Possible new album titles that spring to my mind:

MANNYppears, MARO STORY, BALD & DELICIOUS

Hmm...

Does each concert in the showcase only last one hour? I wonder how many songs there will be in only one hour?

^^
NO, but WAIT, forget about Feel the love, if the new album is not called BALD & DELICIOUS I'M GONNA BE PISSED, lol. Epic.

:laugh

SO. EXCITING!! Those r some big names, I have such high expectations now

Tomomi's latest single sold 40k, if she make a little fuss she can still get #1

A new album! And "PREMIUM SHOWCASE ~Feel the love~"...mini Arena Tour, I suspect?

That's good news for Ayu fans, but not for me...I want her to take a break from ANY kind of tour like this for at least a year! Maybe 2015, but I really have to wonder, especially she's already married...

Whoa...this could be interesting competition! Ayu vs Tomochin - first time she's going to face off against a (former) AKB48 girl! We'll see how this will duel out - a 35-year-old girl vs. a 23-year-old (she's 22, but Tomochin's birthday is 7/3, a day after the official album release date)...

...but, yeah, I do kind of agree about the uncertainty in regards to individual AKB48 girls compared to AKB48 as a group in terms of sales numbers. Hopefully this one could be a close one, and hopefully Ayu can get #1! We'll just have to wait and see...

+ NO WAY TOmoya nagaSAY :tipsy

I have a feeling this album is going to sound nothing like the rest of her studio work. I think this is going to be a "one time exclusive collaboration" type of album. Let's see how it turns out.

Ayu lost her streak, who cares !

And, i'm so happy, this is going to be an interesting album !!!
She just needs a collab. with Pitbull

I think "New Me" could be a more appropriate title.

This is all such amazing news! I'm so happy that there will be a new album & tour! :)

I really like the tour title, and I think the tour logo looks very cool, too!

I also think it's absolutely fantastic that the new album will be released in July! It makes me wish that it was summer already, lol. But looking at the producers that ayu will be working with, I have a feeling this album is going to be absolutely incredible. I totally can't wait!!! :)

Well this will be interesting with all these big name producers and such... I'm curious to hear the songs. Will be more interesting than Love Again, for sure...

Hahaha. Good one, indeed! ^__^

Or simply..
The New Love ~feel the love~ ...again :D

Those are some BIG names! So excited to see what she comes up with!

What does "showcase" really mean in terms of live performance???

Do you guys speculate that she might collaborate with some actual artists for her songs? I have a feeling URATA NAOYA might show up again, which I don't mind.

I wouldn't be surprised if it leads to an international tour, like it being a warm up. She said at the last bit of 2012 about doing a world tour, maybe she'll surprise us. The album sounds like it's going to be really amazing.


A showcase typically consists of a few songs, simple (no to not much for spectacles) and is shorter than a concert or show. My guess is she may be planning something more later in the year if she's using the term showcase. Or she's running out of idea of tour names lol

Darkchild? I love everything he produces <3 Super excited!

YOOOOO I'm so pumped for all of this!!! Is anybody planning on going to any of her dates in Osaka?!

I'm planning to go to the first date in Nagoya and the last date at Yoyogi :)

Really? Shorter than usual shows or concerts? Oh nooo, I feel her usual shows (except PCDL) tend to be shorter than other artists already!

Any chances Pray will get remixed for the album? :P

Maybe she will perform remixed versions of a few songs on tour... I'm saying remixed classics or well known remixes, etc.

Can't wait for this!! :love

I'm really really hoping this new album is called "NEW ME" or "HELLO NEW ME" or some variation of that.

"HAMASAKI A NEW ME" would be a pretty funny title.

*officially dead*

She might perform less songs, but keep in mind that for instance Koda and Namie sing a lot of upbeat songs which are sometimes less than 4 mins long. While Ayu rarely goes below 4:30~

It will be funny if the album will be called Hello new me and it will also be the first song on the tracklist (w/ w/o introduction interlude), it will be like NEXT LEVEL where the song itself sounded like typical ayu but the tracks right afterwards were new to her. Her next level/new me songs are like introductions for what's coming rather than being the next level/new themselves. NEXT LEVEL was pretty nice though.

I'm getting a NEXT LEVEL II vibes from all the news!! I hope everything works well this time! Go ayu!

