The Party Queen era concepts analysis thread!

[DonkeyKongRemix]

I was listening to the title track, Party Queen...

...I really avoided listening to it because for some reason the sound of it made me uncomfortable. I think I know why now. Just the sound of it alone, and how she ends her choruses with "I am the Party Queen," with a tone of voice that makes it sound as though she's smiling, I really feel as though she is making fun of herself. The lyrics and the tone of the song seriously makes it feel as though she is pointing out how "cool" she is but with a sarcastic, almost humiliated way.

I especially felt this way when the song ended with laughter. As if people just cracked up laughing at her.

[labello]

Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia

I especially felt this way when the song ended with laughter. As if people just cracked up laughing at her.

It doesn't sound like a genuine laugh, not laughing with someone but more like at someone!
It reminds me of a friend of mine who thought that drinking alcohol would relax her which in turn would mean more people would like her (she'd be more open and fun or something like that). So she drank, drank too much and did embarrassing stuff. When her new "friends" and her would talk about those stories they'd all laugh and think it's funny how she embarrassed herself and to not feel left out she'd laugh with them.
To me it sounds exactly like that. Laughing with someone although it's not genuine, although it's fake and they might even be making fun of her.

[DonkeyKongRemix]

Originally Posted by labello

It doesn't sound like a genuine laugh, not laughing with someone but more like at someone!
It reminds me of a friend of mine who thought that drinking alcohol would relax her which in turn would mean more people would like her (she'd be more open and fun or something like that). So she drank, drank too much and did embarrassing stuff. When her new "friends" and her would talk about those stories they'd all laugh and think it's funny how she embarrassed herself and to not feel left out she'd laugh with them.
To me it sounds exactly like that. Laughing with someone although it's not genuine, although it's fake and they might even be making fun of her.

That is so mean of those people to do that.

That's totally what I was talking about, though. When someone laughs at themselves while other people are doing it just to feel less like an idiot...or something or another... It seems pretty sad to me and I've seen things like that occur.

[summerain]

Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia

I was listening to the title track, Party Queen...

...I really avoided listening to it because for some reason the sound of it made me uncomfortable. I think I know why now. Just the sound of it alone, and how she ends her choruses with "I am the Party Queen," with a tone of voice that makes it sound as though she's smiling, I really feel as though she is making fun of herself. The lyrics and the tone of the song seriously makes it feel as though she is pointing out how "cool" she is but with a sarcastic, almost humiliated way.

I especially felt this way when the song ended with laughter. As if people just cracked up laughing at her.

Yeah, I've noticed that since the first listen. They are laughing at her, not with her.

And I like how the arrangement of the song is "empty", it feels like all the fun and beautiful things she describes during the song are futile or false. A vacuum.

[maneayu]

Idk but after watching Helter Skelter made me think that Party Queen looks like a reference to that story. An ambitious girl who just care about her beauty, and she is sad and drunk all the time. But is just crazy to think like that about Ayu :S

[Andrenekoi]

^evolution wasn't picked as a song for the movie for no reason...^^

[maneayu]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

^evolution wasn't picked as a song for the movie for no reason...^^

true, true!

[Delirium-Zer0]

You know, I definitely got the sarcastic aspect of it, but "humiliated" hadn't come to mind - what an interesting thing to notice! And I think that's probably true, whether it was deliberate or not, that there's a layer of malicious teasing there, that she has probably done things she's been really embarrassed about when drunk.

[!Lawi!]

I even think this applies to the whole beginning of the album. It is a joke in itself: the album is called Party Queen and there are literally three upbeat songs. They are like the 'stupid drunk' part of the album, just blurting out messages that end up being meaningless when compared to the loneliness of the rest of the album.

It's far from perfect but I love the roughness and sadness of party queen, it works so well in contrast with the smoothness and 'perfectness' of Love songs just before, these two albums together are by far my favourite moment in Ayu's discography.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I actually love the title track, the rest of the album is where it tends to fall flat for me. Hbya is... not one of my favorite songs, let’s put it that way lol.

I actually -love- the CDL 2011-12 rip that we got. I love the beginning. And it comes off as way more playful than the studio version.

I will admit that the album has warmed up on me since release. But that era is where I feel like her fans really trickled away, so it has a black cloud over it for me.


Edit: I just watched the return road pv for the first time since the release—that is still a terrible video. Like.. I can’t lol. I also never watched the other videos from this album more than once either. I wonder if that’s why this album sits so low for me... the visuals are not to my liking.

[!Lawi!]

HBYA is probably her second most boring ballad after the absolute void that untitled episode two was.

Completely agree about the CDL version of PQ, it's probably what made me like it so much.

There are a lot of songs I really enjoy on the album though, Tell me why is quite different for Ayu's standard, I love Letter and I am forever grateful for ESM I and the next LOVE. They're not the best tracks ever but they feel so fresh and unique in her discography!