[Jan - 2006]Sweetbox's new album - Bold and Delicious [Ayu-related]
 

"I've added the unofficial & incomplete tracklisting for the upcoming album, those are the songs that Jade performed a few days ago in Japan, and some of them might not even get on the album!And some of you've already heard Ayu's versions of the songs, including her latest single Rainy Day, Jade's song (Rainy Day) will be called Every Step, and hopefully it might be a theme song for the International versions of Onimusha 4, but that's just me hoping."
--from fansite of Sweetbox

It seems that all the songs on (miss)understood are being recovered by Jade. >< Argh. xD

:o

Tracklisting hoooo~
Break Down <--OMG WTF LOL [done because this was the rumor c/w song with Startin]
Bold & Delicious
Pride
Ladie's Night
Every Step
Here Comes The Sun
Vaya Con Dios
Dream
Graceland
Over & Over
Beautiful Day
Addicted

REMEMBER PEOPLE:

Ayu was approached by GEO with 12 songs on a disc or something that had Jade singing the songs roughly with the music in the background. These songs were indeed originally for SWEETBOX's use, but GEO gave permission for Ayu to use them. :p

Hopefully, ayu doesn't do this again.

edit:
Thing is, that these songs will most likely be arranged/mixed differently in the Bold and Delicious album for Sweetbox..

What's wrong Break Down? It is actually a good song, I heard it from Raw Treasures album.
As a Sweetbox fan, I'll look forward to this album. I'm curious to hear the English version of the songs.
I just hope that some die-hard, overreactive Ayu fans wouldn't bash on Jade once this album comes out, like calling her an Ayu-copycat or something, although Sweetbox did wrote the songs at the first place. If only they'll give Sweetbox a try...

After all, the songs were composed by GEO himself, so I don't think they'd have any grounds for the copycat argument.

Hmm, sounds very interesting indeed. Looking forward to listening the songs.

Let's hope so :) !

I said that for Break Down cause it was that rumor song that was c/w Startin', you know? LOL

Ewwww ~

To truehappiness: ah I see now.
This is exactly what I meant :rolleyes .

gross, Jade's voice sucks.

rumor may have been true

I'm not really happy that two artists are releasing the same songs, regardless of what language they're in.

Copycat thingie is sort of blah since Jade was going to release these anyway.. just that Ayu got a hold of them before she got to record/release. Most of them anyway.

I bet the lyrics are going to be sort of.. blander than usual. :\ 'IT's a beautiful day, it's a beautiful day, I wonder what it's like innn that plaaceee'

DANG !!!!!!!!!!!!! i thought rainy day and Ladies night are exclusive to AYu

Yeah, me neither. Didn't Sweetbox also cover the English version of Koda Kumi's songs "Real Emotion" and "1000 Words"?

Woah half of Ayu's discography is on Sweetbox's..

who is Jade / SWEETBOX is she japanese or american artists
and this is so wrong
ayu shudnt use GEO of SWEETBOX ...
this is pretty lame
but i want to hear the english version of those songs !!

Source from Wikipedia:

Jade is singing 5 songs on this album, already sung by Ayumi Hamasaki, GEO wrote the songs for Sweetbox but gave permission to Ayumi to sing the songs.

Those songs are as follows:

Bold and Delicious
Pride
Ladies' Night
Every Step:- Ayumi's Rainy Day
Beautiful Day

Well, I'm just curoius about why Sweetbox's new album will be released inJapan. Doesn't that mean competing on sales with AYU?? I guess~~

I've heard Jade's voice and I think she has a sexy and sweet voice.(pretty good)
But in terms of the 5 songs above I prefer AYU's voice^^!
AYU certainly has an incredible charisma for both voice and appearance!!

Jade's voice ROX! :D I love about all sweetboz songs. Except.....ironically.......in the corner :P.... Can't wait to hear english versions of ayu-songs, cos that's always awesome. The only thing better than hearing Ayu-songs in english is.....Ayu singing the english versions herself :P

I HONESTLY HATE THIS KIND OF THINGS!! i'm not hating sweetbox or ayu, but... i donno... it makes everything so UNORIGINAL!!!

