Quote:
Originally Posted by Jawdarna
There's a definite absence of mysteriousness. Duty, GUILTY, even Party Queen (the 'darker' albums) gloss over quite a bit of detail. LOVE again, I agree, is quite the opposite. It's obscenely explicit in it's detail. You can hear the story; it's not shrouded by the usual platonic mist.
I think it's also quite interesting to note that a lot of us thought that Ayu was acting all 'teenage girl' like when You & Me (and even LOVE) was released. As if, she had totally surrendered herself to finding love. eg. She was going through some form of mid-life crisis.
I think she's going through a mid-life crisis, but not in that girlish, immature way that the fanbase first thought. There are parts of LOVE again that are hauntingly mature. I think that is the terrifying part. 
If Ayu was to ever pose semi-naked on a cover, it should have been for LOVE again!!! |
Exactly! You hit the nail on the head as to why I feel uncomfortable. In previous albums there'd be a few tracks that really exposed that kind of bitterness (Return Road, reminds me on PQ for instance) and then of course there'd be others that felt very exposed from start to finish, but I'm just surprised LOVE again took this approach. It's also a bit depressing if you think about it, because when looking at the songs after experiencing them and their lyrics, the title almost feels like it's exasperated: kind of like "oh, this AGAIN?"
In this regard, when you look at You & Me as the album closer, whether it's orchestrated or not, it actually feels really hollow and sad. We have an entire album full of songs that fluctuate back and forth between love and its experiences, how it can effect those around them or how bitterly it ends, and after songs of courage we get this wistful, almost delusional song about a summer romance, as if it negates the songs before it. The album opens with a call to forget a past love and to move on, and the album ends with reminiscences, as if the person can't escape at all in the end. It's quite sad.