[News] Ayu paying tribute to Utada Hikaru

[marekcarey]

and the previews are bad for me i love hikki's experimental style, a this jazz influenced music just doent feel right with them

[Delirium-Zer0]

Honestly if I were ayu I wouldn't touch "Movin' on without you" so soon after Ayaka kicked so much ass at it. Ayaka's cover is REALLY killer, one of the best tracks on her cover album.

Now, I MOSTLY understand the choice - I wanted Ayu to pick a song that she related to, that she'd actually FEEL when she sang. One look at the lyrics to this track in the context of Ayu's discography, and this is clearly a song that she relates to. The princess/glass slipper metaphor is one she's used before. The topic of getting over being neglected/rejected/friendzoned is a topic Ayu has written about. She can sing the song from a personal point of view rather than singing it as a Hikki cover. So those are pluses.

As far as whether the song's SOUND suits Ayu, I find that has little bearing on the way a cover version ever sounds, at least most of the time. You have no idea what an artist is gonna do with it. On this album already, I've heard the few clips available, and the tracks made available bear LITTLE resemblance to the original songs - Yosui Inoue's beach/island pop/rock version of "Sakura Drops" is a very creative take on the song, and Shiina Ringo's jazzy version of "Letters" sounds like it was always her song to begin with. Sometimes the artist doing a cover hears a quality in the song that we never noticed before - a mournful tone, a bit of melody that was amazing but not emphasized enough, an optimistic mood hidden in the depths of a sad ballad. Things like that. A good cover version can really bring those qualities out, you know? Those covers make you hear the original song differently when you listen again later.

Ayu's covers, though... for awhile now they've just been her taking a song & giving it the "ayu sound" when Ayu herself seems to have a somewhat feeble grasp lately on what exactly "ayu sound" means. Back in the day, before Ayu's discography was quite so sprawling, pinpointing "make it sound like Ayu" was probably much easier - She & her producers really did something creative & cool with "Someday My Prince Will Come." Her live version of "haru yo, koi" is absolutely beautiful and IMHO more emotionally effective than Yuming's original. But her covers lately have felt very flat & dated. Rather than bringing older songs into the present, it's more like she tried to awkwardly escort them into the present only for them to fall down spectacularly. Try as she might to drag those songs kicking & screaming into the "ayu sound," they're unsure of which direction to go and the result is a track that makes as much of a contribution to the music world as a fanmade MIDI file with her vocals on top of it.

The SONG is not the problem here - Ayaka's cover of "Movin' on without you" does show that the song can sound fresh while still being the same exact song in every way that matters, I don't see Ayu being able to accomplish that without just sounding really, really dorky.

[~Matt~]

Ayu's comment from Barks:

4. 浜崎あゆみ／「Movin’ on without you」（2ndシングル／1999年2月17日リリース）
今回のこのオファーを頂いた際、素直に『ヒカルちゃんの曲を歌ってみたい！』とワクワクした自分が居たので 快諾させて頂きました。 選曲については、私的にヒカルちゃんとのリリースタイミングが近かったり等の理由で当時よく耳にしていた、 思い出のある「Movin' on without you」をチョイスさせて頂きました。今でもこの曲を聴くと、あの頃の日々が鮮明に蘇ります。
更にアレンジを最近一緒に音を創っているRedOneチームと共にリアレンジして、原曲とはまた違った側面 と魅力がプラスされたテイストになっていると思いますので、ヒカルちゃんはもちろんのこと、多くの人に楽し んでもらえるとうれしいです。

The RedOne production team arranged the cover

[Irish_Ayu_Fan]

it was arranged by RedOne....?

Now I'm excited for it

[orangeakira]

Originally Posted by ~Matt~

The RedOne production team arranged the cover

Oh lord, its going to sound like XOXO then probably.

[Coelacanth]

LOVE what the RedOne team did with XOXO.

just listened to the original version of the song for the first time... the melodies in Utada's songs are SO boring and flat, so I'm really not that excited for this lol

[DonkeyKongRemix]

Oh man, I could actually totally imagine her singing Movin' on Without You. And Shiina Ringo doing Letters is like the coolest thing I've heard for a while.

[mizuki-7]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

But her covers lately have felt very flat & dated. Rather than bringing older songs into the present

It's not like she covered tons of songs lately or in her entire career ... lol
If you ask me SEVEN DAYS WAR flows very well with the sound and the ambience she wanted to give to Love songs reminiscent of the 80's and 90's ! Dated maybe but it was done on purpose IMO ^^

[ayumisrael]

Is there a preview for ayu's Movin' on without you or only the youtube previews?

[Kazeyomi]

Meh, Movin' on without you isn't among my favorites from Hikki. But it doesn't mean Ayu couldn't make a good cover of it though.
And I listened to the few previews from Youtube so far. Some arrangements are really cool imo.

[visionfactory]

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

LOVE what the RedOne team did with XOXO.

just listened to the original version of the song for the first time... the melodies in Utada's songs are SO boring and flat, so I'm really not that excited for this lol

Utada's career is boring and flat XD imo just her english career is worth it

I feel Movin' on + RedOne = not good lol

[errikkutrancex]

You can all listen to the previews on Hikki's youtube account :
https://www.youtube.com/user/hikki/videos

I'm not very convinced on this album... looking forward to listen to the Ayu's version...

[tenshi no hane]

Originally Posted by ~Matt~

Ayu's comment from Barks:

The RedOne production team arranged the cover

I love that Ayu calls her "Hikaru-chan"

I didn't expect her choice but I'm really looking forward to it.

[krtman2002]

RedOne? Ummm... this is interesting. XOXO is one of my favourite songs of Colours!

[mi|kshake]

I love how it's an unexpected song choice and also not a song I dislike (First Love).

[primavera♥]

Originally Posted by amorphose

Ayu doing Movin' on without you and Shiina doing Letters? This is gonna be so great.

Ikr?

Movin on without you and Letters are both two of my favorite hikki songs. Definitely top 5. And I was certain they wouldn't be included. But not only are they included, but they are being covered by the two ladies who I'm most excited about being on this album.

[hayasaki]

RedONE??? OMG!!! Me and her must be joking .. ahaa---.

LOL Anyway, i was expecting a different song but anyway, as much as I love movn on without you, i can't wait what ayu has prepared!

I wished it's more A-rock inclinced and then... RedONE :/

[ayujarl]

Excellent. Can't wait to hear it!!!

[kotora]

RedOne???! Ayu, why can't you do this to yourself.. RedOne Rearranged your old popular songs and sell that album and rediscovering yourself...

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by visionfactory

Utada's career is boring and flat XD imo just her english career is worth it

that is the weirdest thing I've ever heard about hikki.


I'm a little disappointed for this song tbh. I wanted one of hikki's more interesting songs, but of course it would be one of the R&B era ones.


I wonder about Ayu's ability to hit these notes at the tempo and be able to pronounce the words.