Album cover, magazine or A-nation goods perhaps? she looks stunning!

They make me want to get a full body covers for the album. It has been a while since the last one.

https://i.imgur.com/imm11gN.gif
that wig looks so good!

yes!

I would guess photo for mag...

Shimoko again! It looks like magazine stuff but I wouldn't be surprised if it was gonna be for a lot of different things.

dont we all know ayu well enough already?

this is clearly a photoshoot for a magazine, next album, a-nation, next single, 2019 tour goods and next music video + ISM campaign #recyclingQueen

Still hoping for a summer single!

Ha ha yeah sadly it’s most likely gonna be used for a number of things...I cannot understand how come she can’t take a new set of pics. Even a selfie would be better than re-using the same stuff.

Yeah, it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine when old photos are used for album booklets/covers.

lmao accurate

LOOOOL

Has anyone heard this?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BktdyM5B...d=lcx9wq2sc8ly

Ohh interesting!!

I wonder what that could be. Has midtempo ballad vibes.

It's on Spotify as well!!

heared it on Spotify... sounds like "Hello new me" part 2... not in a bad way ;)

It's being discussed in the Ayu on Apple Music thread as well. To me it sounds like a demo for WORDS that was uploaded for some strange reason.:shrug

Going over the timeline of things it seems like....

She went to that meeting to talk about the new album a while ago when she was at avex's offices then began writing and recording in the following 3 weeks. With this most recent photoshoot, it seems likely that it'll be for the album and also some other thing probably like the up Plus shoot. Soonish we should probably have a glimpse of her working on a video if they do PVs?

http://i68.tinypic.com/r2rex0.jpg

私たちの夏が、また始まるね😊✨

2018夏のプレイリスト作ったよ📲

https://avex.lnk.to/ayumihamasaki_summer_playlist …

I think they will upload it at midnight as the final version, considering it's also on the summer playlist she created

I love the summer playlist!! They did a good job and the new deom track goes really well with Moon ❤️

Wahh I wanna know more. XD

So true...

It's to be expected really. After she did it for LOVE, it sorta set off doing it for almost every release after. I did really like the Numero Tokyo photos though and they had good interviews as well but still.

surely some haters here would complain about the bell sound effect... lol...

Hard to judge what it is for...

Thanks for sharing, sounds very sweet and pretty, kind of like THANK U. :love

https://i.imgur.com/5z1bZd8.png

Ayu posted this for about 5 minutes before deleting it. I thought she would repost it but she didn't. I couldn't grab the full size pictures sadly. :irked

that hair looks like HANABI hair! I LOVE IT!

Why she so tan?

Spray tan? Real tan?

* not a complaint, I love a tan. Just surprised lol

Well, she was on vacation not so far ago, so maybe it's real tan. But I think ayu would not damage her skin

Well, she had that SUPER dark tan in 2006 after BLUE BIRD shooting, so probably that. Also being next to Timmy makes anyone look darker because he's so pale.

https://mdpr.jp/news/detail/1777388

Ayu hosted a birthday party at her house. I'm surprised she was allowed to be featured on someone else's IG!

Love that tan. Looks More healthier.

Thanks god not this tan tho.
http://i.imgur.com/00Ut1.jpg

https://s22.postimg.cc/5y04h9z6p/20180704_120500.jpg

I like this so much! :luv2

She is acknowledging her tan here too with the tag #kuroayu, lol.

So avex and Ayu are doing dancer auditions? did someone leave?

They do auditions for every concert. Ayu's talked about this in the past from what I recall... I think it's partially why the troupe sometimes had new people that only were around for one or two shows. This may be the first time it was put on that website though.

There was an entry that was like "oh -all- the dancers have to go through the audition process each time" that I remember vaguely but that seems strange considering the 'troupe' but maybe they just all make it in.

Having auditions everytime there's a new project is pretty standart....

Wan't Subaru refused for the first legs of PoM?

Some dancers didn't take part at the beginning of PoM. I actually thought it was because of something personal

as for auditions, ayu may choose new performers, acrobats etc

Love her hair !

