New single 'オヒアの木' composed by Kazuhito Kikuchi out now! - Page 9 - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai
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  #161  
Old 6th July 2020, 12:10 AM
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#1 on Recochoku and #5 on iTunes Japan!

https://recochoku.jp/ranking/single/...ate=4410101045
Sidenote: A COMPLETE #3 and A BEST #4 on daily album charts as well!
(nothing new but she's rocking those digital charts for a while now!)
https://recochoku.jp/ranking/album/daily
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  #162  
Old 6th July 2020, 12:43 AM
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Originally Posted by mimika View Post
Finally after 2 years we have a new song from Ayu!!!! Plus the lyrics!

So touching I wanna cry!!

Also Masa did mentioned in his social media earlier this year that Ayu is recording something. I hope we'll see a new album soon! Trouble has been 2 years ago!
Did he? I think he mentioned more that he wanted Ayu to record something with Komuro for the book release but that tweet was deleted. Komuro also did not want to compose something allegedly because he doesn't like Ayu.

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Originally Posted by hidekirby View Post
Hey this is not the 50 tracks special album feat the one-eyed lady form the TV drama I was waiting for!
Okay I really didn't expect new music haha. She surprised me and all of us! I almost couldn't believe it when I saw the instagram story.

When it comes down to the song, I really like the lyrics, it's a fresh topic for her and it's a welcome change. It's lovely. I'm so happy for her.
I was worried by her voice the first minute, but it definitely went better as the song progressed. It's gentle and sweet as it should.
As other people said the arrangements are really dated and she's already been there like a hundred time. To be honest I was already bored by this kind of song coming from her 10 years ago... imagine now haha. But the thing that annoys me most is how cheap the arrangements sound. It doesn't seem to include any real instrument and it really shows. It's so flat and bland. I wish they would put more money into this special song and be more demanding... I've never understood all those orchestral type songs with fake instruments. It's a big no for me.
But at this point I'm just really glad she's finally released a new song. Even if normally I would definitely skip it to listen to something more creative, interesting, something that draws me to it.

I'll try to enjoy it more, because in the end it's a nice surprise after all those times...
Usually I find they program drums/guitar more than strings which usually leads to strings credits. Those at least seem like real strings but the drums/guitar seem like synth. If they did this really rather recently, could just be lack of resources to go all in, but they usually don't do that even pre-pandemic precautions.

Last edited by truehappiness; 6th July 2020 at 01:09 AM.
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  #163  
Old 6th July 2020, 01:12 AM
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Komuro doesn’t like Ayu?
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  #164  
Old 6th July 2020, 01:14 AM
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It was a weird exchange that went on for a full day or so on Twitter. I think it was just alleged that Komuro said "Ayu can't sing" and so on.
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  #165  
Old 6th July 2020, 01:17 AM
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Originally Posted by truehappiness View Post
Komuro also did not want to compose something allegedly because he doesn't like Ayu.
I wanna know the tea too haha!

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Originally Posted by truehappiness View Post
It was a weird exchange that went on for a full day or so on Twitter. I think it was just alleged that Komuro said "Ayu can't sing" and so on.
Oh okay...Wasn't he the one who messed up the CDL performance a couple of years ago? (or do I mix him with someone else?)

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Originally Posted by truehappiness View Post
Usually I find they program drums/guitar more than strings which usually leads to strings credits. Those at least seem like real strings but the drums/guitar seem like synth. If they did this really rather recently, could just be lack of resources to go all in, but they usually don't do that even pre-pandemic precautions.
To me this new song doesn't include any real strings. It's been a long time I noticed she's been using like fake violins for the arrangements. Sometimes they even mix them with real strings (some parts are programming some parts are real strings).

Last edited by hidekirby; 6th July 2020 at 01:21 AM.
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  #166  
Old 6th July 2020, 01:20 AM
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https://gachi-spo.com/art-sports/18823.html

This shows a lot of the old tweets from the exchanges Max had, some of the tweets don't exist so they're screencapped or quoted.

