I see. I LOVE the melody lol. It's so beautiful and classic sounding.

BoY is my absolute favourite song like... ever... But no, crossroads have nothing in common I must say. I guess we will see after the HQ comes out but Im pretty sure of what I'm hearing here and its not BoY II. While BoY leaves you with a mountain of feelings like guilt, sadness, angry and no hope I must say crossroads seemes to be like a melody more with security and walking along a road by yourself but not weak or whatever. Maybe I read into it too much, but crossroads doesnt seeme to be a favourite of mine.

"crossroad" really does sound like an early 90s globe song, or really any early 90s pop ballad. I do like it (especially the strings), but it has an odd "Flavor of Life (Ballad Version)" vibe to it as if it belongs in a J-Dorama series. It's the kind of sound that the Japanese tend to love and may therefore help the single gain popularity among casual Japanese listeners, but I honestly wonder how well the single will sell since it doesn't progressively take Ayu's sound to the "next level" in preparation for #50. Again, I like the song and can understand why others do too, but I also fully understand why others don't like it.

Where are the "Because of You" and "theme of a-nation" comparisons coming from? It's more like a "LOVE ~Destiny~ x POWDER SNOW" hybrid.

It's just the chorus and pre-chorus part that bothers me. The verses are good. I'm not too upset about not liking it though, there's 4 other new songs to look forward too. :yes

:high5:

me too :yes. But I'm less bothered by the a-nation preview than the original one.

That's what's really great about how she's releasing things lately. It's not just 2 new songs then we have to wait 3-4 months for a new single. If fans don't like something there's still a lot of new songs coming our way very soon that they could have a better chance of liking :yes

The verses definitely sound Final Fantasy-ish! That's probably why I'm in love with them~!!!

To be honest, the verses sound like they're going in a different direction than the chorus... The chorus kind of sounds out of place. But I still like it a lot.

Ohmygod, you're absolutely right. I hear that, too :D

I'm really excited for this -- listening to what I can make out of how she's singing and the instruments, I think it sounds different from most of Ayu's typical sweeping or "epic" songs of late. There's something about it that reminds me, as people have said, of BALLAD, I am..., theme of a-nation '03. It's not necessarily a comparison of compositions, more so the FEEL of the song. Something somber but hopeful.

It sounds very pretty :) I'm looking forward to its release.

ETA: And, just to chime in, the chorus is my favorite part XD It goes chorus > verse > pre-chorus, in rankings of my favorites.

Ughhhhhhh I want this single right now... More than anything! Been listening to it all day.

The way she's singing it is what's most amazing to me. It's like how interesting she made her voice sound in some of the songs on the I am... album. I know this is random, but Days just came up on shuffle and crossroad makes me hate Days even more. The way she sings Days is 100% opposite of how she sings crossroad. She sounds so bored and uninterested in that song and like she's not even trying. I'm glad nowadays she is putting a lot more effort/emotion into her ballads.

^ Really? I think Days is sang perfectly for what it's about...

I have to wait !!!!!
I can't hear a lot in this new preview from a-nation but thanks

I think I know what identity's getting at -- what made me so torn about Days when I first heard it was how I felt like she was just phoning in the emotions, not really being sincere or even successfully pretending sincerity. It just felt so lackluster so I kinda forgot about the song but, as I listen to it recently, I feel like she's sort of subdued because she's reflecting to herself about what she's thinking/feeling. It's sort of like quiet introspection, I guess? It's still not my favorite ballad by a long shot, though lol.

I, too, am glad that there's more emotion in her ballads than not. That's one of the things that immediately struck me about crossroad.

I agree with you. She put the right emotion in Days. Days is something more about a (teenage) girl's feeling toward a guy (who has a girlfriend). It's more likely a secret love or something. Her emotion connects to the song very well. I just dun think using a strong emotion would fit this song.

And probly I'm a sucker to songs like Days. I just dun like ballads with too much emotions within. Sometimes it's like the emotion of the voice drags me into the song, and the deeper feeling of the song is blocked by that.

Yeah I think too much emotion would have been creepy! :laugh

I really want to listen to crossroad more but I also dont 'cause I don't want to spoil it before we get a HQ rip!!!! What to do!

What time do we usually get covers/leaks of the songs? Shouldn't be too far away should it?

Yes! 99% of Ayu's ballads I can get some sort of feeling from, Days is that 1% I can't.

Quite a few people say that about Days... But I guess I could say the same for Last Links! :laugh

I think they both have emotion-just not as obvious or powerful as some of her other songs.
I also think Days is very much a winter song if that makes sense. I know I understand it more when the weather is cold.