'Step by step' (TV Size) uploaded onto official channel!
 

Loooove it. Kind of feels like the chorus is reaallllly long though.

Really nice song... i believe Japan will love this and this song will be success digitally...

love the guitar, love the easy breezy feeling

Mp3 rip
https://www.mediafire.com/?ggx9n6avn32wg1j

Already love it, continuing the trend of
Step By Step > TSMGO > Snowy kiss!

Sounds like a nice summer song. Hope for some colorful covers for the mini album.

Ayu you better making amazing PV for this song! PLEASE! HIGH BUDGET CUTE COLORFUL FUN AND YOUNG!!!

That's what I thought when I hear this preview!!!!!

Fresh, catchy, cute, perfect for summer, I like it ! (more than hello new me)

Love it!!! Now this is uplifting... so the complete opposite of snowy kiss and TSMGO.

I still hear the snowy kiss/TSMGO notes.
BLUE BIRD medium, easily forgetablesong for me. And it will end up with lovey dovey pv, so, nope :)

Glad it isnt a ballad, lol.

LOVE IT!!!!!!! I love the guitar melody :D its such a feel-good song..omg and we have to wait 4 months

i mean this is such a far cry from the heavy dramatic snowy kiss

not bad, not good... on album I will skip it

pepper - i don't think the song is about lovers...as far as i can catch up the lyrics, i hear lot of yume words and ippo...
kawaranai yume, ookina yume - dream that won't change, big dream
i think its about achieving your dream step by step...its about life...

Haha maybe, but by "lovey dovey" i didnt ment pv about love - i ment sth cute.

^ooo ok..got it...you mean cuteness...haha...but well..we can't expect orgy pv like WARNING for this song...

It might end up with either a Sunrise-ish PV or maybe something a bit different? Don't really see her doing a story for this video but who knows! On Baidu they were talking about how there are "two PV versions" and one has Yukie Nakama in it, but I don't know if that was really mentioned during the first two shows.

Tbh i cant imagine this song with anythig right now besides BLUE BIRD/fairyland scenario... thats nice scenario though.

This is why I shouldn't judge a song by its low quality preview lol.
Much better than expected. It still sounds like snowy kiss/TSMGO sometimes, but it sounds like a different song either. Really cute and upbeat, I like it :heart

i am really liking how acoustic this sounds. Sounds quite fun and cheerful!

Consider me one of the odd few who doesn't really hear snowy kiss in this lol (Perhaps it's because I don't listen to snowy kiss at all!)

Anyways, I'm liking this :) It's cute and summery and very easy to listen to.

Good but not impressed!

Much better than expected and I love the guitar it's so breezy and airy! I love those feelings and it's been awhile since I listen to her song with this kind of arrangement.
And the cutesy seems on point, not overly cute but enough. Can't wait for the full!

I agree, it's been awhile since we've had a song like this from her. Super generic but I LOVE the way it makes me feel so far.

^ikr, I mean we got either dance, heavy rock/pop rock or things like Letter/Out of control lately but it's been awhile for sth that sounds light and fun.

count me too...i don't hear it at all

:love like Beautiful Fighters meets Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~

omg, the intro reminded me "ANGEL'S SONG" ...

Just a liiiiiiittle too anime for me again this time. It's pleasant but that's about all I can say.

The comeback of the summer pop song!!! Yay!! I love it.

while listening on pc (later I only was listening through the phone at work xD) i really like the music/arragment - reminds me of fairyland, which is very good :)

God her vocals are shit in this song. She sounded fine on A ONE, the hell happened? Instrumentation is good but nothing impressive. Glad she's doing fun summer music again though.

it is nice, but it is not really my cup of tea. However, it might grow on me.

Well, i liked it more than most songs on A ONE. It has a nice summer feeling to it and the arrangement is nice, but nothing too memorable, it might grow on me.

Nice summery song, I like it.

I also really like it.
In the drama.. someone plays the singer of the song, when I see it right? Looks strange to see someone sing with Ayus Voice.

The lead actress mouths the words while it plays in the opening while in a 'band' with the lead guy, I think.

Now that we have longer preview it has some Next Level feeling rather than TSMGO.

The verse is nice, but I don't like the chorus much. And tje chorus does sound very similar...
The guitar in the back is great though, so summery!

I like its summer/anime sound! But what I really like about it is that it sounds like old school j-pop from the beginning of the '00s. Didn't liked A ONE at all so I'm happy the first song from the new mini sounds promising to me! =)

WOW.

