The cover is stunning. I hoped for more remixes though.
And the Plug Air thing is just tremendously preposterous and senseless, a stupid cube that hogs your earphone jack for streaming? What smartphone or even some non-smartphone CAN'T stream WITHOUT it? Why create a mere EXTRA step to complicate things? I can't believe any human being slightly smarter than a rock in their right mind would buy this piece of crap.

love the cover.
I need to preorder this.

PlugAir is such a waste of money. They should've sticked to PLAYBUTTON, which even if you don't use it as a music device, you can still wear it as an accessory to your clothing anytime.

I hate this. As soon as she starts putting out beautiful covers, she puts out shit music. Can we get a nice balance of the two, somewhere in the middle?!

at first everyone was like 'I WANT THIS TO BE TRUE' and now everyone is complaining about how stupid and awful release this single is, the cover and the font.. idgaf about her fonts and i LOVE the cover, she's stunning in it. it may not fit perfectly with the song but ayu and her team decided to use it so i guess that's their view of concept for this song atm :o

nobody asks you to buy this, can we, who are into this release, at least enjoy this? :yes

i just don't get that 'she don't give a fuck anymore' 'avex release this just to milk fans moneys' if she didn't care, she would quit and live her life happily ever after with her hubby swimming in the money she has made already since 1998

...as if they weren't milking us since A FUCKING BEST.

Colours is amazing. bye haters

Hmm, //ABEST, I see what you're saying about her not giving up...

...But I've started to get the feeling that she's putting at least less effort into her recent releases. I wanted Terminal to come out because... like I said before, I'm freakishly immature. But, I can recognize that this release is a bit... lazy.

It doesn't offend me, though. She may not be feeling any real passionate wave of creativity right now, and if that's the case, who am I to judge?

I guess I can see both sides of the story though. In one case, the more releases the merrier. Plus, it's her career, we can't choose what she does. But on the other hand, some fans have been a little let down by her just re-releasing a song that's already been on an album. This plus her recent years of disappointment (such as love and again being put together as one album) just shows a bit of "I don't give a crap" on her part.

I could be totally wrong about what she's thinking. I really have no idea.

But for me personally, she can release all the stuff she wants and I won't necessarily be offended (though I can't make any promises), but I think she could do way better.

It's especially complicated seeing as how lots of people loved Terminal and lots of people did not love it...or worse, they hated it. If it had been me and I had to take one of those songs and release it as a single, Terminal wouldn't have been my first choice... (I would've chosen Lelio I guess?)

It is kinda stupid (for lack of a better word) when people use the word "lazy" when referring to ayu's releases. What's "lazy" for ayu is normal for, what ,98% of others in the industry? So then, what exactly would you call THEIR lazy?

Maybe they delayed the single and DVD because they're planning on releasing a remix album called "Colouremix" (half the remixes are songs from Colours remixed by Japanese remixers, the other half are classic Ayu songs remixed by the foreign producers featured on Colours) on the same day? just like the good old days?

To be honest, what's out of place is your childish comments about "haters". And the comment above this answer. Well, in general all the comments full of plain complain about other people reactions, not just yours.
What's the point of being on a forum if you can't deal with criticism (I'm not talking to you personally).
First, people are criticizing ayu/avex, not people who likes it. So I don't understand the point of being defensive. You can enjoy it, nobody said you couldn't.
There is no point comparing her to other artists and say, "oh finally that's fine she is not lazy, there is worse". There is no effort (on ayu's part) put on this release and you can't deny it. So yeah basically it's a lazy release just here to make money.
I don't care about this release at all as I said. I'm just annoyed by ayu's lack of desire to do great things/ waste of talent.
I won't buy it and I'm glad about it! I can save money for worthy stuff.

i get it if some of you guys think this is lazy but why replay that 'i don't like this' and 'this is lazy' 'she don't care' all over again in every single page, you've said it once and that's end of it and all others accept it or not :yes not trying to attack for you guys, my opinion is just different than yours and i respect everyones opinions ;)

but of course ayu is doing things differently now, she's not in her peak anymore and she just got married god dammit! be happy that she even gave us Colours (which was AMAZING imo). if i were famous singer and got married, i would be with my partner as much as i can and get some honey moon time but she sisn't because of her fans so SHE CARES :yes

here is something that might change your point of view a bit.. she says But lately, concerning my music and performances, I've started only wanting to do things I agree with and like. Even if those around me really want me to do something, if I decide "No, this have no appeal" then I won't do it. In the past I would do everything. I didn't have the choice to not do something. That wasn't painful or anything like that. I was simply busy doing every thing I had to the best I could. But recently I took a new look at the balance between my private and work life, and I decided "This way is no good. I want to want to spend my private life more fully."

