Thoughts on is this LOVE?
 

Now that we got the full song, what does everyone think?
I like it alot.. it does kinda of remind me of Because of You (I guess its HAL's arrangement) but I still like it alot...her voice is great in it too. Its better than GAME in my opinion (for all those who claim GAME to be a Because of You clone)

New composter for ayu right? Well he seems OK...

i second everything you said...
have to agree that ayu's vocal in is this LOVE is better and sounds more emotional than GAME

edit: oh yea i forgot...this song is more similar to Because of You rather than GAME..the uses of guitars and the mixing...the only thing that reminds me of GAME is the intro...the piano?
this song is a tie with my favorite song Because of You :D

this song is masterpiece !!!

I really LOVE this song from the first time I listened :)!!

I agree that it reminds a bit of GAME, but NOT very much. "Is this LOVE?" is a lot more emotional somehow, her voice is really mature and sounds soft and clear :), IMO the best song that she recorded in the past two years... really...

I LOVE IT!!!!!!! It's perfect!! I love ayu's rock style!!!

Sorry guys but I must say I don't like it.. it's very similar to GAME, INSPIRE, my name's WOMEN, About you.. its almost the same. Nothing new. :(

i love it!!it's similar at My name's Women style song!

It's great, I like it very much.

I really, really like it. Though I tend to like all of Ayumi's rock songs :) I agree the song is very emotional~ it reminds me of Because of You too (especially with the guitar solo)

good:
-great opening
-emotional singing
-refreshing sound
-use of rock done nicely

so-so/bleh:
-backup vocalists
-repetitive
-H/\L needs more variety in how the song is arranged ;)

i love it !! I hope this song can make the single sells better !!

It's got a really new feel even if it's rockish. I love it. I'm sure now that Step you is going to be an awesome song. The more you listen to it the more it grows onto you.

not bad......

Sounds very similar to other songs on MY STORY in particular, so I need to hear more of it to see if I like it.

yes..it is similiar to songs on My Story..btu tis MUCH MUCH better. Im very excited..^^

The beginning sounded really like GAME, it sounded like it, and began out like it...

two words:
Amazing song!!

Okay, so as not to be repetitive, I'm just going to cut to the chase:

I.
LOVE.
IT.

:yes :yes :yes

no, i guess it sure is not love after all.


but not a bad song. it is along the lines of because of you..definitely a concert song, the backup vocals sound like those 2 ugly girls, i dislike it. :shrug o well

I loved it but I don't think it has anything similar to her songs before!! I can't wait for a pv to come out!!

A bit o/t, but out of curiousity . . . do you have that CM? I've never seen/heard it and would like to get my hands on it.

I actually like it better then STEP YOU.

I'm listening to it right now and i'm loving it! I knew i won't be dissapointed for this one even though the covers suck. LOL!

I don't think it sounds like anything at all from MY STORY. It has a Memorial Address/Because of you sound, which i really love!

God, i'm so happy, hehe!

Yeah I agree with the Memorial Address / BOY flavor.

But I like it alot, and judging from the preview i think this one sounds better. But Ill have to listen to the full STEP you song first. Can't wait to see the PV for this, since the caps looked good in the VIVI article!

It's quickly growing on me though I honestly was pretty deceived when listening to the full track for the first time. I can always blame it in the bad quality of the file anyway. Now I'm listening to it with more attention and it does sound decent.

It IS already sounding the same.. I dunno... But still, there´s something with this songs..that keep us hearing... isnt that true?
I liked it... very much. But they are gonna thing a lot ifthey want to keep ayu on top... because it almost like any other song.... i mean, weare fans,we like it.... but.. and the "casuals ayu-fans"that buy cds and stuff? ... dunno

Honestly, now that I've given it a few more listens, it has a lot of unrealized potential.

The melody itself is worthy, but, as some have already mentioned, the vocals are far too backed. And it really irks me the way she's been doing this lately. She did the same thing with my name's women, GAME, INSPIRE, and About You. That's part of why they sound the same. Multiple vocal tracks "numb" the power of the song. She also typically repeats a chorus once per song sans her backup, or takes it a pitch higher. There's no real variety other than that.

For her to have sung this song with a pre-RAINBOW sort of confidence would have been lovely. I just don't think it's necessary to have eight Ayumi Hamasakis singing in unison.

I think it sounds a lot like Because of You, which is my favorite Ayu song, so this is definitely an awesome song to me ^.^b good job Ayu!

is this LOVE?

yes. yes it is.

