The Party Queen era concepts analysis thread!

Andrenekoi · #1 7th July 2014, 12:22 AM

Overall guide-lines:

-The intention of this thread is discussing the concepts of Ayu's several releases, analysing the lyrics, the music, the visual, the videos and the tour concept.

-Everyone's insights about the concept of an era is welcome!

-Please, let's avoid the "this era rocked"/"this era sucked" stuff.

-And remember, when it's about the interpretation of a creative work, there's no right and wrong, just different impressions. Offenses towards another member discussing the subject will be reported.

Other Threads:
GUILTY
NEXT LEVEL
Rock’n’Roll Circus
Love Songs
FIVE
LOVE again
Colours
A one
M(A)DE IN JAPAN

Party Queen (you can download it here)

1. Party queen
2. NaNaNa
3. Shake It♥
4. taskebab
5. call
6. Letter
7. reminds me
8. Return Road
9. Tell me why
10. a cup of tea
11. the next LOVE
12. Eyes, Smoke, Magic
13. Serenade in A minor
14. how beautiful you are

Party Queen was Ayu's 13th studio album, released in 2012 after another turbulent year on Ayu's life, having she gone through a divorce with Manuel Schwarz after less than a year of marriage and the whole country still feeling the recent tsunami + nuclear disaster. Party Queen was announced as Ayu's first concept album, and it's released faced a lot of controverse due to the sexed-up cover of one of its versions. Party Queen's biggest hit was the ending track, "how beautiful you are", after a tie-in with the succesful drama "Saigokara Nibanme no Koi".

LYRICS (from here)

Party queen

Spoiler:

NaNaNa

Spoiler:

Shake It♥

Spoiler:

call

Spoiler:

Letter

Spoiler:

Reminds me

Spoiler:

Return Road

Spoiler:

Tell me why

Spoiler:

the next LOVE

Spoiler:

Eyes, Smoke, Magic

Spoiler:

how beautiful you are

Spoiler:

BOOKLET (from here)

Spoiler:

PV's

Spoiler:

ARENA TOUR 2012 A ~HOTEL Love songs~ (you can download it here)

Delirium-Zer0 · #2 7th July 2014, 12:56 AM

Where to start with this one, lol.

I'll get my thoughts on the album booklet out of the way... I think these photos were taken with Leslie Kee for "SUPER AYU" around the same time "FIVE" came out. She did the shoot for Party Queen (which ended up in the second SUPER AYU photobook later), rightfully decided it wasn't right for the album, and used these shots instead. That, on its own, was a good move.

But you can tell these shots weren't taken with the Party Queen album in mind, which makes me more forgiving of what I considered to be tiny little issues.

Unless you're an alcoholic or know someone who is one, the photo of Ayu having breakfast laughing with Timmy nearly negates the whole book, which is geared towards loneliness. The idea of the booklet seems to be that she's got roses, expensive shoes, plentiful jewelry, etc. but no friends once the party is over. However here she is with one real friend, connecting and having breakfast? That's a bit off. Yes, if you've been affected by alcoholism, you'll notice the whiskey on the table. But that detail is the only hint that maybe something is wrong in that photo. That looks like Ayu does indeed have at least one close friend she can talk to.

Ayu's making a duck face when posing with the 10/25 date on the mirror. If you don't know how sad Ayu considers "faking happiness" to be, and if you don't know the significance of that date, and if you don't know that Ayu wrote a death anniversary on the mirror in the "Memorial address" booklet, this photo looks like she's celebrating a happy anniversary, not mourning a sad one. Too many prerequisites for understanding that one, all because she's making a cute face.

I don't want Ayu to fake tears for these sorts of photos, far from it... but taking things in an artistic direction that makes it more obvious that there's sadness hiding behind the bright, happy eyes & smiling face would be preferable. Even just vignetting the photos or something would help considerably.

As for the cover art, Ayu just needed better people for that. lol... It should have looked much, much more obviously like a tabloid magazine cover, but it didn't QUITE get there. Ayu shouldn't have felt the need to say anyone was a genius for figuring that out.

Andrenekoi · #3 7th July 2014, 01:18 AM

-I wouldn't be surprised if the date on the mirror was the date she decided divorce Mannie, or announced that to him.

-I like the Terry Richardson-esque photos, IMO they add to the overall decadence that seemed to be so frequent on this album.

