I really like these!

They obviously shot them in London - great idea.

wow at first I thought someone made the thread for when they would come out...LOL
They look awesome!
Now gimmie the photobook :D xD and previews of the songs :P

I think the covers are great! Again CD only could have been better but the CD+DVD is awesome in my opinion.

I pretty much agree.

They're a bit underwhelming but still nice

I don't like the way they added the text on her face in the cd+dvd one though lol. And her mouth looks a bit odd in the cd only one. But yeah overall I like them :yes

They are decent covers... I mean, CD only is good but lacks the Rn'RC logo, and CD+DVD it's pretty cool for the whole British thing, but still Ayu's expression isn't her best.

Still, more natural than recent covers, and with a nice rock & British feeling

she looks great on both versions of the cover!!! *-*

I think I like it slightly better than next level..

If someone told me that the CD only cover was Ayu I wouldn't have believed them. Still good covers though! Now for sure I'll get the CD+DVD version.

Great! I really like them!
They look more like 'candid' type shots.... like they didn't do a huge amount of photoshop...
I love the design of them!

Very cool covers! I like the CD+DVD one more, but they're both pretty neat. I was expecting the covers to have a British theme. XD

I'm quoting myself xD
I love everything in them - design is cool, font is nice. Her facial expressions... There were worse than them earlier. These aren't bad. I can look at them without bad feeling ;)

I thought her look will be more "rock" instead of being cute.......
a little bit disappointed because i really hate her innocent and dead-looking eyes in the CD only cover....

i like the covers but they don't go along with rock and roll circus. of course, us being ayumi hamasaki fans we know that she went to london to do some album stuff and the covers are from a photoshoot she did there, but really, anyone walking by in a music store and picking it up will be like "what the hell does this girl in a phone booth looking "super kawaii desu ne" have to do with rock and roll, or a circus?

Where are these covers 'founded', on TA site??
there not yet on avex site...

yes.its on TA site.amgel*ayumi found it out first

cute but... for an album cover is really a bad idea
this is so nothing
it just like issue for Magazine

I love both, but the CD+DVD one has weird title placement.

i don't really like ayu's facial expression on the CD only, but the CD+DVD is gorgeous! :heart overall, really nice covers!

Love the CD only. Hate the CD+DVD.

Agreed. I dont see anything resembling or insinuating a Rock n Roll Circus with the covers. Forget the setting, even the energy level of the pics is too low for a rocknroll album. The lollipop bow tie picture wouldve been a better choice. Regardless, CD + DVD is lovely and will be the version I buy. CD only is weird.

I love them both, but I feel like she could have done them in a studio in Japan. Ayu, if you're gonna fly somewhere for your CD cover, take ADVANTAGE of it please

Wow, she looks soooo nice! :D

OMG I Love both covers! I LOVE THEM OMG! THANKS!!!

THIS. These are just not cutting it for ALBUM covers, sorry. The CD+DVD one is okay, though I find the text and red bars really tacky. The CD-only one is just... gross. She doesn't even look like a human? I don't like where it's cropped either, and let's not even get into the fact that it looks like something I could have taken with my crappy camera, not with a professional camera...

For single covers or a magazine, this would have been okay, but for album covers... Nononononononononononononononogodno I'm disappointed and want to cry. :(

Hmm, I like them. I can't decided which cover I like the best, but I do like both of them. :)

You should cry then :O

-------------------------

I personally think the covers are better than NL :O

they get the job done

This is a feeling i get from more ayu covers, like Sunris/Sunset .. those were really dissapointing after going to such a wonderfull location.
She could have shown allot more of the Punk/Rock Vibe that London has.
I'm not hating these covers, but she could have done so much more with it

I'm hoping whatever the put on the lid of the box takes advantage of London mroe

I'm OK with the covers. Not as happy as most other people, haha. They'll probably grow on me, they're just not instant love.

Not sure which I prefer, though I'm liking how much British theme there is to this album (probably because, being British, it's great to see how much British there is on a cover for the Queen of J-Pop) :D The hat, the old style British phone box......... :D

The CD+ DVD cover reminds me of the style of pics cam*****s take of themselves ^^;

The thing is, the English "mood" coulda been captured in a studio. Doing it on-location, she would have had to have a landmark of some kind in the background, and that would have been less than congruent with the album title anyway. I think they're English "enough" really.

