A ONE thoughts and reviews

[AYUmyQUEEN]

Originally Posted by maikaru

New mix for Last minute is pretty good, but still not spot on.

Is it really a new mix? I haven't noticed a difference at all.

[maikaru]

Originally Posted by AYUmyQUEEN

Is it really a new mix? I haven't noticed a difference at all.

??? Am I the only one who thinks the drum introduction is less electronic, and sounds more organic? Everything sounds less processed, more spaced out, and a little bit more even, and the drums are bumped up a bit in sound over the guitar.

Maybe I'm going crazy LOL

[js_surrealism]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

She has already dabbled in so many different things, while somehow being able to make it all her own. The only thing she could possibly do is to just jump completely in and abandon whatever it is that she does when she takes a genre and makes it all her own.

Yea she makes like, maybe two songs on one album that veers from her usual 'sound' and everyone goes into a titzy about how shes being experimental.

Which is why album after album we are still getting songs like song 4 u, Pray, Progress, or things like Story, The Gift, meaning of love, Hello new me.

I'm not saying those are bad songs per se, a lot of them are of course very enjoyable and I like them. But when she has shown that she can do such great stuff like NaNaNa, Shake It, Lelio, I think it's such a pity that she doesn't make a full fledged album exploring those songs.

Doing a whole album of EDM or whatever it is (rock opera, celtic chants, I don't know) does not mean she is no longer who she is. It does not 'erase' albums like Duty or I am... or A ONE. Madonna has done such vastly different sounding albums from Ray of Light to American Life but no one has ever said "that's not Madonna".

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by js_surrealism

but no one has ever said "that's not Madonna".

They can try to but Madonna probably doesn't give a fuck. (which is very Madonna)

[js_surrealism]

^ Exactly!

Which is why it's disappointing from my point of view as a fan that Ayu constantly seems to want to keep doing her own thing but almost always defects back to pleasing the crowds without finding a way to please the crowd WITH THE MUSIC SHE WANTS TO DO.

We can definitely debate whether she actually desires to 'experiment' or whether shes totally happy 'playing it safe', but I think it's no coincidence that every time she pushes the envelope a bit, and the sales don't measure up, that the next album she immediately goes into a much much safer sound.

[Delicious n Bold]

This is why she made warning tbh.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by js_surrealism

Yea she makes like, maybe two songs on one album that veers from her usual 'sound' and everyone goes into a titzy about how shes being experimental.

Which is why album after album we are still getting songs like song 4 u, Pray, Progress, or things like Story, The Gift, meaning of love, Hello new me.

I'm not saying those are bad songs per se, a lot of them are of course very enjoyable and I like them. But when she has shown that she can do such great stuff like NaNaNa, Shake It, Lelio, I think it's such a pity that she doesn't make a full fledged album exploring those songs.

Doing a whole album of EDM or whatever it is (rock opera, celtic chants, I don't know) does not mean she is no longer who she is. It does not 'erase' albums like Duty or I am... or A ONE. Madonna has done such vastly different sounding albums from Ray of Light to American Life but no one has ever said "that's not Madonna".

I could do without all of those first couple of songs you mentioned. Except maybe progress, none of those are Ayumi Hamasaki to me. She never used to make SO MUCH of that shit. For me, Lelio and Shake It and NaNaNa are actually more on par with how I see her and how nice always seen her. They all have attitude, which is what mostly all of my favorite tracks by ayu has. The rest of CoLOURS though, was just not her. They were like, EDM versions of her shit ballads. They were too "soft" - that was my problem with CoLOURS. It doesn't completely dive in. They are all "knock-off" cheap EDM imitations. The album is a fucking bore. Lelio is the only one that really delivered on the "energy" factor. Feel the love had some, but it was too loopy. Like something you'd hear inside a fucking funhouse.

I wasn't mad that she tried something different, but even trying something different she managed to water it down horribly. If you're gonna do a dance album, make it DANCEABLE. Bring the energy! Bring the attitude. CoLOURS pisses me off cause of all the lost potential. She COULD have made it work, the concept wasn't wrong - the delivery was.

[truehappiness]

I don't think she was trying to make a dance album with Colours.

[Zeke.]

An Electronic Dance Music album was not supposed to be a dance album? Then what the Hell was it supposed to be? I expected her to go a bit harder. To bring some more power. To deliver the REAL thing, and not a slew of cheap imitations.

I expected them to get really creative with the sounds. Really draw out the arrangements. Play around with things. Something like the production of Britney's Femme Fatale where it used a bit of everything - grit, synth, bass, layering, etc. I find it funny how people act as if CoLOURS was so different, when it wasn't different enough. NaNaNa with its industrial sound was more innovative than the crap she got sold from "big name" DJs. I just didn't like how corny the lyrics were, but the overall sound was great on NaNaNa.

