I need Ayu to inspire me again

[Mintkisses]

I haven't been on this board in forever

It's frustrating.. I miss how epic and bad@$$ Ayu used to be. I mean, I still love her to death and I am happy to see she's still doing okay. These releases though..have been awful. I don't know what she's thinking anymore. I want to keep following her and such but some songs on Party Queen make me

So I need to be inspired by her again. I've been waiting ever since Love songs for Ayu to release something that is totally like !@#!#%#$^#%&^&#$%# (well, her pink hair is freakin awesome)

Can AHS explain some new releases to me? Like why you like a certain song on Party Queen, or why so and so has a great PV, etc. I would love to hear about anything!

[terra]

'reminds me' from PQ is definitely one of my "Ayu is back!" song, I can really relate to its lyric

but idk what do you mean by 'inspiring' in your terms so I can't really point you to a certain thing

[TeamAyu2004]

i think it would also help if people knew what you liked in Ayumi to begin with.

[Mintkisses]

It's hard to explain, sorry everyone lol

I love everything Ayu from LOVEppears-(miss)understood. Ever since Secret, I've had my favorite songs from each album but didn't love the albums as a whole. FIVE is the first album I don't have a favorite or any interest. My favorite album is MY STORY. I also ADORE Ayu trance, I wish she put them on her singles like she used to. I want another Ayu Trance too!

Does any of that help? :p

[ayu-fan]

Originally Posted by Mintkisses

It's hard to explain, sorry everyone lol

I love everything Ayu from LOVEppears-(miss)understood. Ever since Secret, I've had my favorite songs from each album but didn't love the albums as a whole. FIVE is the first album I don't have a favorite or any interest. My favorite album is MY STORY. I also ADORE Ayu trance, I wish she put them on her singles like she used to. I want another Ayu Trance too!

Does any of that help? :p

i know! the first ayu album that i dont really care was FIVE, but BRILLANTE was an exception. many things ayu did in 2011 kinda turn me off, the horrific mini album, uninspiring photoshoot, and Party Queen covers.

Good thing that some rock songs on Party Queen album are pretty much help me regain my ayu fandom back, even on the songs i didnt like, like the next love have a pretty good lyric it made me respect the whole album, and the POWER of MUSIC concert is awesome!! I was this close to lose interest in ayu lol

[SKYia]

She doesn't inspire me for quite a while, I'm slowly giving her up although I don't want to, she had few great moments with AT10 but apart from that her taste has became too different from mine. She's not this fashionable and beautiful, stylish woman I admired up to 2006 anymore.

[Mintkisses]

Originally Posted by SKYia

She doesn't inspire me for quite a while, I'm slowly giving her up although I don't want to, she had few great moments with AT10 but apart from that her taste has became too different from mine. She's not this fashionable and beautiful, stylish woman I admired up to 2006 anymore.

Wow you said everything I couldn't explain lol
Is kinda sad though, right?

[ayu_ready?]

Originally Posted by SKYia

She doesn't inspire me for quite a while, I'm slowly giving her up although I don't want to, she had few great moments with AT10 but apart from that her taste has became too different from mine. She's not this fashionable and beautiful, stylish woman I admired up to 2006 anymore.

THIS

[jbrat2219]

Just wait for the next album lol.

[Andrenekoi]

Party Queen's most insteresting aspect it's the story the album tells, about a lonely girl who party to hide her emotional and personal issues from herself and the world. This story is pretty much straight foward on the album lyrics, so, u just need to give the lyrics some attention while listening to the album. You may love or hate it, but there is no deny she put a lot of thought on it. Use the change of genres the album has as chapters on this story... So, dance part, rockish part and jazzy part works as different chapters on the party queen tale. It most likelly reflexes Ayu feelings towards her love life.

FIVE is an EP about hope (as you can possibly read on it's logotype), so, it features 5 songs about an ending relationship with a hint of hope to all of them (and was released 5 months after the disaster). It's more generic than her usual material to reach a broader audience (and it actually was better accepted outside her fanbase). It reflex the dark feeling the disaster left to the japanese people (and on Ayu's marriage, maybe) and some people can read an open letter to someone when u listen/read all the lyrics on the album order.

Love songs is about one's journey to find love, with it's sound taking heavily from orchestral music and being heavily produced by 90s big jpop producers (being both some of Ayu early composers and TK, the mastermind behind the whole jpop sound back on that decade), what gives it a strong 90s jpop feeling (somewhat like nowadays western electropop sounds like a retake on the 90s eletronic music). It's a really soft and, I may say, mature sounding album, starting from someone reviewing their own take on life (Love song, Like a Doll, Crossroad) and eventually letting themselves fall in love (November, Virgin road).

LS and PQ are among my favorite Ayu albums xD

[TeamAyu2004]

Maybe you are just growing out of her?
It happens after all... Ayumi is human and as he taste changes she might not be doing something that you enjoy anymore...

I was like you... I really didn't care for anything after My Story. I loved the singles that she did (most of them) but the albums as a whole... I just felt like I didn't contect to that as much anymore.

But I after years, ( I think it was in 2011) I finally sat down and watched the Next level Concert and I fell in love with all the songs. I love the album, although i still do not like it as much as her Duty, I am, Rainbow, and Memorial address (the top for me).

It might just be a connection thing... After watching her perform and just seeing the way she reacts to her own songs gives me joy. It's weird, but I enjoy the fact that she enjoys he music so much and that makes me love her and the music, lol.

Sorry if that is completely random...