But I do agree with some other people's sentiments that these would be great as magazine shots, but they are pretty underwhelming as CD covers. It's becomiing increasingly obvious that Ayu doesn't really know what she wants anymore beyond a vague idea... Something like "RAINBOW" or "I am...", their covers came about because Ayu had a very specific idea in mind. Since then, I feel like she's just taken random photos and let everyone else pick the design and treatment.

These covers are good insomuch as they're simply inoffensive in almost every way. No risk taken, no imagery, just ayu and the title. The fact that those red bands are there at all is very different, and it's such a TINY thing that's really mostly pointless. The fact that all the text is readable is fantastic. It shouldn't be fantastic.

There's much more that could have been done with this idea and probably any of the undoubtedly many photos taken, but they decided to play it safe - This time they did it right and finally followed BASIC graphic design rules, so good for them. I just hope that when the next album comes along, they actually take some conceptual risks.

i actually liked the both of it... haha~!

The CD+DVD is so ****ing cute! I love it.

The CD on the other hand is ugly. I love the whole design but that facial expression HAS TO GO!

Anyways, I'm pleased.

Like wat deli said, I'm always hoping for some epic covers like Duty, I am. . . or Rainbow, but my dreams don't seem to come true. I miss the days when ayu have ideas on her shots. But netherless, I still quite like these 2 covers, not bad, the CD+DVD version is so cute!

Eh...

Seriously, what happened to good covers like I am... and RAINBOW? :no

In some way, it got (miss)understood feeling, which is my favorite album, which means this is gonna be ********* good album. Amen.

that's a really good point. These covers are actually strikingly similar to (m)u :O

BTW, WHAT are the LOLLIpop pics? Could someone post a link or the pic here? I may have missed this. Thanks


YEAH! I like the CD + DVD cover-best though her face look a little wied there. Its like the bottom of her face is smaller. Wierd camera angle maybe (like when you shoot yourself with your cellphone and get a really big forehead) only here her forhead is normal. But the overall effect is nice, sh looks kinda like a doll. :)

The CD only cover looks fine to me. She's really pretty there, but there's nothing aspecial about it. I like the look, but I don't like the hat.

So I think overall I vote for CD+DVD cover (even though this isn't a poll).

yeah similar to (m)u in a sense that most people hated the CD-only cover LOL

They're from a PV, check the Celebrity News for TA blog posts from March

Think about it, they're close up head shots that she flew to a foreign country to shoot ((m)u was done in NYC, R'n'RC in London)... It's not unprecedented in Ayu's discography.

I cant wait for HQ covers :D these look awesome and I loove ayus little hat!

Hmmm...contrary to what many have preferred, I will go with the CD-only cover, which IMO is decent at most :shrug

Photoshop is quite evident in the CD+DVD cover, and 'Ayu' looks like a porcelain doll to me :(

EDIT: And since Secret and RnRC covers were shot by the same photographer, I would say Secret's cover 3X> RnRC's.

I think that hairstyle makes her look a lot older too. Well, more her age, I guess. Compare these next to NEXT LEVEL. On NEXT LEVEL she looks young and fresh and her she kind of looks old and confused. lol

^ She looks old in NL's cover too. Why can't she do away with 07-now hairstyles and bring back memorial>m(u) hairstyles again? :(

^You think so? I think she actually looks younger on NL's cover than MY STORY, (m)u, Secret, or GUILTY. xD

For me, I'd prefer a cover for this album shot in the studio. (I'm not a fan of outdoor album cover shoots.) But... the main thing making this cover bad for me is really the hairstyle and the expression.

I'd like the CD+DVD a lot more of RnR Circus was written the same way on it as the CD only and not in the middle of her face. XD

I should've expected these, since it's the pictures we've seen for a while. XD But it's great to see the official covers! As usual, I really like them! :)

Thank you so much for posting!

