Party Queen is 3 years old today...

[Irish_Ayu_Fan]

Originally Posted by orangeakira

I listen to sose me a lot. does that count?

I count that hahaha! If it wasn't for Sose Me, I'd never have discovered Ayu at all. There was a comment on Ivi's video saying "Ayumi Hamasaki's version is better", and I looked it up and then the obsession started...

[LONJJONG]

Not in my favorite album list but I don't hate it either. Shake It didn't meet up my expectation when BOUNCEBACK was listed as the composer though. But Return Road is truly epic.

[!Lawi!]

Party Queen is a comprehensive, fresh album that Ayu really needed at the time. It's beautiful, fun, and mature, and even if the covers are a bit of a let down, I wouldn't want to live in a world where she didn't realease it. You have to listen to it in comparison with Love songs, since they are so closely linked, and they work PERFECTLY together. Thanks ayu for Party Queen!

[zellyx]

Oh god, what a divided album.

I would say, this is THE guilty pleasure album for me. At times, it is unbelievable...
Eyes, Smoke, Magic. "eyes...smoke...magic" its like a BAD Chicago being played out in front of my ears. I almost wish there was a music video. "danana BahananaNAAAAAAA"
the next LOVE starts out absolutely beautifully. Wow, promising strings. And then it goes on, and on, and on.
and on.
And then it speeds up. (kind of)
oh god.
no why.
Timmy's rapping on NaNaNa is the most horrid english, and it's so cheesy and hilarious.
"fun fun number 1 UHH we're done."

However, there are some good tracks.
Tell Me Why is so fresh. NaNaNa is a fantastic style change, reminds me and return road are fresh and nice as well..

I couldn't help at the time but think. Well, this is ayu's extremely early mid-life crisis. But as time has gone on, I've learned to appreciate parts of it, so much

[oaristos]

wow, attractive nausea, that was a good analysis of the album!

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

still hate it. I used to love the party tracks the most last time but I can't stand them now, maybe except Shake It (once in a while)

the middle was the strongest, but Return Road was the epitome of her unprofessional-ism (seriously who put the idea of milking her ex-husband one last time into a video?!)

we also got her worst arena tour from this concept, it led us to the Maro fiasco... just her worst era and what a shame really

This is the thing. Most people who hate it, like you, hate it because it's way too far from pop aesthetic. While pop tends to be inclusive, the artists being careful to release stuff safe enough so anyone can see themselves on it, art tends to be divisive for showing a more personal view of thinga, so it's only works if the viewer can connect with the piece. Party Queen doesn't shows concern with connecting to the most people possible from start, having very divisive covers and them going through really dark subjects on a very personal take.

Everyone feels lonely or insecure, what are Ayu's most recurrent themes... Those are broad and universal feelings. On PQ Ayu is not talking about being insecure or lonely, she is talking about HOW and WHY she is lonely... And now, this is not broad and universal anymore.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

still hate it. I used to love the party tracks the most last time but I can't stand them now, maybe except Shake It (once in a while)

the middle was the strongest, but Return Road was the epitome of her unprofessional-ism (seriously who put the idea of milking her ex-husband one last time into a video?!)

we also got her worst arena tour from this concept, it led us to the Maro fiasco... just her worst era and what a shame really

This is the thing. Most people who hate it, like you, hate it because it's way too far from pop aesthetic. While pop tends to be inclusive, the artists being careful to release stuff safe enough so anyone can see themselves on it, art tends to be divisive for showing a more personal view of thinga, so it's only works if the viewer can connect with the piece. Party Queen doesn't shows concern with connecting to the most people possible from start, having very divisive covers and them going through really dark subjects on a very personal take.

Everyone feels lonely or insecure, what are Ayu's most recurrent themes... Those are broad and universal feelings. On PQ Ayu is not talking about being insecure or lonely, she is talking about HOW and WHY she is lonely... And now, this is not broad and universal anymore.

