NEXT LEVEL album thoughts

[TakaSama]

Originally Posted by Lady_Eowyn

Oh, and i loved your review of NL Takasama, your arguments are sooooo good and so consistant, you should write on magazines!!!! i especially gree with your review of NL the song

Thank you! I wasn't sure anyone read it because it was so long.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by TakaSama

Thank you! I wasn't sure anyone read it because it was so long.

I really liked your review of rollin'!^^


My review:

Bridge to the sky: Does not have the impac of her last two intros (Mirror and Not Yet), but flows really well with NEXT LEVEL and it really shows the feeling of the album IMO

NEXT LEVEL: Welcome back DAI! A bright, poppish track with a feeling of summer, and very good lyrics about going almost fearless to the next level that is the theme of this album...

Disco-munication: Amazing and very agressive interlute, makes an amazing transition to the eletro-pop songs of the album

EnergizE: It's like ayu saying "let's go foward together, follow me!" and this kind of thing is very interesting in a album with this thematics! Really like the blend of 50s rock and 80s eletro-pop! Really liked the english lines too^^

Sparkle: Ayu's fierce side is my personal favorite one, seeing this acting like this made me a fan of her and I think that I will aways fall easy when she does something like that. "If you want it go and get it" in a very sexy way!

rollin': My favorite album track from NL... it starts pretty much like marionette, what I think it's reflecting the way the world is on ayu's perspective... To her, the world never appears to be a nice place on her lyrics... Most of my opinion on this track matches with TakaSama's... But I think I'm the only one that like the ending... it's like the world rollin' and still never going to anywhere different... LOVED the lyrics^^

GREEN: this is my favorite single track of the album and one of my favorite ayu ballads! The chinese sounding music and the lyrics go really well together^^ Taking the PV in consideration, I think that this song is about homosexuals (and another kinds of "forbiden" loves), with the ending going like "when society changes, I will stop to hide my feelings". To me, GREEN is placed here to break the album flow... something like "wake up!"

Load of SHUGYO: from oriental to rock, with a "battle" feeling... fighting to the next level? The next 3 songs are about fighting against something... So... I think it's a good interlude^^

identity: agressive rock track about being yourself and taking care of your own life... Really liked the eletronic sounds that appears somewhere in this track, in the end, this is her eletro-pop album =)

Rule: The DBE theme! To me this sounds like a mix of generic anime themes and ayu rock songs (in a very good way), here she is fighting against the rules, what is something that Ayu kind of did during all her career. It's not amazing, but is catchy as hell, what makes this a nice international tie-in^^

LOVE 'n' HATE: sounds like a rpg dungeon theme :O The lyrics are nice, like a angered version of Step you (even with de numbers ), have a very epic sound... Even if this is my least favorite album track, I have to say that IMO this song have a very powerful feeling, something that can be amazing live^^

pieces of SEVEN: I would like to now if the number seven means anything in japanese culture, really liked this interlude, another break in the album flow... this time again, to me is something like "wake up! the album still has another songs!" again.... this would be an amazing concert intro^^

Days: To me, it sounds like ayu's winter ballads with a "fresh" feeling in the arrangement that make it sounds more like the songs she is doing after Mirrorcle World... Sweet love song, but not my favorite of hers...

Curtain call: Piano+voice ballad... very simple song with very simple lyrics... To me it sounds like... "well my fans, we are together for more than 10 years now... I don't really need to use many words for you to know what I feel about this anymore, I love you all"... doing something simple and good it's way harder than doing anything complex and good... and IMO, ayu could put this out very well with this track^^


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To me, the songs are placed over their themes, even when they have similar music styles... It's a very agressive but mature album and I feel the first half as "we are preparing ourselves to change things and go to a next level" and the second half as something like "we are fighting our ways in order to get to this next level", with a soft but optimist conclusion... As a whole, and as a concept (i see this album this way), I thinks it is her best album to date (her older ones had outstanding tracks algo and stuff, but to me, they don't sound like a whole like NL does)

I'm still impressed^^

[Lady_Eowyn]

Originally Posted by TakaSama

Thank you! I wasn't sure anyone read it because it was so long.

I got to say i agree with you in 90% of what you wrote. Substance is important to me and Ayu totally delivers that Actually, the original mix of Days is kind of generic... i didn't like the song when i heard it, however, the ymck 8 bits remix totally rocks!!!!! i also thought that remix could replace the original one in NL... the orchestra version is amazing as well.

i really liked Next level the song. As you said, is very typical of ayu to release "happy, fun, sunny summer tracks" but somehow some of these songs, like glitter and fairyland failed to deliver that feeling completely. You can sense sadness in the music and the lyrics. It's like there is something that does not fit completely well with this "happy feeling" , and probably that reflect how ayu felt back then . But Next level is able to deliver a beautiful sensation when you hear it i was sure i wasn't going to like that song, but i'm happy to say i was mistaken

It's got no substance to me. That's all that matters in an opinion.

Hahaha, ok. You're right, my mistake.