That could just mean that their singles really aren't all that "limited." Though I doubt that Avex would have knowingly moved her out of competition with Fukuyama just so she can go up against Kanjani8 instead (who would be harder to beat).

Still doubt she would stand a chance against Kanjani8, I don't think you can take sales of international online shops as an indication. But I thought Kanjani8's singles will be sold 1 week earlier?

Oh, thank you! The lipping in this one was on time :).

We don't know if they will be part of the double week or not. Most likely though the double week will be Ayu's week plus the week after hers and not the week before.

My thoughts exactly :)

Oh thank you for the info!! :D

I want a HD ver. is an amazing pv, but we have to wait

You were..BALLAD both great song for me..now waiting for Red line for TA~ XD

that was what I thought
combined week usually on last week which is ayu's week and the week after not a week before

I've just realized that release day isn't Wednesday O.o Then she is definitely going to debut at #1

Well, isn't that cheap, lol. At least her streak shall continue......

^It's smart.

^^ doesn't she need a special exception? lol otherwise wouldn't everyone do that
ex) Mirrorcle World was done a day early for her 10th anniversary

I can't wait for this single! I don't like "You were..." that much because it sounds generic and like a boring Mix of all her sad Winter Ballads:headache. But "BALLAD" is a georgous song and I love the mix of epic singing and the traditional asian Instruments, it sounds like a fusion between "GREEN" and "Part Of Me"!
The Covers are alright. Nothing special, but they are way better than the "Sunrise / Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~"-Covers :grumpy. The basic idea of the "You Were..."-PV is very cool. I like the whole Image with the weird couple, the hand puppet, the Trees made of Paper (I don't know how to descrice it in a better way, I think you'll get what I mean) and the dress made of a chain of lights - But the assembly is very dissapointing.
The weird couple looks like dancers from Lady Gaga :(. They are way TOO futuristic and ruin the beautiful atmosphere, even though I like the scene with the shining stone.
The idea of the hand puppet is very cute and creative, but you can only see the puppet during the opening of the PV. I have the sense that they just used the puppet as a filler for the opening Blank stare.
The "BALLAD"-PV is better. The Background-Story is very touching and Shu Ya is a great actor. Even though I hate Ayu's pink dress, the scenery is very beautiful :love.

^ she's probably reached the point where she can get away with murder.

She sure is :yes.

What kind of exception would be granted this time?

How cool would that be?
In a PV, that is :p I would love a creepy PV!

Next single ayu!
"HORROR/blood lust"

:laugh

ok, well still it seems the same, but i meant not just in that one.
and NO, i didnt want Ayu to die, lol, she's just never the injured one, why not switch it up? (please dont kill me)

"heaven"
she could sing in a heaven, lol or do, a drama type thing? or dream? something other then the guy, lol

was she? i thought she was alive, lol

^ I think it would have been cool too if she died in the PV instead of Shuya.

lol at these, you guys didn't remember that Ayu "died" in PArt of Me? she also "died" in Voyage in the lake then she was reborn again :P

LMAO!

so... has best new artists aired yet?

She can choose whoever she wants to dance with and I can choose not to watch or buy anything (Arena,CDL DVDs) I don't like.

I guess I'll be buying just her albums to support her and hear her sing.

WOW i had the exact same opinion as yours!:thud i wish she had a white dress instead of that bubblegum pink hehe

nope,it's 12.30 pm now in japan, the show starts at 7.00 pm

can't wait!

i know she can ^^

but most of her performances that has shuya in it i end up skipping ;P
and just listen to the audio lol

but i can't take it any more i wanna see her performances like i used to D;

don't you think it could have been better if she used a real actor in "BALLAD pv"
the song is really gorgeous and the idea of th pv is really good *o*

but the idea of using the same dancer over and over again is really boring
if you compare him with other dancers you know he's not that great
i think she's using him cuz he's very popular now and lots of her fans like him

too bad 4 me )=

can't wait for RED LINE (;

Yeah, of all the shows I think I might be looking forward to Best Artist the most this year.

And in Free and Easy as well. Ayu likes to die in her PVs.

