The Party Queen era concepts analysis thread! - Page 2

marty · #1 7th July 2014, 08:50 PM

Yes, I was hoping this thread would be posted!!
I feel too Love Songs, Party Queen and LOVE again are a trilogy, they're too connected, lyric wise.
I always felt like Tell me why is addressed to Ayu too. Maybe it's somehow about Mannie too (perhaps is about them, very far away, talking to each other in front of a computer screen), but a lot of themes are too familiar. Like the part when she's singing "why do you take all the blame" or "why do you desperately try to hide your weakness, saying “I’m fine”. Ayu used similar expressions about herself many times before, in lyrics and interviews.

Machiko · #2 7th July 2014, 07:09 PM

Love this topic! I honestly suck at understanding these things and I definitely enjoy reading all these things.

One thing I noticed though, the rose behind her back is thornless—could it mean something? "Even roses have thorns"... Yet this one doesn't, and it's "hidden" behind her back. Am I over thinking, stupid or both but... Could it mean, you know... defenceless??? Or something? but wanting to hide it?

**DonkeyKongRemix** · #3 7th July 2014, 09:05 PM

I noticed something when scrolling through some older topics. One of them was a poll asking which album people thought was Ayu's saddest. This was before Party Queen was even released. Most of the people voting chose either GUILTY or Duty.

Now that we've been talking about Party Queen, I noticed that the three albums have something interesting in common: all three have some kind of animal print used on the covers, all three being wild cat patterns such as leopard or cheetah. I find this interesting. I always thought that cat-patterns like those suited her very well, but It's interesting to note that three of her darkest, saddest albums include animal print.

While I may be looking too far into these things, it's fun to play with ideas. I wonder if animal print is somewhat symbolic of untamed emotions. Very intriguing to me, though I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.

Miltonic · #4 7th July 2014, 09:34 PM

^that is right, she always uses leopard for sad/personal albums, A BEST an album she didn't want to release also used leopard print in its promotions.

marty · #5 7th July 2014, 09:50 PM

^^
Wow, I never noticed that! It's true, it seems leopard print makes Ayu think about sadness and such!

Delirium-Zer0 · #6 7th July 2014, 10:02 PM

I noticed that when GUILTY came out actually, then Party Queen really cemented it. It could be that ayu feels like wildcats have a certain power and grace that she admires, being that she falls on it when she feels she's at her weakest.

As for the color - I wouldn't call the shade purple, it's definitely a barbie pink or fuschia type shade (not too far from the "deeppink" color I used use in my AHS posts, it's just a bit darker & more purple). However the transition from black & white to pink is worth noting... the idea of "monochrome" as a metaphor for loss of feeling has come up in her lyrics more than once, but she uses pink in her packaging & designs fairly commonly. I'd have to look closer at most of it for a common thread between them though.

mi|kshake · #7 7th July 2014, 10:22 PM

Quote:

2. NaNaNa tells us, with its sound, what 1025 means. On October 25 2007, Aneki died of a suicide, that one is obvious; But also, on October 25, 2011, Keiko of globe suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (the same thing that killed hide of X-Japan) and luckily survived and has been recovering since. On the anniversary of her best friend's death, Ayu almost lost someone else. NaNaNa sounds like a globe song, with Timmy imitating Marc Panther by deepening his voice so much that when the album first came out, fans thought it was Marc. The techno-dance sound of it is very globesque as well, and the lyrics are all about partying because you only live once. The lyrics make mention of life being short and having fun with your friends being the most important thing, but due to the siren sound effects and ticking clock sounds, it sounds very very dark. You party because life is short, and life is made shorter because you party.

Whoa, I never knew that about Keiko! Interesting points about NaNaNa and 1025.

280301 · #8 8th July 2014, 01:32 AM

Also, the settings of the album covers for Duty, GUILTY, and Party Queen.

Duty - cage.
GUILTY - desert.
Party Queen - apartment.

