Where the hell have you been?!?!?

For me Memorial address >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everything in life.

Yes, I am doing the same!

Never mind that your intended quip is an incomplete thought, but what I’m really self-consciously embarrassed of is that I literally cried for the first time in a long time all because my favorite and only pop singer that I still follow could have such a poor release. No, I don’t have displaced emotions. I love Ayumi.

And about “flopping”, I don’t care for the term. It’s only that with her trajectory it’s such a painful parallel to her quality and creativity.

And MA is what it presented itself and IMO her best release ever.

^U need to get out more @_@@

Memorial Address is definitely her best mini! I think if you combined a a few songs from six with TROUBLE it would be a much better mini.

My thoughts exactly. Chill out a bit ストロボ・EdGE . It's just a release of a pop singer in the end. Plus, it's a release so even if you like only 1 song, it's still 1 song you can add to your playlists.
I keep listening to W, WORDS currently. I will have a stage at some point when put other songs on the loop as well.

for me it's:

Memorial address > FIVE > TROUBLE > sixxxxxx

and I love all of them!

MA can stack up against other full albums as well. If you take away the intro and cover from MADE IN JAPAN it's basically 8 songs too for example and MA beats it for me even though I like MIJ. I love MA because it has a little bit of everything but still flows well, even the 3 ballads are all unique imo.

Hoping for more music but that's unlikely

Never understood this idiom.

I manage a team of 100 and have a wife and active social life.

Also, it’s kind of funny to judge a stranger’s unadulterated disappointment whilst being an Ayumi Hamasaki fan. That’s kind of her thing. Or was. Per me.

Read her lyrics, leave this forum more often.

And yet, here you are...

I would likely agree with this sentiment.

Queue someone quoting WARNING, etc.

^Yeah 3rd visit this year.

will this album get released on itunes?

I'd expect it to be. Likely on the 15th.

I find Memorial address to be one of her most overrated works. There's nothing that makes me say "OMFG" on that album, unlike FIVE that buried us all when BRILLANTE was released.

I'm honestly curious though, why did you cry? What is it that's so sad about her having a release you dislike? I've actually seen 2 forum members mention seriously crying over not liking a release and I just don't understand. I've absolutely hated tons of her songs and music videos and been embarrassed of things she's done but I've never cried over it. There are so many more important things in the world to cry over. I think there's something deeper going on here and it has to be more than just crying over a bad release..

First of all, as a POC in America, with people from my family’s homeland in cages, absolutely, there are truly worse things, and it actually ties in to that exactly. I’m offended that the same human being who delivered the album I am... could stoop to such a release. (I realize she’s not an American, but 1. The Ayu we know is a global citizen. And this doesn’t even have to do with the example above that hits home personally, but 2. Shit is bad everywhere. Terrorism is imminent in every metropolis every moment.) My problem with the release has been iterated much better by other people... But blaming her “team”? We know who’s boss. Ayu is that bitch. She has control, her fight well documented.

Where is her weltschmerz? Hidden.
Then, where is the quality? Many here say it’s an opinion, fine, but there it is. Let the production do the talking.

She is disconnected and as a fan for a decade, I feel she is so far away now, for the first time. Ayu doesn’t have to be a philanthropist but I don’t think she loves her fans.

Why is this being called album? Shouldn't this be called a mini album?

Damn, this fanbase is always hitting a new low @_@