Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - View Single Post - [News] New Album TROUBLE on August 15th ~III~
View Single Post
  #175  
Old 7th August 2018, 10:35 AM
orbitalaspect's Avatar
orbitalaspect orbitalaspect is offline
appears Initiate
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Lakewood, WA (AKA The Real Hell on Earth)
Posts: 1,076
Quote:
Originally Posted by ストロボ・EdGE View Post
Never mind that your intended quip is an incomplete thought, but what I’m really self-consciously embarrassed of is that I literally cried for the first time in a long time all because my favorite and only pop singer that I still follow could have such a poor release. No, I don’t have displaced emotions. I love Ayumi.

And about “flopping”, I don’t care for the term. It’s only that with her trajectory it’s such a painful parallel to her quality and creativity.
We're on the same page here, because this is exactly why I cried pretty heavily over MADE IN JAPAN. It was the first time I heard a little spark of that Ayu in the music in years, but I also realized that it suddenly mattered less for people to hear it. Ayu was a huge deal because she has been a little part of all of our dreams made real. Who truly isn't an Ayu-stan because we universally agree that there are so many aspects to her that no other artist has ever had?

I'm going to disagree that TROUBLE is a bad release. I think it's not as complete a release as it could be. That's all. This is the most on-point she's been with covers, the first time she's done actual promo efforts in years, and as I listen to these songs, I feel like WatQ and WORDS have been perfectly complimented by three songs I see as tracks that should have come after Love songs/FIVE.

I can hear the production quality in these new songs clear as day. To be clear: The last time we had a song anywhere near what W is, it was 2005-2006 and the songs were GAME and alterna. And I think Ayu nailed the hell out of this song. This is everything I wanted for each release since Ls. I strongly encourage anyone who's confused about how much TROUBLE actually is Hamasaki Ayumi: WatQ is a page right out of 2010-2011, aeternal is a page right out of 2002-2004, WORDS is right out of 2012-2015, W is 2005-2006, and The way I am is 2007-2009/2013/2015. This is really touching the sounds that have been most important to fans.

Also, can we please give her a serious round of applause for making one of the most diverse-sounding releases she's had in 10 years? I think she actually made an effort to not do the exact same thing five times in a row on TROUBLE.

Quote:
Originally Posted by maxikot View Post
My thoughts exactly. Chill out a bit ストロボ・EdGE . It's just a release of a pop singer in the end. Plus, it's a release so even if you like only 1 song, it's still 1 song you can add to your playlists.
I keep listening to W, WORDS currently. I will have a stage at some point when put other songs on the loop as well.
Have a seat, please. If that's the attitude you show up with, you're not adding anything to the conversation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LOGMAN View Post
And yet, here you are...
Man, I'm burning through golf claps these days.

Quote:
Originally Posted by love in music View Post
I'm honestly curious though, why did you cry? What is it that's so sad about her having a release you dislike? I've actually seen 2 forum members mention seriously crying over not liking a release and I just don't understand. I've absolutely hated tons of her songs and music videos and been embarrassed of things she's done but I've never cried over it. There are so many more important things in the world to cry over. I think there's something deeper going on here and it has to be more than just crying over a bad release..
I talked about why I actually cried over MADE IN JAPAN back in 2006 but also at the top of this post, but just to clarify: Ayu and the quality of what she can and is motivated to do is directly correlated to the number of people she sees change because of what she does. The reason Ayu held off on announcing her hearing loss in 2008 was the fear that we would feel like she wouldn't be around for us anymore. The vast majority of the statement released about that was centered on how she most definitely will keep going as a music artist, that she had a new tour coming and a new single she was working on (Mirrorcle World), and all sorts of reassurance that she was very much not going to disappear and leave us where we originally found her.

So, I cried over MIJ because I realized she has always been this Ayu but there's so little effort to continue this shared experience with us that everything I've known—and that we've known collectively—is eroding bit by bit, year over year. There are parts of me that have changed, of course, but this is where I fit in. I don't have another musician I care this much about, who's as engaged, and whose fans are as engaged and have a lot in common.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ストロボ・EdGE View Post
But blaming her “team”? We know who’s boss. Ayu is that bitch. She has control, her fight well documented.

