^EXACTLY! I feel like she tried to do this with beloved, but it didn't work out too well. I mean, hbya was pretty good though!

^ ugh, beloved. It was good at the beginning and then it died. The orchestra version is better i think. But, you can't blame the composer, he's hit and miss. He DID work on ASfXX and we all know how that sounds.

Hbya, despite being stale with emotion, is definitely better than beloved. I agree :P

ASFXX was plagued with dated arrangements, but that can be fixed easily.

beloved is fine just the way it is imo though.

Just look at what A BALLADS did to ASfXX. Magic. also pure bliss.

^That's definitely true!

I don't know, beloved is really a strange song for me.

It's quite bland but sometimes I'm really into the feel to listen it xD

listening to untitled ~for her~ right now, and I think blows beloved out of the water.

Beloved is good, but just weak for me.
Hbyr on the other hand is pure amazing.

When would be hear about the DEC 8 release?
On this sat, it would be officially 6 weeks before DEC 8 so...we should hear about it soon?

^ would be great, but I think two weeks later, near LOVE release

yes, I think it's one of the most underrated ballads.

beloved is nothing like meaning of Love to me. I don't even remember how they sound both. Melody have a very high chance to be one of these ballads.

some say that Curtain call sound bland, but I STILL remember the lyrics, the melody, is simple - but in some amazing way, very memorable (hbya have that too, but mostly because it does have english verses that are easier to catch if you're not japanese. And the PV made it maybe more interesting.)

^ i love untitled~for her~ and Curtain call. they are very simple but i think yet to me they leave something.

i tought Missing is going to be one of those songs i will not really repeat, but after a couple of listens i realized i absolutelly adore the vocals, and with a HQ short version i can say that i'm gonna love it! Already DO!

^ because Missing is actually a power ballad [imo] (fast chorus, very emotional lyrics and vocals) since the "other ballads" are quite predictable. Even Missing sound generic to me, it's pretty memorable.

I am a sucker for every simple ballad she released the last years: untitled, Curtain Call, meaning of Love, beloved...

Curtain Call is one of her best imo.

So easy to catch and listen. And being in the end of NEXT LEVEL makes it carry more meaning.

What I would love is a photobook similar to the one on A COMPLETE. Except this time they include albums and multiple unreleased/unused photos per release :love or they could even like go the extra mile and have Ayu talk about the albums/singles again and how she feels about them 15 years later omg please avex

No recent Ayu ballads jump to mind when I think about which ones I consider her best. I played hbya a few times when it came out, but these days I cringe when I listen to it. But, I'm super excited for the mini!! I think that all of the songs sound great.

I don't think its that hard to do that :P

It's the worst one after Close to you...

Ayu had so many amazing ballads in the last few years.

well yeah for so many people here it's the worst, but honestly even tho i am a sucker for dramatic arangements and variations and bla bla i still think that simple things are beautiful too, you just have to look/listen to them very closelly to find that. i can't say i don't love the powerful ballads she has but i try to appreaciate every single song somehow....most people here want the fancy stuff. Curtain call is very simple, but i find it very clean and sincear, because it doesn't have 25354536 layers of sounds and vocals to hide the main thing. ;)

Love untitled! It has a nostalgic feeling to it and the live version at CDL was so good!

beloved is the worst ballad ever. I mean seriously, I cannot remember it at all. It just drags on and on. Meaning of love is the 2nd worst. Curtain Call the third.

Close to you... I wasn't sure how I felt about it but I actually love it in the Winter time! It's nice to listen to and walk around town with the snow on the ground/falling and look at the lights. It's got a church feeling to it so I like to listen to that one when walking by the church, lol.

And idk what you're on but I think Ayu hasn't had like, any amazing ballads in recent years, except November.

^ I like that church atmosphere in Close to you.

Her last good ballad was JEWEL. muahaha

ayu's last good ballad (not including amazing Missing) was Return Road (if it counts as a rock ballad/ballad).

please don't start again with the different types of ballads, XD J/k

Mmmm, for me her last good ballad was Virgin Road

my last enjoyed ballad was Curtain call.

I enjoyed the ballads on party Queen... HBYR is amazing...

I hated Virgin Road so much. God I could not stand it. The verses were ok but I hated how the chorus was such a drag and so different. I've just finally begun to be able to listen to it due to the tour.

Return Road had a similar feeling as Virgin Road so I didn't think it was that great. It was too "soft" for a rock song.

I am a hard one to please. I just really love the feeling I get when I hear a song and I think "WOW. They really NAILED it. Seriously, this song could not be ANY better." That is why I had been falling in love over Microphone all over again. Because it's almost like all her previous rock songs were leading up to that amazing piece of work.

We diverted into talking about Ayu ballads again? Excellent.

