2012 Album Annoucement
 

Ayu has announced on TA that she is currently in the UK recording for a new album to be released sometime in 2012. She is also already filming PVs, doing photoshoots, and attending dance classes.

I'M hoping for a few AMAZING upbeat tracks with hot dance PVS (Real me/INSPIRE-esque).

What's weird though, is that there are no singles to promote the album. Will she release a physical single before the album? Maybe a digital single shortly before the album?

This isn't a new tactic for artists in the US, but certainly not one used on artists in Japan, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Let's talk about ayu's new album!!

If you want to talk about it I think this should be in Chat-room. Really, she's written in TA that she's recording album for the next year but as for me that's too vague to create a thread in Music News yet.
She didn't say that there won't be any singles. She may have 2-3 singles and still be in time to release new album sometime next year :headache

^^The fact that she's already filming PVs means that the release can't be TOO far off though. At least, that's what seems logical. Usually she leaves PV filming for the very last minute.

Why would she even do that?

lol, atm I guess that she has nothing to fill that album except for previous used songs. I'd rather saw a new single, as everyone is releasing now...

I hope that she'll release songs like Mirrorcle World / progress / Rule instead of the usual boring ballads.

she is probably doing that for a single. single in January, then March and album may be released in late April. She's just doing something, but we don't have any official information yet, except that she's busy with production of new songs

Is she gonna do some sexy dance PVs for her next album? :D I'd like to see something like Sparkle again. That was so cool :D

Anyhoo, I'm happy for the new album. I hope it's completely different compared to FIVE (which is a awesome mini album, I agree but I still want something different). :)

She mentioned that director Muto and Leslie will come to her after recording... so, seems she is going to finish all works this month

^^exactly. to me, it doesn't seem like ayu to record for a release that's so far off. March would be nice. But I wouldn't mind if it happened late January or sometime in February with only a digital single, or no singles at all.

She gave us time to save money for ultra-mega-super-limited edition )

I hope its not going to be anything like Five or RnR circus and more like Love Songs, but I have the impression that there are alot of left over songs from other sessions that will be used for this album. That is what RnR circus felt like to me, a mismatched mashup. I don't want that!

^^I wouldn't mind something similar to RnRC. It was amazing!

Also, I hope it's not too soon after the A CLIPS blu ray limited. I need time to recover LOL

I dont really get all the hate for RnRC either. It's just like a bunch of other albums :laugh I guess the songs aren't that great...but they're not that much worse than a lot of her more recent music :o Guess that's just my pov.

Anyways...idk really what I want from her. I think she does a good job with concept albums like Love Songs, but I personally prefer varied albums. I wish she'd do some more dream pop electro kinda stuff, but I know she's more of a rocker chick.


I'm wondering mostly at release dates :think

Leslie Kee should keep taking pics, he hasn't really made an amazing PV that I can think of.

Also...not everyone reads the twitter threads or her schedule thread to know that she announced this. and it IS music news, so... :)

I hope she does stuff that's produced and mixed well. FIVE, R'n'RC, and NEXT LEVEL were not so good in that department.

I'm really hoping she ditches the ballads and collaborations though. She's had more than enough in the past two years to last her a lifetime. >_>

Hopefully, she just takes her time and makes sure that things are nice and polished and well rounded and make sense.

^^How did the previous albums not "make sense"?

I agree with the collabs though! PLEASE NO!!

Yay for a new album! I hope for some good fist pumping Ayu rock. Can't wait for updates and for the cover!

I agree. And arranged a little more creatively.


I was happy the other day when I saw yuta wasn't there lol but who knows, she might just be having cmjk mix the whole album...and he might be there now, idk.

I hope she's got a few people doing it though, so we get some diversity in...

