(miss)understood and RAINBOW: Turning Points for Fans?

[Zeke.]

WHY DOES EVERYONE DISLIKE MY STORY? I was overjoyed at how amazing the album was and still it! All of the songs that I had disliked at first I really do enjoy now. MY STORY is 100% Ayu and (miss)understood is just too different and doesn't flow well. The singles (not all of them) are really the ONLY nock-out tracks. Actually, the only single I really LOVED was/is STEP you/is this LOVE? because the tunes were very amazing and catchy. The other singles on the other hand were/are not up to par with her past singles and songs. MY STORY had many amazing non-single tracks on the album where (miss)understood didn't really have any OMG I LOVE THIS SONG 4EVER tracks... There are some good ones but I have become sick of most of them... Ladies Night was my favorite for a while but I have gotten tired of it. That is new for me - usually Ayu songs never get tirering even after you listen to them for a long period of time but (miss)understood grabs your attention and them it plumits from there...

*Sorry all you (miss)understood lovers but you all are bashing MY STORY and I love that album!

[Piccolo]

I think RAINBOW lacked the upbeat rocky dancy songs people like. But... I thought MY STORY and (miss)understood were both solid albums. I am a bigger fan of the rockish stuff, so perhaps the people who don't like that kind of music are being turned away.

[elepop]

"RAINBOW" is FAR from being Ayu's weakest album. And niether is "ASFXX".

"MY STORY" and "(miss)understood" are both her weakest albums. These two albums aren't horrible, but there's something missing. And that's probably Ayu's, or at least DAI, composed songs.

Of course, some people might stop listening to Ayu. But that would be kinda sad. Lately, Ayu's stuff haven't been really great at all. Look at "Startin'/Born to be...". Both songs are mediocre, both PVs are boring and bad, the CD covers aren't original... =/

[ph33r]

My Story has more depth. I've listened through the entire album m(u) once. I think My Story is far better. And I've listened to Rainbow maybe twice through. But neither has turned me off..

[Annabelle]

Originally Posted by ph33r

My Story has more depth. I've listened through the entire album m(u) once. I think My Story is far better. And I've listened to Rainbow maybe twice through. But neither has turned me off..

Same. Go MY STORY! At least I can listen to it without skipping tracks unlike (m)u and RAINBOW.

[Chibi_Venus]

hopeorpain made a good point.

It's weird. Half of the Ayu fans I've seen around here love RAINBOW and/or (miss) understood, and the other half hate it. I really don't get it.

In my opinion Ayu should get back to her I am.../RAINBOW style. (Oh boy I wonder how many Ayu fans now hate me.) I don't mean the songs, but I'm talking about her compositions. The last CREA + DAI composition made was Will on the HEAVEN single and that seems so long ago. We need CREA back!

Rainbow made me a fan so ;\

[BanFan]

Originally Posted by asongforXX

"MY STORY" and "(miss)understood" are both her weakest albums. These two albums aren't horrible, but there's something missing. And that's probably Ayu's, or at least DAI, composed songs.

Yeah, I miss all the CREA and DAI compositions.
RAINBOW was amazing because it was mostly those two.
And apparently DAI isn't writing for/with her anymore.
Ayumi needs to have Kunio Tago* do some more music.


*He's written the music for some incredible hitomi (LOVE LIFE era) and Every Little Thing (Many Pieces era) songs, as well as Ayu's Key~eternal tie ver.~ and SCAR. See the attachment!

EDIT:The two ??? songs are that KIIKU song and Kodaku na Sora.

[nmskalmn]

Originally Posted by anime_fanatic21

MY STORY had many amazing non-single tracks on the album where (miss)understood didn't really have any OMG I LOVE THIS SONG 4EVER tracks...

I also like MY STORY more than (miss)understood.

[elepop]

Originally Posted by Chibi_Venus

In my opinion Ayu should get back to her I am.../RAINBOW style. (Oh boy I wonder how many Ayu fans now hate me.) I don't mean the songs, but I'm talking about her compositions. The last CREA + DAI composition made was Will on the HEAVEN single and that seems so long ago. We need CREA back!

I agree with you.

Originally Posted by BanFan

Yeah, I miss all the CREA and DAI compositions.
RAINBOW was amazing because it was mostly those two.
And apparently DAI isn't writing for/with her anymore.
Ayumi needs to have Kunio Tago* do some more music.