You know... I actually don't really like very many other musicians so it makes about no difference to me how much lazier they are than Ayumi Hamasaki.

And I agree with //ABEST that Ayumi must care at least a little bit otherwise she wouldn't be spending even this much time on her music rather than with her husband.

But...In my opinion, an artist can be lazy and STILL release stuff...

Maybe the word "lazy" needs to be replaced with the word "lax." When reading that quote of her's that //ABEST posted, I sense a sort of laxness that she has not let herself explore until now.

I still think that her recent endeavors have merely been a ploy to keep the money coming in with a little bit of her love for fans mixed in. It seems to me that whatever effort she is putting into her music is just her trying to westernize her style and sound. Others may disagree, which is fine since Colours was a very catchy album, but I just can't shrug off the feeling that it's quality was lacking compared to previous albums of hers. I have felt this way since Party Queen. In other words, though there may be some good songs on the album, as a whole, its just lacking in the same greatness that she once possessed.

I may sound critical, which may even make me seem hypocritical, but in truth I am not surprised or offended by Ayumi's choice in how she's continued on in her career. I was a little bummed about it a few years ago, but by now I don't expect anything more from her. She wants to move into a new stage of her life, she should be free to do so. But, as someone who's listened to her music for several years now, I still have things I may criticize or dislike.

Sorry if this became a huge rant. >.< I just don't want anyone to think I hate her or truly disrespect her. I don't think she's making the wisest choices for her career, but I am no pro so I could end up being wrong. On top of that, just because I criticize her choices for her career does not mean I criticize her personal life.

It's just weird. Ayu is not lazy. She probably had little or nothing to do with this release besides standing in front of the ocean and getting photographed. If anyone is lazy and lacking a concept, it's avex.

Ayumi needs another divorce or something horrible to happen, like a friend die so she can go and write some good music.


Though Utada's mother jumped from 27 stories up and still no new music.

...and they bitch about my posts.

I think she can be lazy sometimes (see: LOVE again) but this time around it's definitely mostly avex's fault. The only thing that's really "lazy" here is not filming a PV for Terminal, but it's not like Ayu personally remixes songs so if anything, avex is just being cheap by not commissioning more remixes for the single. (And I don't care THAT much about the lack of a PV considering, let's be real, there's no way it'd be a PV worth making or watching anyway, judging from every PV from Colours... and almost every other PV from the past couple of years for that matter.)

They're really just being cheap this time around. And also totally seedy and sleazy with the whole "buy six months of streaming access to 1 new remix for $25!" thing.

That's a really bad and negative post. Was browsing thread for fun and this is far from funny and no - you can't read it from distance.

The mods feel free to ban me if they want for saying this to you, RylanJames, but really, fuck you.

This comment was seriously not necessary at all :shakehead

I can't even believe you thought this was appropriate to post. How sad.

I need to know if she started applying this new thought process before or after shooting the XOXO PV.

What a dark turn this thread took. I was not expecting that post at all. I thought I was bad when it came to being insensitive about stuff. I almost choked on my iced tea when I read it. I never even liked Keiko Fuji's music, but I was really devastated when she died. I almost cried. This post put a bad taste in the back of my throat.
...........................
_____________
Anyway, on a lighter note. I wonder if we're going to get a proper quality version of the XOXO single even though it's just for streaming. I hope it doesn't turn into one of those ~Love songs mu-mo exclusive download acapellas~ that to this day we never got. I'm hoping someone can at least get their hands on a promo cd to rip it in decent quality and not something stupid like 192kbps mp4.

This is dark humor which I don't mind - it's said primarily for shock value (see comedians such as Lisa Lampanelli, Joan Rivers, etc.), but AHS isn't the audience for this.

Oh my god, I don't expect to read posts like that on AHS..quite shook up now

I love Terminal but I think it more looks like Avex is making the single after all the hype the 'leaked Terminal info' got. If it was more than 3 tracks, this would of been exciting but the track list may extend closer to the release date, fingers crossed.
Her general releases are not done to keep her international fans happy, they are what Avex sees as what will sell best with her Japanese audience. Though when there's nothing, there are all the, "ayu needs to release something", then when once she does, all the hate comes out. But this does seem a little slack.