Basically: I like every ballad EXCEPT:
-every asfxx ballad (not counting from your letter or asfxx)
-a song is born (ugh)
-beloved
-hbya

I still think Dearest is her best ballad/maybe even song.

:roflmao

No one enjoyed Virgin Road? That's one of my favorites!

^ I liked it...
the PV was a little melodramatic however...

Melodramatic was glitter/fated and blossom, lol xD. Virgin Road PV is fantastic *maybe because I'm a Tarantino fan and it does look like Kill Bill a little*, but is just a GENERIC ballad. I remember the chorus because of she stands in the video and start to sing (and she looks GORGEOUS), thats why the melody catch my attention, but for me VR is nothing like another ballad.

for the Return Road - yes, this song have something missing in it. I think there is TOO much in the arragment, I don't feel the chorus (the "nani?~~" verses IRRITATES me because it doesn't fit IN ANY WAY in the melody) I only like the "BAM BAM! music break down (BAM BAM XD I don't know how to call it XD I even like the Timmy(?) choirs of AHHHH AHHHHH bam bam bam bam strings) and bridge (is fast and very melodic - I like how "happy" it sound, but as I know the lyrics - and they aren't happy - it makes it more powerfull) But as a full composition, Return Road is the most not-worked out song on Party Queen. It had AMAZING potential (i have exactly the same feeling about the PV) but it's, bam, missing. It's gone.
but still, it's a good song ;) but it could be better ;D I just feel OVERCHARGED with it. Too much.

and calling Return Road a rock ballad it's a little too much I guess XD

I was under the impression that everyone just ate that song up which made me dislike it even more because it could have been so much better... Well what I mean to say is, everyone treated it as if it were just as good as JEWEL or Moments or some of her outstanding works and it just wasn't in my opinion.

I love all these songs so I'm just like eh, haha.

blossom was anything but... lol
the video killed it for me ( vigrin road) ... it was just ridiculous. (much like tarantino movies).. lol

gun slinging robbers who have to kill and blow stuff up... stupid... bonnie and clyde crapyness. lol

my predictions:

11-12-1-2-3/8 - MINI ALBUMS
4/8 - "PACKAGE" or "BOX" with MINI ALBUMS (maybe they will have similar design so it would look good all-in-5) + A BEST III

or 4/8 - "5 realese anniversary collection (or w/e)" - ONE CD with MINI ALBUM SONGS + A BEST III (like 2 cd for A BEST III and 1 cd for mini-album songs)

ooooor 4/8 - NEW FULL LENGHT ALBUM AYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYE (not including MINI ALBUMS)
I would die in laughter.

BUUUUT it's possible they would realese ONLY a BOX with mini-albums on 4/8. With nothing extra. Just in NEW PACKAGE (givememoneynow)
or maybe some kind of DVD with "secret" acoustic session or w/e. To be honest they could surprise us :P

Curtain Call just sounds very sincere. Enough. haha /lmao

I think that, if we're gonna have a full new album, it's just possible in the end of 2013...

PS: I just had a crazy hypothesis now... if Ayu is going backwards with the titles of her future minis?

Like:
"LOVE" from "the next LOVE" of Party Queen
"again" from "do it again" of Love Songs
Then we have Rock'n'Roll Circus, NEXT LEVEL and GUILTY.

I don't count Secret as one of them since it was released at the same time of A BEST 2

All these things would lead up to A BEST 3, which contains songs of all these 5 albums.

Yes, it's a crazy theory.

^Even if it's probably not that way it was indeed an interesting theory! :yes

I only like the end of Virgin Road, that's where it gets interesting for me. When the song is over :/

^ lol... best line ever.

Exactly how I feel with most of ASfXX and A Song Is Born :)

^ leave that song alone... :*(
It didn't do anything to you...
(now if we were talking about ESM or Sexy little things... :lech)

^ I try so hard to leave it alone, but every time I play I am... it pops up, barring me from hearing dearest unless i skip it or... wait for it to finish.
One of I am's two flaws: ASIB and the fact that Endless Sorrow has been dumbed down and a crappy garage band song has been attached to it. Even humming 7/4 is better imo.

More sales!
This project will boost her overall sales a bit...

sounds pretty cool hahaha
I won't mind a mini called DYNAMITE, (no idea what from NEXT LEVEL) and Together or myself hahaha

I'm here for a mini called "sexy little things"

If that theory that some of you are talking about is correct, I hope she doesn't end up releasing 5 minis with these titles:

"LOVE", "again", "2", "myself".... "starting" :P :D

It makes no sense. People think about titles way too much.:thud

it hurts my head...
but it is ayumi, I wouldnt be surprised if she has something planned with these...
I think after the 3rd one we will know.

I should say, I do like a small portion of Virgin Road. That last few seconds with extra instrumental is quite pretty. But, I guess its still the same thing, I really do only like the end of that song.

