Reason for Ayu's lackluster title tracks?
 

So.

I've been wondering why the album tracks have been so lackluster lately... and I think I've found out why. The compositions were all pretty good up until she didn't do one for MY STORY and used the same person three times in a row afterwards who worked on Memorial address.

Let's recap who composed what:
A Song for XX : Yasuhiko Hoshino
LOVE~destiny~: TSUNKU
appears: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Duty: Ken Harada
I am...: CREA
RAINBOW: CREA+DAI
Memorial address: Tetsuya Yukumi
(miss)understood: Tetsuya Yukumi
Secret: Tetsuya Yukumi
GUILTY: Tetsuya Yukumi


I think she should really give someone else the reins for the album track... maybe tasuku or something, because Tetsuya seriously went down in quality like WOAH after Memorial address. Anyone else think so?

It would definitely be nice if Ayu composed her title song herself. :D

I don't really think Tetsuya Yukumi is a bad composer though.

I think that his stuff has gotten really mediocre though. He used to be really good, if you listen to ANGEL'S SONG, Memorial address, and some of MY STORY... but now.. I dunno.

Ayu should've had a composer do her title track ONCE and then move on instead of resorting to.. Tetsuya. Either that or just do it herself :|

i miss CREA...her a song is born classical version is good. actually, most if not all of the ayu-composed songs are good...

A Song is born was composed Tetsuya Komuro, of Namie Amuro/hitomi/KEIKO/move/TRF fame.

Ayu just wrote the lyrics.

I actually like all the title tracks so I can't really have opinion why they're lackluster, most of them (the new ones) are my most fav songs of ayu so I enjoy them ^-^
Secret may be the only bit of a lackluster for me.

Wow good observation, I really agree with you o.o. I think for every composer there are times when they just run out of inspiration and such. Yukumi is still a great composer for melodies...it's just that recent works don't top previous works. Ayu really should start experimenting with others...I really did love Bold & Delicious to be honest. Just not the beginning...haha.

I really liked "Secret" and "Memorial address".

I can't give my full opinion on "GUILTY" yet, but I do agree that she needs to hire a brand new set of composers AND arrangers...

Preferably introduce a new composer and arranger at every album release...

Yeah I guess that's why. XD I found that the title tracks have been really weak lately as well. I mean, they are supposed to represent the whole album? I just find them kind of boring. The song GUILTY is much better than (miss)understood and Secret IMO, but yes I think she should get some new composers, or revisit old ones.

I want to see her work with BOUNCEBACK again. ):

Well, she does try new ones and revives older ones at times...

[See Yoji Noi, Naruya Ihashi, pop, Raita Ikemono, Kunio Taho, Yuta Nakano, Miki Watanabe.. and so on]

The thing is, she should've had some of her stronger composers work on the title tracks.. like maybe Yuta or Kunio this time. Hopefully next time, we don't get the Yukumi again..

Yeah, BOUNCEBACK should do an album title track. They were such a good set... and then my name's WOMEN was their last work :<

Personally, I love those title tracks.

I actually like all of them...but GUILTY is the most lackluster of them all. The song is not bad...its just missing something.

Well, they certainly don't have the oomph that her previous album title tracks have, right? :O

Some dont but music as a generic genre has changed much since 1998- 2002

She needs to go back to CREA ¬¬

Yep... it's definitly different from what it used to be, and ayu still can do wonders with it so I'm happy.

I don't hate Yukumi, but.. too much of him on one album can get tiring. That's why (m)u was so good. 1 Yukumi composition.

part of Me and momentum are two of my least favorite songs.. and um, he happened to compose them, so...

I don't like Secret, LOVE ~destiny~, or appears, but the other tracks are good. I don't know, maybe she should try going back to guy who did Duty. That was some good stuff right there.

Well, his length-of-time-as-Ayu-composer to amount of songs on album = RIDICULOUS.

He started in 2003 with ANGEL'S SONG and Memorial address, so let's count from there.

2003: ANGEL'S SONG, Memorial address for a total of 2.
2004: HOPE or PAIN, HAPPY ENDING, Moments, walking proud, INSPIRE, HONEY, for a total of 6.
2005: (miss)understood for a total of 1 [OMG BEST YEAR? XD]
2006: JEWEL, momentum, kiss o' kill, Secret for a total of 4
2007: part of Me, (don't) Leave me alone, GUILTY, MY ALL for a total of 4.

