Ayu - Anything Goes Thread -X-

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Tom Punks

It's funny that you see it that way, because for me personally MY STORY feels like a sort of final culmination of everything Ayu's career and artistry had been building up to till then. Like it's not artistically risky because she finally polished the sound she had been crafting from the beginning and for the first time got everything just how she wanted and was satisfied. And so (miss)understood and everything after it has just felt like business as usual lol.

I agree that it is interesting! And in retrospect I do kinda lean that way, like "this is what Ayu's work up until then had led up to"... and that's certainly, to a large degree, how I see A ONE. But at the time, with each album (or mini-album, as it were) there had been sort of a directional shift, and with MY STORY there wasn't so I think my young, impatient 20 year old self was like "WTF BORING" to some level, hahaha.

[//ABEST]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

And this is a very, very understandable attitude for Ayu fans who became fans later and know her more for her slicker and more polished work. Up until RAINBOW, her work was a huge mix of genres, the only common thread between all of it being this sort of darkness. When "I am..." was released, honestly, we couldn't imagine her doing a song like "BLUE BIRD" or "Greatful days" or "Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~" - the very idea would have been completely ridiculous. "I am..." had a very rough-around-the-edges sound for the most part, which seemed at the time like a very natural development. She seemed like a dance-rock artist who happened to do the occasional ballad.... since about 2003, though, she's become more of a general dance/pop ballad artist who happens to do the occasional rock song, you know? The tracks on "Duty" were harder to remix, and ayu-mi-x III was definitely less solid than ayu-mi-x II had been, because it was getting more raw and more unconventional. When "I am..." was even MORE so, it was no shock, it was expected, and it was the next step that we all wanted because it started to narrow her sound down and get to its essential aspects of honesty and expression. "RAINBOW" seemed to go against that entirely. The English lyrics were off-putting in a way that was kind of inexplicable at the time - the novelty of her singing in English seemed cool at first, but after awhile the whole album started to feel a bit "cold" compared to her past work.

i can see you point! her albums until I am... are so dark and have this i gotta survive-feeling on them when RAINBOW has more positive feeling imo. i became her fan on her 10th Anniversary so i'm very late fan

[DonkeyKongRemix]

I've seen people equating RAINBOW with LOVE again but for some reason, I much sooner compare it to NEXT LEVEL.

NL was a total shift in styles, carried on a bit of the ethereal sound and mixed it with electro-pop.

[Toniayu123]

I love Delirium-Zer0 posts, I always learn something new about Ayu's past. I became her fan in 2008, kinda late, and it is interesting to know how was being an ayu fan prior that.

[//ABEST]

the most important thing is that her discography is so versatile that she has something for everyone i feel like i don't share same music taste with many of you guys here since i adore Colours so much

i can't stop praising last year, it's definitely the best era she ever had in my eyes. #sorrynotsorry

[Surreal17]

I love these posts about rainbow/my story. I m a fan since feb 2012 so its amazing to know these things.

[Gustavopc]

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

I love Delirium-Zer0 posts, I always learn something new about Ayu's past. I became her fan in 2008, kinda late, and it is interesting to know how was being an ayu fan prior that.

Totally the same here, from the posts to when I became an ayu fan. It's natural that later fans compare everything to everything, not exactly in chronological order, so I had never EVER realized such things from her artistic direction, and my views towards RAINBOW and even a bit of MY STORY are changing since this discussion started - of course I am loving it.

[Delicious n Bold]

Can anyone explain why Love songs was seen as a comeback for ayu?
Were next level and rock n roll circus that polarizing and dividing?

[truehappiness]

I think NEXT LEVEL was absolutely HATED at release with people only really warming up to it in the last few years. I recall Rock'n'Roll Circus faring okay in terms of fan reaction but eventually a lot of people that liked it a lot either changed their minds because it didn't age well or perhaps they forgot why they loved it in the first place. At least, whenever I see Rock'n'Roll Circus mentioned now it's like, "Oh, that album was horrible! Messy messy!" and not at all the reaction I remember. Maybe A WORLD IS ONE had something to do with that?

