Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - View Single Post - [News] New Album TROUBLE on August 15th ~III~
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Old 7th August 2018, 11:12 PM
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hidekirby hidekirby is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: France
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Quote:
Originally Posted by primavera♥ View Post
I would kind of like to know what's on her mind outside of song lyrics honestly.
It's a question I'm asking myself more and more while seeing the artistic decisions made for a while now. I even really wonder if she really has any deep artistic vision in term of melody/composition/arrangements or if she relies on her team a lot. Or that she just may have low standards herself.
I know it can sound a bit harsh but I genuinely wonder about it and TROUBLE is the perfect demonstration.

We are the QUEENS
It’s a bit like Mirrorcle World ugly and evil twin sister. You know the one that you keep locked and chained in the attic, away from the outside world, the darkest secret of the whole family, afraid that one night she will break free taking her revenge while you sleep. The fake orchestra and cheap sounds bother me a lot. I could never understand the way the «orchestra» part of the bridge is introduced… It just starts out of nowhere, cutting into the beat and the mood. I may be the only one having this feeling though because nobody complained haha! I can understand why people like this song though.

aeternal
When I first listened to the first demo version I thought it would only be another uninspired / lazy type of happy song with the same structure, progression, arrangements she has been doing for more than 10 years now. But I was wrong. Not only it has the same structure, progression, arrangements she has been doing for more than 10 years now, it also has vocals that are not my cup of tea at all. Well I totally understand some people might like those vocals over high-pitched ones. Unfortunately I don’t… She sounds hoarse and breathless to me. I like the sad part of the bridge with guitars and the little glass-like sounds just after. I really don’t like (I’m censoring myself here) the same beatbox she uses in every summer song (no, in fact it is even in songs like momentum), the HAL chimes and the fake violins all over the song…

WORDS
Her voice is contrasting so much with the previous track. This is the perfect example of a pretty safe song, nothing groundbreaking, nothing really creative, but everything works for me here (hello Love songs !). I dont know... It feels genuine to me. And her voice… It's still giving me eargasms after almost one year. This is the voice I felt in love with and I love to death… It may be forced and unnatural… but I can’t help. I’m still not tired of this song at all. <3

W
I'm SO glad she sticks with rock inspired songs as they don't seem to be really popular with her Japanese fanbase. Those are most of the time the songs that make me still be a fan despite disappointments (my god FLOWER... what a amazingly fresh song... And after almost 20 years of intense production). Always had a soft spot for military marching drums. I understand when people say the chorus feels incomplete but it doesn’t really bother me… It’s adding to the rawness / roughness of the song IMO. It may be the closest «rock» song she has done with alterna. It is not as great though, but good enough to me. At least it feels unique in her discography.

The way I am
The beginning tells everything… Like with aeternal I can almost picture the whole song already. It is quite annoying. Same arrangements as always with this type of song. The fake violins are just irritating. Like really. I like the melody though but it is not enough. This song could have been much more… I just want to skip it. Her voice is better here than in aeternal IMO.

So…
What a really peculiar release. It indeed feels forced and planned last minute to content fans. I would have prefer to wait longer and have a real album with a complete conception.

I will just feel the need to listen to WORDS over again and W.
Two years after her last album I just hold on to one new track and a previous digital release… It is quite underwhelming indeed. Looking forward to her next release...

Oh guys!! What if AWA announcement is... Poetry Reading for the other 4 songs?
Kidding.

Last edited by hidekirby; 8th August 2018 at 12:07 AM.