NEXT LEVEL album thoughts

[Andali]

I gotta listen a few more times. Though I can say I loooooove Bridge to the Sky and the way it transitions into Next Level. Its a great driving song. So far, I don't much mind the placement of some of the songs coz there's parts in the one before that match it up and tie it in.

[RikkuChii]

I don't typically review albums, but I had to do this time. Couldn't help it!

Bridge to the Sky:
Loved how it started. A fantastic way to begin the album.

NEXT LEVEL:
Love it. Very calming, makes you forget all your problems. Chorus reminds me a bit of Beautiful Fighters, however.

Disco-munication:
I liked how it started out, but then it..fell short a bit.

EnergizE:
I did not know what to think about it at first...I thought I wouldn't like it when I heard her go "Put your hands up together.." but then I began to enjoy it. A lot.

Sparkle:
OH MY FRICK, SPARKLE. No words can express my love for this song. Right now, this is the song I'm telling everyone to listen to.

rollin':
The beginning started out a little too slow for me, and then Ayu's voice kicks in and I had a change in thought. I now love rollin'.

GREEN:
One of my fav Ayu songs. 'Nuff said.

Load of the SHUGYO:
Reminds me of Mortal Kombat. In a good way.

identity:
So I'm thinking this was the other rock song..I liked it! Sounded awesome. Were Peco and Princess singing background in this song, though???

Rule:
<3 I kinda forgot about Rule when I heard Sparkle, but it's still a great song. I still don't think it goes with Dragonball.

LOVE 'n' HATE:
My fav song from the album (well..besides GREEN and Sparkle) . Played this at a party I went to yesterday...yeah, everyone was dancing and lovin' it. I dunno how to describe it, though..it's a little rock, R&B, some dance ..yeah. It's love.

Pieces of SEVEN:
I also liked it. However, I felt like this interlude was a little...out of place??

Days:
Cute song, but I never really cared for it.

Curtain call:
I nearly cried listening to it. The first ballad I love from her since Together When...

So..yeah, I was not disappointed at all!

My rating: 8/10...or maybe 9/10?? I dunno, I need to listen to it a little bit more.

However, as much as I love GREEN, it did feel a little out of place in the album.

[terra]

If I sums up everyone's opinion and mine, I agree that both Days and GREEN seems out of place from this experimental and brave album. And Pieces of SEVEN doesn't do it's magci as it should do.

It would be better if she worked more on the album tracklist department, if she would arranged it more like her older works, unnecessary interludes could be lessen.

[SheFliesHigher]

Hmmmmm, I don't really know yet. I like it, but I can't really say how much. It usually takes me a while to formulate a solid opinion on an album. I tend to dislike things, then like them, or the reverse. I'm terrible at comparing how much I like different albums and rating them because I feel like it's hard for me to rate one thing I like over another thing I like.

What I can say for sure right now is that the 2 tracks that jumped out at me right away were "Identity" and "LOVE 'n' HATE". The rest, I had to digest for a bit.

BIRDGE TO THE SKY
Meh. As an intro, it doesn't have much oomph, especially when you compare it to Mirror, which was just mind-blowing and set the mood for the album.

NEXT LEVEL
I'm not feeling this one yet. I like instrumentation, but the chorus and Ayu's vocals aren't grabbing me.

DISCO-MUNICATION
Cool and funky. A good intro into the electro stuff that is coming up.

ENERGIZE
I like the "put your hands up together" part, but the rest is just kind of redundant, and I don't like the beat of the chorus. Maybe it will grow on me.

SPARKLE
I wasn't sure about this one at first, but I like it now. The chorus is my favorite part.

ROLLIN'
I hate the vocoder parts! But I do like this song overall, even though it took a couple of listens.

GREEN
Great song, but doesn't belong on an album like this.

LOAD OF THE SHUGYO
Pretty nifty.