That's 17 songs in around 5 years with Ayu. Average of around 3 - 4 songs per year. WHY DOES HE GET TREATED SO WELL? D: lol

Let's analyze DAI for the heck of it. [with CREAs and others are counted]
1999: Fly high, Trauma, Boys & Girls, TO BE, end roll, too late for a total of 6.
2000: Far away, AUDIENCE, SEASONS, teddy bear for a total of 4.
2001: Daybreak, Dearest, no more words, flower garden for a total of 4.
2002: WE WISH, Real me, Free&Easy, HANABI, July 1st, Voyage, independent, + for a total of 8.
2003: RAINBOW, HANABI ~episode II~, forgiveness for a total of 3.
2004: NONE.
2005: Will for a total of 1.
2006: BLUE BIRD for a total of 1.
2007: NONE.

This adds up to 27 songs divided by 9 years with Ayu.. around 3 songs a year. :<

DAI's absence is like... serious. XD

Let's look at Kazuhito Kikuchi too [mastermind behind Who... and a few other Ayu hits]:
1998: Depend on you for a total of 1.
1999: immature, WHATEVER, appears, Who... for a total of 4.
2000: vogue, Far away for a total of 2.
2001: NONE
2002: NONE
2003: NONE
2004: About You, HONEY, Replace for a total of 3.
2005: HEAVEN for a total of 1.
2006: Beautiful Fighters for a total of 1.
2007: NONE

12 songs in 10 years? That's roughly 1 song per year D:

i have to say
Secret and Memorial address are the best title tracks

i said classical version. as in the my story classical version.















btw, doesn't ayu write her own titles, too? just curious...

LOL, well I think Ayu needs to stop being so nice.

I don't think he gets any other work. didn't he used to compose for some crappy indie bands?

He used to compose for his own band, LOVER SOUND TRACK, which did the song "Kumo [spider]" for some movie, and then Ayu recruited him because she liked the melody.. and yeah.. :X [she used it for Memorial address]~


Yes, she comes up with all the titles.

I also did an analysis. Each year one composer has the most tracks composed on one album. Here's the composers as follows:

A Song for XX – Yasuhiko Hoshino (8 tracks)
LOVEppears – DAI (7)
Duty - Kazuhito Kikuchi (3) / DAI (3)
I am… - CREA (11)
RAINBOW – CREA (7)
Memorial Address – BOUNCEBACK (4)
MY STORY - Tetsuya Yukumi (6)
(miss)understood – GEO (6)
Secret - Tetsuya Yukumi (4)


Her most popular albums had Kazuhito Kikuchi, DAI and CREA.
BOUNCEBACK was also well received. MY STORY was deemed boring but that was because there were like five Tetsuya Yukumi tracks in a row.

Ayu's albums are more better IMO when there's a variety of composers.
But apparently people seem to like Tetsuya Yukumi (he's a hit or miss for me. I mean I really like kiss o' kiss) but anyways...
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66751

I also think she needs new arrangers. Basically CMJK arranges everything now. She needs Naoto Suzuki (Duty) back.

ayu should get a rid of :uzi Tetsuya Yukumi along with :gun takahide ishii.
(in case if ayu comes to this forum, she should understand what the smilies means having them beside both of them)

omg...I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels :love Naoto Suzuki should be back!!

GUILTY is dominated by Yuta Nakano, who generally seems well received, although Yukumi's presence irks people. XD

I love all this albums
and I don't think he's a bad composer
but I would really like CREA to come back :)
it would be really great

I think she needs to give tasuku more chances to compose. At least, choose his compositions more often. His only one that isn't an interlude is... .fairyland. D:

i don't think its Tetsuya Yukumi that's the problem, since he's only composing. it's the arrangement.

case in point KAT-TUN's "Real Face":
- [Single Version] was arranged by CHOKKAKU
- [Best of KAT-TUN Version] was arranged by Matsumoto Tak (B'z)

they are both completely different, if you've listened to it. :P

We know there's Ladies Night by whoever did it and the tasuku version on BLUE BIRD.

But still, the compositions are still kinda stale. :|

In my personal opinion Ayu's title tracks since Memorial address are just as good as her previous ones.

