thoughts on miss understood album

[~*Mabushii*~]

hmm, well lets just say that i am greatly looking foward to the album and will buy it.. even though i hate the cd only cover and B&D had to grow on me..
Something about this CD and the tracks I've downloaded so far.. is just wonderful to me..
Beautiful day just makes me feel calm and relaxed, and lately I need that good feeling.

[evolution105]

did anyone else hear criminal it's amazing!

edit: i took the courage to delete all of the mp3's and previews i don't want to spoil this album for me.

[Sylphiel]

Originally Posted by evolution105

did anyone else hear criminal it's amazing!

I did, I posted my response in the Poll thread...

Definitely gonna be one of my favorites of all time <333

[Raleigh]

Yes this is definately one of the most impressive rock ballads I've ever heard. It's so beautiful. This album is definately very good.

[evolution105]

Originally Posted by truehappiness
3. criminal - I love the strings in this. My gosh, it's so beautiful! WHY DOES THIS NOT GET A PV? lol Maybe this song is what some people perceived HEAVEN to be like..

i'm hoping this will get a PV on her next single just like my names WOMEN. the PV of course judging by the song will be very dramatic i hope.

[truehappiness]

I'm a lot more hopeful for a Will PV you know?

[Raleigh]

Yeah I really wished to see a Will PV and it's a real pity that she did not do a pv for it especially since all the single songs except of it got a pv

[fantaisie.sign]

Okie, now that I've heard all the album tracks, my verdict is in: "(miss) understood" beats "MY STORY" by a great big MILE. I think this should have followed "I am. . ." instead of "Memorial address" or "MY STORY" because it matches the diversity that Ayu had on "I am. . ." I'm very impressed.

The only duds so far seem to be (imo) "In The Corner" and "(miss) understood," but I know they'll grow on me like "INSPIRE" eventually did. The best album track (again imo) is "criminal." Oh, how I wish this was a single. . . "Ladies Night" is still my favorite of all the songs.

[SnowDrop]

I haven't been listening to Ayu for a long time, and I don't like this album very much but I must say I'm in love with Ladies Night and In The Corner. Just beacuse I think they're fun and if you are going to sound western and cheesy and poppy and all that stuff - why not spice it up extra much? You know make it something really crazy..^__^

(miss)understood is okay, and so is the rest of the songs..but it's all a bit too boring for me. Especially Rainy Day which basically repeats the same notes the whole four minutes, . I felt like I knew the whole song after listening to the preview only..

I'm not buying this album.

[yami_kanashii]

After listening to all the songs in the Downloads section, I think I'm going to actually get this album. It totally beats My Story. The songs are pretty strong, with the exceptions of a few that I'm not too fond of like B&D, Pride, and fairyland. But despite those, I believe this album might do pretty good.

[Larisa-chan]

Bold & Delicious - 2/10 The only thing that saves this song is Ayu's singing. Horrible composition, just a bunch of noise and stupid choir singing. Sounds like an 80s western song. Filming it in NY is perfect because it's suitable. Cheesy.

STEP you - 4/10 This song still is sterile and the lyrics are awful. Though I admit it's catchy as hell, the melody of the chorus isn't bad either. Would be better with more rock and less English. Also cheesy.

Ladies Night - 3/10 Bleh, so sterile. Reminds me again of some bad 80s song and a mix between of Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and Tommy february6 o.o. This song is sooooo repetitive and again, cheesy. I'd never buy this if it was released as a single.

Is this Love? - 10/10 My favorite song of the year by Ayu and therefore best track on the album. Awesome rock song that I can't stop listening to. Very emotional and powerful. I love the introduction (except, for minus Peco and the other chick's vocals).

(Miss)understood - 8.5/10 An awesome, angsty rock song. I was so scared this was going to be a lame pop song like my name's WOMEN or something. Glad that it turned out the way it did. Still, as I said before, wish it wasn't so repetitive and that there was a bit more to it.

Alterna - 8.5/10 Another cool angry rock song.. love the guitar solo part. I love the verses, the chorus is good, but this song suffers from being really repetitive and a bit too noisy which is why I had to knock it down a point hehe. What's up with the "heys" in the album version? They sound really distorted.

In The Corner - 3/10 Well.. this is a cover of another song, right? It screams generic pop song like my name's WOMEN. Which means it's catchy. Something that BoA could easily sing, or even Kumi Koda (or, *sigh* Britney Spears). I hate it when Ayu sings songs like this. But at least it's more of a song than B&D. I like the Indian sounding parts at the beginning. I wish this song was 4th on the tracklisting, so I could skip the first 4 songs easily.

Tasking - 10/10 I can't believe this wasn't a full song.. it's my favorite track on the album after Is this Love? The violins match so well with the techno. Probably my 2nd favorite interlude ever.

Criminal - 9.5/10 Probably the most emotional album track. I love the intro and how it builds into a heavy rock ballad. I can't stop listening to this. I wish the guitar solo was a bit cleaner sounding, though.. if that's even an electric guitar or just a synth at 3:37 ^.^* Hah, makes it sound so 80s~

Pride 7.5/10 Awesome verses, bleh chorus. Very emotional song and I love the lyrics... too bad the music was ripped off of that Crucified song which caused it to get a lower score than I wanted to give it.

Will - 10/10 I love this song so much. Her voice sounds beautiful and the composition is excellent. Sounds traditional~ My second favorite full song after Is this Love?

Heaven - 8/10 Starts off boring, but then builds up and has a beautiful chorus. Nice arrangement; a typical Ayu ballad. Nice~

Are You Wake Up? - 9/10 Great interlude again... love the intro.. sounds 80s though haha! But it's very cool.

