Life, one of the most underrated Ayu songs ever?
 

I've seen plenty of people around here and other places saying that Life is probably one of the dullest and least appealing songs Ayu has released in a long time, being so bland/whatever, but really though.. in my opinion people don't give it enough credit.

It's a simple ballad with a simple arrangement consisting of guitars and drums and Ayu's vocals.. (with a little synth thrown in there, I think) which Ayu hasn't really had in a while. And as for people who say it lacks emotion, it certainly has me feeling all sorts of emotions like hope and how "Life" is difficult, but you have to keep going despite whatever's going on around you. It just leaves me feeling as though I'm standing in a breeze or something. "Whoooosh~"

So I wonder just why people don't like it that much then. Is it just something listeners aren't getting or am I just going crazy as an Ayu fan?

Edited to add: Since I'm talking about underrated songs, I'd have to say that songs like Beautiful Fighters, Beautiful Day and Born To Be... DEFINITELY deserve WAY more praise than some of the songs people love so much... they're all uplifting tracks that give you hope! Maybe some people aren't listening to these tracks with their hearts/an open mind?

Random list of other underrated songs in my eyes:
Most of MY STORY (Liar, HOPE or PAIN, HONEY, winding road, Replace)
Life
Born To Be...
Beautiful Fighters
Beautiful Day
EnergizE
NEXT LEVEL
ANGEL'S SONG
Close to you
part of Me
In The Corner
Curtain call
no more words
everywhere nowhere (Not enough love for this out there)
GUILTY (I don't really like this song at all, but someone that does can possibly enlighten me on why.. I don't know many that really like it )
Bold & Delicious.. etc.

Feel free to talk of what you feel is underrated and why if you'd like. -whistle-

i think its 'underrated' for reason, ayu has much more interesting songs than this. this is just boring, and mostly people really cant remember how it goes like.

I suppose not a lot of people like Life as it was very overshadowed the greatness that's of Mirrorcle World ?

Then again it's kinda expected since it's usually the case of the A-side overshadowing the B-side . I seldom see the opposite effect of things

really? i personally love it!!!! i would choose it over days anyday

the song to me just feels like i've been in the dark my whole life, and now i'm in a meadow surrounded by light...yeah :D i like the visual images i get from ayu songs~

I happen to love "Life", it is underrated. It needs more love.

I LOVE IT

I agree 100%. I took a long time to adjust to Life as it was horribly overshadowed by MW. I really love the song, it just took getting used to :P

I like Life a lot. It's very soothing being a rock ballad. But yea, it's overshadowed by a superpower. And Life doesnt have a striking melody to begin with, but its because of that I like it as well.

:yes

maybe initally I was expecting another B-side to be in the same simliar music vein as Mirrorcle World

guess not

I love it and have been in love with it since it came out.
Probably because I was somewhat disappointed that Ayu re-recorded the vocals for Mirrorcle World so I grew to appreciate Life right away since I didn't know what to expect from it.
I think it's great to listen to outside and I thought it was a very different release from the pattern she had been going in around that time. Kind of "classic" Ayu-feeling but something new of course.

I hate it when people say they don't like it because I just think they didn't give it a chance or are looking at/listening to it in the complete wrong light.

HI-FIVE!!! :laugh

ehhh... i dislike it for a reason
i feel the chorus lacks emotion for me, it really does. the rest of the song is so good, like SOOO GOOD, but the chorus... just kills it. doesnt sound pleasant or emotional to me =/

I think the chorus is simply an unpredictable/unconventional one, which is probably why it seems so gross to some people. Different strokes for different folks, but this is a true gem that's being overlooked.

'Life' is such a snoozefest :/

I agree. I think Life is a really enjoyable song.
I know I am going to be killed for saying this, but...
90% of the time I can't stand Mirrorcle World. So Life was much better.
Once and a while I will be in the mood for Mirrorcle World (maybe it only happened once or twice) anyways, it's as bad as Bold & Delicious.

