Party Queen is 3 years old today...

[primavera♥]

I really really love Party Queen. I used to not care about it until I really sat down and listened to it. And realized the concept and enjoyed the lyrics.
Musically I like the songs, like most ayu songs. But I just love the profession of the album and the feel and mood it all gives. It works pretty well. I think party queen is a gem in her works.

[Andrenekoi]

^^Ayu didn't need to give all the meaning on every song... It's a concept album, a full package. One song can complement the feeling of the other.

@oaristos
I personally love how her face express that feeling you got once you notice you fucked up or made a confusion... In other words, how things went (m)u.

@waterballon
Pop music doesn't have space for exploring your personal life the way Ayu did, but art does. And a lot of the stuff surrounding the album isn't beautiful because "beautiful" wouldn't convey what she wanted to. Again, something you can't do in pop but can in art, and again a lot of people are complaining about it because it's not pop enough.

I'm not saying people should love the album because of the things I'm saying, just that it wasn't bad, it just isn't what some people think it should be. From a technical point of view Ayu never went below the average of her market... And stayed above of it most of the time.

[pepper]

I like how I can compare PQ to (m)u. Lots of genres, lack of sappy ballads
Usage of Sweetbox songs and Timmy's work...

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by attractive nausea

This is why the live version from HOTEL Love Songs is great, that part where everything stops and she sings "I'm a lonely queen" and then the songs starts right where it stopped and she's singing with a big -fake- smile as if nothing happened

I agree! I know there were a bunch of fans who were like, it's too in-your-face, it's too tacky, or whatever, but clearly she needed to do that because WAY too many of us just were NOT getting the point.

Originally Posted by pepper

I like how I can compare PQ to (m)u. Lots of genres, lack of sappy ballads
Usage of Sweetbox songs and Timmy's work...

And yet (m)u is pretty consistently ranked as people's favorite Ayu album, and PQ is routinely ranked fairly low... (m)u to me is a demonstration of how PQ could have sounded & felt if it had been mixed properly >_<

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by pepper

I like how I can compare PQ to (m)u. Lots of genres, lack of sappy ballads
Usage of Sweetbox songs and Timmy's work...

I didn't made myself clear, I was talking about (m)u covers XD But now that you said, they are somewhat similar!

[Delirium-Zer0]

The hate for B&D when it came out because of its genre choice is very VERY similar to the hate ESM and tnL got, lol

[pepper]

^ lol I also hated B&D at the single realese. Also Pride was "meh" for me, now I LOVE Pride so much.

I don't even have single song on PQ I truly dislike. I don't listen to tnL and hbya but they are not bad.
just like (m)u's B&D and Beautiful day XD I don't listen to them but i would not call them bad.

the main thing (m)u have better than PQ is... VIDEOS. STEP you... alterna... fairyland... is this LOVE?...Ladies Night!!! I only "meh'ed" B&D/Pride, even rainy day in my opinion is a simple piece of art (atmosphere!!)

PQ have lack of PV's and for 4 videos only 2 are fantastic (hbya is beautiful, and Return Road have "old" ayu potential and feeling. Plus it does have a concept.)

[orangeakira]

The only thing that saved How beautiful you are (for me) was the video. I thought the message was so beautiful and powerful. If hbya never had a video, I don't think I'd ever give that song a second listen. I also used to be obsessed with Nanana. But this album really wasn't for me. The only songs I have saved on my computer are Nanana, call, tell me why, a cup of tea, and how beautiful you are.

[lastminute]

Love songs is my #1 ayu album, PQ is definitely a close second. I love the concept behind it and, lyrically it's one of her best works in my opinion. I agree that it is her most artistic album and that is probably why so many people hate it. It is not just a bunch of cool songs that everyone would love, it's ayu trying to convey an artistic message, which I LOVE.

A lot of people say that the mixing is horrible, well, music isn't my area of expertise so I really can't tell if the mixing is horrible or not. I just enjoy the album lol.

[truehappiness]

Party Queen and FIVE generally get forgotten in my experience.

