Singles or albums that renewed your faith in Ayu?

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

Love songs, absolutely. Looking back at her discography, the only album that really flopped with me is Party Queen—I disliked NEXT LEVEL and Rock'n'Roll Circus at the time, but since taking a break from Ayu and exploring other styles, I've come to realise just how good they are considering most of those two albums weren't her style. Who knows, maybe I'll feel the same way about Party Queen in a few years' time, but for now, that's a definite no.

Love songs was one of the most cohesive albums she released since MY STORY back in 2005, so that really helped me reaffirm my love for her music. Love Again is actually a strong album as well—I disliked almost every song except for "Missing" as singles, but oddly enough as an album, they all work together. It's peculiar, really...

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

Originally Posted by DA1SUK1DAY01691

Love songs, absolutely. Looking back at her discography, the only album that really flopped with me is Party Queen—I disliked NEXT LEVEL and Rock'n'Roll Circus at the time, but since taking a break from Ayu and exploring other styles, I've come to realise just how good they are considering most of those two albums weren't her style. Who knows, maybe I'll feel the same way about Party Queen in a few years' time, but for now, that's a definite no.

Love songs was one of the most cohesive albums she released since MY STORY back in 2005, so that really helped me reaffirm my love for her music. Love Again is actually a strong album as well—I disliked almost every song except for "Missing" as singles, but oddly enough as an album, they all work together. It's peculiar, really...

Six years later and I still don't care for most of Party Queen, for the record. Haha!

Love songs is still one of my favorite albums from Ayu's second half of her career.

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by DA1SUK1DAY01691

Six years later and I still don't care for most of Party Queen, for the record. Haha!

Love songs is still one of my favorite albums from Ayu's second half of her career.

It's so funny to read this because NEXT LEVEL and Rock n Roll Circus (and GUILTY a bit, too) were also definite disappointments for me back then (but I was wrong) and Party Queen really sealed the deal for me - she was off the deep end.

My continued interest sort of faded then and I stuck with the oldies; for years all I listened to was basically A Song for ××, LOVEppears, Duty, I am..., RAINBOW, Memorial Address and Secret. (Even MY STORY and (miss)understood I didn't care for.)

I recently was (fortunately!) proven to be very wrong in some of my snap judgements. You were... single-handedly renewed my interest, and I went back and discovered that (miss)understood, NEXT LEVEL and Rock n Roll Circus were actually FANTASTIC. (MY STORY and GUILTY are fine but not on the same level for me.) Party Queen however I have not warmed to yet.

Much of what I've been catching up with has been constantly renewing my faith: LOVE again is so good. sixxxxx is excellent. And M(A)DE IN JAPAN is brilliant.

Outside of Party Queen the only other thing I've really not warmed to is Colours. Both are listenable but I just don't have that connection. However, I now recognize those as flukes (to me, of course, I know there's plenty of fans) in an otherwise pretty much flawless discography.

[*Petit*]

Originally Posted by DA1SUK1DAY01691

Six years later and I still don't care for most of Party Queen, for the record. Haha!

Love songs is still one of my favorite albums from Ayu's second half of her career.

THis is an old thread, but this is still true! Party Queen is her worst album to me by far, and Love songs is one of my favorites. Made in Japan is not my favorite either, but the rest are pretty much good albums or better in my book.