^I think the album version conveys the emotion of the song a little better though.

^ See, I think kind of the opposite! The original, as perfect as it is to me, is very... noisy. Or, it has so much sound to it. The HAL's mix however is slower and focuses more on her voice (at least in my opinion since people often hear things differently from one another.). To me, it's more focused on her words and the deep feeling she's expressing.

But, maybe if I had both versions at hand and made lyrical videos to them, it would help me decide.

Well on the album version of Daybreak there is a prominent use of drums and it's more rockish while the HAL's mix is more ethereal. I really miss that sound from Ayu and i just can not understand the hate that is directed towards RAINBOW album it's my second favorite. First is of course I am
And i am still beyond sad that this version of I am remix doesn't really exist http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tVJyX1B-no

^Don't get me started on old remixes. I want full versions of remixes from ayu trance 2 and ayu-mi-x 4. Dearest, still alone, I am..., Naturally, etc. we will never get full versions of. :mad

The only CM versions I'd really care to have finalized versions of (meaning, versions that kept the original essence from CM) are Beautiful Fighters and still alone. still alone doesn't even sound like a demo at all, it sounds REALLY full and distinct. That mix fits the emotion in her voice so much better - it's VERY heavy, and very "this is the end of everything" feeling.

Yeah I always wanted the M "fun style mix" or whatever the name is from the TuKa cm.
Sounded so good.

YES YES YES!! especially I am... gets really good at the VERY end!! ;___;
that always confused me a lot. there were many times I tried finding "full versions" of these mixes. why don't they exist???

Same here. I need that remix in my life so badly! :headache



(speaking of remixes, please make your next remix album series happen ayu! we are way overdue :tired )

and I shouldn't even bring it up again, but that damn AWESOME fairyland remix that DJ Hello Kitty played at A BEST LIVE and CDL. UGH I NEEEEED.

I don't know if it's just the low quality of the video but the clip of Naturally here sounds more melodic and pop than the album version, right?


I think in the liner notes for I Am..., Ayu said they made countless different versions of the song before finalising it.

^I can't quite put my finger on it, but it sounds just a slightly bit different than the album version.

I know she changed the lyrics from the CM version of Naturally to what it is now.

The fun style mix of M is just the RANK-M Mix.

https://www.facebook.com/AyuFanPage/...2069088764916/

If you have the Rank M mix on your computer, Skip to 4:30. It's the exact same thing, except the commercial has it without ayu singing, and they pumped up the bass in the commercial since it's supposed to be Ayu in a club.

I like the way she said Visee in those adds. So cool and refined. :D

I've just received it, and it's indeed the magazine!

After all these years I never knew this lolol.
But I ain't got time for that remix. Haha

Why doesn't ayu put the mic down, shhhh the audience, and thank them anymore? I always loved that and she didn't do it at cirque de minuit.

I'm not 100% sure but I think she hasn't been doing this thank you for years.
I'm also kind of sad about that, I think it made her less unapproachable.

^I remember her doing it at A BEST LIVE, which wasn't too long ago. sigh

I actually wrote a message to her via TA about that. The increased distance between her and the audience gets more and more worrying every year :(

i think that gesture was or is quite special for her, if i got it even a tiny bit right from an interview she did a while back, (i dont speak either japanese note chinese) was as if at the last moment of the concert she wanted her voice to reach people without being filtered through microphone, as to make it more real and truthful, like as direct as it could possibly be, that's why she did all those "thank you's" like that, i guess it made it more personal for her. I used to think it's a really sweet thing to do.

Because all her japanese fans have been talking shit about her since 2010 and leaving the Ayu fandom so now she's like "ok no more ~thank you's~ for you ungrateful little bitches"

^ hahaha xD

Yep, what attractive nausea said! I hadn't actually noticed tbh!

How good is the Stephane Pompougnac remix of Jewel? I am loving this right now!

And she's paying dust to her actually loyal fans?

*insert britney worried gif*

she doesn't throw wristbands to audience either anymore

^ They can't afford that anymore.

^ omg :laugh

Pray for Slavex.

hence we have WARNING. Damn, I'd love to know her true feelings on certain things sometimes. In a conversation, not just through her lyrics. I would think she gets quite frustrated with Japanese fans at times.