-The album (as concept albums tend to do) tells a story, begining from the light view on what a Party queen is (Party queen), things getting darker (NaNaNa, where she calls her lonely queen, and Shake it), they go eat something (taskebab) after clubbing and she goes home thinking about her life at the moment, being it how she never really understood or even felt in love before (call) and it's the first time she shows the darker side of her partying: substance abuse and escapism (Letter, to herself, not Max). The memories don't let her sleep (reminds me) and she finally gets into the point she was trying to run way from, and also the story climax, the failure of her marriage (Return Road, Tell me why). After A cup of a tea, she again faces her difficult in get what the hell love is (the next LOVE) and mirrors her failed relationships to her first relationship example, her parents (Eyes, Smoke, Magic). The closer number (how beautiful you are) can either be a self-enpowerment song for one of the most powerful women on Asia media that still has confidence issues, or the recognization that Mannie wasn't the one to blame for her being a psycho.

-Timmy doesn't really look friendly on that photo considering his facial expressions and his hand on her jewels.

primavera♥ · #4 7th July 2014, 01:49 AM

About the part with timmy, I think that really, it's nice that it's still in between images of her alone. Basically everything else in the book. I don't think she needs to be alone the whole time. It actually shows a reality of people coming around and partying with you and using your things, but eventually it's just you.

I also like that she seems happy in some and emotionless in others. I think that dynamic enough can let someone know what she's aiming for. Especially by the time she's like passed out. Also, the fact the that there is beautiful mess everywhere.

The image with the date may be confusing to anyone who isn't really in tune with her career. But I love that. Something more complex while the rest is more obvious or implied. And really, I think some other stuff in ayu's career takes effort to interpret and understand if you're not a serious fan. Like the interpretations some people give to some things that non-fans wouldn't think of because they don't know how ayu is.

Idk, I think there is enough of seemingly happy ayu, and then the lost ayu. Really, the part where she is passed out seals it. And then I think the music is an important part of this because not everyone studies the booklet like that. Once you get to the second part of the album, the darker mood is more clear. If not too obvious.

I wasn't really following ayu during this release so I kind of saw everything at once and took it for what it was and that's what I got from it. A lonely queen who appears happy. But really has other things going on.

Delirium-Zer0 · #5 7th July 2014, 02:03 AM

The album is definitely a story, but I don't think it's quite as linear as what you've put there, Andrenekoi... The album is a journey of self-esteem that involves a LOT of looking back and introspection.

You know how in psychology they say "you have to admit to yourself that you have a problem"? I think that's what the first three tracks are doing. On the surface they have very basic, fun lyrics and melodies but she has these scattered moments of darkness that make it clear what's brewing under the surface.

1. On Facebook, Timmy was frustratedly posting things like "Do you guys even know what a party queen IS??" For those unfamiliar, a party queen is the one who brings all the drugs and booze to a party and is the life of the proceedings, but who ultimately self-destructs because their low self-esteem makes them abuse the substances they're so known for furnishing. Ayu had posted on TA about her drinking often, and once addressed TA about it, saying "I know you all worry I drink too much, I'll be careful, I promise" (At some point I'll go through old TA messages and find it to cite it). She had a mini-fridge just for beer at one point. The woman drank too much - she probably wasn't a full blown alcoholic but it was enough that she didn't feel good about doing it. With lyrics like "Everything around me is rosy, but like magic I'd rather be hypnotized by these gold bubbles (champagne or beer)" you can tell she doesn't even know WHAT she's escaping by drinking anymore.

2. NaNaNa tells us, with its sound, what 1025 means. On October 25 2007, Aneki died of a suicide, that one is obvious; But also, on October 25, 2011, Keiko of globe suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (the same thing that killed hide of X-Japan) and luckily survived and has been recovering since. On the anniversary of her best friend's death, Ayu almost lost someone else. NaNaNa sounds like a globe song, with Timmy imitating Marc Panther by deepening his voice so much that when the album first came out, fans thought it was Marc. The techno-dance sound of it is very globesque as well, and the lyrics are all about partying because you only live once. The lyrics make mention of life being short and having fun with your friends being the most important thing, but due to the siren sound effects and ticking clock sounds, it sounds very very dark. You party because life is short, and life is made shorter because you party.

3. Shake It <3 addresses ayu's low self-esteem and body image head on, and I can't help but wonder if her obsession with working out & taking care of her body comes as much from a place of insecurity as it does from a place of wanting to be healthy. Ayu has been subject to audience gaze since she was very, very young; she clearly lost weight between her aidoru and avex eras. And at her age, being still unmarried is going to make you panic about your attractiveness. So in the bridge when she sings "Don't tell me that girl is more loved than I am; I already know" in the middle of a whole "Aren't girls awesome??" statement, you can tell that as much as she adores being a girl, she still feels like something of an outsider among them.

