Wow, I can't believe Ayu is making this kind of music at this point in her career.

Lazy, sloppy, unmemorable, uninspiring, juvenile. I'm not surprised since this is coming after Five, probably the worst thing she has ever put out.

Shake It is the only track worth talking about. Where other artists would embrace the potential sexy vibe of the song, she undercuts it with what joshohhhhh calls something menacing. I think that's what makes it brilliant. And the only time that she effectively puts her message across in the album. Lyrics aren't enough to save all the bland songs here.

I've forgotten the album as soon as I finished listening to it. Diversity isn't automatically a good thing.

Funny how so many people raving and so many people in disgust. I like Shake It, I liked the vibe that NaNaNa had going for it, and I love reminds me. I can't believe more people aren't floored by reminds me. It really to me sounds like classic Ayu but something new. It's got more of a "rockband" feeling. I think the guitar solo bridge comes too soon and it rather long and annoying, but the emotion in the song, her vocals, and the amazing LaLa's (although there are many) really make up for it. I get excited to listen to it every day I wake up and get ready for work, I think "I can't wait to get in the car and listen to reminds me". Towards the end of reminds me I think "ok now I get to listen to Shake It" and the rest I don't feel excited to hear.

You know, as much as I like the songs...Thinking about their melodies...I cant remember any of them either.

That could just be me though. I don't remember anything from Love Songs either. Or FIVE. damn I keep forgetting that exists altogether.

I think reminds me might be the best track on the album.

^Well, I wouldn't necessarily say I was disgusted. That's a bit too strong a word :) Nothing from the album offended me outright, but it's disappointing to hear something like this. I was listening to Guilty earlier, and while that certainly isn't one of my favorite albums, the disparity between the quality there and in Party Queen is just miles apart.

I'll try to give Reminds Me another listen, but it sure doesn't help that it's sandwiched between Letter and Return Road.

The title track is just DOA. Maybe Ayu is being ironic? Unfortunately, I suspect that isn't the case.

The problem isn't that the songs here are terrible. It's that they are utterly generic. Love Songs, though, is a great album :P But since this isn't a Love Songs thread...

Unsurprisingly, the best track is taskebab. Now if only the rest of the album followed that.

From the impression I have got alot of people actually like reminds me. I see alot of people mention it on reviews and giving it high points. :) It was my fav after the previews and it became within my top 20 fav songs ever after listening to the whole song + seeing lyrics. Return Road isn't even close to reminds me imo, even though RR is good.

Totally off topic but.... I have started to call Return Road for Return Toad. The T and R is way to close to each other on my keyboard sometimes. xD

^Your signature is lovely! Kinda reminds me of ayu-mi-x 7 series LOL

I like reminds me, both the song and lyrics! :)

Usually skip the first few songs and dive into the nice part.

The problem of "utterly" generic for some reason never comes up when talking about I Am.. and MY STORY(especially the ballads on those...), yet they are some of Ayu's most generic albums and Party Queen probably her least generic. I'm confused by some reactions. Show me one other mainstream pop artist producing jazz-y showtune tracks with a couple speed changes like the ones on Party Queen, or orchestral rock with a REAL classical influence(in Return Road's case Baroque) and not just random string melodies. Or another one with a song that incorperates Dubstep, Disco(talking about 70s, 80s disco here, not 00s, 10s club music) and Chiptune, all three.

Most of what Ayumi does isn't really generic, she always brings in something to stop that from happening, small things like the guitar lines in Sparkle for example, but most certainly her past albums before have been more generic than Party Queen. Just because it sounds more western(since practically every influence to the sound is western this time around) and therefore more familiar for us it is not more generic. Musically it's the biggest risk she has taken by simply not being generic aside a handful tracks in the middle section, and even those are only "ayu-generic", and maybe hbya, but the gospel influence makes the difference in that one.

Also, Ayumi pretty much confirmed that she is being ironic in the title track("it sounds sad to me", and the lyrics to NaNaNa:"I'm a lonely queen"), that's the whole album concept.

I like the album really much,and my personal favourite
is Return Road and i also ADORE EYES SMOKE MAGIC<3
Why is there so much hate towards that song?

best thing i've read on this forum in a long time. :roflmao
i'm glad reminds me is getting so much love. it's my second favorite on the album (besides Return Toad). her emotion in it is just spot on. it made me want to cry on first listen even before i knew the lyrics.