I think sometimes they just don't participate 'cause they have other engagements.

^I remember he just said he was told he wasn't what they needed at the moment or something in those lines.

I recall a dancer or two not being part of it at the time and putting it on their blogs. I do not remember it being because of not being 'accepted' but let me see if I can find the thread.

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123100

I just have this where some were discussed. The only thing I remember is that he said he wasn't going to be in PoM, same for Kayano, I think.

Oh! I saw that Subaru was absent for original PoM but came back for LIMITED EDITION.

^Yeah, the original one, haha! He wasn't around for the actual tour

At that time, I think the dancers were dealing with some stuff so they may have skipped on the early tour. Chisa, Kayano, 2-Yan also missed them looking at the old info.

Btw what happened to midori?

http://i66.tinypic.com/2djca3l.jpg

昨日キックボクシングやってみたらめっちゃ楽しかったんだけど今日の身体がアチコチ悲鳴で激し い🥊笑
でもティミーがキャーキャー言いながらも猛獣みたいなパワーでサンドバッグ殴ったり蹴ったりしてるの見たい からまたやるのだ😆

love her hair color

She looks beautiful!

The new TA post suggests that the album is nearly finished and that she wants everyone to hear it asap!
Whatever purupuru means lol

^ Thank GAWD

So that was about a month of work on the album before it was done as far as we saw on IG. I wonder when she'll start filming things if she is doing videos at all.

But she first mentioned it back in April, a few days after the first two shows.

I think that was more of a 'tease' that plans were beginning. It seemed like she actually entered the studio just last month after finalizing stuff at avex.

Sure, but I assumed they had the songs composed/lyrics written even before.

As far as that goes, it has seemed like she writes and selects songs during these studio sessions. I remember she was still writing songs in London while working on other things for the album but a few songs were produced ahead of time due to videos being made at the same time as well.

Writing lyrics is Ayu's way to talk and to share her feelings since the start of her career. It’s deeply linked to her life. Knowing that I doubt she starts everything only after the “we’ll make a new album” meeting. She writes when inspiration catches her. With her experience she surely know the kind of sound and music style that will match her lyrics. Then she adapts slightly the lyrics with the demos she selected. During the process, she might add some songs and writes new lyrics just as a novelist adds new ideas and chapters when he/she is working because life doesn’t stop when you’re working and what you see can inspire you. Just as the jazzy/Broadway songs Ayu asked Timmy to compose after attending a musical in London.
In Ayu’s case, the music assists her lyrics. It helps to share her emotions. The main act is the lyrics. It’s why she can use very different music styles but there is the little thing who make you think it’s an Ayu’s song. Because her writing style doesn’t change a lot. It shapes her songs.
Nowadays, as she stopped to release singles she certainly request to create an album when she already know the concept and have already selected the main lyrics she already wrote and that fit the concept.
There isn’t only a path to create song. Music doesn’t always arrive before lyrics.

I also thought that Ayu has been writing songs over the last 2 years. Then she would bring them to the studio when she was ready to start recording.

I think she may have had concepts in mind, like notes on her phone but the writing process for her IIRC was described as a 'puzzle' at one point for some tracks.

There have been a few times where she had notes for lyrics or actual lyrics on her phone and then she went and dropped it in the toilet or something on accident, lol.

she might lose her past 2 year inspiration and her phone in the toilet.

If she record her lyrics in the notes, when you get new phone and sync again, all should be there still, unless she didnt do backup very often (like me XP )

プルプルする can mean something along the lines of "trembling" or "jiggling". ;) If I don't confuse it with a similar onomatope...

http://i65.tinypic.com/11ifptl.jpg

最終審査には私も参加させて頂きます。皆様からの挑戦状を、ドキドキワクワクしながらお待ちしております‼ ️

https://avex-audition.jp/audition/215/

she looks so good omg! I can't wait for the album!

also I think she just went to the studio to record. probably she already had all the lyrics written and concepts in mind, so it was easier for her to record the album!

whew, her mind

she lost all her inspiration once when she dropped her phone in the toilet. She wrote a post in the past.

