New producer, new composer.
 

Am i the only one here that thinks Ayumi's sound is getting a bit stale? I mean she uses composers that compose music for other Avex artists and she doesn't even need Mr. Matsuura anymore. There have been some Ayu songs that i really liked from her recently like About You, Game and Humming 7/4 but still it doesnt sound fresh.

My Story wasn't a big comeback for her, it was more of the same material. Seriously, does anyone feel this way cuz the whole forum just seems to love this album entirely. I haven't been able to appreciate an Ayu album fully since I am.

She could use some new things, but she already has that.. Ayu has done it all. Pop, rock, ballad, sweet, trance, house, mix..... And My Story contains all of them.. Some styles remind us of the old times with Fly High (the style that honey/replace have) and some of today (game, about you).. They're all in My Story.. So it's a great comeback to me..

Stale? :\ I've yet to find something from Ayu that doesn't make me go "Wow" :D

Zeoh

She's definately getting a bit stale with only a very nice song once in an odd while, instead of regularly like it used to be.

She definately needs to ditch H/\L's recent arrangements in my opinion.

ayu can try some new composer,but Mr. Matsuura is the best people that avex have, also,he is the best producer in the music industry, if ayu don't use him, i think the music quality will move backward.
Mr. Matsuura is the one who make ayu popular, i think ayu will never leave Mr. Matsuura as she said that she will leave avex if Mr. Matsuura is not there anymore in last summer.

I don't think Ayu is getting stale at all. She's probably one of the very few pop artists out there who actually has alot of variety, imo.

i think ayu is still fresh to me, everytime she try new style,she maybe the only one in japan who try so many music style and keep freshness to her fans.(try to look at BoA ,Mika, B'z ,they are always keepping the same style)

ayu make me to expect everytime, its really a good thing

Not if Ayumi chooses a good producer. Say Zentaro Watanabe (hitomi's producer).

Maybe Ayu should take a cue from up and coming singers like Hitoto You, Asuka Hayashi and Ayaka Hirihara who have had a great year and have an older target audience (ie more mature sound). I think she should stop doing pop songs like Honey, Liar, Greatful Days, etc.

i prefer Ayu's past work. like Dearest, Boys n Girls, Trauma, Surreal, Duty, Key and etc. her new songs aren't such a big hit. i can't even keep repeating the cd. i skip to Moments and Walking Proud.

i love many bits and pieces from all her album!

Read back on the discussions on the album, there's a boatload of folk that don't like the new album.

I, for one, was very disappointed. I found the new material weak - stale's a good word for it, as well - and fail to see how it's satisfying serious musical needs. Ayu's basically doing the same old trick, and gets worse at it every time she does. I mean, she could at least aim for some consistency, but it seems like we're in a downward spiral.

the producer of those old singer not suit the style of ayu(most importantly, they are not avex staff),as for the producer of hikiki, the style is completely not matching, hikiki is R&B but ayu is J-pop.

Mr.MAX is well known as a "GOLDEN" producer in japan, he is great in promoting a singer,so, I don't ayu should leave him.Actually producer don't take much part in music aspect(not mean that he don't care the music, just is that he aren't too concern in how the melody,arrangment or lyricis. Actually, the arrangement or the melody is GREATLY related to the artist. How the artist(ayu) want the melody or arrangement to be, Mr.MAX is only there to ensure the music quality or which directer to be used in the PV(these concern is mainly related to MONEY),but the content in it(PV or song)
is not the one really related to him.

Mr.MAX is mainly for money and promoting or what should the artist do in future(future plan), the one who really releated in music is the composer or arranger.

First off, just because Matsuura is a big arse producer doesn't mean Ayu should not leave him. Furthermore, do not underestimate the influence a producer has on the sound of an artist.