IDENTITY
Caught my attention right away. I love the "whoa" background parts when she sings "ID, ID". BUT I do not like how she sings the "yeah yeah yeah"s. Take those out and the song would be near-perfect.

RULE
I approve.

LOVE 'N' HATE
Very different sound! I love it. Each individual part is interesting: the counting, the "hahaha", the chorus. Yup.

PIECES OF SEVEN
Is this supposed to be a reference to how Ayu counts to seven in Love 'n' Hate? Anyway, it's probably the weakest interlude in my opinion.

DAYS
I always thought this song was better than Green. Wonderful ballad.

CURTAIN CALL
I wasn't wowed right away, but it's a sweet and simple song. I do wish Ayu would tone down the vibrato, though.

Overall, I'm not sure I like this electro-pop direction Ayu has taken. The music tends to be loud to the point that it overpowers her voice, and some of the effects are a little grating. The placement of the songs is a little weird, and I hope Ayu will stop padding her albums with interludes in the future--2 should be the maximum!

I'd probably give this album a 7/10 for now. It's not as strong as GUILTY and certainly not as strong as SECRET.

[ayumisrael]

I'm really satisfied with the results came from this album!

Bridge to the sky - Giving a great energy as an album opener and a good transition into NEXT LEVEL. - 8.5
NEVEL LEVEL - Really nice song, I love that it sounds half up-beat and half mid-tempo (beatwise), it's a soothing song and though the PV wasn't anything special the song is a good and fun. - 8.5
Disco-munication - I like this interlude a lot though I think that I favor the others from the album but it's hard to choose... I like how it starts and going into electro. - 7.5
EnergizE - It's really not awful as people thought it would be, it kind of sounds like something morning musume would sing but still it's not too much and I think it's a really fun song and I love ayu's english in it. XD
ayu also doesn't sound terribly cute which is good. - 8
Sparkle - I loved this song from the first time I've heard it (and it was fast came my ringtone). - 10
rollin' - To me the Marionette -prelude- sound at the beginning was like "oh you thought you are going to get GUILTY's material here?" and when the electro part started "well, you were wrong". This song is really a pumper and parts of it reminds me of perfume's electro pop and it's really nice. - 9
GREEN - I like its chinese beats and of course the whole song though it's my least favorite single song on the album, I do like it still, the chorus is really catchy I couldn't stop flipping it in my head when the CM was out.
GREEN though sounds kind of out of place. I guess it's the use of synths. - 8
Load of the SHUGYO - I LOVE this interlude to death! One of ayu's best interludes yet! This one turns the electro pop into electro-rock part.
identity - I like it a lot!! Like rollin' it's sound like "GUILTY material" but it has the electro NEXT LEVEL things inserted to it, and ayu didn't want to fully put her rock out. - 10
Rule - Great great rock track, I can dance do it with no stops =D 9
LOVE 'n' HATE - My favorite of the album tracks!!! I love love love (not hate) this song, when I heard that I was like "ayu, you did this!?" and was really impressed. I guess this song is kind of LOVE or HATE it kind of song lol. As some people loved it and some people didn't. I can't stop listening to it with all honesty (and identity and rollin' at the moment). - 10
Pieces of SEVEN - One of the best interludes that HAL made to that day. I love how it starts HALish and then goes a bit electronic though the 2 ballads section are coming after this so this part kind of sounded out of place though like GREEN I think it might be from the reason that Days isn't a quite ballad (unlike Curtain call but Curtain call comes after Days). - 8.5
Days - My favorite ballad of ayu (took Moments place), No need to say more. I also think this kind of ballad does fit NEXT LEVEL because of the synth beats. - 10
Curtain call - Huge album ender, ayu's piano ballads rocks and this song so needed a choir and it got it, really emotion love song and I love it. - 9.5

Overall Rank - 8.5/10

This album is great, what I wanted ayu to do for some time.
She really gave the experiment and tried the electro thing in, even putting a bit of the "last level" with electro rock tracks and up-beat synth rock like Rule.
This is indeed the NEXT LEVEL, and unlike some users I wouldn't put songs from the past inside of it since it's complete as it is and I support ayu full time in it (glad I bought the 2CD+DVD version).
It's not my favorite album of her, I do like it more than all of her albums since Memorial address (and I like them all).
GUILTY is still coming right after NEXT LEVEL in my rank of course.
I do wish GREEN would have a more standing out place since it's kind of doesn't fit there and even though it's a good song the synths doesn't make its belonging obvious enough for the album since the other songs in it have much more electro and/or synths.

