION album just sold a million copies meaning she's honestly not doing that bad.

I'm not the one making excuses here... I don't know if Utada was making excuses, but I persoanlly believe her because she's an oldies fan (she stated this) and she was in japan for a long time so obviously she didn't receive much information about the the american pop scene, this making her behind in the american music scene. I'd be overwhelmed too. When I stopped listening to american music for a few years, and finally like 2007, I started again, I really felt behind too. Even now I still feel slightly behind haha.

Once Again, u just restated what I posted. When you count sales, you use oricon. when you count shipments you use RIAJ. The difference is that oricon counts people buying the album while RIAJ counts how many albums avex was able to ship to the stores. I stated that she got shipments of 1 million but in terms of people buying it, it didn't reach a million making it her first album not to sell a million. Secret is the first album to not get shipments of a million though. Don't you wonder why hikki fans were sad when untra blue only didn't make it to 1 mill in oricon sales? it still received shipments of a milllion but it didnt sell a million making it hikki's first album to not sell a million ( This is not a comparison btw. This is an example of the difference between shipments and sales)

And I find it funny how you can call EXILE's sales as an example of how crap can still sell well when you say that music is in terms of taste. If its your opinion then fine, but that doesn't mean they're now officially an example.

Anyways I love the piano to Next Level. Maybe its because i love piano versions of songs haha. I love going to this asian grocery that plays piano versions of Jpop songs because it sounds so nice : ) Maybe these songs just didn't suit ayu for me because I really LOVED loveappears but I really dislike this album =/ but i do love the piano versions of the songs so I don't hate the songs in that context.

If I had to rank ayu albums:
1) LOVEppears <3 I loved the whole album.
2) (miss)understood - Same as the top but not as much
3) My Story - The album had a nice flow to it and I really liked the songs on it.
4) Duty - I like this album, but the main reason I loved it was for the three single tie-in
5) Memorial Address - It was very good, but I liked My Story over it XD
6) I am.../Rainbow <--- they;re really similar for me. I like it, but I felt it was overrated
7) Secret - I said this before, it wasn't the best, but it was definitely a decent album : )
8) A song for XX - I mainly liked the single tracks.. and not even all of them. Its ok tho
9) Next Level - I really don't like this album overall but it had 2 tracks I liked.
10) guilty - I don't want to recognize this as an ayu album because I don't like anything about it

TITO is far from selling that bad considering the actual music market in Japan, and so does Next Level... Trying to say that they are selling bad or that people are not liking their music based only on sales is somewhat dumb in my opinion... TITO is selling as good as american albums use to sell in Japan (it's still on top20, right?) and Exodus was top20 or top30 in the end of 2004...

Next Level still on top10 for 2009 and I don't really believe it will go down and leave top15 (top10 is not very likely, but still can do it), it's not a massive seller, but is far from a fail

So... to me, both are doing great^^

Thank you sweetie :D

:yes

And the million album thing about (m)u, that's just the oricon's approximation. Oricon never gives the exact numbers. Avex and the Riaj reported a million copies for (m)u. I am informed so i guess that does qualifies me to be an ayu stan. Honestly, i don't give a s/h/i/t. :)

And i have no desire to waste my time giving huge explanations to my argument, so i'm gonna make it short:

.- Your comment really bothered me, Ayumixfan, that's why i replied that way.
.- I apologize if i offended you, :yes
.- However, i didn't twist anything you said. i wrote my argument according with what you wrote. I think that basically everything you are saying are excuses to defend Utada's sales. I don't believe you are close enough to Utada to make the affirmations you are doing right now, so i think that what you are saying is pretty much especulation. I could make a longer argument to support what i'm saying but i don't want to flame up the Utada/Ayu discussion more than i already did.



Yeah right. I understand you want to be positive but the only truth is that the economy in Japan (it's actually a worldwide recession) is awful, from every perspective you want to see it, so saying the albums (even huge sellers like KAT-TUN) are not doing bad is a bit delusional. We can only hope the economy is gonna improve in the next months, so the sales on the musical charts will get better as well.