Yeah, I agree! No-one's copying the other one, but still... Ayu's songs on (miss) Understood don't feel so personal anymore... Still, as an Ayu-fan, I'm sure Ayu's are better lyricswise, hehe!

well.. personally i dun mind jade/sweetbox doing that cuz GEO composed them anywayz. PLUS I won't listen to Jade anywayz so it doesn't matter to me.

hmm I don't see any problem with it honestly....most of ayu songs AREN'T composed by ayu so ppl can't say these songs aren't personal just because they share the same composition. For instance, I think "Memorial address" is actualy one of her most personal songs, and it didn't lose it's personal factor just because it shared the same composition as "Kumo", same goes to "walking proud".

There's nothing wrong about that. ayu wanted a new composer for her, Sweetbox probably realized that their sales would get better if they took a ride on ayu's fame and promotion. It's business we're talking about.

And I can't wait to listen to this album :D

unfortunately this happens increasingly often nowadays :no
anyway I'm confident Ayu's versions are way better, no doubt about that

That's the problem IMO opinion also. It just feels so weird. At least when it's about the same time on the same market.

Actually, Kumi's is 1000 no Kotoba. Jade renamed it to its translation.

I really don't see a big deal with all this, GEO's music has been used over and over again in the past. Many songs by Sweetbox have been used by S.H.E. with different lyrics, so Ayu isn't the first big act to do that.

S.H.E.'s song 'Super star' uses the same music as Sweetbox's 'Chyna Girl' and it was their biggest hit. So I really don't think it'll matter to Sweetbox or Ayu.

yeah, i actually like sweetbox's version better thna Koda's, maybe because i heard it first and and it's in english, i am actually looking forward to sweetbox's new album, i wanna hear the songs Ayu sang in english yay~

mmm... can't wait to hear what sweetbox's will be like. i still find it strange that half of ayumi's new album was from sweetbox...

I love Jade's voice, and the only problem i have with this is that Jade may not do the songs justice compared to ayu.
Yeah, i know Jade's american or canadian or whatever, but does she release stuff in america, because she doesn't in england, or does she just release in Japan. Why is that?!
Does anyone have any of these songs availiable to upload or any info about the album?

I'm just VERY curious about Jade's version of Bold & Delicious.
But I think that doing one cover is fine, not 4 or 5! It doesn't matter who did it first: an artist is a person, unique, and the world doesn't need copycats.
Just my humble opinion.

I'm kind of curious just how Ladies Night will sound like this time.

I think this album is gonna be awesome lol and original

oh well, I don't care. Ayu wrote her own lyrics, that's what counts to me.

i just thinking that ayu didn't cover other people song because she release it first
and then sweetbox release it...but i don't want ayu to do this thing again too..there is so many good composer that can compose a good song for ayu!

-sigh- it's not a dissapointment, I knew this was coming, I mean its going to be fun to listen to the english versions. I don't know what to think x_x

FYI guys, Sweetbox is signed to Avex Japan. Jade was born in the U.S. but she moved to Japan at a young age. She virtually grew up in Japan.
And before any of you guys bash the album, have you even heard it yet? It's too early to determine the quality of the album.

What is wrong with hearing songs sung in a different language? I find that very interesting how songs turn out, it puts a special twist on each song and still makes them unique. I've heard the song "Silent Night" in more languages than I count and I can tell you they are all interesting and unique in their own ways. In my opinion, you guys should try and appreciate music for what music is, not this "oh it's just another song with the same music" mentality, or at least attempt to critique it properly.

I just don't hope this will be a sign of things to come. I'd rather have diversity in music than having three different versions of the same song each time some new material is released-.

Why can't people actually sit and enjoy the songs? honestly if I ever discovered "M" was a cover of somebody else's song I wouldn't be crying in the corners and complaining about this and that, I love listening to M, so who cares how many others are there around the world? (just an hypothetical example). Can't people just sit and listen to their (miss) understood album without the feeling of "OMG this song is a COVER! it has less value than all the other songs", ah c'mon, if you like what you listen to the rest shouldn't matter honestly, it doesn't matter if it uses the same composition as another song or if another artist will create a simillar song.

True.

I too find it very interesting. it surprises me that people actually get deceived :think

That GEO guy is making me upset. Ayu's all about originality and doing her own thing... and to have THAT many songs covered is just @_@ so wrong to me! Maybe one. Maybe 2. But... this is just too much.

And it's not as if I have a problem against Jade or anything. She has a nice voice. But this is just ridiculous -_-;

There are plenty of other composers out there :/ GEO needs to go, IMO.