When damn Crystal Kay and JASMINE have better songs on their EDM inspired albums, then you're doing something very wrong.

[Max_ZZZ]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

This is so true! It's how I have felt for years and exactly what I try to express when asking the question "Do you listen to her current releases for the artist or for the music?" - meaning, if you had no bias or preconceived notion about Ayu and/or any prior connection to her, would you still listen to the product? Would you still enjoy it? Would it consume you? People shit a fucking house when I brought that question into play. But it's so true.

Ya I mean its really good her fanbase like us are still so into the idea of her music good or bad to this point in her career. I mean I say a lot of the -where 20xx ayu?- but im still here and listening to everything. It must be the same for japanese fans.

But she needs to be the kind of artist that has an intuition for whats a classic and whats not or whats the next step. Then she can please old fans and get new fans and have the same resurgence namie amuro did. Namie amuro got into the j-hiphop thing and did stuff with even popular korean groups. Thats how you stay relevant. And the songs were good.

People keep saying thats asking too much of someone who is your favourite artist... I dont think so. If shes the same artist she was not too long ago she can get her shit together and deliver some new stuff and steer it in a different direction. Or stay the same- but have the ear for whats catchy enough to have a hit record. Days was so staple- but an amazing song that was a hit. like days or not it doesnt matter it was a hit and its obnoxiously catchy. And we still got green with it which was so fresh sounding and is still an amazing record

Theres so much you could say... I just want to hear a song like how I heard M or brillante or microphone and be like "wow. That was really good. I can show this to a friend and theyll have to agree" the last record I think I could do that for is JEWEL any friend I know who is down for jpop will like it for sure cause its just an amazing song.

Sorry for the essay... listening to the new album gave me a lot of opinions lol I wont be this lengthy here on out

[HarukaKamiya]

This album is amazing. I didn't think it'd end up being a Top 5 album, but here we are. (Party Queen > Colours > Love songs > A ONE > Rock'n'Roll Circus)

I love that it all sounds so familiar but with a TK extravaganza and random cpop twist and updated with her growth as a person.

I kinda can see why people wish this were the 15th Anniversary album instead of LOVE again, but I honestly don't agree with that.

[js_surrealism]

Zeke it sounds like we basically agree on the same thing. My beef is exactly that, that she didn't take Colours all the way so instead we had a watered down EDM album (which I still liked, but if we could've taken out Pray, Hello New Me, and had a couple more properly EDM-type tracks, it would have been wonderful).

Songs like A song for xx, M, Vogue, evolution, Endless sorrow all had that punch in the gut when you first heard them. And it's not a quality/quantity issue for sure because I'd argue that from A song for xx to Memorial address that's at least 6 albums worth of consistently stellar material.

So while this isn't shitting on A ONE (because, for the record, I'll say again - I LIKED the album), I just find it disappointing that she isn't trying to make interesting music anymore. And perhaps I can be ok with it if I just lowered my expectations and lived with the 'well, she's 17 years into her career what more can we ask', but she is clearly capable of much more if she just committed to it instead of trying to please everybody and impressing nobody in the process.

[gogirlanime]

I will do a more extensive review later with individual track opinions. Short of it, this album is ALIVE is the best word I can describe it really makes me feel, it's intense, raw, emotional, both new and old Ayu. One of her best ever, I didn't think I'd like anything after Party Queen, this is album is so great, every track is gold! Her vocals are fantastic, the songs are layered and full of passion, I believe it when she says this is the work of her life. It isn't a perfect album but I haven't felt so in love with Ayu since I am.../RAINBOW.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by js_surrealism

Zeke it sounds like we basically agree on the same thing. My beef is exactly that, that she didn't take Colours all the way so instead we had a watered down EDM album (which I still liked, but if we could've taken out Pray, Hello New Me, and had a couple more properly EDM-type tracks, it would have been wonderful).

Songs like A song for xx, M, Vogue, evolution, Endless sorrow all had that punch in the gut when you first heard them. And it's not a quality/quantity issue for sure because I'd argue that from A song for xx to Memorial address that's at least 6 albums worth of consistently stellar material.

So while this isn't shitting on A ONE (because, for the record, I'll say again - I LIKED the album), I just find it disappointing that she isn't trying to make interesting music anymore. And perhaps I can be ok with it if I just lowered my expectations and lived with the 'well, she's 17 years into her career what more can we ask', but she is clearly capable of much more if she just committed to it instead of trying to please everybody and impressing nobody in the process.

She's always going to have an oddball track here and there. The goal of A ONE always seemed to be "Back to Basics" or "going back to my roots". We should get some weird interesting track in the next album since duh, this is Ayu we're talking about.

