Crossroad 49th Single Speculation Thread II
 

Let's continue the discussion!

Well as I said. I want a full album. Not a mini one. For reasons I already mentioned.

I want a mini album <3 just frightend that it can't hold its won with MOON, blossom and crossroad already beeing part of it

I dislike Moon, and blossom is just slightly less forgettable. So far this album is a lose for me. I don't really care either way what this album shapes up to be cause if I end up hating it, we all know she'll just whip one out next year and I'll move on. You can't love every song by this girl. It feels like yesterday that GUILTY was a new, yet to be released, album.

LOL

Agreed. I mean MOON/blossom are good (judgement still out on crossroad) but any song on MA>>>>>>>>>them. I know it's childish but if it isn't on par or greater than MA then quite frankly I don't want another mini-album. :laugh So I'm with Strawbari on this one. It's probably going to be a full album anyway but you never know, ne?

Wow, from just two songs and 30 seconds of a LQ one you say that? Lol... I mean, Sunrise and Sunset were the first songs from RnRC but they really don't represent the album as a whole. Maybe you'll love this next album.

Her album tracks usually tend to be better than her single tracks too, in my opinion. Thinking back to how Rock 'n' Roll circus started off with its first single I think that so far this next album is off to a better start.

@Ranma: I'm just tired of my fav artists releasing these damn mini-albums XD
And yeah basically MA was just great. But even now the only songs I can still repetitively listen to are Because of You, ourselves, Hanabi ~episode II~, and forgiveness
But I just think if this were full maybe I would have twice the favs

And I wouldntve liked Secret much if it weren't full

So I hope this is full. More chances to like more songs. There's not one ayu song I haven't liked since Love~Destiny~ ...so I want more songs. She can take as much time as she needs.
^___^

She was bubbling with genius then. I really wonder what sort of other songs could've been made; Memorial Address would've made a great full album, but at least for me, it stands as her strongest release ever (not including best albums.)

I like MA too but I don't think it's perfection like people make it out to be. I think if she were to release a mini album, no song could probably beat "Memorial address" or "HANABI ~episode II~" but I could definitely see her making better songs than any of the others on that album.

At least for the past 3 albums, the first single isn't really an indication of what the album will be like...

glitter/fated --> GUILTY
Days/GREEN --> Next Level
Sunrise/Sunset --> Rock'n'Roll Circus

There are songs on all of those albums that better represent it as a whole... S/S seems like it should've been in NL but then again, it came out right after it so I guess she still had her mind in that same creative direction.

But anyway, what I mean is whatever the next album will be like, it probably won't be able to be summed up with what MOON/blossom sounds like. Unless she does an all-ballad album like MISIA haha! I think there would be a few suicides.

I did say "so far" meaning from what we have, and if this is a preview of her future songs on the album, then I can tell I won't like it. I dislike sunrise/sunset, and rnrc is one of my least favorite albums by her. I also dislike GREEN/Days and Next Level is also one of my least favorite albums by her.

U guys are so depressing. Such joykills. Is it soooo bad to have thread and discuss crossroad/the project/speculations for the future...
I don't understand all the complaints this time around... :rolleyes
I thought this was a forum. Not the Kremlin (or the Third Reich either)

@Strobe: what u say about MA being one of her strongest releases ever is understandable. But then I look at albums like (M)u (what I think is her her strongest) and its full of great tracks. Same for MY STORY. So I wouldve minded MA being that way
I do feel like it was a little transition for her though

But I don't think another is necessary unless she is keeping this softer style. Even the way she dresses its very soft and elegant.

I think what made Memorial Address was the fact that it was a Mini Album. It had no filler tracks, not interludes. Everything was just amazing song after amazing song. My story i think is really amazing as well, but there's also songs like catcher in the light that feel like fillers, so MA had none of those so it felt like we got an entire album of amazingness which we did! :)

^Catcher in the Light imo serves its job as an intro to a beautfiul story. Clearly the album is called MY STORY and that's what I like about it. It twlls a deep story through each song so that I feel it prograsses. MA is like a compilation album. Just a bunch of good songs. I love the interludes and etc and wish there were more

I almost can't stand it when some people label things as fillers because its not a full song or its not complex enough. Sometimes that's all they're. Meant to be and they serve the purpose well. I hope for a full album also for the interludes. they're music too, right?