*He's written the music for some incredible hitomi (LOVE LIFE era) and Every Little Thing (Many Pieces era) songs, as well as Ayu's Key~eternal tie ver.~ and SCAR. See the attachment!

EDIT:The two ??? songs are that KIIKU song and Kodaku na Sora.

Oh my, Kunio Tago did amazing songs! Seriously, Ayu needs a little bit of his style. He could bring back real instruments, bass, guitar and drums in Ayu's music. Which would be heaven for me, lol. That's why I prefer hitomi's songs.

[BanFan]

Originally Posted by asongforXX

Oh my, Kunio Tago did amazing songs! Seriously, Ayu needs a little bit of his style. He could bring back real instruments, bass, guitar and drums in Ayu's music. Which would be heaven for me, lol. That's why I prefer hitomi's songs.

The last time she did that was Duty, right? And that was amazing. Girlish, Key, and several other songs on the album were...real. That's the one thing she hasn't really done a lot of, which she should. I mean, Key is my favorite Ayumi song ever. Doesn't it have bongos? ^_^

I think her next album should be a mini album with Kunio Tago, CREA and Kunio Tago+CREA (And DAI if he decides to write for/with her again), and they should redo whatever she was planning to release last summer.

[bluegie]

The reason why many people hate RAINBOW is that this album is, like the others said, a turning point. This album is something totally different from ayu's previous works. Fans who hate this album should be the ones who like ayu's old work (during that moment... I'm not talking about the present btw). I was one of them, listen to this album, and treated that as an non-existence after listen the album a few times. Now I'm over with it and can listen to the songs in the album again. But I guess the ONLY reason I bought the album in the first place was because the cover is so pretty... Still, it's not my favorite album at all. (you know what, I didn't even buy I am... which should be a good album.. I didn't buy this one cuz I was sick of ayu at that moment...)

I will say Memorial address is fans' savior. This album brought me back to ayu's world afterall. 8 songs are enough to tell the great depth of the album. Each song has a unique taste yet they blend together so well somehow. I just love it...

MY STORY is just another story. It's not an "easy to fall in love at once" album. I didn't really listen to this album in the beginning cuz I just didn't really like the album songs. (Come on! the single songs are way better than the album ones). The arena tour did save me from disliking it. Now I love this album. It's just another masterpiece from ayu.

From A Song for xx to MY STORY, ayu put a unique concept on each album. I can see the songs within an album flow fluently. This is what I CAN'T find in (miss)understood. Yes, each song is unique and can stand out itself. But when you put them together they're kinda like strangers to each other. To be honest I can't the "concept" from this album. I can sense the "prettiness" in RAINBOW, "the elegant" in Memorial address, "tales" in MY STORY... but I just find nothing except GEO and "heterogeneous mix" in (m)u... I love the songs so much in this album, but I just dun love the album that much...

know what I mean??

[TeamAyu]

I personally disagree with most of you here, I think "MY STORY" and "(miss)understood" are her strongest works yet.

"I am..." is way overrated, it just has a lot of the songs that I think most of us fell in love with first and then became fans. It also has too similar of a sound THROUGHOUT the entire album... which gets boring in my opinion. Maybe that is why I prefer "(miss)understood" so much is because it has a TON of variety. And the whole GEO bit is really stupid and annoying because if a lot of the songs were the same but say they were composed by someone else I bet many people would not be like "OMG THIS ALBUM STINKS CAUSE OF GEO!" Some of her strongest songs were by GEO.

Now I can personally see how "RAINBOW" may have turned some people off because it was so POP compared to the rockish "I am..." which came out the same year and was a complete opposite almost. I almost lost interest in Ayu because none of the album tracks from "RAINBOW" really could catch on with me. I love the album now because of how refreshing it is compared to a lot of the other albums.

Lastly I LOVE MY STORY! hahaha I CANNOT GET OVER IT! I can't see why people hate it so much, I think it has the strongest flow and album sound. "I am..." had a really similar theme throughout which can be good but it got boring fast in my opinion.