Whoa, why is everyone assuming that Sweetbox is covering "Ayumi's song"? Geo, part of Sweetbox, was behind every one of those songs and lent them to Ayumi because she was such a fan of Sweetbox. It seems that Sweetbox had already planned their song lineup but is releasing later than Ayumi. I also don't get the uproar about it ruining Ayumi's originality or whatever, I mean, you should've already known that she 'covered' some songs before the new Sweetbox tracklisting was revealed.

hmmm interesting...

I still wanna get the album though. I'm still a fan of sweetbox regardless of who is covering who.

Thank god that at least Rainy Day was original. x__x

Are these counted as covers?
I think Ayu's and Sweetbox's versions probably have different arrangements anyway.

edit: By covers I mean *Ayumi's* versions.

NOOO. They've taken over Ladies Night. :(

Did you guys even read truehappiness's 1st post or devilayu's post? Apparently, those who are still disgusted haven't. Ayu's versions are actually the covers, Jade's English versions are original. It's just that her album is to be released later in 2006 whereas Ayu's was released earlier.
Like I said, before you make comments about Sweetbox killing songs, have you even heard the songs yet? Unless there's an early leak of the album, then obviously not.

People don't read, hm? :p

Anyways, I expect the Sweetbox versions to be shallower lyric-wise than Ayu's. I'm sort of interested in the Yagadawo song and Ladies Night~ :p

Especially since they weren't that strong in Ayu's versions. :p

LOL the Yagadawo song. That's the track I'm anticipating the most actually. But I will be looking forward to the entire album since it takes them literally a year (or sometimes more) to release an album.

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.... SWEETBOX's SONGS ARE THE ORIGINAL ONES!!

hopefully if it is in caps they will be able to see it XD

I feel kind of duped! Just a little bit, though.
If anything, Ayu has done us a favor by showing us Sweetbox's music, so maybe some new Sweetbox fans will be born from this.
I know I'll definitely buy the new album to hear how the songs were originally meant to sound!

I guess I can't be that upset because the lyrics are usually what makes the song anyways. Who cares if the melody is borrowed.. the song could have a completely different meaning so I'll be content with this.

I hope Ayu's next album goes in a completely different direction! Thematically and visually I can draw a lot of comparisons between the two Ayus presented in My Story and (miss)understood. I miss the fantasy aspect she showed us in Rainbow!

people never read and jump in to conclusion of COPYCAT/COVER
when they see ayu some other artists doing the same songs~_~
that's all i can say
i'm really interested in hearing all of these originals :D
never heard of jade's voice too...what does her vocals sounds like?

The melodies belong to GEO, not Ayumi Hamasaki. Apparently Ayu liked the music so what does matter if other people record the song too? If GEO wanted to produce 50 different versions of the song with 50 different singers why would it make any difference?

If it had been anyone besides Hamasaki though, I would think it weird that GEO is releasing two versions of the same songs in the same market, but I'm sure Ayu's popularity is going to rub off on SWEETBOX. Smart move for GEO and Jade.


Just curious, but do you have a source for this statement? I don't remember reading anywhere the story of how Ayu chose GEO's tunes.

She sounds quite sexy! Here's in the corner by her~

http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0H...M0X76YSS0OOOG3

I read it in many translated interviews that GEO personally gave Ayu a tape and stuff~ [it's in a lot of the Dec 05 issues of things]

This is from the Jan 06 issue of Sweet, translated by isaac hiew~ :p Go read it in News! :D

“I won’t have the mindset of “do something new and let everyone feel amazed”. Of course in my way of thinking I must strive for new creations and new ideas. But I do not change for the sake of changing when I release this single. It is because of good causes from various sides that fulfils it. My collaboration with SweetBox is also the same, I always tend to listen to their songs. I remembered long time ago on one day, I told my staffs that I wished to sing songs composed by Geo, then, without my knowledge, they really tried to contact him and just before I forgot it completely, they suddenly passed a 12-song demo tape to me. (Laughs) Geo is a perfectionist and he has a very creative mind. When I said “I want to interpret this section of the tunes into this kind of feeling”, he gave me very good answers. So this time Ayu isn’t just only interpret SweetBox’s songs, but we all do it together in same perspective."

Sorry I shoulda been more clear.. when I asked if 'they were counted as covers' I was referring to Ayu's versions..

I agree with ImpactBreaker though that Ayumi using Sweetbox tunes is good for their popularity. She's the only reason I ever bothered trying Sweetbox music.

Thought this wasn't gonna be an artist bashing.