I can't stop watching old Ayu clips. It really, really makes me so nostalgic. Like, I'm immediately the 13 year old me again lol.

Ayu's played such a role in my life it's so weird how she's so linked to my past!

That feeling of finding new videos on the Internet at 2 in the morning knowing that I have to wake up for school the next day but continuing to tell myself "just one more!" Or having to download multiple parts of a video and joining them together, and dealing with the frustration of a broken link!

The Internet was still so new at that time haha.

Now I'll occasionally find a never seen before video or interview, but the excitement is largely gone.

Or building up my picture folder with all her magazine shoots and making live journal layouts and icons lol.

Everything felt so...juvenile haha.

Also, Von Dutch hats.

omg my thirst for Von Dutch hats used to be unquenchable :laugh

God, early-2000s fashion was so tragic

The western fans are the one complaining directly at her on twitter when they dislike something or giving her bibles when trying to save her soul...

Her fanbase is annoying, not only the Japanese one.

I was lucky on my trip to Japan. I heard two Ayu songs playing in stores (I felt like a little girl when I just randomly heard Ayu).
I had the TV on in the background at the hotel room, and suddenly Step by Step was playing! The drama started.

Weird moments:
A TV show who asked me why I was in Japan asked me if they could follow me when going to Ayu's concert in Yoyogi on the 6th. I said no though, I'm too shy for that!
On the train back to the airport; I was sitting behind Maro O_O I checked his Instagram when I came home to see if it really was him, and it was. It felt so weird XD

^ omg. Did he bring a bag of grass on the train with him to snack on?

Haha, I'm sure he had the grass hidden in his backpack! He'll maybe try the grass in NYC to see if it's tastier over there :D

Omg was it You wa Nani shi ni Nihon e? (Youは何しに日本へ？)--which means What did you come to Japan for? essentially haha

If it was that's a really popular show where they find random foreignors and give them a camera crew and follow them around haha omg I wish you'd have done it :-p (if it wasn't this show, I wonder what it was...)

oh DEFINITELY. I didn't mean to single out any one group. I don't think it's acceptable, some of the tweets that I've seen sent to ayu. So fucking arrogant to think that's OK.

I heard boys & girls, namie's think of you, and a few other songs I recognized while shopping in tokyo also! mainly book off! haha

WAS IT NHK NEWS?! Cause they found me and interviewed me after the concert on the 6th! lol I wish I could see what ended up getting broadcast!!

I remember at the time there were many strong rumors about still alone, it was originally called Survivor and Naturally was called NATURAL, and NATURAL was the original 4th album title instead of I am... and both songs would come with PVs.

What happened and caused the changed? 911.

That makes sense to me because Survivor sounds like Survivor in 911..

OMG the original version of still alone :luv2 I'd forgotten all about that - its soo good. I remember her saying in one of those track by track interviews that still alone was the album problem child and they had to redo it a few times and so it went from having a sad morbid tone to a more cutesy sound.

I miss the old days when everything when there wasn't so much transparency with releases and there would be rumors and speculation for months before the official announcement.

Ugh...if only we could hear the demos and unreleased versions of her songs...you just know there has to be some vault out there somewhere with tons and tons of stuff in it.

Let's break into avex office!

What about that last song she composed during the Sparkle era or whatever.

Yes, it was that show! They interviewed us at the airport. It was so awkward when they asked how long we had been dating and asked if we had any wedding plans. I guess dating 2 years in Japan = get married!

Nice :D I'm sure you saw and heard Namie's trucks as well?

I'm in, lets disguise ourselves as misono fans though. They'll beg us to steal her lastest album. :roflmao:roflmao

I'm curious as to what you speak of.

I have a question :D
I downloaded and watched TV version of Premium Showcase (WOWOW) but I couldn't realize any differences between TV version and Blu ray version in her voice. They edited her voice?

Yes, they did. As it wasn't a live broadcast, all vocals are pitch corrected just like on DVD/Blu ray.

Me too actually. It's so elusive and hidden. I've only ever heard it mentioned here twice since I first became a member.

