For me, the only album Next Level can beat is GUILTY, and not by much. The album reflects the cover, which was very "eccentric" >_>
She definitely changed it up this time around with the electronic effects, but all the new album songs sound like other songs I've heard before with the "electronic effect" placed upon it for me. The singles for me were not even that great. The only song I liked was days, but then again I could just listen to her old songs to get that :S ~! Next Level the title song was good. It was composed by DAI so i'm nto surprised that its one of the rare tracks I like on this album besides days and probably 2 of her interludes >_> The only rule she broke for that song was with the music video. She looked fatter in black... breaking the rule black makes you look skinnier :S She looked skinnier in the Sparkle PV. Sparke wasn't even likable for me... yes I'm one of the rare people. It sounded like three different songs mashed up into one total mess for me. GREEN was just boring, I Don't know how else to describe it for me and the music video was a waste of money.
You guys probably think I'm being very critical of her, but thats how I really feel =/ I was shocked to read that people think this album could be one of their favourites. Secret will beat this album for me any day. Secret to me is really underrated. Although it may not be experimental, it was a decent album that got me listening to it.
Her lyrics are so messy now :S. Sure they're bettter than a lot of other artists, but compared to before, I think they've gone down hill by a lot.
Her music videos have REALLY been focused on making her look sexy, which really does not work for me. Unlike kuu she doesn't have the body shape for this image to work. I think she looked REALLY silly especially in Sparkle... The music video was just silly and unappealing for me. I thought the drive for Next Level's music video was WAY better than her weird vinyl scene or w.e. the material was, they should've just stuck with the opening scene because I liked that part the most for the mv.
I'm not surprised at the sales of the album because I think the album wasn't very good. If she's going to release this type of electo-pop, I'd prefer it if she left it for perfume. I feel Ayu is definitely not putting enough effort in her music and too much in her tours. I mean, ur tours are going to fall if no1 likes your music anymore :S
I personally don't really care about emotion. Its nice to have, but a song could be good without the emotion. The only problem for me was that I didn't receive emotion and I still didn't like the songs.
I really hope her next album will actually be a step up, not another album that will just sprial downwards.
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"Isn't it ironic that more people are interested in the maid rather than the queen of J-pop? Someone's losing their touch in the industry"
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