I'm always surprised about the love for MA as a fair amount of the songs seem to be universally hated-forgiveness, ANGEL'S SONG and Greatful days in particular. I've heard some not so great things about No way to say as well...
I don't really want a mini-album, I like her interludes :P.

Memorial Address is my favorite! I love everything about that release, even though a lot of people hate Greatful Days and ANGEL'S SONG. I adore them :heart

^Same! I did kinda lose some of my love for ANGEL'S SONG (from playing it so darn much XD) but I seriously love every song on that album. It used to not be the case but as time went on and my music tastes changed, I gave the album a full listen through one day and was just like 'wow'. Imvho, there's not a weak track to be found.

OMG i should agree...i tried to listen to MOON many times, but nothing happened, i still dislike it. Blossom is nice, i like to play it once or twice but then i skip to another song and forget averything about it.
I excpected something upbeat or just 1 great ballad instead of 2 mediocre, IMO (obviously i respect everybody's opinion).

At this point, just hope it will be a mini album, released in the end of the year with one special track as it was for MA.

NO MINI-ALBUM PLEASE. MEMORIAL ADDRESS WAS ENOUGH THANKS.

I don't think a mini-album would fare well. At all.
I hate to admit it but... nowadays, we need more room for the weak tracks. Not everything she has been making is wowing. But I take it for what it is.

Yeah I've noticed that too. I don't think I'll ever understand why people hate forgiveness so much. I can understand why people hate on ANGEL'S SONG and Greatful Days though.

I wouldn't mind a mini album actually. I'd rather her have like 8 songs and no interludes and call it a mini album than add a couple more songs + 4 interludes and try to pass it off as a full album.

I'd like a mini album too, or maybe even a non-best of compilation. It'd mixed things up a little bit.

omg is there a preview of crossroad?! I am so excited I hope it's as good as moon!

It's better if she name her previous album as mini album+extra interlude (point to GUILTY and NL) :lech

I like the idea of mini album or an album with interludes though, but just not too much of them

true..a real album should include just a couple of interludes, not 4 or 5

A mini-album would be okay, but if it´s going to be a 8 song mini-album, and each single will include at least two new songs, the mini-album would have only two new tracks, too poor.

i woulndt want a mini album becuz i love her interludes (MINUS ROCK N ROLL CIRCUS, those interludes were pure poop)

sorry but before the mini-album gurl must release another MY STORY with like 25 songs :P lol jks

I wouldn't mind a mini album. I think everyone fears one cause they think it'll never amount to the amazingness of Memorial address. I think she should try though. After all, Secret was supposed to be one. I do think she is long due for another one.

Yeah I just want a full album. I don't see what's great about a mini-album. There's fewer songs. Fewer chances to like a song. And no cool interludes to add to progression

And I never consider her albums like GUILTY so short considering a lot of artists I like release albums that length (about 10 full songs really) without as many lovely interludes. Its same for my fav jrock bands sometimes too. So I guess ayu just has a different standard as usual.

A nice long Album like MY STORY is always nice, right? But there's fans that complain about that. Were the number of interludes in RnRC sooo bad? 3. And 12 full tracks.
I don't see the point in wanting a mini-album if there's always complaints on not enough album tracks. If she keeps releases the way she does it just be a mini-album with like 1-2 new songs

I think the problem with a mini-album is that it won't have too many new tracks and even fewer and fewer people will be compelled to buy it. Her singles are already just barely staying afloat, riding on a core fanbase that may not be able to keep pace with the rapid-fire release schedule. It's not like she could wait a long time between a mini-album and its singles, because then everyone would expect more songs. Any way, it would probably be a letdown.

I said it in another thread, and i'll say it again.
Ayumi Hamasaki's cd's are not barely staying afloat, and her career is not dying.
Let's look at Koda Kumi, her last single only reached number 4,
Let's look at BoA, Her new single Woo Weekend only reached number 10 on weekly charts
Let's look at Namie Amuro's new single, only reached number 3 selling 23,000 copies first day, while Ayumi sold 35,000 copies first day with Moon/ blossom. These are all people who are considered to be on top of the japanese female music industry. Yui's last single sold 70,000+ copies first week, almost same as Ayumi hamasaki. So for those who say she's barely staying afloat i would like to disagree.
Ps. I would like a mini-album, but i would be afraid for the fact that there wouldnt be much new material to propel people to buy it, and a full album would be nice either way im excited.