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Originally Posted by hidekirby View Post
To me this new song doesn't include any real strings. It's been a long time I noticed she's been using like fake violins for the arrangements. Sometimes they even mix them with real strings (some parts are programming some parts are real strings).
In TROUBLE they had "real strings" for most songs that had them, but instead of a whole group, I think what they did was record a single violin and multiplied it for different parts. Rather than the usual crediting of "strings", it was just "violin". Usually it would be like Gen Ittetsu Strings or Yuko Kajitani Strings, but only Yuko Kajitani has been credited for some recent songs as solely violin. It could result in a less full sound but could still be considered real at that point.

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Oh okay...Wasn't he the one who messed up the CDL performance a couple of years ago? (or do I mix him with someone else?)
He did mess up at the M(A)DE IN TOKYO thing from what I recall. The performance was really awkward.

Last edited by truehappiness; 6th July 2020 at 01:40 AM.
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  #167  
Old 6th July 2020, 01:45 AM
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It was a weird exchange that went on for a full day or so on Twitter. I think it was just alleged that Komuro said "Ayu can't sing" and so on.
I wanna know more about this TK-Ayu spat. She seems to like his compositions (ex. Love songs, LOVE again, A ONE, teens/Happening Here, Many Classic Moments). I'm sure he could make a song that does not require hitting so many high notes considering ayu's current vocals
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  #168  
Old 6th July 2020, 01:49 AM
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It was more of a Max vs. Komuro thing. On Twitter, he mentioned that "Komuro hasn't made hits in years after giving him so many chances" and fans started talking to Max about it since they were more sympathetic towards Komuro and it led to stuff like "I asked him to make a song but he refused" or whatever.

https://twitter.com/maxmatsuuratwit/...45051861381120

For more context here's one of the tweet threads.

Also what led to some discussion of it here in the CDL threads:
Quote:
Such a shame. Max Matsuura recently tweeted that TK said he doesn’t want to write songs for Ayu anymore because he just doesn’t like her.
Quote:
That sounds kind of bizarre. Why would Max ever tweet that?

It looks like on December 30th, Max was on Twitter for hours talking to people about Komuro.

https://twitter.com/maxmatsuuratwit/...45051861381120

Seems it all started because Max was talking about how he wants Komuro to write songs but there have been no hits for years. I think someone did wonder about if he avoided Ayu for some reason but Max didn't say that or if he did, it was deleted.

https://gachi-spo.com/art-sports/18823.html

Was it this? It seems like people thought it was a stretch. Did he ask Komuro to write a song for the release of the book or what?
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showpo...&postcount=451

Last edited by truehappiness; 6th July 2020 at 01:52 AM.
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  #169  
Old 6th July 2020, 01:52 AM
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In TROUBLE they had "real strings" for most songs that had them, but instead of a whole group, I think what they did was record a single violin and multiplied it for different parts. Rather than the usual crediting of "strings", it was just "violin". Usually it would be like Gen Ittetsu Strings or Yuko Kajitani Strings, but only Yuko Kajitani has been credited for some recent songs as solely violin. It could result in a less full sound but could still be considered real at that point.
I'm really surprised because it was particularly noticeable on TROUBLE specifically. You can hear this constant electronic and flat "wind" sound everywhere which tries to imitate violins. I can't find scans anywhere so I couldn't verify in the credits.

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Originally Posted by truehappiness View Post
He did mess up at the M(A)DE IN TOKYO thing from what I recall. The performance was really awkward.
Haha ok so that's him! Too bad I liked what they did with his compositions on Love Songs : /
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  #170  
Old 6th July 2020, 02:02 AM
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A few fans always update her credits on Discogs, so if you wanted to look that up, you have to go to a specific entry there and it'll usually be there! It will be interesting to see the Ohia no Ki credits whenever we get them in August.

