NEXT LEVEL album thoughts - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai
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Old 25th March 2009, 07:24 AM
Kikaru Kikaru is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: California
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Now that I give the album a few days to digest...

I actually rather like NICE LEVELl, because it has the calming affect on me. I can easily picturing myself biking and walking around on a bright sunny day while listening to this song, so that's nice. However, I do think out of the new songs it's the least stand out one.

EnergizE is really fun, and the beat's great. I kind of wish they didn't digitize the arrangement as much because the composition reminds me of a 50s song, and I kind of wish it's more powered by just the clap beats. And I like the fact that this song didn't feel sugary.

Rollin' is...weird. Took me a few listens to get it because the vocoder voice in the beginning reminds me of something I'd seen on the old-school gray alien on the Scifi channel or something. But the chorus is really nice and I have it stuck in my head as I speak.

Identity has the weirdest bridge, but I feel like it has the composition of decision and the arrangement of 1LOVE or the more rockish part of Rule. The only part that bugs me is the "yeah yeah yeah" in the beginning.

Love 'n' Hate is actually the first song that caught my attention. The chorus and verses composition vise reminds me hitomi shimatani for some reason. But it manage to be urban and still maintain some of her more rock-influenced elements in there.

Sparkle is fun and dance-y, and I really like the chorus.

Rule has been one of my top playing songs for a while. The chorus is catchy and it has a good beat.

GREEN will never cease to wow me. As much as I am a newly converted more "pop" person I love the arrangement and composition of the song. I love how it uses the more oriental sound and I think the way she sings it really compliments the arrangement.

Days is heartwarming and reminds me of the holidays.

I love Curtain Call's simplicity. Even with the chorus there's a down-to-earthness about this song that I really love, although I do think it's one of those songs that I'll need to be in the mood in.

Overall for me this album beats RAINBOW and LOVEppears as a pop album. And I love the fact that although it's a pop-driven album, I don't feel the sugary or excessively cutesy. I do think that the flow for this album isn't great (although I'm glad, especially because it's a more pop-oriented album, if it flows too well I have trouble really liking the tracks individually a la LOVEppears which poses a problem for me since I listen to songs on Shuffle and I like to distinguish different songs).

I still think that Orchestral Rock is by far Ayu's most well-done style, and I like the fact that I feel NEXT LEVEL gives the dark atmosphere a burst of color, but at the same time it's not a totally different environment. (And I just realize that this paragraph sounds really weird...)
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