NEXT LEVEL album thoughts - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai
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  #1  
Old 25th March 2009, 11:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Uemarasan View Post
I take analyzing Ayu's music as serious critical business.
As do I and many other people in this thread. As for the rest of your post, I'm not sure how all of those things DON'T relate to analyzing the album - her voice, production time etc. Rushed is fine, if the reason that you are rushing is because you are inspired. Not because you are rushing to meet a business deadline. If inspiration had simply been the case, there would be no need to announce the release date of the album before it was even recorded. But I don't think the album being rushed was even really brought up much here. It was more about people not feeling "connected" to the songs, the uneven flow of the album, and the tracks seemingly having a short shelf life.

Last edited by SunshineSlayer; 25th March 2009 at 11:25 AM.
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Old 25th March 2009, 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer View Post
As do I and many other people in this thread. As for the rest of your post, I'm not sure how all of those things DON'T relate to analyzing the album - her voice, production time etc. Rushed is fine, if the reason that you are rushing is because you are inspired. Not because you are rushing to meet a business deadline. If inspiration had simply been the case, there would be no need to announce the release date of the album before it was even recorded. But I don't think the album being rushed was even really brought up much here. It was more about people not feeling "connected" to the songs, the uneven flow of the album, and the tracks seemingly having a short shelf life.
The thing I don't get is how you're blaming Ayu for the 'rushed' thing. I mean it's not exactly her fault that this album is 'rushed' to you. It's avex! I'm 100% sure they told her, "Hey finance year ends 31st March, make an album so that we can get the cash rollin'!"

Surely, Ayu could have said no BUT this is still the company... the people who give her her paycheck...

I gotta agree with maikaru, who mentioned that if she was REALLY "making songs for the sake of it", there wouldn't be a 8 month gap between Mirrorcle World and GREEN/Days.

I mean, in previous threads, I did talk about how I would like an album to be on 01.01.10 actually, but I think if NEXT LEVEL was on 01.01.10 instead, it wouldn't be too different from NEXT LEVEL now.

In any case, if she is REALLY "making songs for the sake of it", then as what others have said, there would be that GUILTY vibe from it. I like GUILTY a lot too, but you can hear she's tired or something. I mean she broke up with her boyfriend, her best friend committed suicide blah blah, I don't think anyone would be in the mood to make an album after such events. But she felt like she "needed" to, that's what she said on interviews about GUILTY, right?

But with NEXT LEVEL, it feels very different. All the songs sound fresh and cheerful... I mean I don't know what "emotions" you guys are referring to when you want to feel "emotionally-connected", but hey, I feel happy and relaxed while listening to NEXT LEVEL. The songs just give me the vibe that Ayu is enthusiastic and excited about this album.

You have also mentioned earlier about the excessive use of effects on her voice on this album... while I agree with you because Rule's vocoders in the verses are SO extra, I think I've got something to say on this too.

If, for example, her voice wouldn't edited for the songs... I sure as hell wouldn't enjoy rollin' as much. The computerized voice in the verses make the song VERY interesting imo, and so goes for a lot of the other songs. These songs are in the 'techno' style whether you agree or not, there are still techno influences here, so I think vocoders and those effects are necessary.

And in songs when they are not so techno, she doesn't use "special effects"! NEXT LEVEL, GREEN, Days and Curtain call are songs with her natural voice, and I think she sounds awesome in all these songs.

Of course her voice wouldn't be as good as her I am... era, but I really wouldn't expect her vocals to be exactly the same as 2001.

I just feel that if Ayu were to read this thread, she really wouldn't know what to do for her next album.

People complain about emotional albums (GUILTY), about experimental albums ((miss)understood), about happy/carefree albums (NEXT LEVEL)... what should she do next that will impress everyone?

I mean she will never make an album that everyone will like (I, for one, dislike I am... a lot)... so it's just unfair to her to listen to a new album and quickly compare it to "older works".

About her writing spark... I agree with panda87 that she has started to use phrases a little too repeatedly nowadays, but it's good to see that these 'repeated phrases' are used in different contexts.

