Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - ｢Party Queen｣ Thoughts on album?

Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/index.php)

- Ayu Chat-Room (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20)

- - ｢Party Queen｣ Thoughts on album? (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112994)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larisa-chan (Post 2832358)

Wheeee what a refreshing album. It went by too quickly, though! Too short!!

1. Party Queen - Yeah... I hate the lyrics still, though it doesn't sound as childish/"fun" as I was expecting it to, and that's a good thing. So tired of Honey & Beautiful Fighters type songs. I like that it sounded more electronic... but... it's still a ridiculous song. And I'm not a fan of her vocals in this song, she kind of sounds like a duck 4/10

2. NaNaNa - Wow, this is certainly an in your face song. Where is the confirmation that Timmy did the rapping in this? It sounds nothing like him (though I know vocals can be easily modified). Like everyone else has been saying, it sounds EXACTLY like Marc Panther from Globe (voice AND pronunciation of words. I happen to really like Marc and would be excited if it were him, but also find it humorous since TK did Love Songs haha). It's very energetic and cool sounding. And corin. is a brilliant & diverse composer, and I can't believe one of Rina Aiuchi's composers did a song for Ayu :) 8.5/10

Shake It - Thank God this didn't turn into a Kumi Koda's Shake It-esque song. Some of the background music sounded like it came out from a mecha anime haha. The "Shake It Lala" parts definitely sound out of place. I'm happy how heavy this song sounds. 7.5/10

taskebab - Yeah, another song this guy ripped off. I'm surprised he made it so obvious sounding. Don't get me wrong, the instrumental sounds awesome, but because this foolish composer has no shame in stealing music, this instrumental gets a 0/10

Call - I wasn't too impressed with this song when I heard the PQ previews. It's a definite filler track... I know it's rock, but it's not really my type of song? I'll take this, though, over many, many of her other filler tracks on other albums. 5/10

Letter - Okay so somehow I guess I got distracted and thought I was still listening to Call when I was actually listening to Letter. Slightly better than Call, but still a filler song. 5.5/10

Reminds Me - Aww. I really love this song. Alot. It's very melancholic sounding, and I love the composition. The guitars are *amazing*, and the strings compliment the guitars so well. The Lalala's don't bother me as much as most people I guess. Here it comes folks: I like this song more than the highly-praised Return Road. It might just be my favorite song on PQ 9.5/10

Return Road - Another strong song by Ayu with beautiful composition. I feel this song has the standard "Ayu sound" that we all know and love. The organs are awesome in this!! It kind of amused me how in the middle of the song Return Road all of a sudden becomes "Phantom of the Opera" for several seconds hahaha. Timmy's OoOoOoOoaaoaahahhhh was so unnecessary and I wish I could delete his vocals off this track. 9/10

Tell Me Why - Alright, so it's kind of "blah" that this song is from another singer. But it's not like Ayu hasn't done this before (i.e. Memorial Address, multiple songs from (miss)understood). She made this work for her very well. It has a nice beat & flow... nothing extremely memorable (could be from MY STORY), but a nice solid 7/10.

A Cup of Tea - Dubstep is a guilty pleasure. Though this instrumental doesn't really go anywhere, so: 6/10

The Next Love - Okay this style of music is obviously not for everyone. For me, I *love* musicals and I think she handled this genre of music REALLY WELL. Jazz is awesome & cool in my opinion. Obviously experimental, as is Eyes, Smoke, Magic. It's really cool hearing Ayu's voice with this style of music, and I think her voice sounds really sexy :B 7.5/10

Eyes, Smoke, Magic - Haha. Someone saw Chicago. Cute, playful song that works for me, because again, I like this genre of music. 6.5/10

Serenade in A minor - Ehhhh this is SO sad... And I look at the cover of this album (the CD+2DVD) and feel even WORSE. I think if you listen to most of the songs on this album and then look at the covers of this album at the same time, you can actually feel what the covers are trying to portray & the overall concept of the album. Weird how that worked out. 8/10

How Beautiful You Are - Wow, she really has like one TRUE ballad in this album. I feel like this hasn't happened in forever, but I could be very much mistaken ahaha Alright...I have to admit this song grew on me a little. Timmy's chanting, again, is out of place. But as "typical" of a song that this is... it's quite pretty. 6/10

Overall: I feel like my scores are kind of all over the place with this album, but I feel this album is one of her most solid & strongest releases in a VERY long time. It's an extremely refreshing album that taps into genres that I'm very fond of. I know alot of people have been comparing the songs on this album to songs on previous albums, but for this album, I feel like almost every single song has a fresh sound to it!! Ayu did NOT disappoint with this album. I gave it an A-

Lol she sounds like a duck....LOL.