Life=good; MW=bad.

I'm happy that MW didn't make it onto NL, but I think Life would have been nice to go with Days on there... (Also, Life>Days)

I am sure people are going to kill me for all of the things I have said today. XD

I love life!!!

One of....but not THE most underrated song...which would be walking proud....hmmmmm that song deserved to be a single

I didn't like Life before but there was one time that I was in a mood for the song. Since then it became one of my favorite songs ever! ^^

I LOVE all these three songs, but I can't say that I LOVE Life. It's very nice, but that is all.
Maybe it'll grow on me someday...

Life is probably one of the least promoted and used song in Ayu's discography. It was on a single that wasn't used for a studio album; it did not have a PV, no remix, no TV-performance etc.. There's a good chance we'll never hear of this song ever again..

However, underrated means that it's good. And well. Life is such an easy popsong. You can like it, you can love it; but I don't think you can really call it original and well-made
Still; the song reminds a bit of The Corrs. And this is one of the few easy popsongs that I do really like from time to time =) Her vocals are really good in the verses

well...its all come back to individual taste of music...
me myself not like [life], its ok...but definitely not my favorite...
i think [born to be] is really underrated, i like that song...
[beautiful days] and [beautiful fighters] for me is just ok...

I liked "Life" ever since it came out. I might even like it more than "Mirrocle World", because it's kinda all over the place at times. "Life" is more simple and straight-forward in arrangement. And I love the instrumental bridge. It is similar to "It was" in a sense, which I also like and most other people on here don't.

i've always liked it, and i love born to be... way more than startin. haha :P

I don't dislike Life, but I listen to it rarely because it makes me feel a little... uneasy. I know that's totally opposite of what it's supposed to be like, but I guess for me it's just that it remind me quite a bit of some songs I used to listen to when my life wasn't exactly the greatest, so if I don't feel kinda nostalgic I don't usually listen to it. There's nothing wrong with the song itself for me though.

wat do u want us to say?

ayu doesnt like Life.

I used to believe that it was just an "impromptu" song. The kinds I skip over on my playlist. It wasn't until really recently when someone acquainted with me died that I realized what the song is really about and how great it is.. I think if people were able to relate to the song's message, they'd enjoy it much more. I agree with xHeartstation. Walking Proud is very underrated... I LOVE THAT SONG!

Life is actually one of my favorite songs (doesn't make the top 10, but I REALLY like it :)). I loved it from the minute I heard the previews to when it came out. It reminded me so much of her older ballads and Together When..., which also has a hint of her older ballads in it. I ESPECIALLY like the end. :yes It's amazing. <3

And I also REALLY love Born to be! It's a real pick-me-up for when I'm sad. :)

I think I feel the same way as you!

Mirrorcle World is too messy for me, everything is all over the place. I love Life since I first time heard the preview because of its simple arrangement and music. and IMO this song is emotional~

I would love a remix of Life. I remember there was a mix-like thing here a while ago crossing it with SEASONS. A full crossover/mashup would be awesome! :thud

'Life' totally slaughters most of the NEXT LEVEL album tracks. Truly excellent song. I agree that the song was a complete breath of fresh air after the somewhat aggressive, synthrock sounds of GUILTY. At the same time, it retained that old Ayu feeling.

Vocally, it's one of her better emoted songs in recent years. I think the song has what I will call the 'TO BE' effect. She's emoting a kind of subtle emotion. One that is rather hard to put in to words. From 'Life', I feel a sort of sadness, optimism, and humility resonating from her vocals. When the song ends, I'm not really sure how I feel overall. It's not a feeling of extreme happiness or sadness, but it's some kind of transcendental feeling.

The intro is friggin' siiiick. I don't think any of her songs have ever opened so bluntly and with such drive from the get go. I can think of a few others (MY ALL and SIGNAL, but none as great is 'Life'.