I didn't say her previous albums don't make sense. :)

^^true, but it was implied. :)

agreed. i actually almost started a thread about the album, since it IS news.

as for the album, i'm REALLY excited to see what an Ayu album turns out like when she creates it all at once. it always seems like she releases her singles and then she decides what overall sound she wants the album to have, so sometimes the singles don't really fit the feel of the album. think about NEXT LEVEL, it was so electronic in comparison to her other albums, but then songs like Days and Green kind of didn't fit. i'm really curious to see what creative direction she will go with this!!!!

also, i wanted to point out that we know at least one PV must have dancing in it, since she is there with Paulette Minott. Paulette has worked with the Sugababes a lot, as well as Victoria Beckham and Mariah Carey. it could be dance routines for CDL, but i'm about 99% sure its gotta be for one of the upcoming PVs.

Maybe it's just a new album of re-worked classics from POWER of MUSIC? But I guess they could just re-arrange the songs and use the old vocals if they wanted to release such an album. I hope it's a brand new album but this is just so odd, lol.

A new album.. again. Don't she wanna release any Singles any more?
I was hoping for a winter Ballad. (^_^)'''
But ok... a new Album also is fine. Sure. More new songs. Hope this time with no Urata!

^^It is odd, but so exciting!

At first I wasn't feeling the idea of an album without singles, but now I'm hoping for it!

I agree with that ohsixthirty said. :)

i think if it were something like that she wouldn't have said "new album" the way she did. i really think its just a straight up 100% new album! :yatta

As far as I know, all of ayu's albums were at least nice, polished and well rounded. And they most certainly all made sense. :)

Anyway... I think that she has "announced" this a little bit too soon, now I'm getting impatient. :laugh

Great to see a official announcement of a new album.
But that doesn't mean there won't be a single before it, physical or digital.
I guess it will be released around March/April and another tour after. Could be coming sooner as well or also later with a tour starting in summer and ending in November or something like that. Pretty much everything is possible here, lol.

Hoping for both amazing upbeat songs like INSPIRE, Real me, Last angel, and Sparkle.

Also heartfelt ballads (but not as many!) like HANABI and Dearest.

I will not create assumptions or predictions, nor hopes and wishes. I will take the album as it is when the time comes to avoid as much disappointment as possible. Looking forward to this but I will try to tuck it far away in the depths of my mind so I won't go mad with anticipation.

^^probably a good idea.

I don't mind making wishlists for the releases, but speculation is just annoying. lol

I think the release date will be january,because she is in london the whole month for record the whole album(songs,pv's and photo-shoot)
I'm really hoping for a beautiful winter ballad,and also for a new digital single this christmas.

well...if we think about Love songs, Ayu was in LA recording and filming PVs for that through November 2010 and then the album was released on December 22. since she is starting this album almost from scratch, i don't think the turn around will be quite that fast, but I kind of think we might get the album in late January or February...or maybe in March. for some reason I feel like it will be released in March though.

I wonder how will this album sound. When she announced FIVE, I was expecting something lighter, reflecting her happiness with her marriage [even though she was not by Mannie's side...], and maybe also giving good energies for those who suffered from the tsunamis. But only beloved fits this atmosphere imo. I guess that this album will be like MY STORY, which feels pretty balanced to me.

Both R'n'R and Love songs were compared to MY STORY before release. I wish people would stop speculating similarities to MY STORY because that is my favorite album and when the possibility of something similar is thrown out there into the universe and into our minds, I have to try ever so desperately to push that idea out of my head or be prepared to suffer ultimate disappointment when the album is finally reaching my eardrums.

I'm just comparing the album atmosphere, not the songs themselves :P So, Love songs was also ballanced to me, so let's use it as an example then :roflmao

You are right in that aspect. Both albums were cohesive and flowed together well and felt more story-like.

Oh, and I guess there is also the possibility that this could be another mini-album seeing as the mini basically made them near as much money as a full album would have made/sold.

I'm actually excited! lol We're into unknown territory with this! So far anyway

I always thought MY STORY was a mess with vast differences in quality between songs.

