I think m-flo's part was a bit dull, but well Ayu's is stunning. I don't know if it's just me because Ayu's rapping voice reminds me of the early 2000's Ayu :) It's like hearing her younger self. I'm growing to love her part!

^ I agree! I actually liked this a lot. I cringed a bit at the "I will always be the queen", as someone said before (I think it was zeke?) I don't really like self proclamation that way. But I grew to not minding it somehow XD I love her rap part and for what I could grasp the lyrics are a shoutout to her haters. "I've being doing it my way up until now, and will do it my way from now on" "I'll always be the queen" etc. GO AYU TAKE DAT CROWN

I'm the only one who thinks her vocals sound strange in her singing part?
So... don't know, unnatural sounding?
I feel uncomfortable listening.

On the other hand I really, really like her rapping.
Overall the songs sounds just ok.

I thought the same thing, honestly. They're strange. Like a "made up ethereal sound"?

+1

love her part. wasn't expecting the little rap part either but she sounds great.

ima made my way, iya nara highway~ :laugh

Yaaay, rapping ayu!!

I was really surprised with Ayu's vocals here in the singing parts... it's light, airy.
It almost reminded me of "RAINBOW", especially the high-pitched part - it didn't sound forced like how it is now. It's unbelievable.

I had this dream where Ayu suddenly produced a secret album out of nowhere, and the surprise is that all the songs in it are sung using her old tone, completely intact.

And then she started singing live, with her voice sounding like back then.
At the end, Ayu smiles, saying this is her plan all along - to appear vocally deteriorating as time goes by, but at one point (a strategic comeback plan) she wants to surprise everyone by singing beautifully like she used to.

Hahaha... don't mind my silliness.
But, this might be closer to the truth. The vocal improvement part, not the surprise secret album and the delicate comeback plan.

Meanwhile, I'm not diggin' much her rap parts. It's not bad, it's just not my genre I listen to. I hope it's not going to become a thing for her.

Love it. I NEED TO HEAR MORE NAO. :yes

Do you guys really think those "airy" vocals are her true voice?
I`m pretty sure it`s manipulated, some kind of autotune or filter.
Fits the music genre.

it may be or may not be, tbh i don't care - just enjoying her music :love

It`s nothing bad, it`s pretty common for urban.
But I do think it`s weird people don`t notice, especially her fans. xD

Lol I actually like this.. I can't believe it. I really like her singing parts. I agree her voice has been altered, but she really doesn't sound like she's dying as she tries to hit some of those notes. The rap part is ok..... she sounds a little too cutesy, though.

I don't know if the vocals are heavy altered or else but I'm LOVING it so much! This sounds so fresh and she is very good at it!
I don't really like the male part. She is the one who is really shining here!
I'm not really into rap/urban but I won't complain for something good with those fresh vocals. Please ayu, do something different for your new album. Something creative and new à la (m)u...

That is really my main concern with her "recent" songs. Everything is there but the arrangements are really lacking. The same old formulas are applied on almost every songs and give me a feeling of déjà vu. The result is that I'm already tired and bored by the new stuff and I move on after a couple of plays without a second thought.

it would be so awesome if ayumi does an album like akina nakamori's fushigi album, that would be so cool

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fushigi

That's a pretty pessimistic look at this. I could see her singing this flawlessly in the studio, but she'd probably be struggling for the first few performances if she had to do this live.

I`m speaking about the sound of her voice.
I do think it`s pretty clear it`s not natural sounding, but done on purpose.
I wouldn`t want to tell which notes are altered and which aren`t or if her voice got better or anything. :shrug
Maybe I worded it bad, it`s just that they`ve done something to her voice to let it sound, well, airy like that.
Maybe even made it a bit higher, idk.

Just like Kumi's voice on "Simple & Lovely" - reaction was "is that really her??" I believe Namies voice was also a bit different in her track from the same album.

It isn't an awesome song, but Ayu's singing is cute. I like her part only

Her singing in this song is GOLD I love it!!

I love this song!

I'm trying to hear what she sings but I can't figure out of some of the English parts in her rap. Can you guys help?

I'ma do it my way
I'ma do it my way
ima made my way
iya nara ??? way
choushi ii my style so clean
I'm free, more free mawasarenai
I-I-I-I know that you want this
hoshikerya yasumazu hustle ???
kazarazu me myself and fashion
paparazzi, lights flash
mainichi action

I think it might be iya nara hard way?

the second one sounds like "heard this".

next one sounds like "affection" to me, but I'm not so sure about this one...