I should have expected it, but I'm kind of LOL'ing at despite the album title and covers only 3/14 tracks "fit" the "theme". That's nothing new (lately).

Her voice on recordings is starting to sound more and more like her live voice.

I think I only like Nanana and Reminds me, but we'll see with time. :yes And NaNaNa is one of those that are so bad it's kind of good...

I'm speechless with this album. It has so MANY different genres. And flows very WELL.
I never heard her voice so clear and well controlled. And it's true the fact that she seems to be giving all of her in this album. =O
She managed to mix all the things I love: electro-pop + rock + jazz = EPIC

JAZZ.... JAZZ. NOT IN A MILLION TIMES I DREAMED THAT AYU WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT I'm in love ♥

It's a stand out in her career, new, fresh and with good quality. LOVE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepho_chan (Post 2832429)

I was disappointed with this album. I've been a fan of her for many years now, and this is by far in my opinion her worst album....Im not trying to start any fires here....But for real. The ballads were eh...ok. Nothing we havent heard before. The random jazz....lol. That made me giggle on many levels. Party Queen the song....i'm going to deny its existence. Ayu singing about partying and getting a drink and CHEERS!!!.....lol.

Worse than A Song for XX??

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExodusUK (Post 2832406)

I've only heard NaNaNa but IMO if Timmy wasn't on the song, it wouldn't be anything special..just like Until That Day.../Not Yet/Sparkle/Last Angel/etc but not as good. At least NaNaNa has a twist to it..

Why are you guys obsessed with MY STORY? The album is sooo blah, I give kudos to anyone that sit through it without skipping a track, so many boring songs that go nowhere.

thank you. even hbya is more interesting than the album tracks on MY STORY.

im commenting again (what has it been, more than a year?)
i was going to have a break down at the beginning cause i just didnt like the feel of those songs and ayu singing them haha. (yeah i know people like diversity but i like those songs that give me the feel of 'this is ayu') anyways overall i give this album a 2/5 (this will change with more listens)

i will listen to mostly all these songs again in the future except for the first interlude and that weird experimental songs 11-12

Quote:

Originally Posted by love in music (Post 2832444)

thank you. even hbya is more interesting than the album tracks on MY STORY.

Um, except Moments? Imo it slayed songs during the time it was released. Also INSPIRE/GAME are some of the BEST songs in Ayu's discography that was spawned by My Story.

RETURN ROAD >>>>> ASFXX ALBUM lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by jang-kun (Post 2832449)

Moments, INSPIRE, and GAME were all on singles though so they don't count. I'm sure they were referring to songs that only appeared on the album itself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jang-kun (Post 2832449)

i'm talking album tracks bb. most of the singles were good but that's it. people act like the whole album was flawfree but the album tracks are some of her worst imo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jang-kun (Post 2832449)

RETURN ROAD >>>>> ASFXX ALBUM lol

Please.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashen Twilight (Post 2832453)

Moments, INSPIRE, and GAME were all on singles though so they don't count. I'm sure they were referring to songs that only appeared on the album itself.

Maybe your opinion doesn't count.

Oh man, where do I start...? I do not have time to write my entire post and discussion here right now, as it basically seemed like an essay in my head when I was listening to the album dissecting how it made me feel. But, to sum things up for now:

I do not like it at all. It's not anything she's ever done. Ever. A lot of it is too "showy" for me (latter half, Shake It). NaNaNa started and I was like "HOLY MOTTHER OF GOD, THIS IS FREAKIN' AMAZING" and then it really did turn into a Timmy song. I hated it. The lyrics are so God-awful and makes me feel foolish. This album sounded too "American" to me but not current American music.

The voice... way to much vibrato. I understand this must be how she has been re-trained to use the voice she has left to her advantage... but it's not the Ayu I am used to and honestly, it makes me sad. I like the sad feeling to the songs but I would find myself being sad that the Ayu I loved is gone and it has come to this. I began to think of, well, what if she never makes music I like again, and it made me depressed. I think that is a reason many people still stick around here when others tell them to leave when they complain. It's because, there's that feeling that Ayu has given us all, at some point in time. For many of us, she is/was a huge part of our lives through music. So it's only natural that many still linger, even if they are disappointed with recent works, because the thought of never being able to feel that excitement when Ayu totally kicks it out of the ball park is just too painful to accept.

