Previews of Sorrows, Shape of love, and Sky high
 

Previews out for the other three tracks are out!

Sorrows definitely has the Memorial address/Last minute feel. Something about her vocals in Sorrows is also a bit like ASFXX's vocals to me, but way less screechy.

Shape of love has the H/\L "piano" sound and actually the same vibe as ever free IMO.

Sky high is cheerful and uplifting like the title though I don't think Ayu has many songs like this... it kind of reminds me of ELT's Graceful World a bit.

Now that we have heard a bit of everything, I think Ayu is definitely more focused than ever. Very classic J-Pop for the whole release except for maybe Sayonara.

They are on YT as well.



To me Sky High sounds like summer song done right, gives me the same feeling as fairyland which is good because I don't like any of the recent summer songs including Step by Step, Feel the love or You and me



Nothing special so far, I'll wait for the full version. EDIT: OK, it was a bit rushed, I'm starting to like it a lot already.



I like it so far but I'll wait for full version before judging.

Oh, nice! Official avex uploads soon, come onnnn~

Thank you! I think I have to wait for the full songs to say if I like them, but so far it sounds promising.

I think I love every single song on this mini <3

Nothing to be crazy about for now imp, but they definitely are growers. Most ballads on A ONE didn't surprise me at first but ended up in my top 20 songs! Sorrows sounds great, Shape of love sounds decent and could go both ways, Sky high will be entertaining for a couple of weeks but not more I don't think.
I'm just slightly disappointed by the lack of EDM-ish track, but it's a solid release, better than what she usually releases in summer!

By first listening I surprisingly like Sky High the least.
But it's just short previews.
I didn't like the preview for Summer Diary at all, but I like the full version.
So far the only song I don't like is Step by Step.

I think Sorrows is a grower. I don't think is like Memorial address/Last minute, more like (miss)understood. I think it'll be a good song and original. Rock Ayu never disappointed me.

I need to listen full Shape Of Love and Sky High, but I like them.

Hmmm..this whole release gives me ASFxx & MA vibes. The singing, the arrangements, the covers..
Sayonara is out of place.
I won.t judge until I hear the full songs. If Step by step grew on me, everything is possible.

No bell sound :P

Previews are short so I can't 100% sure if I "yeah" or "meh", so I wait for my copy for the full length song listening. But I like SbS, Summy Diary & Sayonara (meh the male part).

Next week, may be I can get mine in the 2nd week :love

Nothing special, need to hear the fulll songs!

sorrows sounds the best out of the 3

what i love about this release is that the music is so balanced. im soooo in love with it

Sorry to be the one that breaks it to you, but listen to the (longer) previews from Amazon: there's a bell sound in Sky High just before the moment when the YouTube preview starts... She can't help it ahaha!

Thanks for the previews.
So far everything sounds alright like a continuation of A One. I don't see sixxxxxx standing on its own in terms of sound. But since I loved A One I'm down with it. :)

Sky High - TK song?

Sorrows - Kinda cool...need to hear the progress on the song...if not..this can be very flat

Shape of love - very touching..very Ayu-ish

I think the concept of the album totally changed from upbeat only into emotional songs

and the most positive note..her vocal is so good

they're wonderful. I love all of them. and as Uknow! said it Sorrows doesn't sound as MA or LM.

As A ONE, this mini-album will be flawless.

this album is absolutely so good!!

From what I heard so far, I like Sorrows and Sky high more. Shape of love is kinda boring to me but i will wait for the full version to judge.

I loved Sorrows and Shape of love! I don't liked Sky High

Bland midtempo hell eek.

Uhhhhhh!!! I won't listen!! i won't listennnnnn!!! XD

Ayu will ignore sorrows and never do a performance of it
like liar, guilty, it was, criminal, no future

Mh.
Only Sorrows impress me so far. Shape of Love and Sky High sounds both quite generic to me.

Oh well, I'll waiting for longer previews :D

man i really wanna check these out but my internet connection isn't loading ANYTHING, could some kind soul make a rip of all the previews and upload it to mega???? PLEAAAASSSSEEEEE?!!!!! T_T

She wasn't kidding when she said this album sounds more JPop than A ONE lol Shape of Love I'll need to listen in full but the other two aren't bad. She definitely picked the top three songs to promote though haha (Step by step, Sayonara, and Summer diary)

So.. no Redone track...

._.