If you said ayu's music is "STALE", then you try to listen BoA or Mika, then you will find out what STALE is truly mean.

actually, there are only little variety music in the world, what ayu can try is very
limited, she have try almost everyone(except R&B), if you find that ayu is stale, then listen to other artists who mostly have NO variety in there music. such as i find that mika's music is absolutely boring, all the songs are the same(IMO). that kind of music will let their fans gone away because songs are always the SAME.

hikiki is also(imo), her deep river album's song is absolutely repeated, i find that the arrangement of the whole ablum is almost the same(esp. tokyo night,***i love you). that kind of songs are called stale.(BoA ,mika and some bands (not to name it)are truly stale , their music lacks variety.

but i agree ayu's song is going popish,the main reason is due to the arrager H^L, one of the member of H^L(the best one) had left the team, since then, their music quality have move A LOT backward :no poor ayu :no :no

yeah i agree that its kinda stale... and even silly sometimes(HONEY!!!!!!!)
i can't not listen to my story at all, i made myself listen trough the whole album from the beginnig til the end and i still think it's very weak

i also find it very starnge that so many ppl love it so much. and i can't believe how they post stuff like "well, maybe wonderland(or a different song) isn't so great but c'mon ayu's trying, let's appreciate it" God, she isn't retarded, so what she's trying, if she failed u don't have to like it.

and there is always something new to discover in music, so we cannot say that she "tried it all"

first,it is not the problem of ayu should or shouldn't leave Matsuura, it is the problem of ayu will or will not leave him. the PERSONAL importantance of Matsuura to ayu seems very huge(don't know the reasons), it is somehow beyone only a colleague relation, it seems that ayu put a lot of personal believing and confidence at him.

I don;t underestimate the influence of the producer, but just said the composer and arranger have the greatest responsibility in the music quality, so i suggest ayu may try some new composer or arranger

the most important reason that i don't want ayu to leave Matsuura is nothing related to whether he is big or not ,it is all because leaving Matsuura === leaving leaving avex( the greatest record company in jp) ,only avex can promote an artist so crazy like ayu(in jp), which Matsuura is the person responsible in that aspect. personally, i will not sacrifice the singing business to gain some maybe(gd music quality). if you want to use ayu's popularity to change "MAYBE", then, leave Matsuura, leave avex.(if you guys want ayu's popularity to have further more dropping) :yes

When you are someone who have don it all, it's hard to come up with new things. SO anyone has ideas for new thing?

it would be nice for fresh composers to compose for ayu, just for some change

sorry, but isn't music more important than popularity? i'd rather her do better music and be less popular than make silly pop and be on the top

The album is not "WOW" and it's not her best neither but i still like it.

I want more Naturally and evolution type of song but i guess she's over that.

First off, chill. Really, chill. Second - this thread is not about bashing this or that artist, it's about Ayu's latest efforts. You calling BoA and Mika's music stale is something uncalled for. I'm sure you deeply despise BoA, Mika, and Hikki, but this thread is not suited for venting that frustration.

Lastly, I do find that Ayu has always been doing a wide variety of genres, which I give her credit for (as she deserves), but she's not the epitome of eclectic music. And of course, just because something's eclectic, it doesn't mean it's good - nor the other way around. One could argue that BoA's been doing the same old thing these last few years, but she's damn good at it. And consistent.

Through the years Hamasaki Ayumi have been tryin' every kind of music under J-pop like her first album 'A Song For XX' most of the music sounded like oldies songs as it change a little by little. From 'I am...' it become trance then followed by 'RAINBOW' which she try english. As for 'MY STORY' it's rock! :yes Wot i'm tryin' to say is that in every album she's tryin' sumefin' different yet she wanted to stick with a little with her past work. I dun't know do jooo understand wot i'm tolk 'bout even. :no I think she's pickin' up things little by little. So who know sumeday she gonna be back with everything we wanted? ;)

I don't think this make any sense when you are criticising about Ayu's music. Think about it.

Personally I think MY STORY is a good album, and some of the songs are really great, if not all. Compare to a lot of other artists, I must say Ayu's album has way less filler and even if there's filler, they are decent ones. Ayu's album has way more quality than many other artists.

For those people who don't like MY STORY, it's your problem, and stop questioning others opinion on it. I don't think there's one single album that everyone loves about, just like me myself don't really like "I am" as a whole, even it does have some great songs like M etc.