[xLuna&1LOVE]

Well, when I had a feeling that I outgrow Ayu, I listened to her earlier discography: the songs that gave me a great feeling. This is how she is inspiring me again. I also did listen to the song I once disliked (Moments). As a result: now I cannot understand why I ever disliked this song including PV. So; my answer: if FIVE and PQ don't inspire you, then go back to the earlier discography. You can find inspiration always, ever and in different ways.

[happiholic★]

I've, personally, been kinda underwhelmed by Ayu for some time now. RnRC was the nail in the coffin. But, I will always love Ayu and keep up to date with what she's releasing just cause I love it. And she does have a few songs here and there that I love, like Brilliante.

[taskinillusion]

Originally Posted by happiholic★

I've, personally, been kinda underwhelmed by Ayu for some time now. RnRC was the nail in the coffin. But, I will always love Ayu and keep up to date with what she's releasing just cause I love it. And she does have a few songs here and there that I love, like Brilliante.

This is exactly how I feel. The last album of hers that I truly enjoyed was Next Level and the last song that I was obsessed over was SPARKLE. I discovered her during her MY STORY era when I was 20 years old and in college and am now 27 and have been out of college for five years now. I loved everything through Secret (including her earlier albums, of course.) Guilty was kinda meh for me and I pretty much can't stand RnRC. I've only listened to that album a few times. Love songs was boring and missing that spark and Party Queen is just a mess. :/ I will always support her and love her and keep up with her, but I just don't like/connect with the direction she's taken. She's definitely missing that fierce-ness and magic I used to feel when it came to her. There are of course, the specific gems that appear on her newer releases where I can connect, but it's definitely not like how it used to be, and I'm still dealing with the fact that while it will never be the way it was when she was new to me, that doesn't mean I won't be blown away by her again in the future. I think maybe I need to stop hoping for so much and putting so much pressure on her and myself to enjoy it.

[FoObY]

Her discography is strong enough that listening to older songs still captivate and INSPIRE me. Ayu is the one artist I always go back to listen to once I tire of other artists.

[ayuuk]

Originally Posted by Mintkisses

I haven't been on this board in forever

It's frustrating.. I miss how epic and bad@$$ Ayu used to be. I mean, I still love her to death and I am happy to see she's still doing okay. These releases though..have been awful. I don't know what she's thinking anymore. I want to keep following her and such but some songs on Party Queen make me

So I need to be inspired by her again. I've been waiting ever since Love songs for Ayu to release something that is totally like !@#!#%#$^#%&^&#$%# (well, her pink hair is freakin awesome)

Can AHS explain some new releases to me? Like why you like a certain song on Party Queen, or why so and so has a great PV, etc. I would love to hear about anything!

I understand how you feel. Party Queen is kinda underwhelming to me. It is shocking to me because after watching those PVs in this album (and CDL 2011-12), I feel that I don't know what she's thinking anymore. As a hardcore fan, it is shocking and saddening.

But like some of the other posts said, I would go back to listen to "End roll" and "HAPPY ENDING" and watch the nicer PVs/performance to create a "delusion" and pretend that she is still the Ayu I know.

Am I just lying to myself? I really don't know.

[PoetGirl]

Reading such comments makes me think what the hell am I listening to lol, cause Love songs and Party Queen are one of her best. I realized fav part of Party Queen for me is her vocal. Its finally her real voice and sounds so good.

My fav album still remains Duty tho, but only cause of nostalgia. My fav album will always be the one I discovered her for lol. Love songs is just perfect from start to finish, cause of emotions, melodies and production.

If you don't like her recent albums then it might not be your taste and you should give up or try to give it a listen few years from now. I didnt experience that in Ayu fandom, but with other artists I follow I may not like their recent albums so I don't listen to them, but with next release they can make me interested again.

[happiholic★]

Originally Posted by PoetGirl

Reading such comments makes me think what the hell am I listening to lol, cause Love songs and Party Queen are one of her best. I realized fav part of Party Queen for me is her vocal. Its finally her real voice and sounds so good.

My fav album still remains Duty tho, but only cause of nostalgia. My fav album will always be the one I discovered her for lol. Love songs is just perfect from start to finish, cause of emotions, melodies and production.

If you don't like her recent albums then it might not be your taste and you should give up or try to give it a listen few years from now. I didnt experience that in Ayu fandom, but with other artists I follow I may not like their recent albums so I don't listen to them, but with next release they can make me interested again.

I think she's just improved, as opposed to this being her "real voice". I don't think she had this singing ability when she first became a singer. No doubt she was trying to sound cute too, but then again, she still does on Party Queen.

[PoetGirl]

I forgot to put 'current' real voice. You get my point. Her vocals are perfect on PQ

[Zeke.]

Being that this IS Japanese. And many of us DO NOT SPEAK Japanese, the lyrics really aren't the focus when one listens to such songs. At least for me. If a song is good or sounds like it has emotion (November, reminds me), reading the lyrics can help ADD dimension and make you love a song more... But, when you can't understand the lyrics as you listen why the Hell would you want to listen to a /average/terrible song that's horribly produced. I'm just speaking in general terms here but really, I don't think anyone is making the argument that her lyrics are bad. It's about how the music SOUNDS to us. I could give a damn if the lyrics sucked and the song was catchy. Good lyrics can add dimension to a good song but good lyrics cannot make a song that you just don't understand anyway.

STEP you's lyrics aren't her best but it still remains my #1 Ayu song because I love the way it SOUNDS and how much fun it is to listen to. Moments is my #2 favorite song and that one actually does have beautiful lyrics, but it's more of an after-thought - like "wow, those lyrics are really cool" and it just makes me appreciate the song a little bit more but it does not really detract or add too much of a difference on how I rank the songs I love to listen to.