I only wish she isn't almost naked, doing the fish lips or looking dead in the cover, please don't ruin it

I really REALLY hope I can go back to japan in July so I can go to this!
I hope its something special because its so small.

ayumi hamasaki Bodkin ~Hello new me~

I'm going to Japan for an internship next month and fly back the day after the first Yoyogi date. How exactly would I go about trying to get tickets for it outside of Japan, or will it be one uphill struggle with the only option being price gouged tickets through Yahoo Auctions afterwards

I'm hoping for at least one good rock track, but as far I know, I will never get that XDDDDDD

I'll PM you

Based on the Rock 'n' Roll Circus precedent, the new album is going to be titled... Feel the love.

I really hope I'm wrong.

do you guys know when the tickets go on sale ? >.>
also where to buy?

But with Rock'n'Roll Circus the title was out right when the album was announced, with the tour's name and dates as well. I'm not sure if it will be called Feel the love but could be just because of the tour's title.

Things she does, except for Pray and Hello new me though might fit more to the non Japanese audience rather than the Japanese audience.
All the new DJ songs might not click with the Japanese public, unless if they will get interested and like this style. ayu does things mostly for fans though, she seems she wanted to work with foreign music producers and give some stuff for the foreign fans lol, that's how it looks like anyway =D

No, we didnt know the name of the album when the tour was announced with that title at that time

I want a photo shoot as fierce as the NEXT LEVEL album cover!

Hey !! What's this??
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

no kanariya ~again~

lol

I dont believe on any of photo, covers, news that comes from For"A"ver Club

If this will be NEXT LEVEL -TAKE 2- I'm all for it. Oh God yes.

It's just a fan's dream setlist

It would be nice if there was a good English fan page cause everyone gets misleading info from this page X_X

I could see them using this logo they designed for "FEEL THE LOVE" with the geometric heart shape as the album title/logo design also...

Amen. I hooe kunio tago comes up again

That'd be sweet. I like the edgy design.

Ayu was so much better when she wasn't half naked all the time!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...VEppearsca.PNG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../Boysgirls.PNG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ver_art%29.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/Iam3.PNG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../f7/Unitea.PNG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ver_art%29.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../5d/Hcover.png
http://jpopcdcovers.files.wordpress....is-love-02.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Startincd2.PNG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...miHamasaki.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Only_Cover.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...s_Special.jpeg

Oops...

Lol, I do remember there was controversy regarding STEP you/is this LOVE? promo photos. It's weird to remember fan reactions like that. I remember it drew comparisons to Namie and her copying, also how it totally didn't fit Ayu's image at all, etc.

lol I always associate those STEP you/is this LOVE? promo pics with my name's WOMEN :laugh

Yes, please, I want something edgy and particular like those ones!
I wouldn't mind if they use that tour logo on the cover too... It's pretty, and they can do well with it.
Even if I don't have ANY CONFIDENCE AT ALL with Avex putting titles on covers, lol. God knows they made some inhumane messes before (*ah-emh*NamieAmuroUncontrolledtitle*ah-emh*).

Right, but it was just a just few days/day? apart from what I remember. But I still don't think that it's 100% means that the album will be called Feel the love because of the tour's title, like it was with Rock'n'Roll Circus. Maybe yes, maybe not.

I love Feel the love, but she had enough LOVE titles going on already lol.

Obviously I won't discredit the album if it will be called Feel the love, especially if the music inside will be great.

Mannn I was hoping for Zedd to be part of that list loll.
But yay new album! I have a really good feeling it's gunna be NEXT LEVEL pt. II.
Hopefully it won't be as messy or feel as disjointed..

Right now TeamAyu members can apply for ticket lottery and I think lottery results will be announced on April 26th. Then there will be regular ones through pia or eplus etc.

Armin, Fedde, RedOne, DAISHI DANCE. This would be the "Party Queen" AYU should have released in the past, instead of that Party Queen we know.

Me too :no BUT HEY AvB isn't at all :D :D

I'm most excited with Rodney Jerkins, time limit is an amazing song.

Can't wait to hear what ayu and dark child come up with.

That's SUUUUUUUUCH an old style though. I think ayu is trying to be innovative here. Dark child's recent works really haven't gone very far.

