I need Ayu to inspire me again

[letter]

Here's an idea. Look at her albums one by one and select the songs you like, don't care for, and dislike. Look at them from a personal point of view and then either objective or artistic, as it is possible to dislike a song while feeling, regardless, that it is a good product of pop culture. When comparing an older song to a newer one, a ballad vs ballad, electro vs electro etc, try to see what it is that sets them apart, what makes one so much better than the other. It's a feeling of nostalgia that accompanies Ayu's older music for many (imagine if Love song was on I am..., BRILLANTE on Duty, reminds me on Memorial address and so on). Ayu's an interesting case, no matter how you look at it, and whether you consider the artist, lyricist, pop icon, friend, girl/woman (or even wife, as we speculate). However, I don't have the energy to explain my views right now; and they cannot all be proven, as I don't know her--I merely extract what I can from what is given to me. What I know is that, for example, while Love songs is an album of hers that lyrically provides very little stimulation (for me, at least), it is one of my most cherished albums in her discography, because of many memories that are attached to the songs. crossroad's lyrics are uninspiring, as I can't relate to them - in fact, many of the subjects that Ayu discusses bore me - but the melody is pure nostalgia, despite the song being only about a year old. There are songs that have it all (melody, arrangement and subject), songs that are simply beautiful, songs that fit somewhere in between by containing an element that is enticing on its own, and songs that are unappealing in their entirety. Our judgements of that will, obviously, clash.

[happiholic★]

Originally Posted by letter

Here's an idea. Look at her albums one by one and select the songs you like, don't care for, and dislike. Look at them from a personal point of view and then either objective or artistic, as it is possible to dislike a song while feeling, regardless, that it is a good product of pop culture. When comparing an older song to a newer one, a ballad vs ballad, electro vs electro etc, try to see what it is that sets them apart, what makes one so much better than the other. It's a feeling of nostalgia that accompanies Ayu's older music for many (imagine if Love song was on I am..., BRILLANTE on Duty, reminds me on Memorial address and so on). Ayu's an interesting case, no matter how you look at it, and whether you consider the artist, lyricist, pop icon, friend, girl/woman (or even wife, as we speculate). However, I don't have the energy to explain my views right now; and they cannot all be proven, as I don't know her--I merely extract what I can from what is given to me. What I know is that, for example, while Love songs is an album of hers that lyrically provides very little stimulation (for me, at least), it is one of my most cherished albums in her discography, because of many memories that are attached to the songs. crossroad's lyrics are uninspiring, as I can't relate to them - in fact, many of the subjects that Ayu discusses bore me - but the melody is pure nostalgia, despite the song being only about a year old. There are songs that have it all (melody, arrangement and subject), songs that are simply beautiful, songs that fit somewhere in between by containing an element that is enticing on its own, and songs that are unappealing in their entirety. Our judgements of that will, obviously, clash.

I have to agree with that.

[ayu_ready?]

Originally Posted by letter

Here's an idea. Look at her albums one by one and select the songs you like, don't care for, and dislike. Look at them from a personal point of view and then either objective or artistic, as it is possible to dislike a song while feeling, regardless, that it is a good product of pop culture. When comparing an older song to a newer one, a ballad vs ballad, electro vs electro etc, try to see what it is that sets them apart, what makes one so much better than the other. It's a feeling of nostalgia that accompanies Ayu's older music for many (imagine if Love song was on I am..., BRILLANTE on Duty, reminds me on Memorial address and so on). Ayu's an interesting case, no matter how you look at it, and whether you consider the artist, lyricist, pop icon, friend, girl/woman (or even wife, as we speculate). However, I don't have the energy to explain my views right now; and they cannot all be proven, as I don't know her--I merely extract what I can from what is given to me. What I know is that, for example, while Love songs is an album of hers that lyrically provides very little stimulation (for me, at least), it is one of my most cherished albums in her discography, because of many memories that are attached to the songs. crossroad's lyrics are uninspiring, as I can't relate to them - in fact, many of the subjects that Ayu discusses bore me - but the melody is pure nostalgia, despite the song being only about a year old. There are songs that have it all (melody, arrangement and subject), songs that are simply beautiful, songs that fit somewhere in between by containing an element that is enticing on its own, and songs that are unappealing in their entirety. Our judgements of that will, obviously, clash.