And I think it's not avalanche, but paparazzi :D

I heard "shoujiki my style" instead of choushi ii my stile but i might be wrong! :)

I'ma do it my way
I'ma do it my way
ima made my way
iya nara highway
choushii ii my style so clean
I'm free, mou furimawasaranai
I-I-I-I know that you want this
hoshikerya yasumazu hustle ???
kasarazu me myself and fashion (?)
paparazzi, lights flash
mainichi action

What she's saying after 'hustle' is anyone's guess, lol :P

how the hell did I hear avalanche instead of paparazzi? :laugh thanks guys!

m-flo's got some dates at Zepps for their FUTURE IS WOW tour in the summer. I wonder if the chances of Ayu attending are high....

Maybe for their final?? haha

sounds to me like she's saying 'hustle heartless' but i don't know ^^

Hustler this? Wish I could tell, haha.

FLY from the FUTURE IS WOW album just got a PV so hm...

I'm quite sure it sounds somewhat like her/hurt/heard. But it might be her weird pronunciation of heart as well, who knows :D

Sounds like 'hustle hardest'

Just because hustle hard is a familiar phrase to me. And in rap songs lol :)

Can we get a PV pls pls pls pls pls

first listen, i dont really like the song,its just bland but theeeeennn heeeyyy I LOVE her singing voice! omg! :luv2:luv2:luv2 i dont like her cutesy rap voice,erk

m-flo sounds dull in this song :o


agree,also her vibrato at the ending of each phrase doesnt sound really natural for me

Loved the sooong *-* it's like Nothing from nothing 2014 ver' fresh ayu to my ears <3

I just listened to the longer previews and wow, its really nice. I'm relieved that Ayu's rap doesn't sound anything like her rapping from Nothing from Nothing or that it wasn't horrendous.. Its actually really cute; sounds like she is trying to be all hard, haha. Her singing part is so on point, I love it.

it doesn't sound strange for me, also if you listen to sweet scar, it also has that airy feel to it in there as well. Actually a lot of the songs on LOVE again has that.

It's just how her vocals are after the horrendous Power of Music unfortunately. :thud

Yeah, that's what I thought too!
It's like she's rediscovering her roots, or something.

My Way is awesome. Totally going to be my jam for the approaching time.

Her singing there is beautiful, and I really don't think anything in her vocals got auto-tunes. Only normal treatments and touch.
The Background vocals also really sound like her natural self like in the instrumentals.

I also think that the album has an amazing concept.

ayu's My Way is right after an interlude called "Flashback to the 21st Century" and considering the lyrics and m-flo being artistic, it's like an album from the next century brought to the past or something like that and it's like ayu is there and kept her status and style all of this time. Just a wild guess :P might be total nonsense.

I would dig the song but the arangemnt is hella boring, Ayu's parts have nice, lovelly melody (minus the arangement) and i absolutelly love her voicals. Can't be bothered by any of the rap parts. It's just a huge mess to me... i never understood mixing ballads and that crap together. so. It's kinda sad that her beautiful vocals were recorded into such a random piece of...aghem...(lol) Now i am hoping that we will get something with those kind of vocals later from her.

this song doesn't have the PV, does it ?

I actually really like this lol.

Man... This song is SO fresh.
I'm glad that m-flo's part is almost nonexistent and that she sings during the whole song.

Ok, the arrangements are not really memorable and the song is not particularly great but her voice (her voice!), the way she sings... I feel like I'm hearing her for the first time again.

I want MOAR!

Oh my, this voice. :heart

The song is generally bland, but oh my, this voice makes me put this on repeat hahaha

i love Ayu's voice and her part is so nice...
m-flo part not so much..feels disconnected..

I don't like the rapping parts (both m-flo's and ayu's), I cut them out lol. But I agree her singing voice sounds amazing :heart The lyrics are nice too.

I applaud her for trying something new, but I hope she doesn't make rapping a regular thing :laugh

I can't believe how much I like this song! LOL!

just got to listen to the full song.
i love her vocal so much in here, it's so smooth, soft and perfect :)

The official Lyrics video rocks ! <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gMF...ature=youtu.be

I'm in love with this song !

^ thanks for posting! cool video. the lyrics are kind of hard to read, though.

I wrote down the Japanese lyrics:

Honestly, this song is okay but...
I can't help thinking how much potential this had and how it has gone to waste.
It sounds a bit dull imo, like it builts up to get to... nothing. nothing. no pathos, no climax, nothing. kinda meh imo. still I like when ayu raps... nothing from nothing was better tho XD lol

I`m a bit sad, the song hasn`t any climax.
The full thing is quite boring.
That`s a pity.

I like her voice here. nothing else :/

Her voice sounds nice, without doubt, but this song is not appealing to me at all.
As if a couple of seperate parts from different songs have come together into one. It missed a certain flow, which made the song messy to me. Too bad. I was pretty thrilled about this collaboration :(

LOL

I really like the song, I think it's a great pathway from Pray to something else (new album, hopefully). Her voice is flawless here.

I'm not sure.. Her voice is good.. the rap part is cute, but..

I think the song is weak.. :shrug

This song is so awesome!

