GAME, the b-side/whatever you wanna call it is SOOOOO much better... lol

The verse melodies are dreadfully boring; and the music arrangement was awful. I do like the chorus to an extent but I just prefer Ayu's fluffy summer songs to her hardcore rock ones. And I agree with the comment about GAME. It's way better than INSPIRE lol

^
I instead always found INSPIRE so sensual and fierce, without being rockish! That's what I really liked about it, it was a summer song but different from the happy, fluffy ones. It's energic in a different way than sugary songs like Greatful Days for example (which I love too, btw, but INSPIRE was so amazingly fresh and irresistable when it was out!).
And I'm not gonna deny GAME is perfection, lol.

Well nothing wrong with differing opinions. I like your take on it, though. I do agree that it's incredibly fierce!

It's funny, how different tastes can be. I love both Inspire and Game, the single is one of Ayu's best imo!
Also the PVs for both songs are great as well. And Ayu with straight black hair... :heart
I'd die for another single (or mini, lol) like that!

^ black hair Ayuma ftw.

And lol, INSPIRE is a really cool song! Better than her standard fare.
I also really LOVE Fairyland <3
Perfect song and PV.

Hehe, really?

I'm a sucker for ballads but the second half of the album feels like a really long ballad in itself, sort of how in MY STORY the last few songs just blend together. I'll give you No More Words, because when I listened to it separately from the album I found it really pretty.

The biggest problem with that album is the stark difference between the singles/pop songs and the "rock" songs. Most of the albums songs (even Daybreak) sound really rough and remind me of demos. The singles and pop songs are very polished and sound great (Naturally especially).
To me it just created this huge dissonance in quality and cohesiveness that the album is unlistenable as a whole. Ayu has albums with different genres in which every song is on the same level (best example is (m)u), so this just ruins everything.

RAINBOW tho... that's her best album from that era. Real me sucks so hard, but everything else on it is what I expected I am... to be from the singles.

LOL... at the time I thought RAINBOW was a poor imitation at what she tried to do with I am... it didn't work and was just all over the place, as with the lead single Free and Easy... its like she couldnt decided what she wanted so just blended everything together into one song... on every song. LOL...

but I find it funny you mention that the songs on I am remind you of demos when RAINBOW rushed right after I am... to the point the title track couldn't even be completed to be put on the album...

Now however I love Rainbow in its own right and is in what I consider the golden age of Ayumi (I am - Memorial Address). She has done no better then this in her career for me... I still enjoy her and like most of the stuff on her albums and what not... but everything for me during those three albums were just... perfection.

Haha, I can sort of see why if you're a fan of I am...
The reason I prefer RAINBOW to it is because I feel like Ayumi didn't know if to make a pop or a rock record and just mashed THOSE together xD
Free & Easy (the shortened version for the lives) is much more a coherent song, the single version is a hot mess.

I know RAINBOW was pretty rushed, but the way they seem like demos is chalked up to arrangements. Still Alone (for example) was gorgeous in its CM, but the end product sounded really bare bones and flat.
Not that it didn't work for some songs -I am... is an example of doing that sound right IMO, but it just didn't do much for me on the other tracks.
RAINBOW was worth the wait, that song is perfect ...and perfectly underrated.

Hm... I used to think that, but now in my mind she has really good albums sprinled throught. The top 3 for me though are (miss)understood, Memorial Address and Duty/RAINBOW. I do love the singles off I am... though.

basically i love every single ayumi album except for love again, there a few songs in her discography i dont like, but i absolutely love inspire and dislike game because it had unneeded auto tune and cheap effects to it

omg you guys have to STOP
INSPIRE is a great song and the performances for it are absolutely flawless and iconic.

I agree that 2 of her best albums are LOVEppears and RAINBOW. I really like (miss)understood, but it has B&D which I can't stand. BTW, we should make a thread where we could post short reviews of all ayu albums, highlighting our favorite songs and stuff.

lmao B&D is amazing

I'd really like something like this!
Anyway, Bold & Delicious was a fucking masterpiece! I love how Ayu shows with it how she can be a sexy and super glamorous diva still doing her thing, without getting seminaked or anything! I don't have anything against using your naked body, but it's such an obvious and unoriginal move, like, I want to get sexy so I get undressed. Boring. Kind of like in Sparkle or Shake It!, Ayu was so sensual and sexy in her own way, without looking cheap at all!

B&D was horrible when i first heard it.... lol
now I love it... LOL... i think it just has this sort of flare to it...
Either I love it because I like it now, or I just LOVE to make fun of it... LOL

B&D is the perfect alarm.
Better than that annoying beep.

Some people should really go back to the gorgeous hair color they had during tour *cough*

I think I'd die :laugh

I always liked B&D :D

I suppose I'm gonna get murdered if I say that my favourite Ayu song is Days XDD

^I love Days, it pictures my situation perfectly when it was released so it's only natural for me to like it lol

I want another GAME, and I love her AT05 costume the white beads showgirl one is so sexy and badass :laugh

It's alright... its really boring to me, just because her ballads are usually really nice and this one was so unlike her.
I LOVE the PV though. When she walks to her friends crying it always gives me the feels :(

Speaking of winter ballads, Do any of you guys find CAROLS unmemorable?