Oh, don't be rude. It was just a glimpse of inspiration, I guess nobody took their time thinking about this way too much. :P

lol this place needs to spend time somehow till realease by making up things and then getting ourselves dissapointed when non of that happens, it wouldn't be fun otherwise....aaaaaaand this place would be dead most of the time xD

I always go on a state of hibernate. Sleep a lot makes everything run faster! IT REALLY WORKS!

People have been over-thinking it for a while now. It's not just you...:yes

If this is true, then
"Sexy" from "sexy little things"
"call " from "Curtain Call"
"Alone" from "(Don't) Leave Me Alone"

That is indeed a bit crazy theory.


I am curious how the 15th celebration logo will be like.

"call" already exist on Party Queen :P

Why does this have to happen every time she has a new release announced...I am sure you creative people have better things to do than spam AHS.

Can't people just not say every single thing that pops on their mind? How would you feel if every time I felt like taking a dump I'd go on describing what it looked like and how it felt? :thud Seriously... :rolleyes it's not just off topic, it's spamming. There are other threads in which you can be as creative as you want, so plz leave the news threads be, so the rest of us wouldn't have to read nonsense like this. I am sorry it does sound harsh, but this just seems a little too juvenile...And no kotora you're not the only one.

If there is a third mini album, I would like for the title to be something completely original. Not generic like "Dream" or something. I want something really out there, really out of the blue.

^ sadly Ayu's titles have never been that creative~

^ ^^^well you can always ignore that stuff you know? plus if there is going to be any news they'll all get new threads, so don't worry you won't miss a THING.
and honestly i think these kind of threads should be just pure information, locked. LOVE and 'again' has their own threads already so i honestly don't see a reason why THIS should even be open. BUT people like speculating and getting creative. Personally i don't even bother checking this thread cuz if anything pops up as i said we are getting a new thread anyway. And if someting new (doubtfully) will be revealed about this project, someone will probably add that to the first post, i'm sure ;)

There are just pages and pages of the things one should ignore sometimes and some relevant info does get lost in those at times. I agree the news threads should be locked too.

This wouldn't be as annoying if this wouldn't be the 10000th time people are going on about things that make little to no sense and it's always about the titles and the possible meanings behind them. If people do like to talk about it that much they could as well make a new thread...I don't mind them being creative or whatever, but they don't need to do it all the time...

Koumori i don't have a problem with them being there, really, i just expressed my point of view that's all. *shrugs*
i actually did see on some forums this stuff going they had one specific part of the forum just for simply news, and other for pure disscussion. they handled it somehow, if i recal corectly they would just get members PMing them with resourses and info if anything really new pops up and they would make a thread something like that. *shrugs* i guess you just have to find a working system. but since we don't really have die-hard-stans among the moderators who would stalk the forum everyday, things might get missed.

i was just saying, nothing else. It's you guys who run the forum, so, yeah, i'm alright with whatever is the easiest way for you :D

it would be horrible to lock news threads so people can talk about it...
maybe after the news as been posted there could be a thread made just for that and then the regular thread where people talk about it??

but, then that would just mead you would have to make a new locked thread everytime something new comes out...

i ignore a lot of the senseless chatter about titles and what not, some are very good, some go WAY into it. But to ban it from happening is just... wrong. If you dont like it, just skip over it... :shrug
I also understand that it makes it difficult to get all the news you want... Which maybe you can make that special thread editable by certain people? I really dont understand how a forum works or what the rules are for how to make post and what not?

Maybe its something the mods can look into?

I think you're right. I mean, of course I try to ignore it, but this doesn't only happen in this thread, it happens in mostly all threads that should be about news. And to scroll through all this pages just to find something relevant or related to the topic isn't fun.

I don't mind people talking about actual news and sharing their thoughts about the releases. But I see little point in going on and on about what people think about titles as it's pointless and some just won't let go. Is it so hard to believe that Ayu and her team don't spend hours and hours over-thinking about titles. It's obvious as they are usually very simplistic and, mostly song related without an epic background story...

thank you! people = crazy

I also don't mind talking about the actual news, that's why this threads exist. But I find it annoying to read I don't know how much posts with fictional titles and fictional tracklists of fictional future releases. For this kind of things threads like this and this are made in the chat-room.

Amin. My thoughts exactly.

Get the eff over it. If all you want is news, stick to the first thread. Everything is neatly placed there for you to read. I hate having discussion threads and then news threads with discussion in them. Let's all just discuss in the news thread and people quit complaining.

Most of these threads are pretty well updated.

So, there's really no reason why any of you should have to go through the entire thread to search for anything.

