"I am..." album lyrics conspiracy! :P
 

Wow. I'd also like to know about this... sounds very interesting! Wish I was an Ayu fan back then! :p I've only switched computer once since the time I am... was released, so I'd probably still have them if I was an Ayu fan back then.

Wow, maybe I was imagining the whole thing x_x Cuz no one seems to know about it ^^;; I dunno, am I just a CRAZY OLD ayu fan? o_O Does ANYONE else remember anything about this?? SOMEONE here had to have been around when wataru was?

Well, there's always the chance that masa might know..

Maybe someone could try asking him?

I'm sure one of the older members will remember... Maybe try PMing them or something.

This conspiracy seems very weird...

Wow... I also never heard about that. =O But it sounds interesting. ^^ Hope you find what you search.

And I think truehappiness' idea was good: Ask masa-san. Maybe he knows something about it. ^^

I would so remember if I was as big a fan as I am now at that time.. LOL

So very true. :yes lol
I just got to know her around that time (before the "I am..." release) and didn't follow ayus path until "Free & Easy".

I remember wataru and I am... was the first album I awaited to be released (became a fan when Endless sorrow was just being released). But I don't remember these alternative lyrics at all.
I remember though, that you had an website that would post several ayu news. That site was also run by someone who had an "eye" as their avatar (but unfortunately I forgot his SN). Maybe he could have those lyrics still?

I'll ask my friend--he's been an Ayu fan since before I am..., so maybe he knows what you're talking about. :yes

You could also try e-mailing wataru.
amake {at} mac {dot} com

I was a fan around that time, but I didn't look at things online as much as I used to. I used to love his translations though....

that is interesting, i'd like to read the lyrics

Sounds interesting, I wish I would've been around..

I think I know what you are talking about! I remember wataru's translation page, and I think that I might have the other lyrics printed out in my house (I'm at college right now). I'll check for you when I get home.

If you manage to find them I hope you share them, and your thoughts considering the parts of them that are different between the versions.

I expect no less of you :D.

"Censations" was the SN.

I was just thinking, if the lyrics in the CMs really ARE different (if not this would jut be misheard lyrics), coulden't someone just listen to them again? The CMs probalby are up on youtube.

So send wataru an e-mail... And perhaps Masa too.

Oh, geez, I hope you figure this one out soon. I'd like to know much more about this. I want to read the lyrics. XD

Ehm, so basically these were "rumour" lyrics?

Unless the actual lyrics heard were different I don't see what's so intriguing about these. Sorry.

It pretty much says so in the first post, as Deli states she isn't sure those are real or not. But there's something to them that makes them interesting, they fit the songs completely already before they were released in full, by what I understand.

So, the lyrics has to come from somewhere and are probably not completely made up. If they are, then there's nothing more intriguing, but if this would actually be lyrics written by Ayu, and then changed for the later versions, it's suddenly a bit more interesting.

I think she did ditch the whole theme of the album and make a new one at the last minute because of 9/11 or something. Perhaps that had something to do with the lyrics, too?

You might be right. She did ditch the previous theme she had for the album booklet/cover at the last minute for a "peace" theme. I think A song is born was also added in the last minute. :P

If she had time to add a fully new song I'm pretty sure she very well can have changed the lyrics aswell, a good theory there Winter.

Yes, IF this is the case, it would be interesting.

The 9/11 thing is true, if that is what you mean.

About the lyrics, yeah, if they are true it would be interesting.

No and I don't really believe in Holocaust either :tipsy

I knew that she changed a lot due to 9/11, I never heard of the lyrics though. But I thought it would be a whole lot interesting if the thread starter could reassure that these werent just made up lyrics. ;) The CMs seems to be have taken off youtube, and even if the lyrics in them were different this is interesting. =)

I think one of the points of the thread is to find out if those actually are fakes or not, so I don't think Deli can confirm anything :).

can you please tell me more? which two lines got switched? in which remix?

they add and switch lines in remixes all the time. Listen to f.ex the aggressive remix of Endless Sorrow in which the added a line in the second chorus (I think).

When it comes to remixes, and switching places of lines, I don't think Ayu has any say, it's all up to the remixer. Although, if there are actual new lyrics with different words it must be that either Ayu is involved in the making of the remix or she sent more voice samples than only the original lyrics.

Cool. Lost lyrics. I wouldn't mind knowing what her previous theme was, either.

Artist change lyrics all the time. And I'm pretty sure she did change the lyrics to some of those songs because she said so herself, right? She said they did a bunch of different beats and some with different lyrics. I am... was probably the one album Hamasaki was OCD with and tried to make perfect. It's her most commercial album ever.

Well, she did compose like almost all of it :)

I wonder if people actually paid much attention to her other CMs. Maybe there's contradictions in a lot more of them, compared to the originals?

I went home this weekend, but I couldn't find them. Sorry guys. :( I'm going home again in two weeks, and I can try looking for them again.

This is intreaguing..
As for Ayu re-writing an entire album's lyrics, that would have taken up to half a year to write, possibly more, to reflect her feelings about 9/11 places false importance on the event in relation to what Ayu was going to write about. I think the only song written with that in mind was A Song Is Born and of course, if the rumour is true about the re-shoot, the dove in the photoshoot - possibly. But Ayu had already been concerned with world peace and harmony long before that September. Just look at the opening message of the 2001 tour or the PV for Endless Sorrow.
None of the new songs on the album are anything to do with 9/11 and there is no reason why they should be about it. If she changed the lyrics it will probably be for reasons to do with her own perfectionism and also I am...was famously difficult for Ayu as she was obliged to produce throughout and it seems to be a little disordered due to that. Her chopping and changing of lyrics, considering her situation making I am..., is not surprising. She's never been under so much pressure to make an album before or since and none of those inconsistancies occured before or since. But I have to say, despite the pressure she was under, I am...contains some of most amaizing work. Just take Naturally, for example!

I would also like to argue against the idea its her most "commercial" album. Though oppinions differ, of course. If "commercial" in this case is supposed to mean "popular sounding" then I'd have to say its probably one of her least. It was the most guitar/band orientated album of the time (she's since done far harder albums) and generally speaking synth/pop albums like the preceeding 3 are deemed more "commercial" sounding. If you mean financially - yes - I am...was a huge hit because it was the album that came out after her most popular period - 2001.
For what its worth - "LOVEppears" and "RAINBOW" I would say are her most commercial-sounding albums.