Those three tracks set the stage for the rest of the album, as they basically are ayu saying "Yaaayyy things are awesome and fun.... but actually they're really, really not."

5. call is what we all think to ourselves when we think we were in love but it doesn't work out. This is the kind of song we'd probably write much earlier on, but Ayu was in one relationship for 7 of what are often very formative years in our exploration of what we want out of our relationships. We really do feel like we're in love every single time, so when people say "It wasn't REAL LOVE" we feel like slapping them. All we know is that it felt nice. So if it isn't love, what is it? And do we even want to know? If it really was love, you end up feeling like dirt because now you've lost something you might never get back; if it wasn't, you feel foolish for being so stupid.

6. Letter - Knowing what I know about Ayu, I always considered this to be a letter from someone else TO ayu, from the sound of it, a former colleague or old friend. (I think "tell me why" is intended to be from someone else to ayu as well, but more on that later.) This is clearly someone she shares good memories with and whose judgment she trusts, or maybe this is something she just WISHES someone would say to her. The letter is both cynical and warm - something that acknowledges how hard it is to get something amazing, but at the same time these words are the kind of thing you'd cherish hearing from someone who cares. I think the underlying idea behind this song is appreciating what companions you have, and appreciating not having to sacrifice who you are in order to have them.

7. Something about "reminds me" makes me think there's trauma in Ayu's past we don't yet know about. This doesn't sound like it's about her father, it sounds far angrier. Sexual abuse during her aidoru days, perhaps, given her insistence on not talking about that entire part of her life. That's conjecture on my part of course, but it's probably worth thinking about. Her insistence on using the word "forget" over and over in the chorus, not only that but mostly using the -te form (used for both linking phrases together and for commands & requests) almost sounds like she's trying to hypnotize herself into forgetting, like she's shutting her eyes & ears, and telling herself "forget, forget, forget" while simultaneously reminding herself and her listeners that these pains are part of who we are, and we have to carry those scars with us. The song could be applicable to all sorts of traumas and it's both encouraging and upsetting - the key change between the two "la la la" segments supports that idea, that it's mournful in the first part but the second part is optimistic that maybe she (and we) will be able to cope eventually. In any case, I do think this ties into the theme of self-esteem running through the album, and like "Letter" is a moment where Ayu seems to be going from feeling damaged to feeling empowered.

8. Return Road is a continuation of "call" that seems more mature and more grounded in reality. This is where the real introspection comes in, where "call" felt more like her yelling at the naysayers around her. Return Road is her acknowledgment that it was nice, but it ended, and the reasons why are between them; It's also her hope that she can still find love eventually, and her hope that he can still find love eventually too. In this song she's grown beyond needing outside approval or understanding regarding this very personal thing. She's definitely an adult here, where in "call" she was acting like a reactive, angry teenager, and she knows that.

9. Tell me why is one of the more outwardly obvious songs on the album, conceptually. Whoever is talking to Ayu in this song is upset that she's "going against her sad eyes and showing a delighted face," "pretending to be strong," etc. This person wants her to be honest, and "say the things that can't be conveyed through a TV screen." Ayu does have a tendency to put on a brave face and say she has things under control, and she's always taken it upon herself when the Hamasaki Ayumi product fails in some way - which HAS to damage her sense of self. This song is, again, a friend counseling her through that and trying to get her to stop.

10. Ayu's choice to do "the next LOVE" and "Eyes, Smoke, Magic" in a jazzy stage musical style is intriguing. The obvious reference to the stage aside, it makes you wonder how much of it to take literally and how much to treat as a fiction. I think the next LOVE is the only one of the two you can take literally... In this song "Mama" may very well be Mariko. She's made reference in the past about believing in invisible things being nice - now she's mourning her inability to do that anymore. Already on the album we've seen the growth & maturity apparent in the difference between "call" and "Return Road," and now with THIS track she's wondering if growing up necessarily means cynicism and unhappiness. And with the line "How much does [love] sell for? Hey, where did you girls buy yours?" we kind of understand why she suddenly went glam in so many ways after her relationship with Tomoya Nagase ended - which, looking back, was about when the shift into hime-gyaru/glam style started. She started filling that emptiness in with "stuff." This song is more smoky jazz club style though, not QUITE that stagey...

