Ayu ~Anything Goes~ XV (AHS' Ayumi Hamasaki General Discussion Thread)

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by mizuki-7

Yes I thought of that but is it possible that a deafness can alter the sound of your voice ? I can totally understand the difficulties to stay on pitch being caused by deafness but to change the tone of the voice I really wonder ?

People's voices get lower while they age, it's a natural body process... Also, during her peak she used to sing out of her usual range to make her voice higher than it naturally is... Pretty much like Britney Spears still do nowadays.

[MeltingCORE]

I ordered and finally received a physical copy of A Song for XX two days ago. Honestly, I think it's my favorite album by her (besides for GUILTY). It's not perfect and yes, she is screechy at some points. However, the oldness of the music and raw emotion in Ayu's voice is just so endearing! I love old J-Pop so, so, so much... (Some of my other favorite non-Ayu albums are TWO-MIX's Dream Tactix and globe's first album.)

POWDER SNOW is one of my favorite Ayu songs. And like whoa, SIGNAL anyone?

PS: I'm ordering Ayu's first Eurobeat album this Friday!

[oaristos]

^ It actually took me a while to appreciate A Song for XX. I was listening to it on shuffle the other day and came to realize that I like most of the tracks. Her vocals, obviously, weren't amazing but I enjoy the album as a whole nowadays. POWDER SNOW, A Song for XX, Depend on you, Wishing, and For My Dear are my favorite tracks.

[mi|kshake]

I love live version of For My Dear from PCDL 08-09!

[truehappiness]

I wonder if she will attempt an episode III this year. However, it would need to be CREA penned.

[Gustavopc]

^ I'd love to see that but I don't think it's likely... Plus, she never did a "Part III" of a song before, did she?

Either way, I ADORE the episode II of HANABI, it has a bit of rawness and the rockish elements adds some uniqueness to it, while I only like the first song by its lyrics, the music itself is just-okay to me.

If I could choose a song for her to do a "Part II" this year, I would pick GREEN, cause not only it would match the tour's theme but it'd be really interesting to see her revisiting the lyrics, they are probably on my ayu top 10.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I thought in an interview somewhere Ayu mentioned that episode II was the second and last "chapter" as it completes the lyrical story.

Don't quote me on that though. Haha

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I rarely hear anyone talk about it. That goes for overseas and japanese fans :-p

It's personally one of my favorite summer songs and I think the video really captures a sad rainy summer day

It's beautifully shot imo

That being said she doesn't perform it a lot and when she does it doesn't really match the quality that the recording captures

Side note : Sucks that all her iconic videos will never be true HD...

[truehappiness]

Well, seeing as how even untitled got a pt.II and we got Summer diary's sister...

I think anything is possible. Terminal -> Velocity or Ultimatum or something PLEASE!

[luna7996]

Random question for the collectors out there:
My small collection right now resides in a storage ottoman in my bedroom but I would like to put it in display at some point and I was thinking that I wanted to do a sort or ''by era'' thing. A shelve for the '' A Song for XX era'' and a shelve for the ''LOVEppears era'' and so on... Some of the shelves will remain empty as I haven't bought things from certains eras till now but it will be cool to see the collection growing bit by bit.

Anyways unto my question. I wanted to get singles,albums, remix albums and dvds (this will take years! But hey! something to look foward too.) Anyways I sort of got confused with some of the remix albums. What era do they belong to? For example:

''Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro-mix'' has songs from both ''A Song for XX'' AND ''LOVEppears''. Now I am almost a hundred % sure I want to place it in the LOVEppears shelve simply because it was released just a few months after LOVEppears. But there are others that are a bit more foggy for lack of better terms. For example:

''Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix 2'' & ''Cyber Trance Presents Ayu Trance'' were both released an entire year after ''Duty'' and a few months before ''I am...'' and I have no idea what to do with them.

''Cyber Trance Presents Ayu Trance 2'' resides in a weird limbo betweern ''I am...'' and ''Rainbow''.

''LOVE CLASSICS'' is in a weird spot between ''Colours'' and ''A ONE''

And ''Winter Diary'' is ''A ONE'' and ''sixxxxxx's'' baby.

What are your opinions on this. What ''era'' do they belong to in your opinion?