Stale is not the word to describe Ayu's music, if you feel stale, you are refering to the Jpop genre, not Ayu, and that's not her fault.

i'm not sure if I want to say this, 'cuz you guys are gonna literally kill me for it and it will probobly cause another fight on the forum... but well, let's hope not.

ayu is a pop artist by all means. her "main purpose" is making money. she isn't the kind of artist who make their own songs or even play some instruments and their compositions are the only thing that matters to them. Sure she takes part in making her music but she has an army of other people to do it with. What i'm trying to say is that she is more of a performer than an artist. and don't bash me and deny it because we all remember this Time asia interview when she said that she cosnidered herself as a product. and for me that is what makes her special- she doesen't hide it.

I agree that her music has become stale =/ Since I am... I can only find a handful of songs by Ayu that I consider "gems." While I like MY STORY as a whole, it pales to, say, LOVEppears. Her songs have been less original sounding ever since the release of H. While I consider MY STORY as a comeback from RAINBOW, it really isn't much of a big one. And I'm really not expecting anymore for Ayu to bring forth material that sounds like songs from LOVEppears-Duty. She rarely if ever repeats styles from the past. As for having a new producer, I really can't say if she needs one or not since I don't know the extent of Max's influence on how her music sounds. She's also had new composers for MY STORY, so I don't really think having a new composer will make a difference anymore. If anything, I want to get rid of H/\L as an arranger, because I haven't been impressed with their arrangements in a long time. We had the return of CREA, and while I like Humming 7/4 alot, the chorus is still "blah" and Winding Road doesn't impress me. We had the return of Kazuhito (sp) Kikuchi, but the songs he did still disappointed fans and they did pale in comparison to other songs he's composed. I don't really know how Ayu will make her music less "stale" sounding, but maybe 2005 she'll try something new we'll all like.

That phrase isn't meant to criticise Ayu, so go figure. It was merely a statement.

Say pop artists and I agree. Real musicians don't deal in filler. What's there to fill? Eighty minutes of disc space. That's it.

Can I say bias? Yes, I can. Bias.

No matter what Ayu does fans are going to complain :laugh

Guess you're right about that, haha :rolleyes

yeah. i gotta admit it has gone a bit stale. i like a couple tracks off MY STORY, but it doesn't really compare to her older works. i was hyped up for the release and liked most of the songs at first, but after constant [ i mean constant ] listening sessions, it kinda died down.

i'm not saying it's a bad album. i think it's better than ASFXX & RAINBOW, but she could do better.

please don't diss BoA, Mika, or any other J-pop artists. they have different tastes and styles upon their music. they might seem stale to you, but not to their fans.

Yup Ayu fans are really annoying aren't they... over these months I have truly come to see why people can't stand Ayu fans at times.

Anyways I'm just tired of these threads, we'll never ALL be pleased so I don't think having a new producer or composer will help anyone. It'll all depend on what Ayu wants to do and we'll just have to sit and wait.

Wake up. A lot of people here like ayu's older work better than this new stuff. Ayu's music changes a lot. And people dont always like the latest style.

I believe all of you are so stick to her past music,maybe that is caused by the popularity of ayu at that time

people always blindly follow the action of other unnoticely, you guys said her past music is better, it is because the "past" is her prime age, when everyone in the society said it is a "hit"(remember hit<>good)song , then everyone will thought that"..hmm.. a hit music,..hmm...it is good because it sell well!", it it common that almost everyone think like that, it is soooo unnoticeable, but it is true, people always follow others opinion rather they figure out what is the TRUE quality of the music by themself.

ayu is most popular that time, so your mind will finally come to a conclusion---- The music at that time is the best.
i am not trying to said that all of you have no independent thinking, but what i mention is very true, people are always affected by others easily and it is sooo unnoticeable.

why don;'t i think that her past is the best? (actually there are both bad and good thing in each album,i can't actually say which one is the best, however, in popularity, her past is the best) because i become a fans in rainbow period, i don't know about how popular that time(not don't know about it ,but i haven;t experienced it), i think i can identify what is good ,what is bad.

I don't think people are so blind yamogi. If it's good people will like it, if it's stale then people will notice it. You could say bands like DCT and SAS are way past their prime but people still respect them and their singles still sell well. WHY? Because the quality is still good.