But ayu sees to be more happy than she was even at her peek, and she is now taking better health of her body which seems to be showing very well. Especially with her last interview. She finally seems truly happy now. It seems fans can be happy for her and wish for her best or they want her life to go to sh#t and have her eating disorder and be alone so she will might possible write a darker album.

Though this XOXO plug in thing seems a rip. Its more like you pay $5 for the plug thing and $20 for a subscription for a few months. I'm guessing too if your in an area and your reception drops out, like when phones do, your music will cut out. And it seems such a hassle, you got to plug in something, open a app, wait for it to do its stream thing, all for one song and a remix. But these things may do well in Japan. She might as well release her stuff on SD cards. At least her Videos will be better quality and you can keep it, instead of streaming it

I think she should release concerts in USB like idols

get off this forum, you have no soul

... and even so there is a difference between dark humour and being inexcusably rude.


---
On topic: Yay, I am glad the single is not fake! And she looks beautiful on the cover. I hope the remixes are not all drum and bass or dubstep: those kind of remixes are not my cup of tea.

I've made the textless ver. of the cover (1050x1050), enjoy ! =)

How can she be so intensely sexy and classy at the same time?!?
God I love this cover

I would find it appropriate if the mods ban RylanJames for this comment.


Edit:
Haven't read this when I posted my comment.

Stunning.
She's outrageously gorgeous :heart and omg Ayu with dark hair is the best Ayu :luv2

Too bad the cover doesn't fit the single. I mean, it looks more like a digital summer single to me.

A recut single! Neat, but I was hoping for a physical release of Pray with instrumental and remixes. Such an incredible song...

I can't say Terminal is a great song for me (I did like it before) but good to know she is still active.

I kinda wanna see her boobs now. She should do a photobook like hitomi's pregnancy photobook..

I don't think I've ever liked a summer single cover more than this. (besides blue bird)

Let's compare one of her best summer covers to her worst

http://i.imgur.com/PioZ0Wj.jpg

Hm... Despite the beach, I didn't even consider this a summer single before. I miss her actual summery-sounding songs.

I don't think the cover fits the song perfectly, but it's not a cover that DOESNOT FIT AT ALL OMGEEZ for me, the pic is so... neutral idk it kinda could go with almost every song but Pray? :laugh

I wouldn't say it's a summer single at all, considering it's being released in October lol

^ And I agree with you. It's not a perfect match but I wouldn't call the song and cover mismatched really. The cover is very neutral. crossroad is a better example of song/cover mismatch lol

^I forgot about that for a moment. lol I was thinking "Well it's not autumn yet so if it's going to be released in September, it'll be a summer single".

Now that I realize we're not getting the single til october, it does actually seem like a really weird cover.

Leslie Kee v/s Aaron or whatever is his name

It seems like dismissing Leslie Kee was a good decision after all :o

Leslie Kee didn't do the Sunrise/Sunset covers. If I recall, it was Kazuyoshi Shimomura.

Yep you're right :yes
By the way, the longer she stays with a photographer, the worst the pictures get... lol

e.g. : Kazuyoshi Shimomura :
A BEST 2 => stunning // NEXT LEVEL => WTF?!

Leslie Kee :
FIVE => Woah! // Party Queen => No!

Beach =/= Summer

Is XOXO her 53rd single ?

Alvin is only the stylist/creative director. He's not a photographer though

the NEXT LEVEL covers are some of my most favorites, though. XD

:love

Thank you~ :heart:heart:heart

I honestly can sense that Leslie did the photoshoot with the cover. It seems they met recently in Hawaii and did this based on comments on Leslie's facebook page which Ayu herself commented too.

I'm so incredibly happy that "Terminal" will be released as a recut single! :) It's totally one of my most favorite songs on "Colours" & It's such an amazing song, so I'm very happy about this release. :)

The cover is absolutely gorgeous, too. :love ayu looks so stunning & I just love the whole beach setting! It's such a pretty cover, I love it. :heart

^
^But didn't ayu deleted Leslie from facebook?

thank you

What happened between them?

you are amazing, I mean how does one even do that? I really suck at editing pics

Didn't Ayu & Leslie have a falling out? I really doubt he shot that cover unless they reconciled or something. The reason was because he published those semi nude photos of her dancers/crew when it was meant to be a gift for ayu's 15th anniversary. The dancers were disappointed that leslie made the pics public. I remember reading that ayu made a post about it as well.

