Upcoming album discussion thread

[TeamAyu]

Originally Posted by Phantoma

- STEP you
- is this LOVE?
- fairyland
- alterna
- HEAVEN
- Will
- Bold & Delicious
- Pride

Looking at all these songs..

Do you think with the release of B&D / Pride, she now has an overkill in variety?

Do you think she is maybe losing her identity as an artist?

Do you think the variety of composers this year was good or bad?

I personally do not think there can be an overkill in variety but maybe that's just me. This variety of styles so far has truly been REFRESHING. At time when Ayu's album have a real style/theme throughout it can get tiring at times like take "RAINBOW" or "I am..." "MY STORY" and "Memorial address" are my favorite albums because I think they have the most variety overall and it doesn't bore me like how the many many pop tracks of similar sounding rock tracks on "RAINBOW" and "I am..." did. You all are probably going to say that "MY STORY" is just overkilled with Pop Rock songs but it has a lot more variety in my opinion to her other albums.

For the second question, I have to say if anything I feel that Ayu is more sure of herself as an artist than anything else. I think she is beyond comfortable with her identity as an artist, otherwise she would not be able to get up and try so many different things which may even kill off the fans who enjoy songs that are typical of Hamasaki. I think she has come to a point where it really doesn't matter what type of music she releases since I am pretty sure her career is stable enough, or at least she has enough money to keep herself happy if she does plummet due to people disliking her new sound. If you look at artist like BoA or Koda Kumi who hardly ever release anything really "different" you can see that their releasing what they think will sell for sure and are going to be on the safe side. Ayu probably did this earlier in her career but she's coming WAY far now so I don't think she really needs to worry as much.

And lastly the variety of composers is what has made me LOVE this album to death, it is SO much better than "MY STORY" in which every track practically was done by one composer. With a variety of composers comes a variety of different possiblities, keeping Hamasaki's music A LOT more interesting and surprising.

Lastly if anything "Bold & Delicious" has made me anticipate this album even more.