Yeah I thought both were really good. I think arrangement is also important to consider. I mean I was really excited with the Beautiful Fighters when it came out in the Panasonic cm and then the arrangement went BLAH on the full version.

Sometimes, less is more. :yes

i think i believe that ayumi likes his style of composing so much.... you know I dont like all of his composition at MY STORY.... but its gradually getting better until secret, and its declining again in guilty =)) but alas, im not complaining about the title track, what I complain is the amount of interlude is somewhat irritating 14 songs, 4 of them are interlude, it should be around 20 songs and 4 interlude ..

i have no idea why you all don't like GUILTY. i love that song and don't see anything wrong with it?

I must politely disagree.

Of those four tracks, only "Secret" is unsatisfying (and only slightly). "Memorial address" is simply stunning and one of the tracks I always play to introduce people to Ayu's music, "(miss)understood" marks a major change of tone in the album and has always been sort of a standout to me, and "GUILTY" is shaping up to be one of my favorites on the new album from what I've heard so far --- the melody in the verses is gorgeous and dramatic and reminds me of "POWDER SNOW/P.S. II" (that's a good thing). "Secret" is a bit generic-sounding, but it does what it was meant to do as a calm closer to the album.

And as for her non-Tetsuya title tracks, "Duty," "I am...," "RAINBOW," and "A Song For XX" are among the best she's ever recorded --- nothing lackluster about those!! :)

yes, secret n memorial address... i agree

Wow Northerner, I think we must have the same taste in music or something, because I agree with every word in your post. :yes

I really like those four latest title tracks, although I'm not as crazy about "Secret" as I am about the other three.

I think sora2522 was referring to how she rearranged it for MY STORY classical.

edit: oh, sora2522 already replied :P

anyhow, TH, you credited both Tetsuya and Kazuhito for HONEY. IMO, if ayu thinks these tracks are worthy of being title tracks, then good for her, it's the song she thinks best describes the overall theme or atmosphere of the song, which is lyrics included. As fans who make not be Japanese literate, we initially miss out on half the song which may give us a bad impression.

plus, it may be that its not so much the song she thinks deserves to be the track title, but that the title she gave the song is worthy/cool :P The lyrics of Secret is clearly not the theme of the album Secret, or at least not the explanation of why she named it Secret.

*thumbs up*

Actually, the song I like the least in that list is Love ~Destiny~....followed by Guilty, I guess, because I can't really form an opinion about it yet.

i have to agree that (miss) understood and GUILTY are quite lacklustre as title tracks.. as in, there is really nothing WOW about that song. in fact i actually find both songs pretty noisy...

but i dont think we should blame the composer solely.. perhaps its AYU herself who chose the title track which happen to sound like that... So i think the final decision still lies with ayu.

worse still, probably ayu just wanted a strong a powerful word for her album title and hence she chose GUILTY. if not i feel that (don't) Leave me alone or untitled ~for her~ would be good title tracks???

Waaait...Ayu doesn't name her songs? Why???! I mean she writes the lyrics O.o

Ayu DOES title her tracks.

i think they are just OK...not the hits of the album for me...i feel that those 4 title tracks feel very similarly..in terms of mood

i too think she should not use him too much...i mean his songs are kinda dropping in quality and becoming very generic for her...and now its rather predictable....

but Ayu likes his compositions...she said right? in the Secret interview...nice yet kinda sad...

(kiss o' kill was an exception to his stuff :P)

I think Secret is about her best ballad and GUILTY isn't that bad.

I think Ayu should compose her title track herself :)
and I like GUILTY though Marionette is a lot more powerful

If you pay attention, ayu hardly ever choses her "most powerful" songs as title tracks. Duty is not the most powerful track from Duty (SURREAL, SEASONS...), I am... is not the most powerful song of I am... (evolution, M), I could go on with this. I don't have a problem with this composer she's been using lately. I actually kinda agree with the choice of album titles over those songs. They aren't over-hyped and overrated, and after all those years, I could say I can still listen to them and enjoy them well. Taking Secret as an example, back in those days, until that Day... was OMG the uber amazing song/unmatchable, could have been the title track!!!!!!!, but these days, the song so wore out on me, I'm really happy it wasn't the title track as I can't enjoy it as much anymore. A lot of songs from Secret wore out on me as well, but I can still listen to "Secret" the song and enjoy it just as fine.

