at least avex explained what really happened :yes now, i just want a great single and cover :D

At least avex bothered to apologize. Still, a third song would've been nice. Just hope it's on the next single.

God, to see her say that, I'd LMAO all day.

Well avex did explain what happened... Which is good. :yes

If ayu thinks the third song isn't ready, then it's OK. As a great performer and composer, I believe in her judgement and her final decision. :)

yeah. at least they explained. but their explanation was like "the plan changed". we KNOW that the plan changed. DUH! anyway, i really do hope this will be a single with great perfection so that i will buy it!

Something's up...

1. It's clear now that Ayu's rushing to meet the release date.
2. Ayu's releasing a single when she's still touring, especially weird since her summer singles always has lots of promotion.
3. Ayu hasn't released anything in June for five years.

I have two theories about this. Just hear me out.

I think Ayu would have had that last-week-of-July spot if it weren't for Koda. She's had that for 2002 and 2004, and was a week later in 2005, possibly to avoid SMAP (proved to be a good move). So my first theory is, Ayu made way for Koda. Avex is trying EVERYTHING to lift Koda's single sales, as you can see, and as if 12 singles and quadruple A-side ain't enough, Avex is giving Koda the week in which "H" was released.

Or, my second theory is, since the Jan. 1 release date didn't really work for "(miss)understood" or "I am...", for both albums had HUGE falls in second-week sales and never recovered, Avex is targeting the good old second-week-of-December release date again. And to have four singles (as for "(miss)understood") released before then, Ayu has a lot of time to make up. Add to that the fact that "Startin'/Born To Be..." was released earlier in the year than "Free & Easy", "Moments" and "STEP you/is this LOVE?".

Just my two cents.

Obviously Ladies Night ~another night~ is just a remix. It can't interest me at all even though it's rearranged by tasuku. I am even more disappointed. damn...

I can't agree more. She has to leave the best releasing date for Koda, under the pressure of Avex and her recent sales. Avex no longer focuses on Ayu.:grumpy
Well but why not see it positively? Maybe 21/6 is just the right day for her summer single. Whatever the truth is, it is what it is now. Apologize never works to me. All we have to do is wish Ayu luck.:) I still have faith and confidence in you.

all we have to do is to BUY ayumi's singles in Japan and oversea too! come on, buy it and stop downloading illegally!

^ never! i will download and buy =D

BLUE BIRD is a single with 2A or 1A song??

....it has 2 A-sides. Beautiful Fighter and BLUE BIRD. :]

And the remix of Ladies Night..well rearranging. :p

That's the dumbest thing I've heard so far this month.

This too.

Rushing her work to meet a release date? Or what....?

Her tour ends June 11th. I don't see how her single is being released while she's touring. And add to the fact that she's done that before (STEP you/is this LOVE?) I don't see how that's "strange".

So? Then I can say that she hasn't released a single this early in the year (2006 - Startin'/Born To Be...) since Daybreak in 2002. Is something wrong with that then?

Uhh.... No. That's because as I said above, her single was released super-early this year, the earliest in 4 years. Take a look between the time difference of the 2004, 2005 and 2006 singles.
2004: "Moments"->"INSPIRE" = 17 weeks
2005: "STEP you/is this LOVE?"->"fairyland" = 14 weeks
2006: "Startin'/Born To Be..."->"BLUE BIRD" = 15 weeks.

I don't see much difference between these 3 years, especially between 2005 and 2006.

Let's look at your "scenario" (release July 26th), that would be a difference of 20 weeks. That's just way too long between releases.

You don't know how Ayu is still avex's #1 priority do you? Otsuka Ai "Planetarium" which had been announced 1st, had to switch release dates last minute with Ayu's "HEAVEN", which was announced later. To me, that shows that Ayu is still #1 in avex, regardless of whether this importance has declined or not.

That's not the fault of Ayu or the albums. It's because Orcion combines the last week of one year, and the first week of the following year. The figures for "I am..." and "(miss) understood" are for over a week, while numbers for MY STORY, Memorial address etc. are for only 6 days. That's why New Year's sales are always inflated. It doesn't happen to only Ayu, it happens to everyone.