Does this work for you? I uploaded the rip from the Google Drive https://mega.co.nz/#!EkYgUQhQ

THANK YOU!!!!! it does but it asks for some sort of decription key :tired

^ Ah, this should work then https://mega.co.nz/#!EkYgUQhQ!53V0N_...qnGwhH3Xi5zCzE

!53V0N_mHDa3uEEiaWSVmMuJQiihLZqnGwhH3Xi5zCzE is supposed to be the decryption key ^^

They're short, but I like what I hear! I'm excited for Sorrows the most.

YES, thank you a lot!!! It worked perfectly!!!:love

___

I am absolutelly in love with Sorrows it's absolutely breathtaking i love that piano in it.
Also i really enjoyed the chorus for Sky high, thought the bit before chorus hit sounded really bland.
Shape of love is the one that left no impression on me.*shrugs*

She sounds great in all of them though.

The best mini album (for me)

Apparently this is going to be one of her best albums in ages!

Sorrows sounds right up my street. I think I actually prefer the latter three songs to the promo ones. I also like Summer diary but Sayonara and Step by Step are just ok to me at the moment. Overall though, shaping up to be a good mini :D

What I like about this previews is that the key is not too high, it's nice to hear her lower, not high-pitched or cutesy voice.

Ayu is showing remarkable self-awareness here. These tracks all sound very well-executed, and they play to her strengths. Melodically they're MUCH better than most of what she's been releasing in recent years, too - I can actually remember how these songs go after listening to them XD

A ONE was perhaps a bit too "j-pop" and not QUITE "ayu specifically" enough, and this leans that way too, but it's certainly progressing in the right direction.

Good variety of material on this mini-album, too. I'm REALLY glad I pre-ordered two versions, honestly... I feel like this one deserves my money XD If the previews sucked, I'd have canceled one of them probably.

I think Shape of Love, that preview is my favorite as of right now, but for the other two, I think I need to hear the full songs to really make an opinion.

Sorrows had me slayed. BREATH TAKING!
I also loke sky high a lot, reminds me of independent 10 years later lol.
Shape of love didnt impress me so far but it seems like a nice song. Loving the mini album so far.

I like that she sings in a rather melancholic tone in Sorrows and Shape of love ;)

Shape of love sounded so in line with Story omg. For a moment I forgot how Story sounded like. Which i guess is a good feeling because Story hit all levels of nostalgia for me. But this sounds way sadder and poignant.

Sorrows sounds like it has A LOT of potential and yea, in line with miss-understood omg. If this had a PV, i could almost imagine this war scene LOL or some trecherous journey or some strong gales blowing against ayu. Coming to realize, Ayu's more personal songs are rock songs WHICH IS GREAT! (like Mirrorcle World, Tell All, A Song for XX, Memorial Address, Return Road). Maybe that is why Cirque de Minuit was so rock-oriented...

Sky High sounds DAI to me. I can't even. I can see Van singing this. But yes, somehow its rare that Ayu doesnt have that many of such songs. It's a nice compliment with Step by step I feel. It's very anime-ish and I hope it will get some spotlight because the Japanese love such songs.

omg leak already >;(

overall, YES. wow Ayu is focused and is bringing back that familiarity. This was the ayu I connected with so well. Continuing from A ONE i feel everything goes so well together its as though, these songs are in their own realm. Im sure if these songs were sung 5-7 years ago, they would have been just...lost admist other great songs. But I feel like, the work in both albums are polished and on point. (Sorrows and Shape of Love would have been so neglected if she had them on A ONE though haha)

They all sound great so far. Can't wait to get my copy!

O my. I think I will try to resist this temptation. But the comments make me feel very excited.
Based on what I read, I will have no regrets for pre ordering this album

They sound quite promising! Can't wait to hear in full.

wow...reaction is so positive. I.m amazed by this.

Bruuuhhh. Omg. Like. Sky High sounds straight off of A Song for XX...an album that I really do love. My perception may change later but that's how I feel after one listen which is awesome. Edit: my perception already changed. Only the end of the preview really sounds like ASFXX songs.

Sorrows sounds promising. And so does Shape of Love.

The compositions of the melody of these songs I think highlights the sort dip in quality of her Melodies over time, because these seem a lot stronger and her voice sounds absolutely perfect.

All of these songs, even the previews seem better than Step by Step lol. And her voice sounds better than it does on Step by Step. Step by Step should've just been on A One because it suits it more whereas six has this nice variety of other feel .

I really want to check them out but at the same time I wanna wait for the album. Decisions,decisions.

I love all the previews :luv2

Her voice is really strong in Sorrows :love

I like Sky High the least though.

And I agree, this album is really good melodically.

Wow, from all the low expectations people had for this mini, it's shaping up to be one awesome release.

