NEXT LEVEL album thoughts

[sparkle glitter]

Originally Posted by tourniquet

I'm whoring right now kuu's DRIVING HIT'S and it's like fantastic. the whole thing is just a disco mess from a lot of mediocre songs which I totally love. the thing makes we want to shake my ass and get ****ty and all that

Except nobody is talking about Driving hit's. Save the Driving hit's review for the kuu thread. Koda Kumi is NOT relevant in discussing thoughts on Ayumi Hamasaki's new album.

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by tourniquet

still the vocoder hate? xD that's really something subjective. I never found songs with vocoder less emotional or something. actually, I like that slightly distant, cold sound it produces.

No, I don't hate the vocoders. You don't know how much I agree with you! rollin' sounds so freaking cool when her voice is all robotic!

In any case, the recent lives of Ayu (especially from AT 05), have been very visual... and she's going for that "all-rounded" route for a performance.

Coming from a symphonic band myself, my conductor once told us that in a performance, it's not only the music that counts, visual effects are important too.

I get the feeling that Ayu wants to bring more visual effects to her concert, thus all its flashiness since AT 05.

Well, I don't know what basis is the comparison of her old way of performing and her new way of performing, but I can only say that it's obvious she has sacrificed a little of her vocal performance for the visuals/dance.

And about the lack of emotion... I don't know. I'll try to give what emotion I feel from the songs in NEXT LEVEL that do contain emotion.

NEXT LEVEL - There's this ethereal of serenity, and I cried to this once... it's just so moving. I mean her voice has that "Don't be afraid, I'm right here with you" kind of tone if you ask me.

GREEN - This one has melancholy. Like, her voice is kind of like "There's hope around me, but I don't know if I should approach it". Kind of like the timid voice in I feel in GUILTY, but perhaps in a stronger manner.

Days - Her voice here is just stunning. Enough said... it's just cry-able, omg

Curtain call - I sent the link of the PV to a friend, and he told he doesn't like it cos "it doesn't sound depressing". Lol, well I told him I can hear nostalgia and hope in her voice, and he agreed with me on this one.

Of course, this album doesn't contain as many raw emotions as previous albums, but I guess it's due to the new direction that she's going.

I mean I know I'm a new fan, and perhaps I fit the stereotype of new fans (okay maybe because I hate the I am... album), but I certainly respect and like her old works too.

For example, LOVE ~Destiny~ is a very beautiful song... I like how another user here has said that the softness works very well, and it feels like she's telling a story. With the 10th anniversary version, it's definitely louder and more layered... but I don't know. It'll be hard for her to convey that same emotion in her voice that she did in 1999... nevertheless, it's still a good 10th anniversary (for me at least).

But definitely agree with ayumisrael here that we should all respect each other's preferences to Ayu. We are all Ayu's fans anyway...

And oh @ panda87: Yes yes yes, I agree! There are some I am... arrangement influences in this album. But one thing I don't like about I am... is that the arrangements are so layered and complicated that they're noisy. In NEXT LEVEL, however, it feels like it's very layered too, but somehow in a more contained way. identity and LOVE 'n' HATE are both so arrangement-based, yet they work so well!

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

For example, LOVE ~Destiny~ is a very beautiful song... I like how another user here has said that the softness works very well, and it feels like she's telling a story. With the 10th anniversary version, it's definitely louder and more layered... but I don't know. It'll be hard for her to convey that same emotion in her voice that she did in 1999... nevertheless, it's still a good 10th anniversary (for me at least).

That's.. me rite? LOL .

I truly understand the fact that she can't be the same person 10 yrs ago. I was actually hoping that she would be using her now improved skill to perform the song SOFTLY. But oh well it's ok, people who love the new version can listen to the new one, and people like me who love the original version can just grab the A BEST cd and listen that one .

[lovelism]

This album really is good to me. REALLY GREAT

[ayu_ready?]

I think that album's theme is electro-pop and that expains the use of vocoder

me, personally, wouldn't like these songs so much if they had "natural" Ayu voice I guess
this voice effect adds smth extra to album's sound for me

[Chiharo]

The album is good,but it's ayumi,so it's a disappointment.
GUILTY was so much better album and is her best ever IMO.

[sabbakk]

I guess it's again my unconditioned love for Ayu's music that talks in me, but I think NL is great. It's creative and somewhat provocative and it is a next level for our ever-changing Ayu.

[jbrat2219]

Well I listened to the the whole thing one time, and I must say, there isn't a terrible amount of "emotion" per se. But there's definitely a lot of attitude, which is something so new from her! I love it.

[panda87]

For those of you who disagreed on my statement that Ayu has lost her writing spark, that "as if i could write better lyrics", i must say, it's not like we think under the same light bulb and i've never said i could've done better. I've listened to Ayu since the summer of '99 mainly for her lyrics and genius music arrangements and i know for an obvious fact that her lyrics aren't as captivating as before. She still writes great lyrics, but they're aren't THE best anymore, just ONE OF the best nowadays.

