I had a dream I had the full album last night, and I tell you that W was good but slightly underwhelming, the verses were super low pitched, Last angel style.
WATQ had a brand new "wow yeah" intro, and then switched to piano before gradually adding instruments up until the first chorus, after which it was back to the track we know

^Nice review on your dream album. :laugh

Glad to be able to share in exclusivity x)

For me it's the same with "For My Dear..." This song exudes so much youthful hope while at the same time it always feels like a child's chant, or an inner voice from the far past healing old wounds. I don't get the expression it's a fans favourite, though ^-^°

^ For my dear... is underrated, it has such a different feel to her singles and builds up nicely. The theme of the PV is also good and unique. I love the theme of loneliness and the fact that it’s shot in real locations. I’m upset that it wasn’t re-recorded for A BEST or her 10th anni.

^ im so happy to hear someone else praise For my dear...
I absolutely love it, and I love the video so much.

It feels like a time capsule. Like those people are forever living in that moment. I don’t know I just feel like it really captured something.

For my dear... is the one song I could never get into in A Song for xx. I'll have to give it another listen now that it's been some time. girlish is amazing, I wish she'd sing that one in full again.

For my dear... is so moving for me. I really love. It gets my heart racing.

Wow, I totally forgot about this song and lost it from my hard drive, thank you for bringing it up! It's such an amazing song that deserves more love :love:

Two of us is a masterpiece. The lyrics are amazing too.

I also need this one, in full....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwKzeETkiKU

I always thought it sounds like an opening from a early 00s anime. ^^

I really like For My Dear..., especially the build-up in the second pre-chorus. ^^
When I listened to the original version of Two of us for the first time I was surprised how happy it sounds despite those lyrics.

I showed one of those Live Collections on youtube to a friend of mine who is aware of jpop but didn't know much about it other than Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Perfume, Koda Kumi and Utada Hikaru. He had no idea Ayu had elaborate concerts, for example.

He was really impressed about how much she looks like a completly different person depending on the mood of the performance, as her whole body language and overall energy changes. He said it didn't even feel like the same artist on some videos.

I found that really interesting.

^Back in the day when I watched the A MUSEUM digest on the Memorial address DVD my mom thought they were different people. haha Your story reminded me of that. ^^

https://youtu.be/FVKmbnpTP4Q I’m sure this has been posted before, but this is a video from CDTV of the top 100 best selling Japanese singles of the 2000s! Ayu features 9 times, Utada has 7 and Namie only 1 (which really had me shook lol). Nice to see lots of positive comments about Ayu from the Japanese too!!

There is this whole myth that Namie was topping the charts those 25 years straigh, what is pretty far from the truth :P

Edit: Damn! The Glay's vocalist body language really reminded me of early years Ayu

Namie wasn’t popular during the early 2000’s her peak happened during the 90’s. Then from 2008 onwoards.

Just watched the Green PV for the first time in ages. What a PV! I love how gorgeous n HD it looks!

^It's bizarre how much hate it got when it was first released.

I don't know about the PV, but lawdy the strings in that song are silky smooth

I've been sleeping on vogue for the longest time and I'm only now appreciating the beauty of this song.

vogue is such an amazing song, I find myself humming it or singing it at random sometimes lol I also like rearranging the Duty tracks on a playlist where I'll put the trilogy in order then SURREAL right after.

Edit: Just have to add that recently I've really gotten into listening to her instrumentals when I was never interested in them before. But with good quality headphones, I can pick up so much in the music I wasn't hearing in the regular versions. Right now I'm really loving the instrumentals of monochrome, SURREAL, WHATEVER version M, alterna, and Mirrorcle World. I wish there was one of Ladies Night, because that's one I'd love to hear just the music of.

Yesss!!! I have been doing this too lately, like just over the past couple months. It never interested me before. But I've been enjoying listening to the instrumental tracks and finding new nuances in the music.

WHATEVER is one I particularly like to just listen to.

I like listening to instrumentals too! It was Hikaru's Colours that got me interested in instrumentals. The only thing that bugged me in comparing Colours to Ayu's intrumentals is the backing vocals but I guess that can't be helped.

