I read this review and it almost made me cry!
 

I got this review from YesAsia on (miss)understood

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She's back! Sunday, December 25, 2005
Reviewer: Stu (See all this customer reviews)

There had been rumours that Ayu was on her way out after her sales dropped earlier this year. "MY STORY" failed to impress, and so everyone had been waiting for her 8th original album to see if she really was losing her touch. So has she? Personally, I thought her single A-sides this year have been very poor. But her B-sides have amazed me. "Is this LOVE?", "ALTERNA", "Will" and "PRIDE" have been fantastically written pieces of music, and completely unique. Ayu's Rock style is becoming more and more powerful, and her recent ballads have been purely incredible. All of these are included on this album, with some more surprises. "Ladies Night" is an interesting song, with a little rapping from Ayu as well as some English lines. It's kind of techno-ish and fun and very unusual. "(miss) understood", the song, is possibly my favourite on the album. It's a fabulous Rock song with real soul. Ayu's vocals are at their peak as she flows through the calm verses and then smashes into the chorus with her power. "In the Corner" is an well sung track in which Ayu branches out into an R&B style. "Criminal" is deep, powerful and eerie. "Beautiful Day" is the most uplifting Pop-Rock song I've ever heard. "Rainy day" is stunningly beautiful, with Ayu's mark all over it. Add these songs to this year's single releases and some great instrumental tracks, and you have a superb album. No matter what style of music you like, there's at least one track you'll love. Her voice is the best it's ever been, her lyrics are deep and touching, her style is all her own, and she will not disappoint you. She's come so far from the little squeaky-voiced Pop Princess she used to be a few years ago. She is the J-Rock Queen. And she isn't going anywhere just yet.
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That last line just gets me (I know I am a dork, lol). Isn't it just nice and heartwarming to hear people praising Ayu instead of bashing her? I seriously got teary eyed as soon as I read that last part...

That's nice of them to comment Ayu. ^_^ Although I've never considered her to be a Jrock queen (even if her songs do have a rock-ish side to them), but rather a Jpop queen.

Same here, but that is just so nice!

ayu's the Jrock&Pop Queen! :D

:yes definitely!

She's just the queen. Throw the emperor aside and let ayu rule! pretty soon, they might make an ayu day! July 1st!!! lol.

But I thought this WHOLE album has impressed me as much as I am... A and B sides included. I skip no track on this album since it's so good.

LOL, at first I thought it meant the review would be HORRIBLE...haha...squeaky to still squeaky is good......................anyway, I like my story a lot...it had more rock songs...GAME especially

I'm happy that the reviewer wrote such a nice review! I mean, these day it just seems like a lot of people are bashing Ayu and getting convinced that Ayu is going down. IMO and no one has to agree with me, Ayu's popularity have been steady and her works get better and better. (miss)understood was definitely a great album, as the reviewer mentioned, no matter what genre you like, you'll find on there you'll like. And I'm also happy that Ayu is getting mentioned as Queen of JPop AND JRock, she really does have a lot of awesome rock songs. Ah this review made my day~

^ I thought it was going to be too XD I was suprised. I'm glad it got a good review.

I too loved MY STORY! I actually prefer it over (miss)understood, although I love the new album too!

Aw... yeah, it's one of those reviews that makes you smile n_n

long live queen ayu! =)
she has such great musical talents.

that's beautiful! :luv2

it makes me wanna sing "What a BEAUTIFUL DAY!"

yeah glad to see a good review for tjhe album and this album is really one of her best yet ehehe go go ayu!!!

It's a good review, I agree with most of what was said in it. It's completely a genuine review, better than some of the reviews I've read on yesasia - and a lot of those reviews are written before people even hear the song...

^ I second that. It's so touching and honest.

Ayu is the queen. She'll forever hold a special place in my heart, and I'll forever be her fan, no matter what. ^-^

Nice review, ALTHOUGH anyone thinking there's anything even close to techno in this album should buy some real techno and get a reality check. =P

yeah its a nice reaview and its really nice to hear someone praising Ayu.

I thought it was gonna be bad as it made you cry. Disagree with the "A-Sides suck! B-Sides rule!" comment. Step You and Fairyland were amazing.

Definately a great (miss)understood review. She's more of a J-Pop-Rock queen to me. It's better than the one I saw on a French website praising Koda Kumi instead :rolleyes

Amazing review. Thanks for sharing. I definitely agree with this person. Very honest and true. And I completely agree, Ayu is THE J-Pop/Rock Queen and she's not going anywhere. :yes

She released NO B-sides in 2005...I don't know why people insist to mention that Will, is this LOVE?, Pride and alterna are B-sides, because they aren't. They are A-sides. Being track number 02 doesn't make it a B-SIDE. All of the '05 singles had the titles of "is this LOVE?", "Will", "alterna" and "Pride" in the front cover, different from vogue for example that had no "c/w ever free".

^thats true. Pride and is this LOVE? are definitely A-sides as the singles were a "double A-side" single. as for Will and alterna, they had the (c/w....) i guess ppl tend to associate these songs as B-sides cos they werent promoted that much (as in the case especially for alterna/Will; is this LOVE was performed like once [i think] and Pride a few times, but incomparable to the number of times B&D was performed]

yeah she so lovely

Awww that review touches me as well. T_T Go Yesasia customer! Haha..too bad we don't know who wrote that review, but who cares? They praise Ayu. ^-^

what a wonderful review.. i feel that although her j-pop queen status was shaky, she still managed to grab the hearts of her fans and stayed strong, progressing every year!! i will be her fan even till she is 50!! :D

yay finally a good and encouraging review !! I like it

Yup, that's a "double a-side".

I think Ayu SHOULD release REAL b-sides. Like Ai Otsuka.

^If by releasing b-sides would mean she would release fantastic songs such as "ever free" then I would be all for it! :D But it's true ayu hardly makes any b-sides....

awesome! :)

and i agree...i really prefer her vocals now over any in the past. she's way less squeaky and nasal and i love it.

Aww, such an awesome review! Thank you for sharing it with us. :)

I don't think she's the Jrock&Jpop queen because she isn't jrock. Only because a few of her music have rockish beats, most of her music is still pop, her PVs are still and she does pop concert, not rock conerts. So yeah, I would like her to be the queen of this two genres but I don't think she is...

I still think she just fits as a J-pop queen. It's uberly nice to know that she's commented as a J-rock queen. =)

cool, it is true... even though the album started off with the worst song she ever created *B&D* the rest of the album is just pure gold! Including BOTH of the instrumental tracks! This is definately a great album!

I agree.

YAY! Ayu truly rules the Jpop world w/ a rockin' fist! lol

What's the difference between a-sides and b-sides? ever free and theme of a-nation '03 were b-sides, correct? They didn't make it onto their albums. O_o

Exactly. I don't really consider m.o.v.e JROCK; I put all of their material I download in the JPOP folder in my directory on my PC!