Yeah, that makes more sense, thanks. I changed it. The site I got the official Japanese lyrics from used someta, but that might've been a typo.

MASK preview reminded me the vibes of Ai Otsuka's Sakura Harahara PV:

Somehow I think this PV will be a simple one, one location, one costume, a closeup face, and a rotating camera, with no story in particular. I don't expect much, but It is nice that we are getting new music and PV.

That was me. ^_^ Thanks for uploading for comparison, they really do look similar--Ayu's interesting earring and Sanna's interesting necklace add fashion. :love

I am going to spill the tea here.
Some TA staffs are indeed useless.
They like gossiping to keep their job.

The politics inside TA can be toxic.

i have like a love-hate relationship with album mixes, because i like to listen to songs from the album it comes from. but for a lot of older jpop releases the single version / original mix of the song is different from the album version. and so in the case where i don’t like the album mix as much as the original one (as is the case with Endless sorrow ~gone with the wind ver.~ being included on “I am…” over the original), it’s kind of annoying because then i have to stream it from the single or from a best album. this seems like a nonissue to most people but i have lastfm and i like having all of my scrobbles on one album. but it’s not a huge deal either, just something that mildly irks me sometimes.

on the other hand there are times where i actually do really like the album mix a lot, sometimes even over the original. one of those cases is immature, since technically the original original version of the song is the jt cm version on the appears single, despite the fact that it was released at the same time as the album version. the jt cm version is nice and i do like it a lot, but i just think the album version is a sonic masterpiece. actual candy for the ears!

i do understand why there was a need to rearrange/remix songs for an album release, in the days of CDs you had to actually convince a consumer to physically buy a copy of your album, and an album would not be very enticing to purchase if you already owned a majority of the songs on previously released singles. now it’s different, you don’t have to commit to buying an album anymore since you can simply just go to ur streaming service of choice, listen to it, and if you liked it you save it; if you don’t, you just never listen to it again and go on with ur day! you’re not stuck with it like you would be if you bought a physical copy of it and ended up not liking it, and there is definitely much less at stake when it comes to checking out a new album. so i’m assuming because of that companies and artists are not bothering making new versions of songs for studio albums or if they do, it’s usually in the form of bonus tracks. and also just simply the fact that including previously released singles on an album increases your streaming numbers by a LOT (just look at Dua Lipa’s first album receiving a massive streaming boost after being repackaged with some of her previous big hits)

i know i strayed a bit (a lot) from the main subject of the thread, but it really is an interesting subject… maybe i should make a thread dedicated to it in the chatroom section, what do u guys think? :)

Daily charts for the second day :

#18 on Oricon
#15 on Recochoku

Doesn't seem to be doing good on digital charts, maybe the PV can help a bit...

I like the song! The arrangement could have been more interesting, but overall I like the melody and it’s stuck in my head after a few listens! It’s still better than some of her more recent ballads (which I find so boring) so I’ll take it. Overall I think the quality of songs she’s been releasing is pretty good. I’m excited for the PV!

A good song ruined by the dated production..... Someone needs to tell TK to move on from his tired Bro-DM sound... should've kept the intro piano goinh cuz it's in line with the current y2k revival.

It's normal enough for all her fans to get it in the first couple of days, now. It's not a big hit in the wider world, but it seems to be doing well enough in her fan base.

I just checked Line, too, where it's at 23 in the top hundred.

It's like Sayonara feat SpeXial but not so good, this may sound weird but it also gave me Winter Diary vibes, might be the bells at the end. I'm amazed how much a song made in 2022 can sound like early 2000. I enjoyed it though but nothing I would want to listen on repeat like almost all of her songs until Trouble, kinda fits with Dreamed a dream. So far the album sounds like disco album.

Question: I saw Youtube has Mask from ayu channel :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxQz52nT1RE

but this one does not show on her main channel. https://www.youtube.com/@ayu

why is this happening?

^ Yeah, that is really odd. Maybe they want to put focus on PV for the song, to collect more views.

^
^
staff already uploaded the PV and will reveal it tonite

7 hrs left
happy to watch her fake crying in 1080p again

I don't think so.. I dig into that more

apparently That is for Youtube Music....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgifTxOBJlQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4eAW3-tpWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N460qhTbpmw

And this is the proof on how lazy avex is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY3-FunaLk4

Description:

425,579 views Jul 21, 2017
Provided to YouTube by avex group

JEWEL · 浜崎あゆみ

WINTER BALLAD SELECTION

℗ AVEX MUSIC CREATIVE INC.

Released on: 1900-01-01

Composer: 湯汲哲也
Lyricist: 浜崎あゆみ

Auto-generated by YouTube.

The song JEWEL is released on 1900-01-01 and ayu was born before 1900.

All her discography can be listened on Youtube Music. They are listed in Youtube Music, not shown on her Youtube channel, yet you can search and found then on Youtube search.

Youtube is a mess...

80 minutes less
https://i.imgur.com/wOdiib2.jpg

I KNEW ITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

New album announced, out 1/25

The video was so much better than I was imagining before, I thought I'd be one custome video with her just moving around dramatically!

I love that this is really unique video in her filmography and I think 90's vibes fits the song perfectly. I think ayu has really few perfect music videos so this delivers what I was waiting for. For me at least. Not perfect but above decent! I hope avex will keep her budget as high for her 25th Anniversary!!

update 4K version avex
This one is gorgeous but only 4Mbps

The videooo is waaaay better than what i expected. LOVE IT 3000X