why did people hate my story i thought it was a pretty good album

^ Because alot of the tracks are very same-y. Not only that, they're lumped together. I like the album, but it really IS boring to listen to all at once because the tracks blend too much. That album has alot of gems though.

Stop making sense, I'm supposed to not agree on anything with you :P

But yeah, I remember people being bothered because of her eyes (contacts), hair and the covers being too similar.
PQ was a level above that, though.

BUT NOTHING WILL EVER TOP... SUNRISE/SUNSET.

The meltdown of the forums was ridiculously extreme... and rightfully so. Those covers are horrid, and I think she let go of the team that would make her cover's design because of them.

Well, this sadden me because I really like your posts around here :(, so, you are among the people I would like to be friends with. :yes

And Party Queen for sure was one step above... Mostly because sex is evil and stuff... A lot of the western jpop fans like jpop because it "doesn't" sell sex as much. What is ********, actually, as it sells as much or even more, just on a different (and more sexual to japanese) way... Ayu's production is very sexual by the japanese taste. She looks like a monkey on S/S ~APE is ALL~, so, the meltdown wasn't thaaat absurd.

I miss single just cause they're fun. And you get photoshoots and stuff. But I do agree that they're pretty pointless, especially in that toxic market.


NL cover was hated, but the booklet was loved. Which I think makes sense.

i was joking, hence the :P
While i do think your views are vastly different than mine, you've been making alot of good posts lately (that's why I felt it was safe to joke around :)).

Yeah, its just all a different way of pushing "the goods" out there. Duty particularly sticks out to me in the sense that its more erotic and in your face by Japanese norms. PQ (from what I felt) was criticized because it reused a photoshoot that was months old (the LIFE & STYLE ads'), because of the cheapness of the pictures added to Timmy explaining "she's just outgoing and sexy but broken on the inside, but you're all too dense to see it" and then retrackting this by saying he was drunk.

haha ~APE is ALL~ is (miss)understood's title ;)
words can't describe Sunrise/Sunset's sheer awfulness.

I wonder if anymore 'mini-albums' will be released later in the year...

Feel free to joke, even during fights... I'm always fighting people like Emi, SunshineSlayer (well, when she was more active) and njanjayrp, but I love all of them <3

I'm not being the most pacient member with other people lately, mostly because I feel a lot of "fans" have a toxic posture about a lot of stuff. It's ok disliking stuff Ayu do, I don't like a lot of her stuff (including fan favorites like Dome Tour, I AM..., MY STORY and Rock'n'Roll Circus), but it really annoys me when I see some people making active effort to find something to complain about the releases over and over again. If you don't like anything anymore or if you never was a fan to begin with and can count her songs you like on one hand, find other hobbie. On the same way I'm not on a Namie Amuro forum posting again and again why PAST<FUTURE is awesome and everything else she does sux, or something like that, or on the same way I read threads about artists I like less or as much and see people bashing Ayu there (sometimes just because they dislike her) and on this case usually I say nothing. Sometimes is pretty annoying to read stuff like "Oh, that song was amazing until she sang that note on this way for 1s and this ruined the whole era for me!" or "I wish she released something like XXX era instead of this thing she is trying and failing" followed by "I wish she would stop doing the same thing over and over again! Why can't she try something new for a change?" or "Eeew! I don't like her anymore, she is losing her touch! The last time I was obsessed about anything she did was *insert something released less than a year ago*". Again, I know this is*NOT* something done by everyone, actually, it's done by a minority, but maybe my lack of patience is making me rude with people I shouldn't be... Something I have to think about.

And I love both Party Queen and (miss)understood covers, mostly because IMO they really fit the albums concepts on ways prettier covers wouldn't. I love how Ayu actually goes all the away to portray what she wants with her work even if it looks ugly. Ugly sometimes convey things better than beautiful IMO, and I'm ok if she goes for that (But I know sometimes she just have a horrible taste like ~SHAKIRA is ALL~ or some fluggy concert outfits).

I never really got the S/S hate. The covers were crap, but I think she had some that were worse -forgiveness was absolutely terrible- I kinda feel that people went overboard on the hate for those covers. Just a tad.

On the subject of covers, my favorites? BLUE BIRD, Mirrorcle World, INSPIRE, many of the remix albums. I love her Twiggy-like modeling on the RMX Works From Ayu-mi-x 5 Non-Stop Mega Mix cover.

I watched Ayu's 10th Anniversary ASIA tour and felt awkward (really awkward) when she entered during the encore. I don't know why. Can anyone here slap me! LOL

My story was just so long and samey
Sunset and sunrise are amazing because theyre generic crap that works.