[Uknow!]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

This is the thing. Most people who hate it, like you, hate it because it's way too far from pop aesthetic. While pop tends to be inclusive, the artists being careful to release stuff safe enough so anyone can see themselves on it, art tends to be divisive for showing a more personal view of thinga, so it's only works if the viewer can connect with the piece. Party Queen doesn't shows concern with connecting to the most people possible from start, having very divisive covers and them going through really dark subjects on a very personal take.

Everyone feels lonely or insecure, what are Ayu's most recurrent themes... Those are broad and universal feelings. On PQ Ayu is not talking about being insecure or lonely, she is talking about HOW and WHY she is lonely... And now, this is not broad and universal anymore.

I agree with you! Party Queen for me is really special because I can connect with every song of the album. Normally when I read the lyrics I say "You are right" o "Yes, I felt so at some point". However, With Party Queen she is telling a story about her and incredibly is very similar to my story. Party Queen is really deep and have a lot of meanings starting for the cover, lyrics, music, arena tour... And if there is some thing that I love more than feel connected with Ayu music, It's trying to implement her music to all I know of her life.

When I read people criticizing Party Queen (artistically)... It really hurt me lol For example, when I read "(miss)understood covers are bad or ugly" I tell myself "How can they miss the meaning and art that are behind Ayu's career?"

[Toniayu123]

I really like Party Queen. And I agree with the analysis attractive nausea posted on page 1. This album has a really strong concept and show the "vulnerable" Ayu, just like Guilty or Duty. PQ is not my favorite album from Ayu, but definitely it is one of her most cohesive ones.
As for the covers, I wanted to point that the actual covers were not intended for the album, it was a shoot done in NY for an upcoming life style book which was pushed back a few times (I guess because she still wasn't ready to show some things about her personal life at that time -EDIT-:maybe she chose that shot because Party Queen is that "book" but made into music (?) ), so that wasn't the original concept. The "original" covers were shot in London but they ended up being released on Super Ayu photobook, i really liked that photoshot a lot more than the NY one, don't know why she decided to change it on the last minute.

[Tom Punks]

Not all of us listen to Ayu for the lyrics or pay any attention to them whatsoever lol...

Party Queen was her last album that felt super "Ayu" to me. Although it's lacking a lot in certain technical aspects, I love the feel of the album as a whole! I actually don't think there's a single song on it that I dislike on it.

[oaristos]

Originally Posted by Uknow!

For example, when I read "(miss)understood covers are bad or ugly" I tell myself "How can they miss the meaning and art that are behind Ayu's career?"

I know this if off-topic, but may I ask you what do you think is the meaning behind those covers?

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Tom Punks

Not all of us listen to Ayu for the lyrics or pay any attention to them whatsoever lol...

Party Queen was her last album that felt super "Ayu" to me. Although it's lacking a lot in certain technical aspects, I love the feel of the album as a whole! I actually don't think there's a single song on it that I dislike on it.

But that's her strongest selling point in Japan. She doesn't give two fucks why you or anyone around here listen to her.

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Everyone feels lonely or insecure, what are Ayu's most recurrent themes... Those are broad and universal feelings. On PQ Ayu is not talking about being insecure or lonely, she is talking about HOW and WHY she is lonely... And now, this is not broad and universal anymore.

that's why the middle part of the album is my favorite. I get you and where you're coming from, and I felt if she wanted to convey these feelings then yeah the middle part was where this grit and desperation really shone through.

the other songs, however,... well you can argue oh they're so personal to her blah blah, but they just don't sound good. this is not slam poetry, we're not only looking at her lyrics. sound-wise, at least imo, most of the album fell flat.

more importantly it's the overarching idea of the era that irks me - centering an entire era on her divorce was especially when it's not like she did a kickass job of milking her personal life. imho she came across really desperate in the Party Queen era. from the beginning when the news came about of the divorce up till the end of LOVE again, she was a mess.

[visionfactory]

After going for a safer sound route with Love Songs and FIVE I lost a lot of interest (and hope) in ayu's music but then she released PQ with this glorious limited box format that I still have in my room and love to see everyday, that album lit the flame of an ayufan, at least for me I treasure it a lot

[Uknow!]

Originally Posted by oaristos

I know this if off-topic, but may I ask you what do you think is the meaning behind those covers?