I've not listened to the Whatever instrumental so will have to do that.

I also love this piano instrumental of Surreal:

The trilogy?

^ vogue -> Far away -> SEASONS

They were released a month apart from each other and had interconnecting covers and PVs.

walking proud is such a masterpiece

The arena tour performance of it with the tissue dancers, where she starts tearing up...so freaking fantastic!!

^ agreed! :love

A museum, arena 2003~2004, My story tour, and miss understood tour

This is my absolute favorite group of concerts she’s released.

They all seem so natural, not forced or anything. They just all work imo.

She looks so happy.

Even back in her first tour and CDL she had such presence, even if she wasn't fully confident. Those were her first real forays into big stage productions and I think they really perfectly balanced her natural presence with high production for the show.

I wish they would finally release the My Story and Secret tours on blu-ray. They're so good and I really want to rewatch them in high quality.

I've never actually see the (miss)understood tour and it's my favourite album. Think I'd need to buy it on Blu-ray though.

I really love her rendition at AT05

Does anyone know where I can find an english translation of æternal?

Btw, listening to TROUBLE in flac, I'm loving the whole album more and more. I almost forgot what a difference listening to her music in high quality makes.
I actually really am liking "The way I am" now, when I originally found it a bit bland.

^Translations are linked on the first page of the third TROUBLE thread. :)

Line stickers with ayu's dogs

https://i.imgur.com/bhM4faGl.jpg

I have asked before, but I haven't seen a response. Maybe it is the dumbest question on AHS in 2018, but nevertheless:

How are you guys pronouncing 'aeternal'? Like 'eternal' (I say it like this)
But every other song on TROUBLE starts with a w, so I was wondering if I should pronounce aeternal like 'waternal', 'weternal' lol.

From wikipedia:
She probably picked this because
I guess the idea was that she got old :B

But would need an official source saying the song's name. Maybe your theory is right considering the other tracks.

Isn't æternal an old way of writing eternal? Nevertheless, I say "eternal". Also, I call W "double" cuz iirc that's what the letter as an abbrevation stands for in Japanese and it also sounds better, tbh.

I most likely pronounce the æ like ei/ai just for the reasons that I know this letter from the Icelandic alphabet. It's probaly the wrong way to pronounce it but I'll stay with it :D

is this LOVE? is amazing.

Omg yes, I live for this piano version. It's so deliciously depressing and melancholic. I also love the FLY HIGH piano version from that album.

Seriously. Everything about this song is perfection. The composition, the arrangement, the quality of the production.

Also, I find this track to be a truly fascinating take on the concept of love. Usually the moment one realizes they are in love with someone is fueled with anticipation, hope, possibly a sliver of anxiety but in a "happy-go-lucky" sort of way.

However, is this LOVE? is really groundbreaking in that love is realized precisely at the time all hope is lost. Instead of being the start of a dream, it is the start of a nightmare. The world as you know it, the world that you perhaps took for granted but felt so comfortable with, begins crumbling around you, and you and your emotions descend into chaos. The music video reflects that remarkably well.

I just love that dichotomy between the emotion you normally associate "falling in love" with someone, and the horrid reality of this fear-filled situation. Nothing is as it seems, and nothing is as it should be.

The arrangement itself too is eerie, frightening, distressing, angry, and as I already mentioned, complete chaos - all of which accompany “love” but are rarely expressed or talked about, which is why it makes so much sense that Ayu is confused upon sensing all of this, questioning the definition of love. It’s completely unexpected that after hearing so much about “love,” that it’s literally the opposite of what you imagined your heart to feel upon discovering it. "This... this terrible, terrible feeling... is THIS love??"

It's brilliantly deep, and I feel I haven't quite been able to express just how marvelous this track and it's take on "love" really is. It deserves a proper thesis-style academic analysis paper, but I’ve kind of just vomited pieces of its genius here for sake of time.

