Quote:
Originally Posted by FuNsTyLe
I see your point, yeah it does make sense. But I still think (and I'm not trying to sound arrogant) that I (and other long-term fans) can see quite a change from what it used to be. Not only musically, but her career as a whole, like bluegie stated in the post further up on the page.
She seems almost a bit drowned in her own success, as if she think's it's not necessary to come uyp with new stuff anymore because her fans will love it anyway, so she can just take an old song, make small changes, then it's a new one. Seriously, don't you think her "rock" songs sound very alike? Arrangment, intro, bridges, instruments etc? Compare RULE, 1LOVE, Talkin 2 Myself, GAME, Because of You, Decision... Basically the same song
Or compare Together When, Days, You were, Part of me,
Of course she has some good fresh sounding tracks every now and then, Mirrorcle World and HEAVEN comes to mind. But fresh songs are getting more and more rare in her releases...
|
In all fairness though, you could say a lot of her older songs sound the same too. However, I think the songs that sounded similar were confined to one album/era. The thing with the "rock" songs is I think they're all interchangeable and not really defining of any certain era/album. You could put "Rule" on Secret and "1 LOVE" on NEXT LEVEL and they wouldn't feel out of place. It's her sound, really.. There's a lack of progression.
My friend who generally doesn't like JPOP but likes Ayu thinks her old stuff is really bad, even when I say LOVEppears and Duty are her absolute best albums. He said those albums all sound like one extended song, which you know.. I can see his point in some ways. But personally, I loved when her albums were more cohesive. I think it began with MY STORY when she insisted on creating albums with like 5 different genres.
I think we really have to take lyrics into consideration. I'm sure Ayu's initial success didn't have much to do with her sound. ASFXX and LOVEppears were hardly revolutionary in terms of genre. especially ASFXX which sounded dated even at the time of its release! Whether all her rock songs sound alike or not, they still all have different lyrics. And what is Ayu better known for than her lyrics?