Opinions on Party Queen covers?

[George]

^ **** IT. Even the font is better!

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

the only thing i like from the covers: no fish-lips / duckface

[channy]

Originally Posted by Midori-chan

Why not surrounding here with a group of people, who are partying and having fun, but she is sitting in the crowd alone and crying (a mix of "Don't look back" and "Sweet Season")? This concept would have been a total contrast to the album title...

That would of been amazing :O

[PoetGirl]

I like it cause of leopard print, you can put any crap you want to next to leopard print I'd buy it LOL. I can't wait to see these covers in large size.

[MiiSan]

I, for one, don't think the sadness "shown" should be so obvious. Sometimes, the people who are always cheerful and happy go lucky might be the exact opposite inside. They choose not to show cause they are afraid that they will be judged, left alone and/or laughed at, thus, they prefer to show another face, something everybody else would like (smile, laugh, joke etc) so they won't feel completely alone.

Let's take U;Nee (Korean singer) for example. She always seemed cheerful through her career (lives, making offs, interviews etc) but in the end, she killed herself, just before the release of her 3rd album (and only few songs are sad, the rest are dance/R&B). Only 2 or 3 times she showed her true sadness but most of the time she hid it behind her smiley face.

And about the happy partying thing... a lot of celebrities (Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston and more examples) try to make themselves feel better with drugs, clubbing, partying, alcohol etc. cause they cannot hold the pressure of being famous any longer, with all the paparazzi trying to disturb you every day and then show your awkward poses to the entire world, ready to talk trash about you. And they were smiling on the outside for a moment when partying and that's it, they go back on their daily depressed mood, feeling locked, no freedom etc.

The same thing might represent the Party Queen covers, even if she looks that smiley, she still is unhappy inside (hence she looks like she's high on drugs/alcohol, stripped to her panties and bra) and Ayu said that the covers are a parody of the scandal magazines, maybe that's why the photos look so unprofessional, they wanted to appear like a paparazzo took them and show how the "Queen" (Empress of J-pop) is so worn out and loose in the party.

Just my interpretation though
And sorry for the rant, I was kind of tired to see posts like "SHE'S SAD??? BUT SHE LOOKS SO HAPPEE DER!!1"

[kiseki89]

Hah glad that I'm not the only one who associated 2dvd's to Koda Kumi. I guess that stye suited her much more than the ayu we know.

kinda disappointed that Party Queen doesnt have pink hair and yeah the 13th album is kinda redundant. But the leopard print is a nice torch up imo

Nevertheless, I do love the covers of the CDonly and CD+DVD versions and also the CDL cover. Now I'm not sure if I should just get the CD+DVD or close one eye and get the CD+2dvd

[sugarbasil]

Originally Posted by Midori-chan

Why do people who don't go crazy over every Ayu-release need to get over it each time? Why can't we just discuss it?


And sorry, but I don't see the deeper meaning behind these covers (and yes! I read Ayu's tweets!).
If Ayu really wanted to show the loneliness and sadness of a "Queen" or of people who are in the spotlight, then why not show these on the covers?

Why not surrounding here with a group of people, who are partying and having fun, but she is sitting in the crowd alone and crying (a mix of "Don't look back" and "Sweet Season")? This concept would have been a total contrast to the album title and would have shocked people, but in a positive way. Like this they could have started thinking: "Mhm, yes, maybe famous people feel lonely too!"

But they went for the most obvious concept when you hear the words "Party Queen": fun, party, alcohol and gorgeous people.

And she doesn't look unhappy or anything on these covers. Maybe in the CD+2DVD-cover, because we can't see her face very well on this small cover, but she looks perfectly happy to me on the other two covers!


And also the song "Party queen" doesn't speak of sadness or anything! The lyrics are all about party and getting drunk!!

I have to agree. While I'm still deciding how I feel about the covers, I don't think they were executed as well as they could have. This looks more like a fanmade cover rather than a tabloid. And when I think of loneliness and all that, I think of the Dearest PV. Fantastic exectution and beautiful to boot. I'm not saying she should regress backwards and repeat what she's already done, but when I compare this to Dearest I sort of feel like her innovation's gone dry.

I don't think the covers are completely without merit, though. They're very striking.

[freedreamer]

Actually, with the reason behind the covers, im looking forward to the MUSIC it has to deliver more. I honestly hope for half Timmy (i mean..thats kinda the max i would hope)..and half her usual composers. Even if its 75% timmy, hopefully he would have some really awesome tracks. because Party Queen and hbya, albeit really nice and catchy tunes, remain on a rather safe side.

[Kazeyomi]

As I said the concept may be good but the execution is poor and too fanmade looking imo. Sometimes I'd like to know what kind of people is working as graphic designer for avex. I mean, they did a wonderful job with FIVE covers and then.. they made this huge mess.

I've been fan of her since.. oh my god already 10 years (just realized that lol) and I know there's always a hidden meaning behind her album covers. Yeah they might looks more fashion than usual album covers, but they represent album's meaning as well.
So even if I don't particulary like them, I know there's something more about. So I'm just ok with them. Although there's a possibility I'll love them on HQ lol who knows . But if they were more professional and less fanmade, these covers would be ****ing amazing.