^ I completely agree :yes Yes, her sales aren't as good as before, but she's still #1, isn't she? She still has huge concerts and a huge fanbase, doesn't she? I wouldn't worry about a mini-album failing, because honestly, I don't think it will~

I wouldn't mind having either~

A mini-album would be great.
A full album would be great.

I honestly don't care XD As long as Ayu gives her best for the album, which she always does, I will listen to and enjoy the album :) I loved Memorial address (despite the hate for forgiveness, No way to say, ANGEL'S HATE, and Greatful days) and I loved MY STORY, a really long album :heart

First, she is gonna release her 49th and 50th singles (2 a-sides for each single?? who knows).
I like the idea of the mini-album, Memorial Address is my favourite album, and i love all the songs since ANGEL'S SONG to forgiveness, and if she releases another Memorial Address - episode II- i'm gonna be so happy.
And if she releases a new full album, i'm gonna be happy too.
But i'm gonna hate another BEST ALBUM: Ayumi Hamasaki -50th Single Anniversary Compilation- :no

I'm sure she has another album/mini album on the way. But I'm sure she'll have a best album after too. secret-newest will make it 5 album since the last one.
the first had three albums, the second had 4 and a mini, we have 4 albums so she could have already made one lol. one more and i don't see why she wouldn't

Comparing her to other female solo artists is not showing any proof that she's sooo popular. The industry is not just them.
When someone says they are worried a mini-album won't sell well because people may not want to buy it is sensible considering there are other artists in this industry besides namie/kuu/boa/yui etc who take up peoples music interests. And ayu would not be be getting number ones if she were releasing in other weeks (so that part is basically irrelevent)

A mini-album with a couple new tracks would probably be a move that shouldn't be taken after all this hype for these singles. They should give it some time and release a full album with more fresh songs

Mini-album does not equal the next Memorial Address. Plus if she does that it will be a much longer wait to get a full album as well have to go through singles. And in the long run in just less new songs which I don't like

That's it!

I would like a new album, not another a best, because ayumi hamasaki all singles, was kind of like a compliation, and so i want more new material lol :P ofcourse i'd buy another compilation but i'd like an album or mini album :P

Well Memorial address only had 3 new songs and people still bought it.


If she does a mini album and does 2 a-sides for the next 2 singles thats 6 tracks so the album would have 2 new tracks if she did 8 tracks for a mini album.

I just don't see people going "oh new mini-album 2 NEW SONGS!!! I'm sooooo excited!!!" Especially if a single has a b-side like red line. Just more space
Does a mini album have to be eight tracks. It just feels like a waste of time.
I really don't want to see ayu promoting a mini album after all this other stuff especially if people want it in december or something. She should chill.

Ma was released at the time when she was still at the peak. Also, Ma was the first mini album selling over million copies, hinting that mini album does not perform as good as full album. I dunno if people walked away from ayu or they just didn't like mini album, but it's a fact that her album sales went from ~ 2 million copies (RAINBOW) to ~1 million copies (Ma) in just a year. I guess both reasons applied to that.

Then again, nowadays ayu's physical sales are mostly by hardcore fans, so whether a mini or a full album will not really affect her current sales. As long as avex's picking the right time again (i.e., no major competitors on the release day), she will get no. 1 for sure.

The Japanese Music market had a "break down" in 2003. It wasn't just Ayu's sales that went down.

Because MY STORY sold more than Memorial address it gives more legitimacy to think that it was mainly because it was a mini album.
(Well it fell from 1,850,000 to around 1,050,000) though usually artists that sell the amount of RAINBOW usually fall later to around the amount of Memorial address or less in most cases. (Like kuu - ~second session~ to Black Cherry, namie 181920 to GENIOUS 2000 and hikki SC to ULTRA BLUE where their sales just went down at those specific points) just that ayu could survive the fall with just a mini album.

Ayu's album sales isn't going up or down a lot so it doesn't matter for me if we either have one or another.

For people who wants a mini album, it doesn't really matter which one we get try take this in consideration:

If you subtract all the interludes from Guilty and Next level album, it almost looks like an mini album. Also the time length for both of these albums are not as long as most of her full length album. Who knows if ayu might release an album similar like these two again.

