[News] 『A BALLADS 2』on sale 2021.04.08 [III]

[Evan Odinson]

Haru Yo, Koi just hit 700K on YouTube! It's been only 4 days (?) so it could be her fastest MV to reach 1M views, let's keep watching and sharing it!

[KPL]

Originally Posted by Evan Odinson

Haru Yo, Koi just hit 700K on YouTube! It's been only 4 days (?) so it could be her fastest MV to reach 1M views, let's keep watching and sharing it!

Thanks for tracking!

[URANUS]

At this rate, "Haru Yo, Koi" will debut at around number 25 on the Oricon Weekly youtube chart. Pretty good. (Utada Hikaru is probably going to debut at #1 since her video has over 10 million views. But she has a HUGE tie in with EVANGELION.)

[summerain]

Originally Posted by URANUS

At this rate, "Haru Yo, Koi" will debut at around number 25 on the Oricon Weekly youtube chart. Pretty good. (Utada Hikaru is probably going to debut at #1 since her video has over 10 million views. But she has a HUGE tie in with EVANGELION.)

I didn't know Oricon had an YouTube chart!

[URANUS]

Originally Posted by summerain

I didn't know Oricon had an YouTube chart!

Here is a link

https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/yt/w/2021-03-04/


Ayu should debut in the top 25 next week.


We have to keep playing the video lol

[errikkutrancex]

In a way, I'm jealous that Hikki reached 10 million vues with her new song in a such short period...

[Evan Odinson]

^Hikki is world-wide popular on her own but if you add her colaborations with Evangelion and Kingdom Hearts it's pretty much impossible to "defeat" her lol

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by EndOfTheWorld

Spoiler:



それは 明日を越えて

#haruyokoi
#春よ来い


.

いつかきっと届く

#haruyokoi
#春よ来い

can anyone make out what or who is reflected in her eyes here?

[Katsuyuki012]

^It's most likely Kazutaka Nakamura.

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by Katsuyuki012

^It's most likely Kazutaka Nakamura.

lol okay so it's just the photographer then. I really thought there were some hints/clues/otherwise 'message' behind these shoots

anyways, here's my contribution to the "I'm sad these ballads did not make it to A BALLADS 2" collective grievance, in no particular order:

Pray
Will
do it again
crossroad
HANABI ~episode II~
Return Road
WORDS

I also just realised that there is no song from either Colours or sixxxxxx

[pedronekoi]

Originally Posted by Evan Odinson

^Hikki is world-wide popular on her own but if you add her colaborations with Evangelion and Kingdom Hearts it's pretty much impossible to "defeat" her lol

Yeah, it's impossible to compare both releases. They are not on the same level of popularity and excitement from the average public. People are way more excited when Hikki releases something new especially if it involves Evangelion. Also Hikki's song is co produced by overseas famous producer A.G. Cook and it made headlines everywhere redirecting to the video. Even tho some people love to compare Ayu and Hikki, it's impossible nowadays.

[AyuCanada]

I am surprised they did not include ''Hello New Me'' considering it was one of her best-selling songs of the decade. Even though, I am not a big fan of it.

And to reply to Pedronekoi, Ayu also collaborated with many famous overseas producers, but it never really worked out for her, it was even seen as negative for her.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by pedronekoi

Yeah, it's impossible to compare both releases. They are not on the same level of popularity and excitement from the average public. People are way more excited when Hikki releases something new especially if it involves Evangelion. Also Hikki's song is co produced by overseas famous producer A.G. Cook and it made headlines everywhere redirecting to the video. Even tho some people love to compare Ayu and Hikki, it's impossible nowadays.

Haru yo koi is doing well for itself though despite no tie in really. Part of why the other song is doing so well is well.. Evangelion. It's the number 1 movie in Japan at the moment and so on and has been waited for for... YEARS.......? If anyone is thinking "Why isn't Ayu doing those numbers...?" well... the director of all the Evangelion films and stuff like Shin Godzilla directed that video, the song is all over the place because the movie that's been like a decade in the making finally came out, just not really comparable by any means. If the tables were turned I think Ayu could still do rather respectably in the same scenario.

[summerain]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Haru yo koi is doing well for itself though despite no tie in really. Part of why the other song is doing so well is well.. Evangelion. It's the number 1 movie in Japan at the moment and so on and has been waited for for... YEARS.......? If anyone is thinking "Why isn't Ayu doing those numbers...?" well... the director of all the Evangelion films and stuff like Shin Godzilla directed that video, the song is all over the place because the movie that's been like a decade in the making finally came out, just not really comparable by any means. If the tables were turned I think Ayu could still do rather respectably in the same scenario.

A fair comparison is with Hikaru Utada's "Time". She's arguably more consistent in terms of YouTube views compared to Ayu, but without a strong tie-in ("Time" is a theme of an asadorama, if I'm not wrong), she garnered 3 million views with that MV. It's still stronger than "Ohia no Ki" and "Dreamed a Dream", but less than "One Last Kiss" phenomenon.

[Katsuyuki012]

I wonder if allowing comments would push Ayu's videos (engagement etc.) but I'm really happy with how well Haru Yo, Koi has been doing. Over time, more and more people will discover her fantastic cover when they look for the song.

EDIT: typo

[summerain]

Originally Posted by Katsuyuki012

I wonder if allowing comments would push Ayu's videos (enagement etc.) but I'm really happy with how well Haru Yo, Koi has been doing. Over time, more and more people will discover her fantastic cover when they look for the song.

I was thinking about that for a while. Disabling comments was bad, even if its purpose was to protect her.

[pedronekoi]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Haru yo koi is doing well for itself though despite no tie in really. Part of why the other song is doing so well is well.. Evangelion. It's the number 1 movie in Japan at the moment and so on and has been waited for for... YEARS.......? If anyone is thinking "Why isn't Ayu doing those numbers...?" well... the director of all the Evangelion films and stuff like Shin Godzilla directed that video, the song is all over the place because the movie that's been like a decade in the making finally came out, just not really comparable by any means. If the tables were turned I think Ayu could still do rather respectably in the same scenario.

Definetly. But also Ayu and Hikki have different places in Japan nowadays, in my opinion. While Ayu have kept very passionate fans, Hikki kept the interest of the general public. So anyway it is impossible to compare both releases (and both singers as well).

[Andrenekoi]

Hikki for sure had stronger tie-ins over the years. Ayu last big tie-in was Pray for the Buddha movie that ended flopping. Also, Hikki's sound and voice are WAY more comercial overseas, and this gives her a huge advantage in stream numbers as, unlike Ayu, she still has a small but loyal global fanbase.

It's like when you see a kpop video for an artist that doesn't have much of an international appeal, it has like 10M views, and it's a massive hit in Korea, while idol groups with a stronger global following can easily hit 100M views.

[j.graziano]

Sony music is investing in digital releases for a while also and some reports in Japan said that avex only took this approach after seeing by themselves that physical sales wouldn't be as strong as they thought. I think that this plays a big part also. Even so, Utada's won't reach 100K sales for this mini-album/EP in the first week. I also believe that ayu is still growing her Spotify/YouTube audience base I mean that's only my opinion and what I see but I don't know how much impact this have for like right now. Aiko's new album was imensily marketed on digital platforms since the first single of the album and still she ended up selling 50K in Oricon. To be honest Ohia No Ki is beautiful but lacks production and Dreamed a Dream is really nice in my taste but I don't see it as strong as Utada's last singles and I hate to admit it.

[AndyF]

It's all about promotion, it doesn't matter how good her single/album is. Even though, haruyo is doing really good on YT.