It was The a capella version of The Way I am ! :)

She did the same 'huu huuu' during the LINE LIVE (at the end of the song )

I only listened the whole album once and it's not that good, lol.
But my favorite songs by ayu usually the one that I hate at my first listen, soo finger crossed.

Highly disappointed. I don't expect anything from Ayumi anymore but come on ... she deserves better. Better than these uninspired tracks and cheap arrangements.

I still had hopes regarding W as I love rock Ayu but even that track is kinda lame. I mean compare it to Because of You, decision, is this LOVE, Heartplace, 1LOVE, alterna that where high quality productions with amazing choruses. Even Tell all ...

I gave it a try and listened to it several times but no. I will just cherish Ayu for her past works and forget the uninteresting stuff she keeps on releasing now.

actually I don't think most of the users read the essays but okay. slayed. snatched. pressed.

Agreed, even songs from I'am... which released in 2002 sounds fresher than this album. Sometimes I just wonder how ayu could produce such songs in her peak (2000-2002), which still sounds good until now.

^ To be honest, those were really like "golden years" of J-Pop and there was so much great, interesting music coming out. You started to see some slight western influences in the music, but it was still very truly J-Pop with its own distinctive twist on things.

I think across the board, J-Pop has gotten much more dull and watered down, and that's not just Ayu - it's the whole industry, the producers, composers, etc.

^ completely agree. that time you could pick five albums from different artists/groups and they would all be very diverse and GOOD.

j-pop went downhill this decade for me

All this BRILLANTE love :luv2 She really snapped on that track and is such a gem in her discography.

I don't know what's going on with all the drama and, frankly, I don't necessarily want to read through all of it. lol
But I've read things like "She doesn't put her heart into it" or "She's only doing it for the money" since RAINBOW, so it got REALLY old by now. It basically boils down to "I don't like it" = "it's halfa**ed/rushed/for money/etc." Not liking something is fine, but people don't have to put all these grand theories into practice each time. I think she's doing music for music's sake, because that is what she loves. She had the sales, the records, the fame - now she can make the music she wants to make, without the need to follow any guidelines because of ad deals etc.
Do I have things I wished she'd changed? Yes. Of course I do. But loving someone is taking the person the way they are, with all their faults and flaws, and if you can't do that then leave. You can always come back again. I was on an Ayu hiatus, too, so I know what I'm talking about. ^_-

I haven't listened to the new songs on TROUBLE yet, but I have to say that I think she can do better than the lyrics to W. I was looking forward to the women empowering song, I actually thought she will take her fangirling over YELLO shoes as the base for it, but I don't quite understand what's so empowering about it. I do like the part of her styling being like an armour, though.

I would as far as saying the biggest pop markets are all pretty stale nowadays.

And this also is the public's "blame" to a point, as a popstar can't produce music people aren't willing to buy.

BRILLIANTE is an amazing song however it doesn’t come too close to anything on Memorial Address for me. Except from Greatful days.

Also all this drama cuz she released a couple of new songs. Jesus people. Plenty of other music out there, more accessible than ever. Take your pick. Leave the woman alone.

Hey guys, I don't wanna create any fake hopes
yet don't you remember this Insta story posted on June 21?!


https://pasteboard.co/Hy5KRWK.jpg

She was in the sudio with Tasuku and Nobita yet the tracks that were revealed do not involved those 2 guys...
Where did this song go?! ⬅️

I give very very low expectation for this alum so I don't disappointed much. aeternal is quite catchy to me.

True!
Maybe it didn't fit TROUBLE's atmosphere. Or...

I agree. Especially since she won't change her ways, because some people get angry on a forum.

As for Memorial address, what I like about the mini album, and why I think it's so well done, is because every song has a pairing of sorts.

^I believe there is more material to come ;- ) And today I am already enjoying the whole mini. I feel Ayu there :)

it's possible that tasuku arranged "W" and Nobita worked on vocal arrangements (this is pretty standard)

@loggman and/or? @andrenekoi
Whaaa. I won’t indulge your decidedly inchoate defenses, but sir/ma’am, Ayu WAS the zeitgeist. She’s no longer capable. I suggest you read a little on semiotics and semantics, but you might be a lost cause as far as communication, but I’m sure you redeem yourself to your loved ones in other admirable ways. In the end, you have good taste in some music so you’re probably swell.

Ayu sliced open her stomach to paint on the canvasses of I am..., etc with her viscera. Trouble is more like a burp in a box. It’s how I felt. Or a paper snake in a can.

@love in music
No shade cause I’ve always thought you’re smart and interesting. But in reply: Dramatic? Probably but that’s part of my personality. I think sobriety on a forum for j-pop music has that flexibility in social mores, but that’s just me. AHS should hardly be thought of as a microcosmic utopia of “idealized” human behavior, but again, it’s how I see web interaction with strangers, and I don’t know any Ayu fans so there we are.

I really don’t get why we can’t all get along. It’s OK to not be simulacra of each other all feeling the same things at once. Read a book.

^
I'm very glad she's not representing the zeitgeist of the Japanese music industry at the moment, she'd be adding 30 more little ayus from ages 8 - 20 using CDs as lottery tickets. Or maybe she could become and enka singer, appeal in a rapidly aging Japanese society...

Agreed. As many of my favourite artists stopped releasing or became house wives, I couldn't find any acts to replace them. And most artists aren't releasing material at the same pace as before and focus on touring.

I think in the end, after two years of silence while all over the world the state of things are reaching an all-time low, Ayu being Earthian I expected Ayu to deliver something... balmy? I’ve always thought that entertainers shouldn’t be expected to be embassadors of the human race and All That Is Good blah blah, but she willingly accepted that onus herself, a long time ago, so I’m just chagrined at this delivery.