My story is amazing ! It's her most cohesive album ! I understand when some people think that the album can be boring because it is not very diverse and there are not so much upbeat tracks but for me the combo Walking Proud, Happy Ending, Winding Road, Hope or Pain and Liar :luv2 so well done ! these are among her most emotional songs at least for me !

I kinda relate to the idea that MY STORY can come off as boring listening to it all way through even though almost all songs there are high class listening to them randomly.

It's a great album and very cohesive, maybe too much cohesive.

I won't start to put titles of the great songs from the album since it's pretty much all of it, save for winding road which is kinda boring. It has too normal mid temp arrangement.

I don't have a problem with it being "too cohesive", my favorite album from her is Love songs xD

But IMO all the songs sound +- the same and I don't find them to be all that impressive... I always saw it as a lyric-driven album (like ASFXX, I AM..., Rock'n'Roll Circus, LOVE again) and she usually play it saffer on the music department on those to focus on what she is saying... Nothing wrong with that, but as I don't speak japanese, it's not the kind of work that I love xD

I loved the NEXT LEVEL covers at first sight, like everything this album has and is. Like I hated at first sight R'n'R Circus and (miss)understood ones. LOVE again is even worse, they're pretty, and I dislike easy stuff so much, lol. Like, you can do something I don't like, but you have to actually work for it.
And I didn't like Party Queen covers, until the so-called meaning was explained around, and then I was gone, love forever and ever. I have a giant soft spot for conceptual stuff, lol. Instead, I didn't understand all that hate about S/S covers, they're not awesome, but... ok, they're super-photoshopped, but everything in J-Pop is. They fit the single. And, then, it's just a single. Albums count, not singles, in my point of view XD

About MY STORY: as I said somewhere before, I think this and LOVE again are so very similar, as projects. The difference for me is: all of MY STORY is difficult to listen to all at once, but awesome in every aspect, instead only half of LOVE again is. I hate so much on tracks like SAKURA or petal because they had potential, tons of it, not used because they just didn't work till the end. I hate it. It's like with the covers, if some song is just good, that's ok, but if a song for me is unfinished and rushed, it doesn't matter anymore that's enjoyable. It's wasted. Especially if the work before was so on point, god, it's such a waste! The chorus of SAKURA is so good, everything else is toned down; the guitars in petal are not edgy enough etc... it's like everything has been watered down!

ayu thinks so too. :P

I agree with all of this.

Really? I actually think that SAKURA and petal should be raw as they are and less processed as these songs are really personal and less enjoy poppy side.

These are 2 of my personal favorites ever. (Bye-bye darling as well), but really for me, SAKURA petal are like master pieces for me composition and arrangement wise even taking out the lyrics. I will say I'm not always in the mood for ballads as I LOVE up beat, which is something I wish ayu would do a lot more.

Hopefully we see more of the LOVE again album only tracks at CDL. :D

For the MY STORY discussion:

It was a raw, real, and honest album. I enjoyed it. HOPE or PAIN is so good!

I love MY STORY, don't understand the hate too...

This. It just felt so genuine and emotional.

I've always liked the albums that aren't as cohesive, but at the same time, I like having same-y albums, when the songs are good.

Like...I would have preferred NL being a million versions of Sparkle, rather than the sameness we got for Love Songs.

MY STORY had only recently come out when I was getting into Ayu - it stands to me as one of her masterpieces just because of how it made me feel and how I appreciated her lyrics at that time in my life. It really is her STORY. Humming 7/4 kind of kills the ending but it's still a fantastic album.

I miss the release of m(u) when I stayed up for over 24 hours spazzing with people here waiting for an early leak or something on the release day.....back when we didn't get leaked copies or even TV news or previews hahahaha

^ For some reasons I believe winding road wouldn't have been enough to close the album properly.
So yeah, for me Humming 7/4 is in the right place! :P
Aw~ my MY STORY. So flawless and beautiful.
It's always a pleasure to listen to it from the beginning to the end~ ♥

^ Aah true that - I wonder just what would be the most perfect album close would be?

I love Curtain Call - that PV made me tear up and not many PVs ever made me do that!

Endless Sorrow and RAINBOW did it to me. Sweet Season does as well a bit :)

Memorial Address was about to be released when I became a fan... so it was perfect...
My story was so far away from what she had previously done I was so disappointed. lol

I still find it one of her weaker albums, but its not the weakest by far anymore.