[rian_hamasaki]

dont like it

[xLuna&1LOVE]

Originally Posted by Kazeyomi

As I said the concept may be good but the execution is poor and too fanmade looking imo. Sometimes I'd like to know what kind of people is working as graphic designer for avex. I mean, they did a wonderful job with FIVE covers and then.. they made this huge mess.

I've been fan of her since.. oh my god already 10 years (just realized that lol) and I know there's always a hidden meaning behind her album covers. Yeah they might looks more fashion than usual album covers, but they represent album's meaning as well.
So even if I don't particulary like them, I know there's something more about. So I'm just ok with them. Although there's a possibility I'll love them on HQ lol who knows . But if they were more professional and less fanmade, these covers would be ****ing amazing.

Really? Which? :O I had the idea she had not done those things until Leslie came and shot her covers

[MissElin_]

^Secret, I am..., Duty, MA, A BEST, A BEST 2 to mention a few.

[xLuna&1LOVE]

... So, what are they then? Those hidden meanings? The only things I could have seen coming was Duty.

[isthisLOL?]

Originally Posted by MiiSan

I, for one, don't think the sadness "shown" should be so obvious.

This so much! It sounds to me like some people would have liked Ayu to be crying on the covers or something but that would have just been so damn tacky. It's been done before a million times that way, hell she practically did that herself before. This is a more unique approach and as people said before: It's an album. You don't have to understand it from the title or cover, you have to understand it from the title, cover, music, videos, booklet and lyrics combined. If THAT doesn't work it's bad execution.

I think this cover portrays exactly what she wants to portray, that's the definition of good execution. The sadness is only hinted really slightly in the cover(I don't think she actually wants people to go "omg she's so sad!" about the cover, that would practically give away what the album seems to include, I think she only commented on it on twitter because of the shitstorm she got about it, she didn't expect people to "get" the album, they weren't supposed to, but she probably didn't expect that horrible backlash either) but will probably be much more literal in the album, probably getting more and more so the farther you get into the album.

That is not to say people cannot dislike the cover. I understand not liking it for a number of reasons. But calling Ayu out for being "trashy" etc or calling the execution bad because "the meaning isn't obvious from the cover" are pretty uncalled for. The former because it's a clear insult and shows ignorance and the latter because the point of an album cover, any album cover, is NOT people understanding it without the aid of the content, but people understanding it with the aid of the content. And we won't get the content until the album leaks so we cannot call it bad execution unless we know the album it relates to. Now, if the album does not support the idea of the cover, it WILL be bad execution, but we don't and can't know that yet.

[MissElin_]

To sum up:

Duty: caged
I am...: freedom and honouring 9/11
A BEST: tear to represent Ayu's thought about that album. She didn't want to release it.
MA: Falling stars
A BEST 2: all clean, no colours, no outfit, no hairstyle, simply Ayu. And clear reflections in her eyes to symbolyse her inner soul kind of (I belive Ayu explained this in a interview?)
Secret: hidden tattoo

[TeamAyu2004]

Originally Posted by MissElin_

To sum up:

I am...: freedom and honouring 9/11
Secret: hidden tattoo

Actually ayumi stated the album (I am...) was suppose to be about the loneliness and confusion that she had, but had a change of heart after the 9/11 attacks and instead went for a a peace and faith theme.

Secret was not about the tattoo... it's still a secret. that's the point.

And the album covers really have no "hidden" meaning... she just express's what she is going through at the time. If you follow what she is doing, you know what the meaning is.

[xLuna&1LOVE]

Originally Posted by MissElin_

To sum up:

Duty: caged
I am...: freedom and honouring 9/11
A BEST: tear to represent Ayu's thought about that album. She didn't want to release it.
MA: Falling stars
A BEST 2: all clean, no colours, no outfit, no hairstyle, simply Ayu. And clear reflections in her eyes to symbolyse her inner soul kind of (I belive Ayu explained this in a interview?)
Secret: hidden tattoo

Wait? What does "Eve" in the desert have to do with 9/11? The falling stars were just... earrings? And the hidden tattoo could have been that heart with the wing... which stands for...?

[isthisLOL?]

Secret relates to the album quite simply. On the cover, her real tattoo is hidden in the middle of a fake tattoo. No one knew that she had a real tattoo yet and it was only revealed during AT07. Also, she gives off a glamorous, powerful image on the cover.
The album starts with her having that strong, self-confident image, but in the title track, right at the end of the album, she reveals that that is not really her, that she pretends to be strong but is not really all that strong. It's all about secrets and fake images.

[MissElin_]

Originally Posted by TeamAyu2004

Actually ayumi stated the album (I am...) was suppose to be about the loneliness and confusion that she had, but had a change of heart after the 9/11 attacks and instead went for a a peace and faith theme.

Secret was not about the tattoo... it's still a secret. that's the point.

And the album covers really have no "hidden" meaning... she just express's what she is going through at the time. If you follow what she is doing, you know what the meaning is.

Yes I know about I am...

Read under the lines. Secret was naturally not about the tattoo. But the hidden tattoo represent the whole secret theme.

[aloopy]

Where do you guys see the sadness in these pictures? All I see is Ayu getting half naked, holding a shoe and having the biggest smile on her face.