[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

if i ever decide to download the album, I'm changing its name to that

i just realized: if people don't buy this, then that buy all 5 releases gift thing is crashed dead burned.

I think that was just a way to get people to actually buy all 5 releases. You'll probably get a free wallpaper for your computer from all that effort. I mean, it's not like Ayu is going to send you a personalized video recording or anything.

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

Yeah, 2012 definitely is the worst year Ayu has ever had, musically speaking. I hope her fans cease from buying into this kind of lazy, uninspired work to force her into seriously rethinking and reconsidering the future direction of her musical career. Frankly, this kind of garbage is a one-way ticket to dinner theater and discount bins. She needs a healthy shock to her system to get that creativity flowing again.

I'm always optimistic when it comes to Ayu, but seriously, from Five onwards she has been nothing but a major disappointment. Hikki released one song and one video this year, and both of those blew away all that Ayu had done for the past couple of years. At this point, Ayu should think about collaborating (it worked for Namie) with REAL artists and younger composers and not just random and old people she likes. Superfly, Yasutaka Nakata, Funky Monkey Babys, Naoto Inti Raymi, Jake Shimabukuro, Mr. Children, Kuwata Keisuke, Ikimonogakari. You know, COOL people. If she continues on this track, she'll most likely end up as an irrelevant fossil before her time.

No kidding. At this rate, it's not that the music has been a complete waste, but that the effort to promote and put on a show for it is really about Dollar-Store quality here. I've never seen cheaper, more uninteresting videos from Ayu in her entire career than in these last 2-3 years. The only video that didn't feel cheap was Why....

And I keep shopping this picture of Seiko Matsuda around so people understand what direction Ayumi is heading in:



I really don't want to see Ayumi get to the point where she's as lazy or annoying as Seiko Matsuda became.

Originally Posted by Didz-19

can't really blame Avex or Ayu~~since the fans who voted the songs they like~but hey, let's just wait for the album....but I definitely will buy..oh wait!...i did pre-order this album last month~HAHAHAHA!

Yes, we can definitely blame them. They honestly could have put more remixes on the album, or picked a better cover, or said, "No, we'll have to scratch the whole idea and go with something else." And they'd probably have a better "gift" than this garbage.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

That's a bit harsh imo. (not just a bit, a lot actually) 'again' seems to be rather loved by most people (PV-wise, snowy kiss/Wake me up not so much but Sweet scar is liked) so it's not like she's spiraling into nothingness at the moment. These releases are meant to be a celebration and people don't seem to realize that WE'RE GETTING 5 RELEASES IN 5 MONTHS. For the majority of 2012, we had Party Queen and A SUMMER BEST and now we've got 2 new minis, a classical album, and two other releases to look forward to.

BTW, FUNKY MONKEY BABYS announced their disbandment and most (all?) of those acts would definitely NOT mesh with Ayu as 'cool' as they are. Unfortunately, I don't think Ayu will collaborate much anymore after the whole JUNO/Urata thing that went on at a-nation. She tried it out and then it kind of just went boom on her, but it's likely because a-nation ended up being Ayu+Urata instead of mainly Ayu.

And I don't think she's working necessarily with all 'old' composers since her most recent release had a track composed by a duo from a British production group which is a step in the right direction in terms of finding 'new people' to work with. (Though she could have just gotten the demo because she liked it)

No, she's not spiraling into nothingness. But she is spiraling into an abyss where there's little to zero actual artistic output on her part. Every song these days is the same: The song is about parting ways with someone, she wants to do the breakup thing in the music video, and then she wants to have the cover be some really plain shot of her. We've seen it a good 3 or 4 times in the last two years.

FMB is disbanding because one of them is becoming a priest, right?

And that's awesome, HEY! we're getting FIVE releases in five months! But I also remember back in late 2009-2010, when we had You were.../BALLAD, RnRC, Moon/blossom, crossroad, L, and Ls all come out within one year. That was a good year compared to today. From 1999-2000, Ayumi had a new release almost every month, either a single or album or remix or DVD or something. And those didn't suck.