Although I wouldn't mind a mini album, I don't know why people are expecting one. She seems extremely inspired this year so I think we'll be getting a full album at the end of the year or in January. Since people are mentioning interludes, I just have to say I really don't like them most of the time. She has some amazing ones, but they'd still be better off as full songs. For an album 3 interludes is the maximum amount I'd be fine with, so I hope she'll only have that many (or less!) in her next album release too.

Kuu and Namie were up against some pretty tough competitors. BoA is a flop so that was expected. But yeah you can't compare it since M/b was released on a pretty quiet week. While Kuu was up against ARASHI and EXILE I think. Then Namie was up against that one Johnny guy.

That guy is Tomohisa Yamashita of NEWS, sorry :) Also add Yusuke, too - also a strong guy, by a bit...

I hate how some people assume that just because a mini-album will have fewer songs and no interludes that means each and every track will be OMGZAMAZING because Ayu will have magically put so much more effort into each track. The songs will be whatever they will be. If you took each of her albums and took out all the interludes and turned them into mini albums, the songs will still be what they are. So if you don't enjoy them on a full album, your chances of enjoying them on a mini-album will not increase. If you don't enjoy the musical direction she is heading towards now, a mini-album will not change that. The songs are what they are and they're going to be what Ayu wants them to be ALWAYS. ;D

But no competition will only mean a higher ranking, not more sales, right?

I think... What matters about positions are sales numbers, but if you pit against other very good artists (this extends to other charts ALL AROUND THE WORLD, not just Japan itself but also the U.S. and U.K.), then there sure is going to be some serious competition...

So, why isn't there any info in the first post? This just seems to be a discussion thread instead of an information thread.
Well, anyway, that aside...I don't care if Ayu releases another mini-album, it would be great. I love Memorial address, but I'm sure nothing can beat the songs on that album. OK maybe MOON can, because it's just a great song.

The main problem with mini-album is that if it will hapen' we will get M/b/c that we know + song/s from 49/50th single so there will be maybe ONE new song and with our luck (XD) a super-duper intro with tralalala. I really want MINI-album but i would LOVE if she record that after singles, 5 whole new tracks and she really rests before that. AND AFTER THAT.

anyways, i still dislike the crossroad "preview". when i heard 10 second of blossom in cm i already knew "omg, i will love that song" and i love IT freaking much (its like fairyland but better...) when i heard MOON i was like "ehm it's ok, but sounds like no way to say.. so nvm, i will listen to it once but it's boring within a listening..." I don't really think that crossroad will surprise me. Maybe the second/third track? Maybe 50single?

I just know my feelings already even from 10seconds preview. The one i remember i was really dissapointed, was "Identity". I was like "OMG" when i heard the preview from the chorus. When I heard full ver, i was very dissapointed (like with whole NL, lols)

Because there is no info yet and this is supposed to be a random useless speculation discussion thread.

Still, I said the same thing. The first post should state that we have no info yet.

agree on both of these :yes

now, i've been out of date on my uberfan stalking of ayu for the last few weeks, would someone mind telling me what the hell this whole mini album rampage is??

when did we get any clue/info that she'll be releasing a mini album??!!! she's releasing 3 singles in a row to celebrate and walk into her 50th single in 2010!

if this whole mumbo jumbo rampage about a mini album has no standing ground and was stared on a random fan's post wishing she should release a mini album next, a mod should just close this thread or delete all the unnecessary posts made.

this is a thread for discussing the next single in line and information about it =.='

People have been ranting about a hopeful mini album since the project was announced.

Basically, since she'll be releasing three consecutive singles in what was thought to be a relatively short amount of time and right after RnRC, some have thought that maybe she would do a mini-album at the end since the album would already have the typical amount of singles per album lately and it being right after this last album, it's a short amount of time and all. That's it.

Yea that is true, but still Ayu out sold all their singles, so both chart and sales ayu won, im not bashing any of the artists, im just saying.

