Party queen - 10
NaNaNa - 8
Shake It -10
taskebab - 7,5
call - 8,5
Letter - 8
reminds me - 6,5
Return Road - 7
tell me why - 10
a cup of tea - 8
the next Love - 10
Eyes, Smoke, Magic - 10
Serenade in A minor - 8
how beautiful you are - 8

average, just 8/10 to me. Unless the 'Party Queen' had the "TokyoFM, TokyoFM" I usually heard before, I'll give 12/10 to PQ :lol:

After listening to it again, I can say for sure now:
I love the album from Shake It♥ to Tell me why.
the next LOVE is ok, quite nice to listen to.
NaNaNa would be so much better with sung verses and not that cheesy rap. Would take another kind of rap as well.
And I don't care that much for the latter half of the album.

Thanks for clearing it up. I think it's just because Daft Punk used the samples first, so we associate it with them. Hearing the sample again from a major artist like ayu, it's going to get noticed and critiqued.

the album, production and her vocals are all quality. that being said, taste wise, i only listen to and care for the middle.

Party queen - 5/10 cute vocals and melody, but sounds empty and plain. there is nothing opener or special about this song.
NaNaNa - 6/10 perfect song ruined by timmy's 'cat in the hat' writing/rhyming capabilities.
Shake It<3 - 5/10 i like how ayu's voice sounds, but the song sounds too menacing for me.
taskebab - -/10 don't really care or have any opinion
call - 10/10 favorite song on the album. has a nice bit of nostalgia feel to it, nice vocals and i like the male chorus accents from timmy and co.
Letter - 9/10 beautiful and the tone of her vocals sounds beyond beautiful. it reminds me of 'witch hunter robin' theme at points (when the guitar solos).
reminds me - 7.5/10 beautiful sounding song, with a nice hook. the overkill cliche guitar solo should have been weakened as well as the lalalas.
Return Road - 10/10 obviously
Tell me why - 8/10 very catchy and i like her piercing 'iiii's. it doesn't stand out but it doesn't have to because it does its job perfectly.
a cup of tea - 7/10 starts out beautiful and goes to darker odd place. i like it, but it requires a certain mood from me to listen to it.
the next LOVE - 6/10 her vocals don't always suit the song, but i wouldn't call it bad by any means. i feel she could refine this style of vocal in the future.
Eyes, Smoke, Magic - 5/10 quirky and very show tunes. she sounds great, but this isn't something i could listen to comfortably.
Serenade in A minor - 9/10 the preferred interlude of the album and nice lead up to hbya. it does a nice job of sounding like an already confirmed classical piece.
how beautiful you are - 7.5/10 her tone sounds dry in beginning and then she strains pre-chorus. the songs does display a really nice evolution of her voice, though. i like the ending belting parts, and wish she would refine and do more often. again, love the male chorus.

best album vocally, in years. she has definitely started using proper techniques, though she falters and resorts to old habits at times. feels like a transitional album, definitely one of quality though. all in all, my opinions just come down to what i like to listen to, not whether or not it's been executed properly. there are a few grey spots, but this is her most diverse and solid record in a while.

the only interesting tracks on this production for me are:

Party queen 10
how beautiful you are 10

reminds me - 8
tell me why - 8

the rest...just lame songs for now :S

WOW, your taste must be extremely close to mine, cause that's pretty much how I felt about each song. I kept seeing other people's reviews (loved the album) and thought I was maybe being too critical or i was just losing an interest in ayumi's music but, thankfully not. I really don't like this album as a whole. The covers sucked, the actual music as a whole did not deliver (thanks to Timmy, I do not like him, the only song i like by him is brillante and even then it's not one of my faves), also the PV's sucked, so I am really really really dissapointed this time around. :( the last ayumi song that blew me away from the first listen was microphone. (which i loved the pv for)

songs i will go back and listen to...

1) call
2) letter
3) return road
4) tell my why

*** nanana would've been in the list had it not been for timmy rapping

i guess i am particularly dissaponted with party queen (the actual song) because this one had so much potential. I listened to it live and i thought it must sound even better as a studio version. boy was I wrong, it sounds empty and boring. we need an ahs member to remix it and make it more interesting.

I love it very much, interludes are great, glad there are upbeat tracks, and definitely disappointed with E, S, M. Will probably never listen to it in full :/

This is pretty much my opinion on it now, after really listening to it today. But, I do think that her vocals have improved a lot on this album, and I think its thanks to Timmy. So, thank you, Timmy.

so basically “Party Queen” is about Ayu's ex-husband:rolleyes

^^That was to be expected though...ayu always writes her lyrics based on her life/experiences...so it only makes sense. That's why I love her.

That's her best quality musically in my opinion. She is so much more honest than other artists and it truly separates her from the rest. I feel like fans take that for granted a lot lately. Her musical expression is so much more that the surface some fans seem to only care about.

Overall album rankings now? For me it's:

1. Duty
2. Loveppears
3. My Story
4. Party Queen
<Memorial address>
5. I am...
6. A song for xx
7. Secret
8. Rainbow
9. Guilty
10. Rock 'n Roll Circus
11. (miss)understood
12. Love songs
<FIVE>
13. Next Level

My reaction after listening to Party Queen for the first time:


http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llq4nxX4Rr1qdzlne.gif

'What the hell did I just listen to?'

lol

THAT'S IT!!

I won't delve into each track, but the album seems like a miss for me. I like a couple songs but I don't hear anything I'd be listening to long term.

Same here. Some tracks are really nice but I cannot get into that "dreamy mood" when listening to it. Maybe it's because I am mainly fan of Ayu's trancy stuff, I don't know.

At the moment "ayu-mi-x 4" is my most played album, it's trancy, dreamy, high-pitched and bass-heavy. So basically everything I need for my Ayu fandom xD

here too..I'm not getting involved with any of the songs..I 've listened to the album already 8 times and..:

a) I don't remember any of the melodies

b) the first 3 songs are not -listenable to me so I have to skip them

c) the strongest track seems Return Road but I can recall 10-15 similar songs (among the underrated tracks so excluding singles) included in the old albums that had a stronger impact on me

Is my Ayu fandom era finished? Maybe. I don't preclude anything and I will keep listening to her new releases for a while but all my expectations have been officially buried. I would have never thought I could prefer FIVE to the new album, but I do. And that's serious.

Party queen 6/10
NaNaNa 5/10
Shake It♥ 6/10
taskebab 8/10
call 7/10
letter 7/10
reminds me 9/10
Return Road 10/10! :D
Tell me why 10/10!
a cup of tea 7/10
the next LOVE 6/10
Eyes, Smoke, Magic 4/10
Serenade in A minor 8/10
how beautiful you are 7/10

overall 7/10 for this album. imo, ESM sounds like her worst song she have done... RR, i can say is one her epic songs and my favourite song. without timmy talking (or rapping) in NaNaNa, this song would be much better. this album sounds kinda dark, i love it! :D

This album is growing on me more and more and I've realized something I hate any album from my favorite artists in the beginning I guess it's because I'm not used to them yet. I felt pretty much the same way about Love Songs when I first listened to it I think I gave it a 6/10 but now that I'm rating all of Ayu's albums again I'm finding that Party queen is great I still don't adore it like I do Duty or (miss)understood or Memorial address but I know after about a month I will be giving this album a much better score. To this day Rock 'n' Roll Circus A Song for XX and MY STORY are my Ayu "failures" or "bad albums" I think these albums fell short and were what I truly consider weak after listening to them for years.