Oh and BanFan, "CAROLS" had a ton of real instruments too. Oh and I think there is hope for CREA+DAI, we had "Will" so I don't think we should give up hope so easily and I hope she has had her fun with Kazuhiro Hara so she can give another round of composers a try. (Not that I don't like Kazuhiro Hara, he made great pieces for her! *LOVES "Born To Be..."*

[jeffycue]

hmmm... i love both albums... id say ASFXX is still her weakest... by this time, people expect too much from Ayu.. so thats why they start to be bored with her.. oh well.. keep rocking AYU!!

[momobean]

Originally Posted by TeamAyu

I personally disagree with most of you here, I think "MY STORY" and "(miss)understood" are her strongest works yet.

"I am..." is way overrated, it just has a lot of the songs that I think most of us fell in love with first and then became fans. It also has too similar of a sound THROUGHOUT the entire album... which gets boring in my opinion. Maybe that is why I prefer "(miss)understood" so much is because it has a TON of variety. And the whole GEO bit is really stupid and annoying because if a lot of the songs were the same but say they were composed by someone else I bet many people would not be like "OMG THIS ALBUM STINKS CAUSE OF GEO!" Some of her strongest songs were by GEO.

I agree!

I never understand why some people say I am.. has a lot of variety. When I first bought the album and played it, I didn't even realise UNITE!, evolution and Naturally were different tracks.

I think RAINBOW is one of the turning points. There isn't much now, but there used to be a lot of criticism on this album and many fans claimed she's been 'going down' ever since. Some thought it's too bubblegum pop, and some think her voice went bad.

[yamogi]

I think RAINBOW is weak for me, I can't stand for those everywhere nowhere, close to you;those two song are HORRIBLE for me, they are so annoying though heartplace is a good song.

I like (miss)understood, especially for those string thing in criminal.To me, I am... is a bit overrated.

[hallelujah_united]

Originally Posted by momobean

I agree!

I never understand why some people say I am.. has a lot of variety. When I first bought the album and played it, I didn't even realise UNITE!, evolution and Naturally were different tracks.

I think RAINBOW is one of the turning points. There isn't much now, but there used to be a lot of criticism on this album and many fans claimed she's been 'going down' ever since. Some thought it's too bubblegum pop, and some think her voice went bad.

I thought her voice in RAINBOW wasn't particularly good though. She was guilty over over-singing sometimes, and her vibrato during that period of time was awful to be honest. Plus, it also had weaker singles compared to other albums. That's why it got a lot of flak when it came out.

But (m)u is a completely different story. Vocally it was terrific, however it encompassed so many styles of music that fans probably got confused, and feared that she might veer more towards an American style in future. It remains to be seen whether this has an adverse effect in the long run though.

[BanFan]

Originally Posted by TeamAyu

"I am..." is way overrated, it just has a lot of the songs that I think most of us fell in love with first and then became fans. It also has too similar of a sound THROUGHOUT the entire album... which gets boring in my opinion. Maybe that is why I prefer "(miss)understood" so much is because it has a TON of variety.

Definetely. I was listening to "I am..." and "(miss)understood" last night, and I skipped all over "I am...", and almost listened to all of "(miss)understood". It really is overrated and has a terrible lack of variety.

[etheruraura]

While I agree to an extent about I am... lacking variety, I think some people tend to forget how excellent the songs were on that album. Almost every song was passion filled, and it sounded like she was singing her heart out. Some of my personal favorites come from I am... (NEVER EVER, UNITE!, Daybreak). She'll more than likely never make songs like those again, and despite all of them having a similar sound, they are extremely good (imo.)

I also don't understand how people talk trash about the RAINBOW album. To me, it was excellent. She tried a lot of new styles out, and I thought they worked out fabulous. To this day, I can't see why when people think about songs like "Dolls" or "Voyage" why they automatically think "yuck, bad". Those songs had amazing arrangements.

As for where I want Ayu to go now, I wish she would put more real instruments into her songs. More acoustic guitar would be awesome. (think hitomi's "there is...". As for MY STORY and (miss) understood, I love MY STORY more. I skip a lot of songs on (miss) understood.

[bernardation]

i'm going to be realistic. maybe yes.

a lot of people here in ahs love both rainbown and (miss)understood and don't think that they are weak or anything. we are fond on here music and usually we like her albuns for everything they have to offer as a part of her carrer. but if we pay attention, these two albuns are very weak compared to duty, loveppears and i am...

i would even cosider my story as a turning point too.