The beginning and ending are the best parts, I don't like the middle chorus that much, but I'm quite impressed, I love H/\L's work, when I heard he was doing this song, I was very happy! Yay! I think this new single is gonna be great!

i totally love it

You can download that CM from http://www.ayutv.net in the Takano Yuri section. ;)

Anyway I really like "is this LOVE?"! It does sound like a lot of her rockish songs lately... but oh well. It's something nice to listen to. :)

This song had me hooked when I heard the "Woah woah yeah yeah"s. It reminded me of a style from Moments, which really is pleasing to the ear. I have to admit that this song is more "Ayu" than some songs that came off of MY STORY, albeit it sounds similar to other songs mentioned. If anything, the melody in conjunction with the arrangement sounds more like my name's WOMEN than any other song by her, so I guess it's fitting that that song should have a PV now too.

I'm still mixed about the song overall...but so far it's going good with me.

I think the song works really well with her voice, yeah and i really liked that whoa whoa part at the beginning with her voice fluctuating up and down.


But the weakness is in the arrangement. I wished they made the song less "intro-verse-chorus-verser-chrous-bridge-verse-outro" format that we find in almost every Ayu song. Songs like Surreal and girlish had strange non chorus based formats and they were great!

I just heard the full version, I have to admit the preview of it doesn't really do the song justice - it's a nice tune. However I find it a bit similar to previous songs like GAME and the latter. And yeah I also think the beginning and ending parts are the best.

I don't think I'll be buying the single though.

could this song be better ??
no ! what an amazing surprise !!

Lumix is kind of right, is this LOVE? sounded like some of the My Story CD. I guess Ayu really is starting to love rock. I like it, too. The radio rip was good, it convince me to buy the single. IMHO is this LOVE? I think will be a better song on the album version, and so will STEP you. I'm worried that Ayu is boring some people, but I don't think she should go back to her old ways, this is better.

But if I were Ayu, I would add some jazz or something of the sort, because I love when she mixes different types of music together. Take the album 'I am...' for example. People really like that album because it has variety.

Those are my two cents.

My first impression is that it's really generic. It has a good melody, vocals, guitar solo. But, too much Peco, I can hear that hag. Ayu can do much better than this. I hope STEP you is better.

wow. totally different from what i expected to be.
i thought it was going to be a ballad!

oh well. it's pretty good. i pretty much like Ayu's rock songs.
i think it's better than GAME. and up there with BoY.

I think it's a pretty okay song... except for the whoa yeah yeah yeah part.. in which some of you like. i think that part's weird. but if i listen to it a couple more times, i'd probably like it :P
well, reason i say it's an okay song because i think i'll like Step You better~ nonetheless, it's not a bad song

it was the same as every other song on my story. GIMMIE SOMETHING NEW

The start of the song reminds me of GAME's introduction, but the rest is ok. I'm not too fond of it in some parts where the distortion guitar, or whatever, is practically drowning out Ayu's voice. It sounds that way to me anyway. I think I'll probably enjoy STEP you more based on what I could hear in the Panasonic CM, but I do think that is this LOVE? is something I could listen to and enjoy if it were CD quality. Only 15 days left before that happens too!

It gets really boring. It's one of those songs where you can't tell where it starts and where it ends, didn't stand out at all...:\

I LOVE this song!!! Ayu ROCKS!!! :)

The sample sounds very great, but after listening to the full version I'm afraid I'm having less favour on the song
The style she sang as best as Because of you, etc... but I like GAME much more than is this LOVE?
and also, this time the rock music I don't like much :P

Love it, such a great rock song :yes can't wait to hear the full verson of STEP you :)

I approve of this song

Yeah it sounds like an okay song. Better than game. It should have been her voice alone though.

ahh.. this song was soo cool! The only part I didn't like was the beginning where it starts off with " YEAHH!!!~" That kind of style irks me a bit. > < But I love the chorus and verses and how it sounds. From what I've read, the lyrics are very emotional and I like it! :D I can't wait for STEP you!

I like it alot more than GAME anyday.

Now, do I like this more than Because of You? Probably not, but that might change after the PV and a few more listens, but it is a really good song and something that Ive been looking forward too!

I don't really like it. It sounds too much like her "My Story" style. Which I found boring.

her voice sounds a lot better i like it a lot!! yay ayu i thought it was gonna suck

It starts out just like GAME. But *shudders*, more noise.

i was expecting something more pop-ish but its another rock song, its okay but i think she's loosing her touch :irked

Personally it's growing on me. I have been listening to it since i downloaded the radio rip. I think it has alot of potential. But the song tend to be pretty repetitive. I'm soooo getting this single.

I haven't heard it yet but I'm disappointed that it's not a ballad... I was really hoping she wouldn't follow this style again because it was enough after 'About You', I love those songs but I think 3 was good/enough. But Ayu always seems to follow in the same style usually for her first post album single:

ex.
Free & Easy is like I am... and Moments is like Memorial address style.