Sorrows is the exact kind of ayu song I love. I already know I'm going to play the hell out of this. If it isn't performed live very soon I'm going to be so disappointed.

Shape of love is nice but I'm going to have to warm up to it I think. It's not my first port of call for an ayu song.

Sky high is like a cute anime theme song. I like this a lot too. I expect this will be performed at a-nation, along with Summer dairy and Step by step.

Apart from Sayonara this release is so early era ayu it's unreal :D

Thank you for previews. I'm in Love with Shape of love. This sounds so wonderful. Can't wait to hear full versions of all songs. This mini album is awesome :luv2

Sorrows is definitely my favorite. Sky High sounds old school ayu, but also sounds fresh. I love when she has songs like that :heart. I'll have to hear more of Shape of love to judge it, it's not exciting me so far though.

Omg I can't wait to hear Sorrows in full! This mini album is turning out to be really good.

Love it all! I think:
1. Shape of love
2. Sky high
3. Sorrows
Glad that Ayu put a medium pop or slow pop such as SoL in the album, thought all the music gonna be like pop in mainstream. Adding one very ballad song then this album gonna be like memorial address part.2

WOW I am very very impressed!! Like I'm in shock and also very happy about these songs.
Sorrows was giving me GUILTY vibes, Shape of Love sounds like... It really gives me post-Duty pre I am vibes but also reminds me of Petal although sounding way less cheap and as a result sounds even better. Sky High is what No Future tried to be. It does feel like it's rehashed almost but it's so nostalgic and it feels like it's something new as well. I can't put my finger on it.


I'm actually really happy I got the cd. I felt like, before listening to the previews, that the last three songs would be standard affair and such but it didn't really turn out to be the case. Ayu delivered I think. I've already forgotten what SBS sounds like. Everytime I try to recall the chorus I get 'ato choudo mou choudo' or whatever it is from Pray's chorus. So I'm really glad ayu saved the best for last. I'm proud to be her fan!

Edit: wait now I see! People are saying Shape of Love sounds like it's from Ayu's magnum opus and album to which people only ever listen for the lyrics ASFXX. I really get ASFXX vibes from it too. Or maybe it just reminds me of the first few albums from her career mashed in one song.

Loving the reviews guys - keep em coming!

I'm not going to listen until I get my album...but y'all have me so excited!!!

Oh my gosh

I really like these. I am shocked. Sorrows and Shape of Love sound beautiful. I love that Sky High sounds classic Ayu mixed with Love Songs era a bit to me. Can I just say that I am thrilled with her vocals on these three songs? At least I like 1/2 of the songs on this mini as of now.

I'm re-listening to Summer Diary now to see if I think I like it as much...

...........

I think it's really important to listen to some of these songs without watching the PVs. Since I did that, I found Summer Diary to be more likable, though I didn't hate the PV. It's just easier to pay attention to the song itself. I like the melody and just how much it sounds like a summer pop song. I like that Sky High, Step by Step, and Summer Diary at least carry that theme with them.

WELL

I am really liking these 4 songs quite a bit out of 6. I don't hate Step by Step but Sayonara could just jump off of a cliff. Maybe it'll grow on me. I really LOVE Shape of Love so far.

Shape~ sounds like the lovechild of SCAR and For My Dear... melodically. The arrangement sounds rather atmospheric and reminds me of something straight off the RAINBOW album.

I wanted to avoid this thread because i wanted to know nothing about those 3 songs before the leak but well... I'm getting super excited now, can't wait for saturday.

i have high hopes for this mini album! hopefully the songs are as good as they sound!

From the previews:

Sorrows: meh, sounds like another Last minute to me;
Shape of love: it sounds nice, the way she sings it reminds me of some ASFXX tracks;
Sky high: meh²;

I hope I can change my mind when I hear the full thing, for now it doesn't look impressive.

I've been thinking. These are the kind of songs that would really benefit from a sort of revamp in ayu's arrangements. Like there are just skmements that could be thrown in there or removed that would make perfection. They're fine as is from the previews, but I think they need I something to spice them up a little I think.

I think she's at a good place again though. She shpuldnjust continue to build back up from here.

Looks like I'm buying this mini-album just for Sayonara. These previews did absolutely nothing. Run of the mill basic Ayu. Not bad songs by any means, just nothing new. Shape of love is pretty.

I can't help but admit that this is the first time I'm not excited about the new release...

Same.

I wish Ayu could be an interesting artist...it seems like she's just decided to wave the white flag and just make safe Jpop midtempos to appease her core Team Ayu fanbase. Meanwhile Shiina Ringo and others are coming out with fresh and new stuff..