Ayu's collaborations don't stop at collaborations though. That's what I don't like about when she works with someone featured in her songs. The guy doesn't just appear for one awesome song, he ends up doing 17 remixes, shows up in 38 of her concerts, then ends up producing her next album. I don't get why it's so hard to say, "Hey Timmy, you were awesome for that one song, but I really don't need to gag everyone with your presence."

Originally Posted by TeamAyu2004

the bolded part: If anything, I think this year she has shown that she is creative... just from Party Queen to You and Me and then to again, all this is hugely different. Just because you dont like it, doesnt mean its not creativity.

also I rather enjoyed FIVE and party queen... some of her best work, and then again. this is an amazing time in the ayu world and I hope she does continue down this path.

Creative? Sure. I know a lot of people who are "creative" and make complete, useless crap from their creativity. PQ was a great album for only a couple songs. After 20 minutes of listening, you have to be drunk and wearing a shoe on your face just to "imagine" where Ayu is coming from in the music. I'm still very angry with them for not releasing Return Road as a single, and I probably always will be. I would NOT, however, call anything at the end of PQ "creative". I would call it life threatening white noise.

I would never call FIVE or PQ some of her "best work". I think if you feel that way, you really don't have a well-rounded perspective on her career. I would say she's had some best work from points in her career, but her "best work" isn't anything released in the last 5 years.

Originally Posted by AyuHamasaki01

Is this real? xD

Yes. It's OK. You can cry now.

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

praying for a NEW album.

but if a best album will help with her sales, then fine.

I'm not! I don't want a new record if this is what we've gotten from smaller projects!

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Because it's a gift for fans, everything got rearranged by Kousuke Yamashita.

The versions on LOVE will most definitely NOT be the same as what ends up on here. They should be utterly superior compared to her standard "Orchestra / Acoustic Orchestra / Acoustic Piano" mixes.

Hopefully if people haven't listened to MY STORY Classical and don't know the difference between the remixes that are on singles and what they will probably get with this album will do so because IMO the difference is HUGE.

However, GAME only had strings on MY STORY Classical -BUT- they were very powerful and a lot more full sounding than her usual string-only rearrangements. I think it's because there was an effort to make the track 'work' with strings?

This is a really rude gift. And I do honestly expect the same remixes from LOVE to be on the album... why? Because it's cost effective to reuse those songs and saves on the time needed to re-record them for this remix album.

I don't want to burst any bubbles here, but I don't have high expectations for this because, like when FIVE came around, it was really easy to have high expectations for something she hasn't done in a long time and have them very succinctly crushed.

Originally Posted by spanishfan

Musically is one of the best years for Ayu. Party Queen is amazing, You&Me bleh, but LOVE and again are amazing too.

But as an artist this may be one of the worst years for her, her fans are who are criticizing her, I bet she doesn't mind about media, but she love her fans and they are now who are not supportin her. That's sad. Fortunatly she's in love, that's the most important thing in life, even for Ayumi Hamasaki, no matter sales, no matther charts.

Musically, not one of her best years. Release-wise maybe. She's had a number of releases (apparently couldn't fit a SINGLE- SIIINGGGGLLLEEE in there anywhere!) but ultimately, musically, it's never sounded more disjointed.

And she's in love until maybe February at the latest, when she'll get another divorce or make another song about how distant she felt in that relationship. Ayu really doesn't seem like the type to last long in relationships. Maybe she's just too much of a workaholic?

Originally Posted by harufi

So disappointed The cover just screams laziness and I was expecting JEWEL on the tracklist.
So many other songs that ought to have been on this release.

I'm actually happy JEWEL is not on here. It's one less thing to be disappointed about when the album actually comes out.

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

^It's just really frustrating as a longtime fan because I know what she is capable of: incredible, game-changing music. Why hasn't she reached this level in such a long while? Her sound and image are indistinguishable and unremarkable in the current musical landscape. I actually think she should scrap her whole musical template and start from scratch. Ayu should start looking beyond the small circle of friends and collaborators that she has formed and which is now suffocating her aesthetically. The same boring old music, boring old photos, boring old makeup, boring old nails, boring old hair, boring old fashion, boring old concerts, boring old concerns. She should stop living in her glorious past and fossilizing herself.

