In Ireland, 1 August to 31 October is what we call Autumn lol, so mid autumn in Ireland already too :)

And then there's Antarctica and some countries (Greenland, Ecuador...) that only experience two seasons (summer/winter, rainy/dry season...), no autumn there ;)

So yeah, I guess we can still expect an album until mid-december and still call it technically an autumn album, no matter where we are from.

I am happy with the new album as long as it is released before end of this year.

Yeah when a season is mentioned for an official release, I always assume they're talking about astronomical seasons, because, as demonstrated above, meteorological seasons don't make sense on a global scale :D

So the album is 100% coming this year according to the announcement, but I hope we're looking at late October more than mid-December!

I still can't believe it's going to be the 1st full album since MiJ, and I really loved most of the singles... so excited!

When they announce a season as a time mark, I always take it as a reference of the country of origin, so it's JAPAN's autumn.

I expect it being a late November release, just like Secret. Even mid-December technically still being autumn, commercially it's too much related to Christmas and winter vibes.

You all wrong in flat earth autumn starts on November 1st

It all doesn't matter because we don't know how long the autumn in ayu universe

Very true, the Queen of Seasons truly lives according to her own calendar!

As long as it is a decent album not like NEXT LEVEL with 10 music only tracks and the tracks of her only singing "la la la la la lala...", I can wait a bit.

I feel like news used to come earlier partly due to the fact that there were large amounts of preorders happening as well as the time needed for CDs to be put into production. Now, most people stream and her sales have greatly declined, so news is able to come slower?

So basically, instead of the 2-3 month heads up we used to have, 1 month can suffice.

Just conjecture though haha.

indeed, but we dont want to have fake tracklists with song title EGG anymore.

But that was fun. Not the egg sh t people kepp repeating. It was fun to guess is it an interlude, is it upbeat song or ballad only by titles. And all those tiny tiny previews from TV adverticements and ringtones :heart

tv advertisement and ringtone were so iconic.
I remember at the time album version MY NAME'S WOMEN and About You both sound completely different from TV advertisement. Everyone was like what...?

Yes! The one that sticks out to me was GREEN, sounded upbeat and cute in the Panasonic ad, and turned out darker and more gloomy.

I really love speculating on tracklists, although sometimes it creates an idea for the song and I end up being disappointed by the final product!

I had CM with Sparkle on repeat

For those who doesn't know,

About you ~CM version ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ5PqIP6XT8
my name's WOMEN ~ CM version ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHvx6r30mCY
(Still laughing and feeling old how much technology changed... 3M pixel at the time with that device...and we have iPhone 14 with 48M pixel now..)

GREEN ~CM version ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9PWMpKuTSk
(Who still have this camera? lol)

Sparkle ~CM version~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3TODYJ3TMA

and many people think this version of Ladies Night should be the original
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAIc8qqGg5c

Maybe I'm the only one who think STEP you sounds better in this CM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk-yK9vRULA

I looooved the regular buildup that albums and singles had. Commercials, magazines, tv lives… it was so like clockwork that we’d get them, and it just allowed so much excitement to build. Hard to imagine that I used to play 15~30 second clips over and over haha.

Also, while technology has certainly improved, it’s interesting that commercials have grown completely uninspired. I do wonder what happened to the creatives of that time and why things didn’t continue in that direction. If I had to guess though, in Japan’s case, Apple really changed the way people purchased tech. Japan was the forefront in that field until the iPod/iPhone really undercut their market haha.

reading the YT comments for the Sparkle CM and I completely forgot about that one weird user (InnerRise) who would hate on Ayu EVERY CHANCE he got lmao Like, all the popular Jpop sites back in the day and you would see his ass pop up on anything remotely Ayu related and just hate. I believe he was a member here as well? Anyway, it brought back memories for me :laugh

he's still active in the comment section on randomjpop LOL