I always get the feeling that some people who don't like the song are just really spoiled by overproduced pop songs. Admittedly, 'Life' is way too raw for someone used to listening to extravagant and pompous arrangements.

I agree with most of you guys :yes
Life deserve more love!

When I listen it for the first time I was thought 'I like it but.. is an awful b-side for MW'. After some listens I start to love this song. Her voice is so pure and emotional as the arrangement. It's one of her best melancholic song.

:yes Life is amazing... and the lyrics are seriously one of her best too. And when she "wooo yeah yeah" at the end... God I had goosebumps!

Also, I really hate Beautiful Day cos well I don't know either, but Born To Be... reminds me of soccer, which, needless to say, makes me love the song. :D Beautiful Fighters belong to the genres of Ayu-songs that I LOVE the most - SUGAR POP!!! Even HONEY and ANGEL'S SONG... songs like that, God I love them all!

And it's quite sad to see that so many of us dislike Days... it's like my most favorite Ayu song ever but I'm a Days-stan so oh well.

'Life' has been one of my favourite Ayu songs since it was released. I instantly fell in love with it and I basically agree with what Coelacanth had to say. I'm not sure what emotion I'm feeling towards the end of the song. It's all sorts of emotions built into one. I sometimes get a sense of happiness, sadness, nostalgia, moving on, forgetting the past, etc. It's an amazing song in my opinion.

Actually, for me Life is kind of non-excisting so its really underrated in my house. But I just dont care for it.

But in the other way... I LOOOOOVE Born To Be..., Beautiful Fighters and Beautiful Day. All of them makes me happy and I love to listen to them. all of them gets 4,5/5. :D

I actually prefer the B-Sides of many artists over their A-Sides, but ayu just has boring B-Sides xDDD

it just doesn't catch your attention or anything, it reminds me of some of the songs on MY STORY.
it's okay, the lyrics are amazing

i don't like it

Other underrated songs (songs that don't get a lot of attention):

-Monochrome: I think a lot of people don't like the instrumental that goes with this. I think the lyrics are really interesting.

-Immature: Another song which not many people seem to talk about a lot. The lyrics to this song are really great. I think all of the remixes for this are great.

-Girlish: The vocals in this song are what I think of as the "classic" ayu singing style. It's really catchy and recently I've begun to appreciate it a lot more.

-Fated: I think a lot of people thought this song was boring, (actually, I used to think it was boring) but after I listened to it I really liked it.

-For My Dear: I used to think this song was annoying, but after I really listened to it, I found that I liked it. I think that the vocals really are what make a lot of people not like this song. I think if she re-recorded this song it would be great.

-Present/Replace: I think both of these songs are not liked by many people. They're just really happy songs and I feel like she's directly singing to me when I listen to them.

Those are all I can think of now... Some of these are really not my favorite songs, but they're good and they don't get a lot of attention.

^ ahh i love monochrome, immature, fated, replace, and for my dear... is growing on me but only with her new vocals!

other songs i think don't get enough attention/are underrated are Trust, WE WISH, Dolls, rainy day, too late, SIGNAL, Because of You & Connected

I really like this song!!
I love the lyrics at the end that go "You taught it to me, Let's make a miracle"
So pretty!! And to me it connected with 'Mirrorcle World' hahaha :)
I think it's such a nice alternative pop/rock song and I love the guitars!!
I really love Born to be, It was, immature, WE WISH, Naturally,GUILTY etc.
I think those songs don't get enough attention!!

Don't love Life, but don't hate it either... it's a good emotional song, but not my favorite...