^Momentum too :P

yeah, a bit different, cause in the scenes with pink dress it seems like a Heaven, no?

lol, forgot about part of Me!

lol, yea she kinda melted in the snow at the end :P i think in heaven too,because she's pale in that PV :laugh

after all, this is my first time seeing Ayu in a helmet and where else could you find someone is still looking stunningly beautiful even after a crush and lying on the road :laugh:blove

she was already dead there :P

Oh gosh these 2 guys are like the best ever!!! Their rendition of BALLAD is so touching!

^ thank you

omfg..

So, YesAsia kept refusing my order, and my mom didn't understand.. the jerk got a new credit card :shakehead

So now I can FINALLY order, just hope I'll still get the first press.. If not, I think I need to kill somebody

Ayu in Best Artist 2009

thanks!!!! she looks so pretty :)

the you were... perf was great! it was funny when she forgot the lines to evolution though haha

She needs to really stop singing evolution ................


You Were live was really Great ^^

She looks old in the performance :( Lol.

I don't think she forgot the lyrics, her voice suck so bad, she should really take a rest. This is two songs performed so great before, and now it just suck.. omg ayu.. take rest before this will be standard. Now I really agree with people saying this.

She only sang You were... once before this performance lol, she might have even better performances of it in time to come!

wow her voice was really bad :no this was really painful to watch. :(

did she really forget the lyrics or was she just trying to be "cute"?
because this isn't the first time she forgets evolution lyrics... you would think she knows the lyrics by now :shakehead

I have a feeling she didn't hear herself at all in evolution.. she was so off. But she was still such a cute energetic pink little ostrich and I loved the present thing at the end! You were... was better vocally than her first performance of it, I really liked it! I think she should stop wearing dresses like that though lol.

^ I think you're right, the problem with evolution was she couldn't hear herself and if you can't hear yourself you're bound to mess up. :P

lol that white dress reminds me of her HOPE or PAIN dress in AT 09, but slightly prettier.

i always consider this and respect her cos she still can sing by risking her right ear :(

lol at pink little ostrich Ayu,reminds me of Unite performance at AT06 and Vogue at PCDL :D

Me too. lol I just think if she's going to have a big dress she should go all out like this or this but many people hate those lol

I know she only sang it once before, but I think I've gone totally deaf, since people seem to like this better than the first one..
To me, the first one was one of her best performances ever, and this just suck.. -.-

I think she simply couldn't breath.. she seems to be pretty sick or something. She SOUNDS to be pretty sick.

lol She's human, of course she's going to forget lyrics every once in a while. It sounds like she forgot the lyrics for a second, but then just got a little too hyped up and had to take a breath for a second.

And for those saying "take a break" - I'm pretty sure at this time last year, she was working ten times harder. I think she learned from that. It's not like she's planning another 3 1/2 hour concert lol

I think she sounded great during "You were...". Yes, she was yelling, but that's what made the performance so emotional. She also yelled during the song, so I wouldn't expect anything less in a performance. It was much better than the first performance.

And then "evolution"... it was alright. Definitely not one of the best performances of the song but whatever. Still an entertaining performance nonetheless.

agreed with you! oh my..i'm so touched when Ayu just post her messege in TA, she really sorry for the Evo performance..Ayu's so humble!

the JEWEL one was SO pretty... that's one of my favorite dresses from her, and one of my favorite performances of JEWEL too... :heart

oh yeah I was referring to the evolution performance when I said it sounded awful. You were.. was decent :)

I still think the best dress is the white mermaid dress she had when promoting Days and she was also wearing it in PCDL. that one was stunning :yes

her outfits here were nice as well - much better than the NL tour dress!

I think she sang You were... very well, actually! :yes The first performance was definitely better, but this wasn't bad. She was a bit loud, at least at the beginning, though. But the "screaming" fit real well towards the end. And no, evolution was just...no. :no With every performance she sings that song, it just sounds worse and worse. Not to mention how sick I am of hearing it live, and that it's a terrible song to try to sing live to begin with (it takes a huge amount of breath support to sing properly)... Whatever. I'll just only watch You were, hah. :)

Either my ears are getting bad but I think she sounded slightly worse in best live then she did at Music station. I have to agree with everyone else that evolution did sound bad... I thought that best artist usually have their artists perform in a huge arena, did they decide to do it at a smaller area this year??