Anyway, as far as Love songs goes, I think it was just the first album that had a really cohesive sound in a while partially thanks to all the Komuro and such and people responded well to it.

[DonkeyKongRemix]

I am in love with Together When... (Co-Fusion remix). Although, Part of Me and Walking Proud from ayu-mi-x 6 (Silver) are two other favorite remixes of mine.

[Ashen Twilight]

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

Can anyone explain why Love songs was seen as a comeback for ayu?
Were next level and rock n roll circus that polarizing and dividing?

Love songs was pretty much universally loved when it came it because it was true to its concept from start to end. It is so cohesive. I remember back then it was at or near the top of everyone's ranking of albums.

NEXT LEVEL received a lot of hate when it was release because people thought it didn't go far enough into the "next level." No one really liked the covers, it wasn't cohesive and didn't have any flow, and everyone thought that Sparkle was really the only "next level" song. rollin' was just a new version of everywhere nowhere, the rock section could be on any of her other albums, GREEN didn't fit at all, curtain call was terrible, etc. The interludes were well loved though. People finally started turning around though.

As for Rock'n'Roll Circus, everyone thought that the title was misleading and that lead to the controversy. Microphone was really the only song that fit the title. Lady Dynamite did as well but that song wasn't well received. People only really liked Microphone, SLT, and Don't look back. Everything else was snoozefest for a lot of people.

[truehappiness]

I thought a lot of the album was well received.................... other than meaning of Love, lol.

[Delicious n Bold]

what about last links?

[truehappiness]

Last Links was neat. I don't think anyone really had a problem with it.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Ashen Twilight

Love songs was pretty much universally loved when it came it because it was true to its concept from start to end. It is so cohesive. I remember back then it was at or near the top of everyone's ranking of albums.

NEXT LEVEL received a lot of hate when it was release because people thought it didn't go far enough into the "next level." No one really liked the covers, it wasn't cohesive and didn't have any flow, and everyone thought that Sparkle was really the only "next level" song. rollin' was just a new version of everywhere nowhere, the rock section could be on any of her other albums, GREEN didn't fit at all, curtain call was terrible, etc. The interludes were well loved though. People finally started turning around though.

As for Rock'n'Roll Circus, everyone thought that the title was misleading and that lead to the controversy. Microphone was really the only song that fit the title. Lady Dynamite did as well but that song wasn't well received. People only really liked Microphone, SLT, and Don't look back. Everything else was snoozefest for a lot of people.

Funny enough this describes about 90% of her discography...

[truehappiness]

I thought the album tracks other than Curtain call were all very cohesive on NEXT LEVEL. It was the portion of the album in the latter half where the concept began to fall apart.

[Ashen Twilight]

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

what about last links?

I remember people having issue with her voice and it wasn't anything "new." But everyone liked the meaning behind the song.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I thought a lot of the album was well received.................... other than meaning of Love, lol.

I know I liked it a lot, but a lot of people thought the title was extremely misleading since the album wasn't rock at all.

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Funny enough this describes about 90% of her discography

Yeah which is why Love songs was quite the anomaly.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I thought the album tracks other than Curtain call were all very cohesive on NEXT LEVEL. It was the portion of the album in the latter half where the concept began to fall apart.

I think GREEN should have been put in the section with NEXT LEVEL and that Pieces of SEVEN (even though it's amazing) should have had it's structure reversed so the beginning was rock and the ending was calmer.

[Delicious n Bold]

I can see why it isn't anything 'new' but the guitar is just to live for in the song!

[Aderianu]

ayumi hamasaki - 「vogue」
26.04.2000 15th anniversary release day

[Gustavopc]

Back in 2009/2010 I used to go only to a Brazilian ayu forum, and iirc people there either LOVED NL or hated it, but it was well balanced. Regarding Love songs, I remember lots of people finding it boring, praising RnRC over it... I wish the forum was still on so I could see if people have changed their minds I myself made up mine, I started to adore Love songs slowly, while I grew tired of NL and RnRC.

The only general hate I recall for three albums were about the covers tbh