Discussion of Happening Here cover
 

I wonder one thing
her vocal here is really awesome! But she planned to use this song as AT11 theme... She didn't sound so good in 2011 %)
Maybe she re-recorded it in London

Her vocal is good as always. But why she chose this song?.. :(

i guess for me the song was doomed because i don't like the original, but i was hoping that she would modernize the arrangements and stuff. :(

I don't particularly like the song, but I don't hate it either, Idk. I guess I had hoped to hear something different from her, something that wasn't either a cover or a collaboration. Seems to me she's just playing around lately :D

Edit: LOL my phone auto-corrected Idk to Island. GO keyboard, you silly!

maybe she decided to use this totsuya komuro composition because her LOVE SONGS album was 80% composed by komuro...so she wanted to keep the same kind of sound

WTF!!??? Ufff... I don't like it. It's much better than the original because of her vocals, but... it's a horrible song. :S

yeah, I like her voice here too! I think it's because this song is not so difficult to sing. You know, she's rapping and she makes that old cut voice here.. Lol I love it! :love

this song is so easy and fresh. no drama at all.

i just noticed in the male rap it says "don't matter if you're rich poor boy girl straight gay."

i kinda love that, haha. the song is still not my style though.

No.. I really dislike that song. (-.-)
I don't like the original.. and not Ayu's cover.

Cute and adorable. I love Ayus voice here, it sounds so sweet. I like it better than the teens cover. It doesn't matter to me that it's not a masterpiece or totally amazing. The song is just a fun gimmick for the tour and I doubt it's going to be released as a single or something, so I just enjoy it for now. Nice to listen to something new from Ayu even if it's old. :)

I don't think that the English rap near the end is random at all. I'm going to quote what I've written in the arena tour thread:

And ohsixthirty replied this:

Ayu rapping is super, super cool. I like the parts where she's rapping. However, all the parts in English (especially the chorus part with the backup singers) are terrible. D;

I didn't know we were in 1991 :rolleyes.

Her voice and rapping are lovely, she sound like her early years. But the song itself :no gosh no. Cheap arrangements and too much old school. They should have modernize it. I really hope it was like crossroad: crappy preview but gorgeous song. And then.. :shrug meh.

dislike the song

Vocals are nice but I'm not a fan of the arrangement. It seems too simple and plain.

^ah, ok. I misunderstood you!^^

I actually like the song, like I said it reminds me of Nothing From Nothing.

It's so awesome and her english is not horrible, her english is cute and I can understand her but whatever that's just me.

The music is POOR. it's sound like a child's keyboard. Even the original one had better (very 90') Rap is cute, vocals are great, her english is just ridicolous again.

It's just when she sings with english.. you can't take the song serious...

You can't. The english parts are awful and embarassing.

And I guess people like the synthesis of her new and old vocals, but I think it's not good. It just ruins the reasons why the old ayu vocals were cool and cute, and makes them seem overdone and forced.

At least she didn't have trouble singing though.

I found the Engrish to be awkward. When that guy came in I shocked because I thought that it was an solo song, not another feat. ... But her vocals are super good!

NOTHING FROM NOTHING part II :laugh

edit; listened to it again, and I HATE it! (because of that guy at the end) wtf?

What is uuuup with the fakey brass section at like :20 LOL and sometimes the bass reminds me of seinfeld or some cheesy thing.............

music is so so so bad.
I feel like it's 1992 or something.

But she can rap so well - her vocals are so good, it reminds me of Fly High so much.
She isn't swallowed in the awful arrangement and salvages it with her vocals.

^LOL WHAT IS UP WITH THAT GUY AT THE END WHO ARE YOU
'rich poor boy girl straight gay' ?? 'let your bodies come arounnnd if you surrender to desiraaa then you can o o own the dance flaa break it down give it up for the queen ayumi hamasaki and the hotel love songs tonight yeaaa'
worst part of any ayu some I've ever heard. Good thing it's not from her.

This song is sort of a mess in my opinion. Some of it does remind me of the very early stuff that Ayu did. And I agree with emiko. The English parts really are "awful and embarassing."

I don't mind it at all.

Granted this is a theme song for the tour, of all of TRF's more famous and interesting songs, she chose this one...

Sure the lyrics express fun happening and stuff, but I think they could have made other songs into better theme songs... Or sample this and make a new song...

Anyway, this song was (most likely) created before Tim was in the picture. The chance of this representing any of the works she is currently working on is slim.

wtf is this ****......

bad move Ayu.