evolution was like even worse than her Mirrorcle World performances. ;___; I so miss Ayu when she could sing decently live. Maybe she should try SINGING once in a while instead of just yelling. :@

You were 2nd perform was beautiful but she had a lot of sounds problems on evolution no? we don't hear her or the music O_O

Wowww.... Bad yelling there! Really unpleasant to listen to! She has to try to sing more song with a mellow voice and not so many high pitched vocals, 'cause she can't do them anymore. I don't blame her, I guess it's naturally to be able to sing higher notes when you're young and stuff (and she's got that deaf ear as well). It might sound good in the Arena Tour dvd's, but they have edited the sound so much in those. Wonder what it sounds like if you're really there.

did someone turn down the music's speakers or smth in evolution?!
it was soo quiet compared to You were... i think she got distracted by it and lost her place.

I love both the white and pink outfits!!! so cute~!! The singing wasn't that good but it was enjoyable. The last part of evolution was so cute!

^ Neme, that sucks D:

Where did you red this ??

Yeah, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be judging by peoples comments. But she is definitely screaming her way through you were; I guess it helps that that is the way she recorded the song. Evolution wasn't as bad as it was at Happy X'Mas show last year but it still wasn't good. She has been losing her breath support and I don't feel it is getting better; if anything, her being out of breath has been getting worse.

@Ayu_Ready
walking.proud posted on Ayu Schedule #3 - TV Appearances, Magazines, etc. thread were Ayu apologized to her fans about evolution performance.
HERE

Lol. D:

I've noticed this, especially this year. :( This is one of the worst problems for a singer to have. I really hope she's more on track with it next year...

If nothing else, I love the dress! =D just kidding, I thought the performance wasen't half bad. It's so much better than the sunrise performances that were bordering on rapping. O. o I love the fans' reaction!

That performance was... Not good. Not horrible (One of the Together When...'s still holds that one), but it was _not_ good. I don't think she forgot the lyrics in evolution either, it just seems like she ran out of breath and couldn't sing it. I agree with whoever said it's only getting worse... It's not strange that it's getting worse though, considering she gets like NO rest. I really, REALLY hope she takes some rest soon to recover her voice. I still want her to be able to sing when she's 35/40...

For some reason I see a break/hiatus coming when/if she breaks Seiko's record, since it's getting veeery close now, and it is her last record to break that she actually has a shot at, isn't it?

maybe evolution should be sung alone for a t.v performance..maybe all the "screaming/yelling" from You were... tired her out

I was thinking the same thing while watching it...

But in the end, the audience got emotional over You were and pumped on Evolution, and that make the performance totally worth!

I think the sound of the mic was way too loud, covering the backvocals and instrumentals... maybe it gives the thought that her voice was too bad...
Okay, it wasn't good, but it seems that something was wrong with the sound regulation during her performance.

Yeah I loved that. I think some members of TA were there because I noticed a lot of girls looking at her like this:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2dub6a0.gif

Yeah I liked Music Station more as well.

Yeah I was rather worried about her, I was more concerned with her breathing than anything else. :(

well these you were... performances have been discouraging and the evolution one has been extremely discouraging. she needs a bit of rest and a few trips to a vocal coach.

You were... perf. at best artist was good I think :yes
the one at MS is still the best one so far though.

but evolution.. :dead2

I agree in some ways. But at 31, she's quite a bit old. But the thing is this: She skipped the FNS music festival this year because she was practicing for this year's Countdown Live! I'm quite disappointed with it - she has got to stop her actions for a while after CDL. I think she has got to take a break already...

age isn't much of an excuse. if she's ready to get old, then she needs to adjust her career accordingly (but that's obviously not the case). she needs to take a break for a few months and see a vocal coach. it would help rest her voice (because it's obvious that it's suffering) and just enter a training stage again. it would help her get a grasp on where she stands as a singer and help her cope with her partial deafness. i'm sure it would give her some thoughts to reflect on and make her lyrics even better (even though those haven't been lacking). it's not that i dislike her music, but it's disappointing to have these great songs that she can't even sing well. i just want her to take care of herself and come back in the game really strong. she's going to really damage her voice if she keeps screaming like that. madonna did something similar to that while recording evita and her 'ray of light' album and it came to be her best album vocally/lyrically (critics agreed). it goes a long way to freshen up on the basics of singing and have someone there to reteach you.

