Ayu: Anything Goes [XXIX] - Page 22

thinkingoutloud89 · #1 2nd May 2021, 06:10 PM

I also like nEXT LEVEL - it has a very different feeling to what surrounds it and stands put in her disco (not in a bad way).
I wouldn't say it is the most complete body of art I every listend to or that it is groundbreaking, just nice.

I still hate Days tho and I think Days and maybe GREEN (although I love it) do not really belong. But i had the same problem with glitter/fated and sunrise/sunset and their albums. They really felt like singles before there was an idea for an album.

DavidChaiLatte · #2 2nd May 2021, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinkingoutloud89

I also like nEXT LEVEL - it has a very different feeling to what surrounds it and stands put in her disco (not in a bad way).
I wouldn't say it is the most complete body of art I every listend to or that it is groundbreaking, just nice.

I still hate Days tho and I think Days and maybe GREEN (although I love it) do not really belong. But i had the same problem with glitter/fated and sunrise/sunset and their albums. They really felt like singles before there was an idea for an album.

I felt like they should've put the CMJK remix of GREEN on there instead. It'd fit SOOOOO MUCH better. (and that 8-bit remix of Days too if they insist on putting Days on NL lol)

Evolution7/4 · #3 3rd May 2021, 03:32 AM

Next Level was such a moment. It was so exciting to have Ayu return to electronica and she was one of the first artists in any country to follow the Lady Gaga bandwagon and start to make dance pop music. Makes a great followup to the dark Guilty. Totally agree about the remixes being on the album! I wish Spotify and Ayus Youtube would fix the CMJK mix of Green, it plays Sparkle instead!

tokyoxjapanxfan · #4 3rd May 2021, 11:36 AM

Wow I honestly wasn’t expecting so many people to agree! In my head it wasn’t very well received upon release, I’m glad to see people enjoy it as much as me haha.

maxikot · #5 3rd May 2021, 12:30 PM

I love every bit of Next Level. Somehow this album feels most special to me. Just everything about it is really cool. Starting with the songs and there is a ballad ayu, rock, electro, edgy and finishing with the visuals of the package, it's so colourful and timeless to me. Not to mention Sparkle must be my favourite music video of hers ^^

xLuna&1LOVE · #6 3rd May 2021, 02:06 PM

The NEXT LEVEL era's so awesome! All the singles were really good (GREEN, Days, Rule and Sparkle are hits, so were the PVs) but the only thing I remembered everyone disliking is the amount of interludes. The album got 4 interludes, right? Oh, that feels ages ago! When Made in Japan came out, people were surprised just seeing 1 interlude and that's it.

I'm really happy with the identity performance she did recently. Promised Land? Not too well updated with her latest tours.

Katsuyuki012 · #7 3rd May 2021, 02:55 PM

^Yep, CDL19-20!

I really love NEXT LEVEL, too! From the aesthetics to its sound, it's just such a great album and era, and I love the mix of electronic music with some rock-ish elements. Imo, the album works really well as a whole and is definitely one of my favourite records by Ayu.

inuxkag · #8 7th May 2021, 11:33 PM

Don't know if this was covered late last year but looks like ex-boyfriend Maro is back out performing again. I was going through Riki Fujimaki's (one of Ayu's acrobats - he was her partner in her Endless Sorrow performance 2016) Instagram and looks like Maro was part of a show with Riki and Ayu's other acrobats back in December 2020. Thought it was interesting and certainly makes a change from "eating grass." Maro also has a youtube channel with a vlog from said show.

Aderianu · #9 7th May 2021, 11:47 PM

Well, Maro had a long road, he was singer, farmer, porno actor, yoga teacher, tried a political career... what else? He was good as a dancer and I'm glad he back to this kind of work

Toniayu123 · #10 10th May 2021, 01:15 PM

From Ken Hirai’s thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenPang

When asked about the current state in the music business ie. streaming , Ken wondered if it's still necessary to put out an album in an era now where consumers have the choice to listen to selective songs instead of an entire album

Ayu is that you?

Andrenekoi · #11 12th May 2021, 01:56 AM

Releasing albuns really doesn't make much sense anymore unless you want an album for artistic reasons.

!Lawi! · #12 12th May 2021, 02:07 PM

That's an interesting point but I think I disagree!

The format might not make sense sales-wise but there's so much more to an album than just a collection of songs. Do you get the same sounds in mind if I say GUILTY and Colours?

Even from what I can see of other major pop singers, people seem to refer to their different albums as 'eras' a lot. That says a lot imo, that every album is still some kind of experimentation or variation around a theme.

If anything, this comment means compilations are now irrelevant (looking at you A BALLADS 2).

indigochild · #13 13th May 2021, 04:41 AM

If I recall correctly, BLUE BIRD was suppose to be a triple A-side single but was changed. I even remember they released a statement. So it would've been BLUE BIRD, Beautiful Fighters, and ????? I wonder what the 3rd song would've been. Looking at the Secret album none of those tracks would have "fit" in the BLUE BIRD single in my opinion so I like to believe that 3rd song is now a rare unreleased track stuck in the vault

Anyway, I'm just rambling over here lol

KittyKathy · #14 15th May 2021, 05:02 PM

I wonder if Ayu has some songs from before that she never released and that they still exist somewhere in some file. Maybe a song that didn't make it to the album Duty, I am... or Secret. I think I read that the song petal (or some other song from the album LOVE again) was a song she had from before.

!Lawi! · #15 16th May 2021, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KittyKathy

I wonder if Ayu has some songs from before that she never released and that they still exist somewhere in some file. Maybe a song that didn't make it to the album Duty, I am... or Secret. I think I read that the song petal (or some other song from the album LOVE again) was a song she had from before.

I think she said that about Gloria too, but I could be wrong!

summerain · #16 21st May 2021, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by !Lawi!

I think she said that about Gloria too, but I could be wrong!

Gloria, petal and Sweet scar are old demos she had in her vault, if I remember right.

maxikot · #17 15th May 2021, 05:57 PM

^ I'm sure there are a lot of such songs! I think all artists have this kind of vast unreleased catalogue and it's super interesting what could be found there ^^

barisuta53 · #18 15th May 2021, 09:32 PM

I would say that Ayu has released a lot of songs from her back catalogue.

I truly believe that Will is one such song. I also believe that any of the more recent DAI compositions are from her back catalogue.

I sometimes wonder if many of the Secret songs are back catalogue tracks as it was originally a mini-album.

Toniayu123 · #19 15th May 2021, 10:01 PM

We need to hire a hacker. Seriously, they don’t know how much we’d appreciate an unreleased album of some sort. Even alternative versions of songs like those unfinished demos we got sometimes on CMs.

Scorbunny · #20 16th May 2021, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

We need to hire a hacker. Seriously, they don’t know how much we’d appreciate an unreleased album of some sort. Even alternative versions of songs like those unfinished demos we got sometimes on CMs.

A stalker broke into Avril lavignes home and posted on his IG photos of him in her studio with a pile of external hard drives stacked before he was arrested.

Random but I wish someone would leak her music and Ayu’s but I like your idea of a hacker