But i'll list the few that actually stuck out lyrically to me from NEXT LEVEL:

NEXT LEVEL (especially the line "even the scar in my past is dear to me now")
rollin'
identity

these remind me of her I Am... era, maybe b/c of the arrangement and the lyrics. these sink deeper than the rest of the songs on the album. and i'm not referring to how she doesn't write certain kinds of lyrics. i'm saying writing in general. now let's go have some ice cream, sheesh.

[emi♡]

^No, it's just the impression I get from reading all the new threads where people post their thoughts about stuff.

You just don't see many newer fans that like her old way of singing.

I wasn't implying anything about her older fans. They seem to be all over the place in how they feel.

[dreamland2.0]

Well I'm listening to it right now and I think it's great!!
I'm really looking forward to listening to this album all the time!!
My favourites (of the new tracks) are definitely rollin', identity, and LOVE n' HATE
and ALL the interludes sound amazing!
And I officially love Yuta Nakano, she can use him all the time if it was up to me

And just for the record some newer fans do like her voice from her early years!
(like me)
I think it's a matter of musical preference and what particular musical style she chooses for an album.
If you don't like electro-dance music then, you might not enjoy an album like NEXT LEVEL.
Personally for me, I like all her albums

[yukito]

Fantastic album!!! Love NEXT LEVEL, EnergizE and Curtain call. Is it just me or does it remind the song Without You by Badfinger or more well known by Mariah Carey, just the piano intro.

[sparkle glitter]

Actually, if I listen without any interludes I like this album more. They're very annoying. EnergizE reminds me a lot of independent and her old songs. This album is refreshing, but the interludes are too much.

Also : Idiotic when people feel the need to say her old albums are better than her new ones. As if her old albums were just oh-so-epic. Maybe if you're a depressed loner.

[ayumisrael]

I'm a fan since 2003 (Close to Memorial address era) so I guess it's in between old and new (and maybe it's the reason there is a good balance in my liking of ayu's old and new works).
The first songs that made me love ayu are mainly from LOVEppears (which is my favorite album by her). Except for LOVEppears, I am... and Duty though I like NEXT LEVEL more than the rest of her albums (and I love them all, of course nothing is perfect and I have my own preference in albums and songs etc.).
I think a lot of old, new (or middle) fans can have this balance too but everyone should repect both ayu's old and new (not saying to like, but just respect) and respect other people's preferences. feelings and likings. For some examples:
If for a person ayu's older voice is better, than that's how he feels we should repsect it, if someone feels that ayu's latest style is the best for him, then we should respect it.
If someone says that he feels that some of the new lyrics are better than the old ones, we should respect him (and of course we have to get respect in return).
The whole thing is subjective and even if most agree on one's opinion and there is still that one that feels differently we should respect him and he should respect the others.
We are discussing about music, not about if the sun is yellow and the skies are blue, therefore nothing is a fact but it's how everyone feels towards something, songs, voice, albums, appearances etc. I do think that harsh words and sentences opinions are giving people legitimate to negatively argue about things and opinions so people should share their opinions in a less harsh way and covney it better.

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

I'm a fan since 2003 (Close to Memorial address era) so I guess it's in between old and new (and maybe it's the reason there is a good balance in my liking of ayu's old and new works).
The first songs that made me love ayu are mainly from LOVEppears (which is my favorite album by her). Except for LOVEppears, I am... and Duty though I like NEXT LEVEL more than the rest of her albums (and I love them all, of course nothing is perfect and I have my own preference in albums and songs etc.).
I think a lot of old, new (or middle) fans can have this balance too but everyone should repect both ayu's old and new (not saying to like, but just respect) and respect other people's preferences. feelings and likings. For some examples:
If for a person ayu's older voice is better, than that's how he feels we should repsect it, if someone feels that ayu's latest style is the best for him, then we should respect it.
If someone says that he feels that some of the new lyrics are better than the old ones, we should respect him (and of course we have to get respect in return).
The whole thing is subjective and even if most agree on one's opinion and there is still that one that feels differently we should respect him and he should respect the others.
We are discussing about music, not about if the sun is yellow and the skies are blue, therefore nothing is a fact but it's how everyone feels towards something, songs, voice, albums, appearances etc. I do think that harsh words and sentences opinions are giving people legitimate to negatively argue about things and opinions so people should share their opinions in a less harsh way and covey it better.

I think the problem comes in when people start talking about lack of emotion, in any of her works...

which is also subjective isnt it? I personally think there's certain things Ayu does with her voice that people say is emotion when...it isn't really lol She's just singing in a certain way. For me, emotion comes off through the music and the lyrics...

but feeling emotion and from where is also subjective lol

How interesting it is...the different ways people see music.

[bluegie]

@ayumisrael: I'm surprised you have been a fan since Ma. I thought you're newer (well not that new now but two years ago I thought you're a new fan after STEP you lol).

For me, it's not about her old music vs. new music. It's more about how she recycle her music. I think I've said it before that I wasn't too fond of her during I am... to RAINBOW era, cuz her music styles/arrangement (esp the single songs) were practically similar to each other. Don't ask me why I thought they're similar, but if you were a fan back in 2001 or 2002, you should see lots of posts about M vs. Free & Easy, evolution vs. Naturally, July 1st vs. Greatful Days, etc. I didn't buy I am... because it was lame to me (lots of singles, those few album songs aren't that great), and I bought RAINBOW at that time because the cover was shockingly pretty. I didn't head back to ayu until Ma.