Beautiful day has that "concert ending feeling" that My All, Who and Replace has too... It's a nice song, but I would like if her stops releasing songs thinking about ending her concerts...^^

Love beautiful fighters, the best girl power song lyric-wise, much more mature than Real Me and my name's WOMEN IMO... And it sounds fun too =)

Love the "Olimpic" feeling that Born to be has

Some underated songs I love: Secret, Bold & Delicious, forgiveness, Guilty... these are 4 of her best songs to me, and people seens to hate it... Actually, I read here once that ayu's tittle songs are getting bad, but to me, they are AWAYS among her strongest tracks... They are the more sincere songs of her discography to me^^

I'd dare to even say that I prefer listening to "Life" than "Rule". I was disappointed that Life didn't make it onto NEXT LEVEL.

Meh, my favorite part is how it ends, with the loud rush and the quick fade out. Otherwise, it doesn't stand out to me. I like it and all, but it's just not on the same level as other recent ballads, Fated and Days.

It would be great to hear Ayu perform "Life", at least one time.

I love Life. I personally think this should have been the a-side and Mirrorcle World should have been the b-side. I just feel that that after everything Ayu announced after CDL 07-08 that Life just fits in with her attitude at the time rather than MW and that fans probably would have responded to it more if it was an a-side.

She did perform it ONCE at the birthday concert of AT08.. and never again. -sad-

walking proud was voted number one most requested from MY STORY's tour when they were polling TeamAyu... so.. I don't think that's really underrated. Maybe to the overseas audience?

List of underrated songs imo:
Most of MY STORY (Liar, HOPE or PAIN, HONEY, winding road, Replace)
Life
Born To Be...
Beautiful Fighters
Beautiful Day
EnergizE
NEXT LEVEL
ANGEL'S SONG
Close to you
part of Me
In The Corner
everywhere nowhere (Not enough love for this out there)
GUILTY (I don't really like this song at all, but someone that does can possibly enlighten me on why.. I don't know many that really like it )
Bold & Delicious.. etc.

Feel free to add anything that you feel is underrated, but be sure to explain why you think it shouldn't be if you can~

^I agree on most of those songs. Especially Liar, In The Corner, everywhere nowhere, NEXT LEVEL, Beautiful Day, Beautiful Fighters, ANGEL'S SONG, Life, Bold & Delicious, I'd even throw Pride in there because I see a lot of people on the forum don't really care for it, but I love it.
I also agree on GUILTY, I don't care too much for the song myself, and I don't really understand why others love it so much. It's nothing really special, to me anyway. It's not even on my Ayu favorites playlist. :P

Life is amazing, as is Liar. Both highly underrated. Unfortunately.

well, when I first heard the album, 'GUILTY' was the song I was replaying over and over and over. her voice is basically what i like most about it, and the haunting feeling from it. it has this creepiness to it that i really like. i don't listen to it much now because i overplayed it, but it's definitely underrated and a very good song imo

Honestly, I had that sort of same love for GUILTY when it first came out, but then the fact that it kind of leads nowhere is what irks me about it the most. The dramatics of the helicopter and the hauntingness of it is all fine and dandy, but as a song, it just doesn't work for me in the end. -sigh-

Oh, time to add another ~underrated song~.

Curtain call.

It has that sort of raw emotion that I feel as though Ayu only brings out when she sings songs like no more words or Dearest with a very simple backing arrangement. The Mariah Carey comparison aside, it's a wonderful song that seems to convey her feelings towards her fans quite well. I feel as though it is a
Who.. part 2 [but not really] with the whole "I hear your (fans/supporters') voice thing" and the "I hope this singing voice (of mine) will reach you" thing.. it's just very.. fitting.

On a random note, I've found that Ayu's album for the most part end with a very bitter goodbye usually. Secret, rainy day, untitled ~for her~, Curtain call, Memorial address, Endless sorrow, winding road.. she seems to really love ending albums on sad/emotional notes..

Perhaps theme of a-nation '03 as well? I'm not really sure.. I think it's well received, but a lot of people might not even know about it. I didn't even know it existed for a while, and it actually took me a long time to like. I was watching the CDL 05-06 performance of it today and it made me feel all warm inside~ yeah I know it was lip-synched, but I'd consider us lucky for her to even put that song in her setlist.