Yeah, this is pretty much the reason I don't like it. It sounds really, really cheap. Music in the early 90s did not sound this poorly produced so I can't even say a comment like "what's this? 1991?". The original is actually far superior imo.

Also, I might be the only one that thought her vocals didn't really match the song.

I don't think it's terrible. I think it's just a really fun song to dance to. It's a little harsh to be critical of songs like that, kinda like when Bold & Delicious came out and nobody really knew what was going on. I bet it will be really fun when she performs it live.
It also feels like I'm listening to some kind of artifact that was recently found from the 2011 pre-earthquake Ayu era.

I kinda like it. It's cute and fun sounding.
I don't get why people are getting their panties in a twist over a song that is just a cover...

ok...i don't know what's happening to me, i hated this song so much, but its actually starting to grow on me a little bit... :dead2

by the way, i think maybe the male rapper is just one person instead of two. I mentioned the rap on Facebook and Timmy replied:

Timothy Philip Wellard: Wonder who it could be...
Brian: Wait, do you know who the rappers are??? Don't tease me Timmy! I must know!
Timothy Philip Wellard: Who says there are two?

maybe he will tell me who it is. :cool

actually, i was traumatized by my post because i said something bad about the song and Timmy replied to me about it, hahahaha! Kind of embarrassing.

It was so totally random. I came on AHS and suddenly there's a new song I hadn't even heard of. It's all right, but the production is poor. I'll listen to it a couple more times, see where I gravitate more, like or dislike. I wonder if it's any indication of what we're going to get next, if this is the sound of the new album.

can't stand the arrangement and instrument that they use..it's killing me on how cheap it is...

Ayu vocal is fantastic..and that's it...

For the first time I listened to this song, I can imagine how her voice would be like. Then,someone upload her cover. And it is beyond my expectation. Even with the original song, I kinda like it. It sounds fun :yes

I like her rapping, and that is it. Otherwise its horrible. I don't care if its supposed to be cute, fun or silly. I don't like it.

I don't understand all the hate.
I kinda like it, I think it will be prettier when performed live, the type of music that needs a performance (remembering that was supposed to be the theme of the 2011 tour, so, it's very logical this kind of sounding).
It's strange but I like it, it's been on repeat here several times =3
Maybe because the Nothing From Nothing vibe... xD

Just by reading that, I bet the rap was done by Timmy. I wouldn't doubt it. He probably arranged this version too.

I think it's a fun song, but will remain mostly forgotten in Ayu's discography for me.

While the arrangement is ridiculously cheap (I wonder if it was done on purpose?), I don't think ANY arrangement can save the awful composition. It reminds me of Namie's "Chase The Chance", which has an annoyingly dissonant, repetitive melody.

This is a TK composition, right? Such a glorified composer who has just as many, if not more, crappy songs than he does good ones. I won't complain though, because I think his work with Ayu thus far has been excellent.

Yeah. I think a lot of songs she's covered in concerts have been TK works. teens, WOW WAR TONIGHT, SEVEN DAYS WAR, and now Happening Here. (this is excluding TRF songs she's done and the Yuming Sotsuyou Shashin during CDL)

I totally forgot about teens until you mentioned it. Re-listened to it and I think I fell in love all over again, lol.

SEVEN DAYS WAR is a gem. My favorite cover of hers.

somebody said it's old school, in my opinion in ancient school.
Her vocals are very good, but the arrangements are old and the song doesn't tell me anything special

Its very amusing reading all the comments about cover thats supposed to be fun. Like I said in another thread, reading the comments I expected something beyond terrible but I really loved it and was shocked lol. Its really fun.

the new arrangement of the old song still sounds so 90s, i thought they would make it a bit modern or rock version.
i kinda like it because ayu's vocal is so good in here, i dislike the rap parts by those two guys, specially the later one, lols.. that rapping vocal sounds like he doesn't rap in a proper rap, don't tell me that it's Timmy.

i think the song is meant to be fun and kind of cheesy. :/ i definitely wouldn't expect something like this from her as an original song, but it's a cover and it's meant to be fun. i like hearing her rap again because she's really stepping outside of her zone. i think she did a good job. :yes

I cant stop listening to it now lol. Its so cute and her vocals are perfect.

I can already see Tim going on stage with ayu on this particular song. CAN'T WAIT (irony inside).
2011 would have been a sad year for originality, quality and experimentation (I save PoM and BRILLANTE).