I think Secret is among her loveliest ballads in the last couple of years, so I didn't find it lackluster. But looking at that list, Secret, RAINBOW and A Song for XX are the only songs I find very good. Even though she's used the same composer for title tracks recently, their quality is about the same as in earlier days when different composers were used.

I have to disagree. (miss)understood and Secret are both outstanding tracks from their respective albums. I haven't heard Memorial address ~take 2 version~ or GUILTY to say anything about them, though.

If she was to pick a safe composer every time for her album track she'd have to go with DAI or maybe crea. Bouceback had a lot of dreadfully boring songs. Just not for ayu yet.

I agree...I just think Tetsuya should only compose a song or two of Ayu per CD
And it should only be a ballad.
Well actually, I think she should get more CREA and DAI :weep lol

I don't want bounceback, which tend to be a hit and miss. I actually like Yukumi, Memorial Address is one of my favorite Ayu songs, as with Secret.

Arrangement is a big part. For example, Blue Bird. Lovely DAI melody, but it's over synth. I remember hearing a more acoustic version, 10X better.

And I agree with Impactbreaker.

Exactly and I blame HAL. HAL was good up until 2004, now their arrangement is getting repetative and generic. Same goes for CMJK.

nice one ImpactBreaker..i think its that reason too...
yea, HAL is getting too generic...since KALEIDOSCOPE...and its pretty obvious to tell their style..(some kinda synth present and and those very magical kinda feeling..)

we'll see next year...its just the beginning of her third chapter :D

Personally I think Guilty is her best title track since Memorial Address but I guess I'm alone on that one...

zzzz.......i think she really should go back 2 CREA and use BOUNCEBACK....

the ones you listed were some of the top tracks on her past albums, tho i dont know about guilty because i havent herd it yet, i disagree with you on m(u), secret, and memorial address

I really love 'Memorial Address' and 'Secret'.
These are two of my favourite Ayu songs.
However '(miss) understood' and 'GUILTY' just bore me :/
I think someone should indeed take over for a bit perhaps

I do love Ayu's new album tracks, but it's a bit annoying with the fact that she insists on using the same composers and arrangers over and over again, they're kinda running out of ideas.

I'm fine with whoever Ayu chooses to work with, as long as they're good. But since we're on title tracks... I really don't think (miss)understood and Secret are bad tracks.

ACTUALLY, her title tracks are amongst her most personal songs ever (yes, even GUILTY although I really detest that song). In particular, Memorial address, RAINBOW and (miss)understood take the cake for me.

Especially in (miss)understood, I must comment that you can really her the frustration in her voice while listening to the song... that song is filled with so much wrath and the lyrics reflect that mood as well. I don't really understand why it's so underrated.

Oh ok I was confused there for a sec. :headache

I agree.
Although the title tracks on the Guilty album are EXCELLENT!

Well I really loved (m)u. but the title tracks afterwards were lack luster. Though, (as much as I love ayu and I hate to say this) her music has been going down since secret. And my story wasn't a great album, though its better than secret and guilty. It just seems like maybe the worse ayu gets the better kumi gets, becasue I didn't like her sound, and her voice is annoying, but even the non-single tracks on kingdom sound like most of them are going to be good. (at least from the previews.)

O.O!!! I've been trying to figure out why it is even though I love the melody of BLUE BIRD, I sometimes feel something's missing. That's it. Lack of organic instruments. Some acoustic guitars would have given it a much more free feeling. Synths and digital instruments don't exactly 'breathe' like organic ones do.

Not really. :/

Ayu hasn't been getting worse at all :D

i totally agree... i LOVE marionette! the pre-lude's a little bit creepy too...

and sorry to say but i love the interludes in ayu's albums...

Her style has changed a lot over the years. My favourite era's would have to be (miss)understood and Duty. I don't like her new music as much as her old. But some songs have caught my attention.

For me "GUILTY" does sound like it's lacking something. I'm fine with the other title tracks though, plus I think the songs Tetsuya made for Secret are some of the best ones in a while.

I almost laughed when I read the title to this thread because I thought it was sarcasm. I thought Memorial address and (miss)understood were both fantastic. Secret is a very pretty song, and GUILTY is another worthy track, so I wouldn't say a single one of them is lackluster.

A Song For XX, Duty, RAINBOW, I am..., memorial address, (miss)understood, Secret and GUILTY are all awesome songs too imo.