That sounds like the perfect album to me !
But as Zeke said, I don't want tobe disappointed so I won't expect anything :yes

^ You guys all posted at the same time. Lol.

maybe you're right :D
(i'm just crazy for a "winter(?)" album xD)

yay new record? lol :D


Anyway, I'm craving a full-on dance album, getting kinda sick of the meaningful slow ballads by now :/

I hope for some variety and some upbeat and high energy songs. :) There's plenty of things I hope don't show up, but I don't want to focus on that haha, so they'll go unspoken.

Anyways, I miss her winter ballad very much. PLEASE AYU!!!!!!!

She's coming with suprising releases lately.

If she is working on an entire album for one straight month I hope she can create something cohesive like Love songs. (I will take anything as good too :innocent).

Taking dance classes? Then I'm hoping for more upbeat songs. I'm not really a ballad fan, and I'm getting tired of the slow songs. I want something more colorful and fun from her. I need a song that will get into my head! :laugh

No summer upbeat song and no sad winter ballad. Both not being there are imo reasons Love Songs was better than her other albums(amongst a million other reasons), so I really hope she won't give us that winter single in like...January.
I won't hope for anything specific regarding style, genre, mix...I just hope she either does something new or takes something old and makes it better. All the basic *****es do the same **** over and over, Ayu has proven she doesn't.

I have a theory about her albums, that I like the most, cause the numbers of medium and ballads. My favorite is (m)u, why? Cause theres lack of ballad in there, and thats why, only two of em - rainy day and HEAVEN sounds unique and they was well done.

Total new album sounds like a treasure box for me, like this feeling i had when I started to listening to Ayu, everything was new and diffrent

I am affraid of two things - if this album will be TOTALLY new - i am afraid of lack of final polishing the tracks (cause of dates etc) Because of the huge amount of records, some may be little rushed, some may be fillers...

Second thought I am afraid of is... whole FIVE album included to new big album (it's still only 5 tracks, just like her usual single schedule...) But I hope it won't happen, it's kinda surreal (inception much, album on album...)

someone mentioned "winter album" - MY STORY is totally winter album for me, almost every song reminds me of cold winter and warm blankets.
(m)u also reminds me of winter - it was such a perfect christmas gift for me.

I hope this new album will be on the same levels of amazing as Love songs and Rock'n'Roll Circus. <3

I'm actually hoping for something heavy in terms of pop, similar to Ayu trance 4. It feels to me as if she hasn't done a pop album since RAINBOW.

x_x i read that ayu is taking dance lessons at pineapple studios.... as in from louie spence??

It's probably gonna be "SIX" and it'll come with six collaboration songs (three being with URATA NAYOA).

lol j/k

Interesting, and no single either? Let's hope this album is very, very cohesive than (Love songs was pretty cohesive but you know what I mean after the nightmares of RnRC and NL)

maybe she want it not to be rushed in anyways and getting it done when she has time to work at her own pace, not a release date

i'm not sure if ayu would release a new album without at least one single (except "FIVE" since that's a mini album, not a studio album :P). so maybe there'll be like...one single (double a-side?) and then this new album. but i'm fine either way, really, lol. i'd just like some new music! :P so this album announcement is great news. i think it could be released by april, at least. that wouldn't be so bad. :yes

I'm kinda shocked about the news... I dun expect she will release an album without singles again.. Does she feel that it's pointless to release single nowadays? Hmmn.. I'm kinda confused about this strategy.

Hmmn I dun have any idea for what the next album will sound like. I will just wait and see what ayu's gonna produce this time :D.

Please Avex release this album in spring! Since I am buying the expensive blu-ray set. All I am hoping for this album is that it is something fresh like her Love song album.

Dance classes? I'm officially excited.