^^
Oh my.. now that you mention it, I've always thought Sweet Season was such a peaceful PV, but I only saw the first minutes on the official youtube channel.
I've recently watched it, completely.. I was shocked! :thud

I really like Humming 7/4 because it ends the album on a high and energetic note. I actually prefer that, and am sad that alot of her albums end in ballads. Honestly, listening to MY STORY album in full is a drag, but that song made it bearable.

Anyone else like independent+ as the album closer?
I. EFFIN'. DO.

^ I do like it XD
Energetic songs like Humming and independent+ make me think we're not done yet! :laugh

There's a possibility Ayu will be going to London again soon, Timmy tweeted that he's going to London in the Autumn. As we know Ayu and Timmy are joined at the hip and always go overseas together, so..

My favourite 'end song' is actually Secret.

I cannot describe my love for that song. It's just so...beautiful in an understated way.

I do like rainy day, girlish and + too.

^
i really love Secret live at AT07! watch it and never get bored of it, every princess-like movement that ayu did during the performance made it more epic and dramatci! so moving <3

dying to see she perfroms it again but i dont think so...

Humming 7/4 is still my least favorite song by her, and one of the most annoying songs i've ever heard. I appreciate that she wanted to end the album in a (much too late) energetic way, but all it does is giving me a headache.

I agree about the album being extremely boring, yet having quite a lot of gems. Moments, Carols, Walking Proud, Winding Road, GAME, About You etc. are all amazing tracks on their own, but together they sound so bland. I think it's the album she has with the most filler, i keep forgetting half of the songs. It's in my opinion a very "by the book" J-Pop album, 4-5 great songs and then a lot of samey, typical ballads. It's missing that magic all her other albums somehow convey, even albums like Party Queen and Love Again which i hardly like has it hidden somewhere. However i think my biggest problem with it is, that pretty much all of the songs are weaker versions of songs she's already released or released a couple of years later. They just don't stand out at all in my opinion.

But I love singles so much, nooooooo lol!

I think my issue with MY STORY is that I never understood it. With all the others albums of Ayu I kind of feel like I know what she wanted to share and say, and that was because of the album construction too. But MY STORY is a riddle, today as well, just like before. It feels so good, but I don't get what she conveyed in it, because it most definitely isn't just a bunch of songs united together (lol, FIVE anyone?). There's a logic, but it's a mystery to me.
On the contrary, I can listen to Love Songs all at once 'cause, even if it's all the same sounds over and over, there's a pattern I can follow. The beautiful thing about Ayu albums it's they almost never are a collection of songs or singles, they're a story, gorgeously told, about Ayu and her mind at a certain time.

My favorite album closer is Memorial address (take 2 version) <3 But I like Present (did you guys know she had a track titled that!?) and rainy day as well.

^MA must be my fave too.

I also love Secret, i think that song is so underated.

Ahh~ I love Present as an album closer. Same with rainy day. I also enjoy + and flower garden.

I usually agree with the position of album closers and I already like most of the songs. For most of her albums at least.

MY STORY drags on way too long in the same drab and dull fashion. I would have cut it down into a mini album released six months after Memorial Address or something.

Maybe we wouldn't know about them but it would be kinda bad if a lot of MY STORY album only tracks weren't released. It has 4 single songs so it means we would get 2-3 more tracks and that's all. I could somehow live without windind road but that's all lol

So, I just watched HOTEL LOVE SONGS.

HOLY ****.
The bit in Party Queen where the music goes all eerie and melancholy, and Ayu goes, "I am the lonely queen," is legit scary!

^ I actually liked that part XD

Yeah, it's got some great songs, but as an album, it just seems to go on...

(I also feel this way about I Am)

Ive lost that ayuness I had....
I think I need new stuff in my life. LOL

Where'd it go?

It's more like there's nothing much happening these days. I bet once she reveals something good up her sleeves, you'll feel your ayuness again XD

I'm waiting for the live CD cover and tracklist - where is it?

Flowers from Ayu to Tohoshinki for their Nissan stadium concerts this weekend
http://i.imgur.com/JKEUa88.jpg

No idea. I went to the concert and was completely happy... I think it's just that there is nothing new or to look forward too.

I think your right.

I hope this is ayumi related enough XD

Just found the official profile of ayu on LINE PLAY.. I'm still wondering if when she moves is because she's really playing :roflmao
And I got her hat (which reminds me of the FNS performance of BLUE BIRD and evolution) with Gacha! yay!

I also think that her releasing something will spark interest in people on this forum again.
Something much better than love again.

