Random but how ayu says "show" in "The Show Must Go On" kinda sounds like "shoe(s)" and I got this imagery of her shouting at her disobedient toddler who doesn't wanna put his shoes on before leaving the house and she's all "The shoes MUST go ON!" And he's all "no!" And she's like "yeah yeah YEAH YEAH!!" Lmao. Now I can't help but see this imagery when I listen to the song lmao.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tists_in_Japan

This link always cheers me up when Ayu's not doing well in the charts. Can't believe she's 15 million copies ahead of the next biggiest female artist. She's way ahead of the game and I feel like no other female artist can beat her EVER. (Interesting to see that AKB is slowing catching up. They are around 6 million behind her. That' sonly 6 more singles!)

NO! AKB! NO! *hides* She'll probably always be no. 1 solo artist! If I'm not wrong German Wikipedia says she even sold 53 million copies but eh yea...

"Days" is okay, I think it's one of the last songs before Ayu's career drastically changed, especially in terms of her former release schedule and the quality of studio productions in general.

However, "Walk" truly is a remarkable winter ballad, too. I think it has been one of her nicest songs of the last few years. Even though it could never 100% win me; for me it's a decent piece of music and out of all three songs the best one from the single.

I don't count "Walk" as a "winter" ballad, even though it was featured on the winter ballad single. "Zutto..." was the winter ballad, and I haaaaaaaaated it. For me, "winter" ballads are songs that sound like the season of winter. Walk sounds like early spring or something to me.

To a certain degree though, the instrumental of "Walk" shows some acoustical features that are characteristic for Ayu's winter ballads, especially those bell-like or maybe snow-trickling-like sounds. I also think the song might be a tad too dark and haunting for a spring song? At least I would probably reckon with something more cheerful after a cold winter.

Maybe I need to check which songs from Ayu typically count as spring time songs, haha :)

When does CDL usually get announced? I can't wait to buy my ticket!

Usually at October, it'll happen from day to day. Latest announcement was made - in the middle of November.

I say early spring because I agree it is a bit dark, but it also has kind of a blind optimism to it, doesn't it? So I imagine it has been a long harsh winter, and the snow is just only starting to melt, and there's a glimmer of hope for the season to finally change and move onward toward life.

:roflmao This is hilarious to me!

So has Ayu given up on her LINE account? The last thing she sent out was like in August.

Possibly. Instagram has basically replaced her other social media and FB/Twitter only serve as IG mirrors at this point.

I'm ready if she's gonna throw another classical in digital. But please, rerecord them. Using her old voice in a bran new arrangements sounds... not cool.

I also love Days very much. Wouldn't mind a beautiful ballad as a Winter single this year. I don't see that happening, though, but one can dream. :laugh

I don't see it as a winter ballad either, but Walk really is one of my favorite songs that she's released within the last few years.

When it comes to winter ballads, JEWEL, momentum, teddy bear, and POWDER SNOW are my favorites. <3

I like Close to You a whole lot. Btw, why wasn't that put onto the Winter Ballad Selection in 2014???

I'm happy to see love for Walk.:heart
When the Zutto single was released, everyone was talking about the other 2 songs on the album and Walk was just the "other" track included. I love it and think it was one of the best tracks on A One.

My favourite winter ballads are Carols, JEWEL and Zutto... because it's just so "winter" imo.

To the Walk talk (how that sounds lol) I thought the most didn't like it but I loved it since I first heard it!

The only weakness in my opinion is the repetition of the last chorus instead of letting the song dive into an unexpected direction. It somehow strains the listening and made me wonder why they didn't put more creativity into this aspect.

I still like the song.

I'm one of those not liking Walk. It's so ...unexciting in melody and arrangement. No matter, how often I listen to it, I just can't remember how the song goes after it ended. It's a curious sensation.

^ I legit can't recall at all what Walk is or sounds like, so I'm going to have to go look it up lol