(miss)understood is underrated imo.

I most certainly agree. I said just those four songs because those were the ones composed by Tetsuya. I never knew people didn't like (miss)understood. It was my favorite album track on the album.

Secret was a really good title track. I don't even remember (miss)understood's title track.

I think they're good, but lackluster in comparison to her earlier titled works.

I mean, ASFXX? Duty? I am..? RAINBOW? Memorial address? It's hard to outdo those, but she did it for years before Tetsuya began working with her post-M.A...


It's simply VERY strange that her album title tracks are just "good album tracks." Usually they're one of the huge favorites of the entire album by an overwhelming majority [see the pre 2004 title tracks]~ :/

i really agree with this in many ways ;). some people may identify this playability as "safe" though... in my life, almost all her album tracks are played everyday `.`

yup
Secret and Memorial address are the best title track

Has anyone interviewing Ayumi in Japan ever asked her why she stopped composing? You'd think as an artist that once she found that kind of creative freedom she'd never turn back. And I've always wondered why she stopped. The only answer I can think of is either insecurity, which is silly because every CREA song is amazing, or just exhaustion, whether that be physical/emotional or creative.

Anyhoo, GUILTY did seem to be missing something, like a great climax, but I still think the song is amazing. I kind of thought Secret was missing something as well. Both are still wonderful songs. I too hope she experiments with some different composers this year!

ayu should just get a new composer :D

that way, we can all stop complaining! :P

I'm surprised no one has asked that question (about someone asking that question, lol) yet. I actually never thought about it but yeah, when an artist takes a big step like that, and with success, it seems they would continue on that path... I haven't heard them all but the CREA tracks I have heard, especially when she collaborated with DAI, are some of her most original and engaging. I honestly do believe GUILTY would have been a much better album had she had a hand in the compositions as well. And I'm not just saying that out of hero worship, the girl has talent. I didn't even know Will, HANABI ~episode II~ and Voyage were composed by her (and DAI) until recently.

Heh... her and DAI must work very well together because all of my fav CREA songs are partnered with him and most of my fav DAI compositions were with CREA.

I think rather than "Memorial address", "Secret" was his last REALLY good song

Well... guys. Wanna know why Ayu stopped her composing?

After the shadow of the RAINBOW album, she prolly didn't want us to take 2-4 years to discover the magic of her composing.

What do you mean by that? What shadow? I wasn't around during the Rainbow era.. or anything before (miss)understood really so yeah. ^^;

IMO, I don't think that all of her title tracks sucks but to her recent "GUILTY" is a "shock" for me, I think that there is some much better title track for the album.
For me, the greatest title track she ever made was "RAINBOW".
It really fits to the album art and to the rest of album songs itself.

And most of all, I really miss CREA composing her own songs for the title track on her album.

I wasn't around at that era either. But browse through the forums, especially in the Chat-room and you'll find that posts posted in 2002-2003 were like totally bashing RAINBOW (the album)... come on it was the album that Ayu composed totally using CREA (I am... had other composers *Connected*). I don't know, maybe at that time, the songs that was CREA were not so good to other people?

In any case, I was being sarcastic to that being the reason to why she stopped composing.

To be fair, WE WISH, everywhere nowhere and some other songs were not CREAproduced..

Well yah... I don't find the composers credited for these songs so maybe they were by some other composers or something...

But still, songs like Heartplace and Dolls... wonderful ballads composed by CREA. They were super underrated, especially for Dolls.

Having said that, I think the reason why she just stopped was because composing isn't an easy job... Songs like M were not composed the normal way... as in she used a uncommon scale to compose the song so perhaps Ayu compose songs that are not the cookie-cutter method so it's even more difficult.

We still have random CREA masterpieces like WONDERLAND, winding road, Will and Humming 7/4 though... Though WONDERLAND is the best out of all these. Haha.

Maybe we'll see a few CREA songs in future albums!

Actually though a lot of people hated on her MY STORY material saying that it was boring. D:


It's kinda sad. :<

Oh well. Something from each album just has to 'suck' to other people. When will they ever realize that they don't have to be that picky?

Never?


Even back during 2002/2003, people seemed to be kinda picky when Ayu was at her prime :|

Haha. I personally feel that the 'flaws' (whatever they are) of every album a perfect touch and transition to the overall feel of the albums.