『A BALLADS 2』on sale 2021.03.12

[thinkingoutloud89]

I stand by the fact that everytime Days comes on I roll my eyes. The song is a staple for her and a hit and I will never doubt that. But to me it has no ballad quality at all - it’s a flat emotion that is neither warm nor cold nor anything. It’s just annoyingly cutesy and GREEN was more the sound I expected from her age (as an artist). I left out the PV so far because it does not ruin a song for me, but it also is just a cutesy Kana Nishino cringefest. What makes me dislike Days even more is the fact, that a song like that gets to be a hit while 10 other songs that surround it deserved it much more.

In the end, it boils down to what you look for in music. But to deny Days is probably one of the most uninspired tracks in her later discography is a flat out lie. It’s Jpop that a lot of other artist could have done and that’s clearly what they went for - and it being a hit reflects how generic japanese music taste is.

That said , as stated above, I don’t mind it in concerts and maybe compilations- but I do on mind it on Next Level.

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by thinkingoutloud89

I stand by the fact that everytime Days comes on I roll my eyes. The song is a staple for her and a hit and I will never doubt that. But to me it has no ballad quality at all - it’s a flat emotion that is neither warm nor cold nor anything. It’s just annoyingly cutesy and GREEN was more the sound I expected from her age (as an artist). I left out the PV so far because it does not ruin a song for me, but it also is just a cutesy Kana Nishino cringefest. What makes me dislike Days even more is the fact, that a song like that gets to be a hit while 10 other songs that surround it deserved it much more.

first of all, your entire post is like music to my ears

there's so much I agree strongly with but I want to highlight that last part. I don't hate Days but so many of her other ballads sound much better to me, and I'm so sad/pissed that they get overshadowed by other songs. I mentioned Pray a few posts before and that is just one example out of many.

Originally Posted by thinkingoutloud89

That said , as stated above, I don’t mind it in concerts and maybe compilations- but I do on mind it on Next Level.

my problem with Days in NEXT LEVEL is its placement after Pieces of SEVEN. so jarring. after a very heavy and upbeat interlude (which I love), then suddenly ...Days? I never got used to this, and since ARENA TOUR 2009 I became convinced that Rule is the one that should have followed this interlude. sadly this isn't the only time I find the listing of her songs weird.

[!Lawi!]

Originally Posted by Deep snow

my problem with Days in NEXT LEVEL is its placement after Pieces of SEVEN. so jarring. after a very heavy and upbeat interlude (which I love), then suddenly ...Days? I never got used to this, and since ARENA TOUR 2009 I became convinced that Rule is the one that should have followed this interlude. sadly this isn't the only time I find the listing of her songs weird.

Well tinfoil hat time but I always wondered what was going on there. LOVE’n’HATE countdown stops at 7 (which always made me wonder if there was a pun with Hate/Eight), then pieces of SEVEN, and obviously then Days (no need to explain the connection). So yeah, don’t know if that’s pure chance or if I’m missing some kind of hidden meaning!

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by !Lawi!

Well tinfoil hat time but I always wondered what was going on there. LOVE’n’HATE countdown stops at 7 (which always made me wonder if there was a pun with Hate/Eight), then pieces of SEVEN, and obviously then Days (no need to explain the connection). So yeah, don’t know if that’s pure chance or if I’m missing some kind of hidden meaning!

love this! tinfoil hats aside, I think ayu's definitely not beyond this kind of cheeky so there might very well be some meaning behind her track listings I read that Björk spent months just arranging the order of the songs in her album, so all I know is that artists put a lot of thought into this

[sitara]

Originally Posted by !Lawi!

Well tinfoil hat time but I always wondered what was going on there. LOVE’n’HATE countdown stops at 7 (which always made me wonder if there was a pun with Hate/Eight), then pieces of SEVEN, and obviously then Days (no need to explain the connection). So yeah, don’t know if that’s pure chance or if I’m missing some kind of hidden meaning!

Cue the seven year itch!

When that album was released she recently seperated from her longtime boyfriend at the time, Tomoya Nagase. They were dating for 7 years, so there's that.

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by sitara

Cue the seven year itch!

When that album was released she recently seperated from her longtime boyfriend at the time, Tomoya Nagase. They were dating for 7 years, so there's that.

sorry to keep derailing the thread from the A BALLADS discourse but OH MY GOD

except she separated from Nagase around A BEST 2/GUILTY era, no?

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by thinkingoutloud89

I stand by the fact that everytime Days comes on I roll my eyes. The song is a staple for her and a hit and I will never doubt that. But to me it has no ballad quality at all - it’s a flat emotion that is neither warm nor cold nor anything. It’s just annoyingly cutesy and GREEN was more the sound I expected from her age (as an artist). I left out the PV so far because it does not ruin a song for me, but it also is just a cutesy Kana Nishino cringefest. What makes me dislike Days even more is the fact, that a song like that gets to be a hit while 10 other songs that surround it deserved it much more.

In the end, it boils down to what you look for in music. But to deny Days is probably one of the most uninspired tracks in her later discography is a flat out lie. It’s Jpop that a lot of other artist could have done and that’s clearly what they went for - and it being a hit reflects how generic japanese music taste is.

That said , as stated above, I don’t mind it in concerts and maybe compilations- but I do on mind it on Next Level.

Absolutely agreed and the Nishino comparison is so on-point. The song was too much of a cute-desperate fest for me. It will for sure be included even though she probably had enough awesome ballads to fill 3-4 cds and not include it still! I’ve learned to tolerate it, I don’t hate it, but it’s out of my top 150 for sure!