I notice a lot of people in the fandom have issues with production sounding "dated"... has Ayu ever kept ahead of the trends? She's never been an innovator musically. Instead, she has her own distinct style that is poorly imitated by other artists (Tomomi Itani being a recent example, and I think she's totally throwing shade at her in 'My Way')

Michael Jackson's 'Dangerous' has production that hasn't aged well at all (major New Jack Swing influence), but that doesn't take away from it being an amazing pop album. Great music is timeless. Stop being trend snobs!

Ayu does "dated" R&B very well (LOVE n HATE, In The Corner, Tell me why). I actually hope Darkchild goes for an early noughties R&B sound because I think it suits her well. Heavy bass and snare, plz!

armin van buren last songs are not the best (he was better 5 years ago). He always do the same thing with a poor "trancy" style but not good...she would rather work once more with Above & Beyond !!! :p

agreed ^^
above & beyond :heart

Eeew! Dangerous! :no

Regardless of whether or not one likes the music itself, 'Dangerous' set the blueprint for all pop music thereafter both sonically and visually. An experimental pop album with varied styles and genres like (miss)understood could have never existed without 'Dangerous.' The album was also brilliantly engineered and greatly emphasized the importance of mixing and mastering in pop music.

Susan Fast is writing a book about the album.

Anyway, I think MJ and Ayu have more in common in the sense that they're not so obsessed with being perceived as trendy per se, but more concerned with staying true to themselves and making music that reflects that. Madonna, on the other hand, just does whatever she thinks is in vogue at the moment and creates an entire era based off that one sound/style. Her last few albums particularly show that she's suffering from an identity crisis and that there's no real sense of continuity in her work at all.

True although I love a bit of datedness myself - like Happening Here!

I'm going totally off topic, but yeah, her music-life crisis at the moment has EPIC PROPORTIONS.
For me Madonna always had an amazing talent in finding out what the new trend would be and building a stunning image and music product to use that style at its best, and that's what acted as a cohesive element for her albums.
But lately, that talent mostly failed her.

Well said. I particularly agree with the bolded part. People around here (and everywhere else probably) are so stupidly obsessed with everything sounding and looking shiny and trendy-it's kinda boring to be honest.

Yeah, I think Madonna is fabulous but I think Ayu has become more adept at seamlessly integrating new styles as part of her own unique sound without alienating most fans.

I have faith that Ayu will somehow make the new tracks by Western producers her own. Hopefully, they've listened to some of Ayu's back catalog so they can get a sense of her style...

She may never have been an innovator and yes had her own style and that's the problem. She doesn't do "other people's" style that well... And that's what this whole era is shaping up to be. It is ayu singin over other people's visions for sound and music.

I'm really enjoying her effort to creat something new but at the same time carring her own mark :heart

The Ayu sound and feel will still probably be preserved. With My Way, it wasn't an Ayu track so it's understandable that it'd be more m-flo with a dash of Ayu, but Merry-go-round was pretty refreshing and still had the vibe she tends to have.

Did you enjoy LOVE again? Because that album was classic, quintessential Ayu from beginning to end, even using old composers like Hoshino and Kunio Tago.

Fans here are basically saying "Ayu! Do something that isn't recycled but don't be too experimental!"

Most of you have no idea what exactly you want from her. You're looking for a "feeling" you get from her new material that you can't adequately describe. Most want her to do an album full of Mirrorcle Worlds and Sparkles.

Oh ayu, the waiting is killing me

I want her to be as experimental as she can. I know exactly what I want. I want her to try different genres out. I've been really into the bossanova, jazz lounge sound lately and I think she could try that out. If it sucks, we move on. If it's a hit she can keep going down that path. I'll take an album of experimental fails over an album of standard love songs, winter ballads, and upbeat summer songs any day.

That would be amazing! :D

I think we should all realize that, at the end of the day, there is still a bottom line involved. She's not an indie artist, for Christ's sake. Avex certainly gives her a lot of creative freedom for a pop artist, but I don't think they'd be okay with Ayu making an album full of acid rock, bluegrass, or bossa nova tracks. She's still pulling in substantial revenue for Avex.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE when Ayu takes risks and gets really gritty — but I admire the current attitude she has regarding making music. She wants to try new things but she also knows what works best for her. There's something really beautiful about trying to maintain this balance in life. I think she is wise beyond her years.

The album is called "New grounds" according to LINE... or maybe it's just a weird choice of words?