I prefer to think that part of it was lipped and the rest was live. It sounded pretty live to me anyway.

theme of a-nation '03 always garners a lot of "OH MY GOD THAT WAS SUCH AN AWESOME SONG" when it comes up, so.. I wouldn't say it's underrated. It's a hidden gem, sure.. but underrated? Maybe not. God, I hate that theme of a-nation '03 is only on &. -searches for it- (Edit: Get it here if you haven't heard it. ) It's rather awesome that I kind of came back into liking Ayu at that time [look at my join date!] and I really loved every single song on &. She needs to make B/U/@/*/E/RBYG RIGHT NOW. Ugh.

theme of a-nation '03 in terms of "feeling" is totally like an Asian arrangement of Life. Drums, flutes, and very Japanese-y sounding instruments.. so soothing and "We are the world"-ish.

Wow, reading some of the comments here made me want to listen to Life again. *grabs MW single* Ah, so this is what it feels like. I used to overplay Life for days, I loved it sooo much. But then I'm over that phase and started listening to other songs again. Life would always have a place in my heart, though. I just love the music, her vocals, the overall feel gives some sort of bittersweet feeling to me.

And I happen to love It was, Liar, HOPE or PAIN and In the Corner. They've got the potential, it just sad that many couldn't be bothered with them.

Haha, I figured that.

Kinda surprised to see part of Me on your list. I didn't even think you liked that song. LOL. What's the word when something is neither overrated, nor underrated...? That's part of Me, IMO.

I think forgiveness is quite underrated too! It's a gorgeous song, but a lot of people say it's boring. Seems like the slow 6/8 time signature could be a bit alienating.

I'm very honest when it comes to my critiques, and part of Me is a song that I literally totally forgot existed in Ayu's discography until AT07's performance of it. That performance imo redefined the song, much like how Secret's did. Oh, concerts. LOVE THEM.

So dramatic and "twinkly"-like. Touching the cheesy lover in everyone's hearts.

theme of a-nation '03 is the kind of summer song that I really want her to release again... really bittersweet, and able to bring tears to people's eyes. I mean as happy as summer is, there's still a lot of nostalgia!

And part of Me in AT 07 is like whoa! I mean it was -just a song- in the past.. until I watched AT 07. It was really heartwrenching and I love the emotions that Ayu and Shu-ya are emoting... really awesome!

And Liar omg I swear this is the top 5 tracks in MY STORY for me... it's really really really good, and I don't understand why people dislike it so much. :(

Other super-good songs that I think people tend to forget/dislike/overlook are:
everywhere nowhere (thank God she's performing this more often)
Bold & Delicious
Days

Life? i heard that it was the second episode for untitled ~for her~?

well, personally, i love it very much.... it's so emotional

Life didn't offer anything special to me (musically). I think this song should be rated even lower (so I think it's overrated).

Anything can be overrated or underrated to individuals. But collectively speaking or rated as a whole, it's rated what it is. Thus, one person can say a song is underrated while another person can say the same song overrated (to them) regardless of overall rating.

Likewise, I can say GAME and Blue Bird are underrated. I think these songs should be rated higher than they already are. There's no other reason to say something is overrated or underrated except for personal opinion (as oppose to collective opinion).

Blue Bird doesn't seem to be underrated to me, at least not among the Japanese. They seem to be rather fond of it, I think. And, according to those polled in this Oricon survey, BB is the last song (chronologically) to be in the "best 10 songs".

^ I said that to make a distinction between personal rating and collective rating. The Oricon survey is a collective rating, whereas I personally think it should be rated higher than it already is. Thus personally, I said it's underrated. ^_^

OMG i love these ALOT! but idk why lots of ppl DONT :eviltongu

i feel that criminal is rather underrated too~

I hadn't hear that myself, but it's an interesting theory :yes I'm re-reading the lyrics now and it really fits the story... I don't want to sound too excited because of the topic but it's really amazing :tipsy

Because it was too sudden
I couldn't accept it

I wished someone would say, "It's a lie"
And laugh with a mischievous look

What should I think of ?
Whatever can I do ?

