|
Well everything needs a catalyst, and the recycling moments in CDL are the catalysts of this post.
I agree this CDL was not perfect. It was not as amazing as 08-09, but it does not show that ayu has lost her "touch".
Music-wise, I actually think she is always creative. Maybe judgeing the quality of her music is a highly subjective thing, but I do love her releases this year. The Rule/ Sparkle single was pretty strong with the songs, especially Sparkle, which was one of her most unique songs in these years. And I am very satisfied with the songs in NEXT LEVEL. Put the four interluds aside, I didnt find any single song from the album boring. NEXT LEVEL is refreshing, rollin' fills her very scarce library of electronic songs these year, most people had been wishing for such an oriental feeling song as GREEN before the release, LOVE 'n' HATE is special: its not ayu's "dark rock" or her typical "ballad"... And what's more, I find the lyrics in the album echoing in my hearts, which only happens in LOVEppears and Duty eras. I don't know why but I was glad for that. So I don't think the title of NEXT LEVEL album was a lie or braggart. It gave me surprise when it came out and I am still very much enjoying it.
And for the music after NEXT LEVEL. Well, the summer single was pretty decent in music. Finally we got a summer song that was not like fairyland-BLUE BIRD. And Sunrise was a pretty strong ballad for summer, which was also highly anticipated since HANABI, right? And the winter ballads have good quality. Although they are not totally diffrent from the previous ones, but they are unique in themselves.
But I agree that what goes wrong sometimes is her image. The cover of S/S was a tragedy, and I do think it negatively affected its sales seriously. Ayu and the photographer are able to make amazing things - - just look at the photo shots in the calendar, "some" of them are really beautiful! The responsibility goes, therefore, to the one who picked up that certain photo and made the decision to use it at the cover, whether the person was ayu or her team. I remember that in her early years she made the choice of producing her own images: she was combining the photos of herself to make the ayu-mi-x II covers. If now it is her team who choose the cover, I wanna kill them. If it is ayu herself, I have to say ayu don't play with yourself, that's not fun. Anyway, after the shocking photos of Rule/Sparkle, NEXT LEVEL album, S/S single and the VIVI in the summer, we finally got satisfaction from the winter stuff. Hope the photos in the future would be better.
For the concerts, which are the catalyst, I have to say I do agree with most of you guys to some extent. She is recycling, which had not happened like this before. But if we look through the whole year of 2009, we see: the PCDL was pretty cool, almost everything WAS new, the GREEN/Will performance was highly creative and beautiful, and pink outfit for the old songs also gave her energy back. And in the corner was just unique. The only thing recycled in PCDL was just the silver belt during her dark rock songs. What starts to be serious was the AT 09 tour, including the a-nation. I agree the some of the concept and outfits are recycled, although I still find the show entertaining, especially the rollin' Sparkle NEXT LEVEL performance. Then we have the CDL, and I want to quote myself in another post:
About the recylcling, I have to say, ayu herself is different, and it is the way ayu performs that gives us a whole new performance.
However, I think sometimes the way of her performance years ago seemed to be better than the present ones. For example, the I am... in 2002 was epic because of the combinition of music, costume, theme, video, choreography, and POWER. You could really tell how much power there was in her eyes, as well as vocals, that could convey the message of that song. But in this CDL, ayu chooses not to be as "cold or strong" as she was in the 2002 stage. Instead, she is focusing in just singing, which is not a bad thing, but the performance has, as a result, less essence.
The same goes to the 1 LOVE performance. The AT07 performance was extremely sexy, because of costume, hair, make-up etc. This time, maybe the camera stays too far away from her, I cannot really see anything, just feel that the new performance in CDL is more fierce than sexy, due to her image of performance.
But there are certain songs only the present ayu can do well. When I heard the RED LINE in the end, I feel very moved. I know ayu could not do this in 2001 or 2005, when it was either her summit of career or the mature period. Having gone through all of these, the present ayu know how to convey the message in RED LINE, so she is doing that impressively, which I like.
So, if ayu choose to re-do her older classics, she should consider how she perform and convey the MESSAGE of the song in a good way, which gives her songs and tours life.
But I also think that it is just fine to do some thing not new for CDL. CDL is just a time for ayu to be with her fans and celebrate the entering into a new year. What tests her creativity is the Tour. Let's just wait for Tour 2010.
So in year 2009, her music was strong as usual. Image was too dramatic. And concerts are fine with the overall effect of AT09 (It's just fun). But SHE REALLY NEED A VOCAL COACH. BUT SHE WILL HAVE MORE TOURS IN 2010 SO I DONT REALLY KNOW HOW SHE WILL DO THAT!......
|