[fantaisie.sign]

Oops, I'm late to the conversation yet again...

Originally Posted by jimex289

I have a feeling her 50th will see something very big.

Originally Posted by all.night.raver

I hope 50 just shatters them all

This is the one thing that worries me about the 50th single: having very high expectations. While it's great to be excited for a possible single that's several months away, I personally think that's it's not good to maintain such high hopes for months at a time because it makes disappointment almost inevitable. I've seen that time and time again on AHS. Looking back over her past singles, Ayu seems to have found her niche and might not change her sound *too* much for that milestone release. For some weird reason, I keep thinking it'll contain a song similar to "Who..." in terms of sound and lyrics. Whatever it is, Avex will heavily promote it without a doubt, painting Shibuya with Ayumi Hamasaki posters lol.

Originally Posted by all.night.raver

Although forgiveness was terrible for the 30th single. Especially since they celebrated the 30th with a special live. I mean... forgiveness…?

I was an AHS member back when "forgiveness" was released, and I honestly do not remember a lot of hype behind that single. My memory might be terribly faulty, but I do remember all the mixed opinions on the song and people frantically trying to figure out the Engrish at the end of the song lol. I like "forgiveness" dearly and thought it deserved to be the 30th single because of its rich, sonorous arrangement and other characteristics that distinguished it from Ayu's preceding ballads. It really doesn't deserve all the "hate" it gets, especially when you look at the song itself from a technical standpoint.

Again my memory is probably faulty, but the only ballad that Avex hyped like crazy was "HEAVEN" which they compared to "My Heart Will Go On" back in 2005. Of course, part of that was due to the release of Shinobi which used "HEAVEN" as its theme song.

Originally Posted by Tony G

I've never associated ayu with 'filler' tracks. She's one of the few artists that puts just as much into the album tracks as she does into the single tracks. Often, the album tracks are better!

I wholeheartedly agree with this! Like SoldierofSilence said, some of her album tracks are definitely underappreciated.

Originally Posted by identity

I'm seriously dying for the moL piano version and Last Links orchestra version.

Originally Posted by Pieces_of_SEVEN

Really? I'm actually anticipating the Microphone and Don't look back remixes more.

I'm anticipating them all, but the "meaning of Love" and "Last Links" remixes excite me a little bit more because Ayu's classical remixes are incredible and turn out amazingly well. The dance/electronic/trance/techno/breakbeat remixes, on the other hand, are very hit or miss; they're either exceptionally well done or sadly terrible. My expectations are already super high for the "Don't Look Back" remix because I love that song so gosh darn much, meaning I'll likely be disappointed. I keep wondering how a MSTRKRFT remix of "Don't Look Back" would sound if they ever made one. Now *that* would be EPIC!