I’m back*haha*

I have to admit, I like the Idea of a new Mini-Album BUT only with Epic Songs.
And that’s the Problem with Ayus latest Songs.
They don’t have that Epic-Factor! ( for me )
Memorial Address is one of my Alltime Favorites from Ayu.
The Songs are amazing and I love to listen to them again and again and again, a thing that doesn’t happen with her latest works NEXT LEVEL, Rock’n’Roll Circus and her new Songs MOON and blossom are also just medicore...
The Epic Arrangements are lost...
On Memorial Address every Song is different ( even though 4 from 8 Songs were done by HAL ) but they fit together so well!
But all her latest Stuff, especially RnRC and M/b, just sound all the same

So when she really wants to release a new Mini-Album she needs to step it up because there are already two Spots taken from medicore Songs...and what I hear from crossroad... there is soon another medicore Song coming to us...

It’s sad to say but since she decided to push HAL as arrangers aside ( I just realized that RnRC only had You were... ) she slowly loses her sparkling for me...
She needs more HAL ( not only in her winter ballads ), the best Arrangements were done by them ( all her great Rocksongs like 1LOVE, Because of You, is this LOVE?, GAME, talikin’ to myself, Rule and her great cute Songs like ANGELS SONG, replace, HONEY and Summersongs like fairyland, BLUE BIRD, INSPIRE, glitter were done by them! )
All the Songs I love the most from her...

And when she gets them back, THEN she can make a new Mini-Album!

Ok, it's official. We NEED news like now. :laugh

I couldn't disagree more about HAL. I wouldn't mind if she never had a song arranged by them again. In my opinion, THEY are the ones who make same-sounding songs, not who she's using now like Yuta Nakano who is very versatile and can make things sound different and unique (just imagine if Sexy little things was arranged by HAL, ew.)

I know, many people think this way about HAL, but for me personally her HAL Songs are my favorites and I don't think that they sound all the same ( except their Winter Ballads and Interluds )
I really think their rocksongs and Summersongs have unique arrangements which are more interesting than CMJK's
Yuta Nakano really can make good Songs but sometimes he goes into the wrong direction which never really happend with HAL ( and yes i know Yuta Nakano was once a HAL member )

And Sexy little things with a HAL arrangement would be much better than it is now, I'm 100% sure, because this Song is boring as hell

I disagree so much lol, everything about that song is so interesting to me and if HAL arranged it it would just be more of the same, probably another HONEY or something. I don't hate HAL or anything though, there are plenty of songs arranged by them that I do like, but I feel like she has so many better arrangers.

*haha* It's funny that I have to disagree with everyting YOU say
1. Sexy little things is absolutely boring*haha*
2. It would be thousand times better if it were HONEY*past II~
3. Ayu never had and will never have better arrangers than HAL
That's just my opinion, but like I saind Ayu without HAL loses her sprakling, I realized it with NEXT LEVEL where only 3 Songs and 1 Interlude were done by them and I even realized it more on RnRC where only 1 Song was arranged by them...
And when she now decides that she only will release medicore Songs like M/b and the RnRC Songs than i know that my Fan-days are over

Most of this thread is about the singles project which includes crossroad. Nad what will become of this project. For example. Those who were hoping for a mini-album including all the singles

Its all in a way relative to the single. Is it so bad to hold a discussion here if we want the singles to end up as an album or not. We don't have any news yet. And I'm sure if u have any deductive reasoning skills u can figure out when there is news.

If I started a thread on speculations and wishes for this project I would be worried it would just be trashed. Like that nothing left to say thread.

No =/ It's clearly mean that their sale must be also affectedly low due to other competitors's sale. THAT's an indispensable factor of selling

ah ah that's true....our conjectures are degenerating LOL

agreed people only get paid once every week or 2 weeks so they have to choose what they want to buy more with their money. It's not the main factor in sales but i think it contributes to the difference too.

Like if I ayu and kuu released 2 singles in the same week, I'd probably only have enough money to buy 1 of these singles so i'd probably buy ayu because i'm a bigger ayu fan than kuu. Just an example of how competitors do affect eachother sales.

On the comment about less competition =/= more sales but only higher ranking, I don't think that's true because, think about it as a consumer: on a week with more competition, that probably means a few artists that you like are releasing on the same day or something--some people might not have the money to buy all the releases of the artists they like so they pick or choose. So if Ayu and ____ released on the same week and some people are fans of both, then they'd have to pick one, and inevitably some would pick ___ over Ayu. Which means Ayu would have lower sales.