In NEXT LEVEL, for example, she sings about roads AGAIN. But this time the 'road' here is really for a very different reason... it's about moving on. The last time she mentioned 'road'/'walking' was like decision, and you know that wasn't a very happy song, unlike NEXT LEVEL.

Also, while I said rollin', for example, still tackles the "serious" issues currently, the "serious" issues are like topics she has always been writing about. a song is born, is also a song on "serious" issues. For that, can I say that she's getting boring?

One thing I've noticed about this album is that she's writing on a lot of new topics.

EnergizE, LOVE 'n' HATE, Days, Curtain call... are lyrics that she hasn't really written before. Curtain call has that Kuu vibe, I mean the lyrics are really good, but I don't think Ayu has written anything like Curtain call before.

LOVE 'n' HATE and Days, like I've mentioned, are songs on crushes. When was the last time she sang a song on having a crush? Er what about never. (Okay I guess STEP you is about a crush too. )

And EnergizE feels like a song that has no regrets! I remember maikaru saying before that her happy songs always have this tinge of regret in them (and it's sooooo obvious in glitter), but EnergizE is not like that, one bit, at least to me.

Sparkle is also another song where lyrics are something she has not tried before. I know this one is touchy cos it's 'superficial'... but that's why I didn't really talk about Sparkle.

So how is she losing her writing spark if she's trying new things to write about? She has 10 albums and 45 singles. That's so many songs, and I think it's time she leaves the emo-ness behind and at least write happier songs. She has done that in NEXT LEVEL, so I'm happy.

Oh, one more thing before I end. You also mentioned about feeling something while listening to Fly high and the rest. What are you feeling? Suicidal thoughts?

Because to me, EnergizE and Fly high make me feel the same thing - confidence and happiness. The difference is that Fly high had a lot of doubts, but EnergizE is definitely 100% "I can do it".

Maybe to you, even happy songs need to have this "emo" vibe to be good... but that was Ayu in the past. Another member has also mentioned in LOVEppears, many of the happy-sounding songs have dark lyrics. I mean I like the contrast, but what's wrong with have a happy-sounding song that really is happy? Is a song less emotional just because there aren't emo stuff and regrets in its lyrics?

I'm so pleased with NEXT LEVEL. Perhaps it's because I'm in a really depressed mood now, and NEXT LEVEL is like THAT album that is going to help me, with its confidence, loudness and color. I think such an album is fitting for an era like now, where crisis are abound.

By that way, I'm not one of those fans who are totally blinded (so please don't use the fact that I registered at 2007, and that I actually started into Ayu in late 2006 to say anything)... so of course I have my displeases about this album.

Let's just say that I was really when I heard Load of the SHUGYO. That first few seconds of the "ah ah" and the triangle were so redundant! In fact many of the songs have lame intros lol, especially Load of the SHUGYO. Ugh!

I'm sorry for this long post, and I'm very sorry to SunshineSlayer for quoting you and then saying all these, but I'm not aiming you or anything. My apologies...
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Last edited by waterballoon; 26th March 2009 at 05:35 AM.
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  #3  
Old 25th March 2009, 03:33 PM
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BTW, Japanese fans are saying that the lyrics DOES have a lot of meaning.

e.g. in LOVE 'n' HATE, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,0 signified the 7 years of Nagase's relationship with her and it become 0 when they broke up.

the interlude that followed then make total sense-Pieces of SEVEN refers to the bits and pieces of the 7 years they were together.

Clearly, Ayu is just not that "non-sense" or "random" when it comes to her lyrics...
Obviously the break-up did have a huge impact on her despite her fun and happiness in front of the camera and the fierceness during photoshoots and concerts.
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Old 25th March 2009, 06:58 PM
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SunshineSlayer SunshineSlayer is offline
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Originally Posted by waterballoon View Post
The thing I don't get is how you're blaming Ayu for the 'rushed' thing. I mean it's not exactly her fault that this album is 'rushed' to you. It's avex! I'm 100% sure they told her, "Hey finance year ends 31st March, make an album so that we can get the cash rollin'!"