It’s a perfect example of how a track can really embody and enhance the subject matter of its lyrics.

yes yes and yes, Ive been waiting like ages now :headache

I need that Game performance at My Story tour in HD, Ayu was so fragile looking like you a young beauty being chased by a bunch of hot dancers, love it and shes hot :P

I keeping wishing that old stuff will get rereleased in HD but it never happens. I NEED the Dome Tour on blu-ray. I was hopeful that avex would do some kind of rerelease of Ayu's albums or concerts for the 20th anniversary but nothing so far.:shrug

Some old concerts started from AT2006 were rereleased on BD. I think that's all that we can get

yeah they should include Arena Tour 2005 and Asia Tour 2007 in the list

Did they improve the video quality of older performances for the 50 singles live collection?

abottchen is back!:luv2:luv2:luv2

Oh yeah, "is this LOVE?" is love. When I got into Ayu around 2005/2006 that song was (and in a way is to this day) my most favourite pop song ever. I even unfolded the small booklet on a shelf to emphasize my exuberant ardour for this masterpiece back then :tired

They did The Way I Am too.:)

Ayu has sung a lot of songs that have never been performed but she forgets it was every time... Although, I prefer she to not sing the song rather than she performs it but doesn't get to the DVD like plenty of TA TOUR songs (we don't know yet, that's true...)

Even if it's snippet of remix I love it.

This is nice! And I hate Hbya, lol.

I always loved the Sweet Season one too, but I don’t even listen to it cause o get pissed it’s just a tease.

This guy has talent. If all those remixed versions are really his or he uses samples.

Yeah, most of them are just a tease. But there are few in full version. If ayu made ayu trance with this guy, they could make wonders. :yes

:shakehead Can't believe there's no rips yet of the concerts from Trouble.

I can't get over how A Song for xx and LOVEppears are so drastically different in sound yet they're only 10/11 months apart lol

omg you definitely need to! it's an AMAZING concert.

this drastic change in her sound always amazes me. i wonder what made her change it so fast. i wonder if it's because she wanted something more "modern" since ASFXX sounded kinda dated.

we can listen to some elements from it on alternative mixes of WHATEVER and immature so I wonder if she wasn't satisfied and decided to switch her sound while recording LOVEppears.

Same here

i dont know where to post this but did anyone seen Timmy's status?

what happened to Hayasaki Yuya?? hes also AHSer, I believe many us also be frien him on Fb

He was diagnosed of leukemia from 4th august and passed on 15th, but he passed on peacefully and happily. Please pray for him.
AHS will miss him, won't we ?

thank you, if only i knew... saw his status on Wednesday thought noting was wrong :cry:cry

Can you please find and post me the link on hayasaki's supposed final update before passing away?

Wait, what?

That's honestly so sad :( He was such a nice member of the forum so I can only say that I hope he didn't suffer.

"The lovers look so happy
Holding hands and walking along
As if everything is going well
That’s how it looks like
But only they know the truth"

Love these lyrics from ayu. appears is so well written, one of my favorite older ayu tracks :heart

I love that line too, but the translation doesn’t do the original justice. I translate the phrase as such, taking effort to preserve the poetic beauty of the original Japanese lyrics:

It is because the lovers are walking hand in hand (eh), seemingly ever so happily, that it appears everything is going well, (right?). But the truth is, save for the two of them, nobody knows.

I find it especially important to include the word “appears” as it connects more directly to the title of the track, and further imbeds the connotation of it being a “facade”. And actually, I never understood why it was called “appears” until I interpreted that line in that way. Originally I thought the title referred to something showing up, becoming visible - when in realty, it speaks on appearances, the way things look to the eye (but potentially are a lie).

Wow, thank you for that! Your translation made me appreciate it even more.

It's funny to see it, because I think Japanese and Portuguese thinking are somehow similar lol

When I saw appears translation, I understood this specific meaning immediately, but now thinking of in English, it's not that clear.

It's the same in spanish :)

I always thought it was appears as in "showing up" too. I never thought of it that way until now. Nice translation. The more exposure I have to the Japanese language, the less satisfied I am with translations I find on generic sites. I always like to see the interpretations of the forum members here.

I really like these lyric discussions. I've been trying to slowly collect the translations of Ayu's songs, and it's always so difficult when various websites contradict each other.