I'm curious about Ladies Night and rainy day [every step]

If Geo wrote the songs originally they would be his songs. Ayumi Hamasaki released her songs first (except In the corner?) so it woulden't make her songs covers. Anyway, when the songs are released so close to each other, it's not right to talk about anyone covering anything.

The fact that Jade sung the demotapes doesen't really change anything, there's always someone singing the song in the demos before they're given to the artist that is going to sing it.

I'm not trying to "defend" either artists, but somehow the word "cover song" gives a lot of people negative associations.

Awww okay.... so all along it wasn't artists just all copying each other XD just using the same composer... okay... somehow just feel a little weird because I didn't think ayu was in there with them o_O; oh well though V_V;;

Umm FYI, just because Ayu released hers first doesn't make it the "original version." Sweetbox already planned on releasing these songs way before (miss)understood. Technically, they're Jade's songs but unfortunately, her album is to be released later, which is arousing over-reactive Ayu fans making rude comments about "her copying Ayu." Most importantly, GEO is part of Sweetbox, so it's technically Sweetbox's songs. I seriously don't get why there's this sudden commotion over this if it's GEO's songs. It's Sweetbox's to begin with.
No one is copying anyone. GEO gave the songs that were meant to be in Jade's next album to Ayu for (miss)understood. As simple as that. If you guys are still overreacting, then obviously, you're either illiterate, or you're too lazy to read.
I uploaded their entire discography earlier and I think the links still work. If not, I'll PM you with the links.

I agree with that.

I think of it this way: the composer just used the same melody for 2 different songs.

Thing is, that these songs will most likely be arranged/mixed differently in the Bold and Delicious album for Sweetbox..

Jade better not take the english ver of Onimusha 4's theme song. XD I am buying it because theres some Ayu in it. XD

So sad but so true :laugh .

LOL LOL XD I think that she is going to NOT do that. It's just a 'song'. Ayu has the contract with Capcom or w/e and she's the only one who can do it. So far into the game translation.. they can't just say 'oh lets use jade!' Ayu is the one with the deal, and Ayu is the one with the songs :p aka STARTIN' OMG HOTNESS <3 And yeah. As if Kazuhiro Hara is gonna let Jade get in on it.. :p

Well Square Enix booted Koda Kumi from FFX2 and gave the songs to Jade to sing for the English version... so it's a possibility! Not necessarily that Jade will sing them, but just that Ayu will be removed from the NA/Europe releases and another singer will sing them in English.

Then again, I'm not familiar with the series, so they may keep the Japanese theme songs in Japanese.

I think that it will stay intact.. the only reason that Koda [ew] was booted was because her english versions were TERRIBLE. Like honestly, they were like.. really. bad. Plus they've used a Japanese song in FFX, Suteki da ne. Ayu's song, Depend on You also made it to the states in the game Thousand Arms by Atlus. So.. it's pretty much the company's decision to take them out completely or just leave them there.

As if CAPCOM will spend money to rerecord them :p lol <3 Ayu

but y would GEO lend the 12 songs demo INCLUDING the songs they r gonna release to ayu in the first place? it's like "OK! i got a few songs, u could take them if u want... anyway i'm gonna release them later..." so it would make ppl THINK ayu copy or even steal the songs from them when (maybe) ayu didn know their plans of releasing them later...

I was sort of expecting people to not read it :p

[you know, kind of like how people might glance at a tracklist and believe that is the one and true one with no instrumentals like 2 months prior to release.. grrr..]

I hate fans who are spontaneous and don't think before they post x.x

well, i don't actually hate it, but still, this makes the music no longer original, i mean is this kinda thing legal in Japan? don't artists suppose to have copy-rights for their music?

sorry if i'm asking the already-answered questions, don't have time to check the whole page...

can't we JUST say that NONE of the artists cover the songs. It's just a *splitting of the composing* into two different directions :)

whatsoever.I think ayu want to try new style,and Of Course we should support her.

As mentioned, I don't really see a problem to it. Jade sung the demotapes, and these demotapes are sent to Ayu to select the songs! Other than CREA composed songs, I could say almost all the songs Ayu has sung already have demotapes that were not released. It's just how the music industry works. Sweetbox (the team) as composers and musical artistes themselves could release a compliation of their composition. It's perfectly fine.

That doesn't really make any of Ayu's songs become unoriginal or sound unoriginal. If fans make the assumption that this release means that Ayu songs are original, then that ought to be the case for many of Ayu songs (which are compositions on demotapes that never got released).