I have no clue what you are trying to say.

If you know that it was released earlier, then why would she still release a summer single in July then? It's pretty obvious that the summer single would also be pushed up as well.

I don't know why you would say that is the dumbest thing you've heard this month, since as far as I know, it is coming out the same week H was released.

If you've been to Japan recently, you would know without a doubt that Koda is Avex's priority right now.

^Didn't seem so to me, but then I was there during the new D-snap campaign. Kodas best album did top all the lists but I didn't see any special promotion for it. The most notable thing was Ai Otsukas latest PV (freinger?) being played everywhere, for example in the big TV screens in Shibuya.

I belive it all depends on who is having their next major release coming when you are there, and also what company related campaings is going on.

Seems kinda bad that Ayu is against BESTs. :/

She'd sell a lot if she did them :p Too bad its against her beliefs and stuff.. I wonder if a BEST really drops sales of anything after it..

Yes, it is coming out on the week H is released. But I don't see what the problem in that is and I don't see what the point in that original comment is.

The quote's dumb imo, is how I feel the speaker is saying. (S)He is implying that since avex wants to "try EVERYTHING" to increase Kumi's sales, they have to resort to releasing the single on the week H was released (plus along with the 12 singles, 4A etc.) Please, as if Japanese people actually remember the exact week when H was released and as if no avex artist is allowed to release on the same week as Ayu's past releases (because if they did release it on the same week, avex is just trashing Ayu and supporting other artists, and the world will come to an end.) :(

Ayu still gets priority/importance in how much is spent on her concerts, PVs, etc. no? Don't get me wrong, Kumi is getting/does get a lot more promo, compared to let's say 2 years ago. But I still think avex's main interest is with the sustainment of Ayu's revenue as it is still the largest even if Kumi' sales have skyrocketed.

EDIT: Also, she's most likely going to have the honourable last slots at the a-nation concerts. Unless they switch Kumi with Ayu around, then I'm pretty sure Ayu still has priority over Kumi.

But that's before Koda's huge popularity boom, so avex's priority has shifted since the half year.

To be honest, now does seem like a good time to release another BEST album...it's been 4 years since her last BEST...but I don't really think she's that fond of them...

Yes, that's very true. Promotion for Kumi is everywhere right now; I haven't really seen much promotion for Ayu except for the D-snap audio campaign. Even my host mom has said that she's seen more of Kumi on TV/street promotion than Ayu. A lot of younger girls apparently like to dress like Kumi now, hmm.

Japan changes very quickly when it comes to promotions/campaigns. Probably right after you left Japan, the D-snap audio posters/advertisements were being taken down already. I don't even see these advertisements in the JR right now. I see more promotion for Kumi/some other J-pop artist right now.

If you think about it a lot, Ayu's been really stable for the last few years... whether or not Koda can live up to that as well if probably what avex is looking at.

I mean, it's like spending millions of dollars on pogs and now they're only worth like a penny. It could just be a fad. Ayu, for instance, was not just a one-hit-wonder. She's consistently putting out good material [yeah I know a lot of people dislike it here but w/e] and she's still selling more than those who are not doing so hot. Just look at ELT. They aren't doing as good as they did in their third year or so at avex, yet they still get the 3rd to last spot at a-nation. Sales don't really say anything about where you will go in a-nation.. probably age though.. except Ayu, who seem to be placed there as a finale :p [Think about it.. is hitomi before ELT? XDD I dunno, but TRF is older than ELT.. and they come after.. and AAA was youngest last year and they went first! :)]

I think with anyone this would happen. I mean, Koda just released something xD By 6/21 you'll be seeing more Hikki and Ayu than Koda most likely since it'd have been almost a month since the last Koda release :] Everyone seems to have their time in the billboards and etc in Japan :3

i don't care and i will buy this for sure...
i'm getting really excited..i love all preview of the song especially beautiful fighters and ladies night...hopefully the PV, cover and package will be a GREAT one

True, but I think the number of songs you perform does. Ayu has always and will most likely for this year as well still perform the most songs out of all the artists in a-nation. (she gets the most time on DVD too).