Quote:
We Are The Queens
Arranged By, Programmed By – Yuta Nakano
Guitar – Ryota Akizuki
Music By – Kazuhiro Hara
Violin – Yuko Kajitani

The Way I Am
Arranged By, Programmed By – Yuta Nakano
Guitar – Ryota Akizuki, Tomoki Ihira
Music By – Tetsuya Yukumi
Violin – Yuko Kajitani
The two violin-only tracks on TROUBLE. Also funny to mention that aeternal and WORDS were both arranged by basically old H/\L. Back then when they did more arrangements for Ayu, they were known for a loooot of synths after Yuta left to do stuff on his own. H/\L as a unit seems to have worked with Ayu all in varying combinations since they sort of 'split'. (Toshiharu Umezaki, Takehito Shimuzu, Atsushi Sato, Yuta Nakano)

Last edited by truehappiness; 6th July 2020 at 02:06 AM.
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  #171  
Old 6th July 2020, 02:30 AM
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Originally Posted by truehappiness View Post
A few fans always update her credits on Discogs, so if you wanted to look that up, you have to go to a specific entry there and it'll usually be there! It will be interesting to see the Ohia no Ki credits whenever we get them in August.
Thank you! I totally didn't think about Discogs!

That's what I felt while listening through the instrumentals. I was convinced that it was almost full programming but wasn't sure for some accents on those 2 songs (the beginning of The way I am for example you can hear the real violins). So the sound I don't like is indeed full programming.
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  #172  
Old 6th July 2020, 03:49 AM
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It was more of a Max vs. Komuro thing. On Twitter, he mentioned that "Komuro hasn't made hits in years after giving him so many chances"
Definitely not Komuro's fault that Japan doesn't care about Ayu and her music. He's composed so many great songs.
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  #173  
Old 6th July 2020, 04:26 AM
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^But was that comment about him not having made hits in years referring to his work with Ayu or in general?
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  #174  
Old 6th July 2020, 04:31 AM
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I think they were just talking about Komuro in general and then Ayu came up in a tweet afterward He worked with quite a lot of artists not just Ayu when he 'returned'. Nothing quite got to hit status like his old stuff but the bigger songs were probably Ayu songs... or AAA.

Last edited by truehappiness; 6th July 2020 at 04:59 AM.
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  #175  
Old 6th July 2020, 08:12 AM
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Btw M is #25 on the recochoku daily charts~
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  #176  
Old 6th July 2020, 08:22 AM
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Yeah looks like this for today:

Singles
no.1 - Ohia no Ki
no.25 - M

Hi-Res Singles
no.1 - Ohia no Ki

Video
no.18 - M

Albums
no. 3 - A COMPLETE
no. 4 - A BEST
no. 18 - A SUMMER BEST
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  #177  
Old 6th July 2020, 08:35 AM
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Yeah looks like this for today:

Singles
no.1 - Ohia no Ki
no.25 - M

Hi-Res Singles
no.1 - Ohia no Ki

Video
no.18 - M

Albums
no. 3 - A COMPLETE
no. 4 - A BEST
no. 18 - A SUMMER BEST
I do wonder whether Ohia no Ki will be able to hold the position for the whole week...
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  #178  
Old 6th July 2020, 08:38 AM
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Probably not, but it's been a while since any Ayu track got close to that spot even on dailies.
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  #179  
Old 6th July 2020, 08:46 AM
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I'm happy with the new song. It doesn't break any new ground and it doesn't really do anything interesting but I think it is a well crafted ballad. I don't hear Ayu's cutesy voice really. Maybe it creeps in here and there but I felt Ayu sounded pretty natural in this recording. I actually feel that Ayu's voice sounds healthier here than it has the last few years. I would also agree that the mastering is a bit better this time which adds to the enjoyment of listening for me, it's not as flat and loud like past ballads.
I was not expecting a new song at all. I'm hopeful she chooses to return to making an album.
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  #180  
Old 6th July 2020, 09:02 AM
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It's been ages since the last time she got that number 1 position for daily single chart

so proud and happy
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