How satisfied are you with the 48-49-50th singles?
 

How satisfied are you with the 48th, 49th, and 50th singles now that all of them have come out, and Ayu has maintained and surpassed her streak? I know there's been plenty of debate whether this was a true "singles project" or not, but the three are of course tied together. With all the hype about it, I was wondering how everyone felt about it as a whole and not just the individual singles or songs.



For me, it's admirable how fast they were released. As far as the timing goes, I still wish it was spaced out more, but in just a few months we got the same amount of singles than what she did all of last year. Six A-sides (the only song I really did not like was Last angel, but I really liked or loved everything else) and 5 PVs, which is crazy considering she did four new ones for RnRC earlier in the year. I appreciate the work, but the PVs were a downer for me. MOON was nice but boring, Ayu wasn't even in blossom, hardly in view in Sweet Season, and the same can be said for Virgin Road. crossroad's PV really grew on me though, and even more the song which I feel is the strongest of all. The lack of TV lives was disappointing, and yeah she has a lot going on like the seven day tour, but TV lives have always been a big thing with her and I missed them very much for these singles. Overall, I think it all went down nicely. She got #1s for all, and she even set that record so many people have panicked about for so long. I don't think it was perfect, but I definitely enjoyed this project and think of it much more than the Trilogy.



How do you guys feel about it over all?

ok...

IMO she released her most cohesive singles ever... I can imagine all those songs being part of the same album, what usually doesn't happen with her (or jpop in general).

The songs felt somewhat new for her, a mature feeling she never had before on her music... It sounded more like something produced by a 30 years old person, what was also nice...

Moon PV was boring... Blossom was nice and something different for her... Crossroad is nice but not amazing, still, the message is pretty much there... The same goes for Sweet Season... Virgin Road is the high budget pv of this album, and it was nice too...

Overall, I really liked it, mainly for the music... She is not really doing many TV lives latelly, so, IMO, it was pretty much expected...

So... 5 amazing new tracks, 1 amazing cover and 1 average song (Moon)

LOVED MOON.
Thought blossom was pretty meh.
crossroad was pretty but pretty meh.
SDW was nice but pretty meh.
I adore Sweet Season mostly because of the PV's ending.
I LOVE Virgin Road.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Last Angel. Probably the most epic song in a loooong time!

As for PV's, I loved the MOON PV. crossroad was okay, but the fake/horrible looking explosion makes me not want to watch it again. blossom was absolutely terrible. Sweet Season and Virgin Road were amazing. Virgin Road is already one of my favorite PV's from her. I'm very, very, satisfied with the PV's on the L single. Now with the music.. I love practically everything. Virgin Road, Last Angel, crossroad, and Sweet Season are already making their way into my top played ayu tracks. The only music I didn't like on these 3 singles was the orchestra version of Last Links and the Don't look back remix. I can't believe how amazing the Microphone & blossom remixes are! I might even prefer them to the originals, that's how good they are. The orchestra versions of MOON, blossom, crossroad, and SEVEN DAYS WAR were just beautiful. I prefer the orchestra versions of MOON & blossom to the originals. I also prefer the meaning of Love (piano version) to the original as well.

So yeah, I'm just really satisfied music wise/PV wise here with these singles even though the PV's on the crossroad single could be better. I'm super excited now to see what she does with the new album. I know she's due for some upbeat songs and I hope she goes in the Last Angel direction instead of more rock.

I'm completely satisfied.
I enjoy every one of the songs. I thought the covers were okay but nice. I thought the PVs were very well done. But the music most of all was really great!

Im more than satisfied, I expected something amazing like always for her every release but this is ... how can I say it. Every single track and every video is special, deep, flawless, I dont have any complain @_@ Not even for the covers. She truly proved who real jpop diva was. I love this mature sound! Im really proud to be her fan.

I'm very satisfied! I think the project could have been executed better but I'm not going to complain because the bottom like is we got three NEW singles in three months time. All of which, in my opinion, had quality tracks. It's almost as if the quality increased for each single. The great music to me overshadows any dissatisfaction I may have with any other aspect of the single project.

I agree, the music is very mature this time around. All of the songs incorporate something a sort of old-school Hamasaki feel with a new found maturity and confidence. I think this is the perfect blend between old and new. It actually surprises me whenever I read that someone greatly dislikes these songs because to me, it just seems like they are what everyone has asked for, old-school Ayu. :shrug And for all those who wanted her to try something new, they have that quality, too LOL. But the good thing about these songs is that there is at least one track that people will like.

It take me some times and some listens to appreciate the whole single project (although the best is L imo) but all I can say is:

I'm very very satisfied.

And I couldn't agree more with this

At first I didn't like MOON so much, but now I like it a lot :yes MOON still sound average compared to crossroad or Virgin Road but it's not so bad as I thought.
Her upcoming album could be her most mature work since MY STORY, if all of the next songs will have the same quality as the singles though.

I'm quite fine with the single, but I'm still kind of disappointed with the amount of TV appearances - it seems that the number has been declining since after 2007, and 2010 was quite dormant on the TV market. Now if Ayu's new album could mean more TV appearances...

I'm very satisfied!

For me, the was a project with "extremes". The MOON PV was extremely boring, the Virgin Road PV was extremely awesome! :D Since this is quite a specific thread, I'll give a detailed opinion for those who are interested.

