'again' mini album out December 8th, 2nd of five 15th anniversary releases [IV]

[MeltingCORE]

MUST NOT LISTEN TO LEAKS. I have high hopes for this after reading all the positive things here. Need to get cd. *_*

[truehappiness]

Everything in high quality is just wow. The arrangements are so superb! I knew I got taskebab~tasuku vibes from Wake me up.

IMO, I feel like Sweet scar is a song that would definitely have been released by any Ayu at any point in her career which is a good thing since she's changed so much but it's definitely a 'quintessential' Ayu sound, it's just unfortunate that it came out now when a lot of people are like "MEH UNSURE" because it's 2012 and not 2002.

snowy kiss is still awesome. It's been a while since we had a song like this really in a sea of medium-ish tracks. A shame that it may go underappreciated.

Ivy is surprising in full. Vocally, I wish she went a bit deeper.

I think these minis are what happen when Ayu condenses her 'albums' into little bites since I could see entire 'arcs' forming from each track. There's the arc that Wake me up ends up in, there's the arc with Sweet scar and ballads/slow tracks, there's the snowy kiss crazy!insanity arc where she's screaming at everything, and then there's the short Ivy 'ending' tracks like untitled ~for her~ and such.

[ohsixthirty]

snowy kiss is AMAZING!!!!

[AyumiAi]

This mini is perfection *___* I havent felt this cohesive perfection since Love Songs!! XD even if the styles are so different it just all works so nicely together and they're all amazing seperatly its like the best of RnRc with Love Songs

snowy kiss is just perfect *__* I die its so painfully rock! XD omg and sweet scar literally NEVER gets tiring, ive' been listening since the preview came out XD i can't get enough. Wake Up is SOOOO UPBEAT it just pumps you up i die! :3 hihi Ivy is SUPER pretty a bit more typical but still amazing!

[spanishfan]

Oricon sales, first day of this week:

#1--131491---EXILE BEST HITS -LOVE SIDE/SOUL SIDE- - EXILE
#2---46792---ORANGE GARDEN POP - YUI
#3---46567---GREEN GARDEN POP - YUI
#4------------SPECIAL FINAL IN DOME MEMORIAL COLLECTION - BIG BANG
#5------------[(an imitation) blood orange] - Mr. Children

I think again can get #5 place... but if they release it in the 8th and not before, it will be out of the top5.

Who cares, I LOVE again just waiting for PV's ^^

[jyujiw]

Omg. It's a really solid and great mini. Diverse, innovative, different, uplifting, sad, unpredictable and creative. Everything in just 4 tracks.

Wake me up is the song that everyone who likes the fierce side of Ayu was waiting. With a great energy and a combination of elements that flows very well.
Sweet scar imo is the track of this mini, mysterious, with great vocals, a perfect chorus ending in a slow track yet nothing like her ballads.
snowy kiss is a great surprise, nothing like a winter ballad as everyone was waiting for, it's very chaotic, unpredictable. My only complain is about its lenght and the sudden ending. It should be shorter.
Ivy is nice, not the greatest thing ever, maybe it's a grower. It's a perfect ballad for the japanese public I think. It does look a bit pale in comparison with the others, but still, it's pretty good.

[TeamAyu2004]

So its not on the charts right now?
I wonder when it will show up?

[AyumiAi]

^once its released on the 8th XD

[KPL]

Now im really curious to know the lyrics.

[Bad Wolf]

Originally Posted by jyujiw

Omg. It's a really solid and great mini. Diverse, innovative, different, uplifting, sad, unpredictable and creative. Everything in just 4 tracks.

Wake me up is the song that everyone who likes the fierce side of Ayu was waiting. With a great energy and a combination of elements that flows very well.
Sweet scar imo is the track of this mini, mysterious, with great vocals, a perfect chorus ending in a slow track yet nothing like her ballads.
snowy kiss is a great surprise, nothing like a winter ballad as everyone was waiting for, it's very chaotic, unpredictable. My only complain is about its lenght and the sudden ending. It should be shorter.
Ivy is nice, not the greatest thing ever, maybe it's a grower. It's a perfect ballad for the japanese public I think. It does look a bit pale in comparison with the others, but still, it's pretty good.

this is exactly how i feel about it! "Ivy" is the only track on there that sounds like a legitimate, typical Ayu song, while the rest are really different for her. i do agree that "snowy kiss" should be shorter, because there's a point around the middle where there's this instrumental break and all i thought was "why are you here, just END" but idk. i still like that the best out of the other tracks on the mini.

again is basically more original and interesting than anything she's done in a while for me. Love songs is probably the last release she's had that impressed me this much.

so many haters on this site just need to retire from being ayu fans~

TRUTH. they also need to take themselves out of their avatar and signatures lol.