I think she looks younger on R'n'R C Cover xD

I was expecting something totally different for the covers. BTW I like them, especially cd only, but I'll buy cd + dvd of course xD

I like them 'cause she looks more natural than others, not diva-ish style xD

I noticed that haha, but it's also freakishly coincidental how the CD-only cover for both seems to make Ayu look weird on a whole new level, and hated by the general community as well XD

I'm glad the (m)u cover was brought up. I forgot how much I didn't like those covers when they first came out. Now they're kind of endearing and I like them. I still find the CD only to be absolutely... unflattering, but I don't mind it now. I hope the same happens with these covers.

btw about her hair... I'm sorry but I really loathe the hair as well. Sure it's cute and all but lol it's just... I don't know, unflattering on Ayu? She needs some REAL hot hair like in 2006 or something. Ever since 2007 her hair has been a big bleh

I get this too, She looks really pure on the CD+DVD version.

But if you look at the ViVi DEji Deji pictures, then i think the pictures in the Guitar store or on the bridge in front of the Big Ben just fit Better.
It's not bad for ayu to look like a Diva because she is a Diva (without the adittude) :P

WHOA! They are AWESOME! I love them both, but I prefer the CD + DVD ver.

Finally something beautiful after the disaster NEXT LEVEL covers were. (this is just my opinion!)

AHH! I LOVE THEM :D :love
I was so surprised when I saw this thread when I logged in I was like :O IT CANT BE! :D
The CD+DVD looks better than CD only but they both look really really good, muuuch better than a lot of her other covers in my opinon :)
And with these covers, the title of the album (which used to bother me ALOT) now seems a lot better :D

Hmm.. well.. at least they are better than the NEXT LEVEL'S

I like the concept of the covers, but something about the way her face is photographed strikes me as odd or unflattering. They're not bad "what were they thinking?" like the (Miss) understood covers, but my first impression is that these aren't as great as they could have been. Oh well. Since I like the style and colours I could grow used to these, unlike MU.

i like it. i agree its so much better than NL. the CD only looks weird to me but i think its the lighting. overall <3 them

Yeah I love the london look so much guys ! I prefer the cd+dvd but on the cd I love her strange expression ^^ Good covers really really good ! Marvelous covers marvelous previews : marvelous album? =D

Her expression in the first photo is odd and reminds me of (miss)understood even though this shot isn't as up close to her face as (m)u was shot. The second cover is cute, but she looks almost like Kaela Kimura. At least that was my first thought looking at it how close there is a resemblance there.

I don't hate the covers or even dislike it, but I don't LOVE them either. I think it shall grow on me. I'd much prefer CD+DVD cover over CD only. :)

yay covers! ^^

she looks so young and cute.. but what's with her mouth..?
but overall I'm pretty happy with these covers :)

I don't like the only CD, I don't like the facial expression.

but I REALLY LOVE the CD+DVD, very cute ♥ ♥

cd+dvd is better than the cd only. :love

I was expecting something different too, but I like them :). I like the CD+DVD better, as a lot of people do also. I had no idea she was going to choose the phone booth photos for the covers.

CD Only is amazing <3

more ayu in sparkle hair. :( she looks so gorgeous in black.

yay! back to the simplicity album covers...
I really love both but CD+DVD gets more love lol

I would have prefered the lollipop shoot for the covers [2]

how come her site hasn't been updated with the covers? :/

It takes them a while to update the site, but they're from TA so they're real

your avatar is so much better than the real CD+DVD cover =P

I'm a bit disappointed though. I was expecting AMAZING covers this time. -__-

Thanks Grace :)

I'm sure you've probably been asked already but I only went through every other page. Would you be so kind as to do that for the HQ shots when they come out please? I love the covers as they are, but my first thought with the CD+DVD one is it would be awesome if the title were off to the side. You did a great job! I really love your cover. :)

Yeah, I feel ya on that one. But I think she may have flown there more for the photobook...?

i love them! thanks for the news.

I definitely agree.
I have always wanted those photos to be the cover ever since I saw them...

:yes

This is what the cover should be.

I like the CD+DVD version more but her eyes look a little...odd???

And the CD only cover looks soooo cheap. It's looks like it was made by an amateur xD!'

But either way, thanx for the covers! That was really fast :D!

love the covers!! :luv2
she's soo adorable!

CD+DVD = 10+++

CD's pose it's. Npo comment. I want to cancel my preorder and turn it into CD+DVD

Ayu's albums covers will always and always have lovers and haters! lol

IMO, these covers are among the best ones she has ever done!