That's just in theory, but Ayu doesn't usually release on a week with steep competition, so we don't know what happens if she does. (The only competition she had in her releases that I remember were A BEST with Hikki, Free & Easy with Mai Kuraki, HEAVEN with a surprise--not sure who they were, and same for Mirrorcle World.)

Why would it only be a choice between the big names though? A lot of Ayu fans to be Breakerz fans as well for example...
I don't think the amount of sales would make a significant difference either way.

Offensive much? There is "stating your opinions", and there is "pushing them in other people's faces". Do read at what you're typing before posting it up, geez.

And go be a HAL fan then, since you obviously don't sound like you like anything about ayu except the fact that she sings HAL's works.

I add A COMPLETE, if i'm not wrong Namie released her best in the same week

NO !! actually ! Namie released 3 or 4 weeks before Ayu .

Arrangements, release date conflicts, sales, mini-albums. Dear fans, tell what may we be discussing next :laugh
Chuuuu~~

^yeah... please give us another topic to discuss...

hahaha i actually feel quite happy reading this.

oh i'm sorry! :innocent

Ayu wouldn't have gotten number one either if she had the same competition. As for BoA, well, she should focus on Korea for now.

ayu would win yusuke but yeah, no way any girl would beat yamashita tomohisa.

She only can beat Yamapi with another "evolution"

sorry, it was already posted, but is there an updated list of the competitors for sept 15 and on? just to see what could happen

^Biptop posted a list of all the August-September competition in the previous thread. You'll have to go digging for it. :laugh

But not for September 15th (or 22nd) onwards - it's a bit too early to do such thing...

This got moved? Oh, the shame. XD

Oh no shame no shame I do quite say. The world is tough on the crossroad thread but it will always stand quite strong I say
(I think mt brother spiked this tea I'm drinking cuz nothing I just said makes much sense X).......)

Oh crossroad. Does anyone have the lyrics from the clip we heard. Like a little lyric preview?

^ ikr. People are so mean to our speculation thread. :(

Yeah, I'm surprised there hasn't been any lyrics posted to the preview either... maybe because of the quality?

^theyre not mean. They just happen at that moment to have tampons up their...well I should stop before I get trashed :P (I kid, I kid). I'm not completely sane tonight
Some people mightve just been frustrated. :yes

But yeah I do want a few lyrics but I guess it is low quality T.T I just felt like usually we had some already
I'm very curious. Maybe someone may know :)

If someone can upload to Youtube I can listen to it and try to get something out of it (no of course this isn't an excuse to break my promise and listen to it early :innocent)

Um, yeah I totally believe that. :P

all my most fav Ayu songs are arranged/written by HAL/CMJK/BOUNCEBACK or CREA except maybe A Song for XX :)

Ahahah yes of course (>_>)

I just want a better preview or an announcement or ANYTHING!! Ayu hasn't been tweeting, so we can't ask her, and that's pretty much our only option at this point :weep

Still no news?

It's not like this is taking forever for her to drop more information about the next single. It's just that ever single day "no news?" "no news yet?" "anything about the next single yet?" and if we nag about it every single day, it will seem to last a life time before we finally get some news. Like at work when you are literally counting down the minutes in your last hour of work for the day till your shift is over, it will feel like hours.

^agreed, thats why im not even getting myself too hyped up about this yet.

I don't think everyone is coming everyday asking that. Just different people at different times checking in every now and then

I really wonder how as fans we would be without ayus tweeting answering half our questions. Were so spoiled as ayu fans :3

Truth is we're spoiled. Here we have a gorgeous woman making gorgeous music, and has a release about once every 3 months or so. We've gotten used to this race.

Western music is different. Much more waiting and uncertainty.

^ Exactly~ We are so spoiled it's scary :P Now look at Utada fans, who have had to wait so long (O_O) We are spoiled rotten :laugh

Ooh, hell yes. Damn Utada! (j/k) She releases stuff about as often as the Olympics takes place...:thud

^ Yes :weep If Ayu did that, we'd all be dead XD

^LOL ain't it the truth. :laugh AHS would be the international Ayu fandom's graveyard.

edit: 4 hours later... I was just thinking of coming in here and crying that same song, "no news yet?" but then realized I was the last person to post here. T.T This has gotten sad.

Maybe this won't even be released in September, omg. I would think for a September release it'd be announced by now.