It's more likely that Ayu's sales/popularity are going down b/c the music quality is going down as oppose to the other reason which is b/c she is past her popularity peak.

So you can, and others can't. Quite the bold statement. I think everyone can decide for themselves what they like and dislike. Everyone here has opinions of their own - they're not, as you say, determined by the status quo (God, I love saying that). It's downright degrading to say this.

Pretty much true. Everyone loves different styles in music, thus one person might really like an album which another person would completely dislike. It's just a matter of taste.

It is however true that she is indeed past her popularity peak and her songs are not as good as they were in the past, in my opinion. We'll wait and see what this year will bring along with it.

i am not saying that ayu is not popular now, actually, she is the MOST popular female singerin japan(with hikiki)still NOW,no one until can even come near to her. i just said she is not so popularity COMPARIED with 2000/01.
but as you know, no one can keeping his popularity(vogue) forever. she is not so 'vogue' these years(note that vogue<>popularity), but she is becoming a super star instead of a vogue singer, so, sale will be not as high as past.

Japanese is really repect her,because she is a MIRACLE of Japan(which is all known), she is like madonna who is not 'vogue' but still 'popular', she(with hikiki who also not so vogue comparied with her past) is the one have most influence in japan.

everyone will have have their own peak passed, it is not the matter of music, it is just the matter of 'time'(hikiki is also the one passed the peak, but i don't think her music is going downward)

forgive me if i use some wrong english pharse, because i am not a english speaker :yes

i am not saying that other can't identify good or bad, but just said SOMEONE here is quite....

imo, this year is better 02,03,98(the single released in 99 is weak in melody,but best in lyric)same as 00,99( i don't know why people like evoulation so much, i hate at first time i heard it... but i finally like it more, but it is not her best ,i can find many song of ayu have the same level of this song)imo M has the one of the best melody,but lyric is weak, i like free&easy more than M(because the lyric)

i think 03 is the worst year(not include some album song), the & is bad :no

yep and i noticed it's always the same ppl who complain~

*sighs* Good for you, huh. :hahano

well... maybe im late but i will giuve a word... i dont care with ayu past or present... both are equal for me... as i dont like some of her past works.. n i dont like some of her present works.. i think she is still the best... she is just trying a new variety i think... but maybe she does a little overdo it... so the kind of song maybe quite similar... (listen ourselves, BOY, game, about you in order ourselves - BOY - game - about you) theres a little similarity :).. n she likes using a pattern of verse - chorus1 - verse2 - chorus2 - bridge - chorus 1 + 2 rite now (carols... -> example.. compare to surreal..) :) n i still like it.. coz i love how ayu makes her music ^^.. i think its not a stale thingy.. its a process of ayu.. she is maturer ^^

That goes both ways.

:rolleyes And?

I agree. I prefer her older stuff. Most of the newer fans like RAINBOW a lot. I prefer her older stuff like LOVEppears, DUTY or I Am...

Ayu fans are annoying? I'm sorry, but you're a fan too. It's not our faults if some of us don't like everything from Ayu. (Although, i DO like most things from Ayu) Well, hey, it's not because you're an Ayu fans that you have to agree and love everything she does. And it's not because you don't like her latest album that it means that your not a true fan.

That's why people complain... Her latest album is not good. I don't like CAROLS. Forgiveness is too long. Her concerts suck. She's not good singing live. She's getting too sexy. This PV is weird. This one is boring. Blah blah blah... Those comments come out quite often and, i don't agree with any of those things. If they want to complain, let them do. But i'll still like this or that anyway.

People always expect more or something like that. I just appreaciate the things she does instead.

Not meaning to bash you here, just so you know, but I look at things entirely different.

Now, Ayu is an artist, or at least, she's supposed to be. As she is, I expect her to be good at what she's doing. I expect her to improve all the time - a standstill is not enough even.

