|
BLUE BIRD - 7/10
BLUE BIRD is a decent attempt by Ayumi to produce a summery song with a trance feel. I think the song's a nice summer song and I totally love the introduction and bridge. They're contrasting and they bring about this sense of ethereal nature. However, I would have appreciated they put more effort into the composition of the song as it's starting to sound a little generic and I guess everyone agrees it has that fairyland-sque feel. fairyland was a better song in my opinion because composition wise it was more elaborate and it was multi-faceted (happiness with sadness). BLUE BIRD was more single-sided in its expression (happy and relaxing moods). Still, I think it's a good summer song, not outstanding though. It's really nice though if you increased your volume slightly louder, because then you're able to pick up more instrumentation and probably appreciate the song better.
My judgement of this song is also waivered by the fact that Beautiful Fighters does not seem to throw in any contrast to the emotions of happiness. (Her summer single predecessors all had songs of varied beats and emotions for the tracklist; }{: independent-July 1st-HANABI, &: Ourselves-Greatful Days-HANABI~episode II, INSPIRE: INSPIRE-GAME)
Beautiful Fighters - 8.5/10
Beautiful Fighters came as a refreshing change from her other songs. I don't think the song sounds cutesy pop, neither does it sound generic. I really appreciated this song for the influx of happy feelings coupled with a sense of camaraderie (with all the GO! GO!). I think composition wise it's really unique as opposed to other Ayu songs. Starting off with the whistles and slightly erratic composition, I felt overall quite wowed by the song. It's a clean break away from the kind of songs she's been doing and it's a great new style.
Ladies Night ~another night~ - 9/10
I reckon this is one of her best remixes in a long time. Ever since Ayu started doing songs like HANABI ~episode II~, GAME, About You, I've fallen in love with Ayu's rock side and I think it's amazing how tasuku arranged the composition to suit Ladies Night. It's not just a typical remix, but there were ups and downs in the music variation, sudden pauses. I'm glad much thought was put into the planning of the arrangement. It comes out to be quality work in my opinion and it has definitely made me love the song much more. Hopefully we'll be getting more of songs like this and that Ayu will seriously consider releasing A ROCK.
BLUE BIRD (Harderground remix) - 8/10
I didn't really appreciate the HEAVEN Trance Remix for some reason. It just didn't seem to click with me. At that juncture, I thought it was the end of trance remixes for Ayu. That was until the BLUE BIRD (Harderground remix) came along! I think it was rather well remixed (though my favourite remixes would always stay on Ayu-mi-x III and IV) but I think it lacked a little sophistication. I would have appreciated it if the composer had tried to infuse some other styles into the song. Nevertheless, it's really great still and there's a good amount of melody and vocals.
BLUE BIRD PV - 7/10
I think the BLUE BIRD PV is one of the most relaxing PVs that Ayu has ever done. The entire PV made me smile a lot and it's quite my idea of an ideal getaway. Not to mention it has Ayu with the most beautiful summer shot (i.e. shots that were taken in series with the last shot of the PV). Superb actually for a summer PV! However, the PV would have gotten higher ratings from me if it had actually debuted first before fairyland because when I watch the PV, I have an impression of a 'fairyland downgrade to mid-grade' PV. It's like "Hey, let's try to do another fairyland but OOPS, we have insufficient money, so let's do BLUE BIRD". I got a little sick of the beach-themed influences and there was no contrast whatsoever to anything. INSPIRE was a good PV because not only did it have beach-themed influences, it had some exotic influence too. That makes a good PV. BLUE BIRD was the beach, beach, beach and MORE beach. Not that I don't like the beach, but the paradigm seems to be hanging on the beach and the sea. No doubt, it's ideal if you could get on a boat, go into the sea and have fun with friends (I believe that's what Ayu's trying to express as well) BUT I think the theme was overly predominant. I appreciated the scene of brief greenery in the PV when Ayu was on top of a hill but I'm starting to loathe her attire and makeup there, hence effectively nullifying the scene's impact on me.
Conclusively, great PV, good summer getaway PV, but overused beach theme with one horrendous attire (i.e. the reddish raw-nature themed dress she wore on the hill).
Oh yar, I almost forgot about her DANCERS. The problem with the PV? It has the shadow of a cameraman appearing in 00:53 on her skirt and there's WAY TOO much spotlight on her DANCERS. I want to see more of Ayu, not her dancers. They're flamboyant and very annoying I would say. I used to think they were fine until they started to share rather equal screentime collectively with Ayu. This takes away the bulk of the scores I had intended to give her. No more "dancers take up equal screentime" crap. People buy the album and the single to see Ayu, NOT her dancers.
You should still watch the PV though, it's really colourful and I reckon it's one of the most colour-rich PVs.
Beautiful Fighters PV - 9/10
New PV Concept! I really like the PV because it's showing us another facade of Ayu. No more "Hey, I'm pretty" portrayals (e.g. is this LOVE? PV), this one comes off with her DISTINCTLY as a race car girl! I liked how they incorporated the screw-ups in life with the PV, like how no matter how screwed up you think your life is, there'll always be an opportunity for you to shine in areas of life you're good at. The overall optimistic mood of the PV is great! It really brings a smile to your face. I think the feature of the screw-ups that each of the girls made was good as well. Ayu's screw-up was really really cute! I think the rest of the girls had some pretty funny screw-ups as well! However, herein lies my complaint as well. Again, her dancers seem to be getting equal screentime. I think it's much better in this PV though as her dancers appear to flow with the PV storyline (BLUE BIRD just had the same dancers with horrendously intrusive attitudes). Still, it's quite annoying and I hope they had gotten Ayu instead to potray all the "problematic situations". Ayu's really at risk of over-exposing her dancers. They get too annoying. I would rather see more of her than them.
Conclusion
Conclusively, I think you should really get the single. The single cover and design is one of the most colourful and beautiful we've seen in her recent works and the content quite's worth the value, not to mention the totally beautiful posters!
However, I hope Ayu does NOT feature any more of her dancers and stops reusing the beach theme unless she plans to add on new facets. It's getting on my nerves already.
Overall rating: 8/10
|