^During the production of the NEXT LEVEL she said one of her compositions could have made it into the album, but it didn't.

Damn, I was not aware of this :( There always leftover material (there must a bunch of it from the Party queen era, iirc she said it was almost made into a double disc album), and sometimes I get selfish and wish JPop was a bit more like Western Pop, with demos and photoshoots leaking as a whole, but then we also get so much material more frequently from Japan and I end up being okay with it... Still, self-composed songs from ayu being tossed aside sound so painful :/

^There's no way for us to know if the songs were any good to begin with... Most of her good compositions were done with DAI... A lot of the stuff she composed by herself were highly improved by the production...

Yeah, I know she worked with DAI a lot, and if she didn't want a self-composition on the album she must have had a reason (such as not being satisfied with it). It's just that it saddens me a bit, it's an effort beyond her usual, but I can live with that :P

I doubt there are more demos from DAI for ayu left.

what was the last song from DAI?

About You CM version sounds more ... interesting than album version

@Gustavopc
We don't really know how much effort she makes... We don't know much about her production process besides "recording this today", "filming that tomorrow". :P

@kotora
Sweet Scar...

I loathed the About You CM mix. And my names WOMEN. Probably why I adore MY STORY so much cause I was expecting those songs to be throwaways and they kicked my teeth in and had me begging for me.

I didn't loathe the CM mix of "About You" but it didn't do anything for me really. Ended up being one of my favorite ayu rock songs ever.

"my name's WOMEN" definitely turned out unexpectedly different from the CM, but the only thing that sounds different is the vocal track. The chorus still sounds the same. That said, the verses did not sound ANYTHING like I expected them to based on the chorus. In context they don't sound mismatched at all, but based on the CM alone the song sounds much more... "earthy" or something. The verses have that Cheiron Studios late 90s pop diva/boy band sound and they're very slick and take a more straightforward "in your face" approach.... the chorus, though, is very atmospheric and bassy and emphasizes that sort of rolling rhythm it has. I loved how unique the chorus sounded in the CM, and I was really shocked (in a bad way) at the first few notes I heard when I played the full song for the first time. It grew on me eventually but I miss the idea of the song that I got from the CM. I don't absolutely love "my name's WOMEN," but I like it for its own charms now that I've shed the scars of my initial disappointment lol

Did Sparkle sound different in the CM also or was it just me? I got sooooooo obsessed with the CM when it came out, I still have chills thinking of it nowadays

^Everyone did! It was the Sparkle -CM Mix-

It just sounded the dark beats were sicker.

Sparkle is still one of existence's best songs anyway.

True, Sparkle is amazing.
I hated my name.s WOMEN when I first heard it. Now I.m okay with it but I never really had THAT MOMENT with it if you know what I mean.

Hmm. I gave A ONE another full run-through. Still can't stand WARNING. NO FUTURE isn't a bad song but it's SO long and Ayu's voice is so shrilly. Out of control is alright but still the most unmemorable song. The Show Must Go On grew on me though.

How can someone dislike WARNING?! lol

Is it wrong that I am loving A feat m.c.A.T?

UH-HUH, UH-HUH!

The lai, lais are really good, but that melody of the guitar that continually replays after every repetition of the chorus is kind of maddening. It's more of like a sound effect, great for the introduction of a television show or something, but in a song, it can be quite daunting. It's a little too chaotic and creates tension like one is spiraling downward.

^ now that you've said that, the song is giving me vertigo:tipsy

I don't hate warning, but I don't think it's great either haha. It's subpar to her other rock tracks, imo.

It is just like her perfection was loosing its way

after this discussion, I want to have A BEST 3 with demo disc...That can totally sell.

Exactly. Maybe for her 20th anniversary.

A BEST 3 will be her last album :D

Nah, that song is amazing. I love it more than I love many other ayu songs lol

I totally LOVE ayu-mi-x acoustic orchestra. The instrumentation is very pretty on a lot of the songs, especially As if... but the vocals are...well, rough. XD It's like there's this strange mixture of pretty with painful.

UGHHH I'm really hoping for summer perfection with this new mini. PLEASE ayu. I want like, July 1st, HANABI, You & Me, XOXO, BLUE BIRD, fairyland realness.