I guess she may forget what she thinks when she is in the toilet..

I would love it if she recorded at least 5 PVs for the new album but I don't think it's gonna happen. Avex's artists definitely have less PVs nowadays.

We’ll be lucky to get 3 tbh.

does it mean there will be a new tour soon?

^my thought was thst this was for a-nation

It is for a-nation. TRF is also doing one for the same time period and specifically for a-nation.

PV-wise, probably one or two for this album.

I'm hoping we're lucky and get 3 PVs lol

I hope we at least get 3, otherwise there wouldn't be much point in having a DVD/bluray version for just 1-2 pvs and the making ofs.

They could do that thing with Just the beginning concert digests in it and also insert We are the QUEENS in there somewhere.

I'd love a proper We are the QUEENS music video, they can pretty much just use the commercial. I wouldn't care for digests though, especially since they could just upload that to Youtube. At this point I want her recent tours to be released on bluray already.

Ayu put a bit of her kickboxing on her IG story and it looks intense as heck.

My jaw dropped a little bit when I saw Ayu boxing like that. She was savage.:yeek:laugh

Did anyone save the video?

Should still be there in the saved ones she has on desktop.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, news outlets are covering the fans being concerned about the backdancer audition and it was enough reaction that Ayu even ended up explaining the situation on TA.

^thanks, totally missed out on that.

http://i63.tinypic.com/20t58aq.jpg

七夕に本家へ🎋

願い事は書いてないけど、願う事はいつも変わらずただ一つ。大切な人達の幸せ🌠

心も顔もすっぴんで笑える場所がある有り難さに今日も感謝。
#ISM
---------------------------------

http://i68.tinypic.com/23s9jjr.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/20jp82f.jpg

That style looks great on her.

Really reminds me of this live (time period):

http://i66.tinypic.com/w8lzpk.jpg

私を育ててくれた西日本という場所は、温かい人々と暖かい気候に恵まれた穏やかな場所です。

この不思議でどこか懐かしい夕焼けを見ながら、生まれ育った故郷を想っていました。

私が誰であっても、どこにいても、何をしていても、根っからの九州っ子である事は一生変わりま せん。
#underthesamesky

Under the same sky?

New Song title?

I thought under the same sky is that fan project...
Maybe she is using it again because of the earthquake?

she uses this tag when she's not at home

I thought it was a reference to Daybreak.

I think that title sounds good to be a song title.

She did use her fans' idea for song before...no?

I think it’s an referrence to Urata Naoya, he is releasing a mini album with that title

Edit.
Not the album is called under the same sky but the title. It would be still nice if she uses that title.

"Under the same sky" was also a lyric from Daybreak which was reused for the fan campaign. Surprised people don't remember it from the use it got for that campaign.

Her caption is an homage to Kyushu and the fact that she was brought up there. She says the sunset made her think of it but I wonder if the storms are weighing heavily on her mind...they're mostly in Hiroshima for the time being but I think another typhoon is on its way that could be bad news :(

Hope things will be okay there!

From twitter:

今日はNew Albumから初めて、新曲を披露する歌番組収録でした��心強いAスタッフの皆が集結してくれたおかげで 完璧に終了✊✨✨✨

私の今日1日ザッと書きます✍️続

朝から緊張で早起きしすぎて昼間眠気と戦う→何故かスタジオ着いたら歌詞をティミーと2人して間違えてパニ ック→(続

Translated from Japanese by Microsoft
Today is the first time from new album, I was recording a song program to show off the music �� ✊✨✨✨. ✍ → A perfect end thanks to all the staff of the A When I arrived at the studio, I made a mistake with Timmy and two other words.

The translation is kind of confusing, but I think she let the staff hear the songs?

Seems she recorded a performance of a new song from the album for a tv show.

I’m guessing Ongaku no Hi?

I guess FNS is possible but I think that’s usually live?

Is she again using that ASfXX dress from CdM? O.o

This would make more sense! :D Though I'm guessing there's no audience?