I didn't know about any of that ayu/leslie drama WHATTTTTTTT

How does anyone not know about the Leslie drama, it was big news and discussion for a long time.

I also don´t know it o.o I am so less online lately <.<

Ayu unfriend (blocking results in unfriend too) leslie on fb as leslie told her dancers that he'll be making a special photobook for her 15th anniversary and they went naked for the shot only to find out that their photos were included in his own SUPER series title LOVE. (If u see the pics, some comes with msg to congratulate ayu's anniversary.
but it seems like they have make up as they're both friends now.... leslie even attended her arena this year...

That seems like something he could have been sued for, though, you know? Selling photos that were meant to be confidential.... >.>

ah ok, thx for giving me a summary^^

Is there a 1050x1050 version cover, with the single's text?

Super happy this single's the real deal!
I just wish it came with more remixes and a PV at least haha.
The cover's super gorgeous and all (I would've loved it if it was the A SUMMER BEST cover)
But I was thinking maybe Ayu took the photo for Colours? And then Avex slapped it on Terminal.
Idk I feel like it sort of runs with the theme she was going for,
with the covers of the free singles for Premium Showcase (it being bright, pastel-color like, etc.)

She's really hot on that cover though.

Everything about "Terminal" is just phenomenal. Armin did a tremendous job for Ayu and her fans. "Terminal" is what I've been waiting for for so long...

I need to go find these pictures. lol

Yes ! =)






Photoshop's Clone stamp is MAGIC ! :D

(and thank yoou ♥ I just take my time and that relaxes me to do it ! (〃▽〃) )

Can someone make a wallpaper of that cover? Like 1366 x 768 resolution? lol

Thank you Linza-mo! So beautiful =)

The "Dub Mix" release has been uploaded to Spotify. Too bad it doesn't feature Ayu on the cover. :/

has someone ripped it already? kinda early to be uploaded to Spotify which is FREE

I hate spotify. It will never play the track you want it to.

4:34???

:msad

^I'm totally fine with that. I'm just glad the 2 minute version isn't the full thing. Besides did you see what I did with the radio edit and club mix of Terminal? I'm sure me among many others can just make an extended mix.

Leslie probably did a shifty contract with her dancers which gave him the rights to use the photos to which he would not be able to be sued

lol I would totally forgot about that whole naked photo scandal thing! I just assumed Ayu "fell out" with Leslie because he keeps taking awful overrated photos.

Not enough tracks for this single. I am 300% done.

Avex can be creative and just put

Terminal x Connected (From Feel The Love Tour)

in this single to excite us.

I'm still not over the fact there's no Terminal (CREA mix) where's CREA I miss good old daays geez!!11!

(now seriously this would be a blast tho)

I wasn't aware that fact ever existed...In fact I don't remember there's ever been a CREA mix...

It never did exist. Lol

I don't think Ayu is good enough to remix a song xD

Considering she is really limiting her workload now that she relocated to LA, I dont think she'll really invest that much in her music anymore

isn't mixing (like what she did for M, still alone, and her other CREA tracks) technically the same as remixing?

its even easier.

In a way, yes. But Ayu was never that musically experienced to begin with. She used to compose her songs and every once in a while arrange them. Composing is just when you come up with the melody you sing to. Arranging is when you decide what instruments to use, and where they go in the song. Didn't she say a long time ago that when she composes her songs she actually just hums the melody? Besides, the last Crea thing she did was Will back in 2005. It's been 9 years, whatever experience she had I'm sure is pretty rusty.

I'm not sure if she plays any instruments, or can read sheet music, but I have a feeling that if you gave her a vocal track and sat her in front of a sound mixing board and told her to make a remix, she really wouldn't know what she was doing.


_____
Actually going back and looking through her stuff on eneabba, I realized that her "Crea" career was pretty short lived. The first thing she did was M which was released December of 2000, and the last thing she did was Will which was released September of 2005. That's less than 5 years. Actually 99% of everything "Crea" did was from 2001-2004. M was the only song she did in 2000, and Will was the last and only song she did in 2005. So if we really wanted to cut it down, we can say her Crea stuff was only really 3 years long.

