[AyumiFanGuy]

Originally Posted by evolusean

Like I said, Ayu (just as Hikki and Yuna Ito) is in the Japanese market where the overwhelming masses (speaking Japanese) wouldn’t know any different. Guaranteed Ayu herself doesn’t understand the nuance of her titling. I don’t know Yuna Ito well enough to judge, but Utada Hikaru’s sound is significantly more urban and casual than Ayu’s, and Tryin’ fits her style; this type of speech is embraced in urban music and art. When paired with Ayu, however, who has a more traditionally poetic style, it just sounds like she is trying to be overly American without understanding how these things really work. It makes it feel like another silly song she made because it’s her job, when she used to take her music so seriously as expression.

I have to totally agree with you on this. The cutting off of "ing" really is something that is reminiscent of the urban genres. That's not to imply that it's a "black" thing, or strictly a rap/hip-hop thing. It's just a more urban style, inner city type thing. Take "Startin'" for example. If you watch the video, there are several things (including the music) to imply that she's trying to pop-ify a type of urban style, even parts of her vocals have a more urban feel to them. While I'm not the biggest fan of Startin', she certainly pulled it off pretty well, IMO.

From the sound of the title alone, I kind of expect 「talkin' 2 myself」 to sound either something rock/urban-ish like Startin' or something totally different. Who knows?

This isn't the first odd title Ayumi's had and we all know it. Take Are You Wake Up?, Bold & Delicious, STEP you, my name's WOMEN, Heartplace, etc... In my opinion, she should stick with her more traditional titles because this makes it seem (to me) that she is trying to appear stylish and fun - and there's nothing wrong with that, if that is the case. It's just that, well...I'm kind of waiting for Ayumi to, I don't know, realize that she's not like she was when she was doing evolution, AUDIENCE, Boys & Girls, etc...I can't wait for a much more mature sound to her music...

As for decision, I'm personally hoping for either a ballad like HEAVEN or a rock-ish song like alterna. ^_^ That would be great!!!