Hopefully she'll go into a different direction after this. I love to rock out to her songs but it gets tiring at times and seriously GET RID OF HAL and her HORRIBLE BACK UP SINGERS!!

Yeah, I definetely agree...

I want something surprising, like evolution, ANGEL'S SONG, Because of You or Fly high. Not the same style or anything, but something that catches my attention. Lately her songs have been quite bland... :irked

I love it and cannot wait for the PV to come out. I am excited! I will deffinatly buy the CD when it comes out *bounces happily*

jus from listing to that part mad me fall in luv w/it

i totally agree

lol.........i agree

same here......i jus keep rewinding that part over and over again


i agree........after a while plp start getting tired of hearing the same style over and over again.........


wow............alot of plp said what i was gonna say.........



heres what i said in a nother post about this song

this song is powerful......

Wow- so many mixed reviews XD

Well- I personally love the rock... since I'm a rock sort of girl. Granted, it's very much MY STORY-ish, but I think it's closer to Memorial Address than MY STORY. As to references to GAME, that was my first impression at the beginning of the song. But it doesn't really bug me. It's something I can sing aloud to in my car and dance to in my living room.

Gotta remember, though, this is only the B-side. So for those looking for something new, Step You might be it.

I personally like the song n.n

The style is really similiar to Because of You. Probably because of the mixed in guitar sounds. Not really similar to GAME to me...(I still like GAME better xD) But this song is SOOOO GREAT. ^__^ Definetly emotional like Because of You. It's like..it hits somewhere in the heart and makes you kinda sad. T_T great. The beginning and ending is alittle too rocky at certain points...But it's all good. =D I CAN'T WAIT for the PV!!! OMGOMGOMGOMG! i'll be SOOO awesome!!! *__*

This song reminds me of game (the begaining) because of you (chorus) and liar (1st verse and 2nd verse). This song is okay and it is not ayu's best song.

its nice... cool...

i dont like the first and last part of the song where it had back up vocals~it sounded like PECO~

anyways overall the song is very powerful and relli good!!!!

i love it!!!!!! i thought it would be more of a ballad, but owell i love it!!!!!!!!

First impression this song gives me is the intro has certain sounds tht sound lyk GAME's intro. The rockish doesnt seem lyk anything ive heard from Ayu before so it sounds new. Vocals are better as they sound more real and emotional. I can just imagine Ayu singing the song and the poses she does.

I like the song a lot , I don't mind H/\L's arragement cos i'm big fan of their work for their own band and other artists like Ayu :D

Ayu gives a very emotional performance and that's always a plus. I don't personally her voice is too backed up , in my opinion it gives more power to the chorus.

I kinda agree that this song isn't something copeltely new , but I also feel it's new enough not to feel like a repeat. at least she's concistent on doing good music , but i'm sure she will try out some new things too.

To be honest 'bout when the first time i saw the title "is this LOVE?" thought that it gonna be another Spring ballad like Moments. Then when i had heard the completed full version. I was really surprised that it's another rock song because Hamasaki Ayumi only seem to release rock song on Summer single or album only. So yeah! I've to say that this is a really freakin' awesome because i really love her way of rock. Yup! Yup! Yup! :yes

I'm gonna rate it 80/100. As for the first 10 is because of the openin' "Whoa whoa whoa yay~" kinda destroy the beautiful openin' music FOR MEH. Yeah! I know how sume poeple love it. Kinda like Moments openin' with that "Lalala~"? As for the other 10 is because when it reach to the chrous that been repeat many times have kinda cover a little of Hamasaki Ayumi's vocal. Honestly, the first time i heard this song i was Argh! ,but after sumetime i really love it. STEP YOU! For those poeple dun't like it. Please try to listen it a few more times. :P

As for the lyric, i love it. Though i really hate how lyric sume part have to be so repeative. :shakehead I think "is this LOVE?" can beat "GAME" ,but nut "Because of You".

Crap. Noise. Generic.

Could be better...could be worse. It's not sticking with me as much as Ayu songs used to, but I do enjoy it. I just wish she would change things up...it seems like all of her songs are starting to sound too similar.

And the beginning sounds almost exactly like GAME to me.

I was hoping for a ballad. :)

I love GAME, About You, BoY, and INSPIRE...

I just listened to this song once, maybe it'll grow on me, I don't know... but so far, not that great.

I thought i was the only one to think that.

I still don't see what people find similiar to MY STORY. Maybe GAME? A little bit, but it sounds a lot more like Because of You which is so much better than GAME.

I really like this song..her voice is great..and I don't think it is similar to other songs..two thumps up :)

i really like is this love? it sounds alike to because of you...but it's still all good! GO AYU!