Surely, Ayu could have said no BUT this is still the company... the people who give her her paycheck...

I gotta agree with maikaru, who mentioned that if she was REALLY "making songs for the sake of it", there wouldn't be a 8 month gap between Mirrorcle World and GREEN/Days.
I don't think anyone "blamed" Ayu for that, just simply stating that is the way it is and it is unfortunate. And as for making songs for the sake of it, as I said, I mostly mean the album tracks.

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Originally Posted by waterballoon View Post

You have also mentioned earlier about the excessive use of effects on her voice on this album... while I agree with you because Rule's vocoders in the verses are SO extra, I think I've got something to say on this too.
People aren't just referring to vocoders when they are talking about production though. In this album her voice is tripled, quadrupled over(maybe more) as well as other studio tinkering and it definitely sounds more so than on her other albums. This once again points to her voice being weak these days and actually the more tinkering in the studio you do, the more flat the vocal ends up becoming imo.

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Originally Posted by waterballoon View Post
Oh, one more thing before I end. You also mentioned about feeling something while listening to Fly high and the rest. What are you feeling? Suicidal thoughts?

Because to me, EnergizE and Fly high make me feel the same thing - confidence and happiness. The difference is that Fly high had a lot of doubts, but EnergizE is definitely 100% "I can do it".

Maybe to you, even happy songs need to have this "emo" vibe to be good... but that was Ayu in the past. Another member has also mentioned in LOVEppears, many of the happy-sounding songs have dark lyrics. I mean I like the contrast, but what's wrong with have a happy-sounding song that really is happy? Is a song less emotional just because there aren't emo stuff and regrets in its lyrics?
uhhh What? lol. That's my first reaction to reading all of this. First of all, I hate emo and I don't even like Guilty that much. I hate that emo is even considered a genre since songs with sad lyrics have always existed since the beginning of time. And once again, when feeling a connection to the song, it has nothing to do with weather the song is happy or sad, it is all in how that song is delivered through the composition, arrangements, and most importantly the vocals. I think part of the reason people aren't feeling that connection is because of the vocal issues mentioned.

I don't think this is a BAD album and I don't think the lyrics are that much of an issue (other than Sparkle), some of them are quite good and some are extremely repetitive. I think that she is capable of better albums though. If you can whole heatedly enjoy this album, that is great for you though.

Last edited by SunshineSlayer; 25th March 2009 at 07:14 PM.
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  #5  
Old 28th March 2009, 01:13 AM
Uemarasan Uemarasan is offline
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Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer View Post
As do I and many other people in this thread. As for the rest of your post, I'm not sure how all of those things DON'T relate to analyzing the album - her voice, production time etc. Rushed is fine, if the reason that you are rushing is because you are inspired. Not because you are rushing to meet a business deadline. If inspiration had simply been the case, there would be no need to announce the release date of the album before it was even recorded. But I don't think the album being rushed was even really brought up much here. It was more about people not feeling "connected" to the songs, the uneven flow of the album, and the tracks seemingly having a short shelf life.
The last statement was meant to be self-describing and not to put down anyone's seriousness when it comes to Ayu's music.

I never said anything in my post about how her voice didn't have anything to do with analyzing this album. I just said the human body changes. It's in a separate paragraph.

The main excuse a lot of people gave about this album being not on par was that it was rushed. And I repeat my point: I don't see how the time it took to make a work of art has anything to do with the quality of the art itself. Whether it was "rushed" out of inspiration or "rushed" to meet some sort of deadline, artistic value is found only in the final product and not what it took to get to that final product.

With regards to being connected to the songs, subjective readings are helpful, but I'd rather read someone talk about the form, content, musical structure, instrumentation, and lyrics of the album and how all these attempt to work together as an artistic whole. What is Ayu trying to do with this album? Possibility: she might be trying to explore new music ground. How is she trying to explore new musical ground?

Personally, value judgments (i.e. I like this, I don't like that) are not enough for me, so it's always a pleasure reading people developing their ideas.

Last edited by Uemarasan; 28th March 2009 at 01:37 AM.
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