LOVE - Opinions, etc

[xLuna&1LOVE]

This mini album sounds so great. There are only two songs I am skipping/disliking and those are the Missing dupstep and Melody remix. All the original songs, the You & Me remixes and especially the orchestra version of Song 4 u are good!

[Mr. Goto]

I was expecting to like Melody and Missing more based on the previews, I don't find them awful for anything though. Really liking Song 4 u I prefer it over progress.

The remixes are pretty good too I LOVE the melody remix. Shinichi's You & Me remix is quite nice too

[gogirlanime]

Listening it it now, so far it is...

"L" Part II
"FIVE" Part II

-_-

Over all this album was just as I said above L and FIVE part II for me, boring, almost "filler"-like songs and off-putting remixes. The saving graces were the Song 4 you and Melody remixes, very nice. Like all Ayu stuff this will grow on me over time I almost always hate new Ayu material I think because is is unfamiliar. Considering this, this is actually a decent review from me for a first listen usually I give new albums 4 or 5 out of 10 on all songs haha

Song 4 you (6.5/10)
It's a little bland... it's missing a climax of sorts it's like a more bland / boring Don't look back. Nothing special or different an Ayu "filler" for me (sorry if you are angry at my OPINION but it's just how I feel)

Missing (7.5/10)
I like the speed of the main verse very catchy, I do not like that slow to fast skip/jump it makes that annoyed the heck out of me, not a good idea

Melody (7/10)
Pretty good, stable, nice vocals, well written

Song 4 you (Orchestra version) (8/10)
Way way better this is how the song should have been, beautiful and suits the song. I felt this way about "fated" too.

You & Me (SHINICHI OSAWA remix) (4/10)
Pretty bad remix the sounds are annoying and the remix is to repetitive even for a remix, it needs more of Ayu. Didn't even listen all the way through, I got 3/4 of the way through

You & Me (Remo-con rmx - Extended) (6/10)
Sort of bad it got too wild and out of control there is no repetition it's just one thing after another, the opposite problem of Shinichi's remix. It's better than Shinichi's though. It is fun though I can see this growing on me to about an 8/10

Missing (Dubscribe remix) (5/10)
I love dubstep but it does not suit with Ayu because her voice is so high and dubstep is so deep. It sounded off and did not fit well with the song a dubstep remix of songs off of the NEXT LEVEL album would have been better.

Melody (BROKEN HAZE remix) (8/10)
Really interesting remix and use of Ayu's vocals I loved it! It's so unfortunate that this is my favorite track out of everything

[cosmicfirefly]

I really love Missing, it has been on repeat for me. I think Melody is a good closing and I don't see it as "filler", just not as intense as the other ones, the melody is catchy. Song 4 u is good also and I like the orchestra mix but it's not as great as some of her other ones. I love the remixes of You & Me, and I'm still getting used to Melody and Missing remixes but they aren't bad.

[ayu-fan]

Am I the only one who's dislike Missing? The melody sounds awkward, there's something in the arrangement that make my ears hurt, it sounds so rough, especially in chorus.

Song 4 u is pretty okay, Melody is nice at first and become really boring.

This is another FIVE (which i dislike so much)

6/10

[isthisLOL?]

LOVE would be a McDonalds Hamburger if Ayumi made food. You know exactly what you're getting, there is no surprise, and some people will be happy about that, but it's neither good nor interesting in any way. It's like FIVE without progress and BRILLANTE.

[relmy]

This release... eh, I'm so indifferent to it. This is how I felt about FIVE and Party Queen, too. Well, sort of, they both had some songs that were straight up bad. LOVE has safety in numbers - well, it's lack of numbers. Less chances to go wrong.

Song 4 u is progress part 2, it's good, but it's not progress. progress wasn't one of her best songs by any stretch, but it had some really nice elements in it that kept it interesting. It was a good typical-upbeat-Ayu track with some nice features and a decent anime/game twist. Song 4 u is the same, but without the interesting parts. Song 4 u has got the slow part, the upbeat rock part, the woah yeahs, it's like all the check boxes are ticked. I like it because it's what she's good at. 7/10

The Orchestra version is far far far superior to the original though. It should have been the original.

Missing is a nice track, while I like this throwback Ayu sound, this song does nothing for me. When she did this on Love Songs all the songs had a certain "richness" to them, if that makes sense? I don't quite know how to describe it. Missing lacks that. It's really disappointing, this song could be great, but something is missing. 6/10

Melody is nice too (I think that's the word for this mini, "nice"), very same-y, and suffers from the dreaded "I'm just going to listen to x, y, or z song instead" syndrome, like the other two songs. I like this more than beloved or how beautiful you are, which is a bonus I guess? Nevertheless, I like it.

The whole release is so safe, you can't really dislike anything because it's 3 examples of what she does best... but has done better elsewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if missing and melody were rejects from the Love Songs era.

Blah to the remixes, I'm not really a fan of remixes and, therefore, I didn't really like any of them.

[PoetGirl]

the only thing that kills me is that singles from 48 girls have like 5 tracks on them and we have 'mini album' with just 3 new songs I usually add 'You & Me' in my playlist while I listen to LOVE cause its stupid listening to its remixes without originals, but still that makes it 4 new songs

[thinkingoutloud89]

Missing is really greta. Song 4 u falls flat if you compare it to progress, there is one good thing tough: itÄs not 4min+. Melody is a ncie ballad but I was never a fan of Key and it really is a mix of that and Days.

[sitara]

sadly, this release isn't doing much for me. the songs all sound like filler and even the remixes are blah

also quite disappointed with the videos (song for u concept had so much potential! i was waiting for more to happen...something exciting...)

the last album that had really good songs on it was love songs for me.
but i'm glad so many of you guys like this mini album.