[Coelacanth]

Seems like the real winners on the mini-album are Wake me up and Sweet scar.

snowy kiss... is sort of monotonous. I dig the arrangement and the vocals, but the melody is quite awful in the way it sort of drags on and on... It has that discordant "nails on a chalkboard" effect that I think a lot of TK compositions (see: Namie, globe, TRF) have. Oddly enough, I loved every TK song on Love songs... I normally dislike his brand of J-pop.

Ivy is unmemorable. It doesn't move me in the slightest. Maybe I'll change my mind when the translation is posted.

To be honest, I'm really suspicious that You & Me, snowy kiss, and Ivy were all created and pitched to Ayu during the Love songs sessions. And for sure Sweet scar is an old DAI song out of the vaults. I also wonder if all the recent Yasuhiko Hoshino songs are from the vaults as well. If I thought these were brilliant songs, I'd be fine with it, but they just seem like songs that weren't strong enough to make a previous release, which makes the project seem rather uninspired...

[TeamAyu2004]

i need remixes

[truehappiness]

I also wonder if all the recent Yasuhiko Hoshino songs are from the vaults as well.

Hoshino is/was still active with new tracks, I believe. I think he was making stuff for Kitano Kie too when he originally came back in 2010? He also had a Twitter and blog at some point but I don't know if they're still up.

DAI on the other hand, I don't know. I have not seen him or heard about him in ages, but the last time I heard of him he was playing guitar in a group with some up and coming musicians.

[Larisa-chan]

I like how each song is so different from each other. I'm really enjoying Snowy Kiss, Wake Me Up, and Sweet Scar is growing on me. Ivy is your typical ballad, but I do like how it's got some power behind. People were wondering when Snowy Kiss was going to end? I felt the same way about Ivy... I feel like the chorus repeats itself 9999999 times over.

Ahh, time to listen to Snowy Kiss again <3

[pepper]

Ivy is a poor ver. of November

but still, I love "ah~~~~~~" in the chorus, don't know why, though. It's the only one thing that catch my attention.

Wake me up - fun fun crazy love fun fun fun
Sweet scar - it start to be messed up
snowy kiss - omg depression, sayonara, drama queen
Ivy - oh, okay, it's lovey dovey again

[maxikot]

Completely suprised with this release. I found Party Queen enjoyable but only enjoyable. This is way better and if i had choice i'd go with this mini! Maybe Ayu has really woken up, can't wait for what's coming after A-classical. Love it!

[Zeke.]

snowy kiss is good and I love her voice (they really edited the pitch on this one but I love it), but it does kind of go on, and on... and on. It's the first time a really good song does not need to be replayed right after, as after you finish with one listen you already feel like you had it on replay for three playthroughs.

[~kashifaita~]

Damn, this mini album blew. me. AWAY.

I had to get used to Wake me up, but when I did, damn I can't stop playing it! Love the part where she belts out "I cannot let you GOO~~~".

Sweet Scar. Oh gosh.
Brings out so many good feels and nostalgia. Like I feel like it belongs to her I am/RAINBOW era.

Snowy kiss totally took me by surprise.
It IS a bit monotonous though, and I feel like it's like sending mail pt. 2. While it is pretty catchy, it'll just take me some time to get used to, like Wmu.

Ivy...well, I feel like this would've been better on LOVE. It doesn't hit the fan like Sweet Scar does, but it's nice. It's too much of a filler-sounding ballad though, which does leave me sort of disappointed. The song title sounded so cool and everything v_v.

All in all, again totally makes up for the mediocre-ness of LOVE.
Can't wait to hear the rest of the remixes! (And Wake me up/snowy kiss instruments). AND THE PVs. I have a feeling Sweet scar and snowy kiss have very interesting twists.

Thanks to again, MY PASSION FOR AYU HAS BEEN REIGNITED. A CLASSICAL, I AM READY FOR YOU NOW.

[freedreamer]

CDJAPAN IN SHIPPING PROCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WAHOOOOOOOO

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

the PVs are pretty boring. Nothing happens in Sweet Scar...although wake me up is pretty interesting...