Is Ayu Getting Better, Or...?

[SunshineSlayer]

As Petit said, overall I enjoy her older albums more than her newer ones but I don't hate the newer ones though. Although I would rank Guilty and Next Level as some of my least favroite. So to me I guess, the quality began dropping off after Secret. A lot of it for me though has to do with the quality of her vocals, especially live. I feel she has been having vocal problems since the Jewel performances and it hasn't been getting any better since then.

[mobius]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I've found that depending on WHEN you became an Ayu fan, you'll think that her "dropoff in quality" is somewhere around the time you found her (maybe one or two albums of buffer there).

Thinking objectively, I don't think Ayu is any better or worse than she ever was. It depends on your priorities, really. I think "NEXT LEVEL" has alot of things better than GUILTY, and alot of things not as good. Each album has its own merits and it's usually about the same amount of positive & negative aspects each time.

But if you like her lyrics, you're gonna think that her lyrics are bad if they're different. If you like her rock sounds, you're gonna think an album is worse if it leans more dancey. If you like her ballads, you're gonna dislike a single where none of the tracks are ballads. If you like ayu's fashion, you're gonna hate an album or single where the cover is relatively plain.

Honestly, ayu is no better and no worse. Just different. Whether someone thinks the differences are bad or not is up to them entirely and none of us should be concerned with it.

Very well said...

[TITANIC]

I dislike NEXT LEVEL as well. only few song i like, like Bridge to the sky, NEXT LEVEL pieces of SEVEN
disco-mmunication, Days, Rule, Sparkle. the rest are suck

for vocally i think she is getting better but still my love is her I Am... voice era. clearer and soft

[Crystal_Ageha]

Is Ayumi's voice getting better? Certainly, without a doubt.
Is Ayumi's music getting better? It depends...

Compared to her first two albums, I think every other album is way better, in terms of pretty much everything - vocals, lyrics, and especially music (well, except Secret--maybe if it had stayed a mini-album I would like it more, but it was just so bland and uncreative sounding compared to her others :\). But in general, I think Ayu's music and creativity started to get a little rough from (miss)understood until now. Sure, I love (miss)understood - probably my second or third favourite - but to be fair, half those songs weren't even hers... As I said, Secret was pretty blah, and GUILTY, as much as I love rock and that album in general also, wasn't up to Ayumi's previous standards, at least not creativity-wise. But with NEXT LEVEL, I have so much hope for her next album. It seems like she's starting to get back on track a bit. The only problem now is she's starting to fall into such a mainstream rut. >_<'

[SunshineSlayer]

^ I still believe that her best vocal period was between 03-05 and her vocals since then have only been getting worse. I mean, I saw her live in 04 and 05 and vocally it was far, far, faaar superior in basically all areas I felt compared to the times I saw her live between 06 and now.

I can see where some people would like her style and tone of vocals these days, as compared to say the A Song For Xx era, but I wouldn't necessarily call them stronger.

[Embleu]

I'm one of those people who think that Ayu's artistry was better when she assumed more creative control. While I still enjoy—very much—newer songs like Glitter, Green, and Sunrise, I feel that, with some exceptions, mostly from Secret and the amazing Will, Ayu's music since 2004 onwards has been more intentionally aimed at gaining mainstream popularity rather than being ars gratia artis. Free & Easy, Dolls, Heartplace, Naturally, Daybreak—these weren't big hits with the Japanese public as far as I know, but they are IMO "quintessential" Ayu songs; you can "feel" Ayu through every aspect of them, their melodies, lyrics, and PVs. Newer songs, as they are not composed by Ayu herself, lack that personal touch, which, unpolished as it may seem to some (I for one like the Crea-composed melodies best), makes the song a complete message in itself rather than a song cranked out for public consumption that coincidentally has a message packaged with it. I don't know if Ayu (or Avex) fears that songs have to follow a formula to succeed commercially, but some of Ayu's best-selling singles have been those she composed herself (some of which use non-"textbook" key shifts), one of which (M) not only defied "standard" song structure but was called unfinished-sounding by Rockin' On Japan, TIME, and (in a way) Ayu herself and yet is Ayu's third-best-selling single. Even in 2008, Oricon readers named it their favorite Ayu song, so you could not easily say the sales were due entirely to Ayu's popularity at the time. I digress, I know lol.

[TeddyGrahams]

Delirium-Zero always make the best posts! I full-heartily agree with everything she posted.

Since I'm into more poppy upbeat music and Ballads, I prefer her lighter albums such as NEXT LEVEL, Rainbow, and Loveppears over My Story, Memorial Address, and GUITLY. Secret, A song for XX, (Miss)Understood, I am... and Duty are inbetween the two groups. Her lives(vocals) have gotten worse during her Together When... - Countdown Live 07-08 - Asia Tour 08 - until her Days performances. Now they're getting better~

Overall she's always on the same level for me.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Petit: You liking older material like that, that makes you a rare exception XD

I'm liking this thread.... i'm seeing alot of people who really try to think objectively about when they think ayu is good and when they think ayu is bad.

I think if you look at her whole discography honestly and without prejudice, you can see that she's improved, regressed, and improved again several times in several areas. I think the differences in our tastes can really reflect that.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Embleu

I'm one of those people who think that Ayu's artistry was better when she assumed more creative control. While I still enjoy—very much—newer songs like Glitter, Green, and Sunrise, I feel that, with some exceptions, mostly from Secret and the amazing Will, Ayu's music since 2004 onwards has been more intentionally aimed at gaining mainstream popularity rather than being ars gratia artis. Free & Easy, Dolls, Heartplace, Naturally, Daybreak—these weren't big hits with the Japanese public as far as I know, but they are IMO "quintessential" Ayu songs; you can "feel" Ayu through every aspect of them, their melodies, lyrics, and PVs.