[channy]

Both PVs had an interesting concept but they alas had similar problems as for instance the PV of "progress". There was one effect that they sort of overused as it was part of the entire video. In "progress" it was this fast, photographic, "tunnel vision". That was cool, yea. But not for 4 minutes. Maybe 10 or 20 seconds would have been enough.

In the PV of "Song 4 u" the complete runtime was filled with that chessboard. Quite uninspired. A few sequences of this, here and there, would have had a less tiring effect for me.

Absolutely the same goes for "missing". Those flying people on the meadow were overexposed. It's like the crew has an idea and really just this one idea. For an entire video. That's not creative...

[DevilHunter_04]

Song 4 u 7/10. It's a nice song but it has the same sound all the way thru and I can't completely get into it. I liked the PV but I wish it concluded better.
Missing 10/10. I love this song, the "pick up" in it really got me to love it. It's an interesting PV but it got boring kinda quickly.
Melody 8/10. I don't really have a reason for liking this one, it just sounds nice.
Song 4 you (Orchestra version) 7.5/10. A bit higher score than the original mix but this one sounds nicer and easier to listen to.

The remixes I tried to listen to but didn't get very far. I never cared for Ayu's remixed songs. :/

[stepYOU1234]

I really love it all. I don't usually like songs so quickly by Ayu, especially the last couple f years. I didn't listen to the previews too much this time round. Really like Song 4 u and Missing but I wasn't expecting to like all of them so I assumed (after the previews) that Melody would be a pass for me. But! I really love it. There is a warmth in Ayu's voice that I think I have missed and I have missed this kind of song too. Good variation within three songs even if Song 4 u is a bit short. Probably a 10 from me!
(Didn't bother with the remixes because they have never been my thing!)

If Missing and Melody are Love Songs rejects then I understand why I like them so much because I loved Love Songs! It's still one of the cds I listen to in the car regularly after 2 years!

[perfectodub]

the songs are very good...but one time time ayu is doing inperfect-boring videos
i think these two last videos are not better than "you and me" PV..and that is not good

The worst track in this mini album is definitely “Missing” too much of auto-tune used in this song, which is not natural. And the music is kind of cheap too...nothing really going on. It's like the second part of song “Life” from the previous singles “Mirrocle World”. Too boring!

I don't know why the fans tend to like this song mostly than other tracks. They must have a bad taste in choosing the right music or song to their most favorite list

[qwerty]

Ayu is really making a comeback with this release; the songs are really impressive. I think the weakest of the 3 tracks is "Melody," but I think that's just because some parts of the song remind me of "TO BE" too much. Anyone else feel that way? Even then, the song's chorus does make it distinct from her older songs, and I like the song overall.

"Song 4 u" is absolutely amazing. Same goes for "Missing." I really hope "again" is just as good, if not better, than this release.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by あゆちゃん♡

The worst track in this mini album is definitely “Missing” too much of auto-tune used in this song, which is not natural. And the music is kind of cheap too...nothing really going on. It's like the second part of song “Life” from the previous singles “Mirrocle World”. Too boring!

I don't know why the fans tend to like this song mostly than other tracks. They must have a bad taste in choosing the right music or song to their most favorite list

I don't think it's other fans with the questionable taste in this case at all.

And what autotune?

[love in music]

Personally, I am very satisfied with it. I wound up liking Song 4 U a lot in full when I wasn't originally impressed with it from the preview. It turned out to be a great song. I was a lot more impressed with Missing though. It's such a gorgeous song, and I'm in love with the Dubscribe mix too ! That and You & Me (Remo-con rmx - Extended) are perfect for my workout playlist.

I'm not a fan of Melody, the You & Me (SHINICHI OSAWA remix), and the Melody (BROKEN HAZE remix). But I can forgive those flaws since the rest of the mini impressed me so much.

I also like that she hasn't been going overboard with the vibrato in these songs. I hope she keeps this singing style, it works much better for her.

[sitara]

Originally Posted by channy

Both PVs had an interesting concept but they alas had similar problems as for instance the PV of "progress". There was one effect that they sort of overused as it was part of the entire video. In "progress" it was this fast, photographic, "tunnel vision". That was cool, yea. But not for 4 minutes. Maybe 10 or 20 seconds would have been enough.

In the PV of "Song 4 u" the complete runtime was filled with that chessboard. Quite uninspired. A few sequences of this, here and there, would have had a less tiring effect for me.

Absolutely the same goes for "missing". Those flying people on the meadow were overexposed. It's like the crew has an idea and really just this one idea. For an entire video. That's not creative...

well said, i concur.
i am especially disappointed that in the "song 4 u" pv the ayus were only standing in front of each other (eliminating the other team), ... i was hoping for some fighting or more special effects (not just fading away...)

(koda had a chessboard theme in "lay down". while i'm not a big fan of the video it definitely was more interesting with the dance moves imo)

but yeah, so much for that.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by isthisLOL?

LOVE would be a McDonalds Hamburger if Ayumi made food. You know exactly what you're getting, there is no surprise, and some people will be happy about that, but it's neither good nor interesting in any way. It's like FIVE without progress and BRILLANTE.

I couldn't disagree more. progress and BRILLANTE were the only tracks on FIVE that were even relatively similar to the "Ayu-style' - BRILLANTE was a nice surprise, yes, but it was a surprise because it finally sounded like something she would have released before. Of course it's different, but it's got that Ayu-vibe that had been missing from her songs for a while. You can't call the two duets and the non-memorable beloved un-surprising - she rarely does duets, especially with males, and beloved is her most boring song to date.