Bottom line, thank you ayu for bringing on a solid experimental and diverse album I really like it

(I'm also convinced the cd quality tracks will sound better since Sparkle and co. from this leak are kind of bassy messy so the 320kbps one should be oragsmic).

[inspire_rmx]

This is definitely a brave move from Ayu to move away from her comfort zone after the predictability of SECRET & GUILTY. And the result is of cos a good one. Not her best album but definitely her most fun, creative and daring album yet. It's a breath of fresh air & i'm liking it.. ^^ some of the songs while listening to them, i was like "i didn know she can pull that off, and she did, giving Namie amuro and Koda kumi a run for their money". =P overall i will rate it a 8.5/10. hopefully e sales will surpass GUILTY.

Top 5 Favorite tracks in order
Identity
I love the arrangement & the lyrcis. It's cool that she did kept some of her signature rock element in the song.
i adore the way she sang ID ID iD. it's an awesome song. i hope she sing it live during her upcoming tour

rollin
the chorus is so catchy. love the sync of the verses. very cool and a great follow up after Sparkle

Sparkle
the most "WOW" song of the entire album for me. everytime i listen to it, i'm like "did she realli did this" =) love every second of the song. e verse realli did surprise me alot


Energize
the intro is so cute. didn't expect her to start with the english verse. but it's nice. definitely one of the most pop and mainstream song she did in e long time. i'm so happy she did this song..


Days
One of her better ballads after GUILTY album. and definitely her best vocals for this album. it's simple, touching and pretty. i am hoping she will sing this as part of her main song for the new tour, with a huge Ayu style dress =)

remaining Favorite tracks in order
curtain call
Love 'n' Hate
next level
rule
green

[sitara]

i only listened to the album once. i need to hear it at least a second time to give a full review. but what i knew instantly was that the order of the tracks is messed up. everybody here seems to have a better order in mind than it is on the album.

i don't understand why there are rock songs included all of a sudden. sometimes i was reminded of kumi... it is an album with all kinds of genres smashed together, sadly, there isn't any ongoing theme throughout the album (ooh days feels SO out of place...)

anyways, i'm happy for new ayu stuff. need to listen again to get a feeling for the tracks. but it seems like "i am..." will remain her strongest and best album for me.

i'm curious how well this album will chart...

[hiroshi_ben]

i actually feel very energizeD after hearing the song "energizeD"!

Does anyone else feel the same way too?

[NintendoHTF1242]

Originally Posted by sitara

i don't understand why there are rock songs included all of a sudden. sometimes i was reminded of kumi... it is an album with all kinds of genres smashed together, sadly, there isn't any ongoing theme throughout the album (ooh days feels SO out of place...)

That reminds me of a conversation I had with my friend on the track placement =P I said that Kuu probably beat up Ayu and did the tracklisting for her, seeing as how Genre's clash too much

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

I haven't listened to it yet, but I see that for the most part, it's a hit or miss album.

For me, I think it'll be a hit. At least a better hit than GUILTY. That album tanked for me, I barely listened to it, and I don't really watch the DVD. I have a feeling with this one, I might give it more chance than I did with GUILTY. Marionette and Together When... were the only two that really stuck with me.

I'm waiting for the 320 kbps so I don't get any biased thoughts based on the quality.