I think it's a great addition to her discography, but you have to take it for what it is: A fun live anthem that will sound very different in concert.
She clearly choose a 90s song to give the 90s J-Pop feeling, so complaining about that is just ridiculous.
I love the return of rapper Ayu, I like how she included an actual rapper(do people seriously think it's two rappers? Sounds like the same voice to me, very, VERY similar timbre, just different technique), I'm glad to hear some instruments and elements not usually heard in Ayumi songs. It's all very NOTHING from NOTHING to me, a COMPLETE back to the roots we haven't heard from Ayumi before. I also love the straight/gay line. It's exactly what I expect from Ayumi: something she hasn't done before but still familiar. Like progress, ANother song and BRILLANTE on FIVE.

The problem I do have with the song is how disconnected the parts seem. It sounds like 2 songs were mixed together and intercut all the time, with the chorus being one part and all the rest another. I absolutely adore the intro but when the chorus comes in it's just too weird.

So I like it, but not everything about it. It's fun to listen to and I look forward to seeing it in concert. Also, her vocals on it are possibly her best studio recording. They are incredibly clear, controlled, span a quite wide range and her belted vocal-run towards the end is REALLY good.

Now I sooooo want to now what you said in your post and what Timmy replied! I'm sooo curious! Please tell! >_<

yeah..i thought that ayu will re-arrange the song like crazy...but it's ended up very similar...with different vocal

I do not like it but I cannot help having it on repeat. :mischief
I guess I am self-contradicting here. :tipsy

I don't really like the song.
Ayu's rap is cute, I guess. I love her vocals though, she sounds really nice.

seriously, i can't help but dance around in my chair and sing along. XD

Thank you thank you

cause the song itself isnt that bad!! it's not maybe a diamond, but the original was made with fun vibe, so is the cover, the only thing that is bad about is her english (but I can stand it) and the arragment which is purely tragic.

You know, that cheesy weird synthbrass thing going on is stuck in my head... and I don't know why.

It is so different from what she has done recently, almost going back to NOTHING FROM NOTHING, and that was a LONG time ago.

It's actually pretty good! Reminds me of hitomi oldest songs, but better, as ayu raps much better than her lol By reading the comments that it was a rap song, my expectations were actually the lowest, but to my surprise ayu actually did a good job. I also like when the guy says in the end of his rapping "(for the queen??) ayumi hamasaki (in a hotel lobby???)" :)

Listening to her singing in this speed makes me nostalgic of "evolution" lol

it sounds like a track off NOTHING FROM NOTHING, the voice is so similar to it sometimes, omg :laugh
well, I wasn't expecting an epic song. I mean it's a TRF song, then it's an old song. if it's a cover, it can't be jazz or anything, because it's not Koda Kumi who does it, so it's okay for Ayu to do 90s song.

but arrangement & music is so so cheap! written on keyboard for 5 minutes, like?

I like it anyway :P :D

sorry for saying this but its the one of the worst songs shes ever made, it sounds so cheap and stupid.. but thankfully she wasnt involved in writing it, because it sounds so badly written and just too easy and simple, like a song for a kids tv show cheapened with a rap.. i really hope she doesnt do anything like this ever again, it just destroys her body of work..

Its not so bad as i accepted
she sound so pretty, and she made the song much better than the original in ma opinion
but i really hope that she don't sing this song in AT11
she has many many amazing songs i can't understand why would she pick this one =|

It's not horrible in my opinion. I think it's kind of funny,but is it a good song? No, not really. Cute, gets me in a good mood. I'm okay with this song, as long as it won't be released as a single and it's not gonna get a lot of spotlight. This can't be a concert-hit, or I think my head will explode >.< But, let's focus in the present :)

I love her NOTHING FROM NOTHING era, hence why I love her rapping, but the rest of it is just weird.

It sound so cheap. Don't know the original from TRF, but yeah, I do think the song is ..horrible.
I really like that her voice sounds so clear, but actually I'm not too fond of her "rapping".
Also it sounds a bit messy. And her English isn't that great again and I don't understand why seeing she's speaking it quite alright.
And that guy rapping, no, thank you, lol.
Even though it's not meant to be taken that seriously, I really don't want to see it live, haha.
I just don't like it.

IA
This is my exact opinion,
I don't mind if she wants to do things this and that but this song with special treatment as AT theme song is just completely no :no

The special treatment will probably consist of singing it in the encore.

I don't think it's really that special to be the "ARENA TOUR/CDL" theme song...

It's like the 'music.jp' tie-up of the concert world.

I think to make it a real digital single (like Together When...) there would be a cover and a bit more promotion than just two days notice.