I quite agree with this as well. As I said though, it doesn't mean her current stuff is bad but there are aspects of her older material that I certainly miss.

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I think if you look at her whole discography honestly and without prejudice, you can see that she's improved, regressed, and improved again several times in several areas. I think the differences in our tastes can really reflect that.

Maybe it's just me though, but I feel she regressed a couple of years ago and has basically stayed at that same level getting neither better nor worse in most areas.

[Crystal_Ageha]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Petit: You liking older material like that, that makes you a rare exception XD

I'm liking this thread.... i'm seeing alot of people who really try to think objectively about when they think ayu is good and when they think ayu is bad.

I think if you look at her whole discography honestly and without prejudice, you can see that she's improved, regressed, and improved again several times in several areas. I think the differences in our tastes can really reflect that.

This. But it's not a bad thing. Every great artist has several ups and downs, and not just a huge peak followed by a significant drop that they never recover from. It shows their growth and progression, along with their falls. And as long as Ayu continues to overcome those falls, she'll only get better.

[neuteka]

To be completely honest, I will have to say that I like all of her songs, and I love every album she has released. Every single one. Some more than others, but there was never a time where I thought what she released was garbage. So I can't really say whether she has gotten better or worse, since my judgment on her songs depends on the actual song, rather than the time period it was sung in. Though her voice has gotten a lot better, I don't think her musical value has improved or has gotten worse.

I also don't exactly think that having her do more mainstream music is a bad thing. Her popularity is dropping, so she wants to be able to do well on the charts/sales. I still feel that she works hard, but her creativity might be lacking at this time, and she is only human.

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

I believe that NEXT LEVEL is not referred as much to her music but to her inside.

I feel Ayu in a different ways actually, and her diaries notes let me think that her has a sort of new confidence in life and feelings.
Although she found herself alone after her broke up with Nagase she took the strenght to renew herself and still keep on fighting against her lonelyness.
And moreover through her path of sorrow she found in her team and closest people the light of her next level.
So she feels herself as a better person, she accepted to loose and win.

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

yes... she is getting better...
but i just hate her vibratos in Memorial address era and A BALLADS era...
it's just annoying...TT

[y_nathz]

she's vocally getting better but her music style is just different, we all know that Ayu love to change her image/style right ? i think its only about which image we love the most from her n i think most people dont really like her music style in NEXT LEVEL..
its only a problem bout people's taste..
for me the album is still ok eventhough im not a fan of the covers..
but the cover for USB version is love ^^

[noisy_harmony]

In my opinion, she's getting worse... After Secret she released nothing I like and I'm dissapointed of last 2 years and present (I hope that You were.../BALLAD will change my mind :p). But it's always my point, people like her latest works, so... It's fine ^^
By the way I don't understand why this review is so... agressive o.O But every musician is criticized, even in that way... It's normal and we don't have to care about it.

[elepop]

Honestly, she's been getting worst and worst music and vocal-wise since (miss)understood IMO. I don't quite understand how people can think that her voice has been better. She can barely sing live anymore. Compare a "Voyage" performance from years ago and one of her recent performance. And her vibrato has never been as bad as it is now. Music wise, her new style is just not up to me likings. Everything since (miss)understood's album tracks (the single tracks were great!) has been boring and has no replay value IMO. That's why I've deleted those songs a long time ago.

[foxhana]

ahh.. angst filled internet crazed people. ^^ Just odn't go to near to them ne.

Ayumi to me, I have been with her for almost 10 years. With NEXT LEVEL she leaped a step further than the rest of Asia. I'm not sure about US/EURO I odn't live there. But Ayu definitely did a bigjump from her previous Guilty MIsunderstood. ^^

[Andrenekoi]

A lot of people complains cuz they don't like her image/music genre/lyrics nowadays... What doesn't mean that she is getting better or worst... just different.

Even if my favorite album from her is (miss)understood, IMO she has no bad album but Secret...

[*Petit*]

Sunshineslayer: My post was mostly referring to her music and especially arrangement. I cannot judge her lyrics properly due to my lack of knowledge in japanese other than general themes I guess from the translations.

As for her voice, I totally agree with you. From 03 to 05 she was able to switch freely between her old squeaky voice and a more mature sound depending on the context, or so it seemed. Now she seems to lack that kind of control and I think her lives have been getting even more unpredictable. She's also starting to sound like she's speaking/shouting rather than singing and that's not really to my liking. I remember the first time I noticed this was around the release of A BEST II allthough it'd probably been going on for some time already. SOmetimes it sounds like her voice is exhausted. However, it does hardly show in her recordings so it doesen't really affect my listening experience. Her vibratos I used to like, but they went over the top and do not accompany shouting as mentioned very well. I always suspected she doesen't take enough time to warm up properly esp before TV lives, maybe it caught up with her.

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

A lot of people complains cuz they don't like her image/music genre/lyrics nowadays... What doesn't mean that she is getting better or worst... just different.

I agree. it's not better nor worst, it's just pretty different.
And every album gets different from the previous.
Don't you believe so?

Maybe, if she kept composing and writing songs equal to her past ones, lot of people still liked her but maybe there were lot of people leaving her because they get bored.

Honestly i prefer her voice lately than ASFXX-Duty eras.
But i admit my ignorance.