Ayu is trying to say that there are two Ayu. One is the Ayu who see the general public and the fans, a miss understood. The image she reflects to her fans, Ayumi Hamasaki. However, it's not all, the real Ayu is the misunderstood, people think that they understood Ayu, but anybody knows, only she and is trying to show us (That remember me ourselves).

Of this born the videos Bold & Delicious and Pride.

Then the covers ¿How show these feelings in a cover? In the cover we can see an Ayu smiling but not a sincere smile, is forced and not natural, cause it's her day by day: trying to be someone who she isn't.
¿And the heart? The explanation I found is the heart represent that the girl in the cover is the Ayu people like. No one loves Ayu, everybody loves Ayumi Hamasaki, and Ayumi Hamasaki is a image, a product, a miss understood or a misunderstood

That it's a resumen of my opinion, I can understand people don't share with me hahaha And sorry if on the another post i sound like I'm imposing my opinion, don't know a lot of english and It's difficult to explain.

[pimenta]

I loved it when it came out, and I don't care what people say, I still think it's awesome.

[Tom Punks]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

But that's her strongest selling point in Japan. She doesn't give two fucks why you or anyone around here listen to her.

I'm not sure why you're even bringing this up, since I never mentioned anything about Ayu caring about why we listen to her music. I only pointed out that your reasoning for members here, on AHS, having lyric-focal reasoning for disliking the album doesn't necessarily apply.

[oaristos]

^^^ Thank you so much for your explanation, I think I agree with you! and it's okay, it didn't sound you were imposing your opinion - I share your insecurity when it comes to expressing thoughts in English since I'm not a native speaker either.

I totally understand people's opinions over the concept of Party Queen and how she needed to take the wild side for once instead of releasing something "safe" again (although Love songs is one of my favorite albums ever for its consistency, but that's for another topic). What makes me never listen to Party Queen is its execution: in my honest opinion I think working with Timmy was one of the worse choices she has ever made in her entire career, his compositions sound extremely cheap. This record has, of course, its gems: "reminds me", "Return Road", and "Tell me why" are an epic trio. The other songs, even though I don't listen to them often, were very well executed at the HOTEL Love songs Tour. The only thing I'll never accept is how terrible is "How Beautiful You Are". I just can't.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Party Queen was lyrically and conceptually one of the best albums she's ever done, which makes the poor execution & engineering so frustrating and such a letdown. You'd think that with such a personal work Ayu would be pickier about instrumentation and mixing and stuff. Every decision made on the album seemed to be very deliberate - making "NaNaNa" sound like a globe song, using the showtune style for Eyes,Smoke,Magic and the lounge jazz style for the next LOVE, the times she quieted the songs down so you could focus on what she was saying because she was trying to hammer in a point, the track order... So many decisions were clearly Ayu saying "I wanna do this, and this, and this, and here's why..." to the musicians involved.

And yet the mixing is TERRIBLE. The levels are just WRONG. "reminds me" is probably closest to getting it right and yet the background vocals are still too loud, which is its only major issue... Timmy's voice in Return Road should have sounded more distant and echoed like in "BRILLANTE" and honestly the song would have been just about perfect. The sound effects in "Eyes,Smoke,Magic" are too loud and too numerous and very off-putting. "Shake it <3" turned out kind of messy. "NaNaNa" sounds like a demo and the darkness of the concept of the song doesn't come across well enough. "Party queen" had too little emphasis on the right elements - it just sounds cute, it doesn't sound like she's in denial over how self-destructive she's being.

Overall there's just so much of the album that doesn't sound finished and that really distracts from how emotive, personal, and frank the album is being.

Party Queen needs a new mix nearly the whole way through it, but otherwise it's an artistic triumph in my eyes.

[attractive nausea]

"Party queen" had too little emphasis on the right elements - it just sounds cute, it doesn't sound like she's in denial over how self-destructive she's being.

This is why the live version from HOTEL Love Songs is great, that part where everything stops and she sings "I'm a lonely queen" and then the songs starts right where it stopped and she's singing with a big -fake- smile as if nothing happened