it's not the feeling of nostalgia but rather the feeling of quality if you ask me. but everyone has a different standard for that. for me past Ayu = quality, and recent Ayu = lack of focus, messy feeling, cheap music, bad taste, no inspiration

[Mai82Go]

Originally Posted by ayu_ready?

it's not the feeling of nostalgia but rather the feeling of quality if you ask me. but everyone has a different standard for that. for me past Ayu = quality, and recent Ayu = lack of focus, messy feeling, cheap music, bad taste, no inspiration

For me it's not nostalgia either. I thought about it objectively and because I have been an Ayu fan for so long, I can surely say it's definitely not nostalgia. There are songs from early Ayu I do not like that much, but I can still see something special in them, even though I seldom listen to them. This special feeling - the spark, even if I don't love a song, is kind of gone....I hope it'll be back, I pray it'll be back, but right now it's gone. Everything seems so average atm.

[ccsharumun]

^I think the question of nostalgia bias is very legitimate in these discussions about the quality of Ayu's present work compared with that of the past. We are naturally drawn to the Ayu era that first captured us.

But I think it's also quite clear that many fans have noticed a "negative" change that has nothing to do with nostalgia. After all, some of us did not come in 10 years years ago when Ayu was at her prime. The (miss)understood/Secret era is my Ayu nostalgia, and it wasn't until Next Level that I bothered to even look at anything prior to that (save the classic M). I remember being shocked and amazed the first time I listened to Duty (album) and other tracks she produced over years before I first listened. And I noticed even then that there was Power, and Cohesiveness (between lyrics and music and image) in her earlier works that wasn't as present in (miss)understood or Secret, as much as I love those albums.

In my opinion, she rarely has the intensity/power of self that she once exhibited all over the place. But even that aside, I feel a larger problem, or at least what happened with PQ, was that lyrcis, music and image just didn't cooperate well. This.. in-cooperativeness is probably the largest problem I have had over the last several years.

For example, lyrics and music worked well for me with crossroad, but the video was painful. Or, I loved the words of Lady Dynamite, and the video was okay for me, but the music just didn't hit home at all. Party Queen has been the epitome of this clash and messiness for me.

To be clear, I am not arguing that all the work she does today is unappealing or altogether crap, or that she never does anything that shows the aforementioned qualities. But those instances are rarer, and while her music is great, is not as... generally effective, shall we say, as the stuff she once did.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by ccsharumun

^I think the question of nostalgia bias is very legitimate in these discussions about the quality of Ayu's present work compared with that of the past. We are naturally drawn to the Ayu era that first captured us.

But I think it's also quite clear that many fans have noticed a "negative" change that has nothing to do with nostalgia. After all, some of us did not come in 10 years years ago when Ayu was at her prime. The (miss)understood/Secret era is my Ayu nostalgia, and it wasn't until Next Level that I bothered to even look at anything prior to that (save the classic M). I remember being shocked and amazed the first time I listened to Duty (album) and other tracks she produced over years before I first listened. And I noticed even then that there was Power, and Cohesiveness (between lyrics and music and image) in her earlier works that wasn't as present in (miss)understood or Secret, as much as I love those albums.

In my opinion, she rarely has the intensity/power of self that she once exhibited all over the place. But even that aside, I feel a larger problem, or at least what happened with PQ, was that lyrcis, music and image just didn't cooperate well. This.. in-cooperativeness is probably the largest problem I have had over the last several years.