^
I was quite obsessed with CAROLS back then. But know, I think is just ok. She have better ballads.

Even though, is always on my "Ayu winter songs" playlist lol.

I used to love CAROLS, but now I got a bit bored of it.

Yes, although I do enjoy the live version and like Kazeyomi it also goes on the Winter playlist.

I finally got round to popping into Game the other day. I just wanted to see if the UK version of Tales had Ayumi's name on the back and it did! So cool!

I don't understand why songs like November, Like a doll, Petal, etc you know those side-track songs never get popular. I personally prefer them over main songs like Wake me up or Song 4 u...

because they are not as good as the main songs....
:shrug
thought that was easy... lol

but November >>>

LOL... november I never really cared for and the PV just makes it even worse... lol... I just felt like she has a song like this every era and she just needs to step back and be like.
I have totally done this... like 15 times... lets do something else.

November had a PV? lolwut

LOL... wait no!
I was thinking of sweet season... November is amazing... lol

CAROLS is the absolute worst song in her discography.

Ack! and here i though you had good taste (judging by you choices of eye candy, LOL).

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I think the worst song is ASiB. Pure shit.

Oh and my initiate level is now Liar. Such a nostalgic song.

That title belongs to Humming 7/4 :P

I agree 100%

I use to be like that, until i experienced it. LOL

Dearest sucks monkey balls. I really hate that song. I'm impartial on No way to say. And I hated A Song for XX until literally last month, so there is that.

Didn't we already have this discussion where you said my taste in men makes up to my bad taste in Ayu's music LOL

No. The absolute worst is flower garden. Not one redeeming quality.

get out.
lol. I love the ending of I am.

I agree ASiB is crap I guess, the arrangement doesn't do it any good and the duet only made it worse :| but I changed my mind if the song is performed with orchestra, it kinda made it better tho I still can't stand the super high note chorus

CAROLS is great, I used to hate it since the flow kinda different from her previous winter songs but I like it now :)

The thing from Ayu's discography that I hate up until now is Tell All probably, I'm real heavy on arrangement and flow so yeah the song is a mess.

Did you notice this detail about (miss)understood tour?
 

Did you notice, that the entire backdrop, is made up of tiny, sideways heart shaped LED lights?

Yes.

I'm surprised some of you guys hate A Song is born. I much prefer the duet version (KEIKO's wailing is so unf).

Hm, another Ayu song I don't really like at all is criminal. Dear Lord.

I can't choose the worst song in Ayu's discography lol

And tbh I love A song is born, but the duet version sucks x.x

For me it's easy. Her worst song is Happening here. It would be good if she had never covered it.

I used to dislike this song but since 2 weeks I adore it XD but for me the worst is You were !!!!! There is nothing I like in this song .... same for Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~ (boring like the hell) ! I think they are the only songs I don't like in her discography maybe Moon too !

How come no one is mentioning beautiful day?!?
It's such a bad song in every aspect. Boring lyrics, bad melody, really bad English and the worst chorus ever.

^Beautiful Day is generic, but the lyric kinda nice actually although yeah "It's a beautiful day~" over and over is a no

How come I forgot about this song, this song that should have never happen :no

Ah Ah I really like this song ! it's so uplifting/ joyful and I love the arrangements !

It's funny to see the different perceptions of each others on a song :yes

But beautiful day is so cheezy and generic that it's amazing.

Everyone's dissing my favorite songs! D: I'm especially surprised for the CAROLS and INSPIRE hate because I think those songs are gorgeous. I always thought those are like the top favs here but it looks like I was wrong. :O

Oh well, anyhoo. I still hate A Song is born. For me that is the worst thing ever to happen to Ayu's otherwise marvelous discography. Even though the lyrics are beautiful, I still go dizzy every time I listen to it because the song is too long and has a boring arrangement imo. Although there might become a day when I suddenly realize this song is good because this year I finally fell in love with July 1st, and that's because I realized I was able to relate to lyrics so well. :D

I don't even consider Happening Here a Ayu song, it's just some random concert filler. I have it on my iPhone but i never listen to it, it's just so throwaway.

My least favorite Ayu songs would have to be (as previously mentioned) Humming 7/4, A Song is Born, Hanabi, SIGNAL and sometimes Dream On. LOVE Again has so much filler but i don't consider any of the songs bad, i just don't care for them at all (except a few hot songs)

The question is what defines a song as generic ? XD

I totally agree with ASiB, Happening Here, B&D and Beautiful Day.

Aside from those, I'd add HONEY, MY ALL, Born To Be.., Close to you, Beautiful Fighters, Dolls and RED LINE to the black list (specially Born To Be...)

Please don't kill me :thanks:

I still think HANABI is basic as hell and the only time it was good was in a-nation '05.

I love Beautiful Fighters!
its uplifting and fun.

For me... INSPIRE was good, but the PV was so bad that every time I listen to it, I cringe.

I hated B&D at first, but now it's grown on me.