Where is her weltschmerz? Hidden.
Then, where is the quality? Many here say it’s an opinion, fine, but there it is. Let the production do the talking.

She is disconnected and as a fan for a decade, I feel she is so far away now, for the first time. Ayu doesn’t have to be a philanthropist but I don’t think she loves her fans.
I need a thumbs up emoji with sparkles. This is exactly what I was talking to that I know Andrenekoi doesn't get in all our fights about Ayu now vs back then. Back then, Ayu had something to prove because she wasn't just fighting for herself, she was fighting for all our fights. She hasn't done that in years. TROUBLE is the first time in 8 years I've seen some spark, even if it's tiny.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrenekoi View Post
Damn, this fanbase is always hitting a new low @_@
You've been here for all of five minutes. Shh.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LOGMAN View Post
So... you're angry she's not writing about your life?

Also, you should try unplugging or something.
And yet, here you are too... Peculiar? I dare say. I shall. Here you are too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tsumekaze_ View Post
This is a whole new meltdown level lol
Impressed.


Also dead at the person saying she’s gonna release a summer playlist as AWA surprise. You are SAVAGE
Girl. We were them once too. We've just grown up. And they'll grow out of it too. In the meantime, they--like we once did too--think their opinions are the most loving, accepting and supportive thoughts in the Universe. (It just hasn't hit them that the Law of Attraction isn't a thing.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Linza-mo View Post
For me When Ayu releases an album it's like a party with friends. Sometimes it's marvelous and i'm the happiest on earth, and sometimes it's just ok or boring, and at the time it's disappointing and unpleasant.

But that's not why I don't love them anymore or I wonder WHY I love them or that I'm afraid of not having a great party or moment with them anymore. Sometimes It's because I was not in the mood for that or sometimes it just doesn't work. That's all. It's not a big deal.

I don't challenge my love and trust in her on each album.

(year after year I realise I deal with Ayu like I deal with people I love haha)

Well, but I understand that taste change or change differently than Ayu's choices and taste, sometimes it just the time to say goodbye but without blame the other of all the wrongs (yes again, as in a love affair haha) "c'est la vie" isn't it ?



Well, I hope She will sing We are the Queen and W during a the a-nation !
I think that "party/hangout" expectation is what separates those of us who've been here for 10+ years even while we get more frustrated. Ayu is that friend of ours that we're pointing out how fewer people want to show up at the party year over year, and she's just like "KAWAII DESU~!!! Let me sing LA LA LAI x12 all over UR FACE, HUGS PEACEful LOVE again!" And we're like, "Look... Ayu... Look... Look... People are counting on you. People need you to show up just as much as you've always needed it for yourself too. So, show up, please." And then SHE goes, "O_> ... >_< ... o_9 ... <-.0>..." and then releases another "mini-album" with 2 new songs and 16 remixes, and the two new songs weren't even worth the MP3 file taking up space for more than a month or two.

For a lot of people, they show up with no expectations. Because they weren't there when the Ayu signal got installed on rooftops everywhere and we all agreed--Ayu too--that we'd be there for each other when no one else wanted to be there for us. I'd like to see that come back in some way, big or small. But the leader of our troop is Ayu. If she doesn't want it to be there, it's not going to evolve. We simply don't have the influence to bring that crucial element of Ayu without her help.

TROUBLE is a good first step. It's way better than I imagined she'd aim for. If we do our part and just do a better job of being there for each other (and voting people off the island... o,0 ~andrenekoi~... q[0.o]p d[o.0\ l0.o> just kidding... you can stay.... maybe... no, really... you can stay... on Tuesdays... OK.) maybe we can actually set this up for the people out there who need it more than we do now.

Anyway, I like TROUBLE. I liked A ONE a bit too, but this is Hamasaki Ayumi. It's fresh. It's too short. But it is very much Ayu.
__________________

-> <-