Duty and Party Queen's are quite explicit. A cage is pretty obvious in the sense that it presents both incarceration and isolation, whilst apartments further represent claustrophobia and due to this are often utilised in such a way in certain genres (thriller, horror, etc).
I think also, you can argue that the desert in GUILTY also represents a form of encasement, but also that of a continuing journey (and I think this is supported by songs such as decision).
Furthermore, I think it accurately displays her emphasis on retrospect that we would see on NEXT LEVEL and Rock 'n' Roll Circus (You were..., Don't look back).
Continuing onto my main point however, Duty and Party Queen both have Ayu being stationery and compounded in claustrophobic environments - she's overwhelmed by her issues and cannot move freely. Moreover, the only way in which she can develop and move on is through confronting said issues (SURREAL/letter/call lyrics). In short, to leave the cages she produced herself, she has to dismantle them herself - definitely in the case of Party Queen, the final song, how beautiful you are. I think this embodies freedom as it presents acceptance of herself (which feeds into the self-esteem theory that others have espoused here too).

Duty too is interesting, as the tracks primarily deal with isolation and a lack of understanding by others, and the final song girlish is based upon her having fun with her friends? Hm.

**DonkeyKongRemix** · #9 8th July 2014, 05:09 AM

Cool, glad I'm not the only one to see the connections between these albums. This is one of the things that makes Ayu an artist: we want to delve into the meanings behind her works, her music that is. Most pop music I hear, I just take it for what it sounds like. But, Ayumi Hamasaki has always managed to make her music more complex than that.

Delirium-Zer0 · #10 8th July 2014, 05:12 AM

Ayu seems to use deserts to illustrate both the freedom of going on a journey, and the loneliness of doing it by oneself... It could be that she's deliberately trying to emphasize the dichotomy between them both. In the "I am..." booklet she's on a mission of peace, but the dove flies away from her in the end, leaving her alone, for example. The GUILTY booklet has her going on her life's journey, but she's on her own for the first time in years.

Party Queen and Duty definitely give you the sense of her being alone... in Duty, she's breaking out of that isolation and connecting with her fans; on Party Queen she only has the one friend to talk to, mostly everything is just a mess. You get the hope from the last track of the album that she's accepted herself and feels a bit better, but you're left only with optimism rather than closure, which is interesting.

jyujiw · #11 8th July 2014, 07:07 AM

I love reading everything you guys post about it

It's really interesting the connection between the animal print and her defenseless moments indeed.

Andrenekoi · #12 8th July 2014, 04:54 PM

^I had never noticed the facial expression looked so different on the mirror! :0 I woudn't be surprised if it was done on purpose... She looks really troubled on the mirror!

About the "lonely queen" bit... The last section of AT12 opens with Ladies Night, a song about friendship among women and the way it helps healing a heartache, so, she is basically singing about partying to forget the pain of a failed relationship. Party queen comes next, adding that bit to make the duality between being the Party queen and being alone clear, so, just like Ladies Night sings about how she partying to forget her pain, on Party queen she is singing about how even if she is having fun while partying and drinking, the pain and the loneliness don't go away. The next track is S~e~S, that by itself, isn't really a happy medley either:

Spoiler:

So, at the end of the Hotel Divorce (

) Songs concert, she has no hope in love and is sure she will be alone forever, because such thing doesn't really exist. She is conformed being alone is her destiny. When she starts ending the concert on such a bitter note, the concert (represented by the band, the singers, the curtains, the lights, everything) refuse to end itself that way/Ayu friends (her crew) refuses to let her end the concert that way, she keeps on trying to finish the concert and just leave, and they won't let her, until she's finally convinced and sings the final number, that serves both as "moral of the story" and as a proper finish to her journey looking for love: Love song.