I had surely thought
That we would continue to walk
Laugh, breathe and even have an idle talk
Just as usual

The city is active again today
As if nothing had happened

What are you thinking of ?
How do I look in your eyes ?

You have surely become
So strong and tender
Yes, much more than what you were
After knowing the meaning of pain and love

I remember again
What I think always exists
Just as usual
Is not a matter of course at all

You taught it to me

Let's make a miracle

Of course it didn't offer anything special, it's rather bare-bones without any bells and whistles. I imagine you're one of the people who dislike it for being boring/simple, but hey! As you say, it's a matter of personal opinion, and imo Life doesn't get enough credit at ALL. I've seen way too many people just dismiss it as some POS when it really is anything but.

...higher than they already are? That'd be escalating them into the heavens, to be honest. There's a far greater amount of general disdain for songs like Life/Beautiful Day/Born To Be../etc. It's rather interesting how most, if not all, are an album track/the coupling A-side/B-side.. People LOVE LOVE LOVE BLUE BIRD, and so far, I haven't seen anyone who doesn't like GAME. I don't believe you actually know what an underrated song actually is if you'd think these two highly praised (and rightfully so) songs are at all.. underrated. Sure, AHS is just a small sample, but it's evident when the population here doesn't like something. Oi.

Part of Me & Close to you are like in my top 5 of favorite ayu songs xD they are both so beautiful

Life is alright. I disliked it at first but it started to grow on me. don't love it though

for me, LIFE is a very pretty and meaningful song. I wouldn't mind if it's in the album in replacement for Curtain Call

ok..I agree it's really not so much appealing..it's an old-style song, as A Song for XX songs were like..nothing special but an easy guitar/vocals song as we all were used to listen to..We feel this song so far from our taste because Ayu's music turned into something more artificial maybe..

even the lyrics are deep:

Kitto ima no kimi wa totemo
Sou kore made no kimi yori mo zutto
Itami datoka ai datoka no imi o shitte
Tsuyoku yasashiku natta

Definitely a combination of everything you mentioned which makes me love it so much!
Yeah, WTF. Lol. I think Days is one of Ayu's best songs EVER as well. It's just a really good pop-ballad. Very Christmasy and wintery, which I absolutely love and was hoping for her to release!

I feel as though that's far from the case. She's had some very organic songs like untitled ~for her~ and Secret, so that's not the reason. Maybe people just don't know how to appreciate something good until nothing new is coming out.. -sigh-

I think the reasons why Life is underrated is that she didn't promote it as much, same goes with most of the songs on the list. Only ayu fans will know those songs, cuz if you're not a fan, why would you get the MW cd to listen to life? It's because not all of her songs get equal promotion, that's why they're underrated in that sense.

And AHS usually hates all cute poppy songs, so most of those songs, especially from My story is definitely underrated here, but love by my Japanese friends.

I feel like all songs from Next Level apart from days (which the japanese ppl love/ahs hates) is underrated because she only performed them in concert. If she performs them like in TV more, I'm sure people would love them.

That doesn't apply to Bold and Delicious because it's her most unique track of her entire discography. Because it's so different, people tend to shy away from it. I'm glad she sings this, it's very experimental for her and it's her most interesting song.

Well, the opinion among [most] Ayu fans seems to be that Life is rather bland and etc. No one who casually listens to Ayu would've probably spotted it or theme of a-nation '03 or ever free because they probably buy her albums only. The underrated opinion imo stems from seeing people constantly talk about how ______ isn't up to par with -insert some othe song here- and not just one person, but many individuals expressing their disdain for a certain song. I should go to bed or something, hah.

