[Coelacanth]

The notion of infinite "progress" and continual growth prevalent in today's consciousness is carrying over to the arts, in disastrous ways.

As everyone knows, my opinion on Namie's music (as well as contemporary Western pop and K-pop) hasn't been kind. It's mostly discordant, loud, soulless music hiding behind a lot of incoherent tech-noise. The abuse of synthesizers and programming is absolutely vulgar (I'm not sparing Ayu's recent work, either), and the kicker is, it's done pretty much without any kind of irony. In a world obsessed with iPhones, tablets, and all the latest techno-toys, it's not surprising that EDM has become the model for all current pop music. The way it sounds these days, is so decadent, and so lacking in self-awareness... Listen to the way synthesizers are implemented in the music of Kraftwerk, Devo, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Japan, etc. It's craftsmanship at its finest.

Music production is unfortunately all about one-upmanship now. Melody and harmony take a backseat, whereas loudness and "progress" are emphasized. People have ZERO attention span, so they need everything to sound "new" and "fresh," "something we've never heard before!" even if it's just an incoherent collage of digital beeps and clashes.

A ONE, was, in a sense... Ayu coming to such a realization about Colours and going "back to basics". Though her arrangers and engineers did go overboard on a few of the songs, I think the obnoxiousness of "The Show Must Go On," whether intentional or not, is really compelling. Melodically, it's a beautiful song, especially in the quiet verses... but the beauty of the harmony is de-emphasized by overzealous engineers and techno-obsessed producers. "No matter how much the times change..." Ayu sings, it's as if the song is commenting on the tension in today's world between the old and the modern, minimalism and decadence, harmony and discordance—but life must go on, the show must go on, I guess.