^I'd never use the word generic to describe either I Am... or My Story. I don't know why you bring those particular albums up; the only reason I can think of is because I think so highly of them. (If that's the case, it's a bit disturbing that you're keeping tabs on me). But, whatever, I'll let that pass and won't go down that route with you.

The problem with the jazz-infused tracks here is that they are answerable to all that came before them, and when you compare them to actual jazz they just come across as kitsch, especially since they don't do anything new with the genre. They just try to sound as close to old jazz showtunes as possible: structure, sound, instrumentation, singing style, tempo. Probably the lyrics are the only unique thing about them. I would prefer that the tracks were integrated better with Ayu's aesthetic and made to sound more modern or at least have the jazz flavor not be so overpowering.

And to say that Return Road has a real Baroque influence is being a bit generous. I don't hear anything approaching Bach or Handel in it. Probably Baroque in the most overplayed, superficial, and cliched sense (as richly ornamented and heavy), perpetuated by movie soundtracks, anime, and videogames. It has the "proper" musical instruments, the "proper" and most noticeable ingredients, but where's monody, contrast, music as rhetoric, small graces, the real heartbeat of Baroque?

Just because it's new and no one's doing it doesn't make it good. But that's besides the point.

Again, generic, in the sense that: let's make Return Road an epic sounding song. I know! Let's make it sound like Baroque music. And add some vocal effects in the background. Epic. Or: let's make a jazz song. I know! Let's pretend that Kander and Ebb never existed. Or going for the most obvious irony: let's make a supposedly party song sad and lonely. Genius.

But with Shake It: menacing sexuality. Now that's something a little more interesting.

odd.

In any case, the only album I'd consider generic is probably FIVE. And even then it's a stretch cause...it wasn't necessarily generic as much as it was basic.

Besides, generic isn't always necessarily a bad thing. I know no one said that. But...well, tbh I'd rather have a bunch of really amazing generic songs, than a bunch of really crappy "original" or experimental songs.

I'm always reminded of hikki's Exodus when I think about that...



Anyway, the album IS very ayu-generic. And overdramatic, and cliche, and cheesy, like Ayu's acting these days.

It's different, and an unpopular genre with our generation :)

The more I think about it, the worse the album becomes. Scraping the bottom of the barrel, really. At least Five was a mini-album.

Problem with the jazzier tracks isn't the production of them, it's that Ayu CANNOT pull these off. She does not have a "sultry" voice to compliment these tracks. Ku's feel was very nice but Ayu could never do that.

And I am sick of everyone praising the organ in Return Road. Microphone pulled it amazingly well and kiss'o'kill before that. Microphone being the best, followed by kiss'o'kill... and that makes Return Road old news.

Party queen - Sounds much better than it did live. Catchy beat, some nice synth work, although the chorus threatens to de-rail the whole song. Love when the guitar kicks in during the bridge but it feels like the whole song could have used more guitar to give it a more aggressive-vibe and add another dimension.
7/10

NaNaNa - Is that autotune I hear? LOVE the industrial-influenced beat, and even Timmy's raps don't bother me that much and are nowhere near as tacky as they were in Happening Here. Very catchy chorus.
7/10

Shake it - After hearing that BOUNCEBACK composed this song, I thought there was no way this couldn't be anything but epic. Can't help but feel it falls very short. Feels 'tacky'. Might need to grow on me, it has its moments.
6/10

taskebab - This interlude just hits the spot perfectly. After those first three tracks, I was craving GUITARS! Daft Punk guitars. I love Daft Punk so I was pleasently surpised by the use of the sample.
8/10

call - ah ayu, you love your mid-tempo rock songs. And so do I. She's done all of this before, but she just pulls off these kinds of songs so well. It's impossible to hate what you are hearing. One of the album's strongest tracks.
8/10

Letter - Treading the exact same ground as call. Might have been better to place this song later in the album so the listener could at least forgot they heard the same kind of song just one track before. This one feels a bit more cookie-cutter than call, but not a bad song by any stretch of the imagination.
7/10

Reminds me - 3 mid-tempo's in a row? She's lucky that this song completly nails it. Much heavier than the preceding two songs, great guitar work while her vocals SOAR above it all to remain centre stage. The la-la climax at the end just is the icing on the cake. Amazing. Another album standout.
9/10