Discuss:

[rainbow_smile]

Originally Posted by luna7996

Random question for the collectors out there:
My small collection right now resides in a storage ottoman in my bedroom but I would like to put it in display at some point and I was thinking that I wanted to do a sort or ''by era'' thing. A shelve for the '' A Song for XX era'' and a shelve for the ''LOVEppears era'' and so on... Some of the shelves will remain empty as I haven't bought things from certains eras till now but it will be cool to see the collection growing bit by bit.

Anyways unto my question. I wanted to get singles,albums, remix albums and dvds (this will take years! But hey! something to look foward too.) Anyways I sort of got confused with some of the remix albums. What era do they belong to? For example:

''Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro-mix'' has songs from both ''A Song for XX'' AND ''LOVEppears''. Now I am almost a hundred % sure I want to place it in the LOVEppears shelve simply because it was released just a few months after LOVEppears. But there are others that are a bit more foggy for lack of better terms. For example:

''Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix 2'' & ''Cyber Trance Presents Ayu Trance'' were both released an entire year after ''Duty'' and a few months before ''I am...'' and I have no idea what to do with them.

''Cyber Trance Presents Ayu Trance 2'' resides in a weird limbo betweern ''I am...'' and ''Rainbow''.

''LOVE CLASSICS'' is in a weird spot between ''Colours'' and ''A ONE''

And ''Winter Diary'' is ''A ONE'' and ''sixxxxxx's'' baby.

What are your opinions on this. What ''era'' do they belong to in your opinion?

Discuss:

Maybe you could decide depending on how much space you have on the shelves? For example, if there's plenty of room on the "Duty" shelf and barely any on the "I am..." one, you could put "Super Eurobeat" and "Super Trance" on the "Duty" shelf

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

Winter diary is like a third cousin in terms of quality haha

[Aderianu]

I think era ends with the album release. In most times

but I would put Winter Diary, A ONE and sixxxxxx together

[jean-baptiste]

Originally Posted by Aderianu

I think era ends with the album release. In most times

but I would put Winter Diary, A ONE and sixxxxxx together

I agree with this. Recut singles should go with their corresponding album though.

@luna7996 cool idea with the collection. Good luck with it!

[NintendoHTF1242]

@luna; for my collection, I separated it by the type of release it is. So my shelf goes from her studio albums, compilations, then remix albums. I did it by "era" before too but it looked too messy for me. I don't buy singles or DVDs though so I don't have to make space for those. I guess for you if you still wanna do it by era is just to sort it by release date.

[Gustavopc]

I also sort my collection by release date, cause I like too lot at it and see the chronological evolution artists went through. I just keep DVD/BRs separate cause of their size, it looks messy when they are among my CDs lol About dividing by eras... If there's a recut single or remix album right after an album, I see it as a part of that album's era. I consider it'll be finished only when she releases a brand new single.

[Surreal17]

I've always appreciated how ayu has a team of composers (including herself) that created her trademark sound. Nowadays, many famous artists just buy songs from producers/composers. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but when Ayu bought Tell me why and turned it into her own song, I just didn't like the result. One of the very few ayu songs that don't feel like hers. I almost always forget that she has it. On the other hand, Wake me up is a hit for me. Her voice always fits the electro rock style.

As for songs composed by Timmy, JJ Lin and Daishi Dance, they were probably meant for ayu in a form or another.

[Heavenly]

Originally Posted by Surreal17

I've always appreciated how ayu has a team of composers (including herself) that created her trademark sound. Nowadays, many famous artists just buy songs from producers/composers. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but when Ayu bought Tell me why and turned it into her own song, I just didn't like the result. One of the very few ayu songs that don't feel like hers. I almost always forget that she has it. On the other hand, Wake me up is a hit for me. Her voice always fits the electro rock style.

As for songs composed by Timmy, JJ Lin and Daishi Dance, they were probably meant for ayu in a form or another.

The thing is, now that she has "tasted" some western composers, her own music team seems outdated, to me and a lot of people. She's running in circles, with the same team again and again.
I think she needs some "boost", and some fresh music, like Kuu did, and Namie did as well.

[truehappiness]

I think it's just how some artists function in Japan, and that's fine. Ayu has always had a good balance of new and old even with her main team working on things.

Acts like B'z among others always seem to have a very similar sound across everything they do and that is just fine.

[mi|kshake]

Can we get photos when you have your shelves organised luna7996?

One of the very few ayu songs that don't feel like hers.

I know what you mean! I do really like Tell Me Why (although I haven't listened to it in forever!). In comparison, the Sweetbox songs definitely sound very Ayu to me but Tell Me Why doesn't.