Guys I have a question!

There's one thing I don't understand about the BALLAD PV.

The mailman! Like, I understand how Shuya tries to reach Ayu because he's in a come and all, but why is the mailman Shuya himself? To me him pulling off the mask and seeing that the mailman is Shuya was an anti-climax since I just don't understand the meaning of it.

Someone explain :)

I interpreted it as, Shu-Ya sees himself because his messages aren't reaching Ayu (obviously, since he's comatose), so he's sending the messages to nobody but himself. :yes But I'm sure other people have other interpretations. I never thought about any of the PV in detail; that thought just came automatically when I was watching, so yeah. Maybe somebody can come up with something deeper?

You mean, she is having trouble with her voice because of her age..? I really don't think so, since people (women, specifically) most often are peaking in their vocal abilities around early thirties... I think she's just over-doing it, and she needs to keep up with practice/training.

You were... performance is better than the Music Station one IMO. Yep she's a little loudy sometimes but this didn't ruined the song.

But evolution :no omg it's terrible.
As others said she can't hear the music, because she seems awkward.

hmm,evolution is really :irked
what happen to the musics?can't listen to them after they started to play evolution

^^ my thought is the same.
After seeing the Evo performance, I was like this is not how Ayu perform this song.

I'm just wondering...where did she messed up during the performance?

Aw, poor little ayu! She totally forgot the lyrics in one part and was out of breath to sing the next! <3 She was still too cute :heart

you were sounded good... The shouting bits don't bother me too much. I actually felt a bit like crying during evolution though :( I just think she should lay off performing her classic songs for a while or not as frequently because her voice just doesn't work with them anymore :( I hope the title of CDL will have something to do with this or perhaps rearranging the songs so she can sing them more easily.

@Keichii: You can find many interpretations of the BALLAD PV in the thread about the single's thoughts in the ayu chat room. :)

She has definitely been out of breath recently... and it's really getting worse over the years... IF she's smoking she really gotta stop, otherwise she should start running more to build up on her stamina, or get more breathing and vocal exercises.

You were... definitely tired her out..she really went all out on that one. I applaud her for her effort still.

yea i saw them too :P,nwey i love how the audince keep supporting her!

yea, i was shocked, the music was a bit slow.:irked and agreed with you freedreamer.

wait so... what did the age chart basically mean. LOL

man teenage guys really ain't diggin ayu

and LOL@ so many 30 whatever to 49 year olds loving ayu homg is that bad?

^why would that be bad?

Is there a pic for Ayu's age chart-thingy?

why would that be bad? nothing wrong there..they have the right too,no matter what age..everybody wants to entertain

@ roanmy: yepp before she starts singing they show the chart and read a fan letter to Ayu

OMG evolution looks so fun! Although her vocals suck, she sure was able to pump up the crowd!!! Ayu wasn't known for her vocals anyways! I love how she forgots the lyrics then was out of breathe or tongue twisted, but she screamed GOMEN!!!(sorry) <3

You were... had so much emotion. I don't mind the shouting, well I'm used to it since she became deaf in one ear. ^^ This performance is better than MS for me.

What the heck......I thought last year, her perf. at the secret christmas live of evolution was bad...holy crap...this performance makes that one seem epic 0_o

anyway, You were... suppose to release the single this week against Fukuyama which his sales for today is 57,083
seems hard for ayu to beat him

I agree. I was supposed to check Namie's first day sale and forgot that ayu was supposed to release You were this week. I saw Fukuyama's first day sale and was like, "well ayu may not be able to pull over 50K on the first day."

What was her first day sales with Days?

Days/GREEN 1st day - 35,116 (x1.75)= 61,453

It still had the multiplier back then.

BALLAD is listed on SSTV : http://www.spaceshowertv.com/search/...u=0077914&ch=0

Takahide Ishii directed it.

If it were Days/GREEN vs. Fukuyama's single, Days/GREEN would win. XD Hopefully You were.../BALLAD would sell as much.

yes! i got it right! it's him, :D