Guys, the lollipop pictures are PV screenshots, not a photoshoot. They never were and they never will be, they weren't even going to be album shots EVER

^ Nobody said they were, people just said they wished they could have been album covers. XD

WAAAAAAA!!! I'm loving them too much!!! her expression is just weird in CD only, but CD+DVD is just stunning and amazing!! I want a cover for thiiiiis~~~ >.<

Well I'm getting both, and I like both, now I can't wait to see the box design... the fact that they didn't update the box desing is maybe because Ayu is not in it maybe...

so happy!!! I like them so muuuuch *-*

^
^I think this one fits it better, but that's right, this lollipop pics would have been awesome as a cover !

off-topic : yuki_unmei, where is the gif in your sig from please ? (or anyone else :D)

^from AT07 credits, truehappiness made lots of them here :D

I really like the CD+DVD cover... but the CD only don'T looks really good.

She looks strange in the CD-only, but the DVD one is nice. Of course I knew the graphic "artists" were gonna screw them up in post production, but I've come to live with that by now, so it doesn't bother me much.

The album covers definitely are not what I was expecting for such a different album title. Her expression is weird on both covers... maybe it's the lips? Eyes? Overall, I'm not liking the covers.

i like them but we've pretty much already seen the pictures >.<

Finally!!!
She looks great ^^
and natural!!, I think now, i can forget the covers of sunrise sunset a bit ..xD
I like more CD + DVD

I like them, but she looks cute in the CD ver. :D
the cd+dvd has a weird smile lol but its good too. Doesn't beat Secret tho :P

I think they are easily the coolest album covers I've seen
from her, besides the Secret covers.
Especially the CD+DVD!
I can't wait for the box set cover...

she's still doing the fish mouth thing!!!! wtf ayu?! LOL

With these covers, I think people should've known what they were going to get since she basically said "We went to shoot the album covers in London and here is the shoot!"...

And a bunch of people actually called the red telephone shoot as the cover shoot! (Woo!)

I guess I just feel like people were expecting something... different when we were basically told "This is what the cover will probably be like." in a ViVi diary, haha.

I actually don't think she is... that's just how her lips are....

Thank you so much~

The CD-only cover is without a doubt the better one. Who puts text on the artist's cheek when there's a much better space for it in the line on the left-hand side... WHERE YOU PLACED IT ON THE CD-ONLY?!

Ugh.

YES.

I second the request for you to do this when the bigger ones come out, please and ty. :D

I like the CD+DVD cover more than the CD cover, but the CD cover looks kind of cheap. Not the picture, but the way they added her name and the lines around it.

What I'm super curious about now is what the new songs will be like. I wasn't TOO fond of the NL cover (liked it but didn't love it), yet I LOVE the album. I hope I love RnRC as much as the cover :D

Can't wait to make a wall out of the CD+DVD picture! Please Kaz, change the official site's layout now!
It's funny but this cover definitely gives me back the feeling I had when I imagined the cover. A head shot, a bit blurry and dark on some parts, something red (it was the font actually). I'm also glad we can't really see ayu's awful haircut (I love the shape of her hair, it's just that it is too voluminous).

CD+DVD verison one looks nice! I am glad that I preorder that one. I like the close up pic of ayu on that cover.

"Fish lips" isn't just an insult for "ugly" looking lips or weird expressions with the lips or mouth..... She's DEFINITELY not doing fish lips here. Fish lips are whenever your mouth is slightly open, with your lips rounded a little. It's a type of pout.

^ i never said her lips were 'ugly' and it definitely wasn't an insult. please don't make assumptions. i'm glad i get attacked just for stating my opinion and oh....did you miss the part where i said i LIKE the cover??? i've never said anything mean or hurtful towards/about ayu. i just don't understand why she keeps making those weird expressions in pics lately. it's very awkward and doesn't look natural.

umm no. there are plenty of pics of her from the past that look nothing like that and i'm not talking about her lips in general. ayu has beautiful lips. i never said she had fish lips. lately, she's just been making weird expressions with her mouth. like pushing them out too much or pulling them across her teeth and making the corners of her mouth look strange.