These aren't even 'cover songs' in the first place so yup, don't think it's appropriate to refer to them as 'cover songs'. I personally see them as a complimentary bonus to the Ayu songs. It lets you understand and try to imagine how the songs were originally meant to sound and how they turned out to be eventually (as done by Ayu herself).

I don't really care anymore. You can't judge without hearing it so please let's just give it a try.

agreed!

and actually...i'd like to hear these songs by jade. i'm interested in how they'll sound when done by someone else. :)

[hmm..so could it really be Jade singing the english in Ladies Night!!!???

Jade would be mentioned in the credits of the song then..

They read:
BG Vocals: Gloria Ryann, Chantale Cerisier, Vickie Natale
Vocoder Voice: Jusme

Im a little confused here,
I DID READ THE ENTIRE POST CORRECTLY
Just curious, but will the arragement be the same as Ayu's ?
Now, based on the interview, did GEO work with ayu to compose the songs? IE she asked what she was looking for and GEo composed it?
Or did GEo have no interaction with AYU to work on the compositions?
Hopefully the arrangements will be different, because arent the arrangers AYU's usual people (CMJK and what not)

>>

Obviously NO. xD The songs will technically sound the same, but the way it is mixed and arranged will be up to whoever is in charge of that for Sweetbox. Again, this is sort of obvious. :p

And obviously NO again for Ayu working with him for compositions. Her people behind the scenes were behind the whole GEO + Ayu thing. She just fell in love with their music recently, but Ayu was like 'wha?' when her staff got Geo/Sweetbox to allow her to use their music. [Again, SWEETBOX is part of Avex.. so Max probably did stuff xDD] So no, she did not interact with him in the making of it. It says in the interview right? :\ Read another one if you didn't see that. Anyways, basically she was approached with an already made demo-track tape and she chose from there.

As if it really matters...artists use other artists stuff all the time. I liked (miss)understood (all of it's tracks). I think it's good that Ayu's changing her style...Too much of the same thing leads to BANKRUPTCY and STARVATION. Especially with all of these other wanna-be Ayu's running around here and there; she needs to change up every now and then. Technically, I was getting a little tired of the same old composers anyway...On top of that, I don't mean any harm but Jade (or whoever writes the lyrics for her songs) doesn't do a very good job sometimes...You know, I was listening to the Adagio album the other day and I was like, gosh she sure does say that a lot...or hey that sounds like something else on this CD...Other times, like in Real emotion; her voice just doesn't appeal. She sings her songs as if they are just songs...no emotional input; that I can hear. But, she does write some good lyrics and has her moments where her voice is exceptionally good.

Anyway...I wanted to tell you guys that I think Alicia Keys (that's who it sounded like) is going to be covering "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" for the new Tyler Perry movie...I heard it on the theatrical trailer at my house the other day and it sounds okay from what I heard. I'm not a big freak for Alicia, so I tend not to like a lot of her stuff. Now, please note that I'm not exactly sure if it was Alicia; but I know the lyrics and the music were Sweetbox.

Isn't it entire possible that the lyrics are different in each song?.. Maybe each of the english versions will have totally different lyrics with totally different meanings so they really are just using the same musical composition and not the same lyrical one?

O_o it's not that it's entirely possible, but rather.. really true LOL

If Ayu's lyrics were the same as sweetbox's then they wouldn't make any sense xD Especially in japanese.

Someone else will write the lyrics to the Jade versions or..

someone already did :p xD [all Ayu had for her songs were the compositions] :D

This might be a little off topic, but in 'Ladies Night', what are the lyrics to the Jusme vocoder vocals?

All I understand is "then even so".

Wow. I would have never figured that out in a million years. lol.
Thanks so much for that explination!!

By the way, do you have any guesses to what she's -trying- to say?

Thanks for that, Delirium

Maybe my English is bad, or it might be in fact a translation issue, but didn't she mean her staff by "they suddenly passed a 12-song demo tape to me"a??
It goes "they [her staff] really tried to contact him", what means her staff tried to contact GEO (what they actually did without her knowledge).
Then it's "they [her staff] ... passed a ... demo tape to me", which I think means that her staff recieved the requested by Ayu tape from GEO. Not that GEO approached her, but that it was Ayu's intitiative in the very beginning and that GEO gave the tape in respond to Ayu's request (which reached him through her staff).

Meaning that it was Ayu who 'approached' SWEETBOX, not GEO approached Ayu.