Fairyland - 7/10 Awesome beginning, nice verses, awesome guitar solo, but I've never gotten used to the chorus. The chorus is a bit too cheerful sounding or something for me hah.

Beautiful Day - 3.5/10 No, just no. This sort of cheesy music doesn't suit Ayu. Again, sounds like a bad 80s song. This could be playing in the background of one of those allergy-relief commercials. This song has like absolutely no replay value either. Verses are so-so, chorus is HORRIBLE.

Rainy Day - 7.5/10 Perfect ending to the album. I would cry if Beautiful Day was the ending. A lovely ballad, if a bit repetitive a la Ai Otsuka. Ayu's vocals are soothing (minus that long iiiiiiiiii).

Overall, there are a few bombs on this album that glaringly stand out, but the strong singles, interludes, and couple album tracks save this album. Everyone was talking about how MY STORY songs sounded like stuff she's done before, and the material was recycled. So, you wanted new material, and you got it with (miss)understood. I can't complain about the great variety this album has. Overall, this album is probably slightly better than MY STORY. But perhaps my opinion will change over time. It's still early.

[kournikova]

this album in my opinion.. beat MY STORY in a 6-0 6-0 score... coz I dont like the ballads in that album which are so repetitive.... 1st.. the ballads are VERY NICE.... and Criminal, miss understood make a GOOD COMPOSITION...... OUTSTANDING!..... and the interludes... Oh my god.. I almost cant believe its a short Interlude... those are THE BEST INTERLUDE ever in ayumi since neverending dream and the place of the interlude... It is so fit... are you wake up suits fairyland so well... after listening to the songs.... we are being taken to the hot summer in the hawaii-mexican rhytim..... and Tasking is a nice interlude before criminal... It shows and explain CRIMINAL so much.. oh my..... spending half a million rupiahs.. is WORTHY for this album... definitely... the best since I am... ^^

[kournikova]

this album in my opinion.. beat MY STORY in a 6-0 6-0 score... coz I dont like the ballads in that album which are so repetitive.... 1st.. the ballads are VERY NICE.... and Criminal, miss understood make a GOOD COMPOSITION...... OUTSTANDING!..... and the interludes... Oh my god.. I almost cant believe its a short Interlude... those are THE BEST INTERLUDE ever in ayumi since neverending dream and the place of the interlude... It is so fit... are you wake up suits fairyland so well... after listening to the songs.... we are being taken to the hot summer in the hawaii-mexican rhytim..... and Tasking is a nice interlude before criminal... It shows and explain CRIMINAL so much.. oh my..... spending half a million rupiahs.. is WORTHY for this album... definitely... the best since I am... ^^

[evolution7931]

I think this album is amazing! There's so much diversity! It's like Memorial Address, but a full album XD.. It annoys me when people are constantly saying they don't like Ayu's new stuff and end up liking it a month later.. just give these things a chance ._.

[minkAYuko]

BanFan never replied what impcktbreaker said.

anywaaay... the only songs I'm still getting used to are.... omg! xD i just realized that in the corner and the two interludes are the song I still don't get... wich means...I LOVE THE ALBUM!!!!!!!

Criminal ins the best song song! so.. still alone-ish! yay my theory was right to certain point! n_n...

I'm glad I bought the album.... and you should defenitly buy it!.


on a side note...I like to say that now I get what pppl say in My story.. ''generic'' mmh this album is more generic yes... but... her first album were more generic! this song have better composition and all... and so I'm confused now.

[minkAYuko]

omg rainy day is one of the worse.. so repetivie...but I want to know... so GEO compose rainy day as well right?

[Jo-chan]

I love the diversity in this album. Ayu can make any genre of song sound great (well, maybe with the exception of B&D ). So far, Ladies Night is my favorite new album track and alterna or is this LOVE? are my favorite non-new tracks.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new PVs!

[TeamAyu]

Originally Posted by BanFan

Well, since I'm really cheap, I'm just buying the 'Rainy day/Startin'' single. I realized what little playback value the four singles have, and how much I love 'Rainy day'. The album tracks are pretty horrid, so it'd be a waste to get this album.

Why don't you just buy the album and get STEP you/is this LOVE? + rainy day all on one album? It'll be cheaper anyways and it is a lot more convenient.

I haven't listened to any of the new tracks yet since I'm waiting for my copy but this is like "MY STORY" all over and regardless of how much it was bashed it became my favorite album with the most replay. So far this album from what I've heard this is definitely going to be the best album in her discography.

[hiro]

Well what i really resent is the way some of you people talk to us fans who don't like the album so far. As if there's something wrong with us. I could say the same for you people. I could say that you guys have bad taste in music BUT i won't. I could say stuff like "this album has diversity, to bad its a variety of bad songs" BUT i won't.

[Coelacanth]

None of the album tracks surpass any of the 8 single tracks, as of now.

First, I wanna say that vocally, this is an amazing album. Compared to MY STORY and RAINBOW she sounds great, and with many different singing styles.

The album tracks to me, just simply lack any kind of emotion. The most emotional album track to me is probably 'Beautiful Day', seriously. With the others, the chorus just does not take you anywhere. I'm not moved. Usually I can feel the message of the song without knowing the lyrics. I can't. I'm just really skeptical about ever really loving these album tracks. The replay value seems low... I'm not even tempted to go off and listen to any of the songs right now. It really sucks because all the single tracks held so much potential for a great album.

Startin' is great though, I can't wait to hear it in full. Hopefully she'll take a break from releasing after that single and maybe release one in the summer. She needs to be exposed to new music because if she thinks SWEETBOX is really that good of an artist, than I'm really scared for where she's going. B&D/Pride were great, but just no more, please.