I Am...11 years ago today

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Jennie Mae

Has it really been eleven years??
I remember the non-single songs leaking like a week and a half before the album release, and back then downloading a song took hours, so I stayed up until 4 in the morning downloading them off of Napster, and then I basically sobbed because the music was so beautiful (and I was so exhausted). "no more words" in particular really hit me.
It's still my favorite album.

My sistah! lol... The anticipation waiting for this album was absolutely INSANE. Hearing "still alone" and "Naturally" in commercials MONTHS before, the album being delayed, and then finally THE LEAK!! oh my gosh.

This was also my first pre-ordered Ayu album, I'd been a fan since the Trilogy but I didn't pre-order "Duty." But I pre-ordered "I am..." cuz I wanted the long obi and the poster, lol I went through yesasia instead of CDJapan though so I didn't get the gray A-logo pinback button. The excitement waiting for my first pre-ordered album permeated everything I did, lemme tell you XD

The album was worth all that tension, it really was.

To this day I'm still waiting for a full version of the more rock-styled "still alone" though, and I wish I still had my mp3 of the pre-mastered "I am..." where the guitars are louder... I kinda miss it. It was scratchy but it sounded really cool.

Man. Time flies.

[Delicious n Bold]

Album delay?
Could someone elaborate on that for me please?

[TeamAyu2004]

^ i think after 9/11 she changed her mind on the themes and what not...
I wasn't a fan then so I dont know the full details...

i would have liked to know what she had planned before hand... it might have been really cool.
I also wonder if thats why she changed a lot of the tunes and everything that people are talking about.

[Delirium-Zer0]

The album was delayed cuz of a concept change after 9/11, but we didn't know that at the time. We were just WAITING. Don't forget, Duty had come out way back in September of 2000, WELL before the end of that year, so we'd just gone from a 10 month wait for her third album to 10 months without even an announcement for the 4th one. Rumored tracklist after rumored tracklist spread around, new single announcements for songs we'd heard that were never singles... it was really, really crazy, watching fans during that time cuz the album was taking FOREVER but we KNEW it was coming.

[Kogepan_19]

I am... is Ayu's best original studio album. It's still a little surprising that it sold less than Duty...but then again, there were more singles that were all popular as well.

[FoObY]

Originally Posted by TeamAyu2004

i would have liked to know what she had planned before hand... it might have been really cool.
I also wonder if thats why she changed a lot of the tunes and everything that people are talking about.

There was speculation that the ayu-mi-x 4 covers might have originally been for "I am..." because they were particularly elaborate for a remix album. ayu-mi-x 4 did come out just a couple months afterwards. I don't remember where I read this though, just a lingering thought!

[Delirium-Zer0]

It's an unfounded theory, but not a terrible one. She's never said for sure what the original I am... concept was, only that it was "flashy." It's also a common misconception that the photos for I am...'s original concept were ever taken, but they weren't. The studio space was rented out for the photo shoot, but the shoot never actually happened.

[~angel*ayumi~]

mhhhh I am..... Still my fave album after all these years^^
And it was my fisrt album I was waiting for^^ I bought Duty in a german Manga/Anime shop (without listening to the album and knowing ayu, I just liked the cover XD) then I read in a German Manga/anime magazine she will release new album soon called I am... so I pre.ordered it from the shop I bought Duty ^^
And I had no internet back then, ok I had but only a crappy modem on a crappy PC, just enough to know ebay, didn´t know any ayu forum by then, neither download sites, neither YesAsia or yahoo XD

[Delicious n Bold]

Was there a set release date before the delay?
Or were people left in confusion until the final January release date?

[Delirium-Zer0]

Nope, no release date or anything. Just a really, really long wait with a ton of rumors and theories flying around - one fake tracklist for an album called "SURROUND" in the summer, another fake tracklist for an album called "Natural" in the fall. CDJapan finally announced in October that the album was coming out on 1/1, but we didn't know any titles or covers until December.

It's worth mentioning that ayu-ro mix 2 was originally slated for a release in July, had a stock number and everything. That got postponed too, first to August, and then to 9/27 with a new stock number. So there was a lot of "wtf is going on" with ayu in mid- to late-2001 lol.

[TeamAyu2004]

they moved everything around so it didnt seem that long I guess...
lol...
I would have hated to be a fan then... all that waiting and confusion!

[Delirium-Zer0]

On the contrary - no joke, it was really, really fun. The anticipation was absolutely killer, it was like watching an exciting movie. Cuz you knew it had to end eventually, and Ayu's music quality at the time was something we all got excited about, rather than half of us dreading it (which seems to be the case these days). We knew all that tension was building up to something amazing.

[Delicious n Bold]

oh that sounds so cool!
was it easy to get her music back then?

[Delirium-Zer0]

It was easier to PURCHASE her stuff, yes. At least for me. I was lucky I lived in the LA area, and YesAsia had their warehouse there so shipping was relatively fast. If it took longer than about a week they'd send me a coupon to apologize for the delay (this happened twice). Also I was half an hour from Little Tokyo, which was also easily accessible by train, so I went all the time. There was a TON of music available there at the time, between CD rentals and one used CD shop where I bought the bulk of my collection at the time. Managed to find the 3" poker face single there for $3 once. There was also Kinokuniya of course (still there) and another bookstore that closed not long before I left the LA area... I liked that store. But now I'm in the Dallas area and if you love Kpop this is the place for you. Jpop fans are a bit more SOL unfortunately. And most of the online jpop CD stores have gone to crap - more expensive, slower shipping. Sad times.

Download-wise her music wasn't HARD to get, but it took patience just cuz of connection speeds at the time. I'd recently downgraded from cable to 56k modem when "I am..." leaked. I used Audiogalaxy and WinMX most of the time. Others were still using Napster, like Jennie Mae. Downloading an album took about half an hour on a decent connection day, took two hours if things were slow and I had to get each song individually rather than downloading an album all at once. We had our Mediafire-type sites back then too, like I think YouSendIt had shown up by then (or maybe they were a bit later), and Yahoo!Briefcase was used pretty frequently. Often you had to resort to IRC file transfers (PAIN IN THE BUTT but oh man you could find some REALLY rare stuff there) or other peoples' private FTP servers.

zomg nostalgiatimez!

[FoObY]

Nostalgic is right! I remember using Limewire to get my ayu fix, it was pretty dreadful. I was on dial-up for the longest time and we all know what happens when the phone rings...

This generation of teenagers is so spoiled with the technology available nowadays.

[Mimichild]

11 years? Wow, it doesn't feel so long ago. But like many of you say I am... has aged well! I could play no more words, Dearest, Connected, & Naturally like it just came out (ahead of its time I tells ya!)

[Akutenshi]

Originally Posted by FoObY

Nostalgic is right! I remember using Limewire to get my ayu fix, it was pretty dreadful. I was on dial-up for the longest time and we all know what happens when the phone rings...

This generation of teenagers is so spoiled with the technology available nowadays.

Not to divert too off topic since I can't comment on I am... (I only became a fan around (miss)understood) but this took me back a lot as well because my first Ayu download was Fairyland on Limewire, but I remember I could never find the full, real version, it was only a short live performance.

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

missing that time so much..I loved that album so much

[Tony G]

Replace the remixed endless sorrow with the original and this would have been perfect.

In any case, this is Ayu's masterpiece album that somehow transcends time as it doesn't sound dated one bit. It really was ahead of its time.