12. Eyes, Smoke, Magic is more of a stage performance. The sound effects are distractingly obvious in the arrangement as though adding artificiality to the whole thing, and while that was probably deliberate it's not especially aurally pleasant. Anyway, this one is more of a performance... Papa and Mama in this song are probably based on Ayu's literal parents separating, however her memories of them together would be FULL of blanks that she's using herself & Mannie to fill in. She's now looking at her parents, and looking at her own marriage, and wondering what lessons she learned about how marriage is supposed to work. The bridge can be interpreted two different ways, and I think that was done deliberately with Ayu singing and then Timmy singing an echo of the same line: "Yes, my best friends are diamonds & roses" sounds like close friends are worth as much as jewels and fine flowers... "Yes, my best friends are the diamond and the rose" makes it sound like jewelry and roses are Ayu's only constant, reliable companions who always make her feel better. Again, some light is shined on Ayu's choice to be glam, and as the album has progressed, Ayu has addressed that issue head-on in an attempt to rebuild her self-confidence.

14. how beautiful you are is Ayu cheering herself on as much as she's cheering the listener on. In the video she walks into the same wind as everyone else, making it clear that she has no idea how beautiful she is, and she needs to remind herself of that. The verses of the song are sung to a friend who was there for her; the chorus is sung to herself, or from the POV of said friend. It's a duet with herself.

But yeah, the whole album is Ayu acknowledging her issues, facing her feelings about her relationships and professional life and drinking head-on, and ending the album with a true attempt to believe in herself.

God I love this album so much.

Andrenekoi · #6 7th July 2014, 02:07 AM

I could add the fact city landscape (in the middle of the booklet) is P&B. It can show the party is just an escapism from gray reality out there, which really conveys the "decadence" of the rest of the photobook.

jyujiw · #7 7th July 2014, 02:13 AM

I absolutely love this album. The concept and music wise. The PVs are really trashy but I really love how she portrayed in general the "image of herself in the society" as she said on an interview.

Obviously some things could be better worked, like the elements in the cover to simulate a tabloid cover, but the photos are on the point imo. I always think on them like forms to express the excess in alcohol (CD+DVD), consumption (CD only) and sex (CD+2DVD). As if they're the three things that media could call her: the alcoholic, the consumerist and the slut.

About the songs, I really love how they tell a story, lyric wise is like a interview about how her marriage failed, it was one of the few moments that I felt that she was really telling what she was feeling in that moment, and not bringing someone's else story.

The order is like: "Hey I'm having fun, can't you see? I'm very happy!" and then, it goes darker and darker, as she's not having the love that she wanted and thought to have, ending in the climax of Return Road and the divorce. Then she turns cynical about love in the jazzy section, being delusional and trying to redeem herself in the last song.

Meanwhile, like it's her most personal album imo, I think it's great to hear that most of the music is rock influenced, it has even more than RnRC hahahaha
And it's a genre that fits perfectly Ayu. So, that also quite explains why I love this album so much

Andrenekoi · #8 7th July 2014, 02:18 AM

@Deli
Well, I really liked your take on the lyrics, but I still believe the album is heavily rooted on her divorce, leading to a deeper self-analysis on the way she seemed and acted during her relationships. I like to see Love songs - Party Queen - LOVE again as a triology concerning Ayu's emotional maturing.

Delirium-Zer0 · #9 7th July 2014, 04:18 AM

I do think the divorce from Mannie was a big impetus for her to look inside herself... as though if she was wrong about her idea of love & what she wanted out of a relationship, what else might she have been wrong about?

I like your idea bout the cityscape - the fact that it's all monochrome supports that idea.

**DonkeyKongRemix** · #10 7th July 2014, 04:43 AM

@Delirium-Zer0

This is certainly in depth and told me a lot about this album. I sort of lost interest in Ayumi after this album was released.... I only listened to the songs just to know what they sounded like and then just...left it all alone afterwards. I judged the cd as being just desperate and trashy but now I see it's much darker and sad. Though none of us know for a fact what these songs mean, I'd say your analysis has a fair chance at being at least more than halfway right.

Thanks for this. It has helped me learn to like this CD much better... I now see how it could potentially be her darkest album yet.

Very sad...

(sorry, I tried to quote your huge post but messed up... XD

jyujiw · #11 7th July 2014, 05:37 AM

PS: @Delirium-Zer0 needs to be congratulated for the effort in bringing that detailed explanation about things that many of us think about the album

It's interesting that I always found out the "Party queen" song a little bit strange, it always made me feel like "Hey, this isn't fun at all". That heavy synth during the pre-chorus and its "explosion" in the chorus kinda makes me feel like there's something persecuting and threatening Ayu.

kalikagai · #12 7th July 2014, 07:50 AM

Dunno if it was stated anywhere, but did you notice XOXO on the mirror?

Any ideas?

rainbow_smile · #13 7th July 2014, 10:49 AM

I just noticed: in the booklet, on the Serenade in A minor and hbya page, on the picture she's kinda smiling, but to me she actually looks not so happy in the mirror. I might be mistaken though, and maybe it wasn't done on purpose.

