+1

Haven't really bothered about sales since GUILTY went to Number 2 but this time I don't even feel sorry if she doesn't get the Number 1 spot. I'm also a fan of Ayus for 10 years - and this is the first album I didn't buy immediately after it was released. (And I'm still not sure if I will buy it) It is the first album I was not really looking forward to for weeks before release. I wouldn't want to say I'm over Ayu, because I don't know what will follow after this. I still have hope. But this Ayu-era is not for me. It just didn't click, like you wrote.

Oops @ the sales! I never think that she can have such low sales! ~~!

omg. #2 again. =((((((

I don't know how much the lack of promo actually has do with it or not. Its true, I live in Tokyo and if not for AHS I wouldn't even know she had an album coming out. But the same could also have been said about FIVE and that actually sold pretty well for a mini album.

I think there are other reasons beyond promotion that are making even some of her fans not want to buy it. For one, the covers. Even the two more clothed shots don't look that appealing. Then there are the PVs that are at best OK. Two of them are actually terrible imo. Then there is the album itself. On first listen I actually really liked it, but now I find that there aren't very many tracks on it that actually really stand out and are memorable to me. I still like the album, but there is just nothing about it that is making me go "I must buy this now!" :(

Yepp. The covers were the most shocking part for me. I thought dignity is a big deal especially in Japan, and then I see those covers, they look so degrading. They have the power to damage Ayumi's entire reputation if you ask me.

This is the first time I'm really not bothered if she doesn't get the 1st spot... I honestly don't feel like this album deserves it. To put it into number 1 where her other great albums have been placed is almost a laugh... >.<

+1

:yes

Is Janne Da Arc the person who sung 'WILD FANG'? If so, how weird that I meet up with this singer again. All this time I was like, omfg gtfo out of 1st place, while I adore his work. :laugh

thats what i find myself wondering. did people just go ahead and buy it on itunes, so then they didn't go buy it in stores?

although, a japanese friend of mine on facebook said she didn't buy it because japanese fans were on strike over getting 4 PVs. :shrug

I feel similar. But these are the Oricon Charts. Quality doesn't matter. Just look at the yearly single charts 2011- boring and generic.

Geez.. what the * are ayu and her staff thinking?

WOW. just wow.

How can they listen if every fan wants something else. Some want another I am... and MY STORY, others want her to do genre x or style y, others want her to do something completely new. She got closest to the last one this time around and that's always a gigantic risk. Just look at Madonna, her best albums tend to be her more experimental ones, yet the ones that sell crazily well are the "typical" Madonna ones. American Life -> flop, Confessions on a Dancefloor -> one of the biggest albums of the 00s.

I just want Ayumi to do what she wants to, if I don't like it I simply won't buy it, but expecting her to do what we want to would turn her into a marionette rather than an artist.

hmmm...

i guess she did listen, because i freaking love this album. :yes

Me too, it's exactly the kind of album I hoped for. Well, I hope for her to do something we haven't had while still using some familiar elements and that's what Party Queen is. If I want more of the same I'll listen to 98% of the other J-Pop artists and the Ayu clones xD Especially the one with the supersized head who I won't name as to not start a flamewar.

ME TOO

i like this album a lot... but I don't know.. i just think a lot of ayumi's fans are spoiled...
like, going on strike and not buying an album because of only 4 pv's... really?
And the covers... just get over it.
If you don't buy the album and call yourself a fan because of the covers... get over yourself.
I mean forget about the actually content (which is good to the most part), but the picture isnt pretty enough so im just going to pass.

MEEEE TOOOO

Seriously? ;o

The only artists I listen to who put more than one PV (if any) on an album are Ayu, Kumi and Namie. People should just be happy with what they're given.

edit: oh, and an cafe. I think they put multiple PVs on theirs too.

yeah, exactly.

honestly, i don't like the covers, especially THAT certain cover, and 2 of the 4 PVs are absolutely terrible...but who cares? the fact is, i buy an album for the music. i'll watch the PVs a handful of times, and only use the cover as album art in iTunes, but i'll listen to the songs over and over again. the songs are the important part, and she nailed it this time! :yes

that and she doesn't owe us a bazillion PVs. i think 4 is actually quite ok, Ayu fans are just spoiled.