I have high expectations of all musicians, directors, writers, painters I like - when they release something that's crap imo, I won't appreciate it. I'm not one to say 'better luck next time' when Kitano would be coming out with a boring, retarded movie. When Thursday's new album would suck beyond imagination, I wouldn't appreciate it. They're artists, I expect them to do good, to do better, to do best. An artist must always try to improve him- or herself. Self-criticism required. When improvement is not happening, either just quit, or do all your best to get on top again. When you just made an album and half of the songs suck, just get rid of them and write some new ones!

I'll have to admit though - that's the curse of the pop world. It's all about money in the end, so out of 16 tracks written, 16 get recorded and released. Pity.

That said - that doesn't mean everyone should dislike or like the same things. There's still taste to consider. Just expressing my opinion here.

LOL, no that's not bashing me! You have your own point of view.

I don't expect Ayu to be the best writer, to have the best PVs, her songs to be each and every one of them amazing, or any of those things. Ayu is not perfect and i don't expect her and everything she does to be perfect. I appreciate what she has done to us and if it's not her best PVs, album or whatever, well, that's too bad. I don't expect her to improve majorly and to be just a perfect artist. No one is anyway!

Of course, when she had a BIG success and come back with something that has not been has big, some people are dissapointed. So am i, but i won't say or complain about how i dislike something. I'm more the type that see the side i likes in an album or song and thats all. I don't focus on the bad side much.

True, it's all about people's taste. Right now, Ayu is being more sort of pop/rock. Some people don't like it. Some do. It's always gonna be like this :rolleyes

Hehe, true. Funny thing though - I'm a big rock-fan, but this new stuff of Ayu's just doesn't float my boat. Maybe it's because I like rock a whole lot; it's easier to spot the weaknesses in these songs.

Taste is always an importnat factor in everything. Some people consider Ayu's earlier works to be worse than her later stuff, while consider them to be better than her later stuff. From what i've heard of My Story i'm at 2 minds about it. On the one hand i like some of the stuff, but on the other, it's not spectacular. As i haven't heard all of My Story yet i'll use mem address as a comparison. Just compare the first time you listened to Mem Address to the first time you heard I Am... Yes, mem address has some nice songs, but I Am... has some EXCEPTIONAL songs. however, this is my opinion and don't expect everyone else to follow it.

I will disagree with sven on something though, and that's that Ayu should always be improving. Yes, it would be nice, but she's not just an artist, she's a person aswell. Nobody on earth can be perfect, and occasinally we shine through our imperfections. I'm happy for ayu to stay at a stand still, but would like an exceptional song every now and then, instead of one here and one there.

How can you! :rolleyes

I guess, I might have high expectations - I'll admit though, only the best is good for me. I despise mediocrity - seeing Ayu heading that way frightens me.

I guess it's because her songs aren't real rock music. It's really more rock/pop and mix with other type of music. It's not really "rock". We all know she's truly a pop singer anyway. That's maybe one of the reason.

Altogether, it is the quality of the music as a whole that's bothering me. My tastes in music are eclectic enough to appreciate anything really. Pop music doesn't bother me at all either, you know, I like some of it even. I love Jpop. I guess it has to do with me setting (too) high expectations.

ayu reminds me alot of what happened to metallica in america, people either love em or hate em, and the only thing that has changed is that their music had evolved as the time has past by. Really Ayu is the same as she was when she first came out, still cutting edge, still original.

telling ayu to stop doing pop songs is like telling her to ruin her career.

hello?! She is a J-POP STAR. not a J-ROCK STAR. get it right.

^ she is turning into both

Well, you can't really call that J-Rock.

I agree.

Nor can one compare Ayu to Metallica. That doesn't mean I like Metallica though. They may have been influential, but their music itself isn't worth a whole lot. Their old songs were recorded in different takes because the drummer couldn't drum the whole songs at once. Later on, they sold out, definitely. This shouldn't become a Metallica thread though, so end of off topic.

Well, yar, haha, I think everyone is really engaging in some intellectual debate here! It's good to see everyone still being very concerned about the direction by which Ayu's music is going, and it's a good sign that her fans are still concerned about her. But well, I think there are some general conclusions that I think we have all approved of.

