I need them all in my life tbh. Out of all the previews, I was actually least excited for The GIFT and WARNING.

I didn't think LOVE again was that bad. I usually don't care for ballads as much as up beat songs but all my favorites were ballads: sweet scar, melody, untitled 2, are perfection, Gloria is good, even Ivy grew on me.

LOVE again is one of my favourites albums, the problem was the idea of the mini-albums as singles and you know the rest of the drama.

LOVE again has many great songs and I listen to them separately a lot. But as an album LOVE again is boring as fuck.

Actually I was damn fucking pissed about the whole LOVE/again/LOVE again thing. But now I understand why Ayu released the two as mini-albums and not as singles. For over a decade Ayu had to release #1 single over #1 single. A lot of Japanese artists have to secure their #1 strikes no matter what. Simply because their fans go crazy over it. For a lot of fans those #1 strikes "prove" that their favourite artist/band is special and relevant, even though a #1 strike has most of the time little to do with being special or relevant.
That's why Ayu decided to not release any singles after L. She was most likely tired of proving her fans and the public how "relevant" she is just because by losing her #1 strike people would go nuts over it. I mean, people actually were going crazy just because GUILTY and Party Queen got #2.
So when she released LOVE and again I think avex wasn't ready to let her #1 strike go. I think Ayu wanted the 5 releases project and avex was like "well, but only if those aren't singles but mini-albums - 'cos of that #1 thing you know?".
Ayu started to release singles again the moment it did not matter anymore if the will hit #1 or not.
It wasn't a smart marketing move to release those as mini-albums and avex would have been cleverer by just letting her #1 go already one year before.
But I totally understand why Ayu didn't wanted this whole #1 thing anymore. And I respect and applaud her for releasing music just for the sake of releasing music and not for a #1 in the charts.

^ you mean 'streak' :p


I preordered the album finally and I'm excited to open it up and see what the special thing is.

LOL Oh God yes... xD I just came from a birthday party and we were out for bowling... lol xD

^ I was actually gonna ask if you were thinking of bowling LOL

^Original purpose of my post was to say that Ayu is the one and only true bowling queen! :laugh

I didn't really understand why the mini album debacle was such a big deal. If you wanted it to be a single you literally could have just treated it as such. I often forget they're mini albums.

well, because people thought mini albums were standalone releases and they went to buy it, thinking it was special as part of the 5-month-release 15th Anniversary project...and it turns out, all the songs were put together for the final piece, LOVE again. So those who don't even buy singles kinda...wasted their money.

Well, people DID call that as soon as LOVE came out along with the 5 release campaign.

Yeah, it was structured like a triple-A side with instrumentals, it was clearly a single, and there was a lot of criticism around that.

Given there was only 3 new songs, many of us didn't think it would be standalone.

I think a huge misstep was calling the album LOVE again. It just came off as lazy, and so fans were in that mindset for whole release.

Every knew that those were singles and not actual mini-albums, I wasn't really surprised with the whole scheme tbh. It's all about the ca$$$$$h in the end.

A ONE is pretty great but I would love if she would release an album like Britney's "Blackout" now that will be very interesting lol

Yep. One of the laziest things in history of mankind.

lol were people honestly expecting the album to not contain the songs from the "mini-albums"?? All the songs from the "mini-albums" literally include (Original mix), she only does that for her singles.

Totally agree with you. It's the same Koda Kumi did with her 12 Single thing...this only took more time. LOVE again is a great Album and have many wonderful songs like petal but the singles before...

^ Yes, but since they were labeled as "mini-albums" people thought they'd have at least one exclusive thing, one track that wouldn't be on the album later so it would be worth buying. Come on, she even included You & Me from A SUMMER BEST. That's embarrassing.

I consider LOVE and again as singles as well, it's a shame they were released as mini-albums.

But I like LOVE again as an album (putting the whole issue of compiling the two "mini-albums" aside). Individually I like all songs in the album, but it's true that the album as a whole may not sound much exciting. I still like it though, but I don't usually feel like listening to it as a whole, I listen to the songs individually when I feel like it.

CDTV promotion
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...type=2&theater

17secs

I checked Duty CDTV promotion and they gave her 3 minutes and an interview included

Avex it's not paying enough...

Didn't the rules change and it would have charted as an album anyway? But they could have vary well added all those extra tracks in order to make sure it's chart as a mini and not a single. Lol.

Im still not used to the very slim tracklist. Even for colours. I know we usually get 10 actual songs but just seeing the tracklist like that is kind of a let down. At least we'll get tell all in HQ, know who composed it, and it'll be updated. Nothing can go wrong...

About LOVE again, I have to say at first I didn't like the whole LOVE + again = LOVE again thing. But over time the album grew on me, I even ended up buying the CD+Blu-ray edition. But, I made an experiment lol, I lent my copy to a friend (whom I share similar music taste and who only knew ayumi recently) and told her to listen to it without any previous research. She did and told me she really liked the album, it had strong songs and everything. So, my theory that I didn't like the album that much when it was released (just because of the LOVE + again meltdown) was proven correct lol

As for A ONE, I can't wait to have my copy. I am super hyped, the previews are great, the lyrics are also very good and I liked all the PVs. Queen is slaying.

When will this album leak already?

Duty is a different case. Most artists don't get much time on CDTV anymore.

^ how exactly does cdtv time work actually?

And that seems to be a trend, ah. The music industry is changing so quickly.

Probably they ask the artist to stay for a prolonged amount of time or whatever.

With Ayu's lack of appearances on TV in general, I doubt she would have done it even if they asked.

really hoping that the album is out on iTunes on 1st April :3

Is this a thing that has happened the last several releases?

Colours leaked about 2 weeks before release on iTunes.

Theres a new song called <Diary> from her twitter

Mess ayu. Should have put them on the new album tbh

it's like she's trying to stack songs for whatever reason.. I wonder what is she up to lol

11 more days before the official release
Ahhh..can*t wait
Please leak

I'm dying with anticipation!