But that's only coming from her hardcore fans. You know that they don't reflect the majority right? Like how a lot of hardcore ayu fans love Talkin' 2 Myself when it did so poor even with all those promotion.

I just think that Life is not performed enough to make it well known for most fans. I'm sure a lot of casual listeners would like a laid back song to listen to, but by your logic, they can't either because they would hardly spot this song. Seeing how it was performed once or twice in 10th anniversary tour, I can see how it's underrated. She just need to perform it more, like everywhere nowhere & Hope and Pain, two which I love since PDCL.

Haha it's almost 2 am here too, since we both live in cali. I should go to bed too.

It was only performed once, but still. A song doesn't have to be performed for people to like it. MW has been available for people to listen to since April 2008, so I imagine that a good amount of people have heard it and formed opinions about it..

Key words: "Forgettable, lame, boring, bland, typical, etc."

You don't really have to be a hardcore Ayu fan to say things like that, and tbh, the majority of people who had listened to MW from what I've seen people say online said very similar, if not the exact same words.

^ OMG I so agree. ALL those songs u listed are SO underrated : ( ~! Its a shame because I love those songs LOL. I seem to have the opposite taste of most people on this forum sadly >_< Especially Beautiful Day and Beautiful Fighters D= Beautiful Fighters is one of her greatest accomplishments to me because although I'm not a women, I liked how she like supported them. I think thats great. And Beautiful day is such a fun and happy song. born to be is such an inspring song and Life is a nice relaxing song. They definitely are underrated.

I love Life. Seriously it is very underrated.

yea..indeed!! i LOVE that song..

another songs that should've got more attention is HAPPY ENDING and criminal:innocent:innocent

Let me be clear again.

My point was that you can only used the terms "underrated" and "overrated" at a personal level, not on the collective level.

Of coarse I know what an underrated song is. Anyone can look at a collective ratings list and can easily say that the lower half is "underrated", but that's not my point. Why else did I say some songs are underrated at a personal level even though collectively, they are already rated high? Besides, I've acknowledge they are already rated high, I just stated that they were underrated just for me. Likewise, I stated Life is overrated even though I've already acknowledge it is rated low on a collective level.

And Life can offer a particular person something special like it has others. I simply stated it didn't for me. I didn't find Life to be boring or simple, I simply didn't like the style and the way she sings. What else you want to assume about me?

I'm just offering another perspective. Anyone can easily say something is underrated when it's already rated low on the public charts. But I also wanted to answer your question. I did so by answering on a personal level and not on a collective level (which I now believe I didn't make myself clear at first). That's why my answer is different (via personally saying a song is underrated when rated highly overall) and I know people will disagree with me or be confused because we are talking at different point of views. I initially wanted to make my answer clear and short before, but I hope this is more understandable.

I would say it's her best B-side which didn't appear in any album and i sincerely wished it was in NL. NL needs some serious boosting with more substantial tracks and Life is a decent enough song. That being said, not one of my favourites but a nice song.

i don't shy away from it because it's different, i shy away from it because it sucks. :yes and i think MW is her most interesting/experimental song

i also think Rule, still alone, no more words, decision, End roll are all underrated

WINDING ROAD. Such a nicely arranged songs with beautiful lyric - but most people find it boring.

To be honest, you're not really making yourself clear with this answer, so I don't really know what to tell you. Overcomplicating overrated/underrated songs, much? -whistle-

Anyways, yes! winding road has always been a refreshing song that I don't think gets enough appreciation. I mean, heck, the TeamAyu MY STORY poll had winding road very close to the bottom of the list along with songs like Liar/HOPE or PAIN. Quite sad indeed.

Well everybody has their own opinion... So... I don't care.:P I just love this song.:)

i think it's too early to list any NEXT LEVEL songs as underrated. but my list would have to include:

still alone
no more words
Naturally
Liar
Replace
PS II
girlish

It's definitely not too early. People have already seemed to form their opinions about the album and they usually don't change them.. lol.