Personally, I don't even go through the threads for news. I go to see what you guys are talking about, cause, yes, my life is sad, I think you guys are interesting. I don't even search the thread for that. I go straight to the last page :laugh


Locking the threads would be a horrible disaster. More than one person contributes and posts new things. It's not up to the moderators to do those things. News here is posted by the community, and you can't ban most of everyone from posting while exempting a few others just because you feel there's too much chatter about things you don't want to read about.

:yes

It's actually a very plausible theory.

I'm actually expecting what comes out on 4/8 would be a full album containing the songs from all the mini albums.

And A BEST 3.

Don't throw rocks at me.

LOL, but is unlikely an A BEST 3 yet, because she don´t have a real successful songs to support good sales. Maybe count as "hits" of the new era, Mirrorcle World, Blue bird (already included it in A BEST SUMMER) and Days... but what else?.

Party Queen - how trashy she could be. That is successful because not so many like that style.

Just becuase there's not many songs in that similar style doesn't make it a hit
Out of "BLUE BIRD", "Mirrorcle World", and "Days" I would have to say only "BLUE BIRD" is truly a big hit
"Mirrorcle World" and "Days" were big hits within Ayu's fanbase, but for the casual listener outside the fanbase?
Not so big
"BLUE BIRD" was her most recent BIG BIG hit with Japan
And that was 6 years ago

the Best of doesnt have to be a hit in the charts.
the best of is what ayumi and her team feel is the best in her music disco.

Was Blue Bird her last real hit in Japan? How big was it anyway?

^ if you want to go by sales alone, then together when would be her last one.
900K downloads.

Bluebird downloads was only 750K, but it was her last physical single to sell over 250K

Wasnt S/S a pretty popular song? I think i remember it was certified 3x platinum for 750,000 digital sales

S/S was platinum/double for sales of 250K to 500K... ( there is conflicting reports)

for digital downloads I would consider S/S to be her last huge hit, :yes.
before that would be together when.

Together When and Sunrise were pretty big. Still BLUE BIRD is one of those songs that almost everyone knows.

Even Sunrise/Sunset were marginally huge?
Thats's good to know, I guess. Sunset's such a chliche, sappy song, it's amazing.

The Japanese fans love those ballads, huh?

some songs from GUILTY definitely has some hits, such as Together When..., Glitter and fated was pretty big as well because two songs together was a 30 minutes PV.

Also songs from Secret are definitely good for concerts. ayu has performed Until that Day... couple times in CDL and Tour, audiences like that.

Everyone forget what the song Rule for in NEXT LEVEL? It was a song for a movie, and lots of people talked about it.

So A BEST 3 definitely will be out soon..

Oh Rule? Even some of the people I know here know about Rule. Love that song.

A BEST 3 definitely has some good elements and market, IMO, although lots of people here do not like it.

I think A BEST 3 may have some of her most experimental sounds and also encapsulate a large spectrum of genres? BLUE BIRD, Days, Sunrise are definitely J-Pop-esque. Songs like Mirrorcle World, Sparkle, GREEN are probably standouts in Ayu's discography and even J-Pop (all also with all their PVs directed by the same guy =.=). She's bound to include Startin', progress, Song 4 u --- all having that Japanese game/anime sound.

I think she'll include songs like JEWEL, Together When..., momentum, Marionette, Microphone, Love song...since A BEST 2 wasnt restricted to singles. I mean these are so many amazing tracks post-A BEST 2. Whether the japanese love the or not is one thing, but I feel that A BEST 3 could very well showcase an Ayu that has tried many variations.

I just don't hope to have many versions of A BEST 3.
I will enter in a bankruptcy you know. =B

25th - LOVE announcement
23rd - again
both on Tuesday ^^

maybe we'll get next announcement 27th or this week ^^

sounds very possible :D

She needs an A BALLADS 2, idgaf if people are bored with her ballads 8| BUT i'd want this ONLY if she remade some of the tracks, like she did for half that first compilation album. i'd be okay with getting some kind of compilation album on her 15th anniversary, since she spoiled us rotten with five mini albums lol.

LOL the only thing I'm not looking forward to with A BEST 3 is the endless performances of BLUE BIRD and Days (then she probably won't bother with live tv performances). Those are the songs that are going to sell the album sadly.

i have such a soft spot for BLUE BIRD that even all the performances she'd do of it wouldn't bother me too much. i can't say the same for Days, tho.

Im kinda itching for A Best 3...
Just image the special content... hmmm.. i wonder what it would be...

A BEST 3?

i think she would take songs from her singles which will make 2 discs...
(A BEST incl. "poker face" - "M" and A BEST 2 incl. "evolution" - "HEAVEN")

but i don't think so... because many of them are not that famous...
so she'll maybe change songs like "Beautiful Fighters" or "Life" with other songs - like "Microphone" or "Love Song" or even "progress"...

we'll see ;)