I don't think her goal in making Colours was ever to make a pure dance album, but just an album that so happened to include some dance/electronic producers. Quite honestly, the ENTIRE release was very out of character for Ayu from the album art to the stylist to the design to the PVs.... ( I wonder if everything started after she talked to Armin at ULTRA) It was a mixed bag of a lot of ~DIFFERENT~ things for her. If she were to ever do a dance album, I don't think it would be the main feature of a release. It would have to be a double album or concept album where one side is "typical Ayu" and the other side is "dance party Ayu".

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by Max_ZZZ

But she needs to be the kind of artist that has an intuition for whats a classic and whats not or whats the next step.

People keep saying thats asking too much of someone who is your favourite artist... I dont think so. If shes the same artist she was not too long ago she can get her shit together and deliver some new stuff and steer it in a different direction. Or stay the same- but have the ear for whats catchy enough to have a hit record. Days was so staple- but an amazing song that was a hit. like days or not it doesnt matter it was a hit and its obnoxiously catchy. And we still got green with it which was so fresh sounding and is still an amazing record

Theres so much you could say... I just want to hear a song like how I heard M or brillante or microphone and be like "wow. That was really good. I can show this to a friend and theyll have to agree" the last record I think I could do that for is JEWEL any friend I know who is down for jpop will like it for sure cause its just an amazing song.

These are my exact thoughts! Like, verbatim what runs through my mind. The reason I loved Days was because it had that "hit" feeling from the start. It felt whole, and complete. It created interest, it made you anticipate and wait for the release, and when the release happened, it was exactly as you had imagined it to be. It delivered 100% on how you felt the song needed to resolve during the chorus.

Originally Posted by js_surrealism

Songs like A song for xx, M, Vogue, evolution, Endless sorrow all had that punch in the gut when you first heard them. And it's not a quality/quantity issue for sure because I'd argue that from A song for xx to Memorial address that's at least 6 albums worth of consistently stellar material.

Yes! I miss that "kick you in the face" feeling. I guess, lately when she has tried to be experimental, for me, it's a huge failure. Like, she's reaching too far and not bringing it back home. I don't know how to express it properly. But I think we believe in the same thing.

[BlackSilence]

lol the only thing that would be pushing boundaries is going symphonic metal or screemo or something xD she never did those before.....yet... xD she could probably go to the dark side and make an album of something aerie and slightly creepy, but it's been 17 years and that's just not who she is. So.

Spoiler:

also i never understood what's so amazing about M or A song for xx...let alone VOGUE. They are so mainstream and bland to me. I only got into ASFXX because of A BALLADS version, and that's the only version i listen to, cuz original is way too boring for me. JEWEL is really nothing special in my ears either, it is very boring in fact, i only enjoy the song because of the video..

A ONE to me is a very mature album, for me it's a very solid release.

[ExodusUK]

Originally Posted by artcika

lol the only thing that would be pushing boundaries is going symphonic metal or screemo or something xD she never did those before.....yet... xD

I was thinking maybe Ayu should rip this off

[Tom Punks]

I just wish she could find a middle ground lol... There's a difference between safe and boring.

I feel like she hasn't really tried to go all the way with an album since Party Queen at the very least.

LOVE again is way too safe (and had too much filler and too many leftovers). It didn't feel like her heart was really in it.

I love Colours for what it is, but it feels more like a mixtape than an Ayumi Hamasaki album. It's way too short, and she outsourced too much to the big-name producers imo. I feel like it could've been so much more exciting with at least a couple more tracks, some trademark interludes, and a track list that actually makes sense lol. I just wish she'd pushed it a little further.

A ONE doesn't feel like an "all the way" album to me either. It's so short and had all of zero effort put into making it balanced. Again, making it longer, adding some more trademark interludes, separating the songs better, weeding out some of those filler ballads and replacing them with at least something less rehashed.

Meh. I just wish she'd realize you can make an album with some ballads that will keep Japan interested, and still do fun things for the rest of it and not make it a ballad-overload snooze fest. You can also do it all without alienating Japan with covers like Party Queen or tacky $5 shoestring budget PVs like XOXO. She was perfectly capable of walking the middle before, but now it seems like she thinks it's either all or nothing.

[Zeke.]

It was a terrible decision to outsource the album to international big name producers. Because really, why would they give their best work to an artist who's music has very little potential to exceed the boundaries of that artists very own country. They would keep their potential worldwide hits to global artists.

[ayu_ready?]

I was surprised because I found this album nice and maybe even lovely. My last fav Ayu album was actually
'Love songs'
My favourite tracks are NO FUTURE and The Song Must Go On.
The songs I like very much are: Anything to you, Zutto...