I really thought of the previews from the show that it will sound complete like TSMGO. then i saw this short video from ARENA TOUR where she nailed .... 0 tones of it ! Now listening to it i am overwhelmed. soooo amazing. i can feel the song while the wind blows in my face !!! SO GREAT! LOVVVEEE IT

If anyone wants to give the unconfirmed lyrics a shot, here they are~

Can also probably get romaji from here too. OH, and it looks as though there's no neat bridge for Step by step?

I like it. Reminds me of her old summer songs.

I noticed her vocals aren't so great here too. But I think her vocals are hit or miss nowadays. I think she sounded bad in a few of the songs on A ONE.

I'm not a fan. It's a bit boring. Maybe I'm way too into A ONE at the moment but I'm glad this wasn't included. Maybe it will grow on me. It's not bad, just not that good either.

Sounds like BLUE BIRD to me.

and it doesn't sound like produced by RedOne...I think I am confused.

this isnt the song by RedOne

"Step by step" is already sounding, like it'll totally be my summer jam, for this year. :D I'm just absolutely loving how it sounds, so far!!! Especially the chorus. :heart Everything about it just makes me feel so happy & cheerful! :) I'm totally looking forward to hearing the full version...hopefully sometime soon. :)

Uninteresting at best.

Hmmm I don't hear any Snowy Kiss or TSMGO, I like it when I first listen to it and very looking forward for the full song... For PV, I hope some summer scenes in Japan...

the opening reminds me of Angel's Song. a very nice summer song!!

I absolutely love it! The chorus alone didn't do it justice.

meh.

generic melody, generic arrangement... what happened to summer hits like independent, UNITE!, INSPIRE etc? at least BLUE BIRD was truly adorable and catchy.

the verses are okay at best I guess, but God that chorus is truly grating and she sounds whiny/draggy.

definitely not impressed. if this is the direction the rushed mini album is taking.. :no

I'm quoting you because you mentioned BLUE BIRD specifically lol

I feel like the "generic" arrangement (specifically, the chosen instruments) could work so much better if only there was a better buildup... or a buildup at all period lol. To me, the arrangement has a bit of a BLUE BIRD feel. But BLUE BIRD utilized these sounds so much better because BLUE BIRD had an actual buildup and an arc and drama and climax within its arrangement. It starts off serene and subdued and builds and builds and then finally explodes at the first chorus, and leaves you wondering where the song is going to go as you listen.

Step by step sort of just... drops it all on you 8 seconds in. The intro is lame and leaves nothing to the imagination.

I dunno, it just feels very by the numbers.

I think most of her other summer songs eased you in pretty well. This song does abruptly start though... the most similar intro I can think of is ANGEL'S SONG's but that one was a bit more well executed than this one in terms of being a great opener. Though IMO it is a perfect drama theme song.

i love what i'm hearing on the preview.
it sounds lovely, cute and fun.
it's another BLUE BIRD yay!
can't wait to listen to the full version!

I kinda like it!

This preview made me listen to Angel's Song. I really like the feel of the song. Nothing extraordinary but I'm hoping for a great bridge in the vein of glitter.

let's hope the drama gets high ratings so a lot of people hear and like the song ^^

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2051589/full/

6.8% for first episode.

^ is it good raiting or bad?

^ kinda average-ish nothing outstanding

kinda bad for debut episode...because usually it's going down and then rise up again towards the end of the show...

Those are not good ratings for the first ep of a drama, lol. Can't say I'm surprised, it looked like crap anyway.

i like it!

Tbh seems like a drama I'd watch for one episode then drop. I'd only watch it for ayu.

NHK isn't a popular channel for dramas anyway lol. But the main male lead is basically an unknown, so it's all relying on Yukie. If they used a more popular male actor I bet it'd do better.
I actually didn't mind the episode. It made me curious about the next episode.

Will need to here to full song to judge it properly. So far, it's quite nice and I do hear the parallel from some of her earlier work, yet it sounds different and unique at the same time.

Gees those rating aren't that good. I think the drama with HBYA and Hello new me were pulling low to medium teens.

The audience for Saigo kara niban-me no koi was statistically speaking older in age. This drama caters to a younger demographic.

Step by step is adorable!

that male actor is quite hawt though :mischief

Looks like the drama with the Superfly theme song is winning in that timeslot.

Tatakau Shoten Girl! - 6.2% (Watanabe Mayu)
Mother Game - 9.8% (Kimura Fumino)

Generally this timeslot isn't used for more than a 5-6 episode drama on NHK. This is their first time in a while having one that lasts more than a month or two in the slot.

Love it, can't wait for the full thing! ^^

Yup. It has that obvious filler quality.

Wow, I'm loving this...!! :o

I like this song. Was surprised that it ended so fast :(