I really like the Ayu translations on eneabba. I mostly go there for lyrics but since it doesn't get updated anymore, there are no translations for recent albums.:(

^ If you're looking for a new source of Ayu lyrics, I find that this is the best: http://shinitakashi.blogspot.com/199...is-lyrics.html

Even have stuff for other artists as well and they're always very updated.

^ that one has been my go to site recently! I find that they provide the best quality over all the others.

https://lynnetmedia.com/projects/ayu/

This one is also good.

Oh, yeah, no it definitely doesn't mean appears as in just pops up suddenly. It always meant appears as in it seems like something, but isn't.

That's always the problem with translations; they are usually much too direct and don't pick up the nuance of the language. If something in a translation sounds weird or seems off, it's usually because it is.

Do you know if that's the meaning behind the album name LOVEppears - "it seems like love"? I read an explanation once a long time ago but I forgot what it was.

Yeap, this is the explanation. Something that seens like love.

it's sad to say but I find Hikki's music much more refined than ayu's now. it's strange I really started to love all about her only few years ago. all songs Hikki has ever released are so well done and unique while ayu has a lot of 'filler' songs. I'm so sorry but I can't differ some her songs released after Party Queen.

^It's a bit unfair to compare almost anyone's discography with Hikki's and say hers ir more refined. Hikki has always been way more a musician that Ayu ever tried to be. But Ayu can perform circles around Hikki on the other side.

^ yeah, like I’m a Hikki fan, but her live performances bore me to tears. Even though she writes the songs, I don’t feel a great deal of emotional connection. I’m also not a fan of a lot of her more recent stuff though I enjoy hatsukoi more than fantome.

I actually think that CREA songs can stand up to any of Utada's songs.

IMO Fantome was an album planned to reintroduce her to the public, so its safe as fuck. Hatsukoi is on the run to be my favorite :P

But yeah, Hikki cant perform and her live singing is painful

I think Ayumi and Utada were the most close to each other musically speaking when RAINBOW and DEEP RIVER were released; both albums released on the same year and both experimenting with "ethereal" sounds.

It's also hard to compare someone who literally was born into a musical family vs. someone who was and had nothing as far as the entertainment world was concerned.

Agreed! I love Utada to the moon and back and she will forver be my "First Love", but her most recent stuff is rather dull.
I was hoping she'd stick to R'n'B after the release of her English Album This Is the One, which I genuinely loved. Somehow the American side Utada has more spice.

Hikki and Ayu are so different, the only thing they have in common is that they're both Jpop queens lol

And they both have hiccups in their discographies. Of course Ayu has some, she has more albums too.

I never understood why people are so amazed with Hikki. For me, her songs are very boring. I like some of her songs and that's it. Nothing special for me.

y'all a song is born finally hit me omg. a masterpiece. finally i can stop talking shit about it now.

LOL. That happened to me a few years ago as well. I think listening to it with the lyrics really helped, especially in context with the rest of I am...

This is kinda sad that all anticipation of new album is over

Will be pretty quiet here for the next months.. only first few tour dates will be really interesting with setlist stuff and possible photos.

^We will still got the POM and TA broadcasts :P

^True, can't wait for those.

about the hikki vs ayu discussion - you forgot that Hikki has like half the albums ayu has. Also, i think both women respect each other very much and we should so too.

^Having an opinion doesn't mean being disrespectful, though.

I grow tired of Hikki songs really fast it seems, I do have my favourites, though.

Honestly, there's as much "wrong" with Hikki as there is with Ayu. It just applies to different aspects.

I don't care what y'all say but Colours was THAT BITCH. That album reinvigorated my love for Ayu and she was serving SO MANY looks that era. I don't know if it was Tyson with his American D but she was killing it. Even the premium showcase live. If it weren't for the heavily edited vocals, that concert would have been my FAVOURITE. The use of the stage, the lights, her costumes. Ugh. I need that Ayu to jump out again.

There's nothing wrong with preferring one artist over the other, recognizing which artist is stronger in one area while the other is stronger in another.

I always hated the argument "you can't make comparisons" - sure as Hell you can. They are both entertainers. Japanese music entertainers. No two things you generally make comparisons between are exactly alike, so using the argument "they are two different things that can't be compared" is just horse shit.