I believe it's going to be the openning theme for the concert... maybe even without live singing, the studio version and something happening on the stage

I thought that too, but she was setting up 'do it again' to be the opener for HOTEL Love songs after last CDL.

I guess we'll see though.

I feel bad for all your negative commentaries guys, you can't expect Ayu to do the same style of music over and over...

Personally I like this song very much and yes, it's very retro-ish, very different

For me seeing happening here as opening would just feel awkward and untypical for Ayumi, her openers ALWAYS had something epic about them and happening herewould be the first time that doesn't work with the song.
WHATEVER at CT00 S1
A Song for XX at CT00 S2
evolution at DT01
I am... at AT02
ST02 was an exception since it was very much about having fun and dancing and was a stadium tour
ourselves at AT0304
HAPPY ENDING at AT05
Born to be... at AT06
evolution at AT07
talkin' 2 myself at AT08
Rule at AT09
Microphone at AT10
and even forgiveness at PoM

All were big and sound big, too. And seeing how HOTEL Love Songs is themed happening here as an opener would feel very out of place to me. But it may be played before the first song...still it sounds extremely encore to me.

It's a different sounding song but I've never heard the original but it sounds old school. Reminds me of Nothing from Nothing. It's fresh but the rap is annoying

it might either be the last song of 本篇 or the first song of encore.。

it's so nice to be able to hear her. it doesn't sound like she is layered and phased beyond recognition. terrible song, especially the man at the end, but she is rising. glad to hear her not taking things so seriously and just play around with music.

I agree on the song being solid until the rap part at the end...it was really cheesy sounding honestly. I don't know how I feel about it yet. It's just alright.

This is a new territory for ayu, and personally, even this kind of semi-pop-rap-style will probably be only this one cover, I just love it.
This is as fun as A, which I really liked too. Ayu can still rap~
You can more clearly hear that this is indeed a cover, because this is really typical TRF style, unlike teens, which was like it would be ayu song.
Although this doesn't give that kind of feeling, this is really good as a cover. And this will be really nice opening song!

So I like this~ Something unique [for ayu] and really fun! TRF-like yes, but sounds good with ayu too! Definitely like~

And I don't understand your attitude for this kind of "ayu must sing only deep and thoughtful songs, not anything fun!" Whatever. Deep is deep, yes, and I appriciete ayu for that, but I like this kind of funny, not so serious songs too. So let ayu make them too. I would love to have some fun and simple songs for the next album as well, along with the deeper ones.
Epic doesn't mean it will be a masterpiece.

Sorry but I didn´t like it, Just Horrible, I mean, I appreciate the effort of giving us something different... but It didn´t work, her english is a mess I can´t even understand what she´s saying, and her rapping..... terrible.

Sorry Ayu but I DO want more of the same, ballads, pop or rock.

It's not terrible but I probably won't ever listen to it again. This has been said before but it sounds so cheap. The worst part is the guy "rapping", I can't even.

I love "A" so this song with a similar sound was a breath of fresh air for me. Ayu's English in the song is a bit hit and miss, but although we know her English is pretty good, it's really difficult to switch languages mid-song!

I really want more fun songs like this in the new album :D

I like it,,, unusual to hear song like this for this time.

this would have been soooo much better for me if that second rap in english was done in the same voice before it... >_<

Golden words! :bow39

This. :yes

Honestly, it's a new Ayu song that pretty much came out of nowhere, and it's really catchy and fun - I have no complaints.

little by little, my FIVE album is getting longer and longer on my iPod

1. progress
2. Dream ON
3. ANother song
4. Why...
5. beloved
6. BRILLANTE
7. Happening Here

It's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, to be honest :P

I enjoy it. It's a fun and unexpected song. I just don't like the cheap sounding keyboards during the chorus!

Plus Timmy's rap; makes me cringe :P

About people complaining about ayu english: english parts in J-Pop songs are pretty aestethic and sometimes it has strong accent in purpose. Timmy is native english-speaker, but his rapping at Happening Here has that awkward accent. Strange, huh? Not really.

Honestly, I actually like this. She sounds super cute and I like her rapping. The only thing that's annoying about the song is the instruments...like the strings...you can tell they are all midi/synth and not real. That's disappointing; she could have used real instruments...it's Ayu!!! Other than that, I very much enjoy it!

^But the synth sound is totally intended, for that great 90's TRF sound! And yes, as previously mentioned the accent might be on purpose, the lyrics were probably written in katakana!
I'm also so glad she finally mentioned unity and sexual orientation in one of her songs, even though she's alluded to it in the past. Its revolutionary for J-pop honestly!