The paintings...
 

in the Ourselves PV. They must mean something
What do they say on the bottom?
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/967/capture3jw1.jpg
1999 - Mama?
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6372/capture27hx.jpg
2001 - Max?
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9407/capture31gr.jpg
2003 - Max?

What does this all mean?

It looks like it says the numbers and then "moo". But yeah, the top one is from 1999 (not sure which cover it is)

The second one is from 2001 release, Free & Easy

The third one is from 2003 release, A BALLADS

(Correct me if I'm wrong on this, guys)

the dates are there...

1st one: Ayu-mi-x Acoustic Orchestra Version (1999)
2nd one: NEVER EVER Single (2001)
3rd: A Ballads (2003)

although i noe where are the pics from, but i dont know whats the significance of them.. :(

I read in this forum that Ayu opposed to the release of NEVER EVER, A BALLADS and A BEST, and that those were supposed to be the ones in ourselves, but the first painting doesn't really look like any of the A BEST covers. :shrug

oh wait, I remember the A BEST cover is displayed throughout the entire video, probably ayu opposed to the release of ayu-mi.x AOV too.

I see, I didnt know about that. thx

could it be that Mxx Matsuura was the one who wanted those releases?, cause it looks like ·Max·

wow, you're very observative!
well, the first one has something to do with her mother, and the bottom two with Max Matsuura....well think about the PVs for Free &Easy and Never Ever...do you see a connection? (Ayu's PVs are weird, and i cant figure them out, and i dont know about the A Ballads either)...

The first one is not ayu-mi-x AOV.

EDIT: hang on, come to think of it, it could be...

ayu DIDN'T oppose to the release of NEVER EVER and A BALLADS. She did so for A BEST. What happened to NEVER EVER (and also to Endless sorrow) is that she didn't really like the final result of both songs. She mentioned in a interview that she disliked both songs, a reason why they remade Endless sorrow in "I am..." (I can't really believe - well I do believe but well you know - that she doesn't like the original Endless sorrow because that's one of her very best songs.) As for a BALLADS, the cover and even the fact she made the song RAINBOW pretty much shows how much she wasn't opposed to its release.

Maybe it has to do with A Song for XX since the song itself had to do with her mom.

she HATED NEVER EVER??? how could this be? it's such a good song.. i dont think all these are to do with hatred or anything.. or perhaps there are the 3 albums and single that she liked the most!

When i first saw the first one, I thought of this cover.
http://www.geocities.com/vr_cypher0/...avcd-11717.jpg

and she remade three songs for A BEST, :P , I wouldn't really know as I just read it somewhere and repeated it :)

Not 3 but 5 actually (4 with new vocals, 1 with new instrumentals), maybe because she thought the album should at least have to be worth buying (not to mention it featured an exclusive new song M, which later with the release of I am... wasn't exclusive anymore LOL). She shot all the covers crying and the covers have a depressing tone (gray, black & white). That's totally different to what actually happened to A BALLADS, she created 2 new songs (one of them, RAINBOW, which had already been announced by her that it would feature lyrics based on thoughts of her fans) just for that album , plus 2 songs that got new vocals and arrangements, and the covers were shot into a rather "I'm feeling the best ever" expression (she looks rather comfortable in the A BALLADS covers LOL). Plus everything was already planned when the album RAINBOW had just been released.

to think that was one of the songs that made me get into Ayu's music:thud

the first one IS acoustic orchestra one, the shape of the eyebrows match in the eneabba.net pictures. Unless it was an unreleased cover for A Song for XX.

But i was also looking at Trust's cover, and it looks like it without the hair on the right side of her face.

Yeah I did read that she opposed to the release of A Ballads and that Rainbow was supposed to be a single, but Avex changed it's mind and put it in A Ballads...(*is confused*)

I guess my question is, why of all the covers did she pick those for the PV?

I think ImpactBreaker said Ayu hated how NEVER EVER ended up sounding like..probably didn't dislike the lyrics, but maybe the music to the song. o_o

Also, doesnt the rocking horse in it look similiar to the one in ladies night pv?

I'm still suprised she didnt like the original of Endless Sorrow. The lyrics were some of her best [and usually I hate short lyrics but those ones expressed a lot].

Didn't notice the rocking horse o_o;; Hmmm....

Maybe she wanted to express Endless Sorrow differently o_o Even though I do have to agree the lyrics are good as they are.

Ohh, that doesnt say "max/mama" :x doesnt it say "Mar?"

NEVER EVER: 7 March 2001
A Ballads: 12 March 2002
Ayu-mix: 17 March 1999

i always thought they said Mar too...but then i dismissed it cause i figured they didn't all come out in March. so is like specimens in a museum sort of...

! You do have a point there o_o Maybe that's why they're posted up...all those came out in March.

!! Now I think I understand that PV more. Ayu feels like she's a specimen, examined by mad scientists/historians...haha. I keep thinking about the part where the PV focuses on one guy where he's putting on lipstick and smearing it all over Ayu's picture...o_o; :shakehead

oh! why didnt i think of that? thats possible too! i am so dumb..

that part bothered me...i mean...ewww!!!

I think it was just the director trying to make a dark PV ha ha ha, I hated that part too.

I like how the people trashing the stuff have Ayumi masks, it's kind of like Ayumi is destroying those things and her own image, and not the actual people in the masks.

Also, is the guy jumping off that random platform a refrence to "Too Late?"

Did Ayu have a problem with Max? I thought she liked him. Or maybe they butted heads in the beginning?

Yeah that AOV album picture you posted 'Ayumi no Yume' looks excatly like the first pic

I can't believe she didn't like the end reseult in Endless Sorrow... It is gorgeous! In fact I added the original version to the end of her I am... album in my IPod playlist because it's way prettier than the ~gone w. the wind version.... that version is nice... But I just LOVE those strings!

I did the same thing when i made recorded the mp3s to a CD. The original version is tons much better than the album version.

From Masa's page:
Does that help some?

how? i can't even remember that pv...there was a pv right? lol.

I ment to the song "Too Late" because she says something about being at the edge of a cliff, and in Ourselves PV there is a random guy jumping off a platform. I assume it's probably just the director trying to make the pv manic, and has nothing to do with anything. I let my brain wonder a bit :[

wondering brains are the most fun! i like to hunt them down and stuff them and mount them on my wall. haha.

I never realized that she didn't like endless sorrow. I thought she just said that she thought the album was too depressing so she made a 'happier' version of it for the album. I personally enjoy the original one. I thought it was raw and full of emotion.

I do agree that NEVER EVER is missing something. Although it's one of my favorite songs, I sometimes feel like when I'm listening to it...somethings missing. I dunno I guess that's what Ayu was thinking.