Ayu - Anything Goes Thread -XIII-

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

While I do enjoy MY STORY when I'm in the mood for it, I'm almost always in the mood for any ayu music.

Sometimes I forget how much I love WE WISH.

[Gustavopc]

Originally Posted by xLuna&1LOVE

When I read this I thought: how on earth could you forget the names of five tracks. Then I remembered why it was called sixxxxxx and it took me a while to remember all the tracks

hahahah my point is being proved now I couldn't remember neither the name of Sky High and Sayonara (even though I like both), but at least it was easy to remember since I already knew the first letter

[ExodusUK]

I'm still annoyed she placed The Show Must Go On in the encore, it deserves a full flashy performance as part of the main show.

It was cool that the editing shows TK in the audience watching.

[melissalove]

Ayu has been very TK lately. It's abit odd

[MessiahofSilence]

I'm so sick of TK and his oit dates everything

[stepYOU1234]

HONEY was actually my first Ayu song! I was on a plane to Japan and MY STORY was on the flight album selection. I was into much cuter pop back then so HONEY caught my attention. It's still one of my favourite albums probably and I think it always will be for being the album that introduced me to Ayu. It just has a bit of every Ayu sound and the MY STORY arena tour is still one of my favourites. It was a good time for Ayu!

[TheRainbow]

Oh man, I used to hate SAKURA and it's all I've been playing today. Those drums do need some more oomph to them, but meh.

[Coelacanth]

The most interesting cuts on MY STORY are INSPIRE, HAPPY ENDING, HONEY, and Humming 7/4—and my use of the word interesting is key here, because the rest of the songs... aren't.

I suppose everyone has different criteria for judging her albums, and for me, the quality of the songs themselves are not typically an indicator of how much I enjoy the album as a whole. I'd say every single one of Ayu's albums has a 'vibe' or ambiance that conveys and characterizes the unique mood of the entire piece. Every single one -- except for MY STORY.

It's too conservative an effort by her standards. Nearly every song is sung straight on the melody, exhibiting very little embellishment or playfulness. The production is stiff and contained, favoring her seemingly disinterested and tightly controlled vocal delivery. Her intensity and presence just isn't there.

[Zeke.]

^ I cannot disagree with this more. My head is going to expose. If I had a time I'd cultivate a fucking thesis on why the album is marvelous and certainly does give off an ambiance. That's one of the reasons I love it so much, because it totally does have an ambiance (NEXT LEVEL would be an example of an album that doesn't).

walking proud, especially the remastered version on BEST 2 black, is truly a showcase. I adore how intricate the drum track is, and how it fold into the melody/composition of the song soooo well. It really is a star component of the track.

And CAROLS I used to find boring af, but the remastered mix on BEST 2 black changed that. I love how the prechorus changed the pace/mood of the song, hinting at what's to come in the lift off of the chorus, and the chorus is like descending into pure bliss (as far as emotion goes). It's like pillows of sound and the warmth of love.

And THAT BRIDGE!! You can feel the "despite this, despite that (the whirlwind of emotions, the unpleasant times, the tense times, the drama), this feeling of happiness when I am beside you, transcends and overpowers it all. It's magical.

[oaristos]

Originally Posted by Gustavopc

On another topic, I don't know if that's cause of the album itself or because tons of music from other artists came out shortly afterwards it, but I have grew over sixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx much sooner than I could expect. Just yesterday I couldn't recall the name of all tracks

I still listen to sixxxxxx every single day. I never thought I'd enjoy it SO much (Step by step is my anthem when I'm taking the bus in the morning ). When I need to listen to something calm and relaxing I always go for Shape of love

[Heavenly]

I think that songs like "HAPPY ENDING" and "HOPE or PAIN" became literaly sublime with the MY STORY Classical treatment.
On my phone/mp3-player, both songs are not in original versions...
Seriously, MY STORY Classical was a great idea, but A Classical and Love Classics were a mess.... good ideas with very bad execution.
In my opinion.

[mi|kshake]

My Story Classical wasn't really my cup of tea (although I thought it would be!) but I love its version of Happy Ending!

[DevilsClap]

I love GAME on MY STORY Classical

[channy]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

walking proud, especially the remastered version on BEST 2 black, is truly a showcase. I adore how intricate the drum track is, and how it fold into the melody/composition of the song soooo well. It really is a star component of the track.

And CAROLS I used to find boring af, but the remastered mix on BEST 2 black changed that. I love how the prechorus changed the pace/mood of the song, hinting at what's to come in the lift off of the chorus, and the chorus is like descending into pure bliss (as far as emotion goes). It's like pillows of sound and the warmth of love.