I'm loving the previews, specially Sky High! I want this mini soooo bad.

I'm totally loving all three previews! :love I love how "Sorrows" is so rock-ish, "Shape of love" is a bit on the romantic/dramatic side & "Sky high" is just so fresh & upbeat to listen to. :) I'm positively looking forward to listening to the whole mini-album, now!

Realllllly liking what I'm hearing so far!! I'm pleasantly surprised!!

Sky high has caught my attention. I can't really judge the other two yet until I hear longer previews or the full songs.

what exactly would be new and fresh for Ayu? she's done everything already, except for metal and opera lol

frankly i'm weirdly appy to see some of the folks to not like this and be the "unpopular opinion". I'm not sure what these people want to be honest. lol but i'm glad that majority is really pumped up for this.

I think it'll be hard for her to experiment nowadays especially with the shorter albums she's putting out with nearly no singles.

Who knows though, she seems like she's inspired enough to go back to the 14+ track albums one day.

I quite like Shape of Love. Melody sounds really beautiful.
This mini is definitely better than her last mini to me.

The album is way better than A ONE - A ONE was like 3 uptempo tracks and the rest was ballads, and this one have only one (finally...) but I miss her "experimental" and "epic" tracks like BRILLANTE/Return Road etc. It lacks of that songs, it does have one rock track that might really blow me away (I can't really judge it now) but the rest is 4 medium tracks that 3 of them are nearly the same type and one it's just basic (REALLY basic) trancy-pop track which make this album kinda bland. But I really like Summer diary, it does have fantastic, fresh atmosphere. Plus I might really like Sky high cause it reminds me of fairyland. But well, from previews I remember only "Sayonara" chorus (well, it's pretty easy to remember) and anti-melodic Sorrows chorus which makes me kinda mad, because the rest of the song (arragment, lyrics, piano etc) sounds pretty awesome and I can't focus on the melody of this song. It sound pretty chaotic to me.

LOL i just heard the 45s ver of Sky High and gosh...what the pre-chorus does. I love it more knowing it builds up. That pre-chorus form really is similar to Step by step due to the key raise. Must be a kumuro track but I love how energetic it is :D

Ayu's official channel.

Woo, right on time~

sorrow wins

it's not like there's this rule that every fan has to enjoy every single thing she releases ^^ for me it doesn't have to be new, it has to be great, I have to love it but I'm not loving it

I really like this album, wow I'm really surprised :)
I love Sayounara, and my second fav would be Shape of Love

The percussion is everything...

I'm really loving this album, I've been loving everything Ayu has done since Party Queen (except for 1/2 of Love again) I'm glad to see that she's back, she's still experimental enough but she's not all over the place like in the middle of her career. She's back to her roots and everything she's releasing is gold :heart

That intro for Shape of love... it's perfect for an encore!



This song really sounds like it belongs on a 2000-2002 Ayu album.

Sorrows is truly perfect to me. It sounds like progress' dark twin. And I love her voice on it SO much I have no words.
Shape of love sounds very very nice and the lyrics are lovely. Waiting for the loonger preview to judge sky high but I already had liked it before so....
going to pre-order now!!! ♥

Shape of love sounds like something from LOVEppears/Duty/RAINBOW from the preview. I don.t know about the full.

Similar to the Ayu I fell in love with. Shape of love is incredible.

Shape of love is still doing it for me!!! :)

There's something really nostalgic about this album... Is it just me? I felt like Ayu took me and threw me back to classic Ayu before she started experimenting with the mainstream sounds.

It's an absolute crime that Shape of love doesn't have a video.

OMG so impressed by the album. For me it's Summer Diary>>Sorrows>>Sayonara>Sky High>>>Shape of love>>>>>>>>>>>>Step by step

Summer Diary is the best summer song she has released since forever, it's just so refreshing yet nostalgic. Sorrows is rock Ayu at her best, really powerful. Sayonara is a very nice EDM song, one of her best of that kind. Sky high was an amazing surprise, not expecting it to be that good. Shape of love has AMAZING instrumentation, but something sounds kind of boring about it. It might just take few listens. Step by step should have never been created, it's generic in every wrong way

I'm loving this to pieces!!!!

I'd to add that Sky high sounds like a song from very early 2000's jpop especially reminds me of Every Little Thing's "Grip!"
Both songs are bright and cheerful which is great as a summer song!!!

edit: after a full listen to each song

I'm getting a strong Memorial address mixed with A song for xx vibe...very well done ayu!!