280301 · #14 7th July 2014, 01:00 PM

Interesting lyric similarities with LOVEppears...

Delirium-Zer0 · #15 7th July 2014, 02:29 PM

LOVEppears is another album that got better when I looked at the lyrics more closely.

Party Queen really needed less amateurish mixing IMHO. Half the songs sound like demos. The other half are crazy good, but yeah. The way BG vocals are mixed in Returm Road and hbya is really not good, some other song are just plain uneven. Even aside from that the sound is rather 90s and a bit plain, which made the album easy to write off.

Surreal17 · #16 7th July 2014, 06:10 PM

I love Deli's analysis.

few words about the artwork
Have you all noticed how on the back of the album, the city landscape turns purple? Her name is also written with the same colour on the front cover so I think the conclusion is that at the end of the battle ayu finally 'reached an agreement' with her self. Party Queen letters are written with yellow and the "13 album" stamp is like a mix between Ayumi & the party queen (a bit more yellow signifying ayu's bad habbits, traumas, disappointments, sacrifices, lush life etc. & less purple - ayu knows that she must find a balance in everything).

Symbolism of colours.
Purple became the color of kings, nobles, priests and magistrates all around the Mediterranean in Ancient times. Also, Purple and violet also played an important part in the religious paintings of the Renaissance. Angels and the Virgin Mary were often portrayed wearing purple or violet robes.

Yellow is commonly associated with gold, wealth, and pleasure, but also with envy, jealousy and betrayal.

The use of colours are realy interesting but still, it may not be true what I'm implying.

**DonkeyKongRemix** · #17 7th July 2014, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

lol she also posted Party Queen thoughts in the ayu anything goes threads and was also the reason why I decided to take another listen to Party Queen. Ended up loving it even more.

I haven't had the chance to listen to very much of it since I can't buy it right now and it isn't available to listen to online, but I know I appreciate it much, much more now.

Machiko · #18 7th July 2014, 07:09 PM

Love this topic! I honestly suck at understanding these things and I definitely enjoy reading all these things.

One thing I noticed though, the rose behind her back is thornless—could it mean something? "Even roses have thorns"... Yet this one doesn't, and it's "hidden" behind her back. Am I over thinking, stupid or both but... Could it mean, you know... defenceless??? Or something? but wanting to hide it?

Andrenekoi · #19 7th July 2014, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surreal17

I love Deli's analysis.

few words about the artwork
Have you all noticed how on the back of the album, the city landscape turns purple? Her name is also written with the same colour on the front cover so I think the conclusion is that at the end of the battle ayu finally 'reached an agreement' with her self. Party Queen letters are written with yellow and the "13 album" stamp is like a mix between Ayumi & the party queen (a bit more yellow signifying ayu's bad habbits, traumas, disappointments, sacrifices, lush life etc. & less purple - ayu knows that she must find a balance in everything).

Symbolism of colours.
Purple became the color of kings, nobles, priests and magistrates all around the Mediterranean in Ancient times. Also, Purple and violet also played an important part in the religious paintings of the Renaissance. Angels and the Virgin Mary were often portrayed wearing purple or violet robes.

Yellow is commonly associated with gold, wealth, and pleasure, but also with envy, jealousy and betrayal.

The use of colours are realy interesting but still, it may not be true what I'm implying.

Be cautious while using color symbolism to analyse eastern stuff, color symbolism isn't universal and different cultures add different meanings to different colors... I'm not an expert on japanese color symbolism, but I know white for example is used on several death related rituals over there, unlike in the west where we tend to use black. Or using an example closer to me, while blue is often associated with sadness and depression on Europe and North America, it's a very joyful color on the brazilian culture, mostly because we link it with the clear and warm summer sky.

But as I said, I don't really know japanese color symbolism, so, you may be right xD And I think it's interesting applying color symbolism while seeing Ayu's work, even because I remember reading once that japanese design puts the color meanings/feelings over the color contrast and aesthetic while picking up color pallets.

marty · #20 7th July 2014, 08:50 PM

Yes, I was hoping this thread would be posted!!
I feel too Love Songs, Party Queen and LOVE again are a trilogy, they're too connected, lyric wise.
I always felt like Tell me why is addressed to Ayu too. Maybe it's somehow about Mannie too (perhaps is about them, very far away, talking to each other in front of a computer screen), but a lot of themes are too familiar. Like the part when she's singing "why do you take all the blame" or "why do you desperately try to hide your weakness, saying “I’m fine”. Ayu used similar expressions about herself many times before, in lyrics and interviews.