Thank you for describing this in a way I couldn't. XD I don't hate it, in fact sometimes I find it to be fun to listen to, but for the most part...it is exceptionally uncomfortable for me to listen to.

I feel like Snowy Kiss has this same spiraling feeling but sped up twice as fast which makes it feel like I'm having a heart attack every time I listen to it. O.o I'll never forget the first time I REALLY listened to that song and I cracked up laughing because of just how painful it was.

ugh...I don't like snowy kiss AT ALL

I have relatively mixed feelings. Like, I get why people hate it and why people like it. Personally, ugh. I just laugh at it. I just wonder what it must have been like to record such a song. How did she not go bat shit crazy while singing that?!

Before Rule/Sparkle, I think Ayu mentioned having 'one of her babies/creations' as a potential single, but I don't think it ended up getting chosen for the single or album. To the vault~

I thought the mix for WARNING pretty horrific. I can't even turn it up all the way without hearing very noticeable distortion.

The speed of Snowy kiss is what draws me to it haha.

I liked the bass of snowy kiss and it kinda felt dramatic/epic. Also the lyrics quite matched the tone of the song. One of ayuma's best in years. I remember when again came out and ayu just shaved me bald. It was hit after hit. There was no stopping her reign.

I feel alright for snowy kiss because it becomes The Show Must Go On.

Basically, The Show Must Go On is copy and paste from snowy kiss

^I actually disagree. I thought so when we got previews, but after hearing the song in full about twice, I find that it stands perfectly well on its own. There are small similarities, but not nearly as bad as we thought at first. I find TSMGO to be far superior.

damn, watching all those old panasonic CM's is making me pine for my childhood lol. Those were the days!

I adore snowy kiss, just because of the intrumental.
Give a try to the official instrumental from the single.... uhh Mini-Album sorry, and you can feel the epicnes, especially during the verses :yes

Forgive me, I am old, and they both sound similar to me :P

Meanwhile in Singapore...

http://i62.tinypic.com/16hrn6p.jpg

Sexual references??? Where??? lmao

It's definitely rated NC-16 for A Bell. I mean, that song is just filled with profanities and sexual innuendos.

It would be awesome if Microphone had an acoustic Orchestra version. I imagine GAME-like epicness.

Can.t wait for tomorrow.s set list!! Hoping for nice surprises.

Now I'm going to really scratch my heads why this happens... Then again, isn't there a "19" classification in Korea as well?

Back to Singapore a bit...is there any translators that can decipher foreign language text into Singapore's Chinese and English languages before determining the rating for each album released there...?

^ As far as I concerned, the media classification in Singapore gives rating for visual materials not audio materials. (Correct me if I'm wrong though!) And yeah, the rating might refer to WARNING PV...

ummm, heck yes. That would be amazing. There are quite a few songs of hers that could have totally been great for acoustic orchestra. I would've liked one of connected and terminal. :D

I just remembered when //ABEST suggested that there should be an orchestrated version of Last Angel. I would just love that, and one of Sweet Scar and Sweet Season.

edit: speaking of orchestrated mixes, I mentioned earlier how I really like the orchestrated versions on the A Song for xx album. I realized while listening to YOU why I enjoy them so much. I feel as if there is no corniness in the melodies or compositions, instead they feel really sincere and sentimental to me. Especially the one of YOU. I just wish they had an orchestrated version of "from your letter."

So Music Station had a "Top Summer Song Countdown" special a few days ago and had the audacity to not even include one Ayu song on the list. She has a summer best album for crying out loud!!!! Kuu's Koi no Tsubomi wasn't even included!! Here is this bs list...



AKB48 has three songs, Arashi has two. What a joke. I can respect Southern All Stars (who have seven) but this is atrocious.

It's weird that not even one song was included. Oh well lol

Ever since I found out that Spain failed and called her Ayima I've been gravitating toward calling her Ayima. Ayuma is cute but it's getting tired. Her name seems to evolve in an interesting way. What's next? Oyomo Mamachaki? Aleeka Lavantacki? That's how nicknames are born and change.

^ ^ayu and kuu are old timers, totally irrelevant.

ayima Mamachaki LMFAO