Quote:

Originally Posted by love in music (Post 2832444)

thank you. even hbya is more interesting than the album tracks on MY STORY.

hdu

Liar, About You, walking proud, HONEY, Replace, and winding road are amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExodusUK (Post 2832406)

Why are you guys obsessed with MY STORY? The album is sooo blah, I give kudos to anyone that sit through it without skipping a track, so many boring songs that go nowhere.

Someone mentioned in another thread that MY STORY was such a groundbreaking album at the time of its release and how she had done nothing like it before and that everyone takes it for granted now...

I remember when MY STORY was released. The only song on that album that really sounded "fresh" to me at the time and unlike anything she had ever done was Humming 7/4. To me, it just seemed like she was expanding on and continuing the sounds and styles in I am..., RAINBOW, and especially Memorial address. (miss)understood was much more bold and daring.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piccolo (Post 2832455)

Maybe your opinion doesn't count.

Excuse me? I was just claryfing what another user misunderstood. I love everything about MY STORY (except for maybe HUMMING 7/4). Maybe you should learn to read things thoroughly.

Really crazy how a topic about Party Queen can get focused on an album from seven years ago.

I really hope someone is able to remove those random, chanting vocals in Return Road by either editing them out or replacing it with the two choruses before hand. It's such a shame to see an amazing song go to waste by some hacky, mess of a man wanting to be involved in everything.

MY STORY is amazing :shrug

We should give Timmy some credit. He is talented as a composer. I just don't agree with him sticking his vocals everywhere. His voice worked for BRILLIANTE, but it's not working in every other song.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coelacanth (Post 2832461)

I remember when MY STORY was released. The only song on that album that really sounded "fresh" to me at the time and unlike anything she had ever done was Humming 7/4. To me, it just seemed like she was expanding on and continuing the sounds and styles in I am..., RAINBOW, and especially Memorial address. (miss)understood was much more bold and daring.

i remember MY STORY being released as well. people said that it was either the best album ever! or that her earlier works were better! (have things really changed that much around here? lmao. :P)

but IA, looking back, i thought (miss)understood was more bold and daring. that album gathered a lot of opinions too. i remember the day the preview for "Bold & Delicious" came out. :laugh

TBH, I remember a lot of people disliking My Story when it first came out, including me. OK, I didn't dislike it, but I wasn't very pleased with it. I think there were big expectations for it, since Ayu hadn't produced a full album for a while, and at first, people didn't feel like it met their expectations.

-----------Back to Party Queen:
I've listened to the album a couple of times, and while I still don't feel like I can give a score, there are a couple of comments that I'd like to make.

1. This album is sooooo different from anything Ayu's ever done before. She's really surprised me. Like, FIVE and "How Beautiful You Are" did not hint at this kind of album at all. Personally, the only song before this that blew my mind was BRILLANTE, and I thought I wouldn't see anything like that again.

2. The instrumentations and arrangements for most of these songs are just amazing. There's a lot of variety both between and within songs.

3. NaNaNa is one of my favorite tracks. It's wild and almost industrial sounding. I love Timmy's segment, and how Ayu goes "nanananana!"

4. It seems like Return Road has an almost 100% approval rating amongst members of this forum. I like it a lot, but I smirk when I hear Timmy pop in with his weird yodeling. He ruins it just a little bit.

5. Tell Me Why has the biggest impact on me. This song is incredible, and it builds and builds and almost brings tears to my eyes at the end. I truly feel Ayu's emotions. She clearly is singing about Mannie and their failed relationship, because she references a male speaker saying, "I'm ok" and "it's my fault", and says she wanted to share his pain, confusion, etc. And of course, she asks "why" again and again. This song is painful and beautiful. I feel like she is screaming out her feelings.

6. I like Reminds Me, but I think she overuses the "la la la la"s. Seriously, I feel like she wasted excellent opportunities to sing powerful lyrics by just filling up the song with "la la la". I pictured her actually singing something, and it sounded so great in my head. No idea why she didn't bother. It kind of kills the song. I just sit there thinking about what could have been.

7. The 2 jazzy songs at the end...I don't know what to do with them, lol. Again, Ayu has shocked me--neeeever would have seen songs like these coming. The Last Love is OK, but Eyes, Smoke, Magic is....I don't know. I can't even say how I feel yet.

Bold & Delicious release was a disaster :laugh