English:


Japanese:

/\ Official or not, i liked the name :yes

I HOPE that is the name, I love it so much.

There's nothing in the Japanese post that says "New grounds" is the album title. I'd just chalk it up to a (really) awful English translation.

yup...Japanese always give this kind of symbol [] for the title...we will see it as [new grounds] if its really the title...

although [New Grounds] sounds cool

Yeah, it looks like a weird translation of '新境地' from the Japanese post.

Basically, it was intended to say that this album is treading on new ground for Ayu or something but instead somehow some quotes got added in and they made it seem like it was the album title.

Also the English message that followed is weirdly worded as well...

The LINE translations used to be better.

I also got message from ayu's official line account in Thai that name of the new album will be "new grounds"

When I saw Darkchild named as a producer, I looked at his recent production discography and unfortunately he's dabbled in non-r&b music over the past few years, so it's a possibly Ayu might get something electronic out of him, which make sense given the other producers she's working with.

After Ayu's last album and Pray, I don't think I can take any further cookie-cutter productions, so I'm glad she's moving to more experimental territory (well, at least for Ayu anyway).

I think I'll just be happy to find out that the title isn't "Feel the love". Preferably, I'd like the title not to have the word "love" in it at all. "LOVEppears", "Love songs", "LOVE", "LOVE again"... I think we're all kind of over it.

I'd love for a title with the word 'new' or some other variation of that.

And then she surprises us with ''A New love...'' -_-

Something with 'new' seems likeliest.

If it has love in it though, I think people might riot.

Tony, I think Hello new me might be cookie cutterish since it's the same production staff behind that song. However, it might be an outlier given the other songs' producers.

I really hope the album is titled 'LOVE LOVE LOVE' just to give the people that can't freakin' get over it aneurysms ^__^

Goodness gracious I would actually love it if the album's called 'New grounds' *o*

That's a very DREAMS COME TRUE-y title.

I do think that having LOVE again so soon after Love songs was a bit much. To have more love directly after might be bad. It's not like Ayu has the Kana Nishino pattern thing going on either so....

I really hope the album is filled with club banging dubstep and trance music to give the people that dislike remixes aneurysms.

(A) new LOVE

I'm 96% sure that's the title of the new album :yes

i don't think the new album is called New Grounds too.
but we will see.

lol There IS a difference between showing some skin/midriff and literally having no clothing on half your body, which is probably what that person was talking about.

Not that *I* mind personally but.

You should've posted the Party Queen covers.
I'd rather a repeat of those than the album be another "love" theme please :(

This is actually my exact problem with the dated production, though. It didn't matter in the past if the production was dated because the music still had a really distinct Ayu sound to it. (e.g. I've always loved the production on my name's WOMEN even though it was 6-7 years dated on release.) Ayu's music has always been Ayu's sound; that's what makes it special.

The problem is when she starts to make the production and using top-notch first-rate Western producers the selling point, and the music still turns out dated. If you're going to make the production the focal selling point, then the production has to be REALLY good and with the current trends.

I realize this hasn't really happened yet obviously, as the album isn't even out yet. But I DO worry that it will end up sounding like electropop circa 2008/2009, because I personally don't get the feeling she realizes EDM as a genre right now is basically a production game. It's not like other genres where the production can fall short/sound dated in favor of other factors; the production IS EDM's selling point. That's why producers like ZEDD, Avicii, etc. are so popular right now.

It's like going to the movies. If I went to see a drama film, then obviously there would be no reason to complain about poor CGI because CGI wouldn't be a drama film's selling point. But if I went to see a disaster film or sci-fi flick advertising the best producers!! and Michael Bay!! and Will Smith!! and the CGI was 5 years behind its time, that'd be reasonable grounds for complaint imo.

I don't know, I just don't think she "gets" that and thinks it's just popular because it is, and that's why I worry that the album's EDM attempts will/might fall short or sound dated.

or A New Me/Hello new me :P Based on NEXT LEVEL.

I also hope I'm wrong xD

^I would bet on Feel the love, too.

Very high chances this will be the album title, since she uses this title for her concerts, too!

To be honest, it will scream ultimate lazy if she reuses Feel the love for the album title.

But I don't really think she's going to. I think, more likely, she hasn't decided on an album title yet given the release is still 3 months away. The showcase tour obviously needed a title sooner, so they went with Feel the love since it's her latest release.