Haha, sorry for commenting on the whole section, but as the tour is highly based on stage musicals, it's not really possible to get the idea of a song without the context of the others.

ayu-michan · #13 8th July 2014, 07:04 PM

^ Aah I see I see. I never actually looked into the show, and well I look at the songs separately so that's why I couldn't understand. The Love Songs explanation helped clear it up for me because I was wondering what was happening before the song started. Thanks for explaining

(and lolll your jokes lmao I can't)

waterballoon · #14 9th July 2014, 04:00 PM

Del-Zero thank you very much for your analysis on the tracks of the album! I got new perspective on some of them (especially NaNaNa, call & Letter)

This PQ era reminds me a lot of the recent Colours era. That the music is very very good, but the visuals border on garbage. At least Colours had classy covers, but I really really really detest the Party Queen era for all of its visuals & here's why:

Covers:
No, just no. I always love reading little details in print art, and if there's nothing to read into, beautiful things always makes me appreciate them a lot.

But yeah, this is an example where covers are done so horribly with no class that I couldn't care less about what "hidden message" she wants to convey.

So she's "lonely", "alcoholic" and "sad"? Sorry Ayu IDGAF because for whatever messages you wanna see, you fail the moment your visuals don't match with each other. I hate how she doesn't go all the way... if you want to "lonely queen", partying and drinking all night and waking up alone then show it to me. Timmy being your gay bestie sidekick drinking alcohol in the daytime doesn't mean much to me.

Your wet combed back hair looks like you just dived into the pool. Your perfect pretty make up shows you just woke up from partying; a streak of mascara would be perfect for that little indication of crying alone, but no. It's just glamorous (actually trashy glamorous)... you can't do Terry Richardson so don't try.

The covers are a huge fail & I cannot express how much I hate them. In the CD-only she also looks like an alien head with stick hands... what's with the overtly bright lightning too? So much for "dark".

PVs:
My respect for her as a professional artiste fell a little with the Return Road PV. No, I just can't. She ain't no Kim Kardishan or Rihanna or B-List artiste who depends on their personal scandals for music news. That move of putting Mannie's photo in the PV is just disgusting for me, because it tells me she's run out of real creative ideas that she needs to rely on something that already has such a bad rep... *shaking head*.

For Deli's wonderful dig into "NaNaNa" and "Shake It

", I'm shocked their PVs suck so badly... so so badly it's an embarrassment to watch. The plots were garbage, the inclusion of Timmy was more reductive than necessary... and they don't reveal anything introspective or personal like how she desperately wanted to yell out in the tour (which I'll get to later). Also she looks very old and ugly in both PVs with that Justin Bieber x Peter Pan hair

The only decent one was how beautiful you are. She still looked scary regardless. But whatever, I'll give her that.

ARENA TOUR 2012 ~HOTEL Love Songs~:
Officially her worst concert ever imo.

1) her vocals are horrible. garbage even. I listened to digests and what not on YouTube for a quick recap & I think my ears are bleeding. did she have a flu while recording or was she high on alcohol before she started? she sounded so so so so so off and horrible it's shocking even for her standards

2) it is self-indulgent, in a disgusting manner. like Lady Gaga wasn't enough with her antics to show everyone how indulgent she is into herself, Ayu brings it into a whole concert.

I will never ever get over the "I am the lonely queen" desperation in the Party queen performance.

Unprofessional, desperate & giving everyone the chance to say she's failing. Because she was at that moment. Had she gone out to shave her head bald the next day I wouldn't be surprised.

Girl, you release an album post-first divorce trying to make a statement on how sad you are with covers and booklet that don't match it, and when you realize how inconsistent you were, you wanna notch it up with this?! No-go man did you consult your mom before this lame move?!!?!

3) extravagant use of everything... for nothing
I get that it's a hotel ensemble so you probably needed to haul the whole working staff of Hilton hotel in Tokyo to prance around you... but still, horrible execution.

There was never once she was alone, and I think she knows her vocals suck for this tour and that she couldn't be bothered to actually perform (her lazy, nasal vocals sing it all, so does her desperate antics) so she got her dancers and band to literally surround her so she can get away with making mistakes.

Um also, pulling the "MY MAN DON'T GO AWAY I NEED YOU DO YOU SEE MY HAND REACHING OUT???!!!!!!!!!! :sobs" THRICE in the whole concert reeks of a lack of ideas.