CAROLS is still a great song to me, but I just don't listen to it that often. I love love love the music video for it. <3

I have no idea how someone can hate HANABI. :laugh

I really can't stand HONEY or Beautiful day. Those are the absolute worst songs, ugh.

For me it is easier to name my favourites, tbh I can't even think of my least favourite ayu songs right now.

^ Lol. I just noticed last night.

Same here. I couldn't stand it in its original version. I always used to skip it while playing (miss)understood.
But I started loving it thanks to POWER of MUSIC, and then with the awesomeness of AT06 ~(miss)understood~ performance.
:love

plus 1...

lol... i always pretend that it doesnt exist but because I love A summer best its on there.. lol
Whenever my friends and I are in the car and that song comes up I quickly change it... lol... 'I'm like... it never happened.'

Lol I've been playing HANABI for almost the whole day xD

All this hate for Honey and Beautiful Day...

^ Beautiful Day is ok, HONEY is lovely and kawaii~~~ :heart

cant stand honey either. It's just sooooo sweet. lol
and HANABI hate?
How can people call themselves fans? lol

I like HONEY when Ayu sing it in live it's really cute & make me happy for the rest of the day. But the studio version is just ok for me.

Hanabi has always been in the shadow of the much superior part 2 for me, and i just happen to find it a borefest honestly. The acapella version she did in some phone commerical was so much better and more emotional imo.

Oh my fucking god, THANK. YOU!
Hanabi ~episode II~ is one of the best Ayu songs for me. The little guitar part is fucking amazeballs.

I do like Hanabi episode 2 more... but without the first part we would have never gotten perfection.

Both HANABI and ~episode II~ are flawless to me so I'm good

^ this! I love both episodes of HANABI and can't pick which one I like more

I can live without Humming 7/4 and Winding Road,and i always skip Beautiful day on (m)u
I was hateing Close to you with a passion but the song kinda grew on me last christmas season.

Just out of curiosity, does she have ANY song title that's not in English?

That one cover song found on A Ballads...

Now that was a good cover
And I usually hate cover songs.

Sotsugyou Shashin! Love that one!! Am I the only one not to care the least for alterna and 1LOVE?

OMG Guy Tang <3

omg is that his name LOL I was dying when I ran across his picture on Tumblr

I love Sotsugyou Shashin as well! 1 LOVE is okay, but like idk it's just okay. alterna I really like though.

^alterna is awesome! I love the drums and the unusual beats the PV even make things better, and the AT06 performance was superb!

SAKURA too. :o

^ And Hana i guess from A Song for XX
Maybe i am wrong

^ Also, I guess! XD
And we forgot about the most important: HANABI and HANABI ~episode II~
:thud

:O You guys forgot kanariya!

Omg I haven't listened to Sotsugyou Shashin in a while! (because I lost the file with a song name in kanji and was too lazy to change the title myself, I'm such a last.fm tag freak :D)

I used to love it sooo much!

Tbh I always kinda like Humming 7/4. I always forget which number it is in the title though XD

LOL... we were just taking about Hanabi!!
You tend to forget some of the words when they become part of you evryday language! LOL...
because sakura, hanabi, hana, and kanariya are all japanese!

And alterna dont dislike it... 1 love is love/hate

my god alterna is spot on PERFECT <3
I also love 1LOVE

alterna is okay but kinda overrated imo

RIGHT!? I never understood the hype, its okay, a bit cheesy tho

I agree. I never really cared for it, but never disliked it.

Yes! He's an awesome hairstylist and he's like a total sexbomb.

Alterna is okay.
I like the video's silliness, but the song isn't anything groundbreaking. 1LOVE is pretty awesome, fiercest rock song evar :P

I dl'd Mirrorcle World and was surprised at how good it is!
I do like Life alot better, though. Both songs would've been perfect on GUILTY.

^ I've always liked imagining Mirrorcle World to close GUILTY, so that we have Mirror as an intro and the full song as an outro <3

^
That would have been awesome. But somehow I really like Mirrorcle World is an indipendent song, just in the single, PV and all. Damn, that was such a perfect single, I just can't explain the love I have for it.

Just saw a Visee commercial on TV and it made me want to re-watch a bunch of Ayu's old ones lol.

Visee's new spokesperson seems to be Rola.

After all this talk about HANABI ~episode II~ I went to go listen to it.

Nope. Still think it's bad song. Can't figure out why everyone likes it. :shrug

Who's Rola?

HANABI ~Episode II~ is kinda the start of "Ayu by numbers" for me...it's somewhat boring.

So ready for some new music!
I find that I become a huge fan and listen to all her stuff when she announces new stuff... lol

You don't wanna know what "rola" means in Brazil :innocent

I dont understand how people don't love H~II~ when all of Memorial Address is some of Ayu's best material ever.

Is it sad that Timmy's rap is one of the only good things in Happening Here's studio version?

This is Rola.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4692/tz0i.jpg

^ she's pretty!

I remember when I first saw Rola in ViVi magazine (about 3-4 years ago), she resembled me ayu a bit... well, I'm glad she's doing very good now :)

Isn't Visee a makeup company? It seems counterintuitive that they are hiding her face...