I'm the odd one out, perhaps, but I'm not really a fan of her pop/dancier music. Whenever I hear that I think of her sugary, cavity-inducing songs that I really can't stand, but she hasn't really had any for a while now: the closest thing is Sweet Season and Thank U (ugh) so I hope that if she's going for upbeat, it's something more like NEXT LEVEL's heavy dance pop. I prefer Ayu's heavier rock-pop and her ballads, as those are typically the ones I truly enjoy.

I wouldn't say no to more songs like Sexy little things, though.

I would :puke

I don't mind sugary stuff, but her voice now just does not suit it. I loved HONEY back in the day. I also loved Beautiful Fighters for a while and I loved ANGEL'S SONG. But Thank U is just terrible and forced. If she were to do dance, I want something like the electronic influence on I am... (I am..., Naturally, Connected) and STEP you / Sparkle / Ladies Night. Those were classics and Ayu owns that style.

Maybe after the collab with Urata she will release something r'n'b. I mean, it's the first thing that comes in my mind when I read she's taking dancing lessons.
Actually I wouldn't mind a r'n'b type of song (without Urata, please) as long as she's try new music genres (for her though).

Anyway I really hope for something upbeat. I love her ballads, but omg they're enough lol. And this album is gonna be a huge surprise for me, because I don't really know which genre it would be. Especially after FIVE D:

Haha, this is the first thought that popped into my head... If she's planning on releasing a full-length album, how will she manage to have so many tracks? I hope she doesn't include all of the FIVE tracks in the album. I doubt she would royally screw over her fans that way.

However, I'm afraid that she'll maybe have the collaboration songs like "Why... (solo ver.)" and "ANother Song (solo ver.)" included in the album, but I hope I'm completely wrong. Maybe she'll have a 12 track album...
-2 collab songs now re-recorded as solos
-4 interludes
= only 6 new tracks she'd need to record LOL

Or even worse, include SOLO songs from Urata or JUNO in the album that have already been recorded by them :innocent

OMG! This is so exciting! :love

I cannot wait for the new album now! The thought of an exclusive new songs album sounds too good to be true.

I don't think we'll ever get a solo ver. for ANother song, the song is constructed on both ayu and Urata... I mean, even the title is a reference to them, making a solo of this would be like Kumi making a solo version of It's all Love!, all the lyrics meaning would be lost. I can't say the same about Why... cuz I haven't checked its lyrics so far, but it a solo ver. of it looks more possible for me.

Nope, like I posted earlier, she's taking lessons with Paulette Minott. She tweeted a message about it with a picture a day or two ago.

really hope she whips up something like RnRC! cos that was awesome!! i am kinda surprised that ayu is preparing her album so early. usually, we always hear news that she is filming her PVs after her album announcement. but oh well! :)

Ah! I can't wait for preorder links though it might be a bit too soon to think of that. I would love for an instrumental companion album to accompany the regular studio album. I still miss not having a progress instrumental.

speculation is futile now imo cos we don't even know the release date for the album.

what i'm thinking is, however, she might perform a new song (maybe lead single for the album) in CDL

kinda like how she sang Moments in the encore of AT03-04

quite agree with your point about ayu's new album release date in late March or early April since usually she starts tours before May.

like amuro her new single will release in Dec. and full new album will come in the beginning of next year.

I need a NEXT LEVEL + Memorial Address mix.... that would be awesome <3

I've already seem this kind of an album (an album with no singles) with Yanawaraba last year (Yukui Uta); let's see how well this is for Ayu's case...

I wonder if she's going to avoid releasing singles for a bit...considering she shattered a bunch of records with her 50th single, maybe she's wanting to sit on her laurels for a little while.

^ I think so!! :laugh

Hmm, about the new album, I'm guessing that it'll trend towards the darker side a little. The last time she recorded in London for RnRC, she wrote in some mag interviews that she chose London because it was a dark, enclosed and gloomy place for her, as opposed to the US, which she sees as free, bright and open. So I'm guessing the new album may be more of the dark, rockish kind..