I'll needlessly explain myself just cause. ^_^; Here's an example, suppose song X was rated #1 by the entire population. Now collectively speaking, it does not make sense to say that song X is "overrated" because it's rated what it is as a whole. It's just rated as the best. However, individual people, having their own opinions, can point out that X is overrated because that's based on a personal level as oppose to a collective level.

Now let's take the song Boys & Girls, which I believe is rated just right. However, other people can say it's overrated because it became overused or for whatever reason. Likewise, other individuals can say it's underrated because they believe it should be the best. Thus, there's no such thing as "overrated" or "underrated" on a collective level because it can go both ways (ex. either "deserves more attention" or "nothing special"). That's unlike talking about this personally.

And yes, I love overcomplicating things! ... even though I don't find this complicated nor did I think I made it complicated enough. O_o But I'm very aware that you could be right. There might be some songs out there that are truly underrated maybe because the mainstream media made it look terrible and it influenced its viewers by bias (or other reasons). Though in this case, I don't think anything like that happened and the ratings was fair.

Is it possible that in this case you don't think anything happened like that because you yourself are part of the group that is very "MEH" on the song? Aha.

Actually I'm mostly either the "WTF?" person or the "Hell yeah!" person. I think the "MEH" person has the sissy approach in forming an opinion about a song. xD

In the case of Life, I'm the "OMG! I spent money on this!" person because I really wanted this song to be better. ^_^

I pretty much agree. It sounds a lot like the songs on MY STORY. Life didn't capture my attention and I rarely listen to it. Partially because it never seemed like Ayu herself was interested in the song, it got little to no promotion what so ever and was never performed, not even in PCDL. Wasn't put on an album or a compilation of any kind. And it's truly a shame because it's associated with her 10th anniversary single but yet it was completely ignored.

But I actually like the song on the rare occasion I listen to it. Very easy going, but not memorable in my opinion.

I tend to usually believe that the songs that end up like that are the ones she holds closest to her heart, and thus they aren't performed. If that logic [that she ignores songs that aren't promoted] were to hold true, then Will / In The Corner / SCAR / alterna / countless other songs would be part of that "group of songs that Ayu doesn't like" but really.. it's just that some of them just don't get attention because there's no time/whatever for them. -sigh- It's sort of like saying that just because an artist ignores a B-side, they dislike the song.. it's like why would they even make the song then?

Honestly the songs that she never performs or rarely performs are the ones that I feel are the most personal.

- Liar
- It was
- criminal
- GUILTY

Very emotional songs to me.

teddy bear; performed in CDL 00-01 and AT 03-04. Twice, but it's still very personal.

Life doesn't do anything for me sadly, maybe after a good live preformance of it, I did try to like it but just couldn't but I don't hate it

I feel as though the people coming in here simply saying "Oh, this song totally doesn't do anything for me.." are just reinforcing why I even thought so in the first place.. haha.

Hmmm... in the end, what is "good" or "bad" still being just a matter of opinion... I would pick GUILTY or forgiveness any time as some of her best underated songs and don't even remember Life...

I don't really understand the disdain for GUILTY???
A lot of her title tracks sound like it, not overly fancy, but certainly not boring. I think GUILTY is quite powerful. It reminds of other album tracks such as (miss) understood, Secret, Memorial Address, appears, Duty.
From the moment I heard it, I've liked it.

This is true, but hey~ most discussion starts with a disagreement so.. whoo~

I think Scar is highly underrated. It should have been a single, and it's sad that she's only performed it live once yet. Same goes for Powder Snow and PS2. I love those songs!

Hm..

SCAR... Ayu herself said she loved this song, and I feel as though this and every other song is loved on Duty, so it kind of falls into the "properly rated" category, as does POWDER SNOW. It and ASFXX are the only two album tracks that people might actually recognize as 'good'. Which is sad, since ASFXX has a bunch of good songs, haha.