I do love A BEST 2 -BLACK- with passion. I sometimes wonder, though, if all the tracks on it have been remastered or just a few.

[jean-baptiste]

The only song I really can't stand on MY STORY is Humming. It annoys the hell out of me, more than any other ayu song. I feel that the rest of the album is great, however, I prefer the songs individually. I feel like as a whole it can feel a bit draggy. There's definitely a flow in sound with the order the songs are arranged in. That could be a reason why, they just sorta blend together. But each song really is amazing.

[DonkeyKongRemix]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

^ I cannot disagree with this more. My head is going to expose. If I had a time I'd cultivate a fucking thesis on why the album is marvelous and certainly does give off an ambiance. That's one of the reasons I love it so much, because it totally does have an ambiance (NEXT LEVEL would be an example of an album that doesn't).

walking proud, especially the remastered version on BEST 2 black, is truly a showcase. I adore how intricate the drum track is, and how it fold into the melody/composition of the song soooo well. It really is a star component of the track.

And CAROLS I used to find boring af, but the remastered mix on BEST 2 black changed that. I love how the prechorus changed the pace/mood of the song, hinting at what's to come in the lift off of the chorus, and the chorus is like descending into pure bliss (as far as emotion goes). It's like pillows of sound and the warmth of love.

And THAT BRIDGE!! You can feel the "despite this, despite that (the whirlwind of emotions, the unpleasant times, the tense times, the drama), this feeling of happiness when I am beside you, transcends and overpowers it all. It's magical.

Ok, though I was one of the people who said My Story is not my favorite (though I actually really like it when I think about it), I actually disagree with you about NEXT LEVEL. I think My Story does have more ambiance than most of her albums, but NL is one of my absolute favorites of hers because of its ambiance I feel it displays. It has the aura of positive, energetic emotions mixed with a very futuristic sound and complex feelings of gratitude, sheer enjoyment, and self-esteem. I think the interludes really make this work, though.

But seriously, talking about My Story really makes me want to buy the album so I can listen to it. XD

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia

Ok, though I was one of the people who said My Story is not my favorite (though I actually really like it when I think about it), I actually disagree with you about NEXT LEVEL. I think My Story does have more ambiance than most of her albums, but NL is one of my absolute favorites of hers because of its ambiance I feel it displays. It has the aura of positive, energetic emotions mixed with a very futuristic sound and complex feelings of gratitude, sheer enjoyment, and self-esteem. I think the interludes really make this work, though.

But seriously, talking about My Story really makes me want to buy the album so I can listen to it. XD

The interludes on NEXT LEVEL are the best she's ever had. But I feel the futuristic sound it was going for is always interrupted when the singles come into play.

Actually, looking at the track list again, the only songs that fully commit to that ambiance are EnergizE, Sparkle, Rollin', and of course the interludes. Seriously the interludes are the most "futuristic/digital" sounding pieces on the album. There are fragments of that ambiance lightly peppered into the other album tracks, but not enough to really drive the concept home. She didn't commit to the sound enough. Additionally, the digital sound she went for, came off as a bid dated. Almost like a parody of electronic music. Look at LOVE'n'HATE as an example - what the Hell is it trying to be? Lol. It's like a rejected angry Destiny's Child song trying to be rock and electronically edgy at the same time.

Going further, I found many of the album tracks less-than-stellar. Rollin' is a little annoying, LOVE'n'HATE is bad, and Curtain call is not my thing. It took a while for the title track to grow on me, and my love for identity faded rather quickly. I felt this album was the least authentic to her persona. The concept was wonderful, but the execution for me was just very amateur. I didn't feel like she was part of the music - her voice and the arrangements weren't in perfect harmony and there's a clear division between her and the other layers. Like she's just singing stop them instead of amongst them.

[jean-baptiste]

Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia

Ok, though I was one of the people who said My Story is not my favorite (though I actually really like it when I think about it), I actually disagree with you about NEXT LEVEL. I think My Story does have more ambiance than most of her albums, but NL is one of my absolute favorites of hers because of its ambiance I feel it displays. It has the aura of positive, energetic emotions mixed with a very futuristic sound and complex feelings of gratitude, sheer enjoyment, and self-esteem. I think the interludes really make this work, though.

I totally agree with this! Although I'm not the biggest fan of NL and it's nowhere near one of my fav albums of hers, it's is one of the ayu albums that stand out to me because of this reason.

[NintendoHTF1242]

Pieces of SEVEN is such a good interlude until the rock part.

[LONJJONG]

I listen to Because of You and ourselves whenever I have no idea of what should I listen to.