For example, lyrics and music worked well for me with crossroad, but the video was painful. Or, I loved the words of Lady Dynamite, and the video was okay for me, but the music just didn't hit home at all. Party Queen has been the epitome of this clash and messiness for me.

To be clear, I am not arguing that all the work she does today is unappealing or altogether crap, or that she never does anything that shows the aforementioned qualities. But those instances are rarer, and while her music is great, is not as... generally effective, shall we say, as the stuff she once did.

I find it funny, cuz to me this video has one of the stronger dialogue between pv, music and lyrics of her whole career o,o (not saying u r wrong or something, but it always amazes me how different the opinions on Ayu works can be)

[ccsharumun]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

I find it funny, cuz to me this video has one of the stronger dialogue between pv, music and lyrics of her whole career o,o (not saying u r wrong or something, but it always amazes me how different the opinions on Ayu works can be)

No, that's fair. There seems to be some diversity of opinion about which videos/songs/lyrics "work" these days, and which do not (for example, some people really loved NaNaNa and Shake It, while many others did not--in fact the whole reception of Party Queen exemplifies this). But that in and of itself is evidence, I think, because (insofar as I have noticed) most people seem to reflect on her older works and generally agree about what works and what does not (even if personal favorites differ). Regardless, even if we cannot agree about which works specifically are effective and which are not, people nonetheless seem to be essentially saying "this isn't working for me" whenever they criticize. Criticism of her older work, instead of saying "this isn't working for me" is more like a list of favorites ("I love this, but I love this other one MORE" kind of thing).

I'm not sure if I articulated that well enough but there it is. 8/

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by ccsharumun

No, that's fair. There seems to be some diversity of opinion about which videos/songs/lyrics "work" these days, and which do not (for example, some people really loved NaNaNa and Shake It, while many others did not--in fact the whole reception of Party Queen exemplifies this). But that in and of itself is evidence, I think, because (insofar as I have noticed) most people seem to reflect on her older works and generally agree about what works and what does not (even if personal favorites differ). Regardless, even if we cannot agree about which works specifically are effective and which are not, people nonetheless seem to be essentially saying "this isn't working for me" whenever they criticize. Criticism of her older work, instead of saying "this isn't working for me" is more like a list of favorites ("I love this, but I love this other one MORE" kind of thing).

I'm not sure if I articulated that well enough but there it is. 8/

I believe it was well articulated^^

[taskinillusion]

Originally Posted by ccsharumun

^I think the question of nostalgia bias is very legitimate in these discussions about the quality of Ayu's present work compared with that of the past. We are naturally drawn to the Ayu era that first captured us.

But I think it's also quite clear that many fans have noticed a "negative" change that has nothing to do with nostalgia. After all, some of us did not come in 10 years years ago when Ayu was at her prime. The (miss)understood/Secret era is my Ayu nostalgia, and it wasn't until Next Level that I bothered to even look at anything prior to that (save the classic M). I remember being shocked and amazed the first time I listened to Duty (album) and other tracks she produced over years before I first listened. And I noticed even then that there was Power, and Cohesiveness (between lyrics and music and image) in her earlier works that wasn't as present in (miss)understood or Secret, as much as I love those albums.

In my opinion, she rarely has the intensity/power of self that she once exhibited all over the place. But even that aside, I feel a larger problem, or at least what happened with PQ, was that lyrcis, music and image just didn't cooperate well. This.. in-cooperativeness is probably the largest problem I have had over the last several years.

For example, lyrics and music worked well for me with crossroad, but the video was painful. Or, I loved the words of Lady Dynamite, and the video was okay for me, but the music just didn't hit home at all. Party Queen has been the epitome of this clash and messiness for me.

To be clear, I am not arguing that all the work she does today is unappealing or altogether crap, or that she never does anything that shows the aforementioned qualities. But those instances are rarer, and while her music is great, is not as... generally effective, shall we say, as the stuff she once did.

Yes, yes! I definitely agree!