I enjoyed Love again, but it seemed so rehearsed. It was the fasted I had ever put down a new ayumi album before.

^I agree. I feel like I like the music on LOVE again (more than the music on, maybe, Party queen which is my least favorite full ayu album), but there's just something about it that doesn't rise within me when I listen to it. There isn't a spark. It's like a meal that's great but missing the secret ingredient packed with flavor. I don't even know if I'm wording it sensibly but yeah, it's missing something.

LOVE again is like another MY STORY (sorry for bring it up again) for me. Everything's a little too cohesive. My favorite tracks on LOVE again is Wake me up & Ivy & task'n'bass & glasses. I use to LOVE Song for 4, Missing and snowy kiss, but after a while it just get boring.

I actually won't mind another Party Queen or something jazz like (but most people don't like those type of songs :sad:)

I really hope Ayu release an new album this year.

I adored the jazzy songs on Party Queen!XD Especially the NEXT LOVE, a masterpiece! :heart I really liked Party Queen in general too: it's a little bit unpolished, but maybe it was meant to be so or so they say. Anyway, I think some more work would have made most of the songs perfect. But it has a great concept, amazing lyrics and it was enjoyable in every way. It's unique in its own way, on the contrary of LOVE again, which was just assembled without a real aim.
I would love for Ayu to go more experimental with jazzy and cabaret stuff, cause in my point of view she just has the right voice: her vocals in the NEXT LOVE are sublime!

Hoping for another (miss)understood in terms of a large amount of diversity.

That one has everything. The light and heavy ballad, the electrobopper, the rock 'I'ma try to be hardcore but this is still pop' song, oriental influenced, summer and winter inspired, token cute and that one song experimental song that somehow escaped the cut room (BnD in this case).

I think what MY STORY has over LOVE again is that when you listen to the MS songs alone they work, they're just very laborious as an album.

LOVE again could have been good, it just feels like she listened to the tracks she was sent and... left them as they were? They sounds like they should be Ayu songs, but not with an Ayu spark. Idk if I like that more than Party Queen. I thought PQ was a mess but at least you could tell she enjoyed making it.

You don't have to apologize for bringing it up. You're opinion is just as valued as anyone else's. Just thought I'd say that. :P

YES. I think this is what I was trying to say. I agree!

Okay :)

Wasn't there suppose to be more tracks on Party Queen? Like there was a second disc or something (I feel like she have a lot of songs recorded for Party Queen, but they never made it to the final album.)

Hell yes! (m)u is my favourite album!

Why hasn't Ayu made another track that sounds like Connected. Ayu plz.

I want an entire album of I am... part 2

LMAO my house was a host to family gathering last Sunday and because of my small cousins wanted to play, I took them to my room to play PS3. One of their parents found my room and was surprised on why I put a huge Ayu poster, saying that why should a guy had that kinda of poster :P that's my room and my rule so... :laugh

Going by their logic, wouldn't it be "worse" to have a poster of a male?

Aha true!! Btw which poster was it?

^^IKR :laugh maybe I should put some males on my wall next time so they "wouldn't be surprised" :p

^It was the A COMPLETE one XD

^People can be so closed minded. Especially family who expect us to meet certain expectations. Glad it doesn't phase you. :)

@TeamAyu: I was just about to say I would have loved part 2 of Love songs... Then I remembered lol.

http://i.imgur.com/jty4tLN.png
Somehow, the translation makes it so.. Ayuish.
"It would surely be crying"

I need a proper Love songs part 2. I'm already done and over with LOVE again like the first week.

I wonder if she's already working on the next album... I want it so badly.

I am... Volume 2!

with a rainbow and more songs like sotsugyo shashin (the etherealness of this song, i cant handle it)

I want a little bit of trance, a new Naturally. And an actual concept, not some plain pink love shit.

I would love an album about life then death.
Or she can write an album about how much she likes plants. Still more interesting than another love album.

I want to see Ayu experience with r&b, hip-hop, and more jazz.

I wonder when we'll se the a nation goods, it is so late already...

I'd like some new album like NEXT LEVEL. Not in the style (but even that would be good) but that was a project about music only, she wanted to try a style and an attitude. When she talked about NEXT LEVEL it was all about the music, not her close personal life.
I'd like that, she experimenting for the sake of trying, enjoying the music and her professional possibilities, leaving her life and relationships a little on the side for once.

finally after 15 years, we got to see Ayu's house in her an official magazine photoshoot, even not all parts of the house

Well usually celebrities don't want to show their private places and home, let's not forget that ayu is more friendly in the work with private life mix department so we are at luck she even wishes to show anything from her house.

since this article mentioned a bit about ayu to be involved with max matsuura, so i'd like to share the link here:

what a shocking article, and is that even real?
max matsuura forced ayu to stardom? and his addiction to drugs and sex? O_O

:thud!
Probably more true than what we think it is. There's tonnes of corruption, drugs and sex in record companies and in the entertainment business in general.