[Larien]

Originally Posted by kyuutii_hanii

If I put aside the lack of emotion and originality it's really not a bad album. I just really dislike superficial music such as elektro-pop and tehcno... I'm so glad the album still had strong rock elements because it's her rock that has kept me hooked to her music. I'd give the album... 7/10. n__n

This.
Really, if you go from listening to some NEXT LEVEL tracks, and then play one of her old songs (for me, it was "End of the World"), you'll be blown away. :-/
I really can't stand the sound of Love N' Hate and rollin'.

[FoObY]

I agree that GREEN is better placed right after NEXT LEVEL. Usually there is one or two new songs followed by a Single track, and GREEN would've been perfect here.

Although Pieces of SEVEN is pretty wicked, it fails as a transition to Days.

Aside from the presence of Days and Curtain call, I think this album is more cohesive sounding than some of her past albums (GUILTY, Secret). This is an album I need to listen through from start to finish to fully appreciate as a whole. But over time I know most of the tracks will grow on me since almost all of her songs do.

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by sitara

i don't understand why there are rock songs included all of a sudden. sometimes i was reminded of kumi... it is an album with all kinds of genres smashed together, sadly, there isn't any ongoing theme throughout the album (ooh days feels SO out of place...)

Well it FEELS that way because of the variety of genres BUT

at least she didnt put
*thinks of Black Cherry*
R&B -> Rock -> Power ballad -> Light ballad -> Electropop -> Pop -> Hard R&B -> Piano ballad -> R&B

THAT's Kuu for you in terms of tracklisting...

GREEN shouldnt go after NEXT LEVEL because GREEN doesnt sound as light as NEXT LEVEL!? that's the point isnt it. I noe it doesnt flow with rollin' at all but its the MOOD of the tracks. (which is what GUILTY was all about)

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by kyuutii_hanii

Well then, the issue nro 1, the lack of emotion. Yes I think it lacks it. Every non-album track, including Curtain Call, make me feel nothing. Maybe with the expection of NEXT LEVEL. Like, when listening to Curtain Call I can imagine Ayu singing it in the recording booth in fancy dress and high heels and thinking something like: "My ballads always sell like hot cakes. Gosh people are so gonna love my emotionality in this song. This is the 100th time I've sung about these kinds of things but well yeah my fans love it. I wonder if I should buy the latest Gucci dress today or tomorrow.." So yeah. It just doesnt move me like JEWEL or Together When or any other Ayu ballad, unfortunately.

Wow, I think I would have gotten killed if I had said that. Kudos to you though for posting bravely.

[love in music]

Originally Posted by kyuutii_hanii

I can imagine Ayu singing it in the recording booth in fancy dress and high heels and thinking something like: "My ballads always sell like hot cakes. Gosh people are so gonna love my emotionality in this song. This is the 100th time I've sung about these kinds of things but well yeah my fans love it. I wonder if I should buy the latest Gucci dress today or tomorrow.."

way to think the worst of ayu. if you think that she's seriously not more than designer clothes & money now and that's all that's on her mind then wow.

[miroro]

i feel like i'm the only who really enjoys the album , it's strange x_x
it's so fresh and upbeat! i'm so glad she took the NEXT LEVEL (even if guilty is my favourite album.. i was getting sick of the rock sound)

she tried to innovate and she did. And i'm glad.
now, i'll dance with sparkle & putting my hands up with energizE

[dayumi]

What I love about this album is that this album is something new in genre. I like it! and I have to agree with everyone that GREEN/Days seems out of place.

[roanmy]

I really like it... Though I agree with the people who said GREEN felt out of place... Cooooool song, but a little out of place here. Days fits better i my opinion.

I REALLY love:

Rollin'
Disco-munication
LOVE 'n' HATE
Rule
Sparkle
Bridge to the sky
Curtain Call

^_^!!!!

[freedreamer]

hopefully the 320kbps is out tmr...

Something in EnergizE sounds VERY OFF-TUNE when I hear it from my fone

[chloeM]

overall... this is a Dis-co album... only two sad songs? what has gone into ayu?