And then I see the similar thing again. Secret and GUILTY are pretty similar in sense (well this is subjective. Probly lots of you dun think in that way. But when I listened to GUILTY I just felt that's quite similar to the previous album). So for me NL stands out more because she tries to do something else instead of those rock/metal/loud music.

Originally Posted by emiko

^No, it's just the impression I get from reading all the new threads where people post their thoughts about stuff.

You just don't see many newer fans that like her old way of singing.

I wasn't implying anything about her older fans. They seem to be all over the place in how they feel.

I dunno what you're implying (yeah actually I'm a bit confused when reading this message lol... my brain is slow at this point). I was reading your last post about the emotion part, and I find it quite right. We don't need to deny that ayu's singing skill is getting better nowadays, and the way she handle the "emotion" should be better in some ways. The thing is, I just don't feel the "natrual tone" (or "sincere" from your post) in her newer songs.

For example, she resang End roll in A BEST. Technically her vocal in A BEST version is better, but at the same time she lost the "raw" feeling that I could hear in her LOVEppears (or A) version.

Another example. Judging from the comments that were made a few months ago, at least 85% of people preferred LOVE~Destiny~ 10th anniversary version. I dunno I dun even think the vocal sounds good at all. And the way she sang it in the 10th version totally dumped the original feeling of the song. I love she used the softness to handle to old version (and I really think it matches the lyric). Whenever I listen to the song I feel like she's telling a story. The new version can't even hit my brain at all.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by bluegie

@ayumisrael: I'm surprised you have been a fan since Ma. I thought you're newer (well not that new now but two years ago I thought you're a new fan after STEP you lol).
.

That would kinda be me :p Though the first Ayu songs I've heard were Hana and Dearest around the time MY STORY was released, I've became a fan when STEP you was released. It took me a year or so to fell in love with her pre-I am.. stuff. LOVEppears is one of my fave Ayu albums and I have to say that even though the changes to her voice are really obvious I wouldn't change a thing when it comes to the way she sang on each of the albums. I even enjoy her live performances (I think that she has done a wonderful job singing For My Dear.. and everywhere nowhere on PCDL). I really equally like all of her "voices".

I really love 98% of the songs that Ayu has done so far and even though some are of a similar genre I could never possibly mix them up in any way. I don't think NEXT LEVEL actually brings anything THAT new to Ayu's music, as besides the 3 electro pop songs the others are pretty much the mix of the stuff she has already done in a way. I don't think Secret and GUILTY were similar in any way, as Secret was a rather popish album with rock hooks and it had a variety of songs on it, while GUILTY was dark&depressive and mostly consisted of rock stuff and rock ballads. Over all NEXT LEVEL is an ok album, but I simply don't think it's better than any of her previous studio albums.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Another example. Judging from the comments that were made a few months ago, at least 85% of people preferred LOVE~Destiny~ 10th anniversary version. I dunno I dun even think the vocal sounds good at all. And the way she sang it in the 10th version totally dumped the original feeling of the song. I love she used the softness to handle to old version (and I really think it matches the lyric). Whenever I listen to the song I feel like she's telling a story. The new version can't even hit my brain at all.

I totally agree with that. I've been very underwhelmed by all of her rerecordings of the old songs actually.

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by bluegie

@ayumisrael: I'm surprised you have been a fan since Ma. I thought you're newer (well not that new now but two years ago I thought you're a new fan after STEP you lol).

Another example. Judging from the comments that were made a few months ago, at least 85% of people preferred LOVE~Destiny~ 10th anniversary version. I dunno I dun even think the vocal sounds good at all. And the way she sang it in the 10th version totally dumped the original feeling of the song. I love she used the softness to handle to old version (and I really think it matches the lyric). Whenever I listen to the song I feel like she's telling a story. The new version can't even hit my brain at all.

hehe, yeah I'm a fan of her since October 2003 and the first song of her (and my most favorite song ever) is Depend on you =D and yeah I grew to like and know her mainly with LOVEppears (and then I realized she has a new one coming which is Ma) so that too ^^.

I joined AHS like almost 3 years later xD.

For me the weakest 10th anni song is Depend on you (which was a bit dissapointing since it's my favorite song) but my only problem with it is the flat new arrangement... I really like LOVE ~D~ and TO BE's 10th anni versions the best, but I don't know which one is better for me in comparison of 10th anni ver. versus original versions.
Also I do like the fact that the 10th anni songs convey ayu of now along with the old songs, since I don't think ayu should convey the feelings of ayu of the past since she is a different person now, that would be a recycle of the same LOVE ~D~, TO BE etc. therefore I am content with them (still I'm not bettering the 10th anni versions or the original versions). Both have their touches and I wish Doy's would have a better arrangement. =D

On that note I can't stop playing NEXT LEVEL. Will make an orange juice with it tomorrow, that's exactly when I need energy lol

[tourniquet]

^what is relevant in this discussion is certainly not upon you to decide. there's a context. it's called COMPARISON.