^ No, I have never used Amazon Japan because i'm not sure whether they ship internationally or if I have to use my Tenso account, since using Tenso is costly i'd rather use it as a last resort in case I really don't find it anywhere except on japanese websites :dead2

Often times they will ship internationally. If they don't it won't let you checkout.

Ayu is topping Dam Karaoke's ranking for the now ending Heisei era:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/1dM3QH.png

She has no single song in the Top 50 though.
Full news:
https://www.dkkaraoke.co.jp/news/181121.html

DAM only started business in 1994, so the ranking is basically more of an all time best ranking for DAM.

Amazing!

I’ve been listening to a lot of remix songs lately and I really would love a remix album (or albums) release. More ayumix please! Plus Ayu is awesome.

I've never been into remixes in general, there's only a handful of Ayu's that I really love, off the top of my head:

YOU (Aggressive Mix) - first song I EVER heard from Ayu because I was looking for Initial D songs on Limewire. :laugh

Wake me up (Remo-con rmx) - For the nostalgia of seeing it live in 2012

Season (H-H mix) - self explanatory

M (Above and beyond mix)

I am (huge fairy tail mix)

Key (nicely nice waterfowl remix')

Otherwise I don't really care for remixes. Don't flame me. :tired

Interesting that BLUE BIRD is not on the Top50! But amazing that she's the #1 on the artists ranking :)

I was watching this video of Kemio - famous japanese youtuber - about him trying some color contact lense (lol) and was surprised that, after failing on putting the contact lenses, he decided to play Ayu because he is really addicted to Ayu lately. And he said that he felt like listening to Ayu would help him put the lenses lol And he plays Voyage and even remake the lyrics lol And obviously jokes about the falsetto lol Love him and was surprised to see him playing Ayu.

There was an article published recently stating ayu will appear in Kouhaku after all to perform as a special guest, being that she was the most sung artist of the Heisei era through karaoke.

Lmao, I died when he’s like “ayu onegai NE!!?” right before he attempts to put it in again lol.

Which ayu's studio song has her worst vibrato to date?

I have to think about that, but for live it's definitely 'no more words' AT'02 - she ruined that song there...

I’m no expert on musical technical stuffs but is it just me or the quality of her newer music’s mixing went downhill compare to back in the 00s? For example step by step sounds really noisy, like the instrumentals don’t have any layers and they just throw it all together. But her old music has a ton of different instumentals, but they don’t sound “noisy”. Am i the only one in this??? Nowadays every time I listen to her newer albums (like Trouble for instance), I have to lower the volume because whenever she sings high notes, the background music would pierce my ears. It feels like 128kbps in comparison to 320kbps LOL

Every song released in 2009 loool

A lot of people here feel like this, I do feel like this also. I thought A ONE's mixing was an improvement, but songs like We are the QUEENS are really painful to listen to because of this

^ Yes I feel like it’s not because of the “song” itself that is bad, I think her new materials sound good in terms of melody, but it’s the mixing that sounds painful to the ears. I wonder how ayu and her team still allowed this to continue :/

I am not happy with the sound quality of Ayu's recent albums. Especially 2012-now. But her albums have mostly followed the general trend for the music industry. Everything keeps getting louder and the difference between the quietest sound to the loudest sound in the recording keeps getting smaller and smaller. There is no air between the layers of sound. Every component of the song is at the same level and volume, loud. It feels like a giant wall of sound is attacking your ears.
For me personally, the worse side effect to the loudness war is that it makes it difficult to enjoy all the details in a track.
I wouldn't expect things to change any time soon sadly.:no

"A Song for XX" is at 7th place on a poll for women about "the song which you identify the most":

https://www.facebook.com/ayutube0408...9533298113910/

Do y'all sometimes forget that it's Ayu's 20th anniversary year?

^ Yes and it is mildly promoted.

Yea, as far as I'm concerned the decline in the mixing/mastering (I'm no expert, either) in Ayu's albums started with "Love songs" (the .WAV version of "MOON" from USB is the only one with a bearable guitar instrumental during the chorus, while the CD versions all show similar distortions (single/album likewise).

At some point of her career Ayu must have lost some important people that were responsible for processes in the studio production. You can definitely tell her music has been lacking that "polished" feel for a couple of years by now.

The digital version of "We are the QUEENS" that was initially released - yes! Ever since we got hold of the CD version everything sounds decent to me, though :)

I'm no music expert but it took a while to get into A ONE because of its mixing - and I still have a hard time listening to WARNING x__x I don't know why but most songs feel "flat", especially in songs like Last minute and Sorrows, when all instruments hit at once and you instead of feeling blown away by all that it just makes a wall of sound in your ears. Gosh, Last minute could have been even stronger than it is if not for that :(
While MIJ was an improvement, I felt things going backwards with TROUBLE. It makes me so sad cause her music is so amazing and it feels like these new stuff ain't getting to the better state they could be.