Whether Ayu was involved or not (I'm leaning towards yes as there have been rumours about her and Max's 'friendship' for years, TO BE I think is a good clarification of that), we'll never really know for sure unless she explicity confirms it. :shrug

That article provides some interesting context in terms of the friendship between hitomi and Ayu too...

^ yea i kinda believe that max and ayu might involve in some kind of relationship.. but i really hope there's no such thing like forcing ayu to sleep with him or something >.<

tabloids... but this at least sounds a slightly bit possible than what some other magz come up with...my god...It made me think of Lilico.....

I wonder how people here would like to swap palaces with the girl behind Ayu :innocent

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...89241462_n.jpg

^ :roflmao
I only saw the right hand at first. Then I noticed the other one..

whoa Ayu has aged so much rofl and that girl is grabbin' dem billion yen assets go get 'em gurl!

http://imgsrc.baidu.com/forum/pic/it...fb4216d88d.jpg

:love

IMO Ayu would be a pretty flawed human in reality. I'm not sure if I'd want to destroy my image of her. XD

That's kinda her appeal I think...like a broken doll or something.

photo broken... :no

Does anybody have it saved yet??? Can anybody upload to ImageShack or something?

me :lech

After seeing that hat for a-nation I JUST NEED ayu to release a song called NO BITCHES PLEASE. ♥

seriously just look at her naughty evil face! :lech:lech you lucky girl! everyone would want that place behind Ayu :D

NO BIATCHS PLEASE <3 feat. Koda Kumi? ;)

That would be the best. Can you imagine the music video, Koda would be twerking to take over the club, and Ayu would be attempting to shake it with her. XD

^
Now, that would be awesome, lol!! V.I.P. Take 2 ~NO BITCHES PLEASE~, Kuu being the sexy queen she is and Ayu doing the Shake It! move. PERFECTION!

Wait what about a no bitches please hat?

I need these photos in HQ
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...36242621_n.jpg

Much better than the overly posed, stage, lighted, makeup, photoshopped, etc photoshoots.

Today I went to eat to a chinese which I love, and, to my surprise, they were playing ayu songs! Ok, it might be quite normal in a chinese/japanese/asian restaurant, but I usually go there a lot of times and I've NEVER heard any ayu song (nor in any other chinese in my city, actually), so it was very surprising to me. I was so excited while eating, singing along the songs, moving my fork and smiling all the time. I think I looked kind of childish and weird, but so what. It was ayumi, in one of my favourites restaurants xD

Anyway, there were LOTS of people, so it was quite difficult to hear clearly the songs. Only an ayufan could recognise them xD

The tracklist (while I was there, at least) was..

- Dearest
- UNITE!
- MY ALL
- Love Song
- NaNaNa
- Party Queen

I thought it was 'normal' to hear Dearest, since it was a big hit and so, but Love Song? NaNaNa? Party Queen? Oh, and I don't know why, but they played each song 2 times. It was a bit annoying but nevermind. I had a happy meal ♥

^ Cool! I'd die if it happened to me! :dead2
I'm happy for you~! ^_^

^ Haha thank you! That made my day, for sure! :DD

I found 3. Not HQ, but it's bigger at least xD

http://i.imgur.com/lABLk.jpg

Haha I remember hearing Ayu's songs at a sushi shop when I was in Switzerland. Basically I heard her song as soon as I entered! And it instantly became my favourite sushi shop :D They played Ayu quite often and surprisingly they played some recent songs (from Love songs and FIVE!) as well!

Also, when I was in Japan they played NEVER EVER orgel ver. in my hotel's restaurant once.

Lucky for you guys here in US they obviously only plays the hit American songs :( That's so great being able to hear so many of her songs still playing XD

iTunes USA is slowly adding more and more Ayu! Either that or I just didn't notice A COMPLETE~ALL SINGLES~ before.

Mannie's pimping out his new girlfriend on FB. She's quite pretty. Guess he's attracted to Japanese girls as much as Ayu is to foreign guys lol

What's funny, is that I found this among her photos: https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...1_948896_o.jpg

Wonder if she's an Ayu fan too? That'd be odd.