Quote:
Originally Posted by waterballoon
Like how MY STORY is very lyric-based, and (miss)understood is genre-based, and GUILTY is emotion-based...
I think NEXT LEVEL is like arrangement-based.
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Best insight on this thread, in my opinion.
It's a parallel that no one else here agrees with, but I do think that's why this album has such a kinship with LOVEppears. They are both arrangement-based albums.
Too many extratextual readings here: what Ayu said on her blog, how she needs to take a long break so she can make better music, how this album is so last-minute, blah blah blah. Whatever, I don't really care, and I don't see how those factors translate into artistic worth. Particular pet peeve: this was a rushed album. And so? Rushed = bad? Wong Kar Wai made Chungking Express as a break when filming for Ashes of Time ran long, and I'd argue that Chungking is a better movie. The artistic process is not determined by length of time.
I am by no means a strict formalist, but it seems there is too much autobiography involved in how people determine their opinions.
For me, what an artist says about their work of art is helpful but insufficient, sometimes virtually meaningless. The meaning of a work of art is created by negotiation between artistic intention, critical appraisal, and the object itself.
I think this is an album that will sound better in retrospect. As to masterpiece status, I'm not yet sure.
Worst album is still A Song for XX. Talk about a lack of artistic identity. And followed by Guilty. Talk about artistic exhaustion.
As to those issues with vocals, I'll just say that the human body is not a machine. It ages, evolves, adapts, changes. Even vocal technique-obsessed Mariah these days doesn't sound like Mariah from the old days. To expect the same thing is naive. Personally, I think Ayu's voice is still fine.
I'd put up my own review, but I'm sure everyone's eyes here will glaze over from my pretension
I take analyzing Ayu's music as serious critical business.