Yes, many of these artists won't mesh well with Ayu. That is why I think that is something she needs. Some dissonance in her discography, some chaos in her complacent approach to music. Make videos with Mika Ninagawa. Have photobooks by Rinko Kawauchi. Have album covers by Miwa Yanagi, Ai Yazawa. Have concerts actually choreographed by a real choreographer (Rino Nakasone, for example). There is such a wealth of artists and designers in Japan I don't know why she can't manage to find them.

Personally, I found again "pleasant". But I don't want "pleasant" anymore. I want something great. It's still too early in her career to let retrospective ideas and fantasies of being a future legend dominate her work. She should wait until she's been around as long as Mr. Children, B'z, Southern All Stars, or Yumi Matsutoya before she can rest, take it easy, and be "lazy".

^^ You need to give a worldwide speech about this epidemic.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Unfortunately, they normally mention in the descriptions if new vocals are involved, which in this case is -NOT- the case, so we'll probably get old vocal tracks like with MY STORY Classical.

I think she's fine doing things the way she wants, really. If she's changing 'just to be different' or to forcefully shake things up, it'd go against her 'code' as an artist. From the very beginning, she's just done what she wanted and that's been enough. Even now, imo, though it's a bit less well received than say, her work in the early to mid 2000s.

It's not simply a matter of "will they mesh with Ayu" I think, but also... will they even do it? Does she even want to? In this case, I think first and foremost, she has to have an interest in venturing into those other genres or other 'people' first compared to right now she has a team that 'works' with her style and what she wants. In the realm of her directors/photographers/etc., I don't see her ever really breaking away from the ones that she has like what she did in 2003 though that would be great. (for those who don't know, in 2003, she kind of took 3 new directors/filmmakers and had them make PVs for &.) It would be nice to have new anything really, but with the way Ayu works, I don't think she or her team are actively pursuing something like that unless they are approached first. Choreography-wise, I don't believe she really needs to have that done since well... she doesn't really 'dance'. But most choreography is handled by her own dancers which isn't too out of the ordinary for pop stars and it's not as though Ayu's music is very dance-oriented to begin with.

Designer-wise, I would say that she's never had an 'amazing' or even a forward thinking design team that does more than just enough to get by unlike a lot of acts. I would hope she could collaborate with Yellow Brain aka Kouki Tange's creative team or the people behind Perfume's normally flawless 'look/feel' but I feel the chance of her ever not using Takuma Noriage or someone from that 'old' team is slim to none. There's an awful lot of 'I want this and I want that' imo when it comes to Ayu fans and I feel like you have to just let things go if you're a fan of her, especially recently because you can't really always get what you want even though you ~know~ it would be good for her. There is talent in Japan, but I believe Ayu probably thinks her current situation is okay (barring that post-2009 staff thing where people got shifted around and RICE MOMOYA suddenly disappeared but perhaps was renamed brg) and she will be fine with what she has which is why it's gone on for so long.

I think we've gotten great from her in the last few years, it's just difficult to gauge and compared considering that her past works were on a different level, or at least judged in a different way. I wonder if many of her tracks or covers that are so loved from 'back then; came out today, would they still be loved or would people sneer at them the way they do with almost everything they do nowadays?

I think the point here isn't that we want this or want that. It just sounds like that when we're complaining. The issue is that Ayumi isn't Mika Nakashima (Whom I honestly love, but I cry a little when she does horrible songs like Hatsukoi), she's not Utada, she's not Namie... she is honestly a game-changer. No one can do Ayumi's sound. alan has tried, and it's failed miserably. She is the only artist that hasn't literally fit snuggly into a very specific genre of music for her entire career, and managed to outsell everyone. What we really want to know is why she's giving up on that. That's all we really want to know.

And we want to know if we need to call A&E's Intervention. Because she has got to be ****ing drunk off her ass on a continual basis if she's filming PVs like these and putting together collections like she has lately.