The arrangement is definitely not all that impressive or original IMO.
It's just the fact of Ayu's vocals...and her rapping. They all just blew my mind!
The song wouldn't be as good if it weren't for her,
though I do agree they could've done more with it.
It's also nice to hear Ayu rap again c:.

The rest of the album though. It really is WOW lmao :luv2

I like the song. Not my favorite but I probably wouldn't skip it. This is the closest I've came to liking anything from m-flo in a long time.

I really like the song. I disagree that it needs a better arrangement. I think this arrangement really showcases her voice because there's not a lot going on. I know it probably won't, but I hope it makes it on her album. Because I'm not buying theirs. :laugh

Just to clear this up. I know you guys aren't that familiar with m-flo, but stop referring to m-flo as a rapper, lol... The rapper is VERBAL. The producer/trackmaker is Taku Takahashi. The DUO is m-flo. m-flo doesn't rap. VERBAL does.

Okay, now that that's out of the way! XD

On the official m-flo website there are self liner notes from Taku Takahashi about the making of each track, so I translated what he said about "My way."

Don't know if it was already posted, but:

I like how some of y'all calling this unoriginal and boring lol please. This shit is fucking flawless. Ayu sounds so damn beautiful, VERBAL on that crunk shit, and Taku killing me with the production work. Sorry it's not another Pray???

Ayu, more songs like this on the next album kthx

I'm honestly so down for that.

I could get so turnt to this song. Ugh, it's so great.

It really is good. I mean if you're not into the genre I can see how, cuz it's mid-tempo and kinda chill, you wouldn't immediately get pulled in by it, but it's so well done.

I can't talk about it more though cuz my podcast is reviewing the album this afternoon and I have to keep it inside my brain XD

I think the song is oke. I like it. I am not really a fan of rap music in general. It's different for sure, but personally I would always go with Pray :P Though Merry-go-round was epic and I wouldn't say no to another couple of songs like that on the album.

I'm not a big fan of this genre of music but Ayu sounds superb in this song. Will buy the track from iTunes as soon as I can.

amen preach hallelujah

I'm down for that too, but I'm sure that ayu with her touch can make even stronger songs.

Btw for who's interested and mixed about tagging the songs on iTunes/for last.fm.

I tag it: m-flo – My Way / m-flo + ayumi hamasaki

As m-flo's song. The track name is the official.

Btw, it's a shame they didn't make a PV for that song. ayu would probably look so cool!

The production isn't dated enough for Ayu's core fanbase. It's weird hearing Ayu with actual decent production and programming.

The production awfully reminds me of sweetbox's Jade album from 2002...

Yeah the production on this most certainly isn't at the forefront of entertainment. It's absurdly stale.

If it is 2003 then it's still ahead of the dated musicians and production Ayu uses.

Just heard it today. Funnily enough I've just recently gotten into trap and chill-out so I was surprised to hear this style and then wasn't that surprised I enjoyed it a lot. Yes sure the the arrangement can come across as too simple and boring for it's lack of a climax at first but I loveee it cause it's just soo chill. The way the arrangement is kinda slow and "dragging" in a good way makes it pure bliss. There's actually a lot going on with the arrangement. Plus I love that fat bass. Who cares about the lack of a climax when the whole song is like making sweet lazy love lol. First I cringed at the Miley Cyrus-y "Imma do it my way"s but her vocals are so smooth and soothing and perfect otherwise. Her actual rap part is actually quite nice and I like her breathiness, especially where she goes mou furimawasarena-iiiiihhhhhh :heart

Mhmm mhmm. I find that my opinion fits well with yours. I agree about loving how chill it is and the lack of a climax.

I think this kind of arrangement is perfect.

It doesn't sound very Ayu-ish, but I think that's because it's not hers.
It's a m-flo's track, she's just featuring. The rap part in Merry-go-round instead flows perfectly with Ayu style!

I don't know if I'd say it's THAT bad. :laugh As much as I love and adore sweetbox, most of the time their music doesn't even sound MIXED. Though, Jade is actually probably their best album in that respect.

Anyway. The song isn't as bad as the preview made it sound, but I really don't find it particularly fresh or original either. :shrug For Ayu, sure, but she's just the featured artist. For music in general? No...

I think it's okay. I kind of like it, but then I don't want her to do this style ever again. (Yes, I realize she's just a featured artist on m-flo's track, etc. etc.)

I can't help but think of Usher every time I see the title lol

You summed it up completely. This the kind of music you play beer pong too lol it's not too aggressive but it's not too boring and drab.

love it!! imma do it my way! wohooo

This song is available in HK iTunes. I've just bought along with"Pray"!!!

She "rapped" a few verses, it would have been an amazing song without those parts.
I really loved the chorus "I will always be the queen"

This. But yeah, I kinda like the song. Another gym work song for me.

Listening to the FUTURE IS WOW. TBH there are a couple of songs that are WAY better than My Way~ Such as FLY :D