Shower us with more ballads!

I sure hope so :D

And reading some of the posts here makes you wonder if people really do have too much free time on their hands...:innocent

Yes! I knew it! That's why ayu went to London this winter! :D

I want the album full of upbeat-dance-pop/R&B songs + 2-3 soul/blues ballads (stuffs like ADELE's) :D

I'm just sick with these medium-rockish-ballads from the last 2 albums... :(

For this time around I hope to hear a hybrid of RAINBOW+RnRC
a fun+energertic+mysterious/rock sounds album :yes

I hate to be (maybe) the only one here who feels this way, but I'd LOVE if Ayu released a full length rock style album. That would just make me so happy. :yes
But of course, she'll have the ballads and pop songs...gotta cater to what the fans want.

i hope mannie will appear!

^I wish he would, also. Mannie needs to go to London!

First, I didn't even hope she would have announce this release that soon..whatever will come, I will take it

I'd lover for her to do an album where every track is rock influenced, including ballads.

^yes. rock influenced ballads would be awesome! One day, Ayu will give in and let the rock just take over...one day...

^ yes! One day it will happen. Please Ayu

it's about time! can't wait.
oh and about the rock, unless it's a rock ballad, I don't want any rock from her. i want her to do something catchy and upbeat again. some pure pop or electro pop would be exciting. i hope she loosens up a bit and does some more fun tracks like STEP you, Ladies Night or Sexy little things.

Rock can be catchy and upbeat.

true, but i always prefer pop, it's a lot more fun. :D

pop is good too, I just think it'd be cool if she did a fully rock album.

idk I know Ayu is totally a rocker chick....but her rock music always seems really contrived to me, and just...more like, wannabe rock :shrug

I prefer her to have her hybrided sounds, anything with electro that can give her something really unique...

so she doesn't have to be trying so hard with her over-dramatizations to make everything work. Especially live.

Oh my heavens, could that Louie be more stereotypical?
For the album I'm not seeing anything that was on FIVE being dropped there, this was just a mini album and as such (much like Memorial address) no tracks will transition, if anything for the solo ver. of the colabs avex will put them on a single.

that's it..but we lso need something upbeat imo

What about GUILTY?
Every song on that album was 'rock-influenced' apart from glitter and MY ALL, even the ballads.

You totally put into words what I have wanted to do for so long.

Pop album please. :P

Thank you! I totally agree! Ayu doesn't really have that rock edge compared to real rock artists. But that doesn't mean she have good rockish songs in her discography.

I hope she continues the Crossroads/Virgin Road sound (and nothing except progress and brilliante from Five). Those songs sound mature, powerful, well-put together, and somehow they sound new.

Or she can go back to generic summer singles and winter ballads and random fall/spring singles. (I'll cry at first, then love it later on.)

Either way, I'm totally excited because this is the first time since A song for XX, that a whole album is put together cohesively. Usually in her normal release routine, the first single stands out of place from the album material. For example bluebird/BF in Secret, glitter/fated in guilty, Days/Green in Next Level, S/S in RnRC, & Moon/Blossom in Love songs.

I disagree. Marionette, Liar, count down and many other of her rock ballads sound nothing like that.

Ughh so excited now *o* Let's hope we'll see some material of the new album before xmas :3 Not that it's likely but.. You could always hope 8DD

I am so excited to see this news, really looking forward to AYU's new work!!

That could be a possibility which I definitely wouldnt mind :)

yes true. Hope that she has a big conceptualisation on the album as a whole so it'll be so awesome.
the mere thought of having so many new songs is thrilling already!!!! :D

Im looking at a late March or April release..like when NEXT LEVEL and RnRC were released. Of course, the earlier the better :)

And the list goes on... she has some really good real rock tracks. About You comes to mind, but that's just one of them.

It's just that she does rock in her own style, not too hard, not too soft, something in the middle, but it's rock :)