1. Everyone has their own tastes and opinions, and it's ok that we don't agree with each other's opinion.
2. Ayu will not be able to please everyone no matter what happens.
3. Ayu's music is not truly "individual-focus" i.e. It's made SPECIALLY FOR YOU so that you will LOVE it.

Based on these truly fundamental arguments, I think basically, from my point of view, I think we should try to empathise with her too. Producing music is really tough work and I know that at times, we might think that she doesn't even produce top-notch quality music and perhaps even heading for the worse. However, I think Ayu has really tried her best already.

It's part of the horrid regiment of her career, getting the gossips in the gossip columns, her popularity eventually dipping ... still, I think we all can say that Ayu has really left her impact and tried very hard to deliver against the competition. We all can feel that she's being roped into part of this "money-making" plan thing, whereby money is really "everything". It would be a truly ideal world whereby people make music because they love it without this thing called greed existing but still sadly it does. So as much as we hate it, Ayu's schedule, ayu's health, ayu's raison d'être has well, a lot of times be neglected by people around her.

"How does Ayu feel really about what she's doing?"

She's open and frank to her fans, she really wants to deliver the best that she can to her audiences, and I think every single artiste wants to put their best into their own production. They each have different styles which they feel would appeal to their fans and hence they would head in that field.

What Ayu is experiencing now is that yar, she has really put in a lot of effort and I think exhausting your creativity for like 7 years of your career, you can see how much harder it is getting to garner in new ideas (I mean Ayu has tried on so many images and so many styles) which she is still trying to explore "unexplored" frontiers.

So yar, seeing this constraint, I hope that basically, everyone, yar, I know you'll feel your disappointments with Ayu's music at certain times or even at this point, but still, I hope we don't neglect that Ayu's already trying her best, even though knowing that well, not everyone will like her "new" styles and so on. Her schedule has been like crazy, plus her ongoing concerts and so on. It's quite "naturally" that her quality of music might have to suffer a compromise "somehow" (if that's how some of you feel).

Again, I just hope that we'll empathise more with her too. I hope we're not taking this too commercially and well, still realise that she's human afterall. She's not perfect, but neither are we.

I completely agree! :yes

i think the same, , i like my story but i PREFER 100 times MORE the album I AM... for me, that's genuine ayu, my story is another ayu, i like it but not so much, and very commercial,, with some ayu hints, obviously

you made precise reviews... ^^

I've been a fan since LOVEppears and appears were released. I love LOVEppears but personally I find MY STORY to be much better then LOVEppears, Duty, and I am...,don't get me wrong I love those albums and listen to them all the time but that is my opinion. I find her music and her vocals to be improving though she can get off key....I like the fact that Ayu is trying new styles with every album and is not always keep the same composers, thought I feel that H/\L hasn't been the greatest the past year or so. I also think she should make a come back as a composer.I just get the feeling that she doesn't like the was she composes but I could be wrong. I'm glad to see that we as fans are concerned if there is something we do not like but like what others have said, her songs are for her to express her feelings and whether we like them or not is up to ourselves.Sorry if anyone of you do not like what I said and think that I'm an idiot but I thought I say a few words myself.

What is so hard to understand that a lot of people are liking MY STORY? I personally was awaiting for something new from ayu and no I was not expecting some EARTHSHAKING/GROUNDBREAKING/BIG BANG stuff. I was just expecting for new songs from ayu, simple as that. I could care less if the songs have 47478451478 verses and 6454754 bridges, too much vibrato in this or that part, if it is generic pop or if it is not so original. I just wanted to enjoy new songs from ayu. And she (in my opinion) honestly came with some "clean" melodies, nothing too hardcore/random, I felt the climax of the album was pretty good, the chorus were decent, nothing that would make me post on the "songs with a good verses but crappy chorus" thread.

OT: I don't see any brilliance in BoA latest releases....yet I enjoy them. I think she's doing a lot worse than ayu in the recycling aspect, I can't see why people would say BoA is doing her job fine while ayu is declining. Her last japanese album LOVE & HONESTY added absolutely nothing to what the VALENTI album had to offer, not to mention her vocals went worse as well.


EXACTLY!!!! couldn't have said it better

Excellent point :yes