yeah, I was just reading that. I guess he needs to keep working to pay off his debts...

I have a mixed feeling about his composing and returning to the industry

He's a talented composer/producer but he's not, imo, the greatest human being, especially when it comes to his girlfriends/wives...

There's a meme in Brazil that I think it fits so well with his situation. "I was humiliated, I'll deactivate my account for a few weeks".

Wow. This sounds great!!!
😯

This and her last song will be great for an album. I can feel it coming.

omfg that is fucking fantastic

this is AWESOME

Regarding TK and his "retirement" keep in mind that it is the common thing to do in Japan, especially for politicians, to "retire" after a scandal and then to come back with a "different" job/job title.
TK is a shitty human being and I would have preferred it if he would have been gone for good, but it was clear that he would come back. Sadly.
I'm really excited for the new song, but there is this little "bad taste" to it because of TK for me. Men like TK and the people still working with him despite everything that is known for almost 30 years are the reason why so much abuse can happen and is happing in the industry.

I really hope one day keiko will be able to come back with a solo project. She would deserve it and I always felt that globe only got the fame it got because of what she was able to deliver with her voice. TK is a skilled composer, sure, but without keiko's distinctive voice and how she is able to deliver emotions through it (very similar to Ayu btw, I think) is what makes globe songs great in the first place for me.

Keep in mind we don’t know Komuro personally. You can’t know a anything for sure until you experience it yourself, so everything is a hypothesis. That aside, her compositions are astounding, for me the best songs Ayu has released were composed by him.

Agree. But what's considered unforgivable in Japan is different. Think of Watsuki Nobuhiro who writes Rurouni Kenshin manga for children. After he was caught with kiddy porn of pre-teen girls he not only made a successful comeback, this year he's doing some project with the creator of One Piece, one of the most popular manga for children there is! Some American twitter complained, but none in Japan that I saw. It's not a career-ending problem there.

I just can't see TK going away anytime soon, because no one with power will mind what he did too much. I'm not thrilled about that, but I'm resigned. Living in Japan for six years, I became very dull to issues like that.

This is the point where the moderators will tell us to get back on topic, so that's all I'll say about that. I know how you feel, but I'm not willing to leave Japan, which has so much I love, behind--so what can we do? :yfrown

^I feel you. There is a lot about Japan I love and I can't wait to get back next year, but this is the stuff that makes you lose faith in humanity as a whole. In Japan's "defence" though, it took decades to take Weinstein down, Polanski still is admired and wins prizes and those are just two of the men in the industry everyone knew about. In the end, it is not much different anywhere and even here at ahs getting a teenager into drugs, fucking her and parading her around in her drugged state, apparently just in underwear, is considered no big deal and a "private matter".
Which is why I won't stop pointing out that TK is a shitty human being. I resignated in so far as that I don't expect this industry to change any time soon, but people can at least know what he did.

Fucking love it

Actually, with Ohia no Ki, I don't know if it was actually an old song. It seems as though Kazuhito Kikuchi had given Ayu a lot of demos over the years and even worked on songs just in March so it's possible that was a new one. He's had so many posts about making "Who... 2" type songs or just new demos for Ayu but she never did anything with the songs.

While this track sounds really intriguing so far, I honestly feel like TK is one of Ayu's weaker composers. Sure, there are some great tracks (Love song, snowy kiss, etc.), but that classic Hamasaki sound was not defined by him at all, and I feel he has never quite achieved it as others have. I'm happy if the song turns out to have a globe-esque sound though.

I do think that Ayu should have avoided working with him also, re: all of the above. It's not a great look, especially as she seems to have a number of feminist-ish songs.

I think that his compositions are usually elevated by her arrangement team and it's not usually super positively received when they lean into the "old TK sound" if at all. With all of the songs he had done up till he 'retired', I kind of wonder how much choice there was for Ayu in getting demos since usually she gets a certain amount of demos from Max or her managers then picks from those.

https://twitter.com/GAK0116/status/1287222395153993728

GAK who did the amazing rock mix of M made a version of Dreamed a Dream that sounds AWESOME!!!

LOVE the EURO mix!!!

also love this piano mix someone created.

ats- / Atsushi Sato did an arrangement! He usually does actual Ayu arrangements, lol! (Over, aeternal, WORDS, TODAY) Formerly as part of H/\L he is usually on his own lately. Also he produced some of Kalen's songs.

^omg, this is so old school J-Pop, I totally love it! Always loved H/\L and their sound, would be great if they get him to do a full version lol

oh my god I LOVE THAT

feels like the real thing is gonna be a letdown now :laugh

This GAK version is HOT imo, but not quite as good as the ats- version.

So good and somewhat reminiscent of her Loveppears era ! Interesting hear her current vocal with this kind of arrangement I really like Now I’m a afraid that the final song is not as good lol

Not only the version is hot. lol But yes, this one I also really love! It has that old school J-Pop sound, too. The final song can only be a let down now. lol
I really hope the idea behind this project was to see what people would contribute and to get some to make full versions as well. I need full versions from ats- and GAK!