I have a feeling it was just a "Drizzly" type of one time thing that she's not going to attempt again. The bulk of her self composed/arranged songs were around the I am.../RAINBOW era which is around the time A Best was released. It was the highest point in her career. She was most hands on at that point. It only made sense for her to have a crucial part in music releases around that time.

mhhh I got an e-mail from mu-mo regarding the XOXO plug-air, can someone translate this for me, the online translation is confusing me o.o
I think it´s either that they cancel my order or they want to tell me that the plug-air does not work in my country, but I am not sure ._.

Actually the only song she ever arranged was Wonderland from MY STORY... It's a pretty good interlude, but music-wise it's not much of a complex arrangment... Just the music-box melody and some laughs and thunders...

Thanks for explaining!

Despite how excited I am for the single...there really could be more content. Numerous more remixes, Terminal + Connected from PS like someone suggested. A PV. Ugh...untapped potential.

oh yeah you're right. :laugh Well then that cuts her music experience back even more. I forgot that she only ever composed that one interlude.


So in recap. From 2001-2004 (with one song in 2000, and one song in 2005) she composed a bunch of her songs which just involved her humming the melody and probably having someone transcribe it to sheet music.

I never really thought about it before. Damn. Talking about it more and more makes me realize how uninvolved she is in the music making process.

If I remember correctly Ayu said in an interview that back then, before composing M, she buyed a keyboard and composed the melody on it. I'm pretty sure she's able to read sheet music and to transcribe her compositions to sheet music as well. It's not that difficult after all. And being able to read sheet music would be an important skill when recording vocals in a studio, so...

^Oh I've never heard that ^_^ thx

This single will sell 12,000 copies

Actually, I think Ayu is a really good music producer. She isn't involved technically with music composition and arranging, but the direction of the songs and some details are like that due of her vision of making music.

She's not virtuous music-wise because she's not a musician, but I think she need some credit in terms of creation.

Ayu also said even back then that she lacked even "basic knowledge" about writing music... I can't read sheet music for crap, despite having taken classes - I'm too slow to follow it properly. Maybe it's not that difficult for some people but I just have no aptitude for it. But if I know the melody I can sing by ear very well. TONS of musicians - even legendary ones - can't or couldn't read music, and did their best work by ear. I'm pretty sure ayu is one of the "by ear" types.

It looks like there's some defect or flaw with the plugair in your order? It doesn't seem to say what they're doing about it, like if they're cancelling it or sending it to you anyway. =\

Lacking "basic knowledge" about writing music has nothing to do with being able reading sheet music. Just because you can read sheet music doesn't mean you're able to compose on your own. Even composing on your own and "basic knowledge" about writing music are two different things. You can compose your own melodies without knowing anything about proper compositions - that's basically the case for Ayu. The melodies Ayu composed back then are clearly written by someone who has zero knowledge about how to write music in the first place. Someone who would have learned it would never compose the melodies Ayu did. I guess that's what I, and many others, love about her compositions, that they are so imperfect from a musical point of view but yet not that simple.
Giving Ayu zero credit for knowing how to read sheet music is a bit ignorant and Ayu would make a fool of herself if she didn't learned it in the past 16 years. And like I said, it's an important skill when recording vocals.

Edit: even if Ayu was the "by ear" type, the fact that she had problems with her hearing since dome tour and therefore since 2001 would make it unavoidable for her to know how to read sheet music. Because of her hearing problems and the loss of her hearing a few years later she would have never been able to rely on her hearing alone when recording.
And that "TONS" of musicians couldn't read sheet music is an exaggeration and the ones who claimed not being able to read sheet music were able to read chords for guitars and played the guitar very well. Even those legendary ones had to rely on some "tools" regarding music. The idea people are able to compose without knowing nothing at all about music is a myth.

She also said on a interview she didn't use the keyboard much and after that composed by recording her humming the melody... So, she is a good creative producer, but for sure doesn't have that much of a technical knowlegment.

My point was that it's for sure that she is able to read sheet music. It's not relevant how many times she used the keyboard or was just recording herself humming the melody. Humming 7/4's title is somekind of a "joke". The "Humming" part is a references that she was just humming the melody but the "7/4" is the actual "joke" behind it. People who looked into the sheet music of the song and are able to read it know what I mean. Ayu tried to be funny here. She wouldn't be able to make such a "joke" with the title of the song when she woudn't be able to read sheet music - in this case the title of the song would be only "Humming".

^ Oh gosh, I'm so happy this title at last makes sense for me :roflmao

Haha xD I'm happy I was able to solve the mystery for you. :laugh

I can't understand a word, LOL !!

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