[sitara]

Originally Posted by oaristos

I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes thinking: "why, ayu?"

omg, LOL!!

I still remember the outrage the covers and the booklet caused.
Discussions were never ending. People thought the covers would definitely be fake

"Call" is the best song on this album, I don't see it getting much love.
Otherwise the album really doesn't do much for me.

A few thoughts on NaNaNa:
it could have been so better if there wasn't this embarrassing rapping...
Timmy singing the lyric "Listen to my voice, You don’t have no choice" makes me crack up a little, because I remember how almost everybody was complaining about his presence...
I also imagine him making a weird hip thrust when he sings "Fun fun No.1 Uh- We’re done…"

Eyes, Smoke, Magic is a song that still puzzles me. What does Ayu want to say with this... erm "song"?

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

The closest the ever got to an artistic statement... That's why so much people hate it.

I don't agree with that because she has written many lyrics with strong artistic statements (and really out of the ordinary for pop music).

[Delirium-Zer0]

Most of her artistic statements were more accessible to younger people though. Party Queen deals with divorce and alcoholism and stuff... and when she does deal in things like self-esteem, which IS applicable to young people, she gets chastised for sounding like a teenager at such a mature age... Kinda of a "damned if she does, damned if she doesn't" situation.

[chocopockymaster]

I still detest this album. 'reminds me' remains flawfree, however.

edit: I am still reeling at how fucking tacky it was of her to put the picture of her and Manny at the end of the Return Road PV. NEVER AGAIN, AYU.

[pepper]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Party Queen and FIVE generally get forgotten in my experience.

for me FIVE got BRILLANTE which is... urgh, so good. maybe I don't listen to beloved/Why/ANother Song but yet - BRILLANTE its way too good to forgot from what album it is.

[Delicious n Bold]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Party Queen and FIVE generally get forgotten in my experience.

Same with me and FIVE, I forget that beloved comes from that mini album.

[Delirium-Zer0]

beloved is the only song on FIVE that I skip anymore lol... I used to skip ANother song too (the delayed synth made me twitch SO BAD - still does if I think about it too hard) but it's grown on me.... the harmonies in that song are REALLY sophisticated.

[oaristos]

I'm only glad she released FIVE for BRILLANTE, the song, the lyrics, the videos... Everything makes me really proud of her. I don't listen to it very often but it's still a really good piece.

[HarukaKamiya]

Party Queen is, to me, the best jpop album ever. I love and cherish it so much. In my personal opinion, this is Ayu's magnum opus.

The album was released when I was going through some hearing issues due to water in my ear, and as a result was extremely depressed... The album saved my sanity. The same held true for Love songs when it came out (although not for the same reason, I was extremely depressed at that time too).

Personally, I love that the whole album was pretty much the musical equivalent of "oversharing on social media." We got to see a side of Ayu that she's only hinted at before. And I related so much to that.

And then, there's how beautiful you are... one of THE best Ayu songs of all time, and I feel so loved and cherished by her when I listen to it, because she accepts and loves me for who I am even though I'm just a fan.

I just ajldkfja;sldkjga;sd I can't properly articulate how much I love Party Queen.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

edit: I am still reeling at how fucking tacky it was of her to put the picture of her and Manny at the end of the Return Road PV. NEVER AGAIN, AYU.

I found it as more of a nod to Virgin Road than "Mannie and Ayu" but whoever suggested it to her should be fired if not already. (Timmy, was it you?!)

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by attractive nausea

This is why the live version from HOTEL Love Songs is great, that part where everything stops and she sings "I'm a lonely queen" and then the songs starts right where it stopped and she's singing with a big -fake- smile as if nothing happened

I heard so much about this when the tour was happening and felt it was so over exaggerated. It's not that innovative and I dislike how she literally had to spell it out.

Anyways, the album sounded 3 years stale (or more) wen it first came out so that makes it even older today.

And I actually didn't have a problem with the picture because Mannie was a character in the realm of "Hamasaki Ayumi". Not like if koda kumi used a picture of her husband.