Return Road - Along with reminds me, the album centrepiece. How I've missed DAI compositions. The section before the last chorus - perfect.
9/10

Tell me why - First time I heard this, my reaction was WTF. Then the second time I couldn't believe how well she pulled this type of song off. Feels like a r&b track done right, not like her last much worse attempt.
9/10

a cup of tea - a very cool little interlude, love the synth. Not sure how well it does to transition into the next section of the album though. In fact, it doesn't work as a transitioning track at all. As a standalone interlude, fantastic.
7/10

the next LOVE - Wasn't sure how a jazz-influenced track from Ayu would turn out. It's not bad or a total disaster, but also not a track I'm going to be obsessing over.
5/10

Eyes, Smoke, Magic - Did we really need another swing/jazz influenced song? No. Did we need Timmy to sing along? No. Did we need this song on the album at all? Hell no.
2/10

Serenade in A Minor - Haven't heard a set of interludes this good since NEXT LEVEL. Perfect transition into the final song.
8/10

how beautiful you are - didn't like it so much at first but this song grew on me big time. A really beautiful ballad, made even better by the fact that this the only one we really get on Party queen. One of the rare moments on the album where Timmy actually got it right. Perfect closing song.
9/10

So overall, I'm pleased with the album, especially the middle-section, but its not without its weaknesses. Like any good Ayu album, she took some risks and experimented - sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. But it's her rockier and more mature-sounding tracks that really deliver and blow everything else out of the water. Incredible middle-section. That's the type of music she should be making, that she WAS making with Love songs. But she's lost her way a little bit from finding that sound she needs in this stage of her career. It's easier to blame Timmy.

I feel that was an issue people had with RnRC...whether they like to admit it or not...

It's like, here's this album, and it follows a formula that's similar to (or the same as) other albums she's done...except they like each song less than the respective songs on the previous album or albums...

therefore, that album sucks.

You have these three songs, all have the same elements, but, in Zeke's case anyway, Microphone > KoK > Return Road

so return road therefore sucks lol (just generalizing)

But sometimes I think it's important to remember that...even though something might not be new, and it might not be as good as the things that came before it...it's not necessarily bad.

It's just not as good. lol this is how I've had to come to think of ayu's discography in general actually.


I actually felt her voice went nicely with the next Love...cause I've listened to some female japanese jazz artists, and some of them always have unique vocals that create this odd dissonance that sometimes you have to appreciate and get used to...idk I thought ayu's vocals made it interesting.

I don't even have an opinion on ESM cause it's just completely a non-serious song, musically.

MY STORY isn't generic? I like the album, as I enjoy all of her albums in their own unique way, but I don't see how MY STORY is any less "generic" than Party Queen. The only interesting songs structurally are the CREA songs... No vocal bridges on any of the songs besides 'CAROLS'... Dated production (esp. my name's WOMEN)... I found the lyrics and themes present in the album forgettable (taking into account I only read the translations)...

It's sad how some fans can be so blinded by nostalgia.

I'm really not sure exactly what you mean by "menacing sexuality", but that's been done before too. Nine Inch Nails? She also touched upon that theme in the Sparkle PV.

my name's WOMEN is GOLD! It's so ahead of it's time, I started a whole case about it in the news and information thread for Party queen yesterday.

Lol, I'm gonna have to disagree. I love the song and all, but tbh I would be embarrassed to listen to that song around my friends who listen to urban music/r&b...

The faux tough-R&B sound reeks of LaToya Jackson

The synth hits are also so 1999-2000 teen pop.

I find that very interesting. See, I thought FIVE was the worse she's ever done. Other than Brillante, I have no idea how any of the tracks sound like but I remember being extremely disappointed and turned off by the album. I felt like there was no effort put into the songs whatsoever.
I think with PQ, atleast she tried to do something different, which maynot have worked in every single instance, but while with FIVE and RnR circus there were many songs I simply could NOT even remotely tolerate, PQ has only sections of songs that I find grating (other than the title track which is horrendous). I don't know, thats really how I judge an album; by how many tracks I can actually sit through lol

And even Sparkle wasn't menacing per se. I don't feel anything remotely like that with Shake it. The NIN analogy made me laugh though.