4) Maro
ugh I get that she's mentally unstable in this era but even with a flaming gay sidekick like Timmy (she's almost a disgrace to pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~ Hags) she couldn't keep her pants on!

Right after AT 12 we get the little fling with Maro that spun to more shit in 2013. just really cements the idea that she isn't herself in 2012 and someone should be with her emotionally more often than anything.

---

I like the album "Party Queen" very much. It has some of her rawest lyrics since I am... (since RAINBOW she has taken a very universal "we" take on her lyrics, with MY STORY & a bit of Memorial address going back to personal space), and Party Queen is her diary of her adult 30-something self.

I appreciate that, because the lyrics in every song sans how beautiful you are were darn good and introspective.

But that's what angers me the most.

That with such good musical content, she failed in everything.

Anyway all this is my take and my opinion, so don't take it too hard. I know Andrenekoi is gonna come and berate me for my negative opinions on this era but truthfully I'm interested to see a positive opinion on her visuals for this era, just to see the differences!

Andrenekoi · #15 9th July 2014, 04:17 PM

^Yeah, I will.

This isn't a "do you like the album?" thread, and I even asked to not come over here to say "this all sucks". Really, don't post over here unless you have something to add to the discussion.

Even disliking is welcomed unless it's just a long "do not like because sucks" rant.

waterballoon · #16 9th July 2014, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

^Yeah, I will.

This isn't a "do you like the album?" thread, and I even asked to not come over here to say "this all sucks". Really, don't post over here unless you have something to add to the discussion.

Even disliking is welcomed unless it's just a long "do not like because sucks" rant.

I believe I have good reason though,

could've been worse like "HORRIBLE".

And I did like this album/era for whatever I liked about it. The album reminds me a lot of ASFxx & LOVEppears with all the self-doubt and questioning, but made even more interesting because she's an adult this time round.

I'm sorry I don't have praises for everything about it... it's just not connecting on several levels

Andrenekoi · #17 9th July 2014, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterballoon

I believe I have good reason though,

could've been worse like "HORRIBLE".

And I did like this album/era for whatever I liked about it. The album reminds me a lot of ASFxx & LOVEppears with all the self-doubt and questioning, but made even more interesting because she's an adult this time round.

I'm sorry I don't have praises for everything about it... it's just not connecting on several levels

It's not a thread to praise the album either, it's a thread to discuss its concepts, a thread for us to discuss what we think Ayu tried to portray or say with this era. Deli disliked the album and discussed it, you disliked and only bashed it on that post. On the same way, I really dislike every thing related to the Rock'n'Roll Circus era and still will open a thread for discussing it.

waterballoon · #18 10th July 2014, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

It's not a thread to praise the album either, it's a thread to discuss its concepts, a thread for us to discuss what we think Ayu tried to portray or say with this era. Deli disliked the album and discussed it, you disliked and only bashed it on that post. On the same way, I really dislike every thing related to the Rock'n'Roll Circus era and still will open a thread for discussing it.

I am discussing the concept(s) or sometimes lack thereof, no?

It's an analysis thread, and when you analyze something there is always gonna be good stuff and bad stuff.

Just as much as I love to read the good stuff, I hope you love to read the bad stuff too.

Delirium-Zer0 · #19 9th July 2014, 06:00 PM

waterballoon, I freaking love you. So so very much. YOU UNDERSTAND!!

I think one of the reasons I dissect & examine this album as much as I do is so I can sorta push away the bad aspects of its release... It really could have been this great amazing return to form for Ayu with lyrics & conceptual ideas like this, but there's just a laundry list of reasons why it didn't end up doing that.

**ayumisrael** · #20 11th July 2014, 10:19 PM

I think that Andrenekoi meant that the point of these threads is to share concepts and obviously it's only if you think that there is a concept too.

Whether the concept is good, bad, to one's liking or not or if it lacks or lacks a concept doesn't fit the sharing ideas of the concepts threads.