MOON/blossom
Probably my favorite single out of the bunch. MOON is a very nice mid-tempo powerballad, it's definitely my favorite mid-tempo song out of the entire project! Don't even get me started on Blossom, that has grown to be one of my favorite Ayu songs ever. Truly a brilliant song. Both PV's were very disappointing, but I didn't mind that much.

Crossroad
The song is nice, the PV is nice. To me this is a mediocre single. Crossroad kinda grew on me, but I really can't get into SEVEN DAYS WAR. I'd much rather consider Blossom ~Clockwork Yellow Remix~ as the B-side. It's a good remix.

L
Sweet Season: bland song. Didn't grow on me, sorry :( The PV is boring as well, except for the ending, which is really quite brilliant.
Virgin Road: love! :love For me, her best ballad since JEWEL, and the best PV since the Secret / GUILTY era, amazing!! Very, very good job Ayu!
Last Angel: :luv2:luv2:luv2:luv2:luv2 'nuf said! Incredible.

I still need a lot of time to listen to all songs many many times, but IMO MOON is the most amazing of all, really epic and one of her best ever. The PV is too simple but I like it.

My second best would be Last Angel, really upbeat and nice, I was really surprised! Not that I lost faith or anything, just that I was really surprised I liked it so much even at first listening, whereas I usually need a lot of time to appreciate a song. I'm listening to it a second time now and it sounds like an epic classic, probably will be my new all-time favourite!!!

Next would be blossom, really refreshing, definitely has the BLUE BIRD spirit!

I need more time for Virgin Road and Sweet Season though, they both look nice but what is actually bothering me is something else. And that's the repetitive themes of two lovers who are unable to live together or are struck by some tragedy and one of them eventually dies (or both). Sweet Season is still much better than Virgin Road IMO. ^^ I have had this feeling since 2008 and this theme is getting really overused and I don't like it anymore... Also the PV of Virgin Road is both very weird and very funny. xD SDW is good but I have to listen to it more, and crossroads is perfect, just the chorus is toooo similar to Kajiura's Akatsuki no Kuruma, I was like wtf, is this Akatsuki no Kuruma?!?!. O.O lol. Probably it's just me, but it's just too similar to it, making it kinda unlistenable for me personally. >.> I'm not implying plagiarism, it must be a coincidence.

I love the song and I think would have been much better with a better chorus, cause this way it sounds like cumulative tension is piling up all the way and is ready to explode any minute, but doesn't and this somehow leaves me a bit disappointed. Does anyone else have this same feeling about crossroads? 0.o Note that the song is absolutely epic, it's only the chorus that bothers me a bit, but I'm sure I will get used to it really quick. ^^''

I have always loved ayu and always will. At the moment I'm back to vocal trance because it reminds me of my childhood a lot, so I have temporarily distanced myself from ayu. XD

Anyway, I love the fact that her voice is okay now, I saw both live performances of crossroads and they are amazing! The orchestra version is as well. =D

I'm not satisfied at all. The only songs I like from any of these singles are last angel, and blossom (clockwork yellow remix). Reaching a 50th single is supposed to be a milestone in an artists life that not many reach and I thought this was supposed to be something special. All we got in the end was a ton of ballads, no special packaging, no special tracklists, and nothing out of the ordinary except 2 posters that had all her singles slapped randomly all over them. If not told, no one would guess that this was a special 50th single project. There is nothing special about these singles except the title given to them.

I only liked about half the songs, so half-satisfied I guess? :shrug

this.

to be honest,i am very disappointed when they removed blossom PV frm m/b and put it into crossroad.but i'm fine with it.next,they announced that there will be special packaging,but in the end,they canceled it too.then,they should have the unreleased photo as wallpaper.end up they actually used it for VIVI naked talk =.="
it makes me feel that they did all this on purpose just to get the no.1 streak.if i am not ayu fans,i wouldn't know that L is her 50th single.

the songs are ok.but the PV is so-so.
overall : bad
song :ok
worth to buy or not : definitely not worth to buy the singles. :P

The packaging pissed me off too. I forgot to put that in my post... it was my main complaint for L, haha...

oh yeah, that's my main complaint for the singles too - avex being idiots with the way they announce stuff. at least we got some lives and magazine promotion for crossroad and L though and they weren't completely ignored like MOON/blossom. the songs from "L" deserved some lives though. I want more TV lives now more than ever because who knows how long she'll be able to keep up this greatly improved live voice she has right now. I cherish the crossroad lives so much because of that beautiful voice.

I agree. Blame Avex for bad management for Ayu. I might give her something like an A or A- for the content of the songs, especially Virgin Road, but the management, I should say, might be more of a D. Ayu herself and the Avex management combined are not running like a five-star service on combined terms; they're more of a three or four stars, to be honest. I think the Avex management and NOT Ayu that needs to improve. We like Ayu's lyrics of songs, but it's the matter of the Avex management that keeps holding Ayu up. Or maybe Ayu's strategies herself may have since changed then...

only the songs from all the singles were good

other aspects like videos , covers & promotion (little if not zlich) were a major :no . More effort could have been done for all 3 aspects but everything felt so rushed , I think they were neglected a great deal

anyway , I never have a habit of buying her singles so this doesn't concern me so much

if avex wants to do something like that in future , they should take a note or 2 from the way other record labels promote/market their artistes which're done way better in my opinion

I really loved it. IMO, they just kept getting better and better! Started off good with M/b, better with crossroad, then WHAMMO - amazing~~ with L ^^ I thought that the PV's were definitely not the best, but L's were actually really good ^^ So, my opinion is pretty much just that all of them were great, and I'm really pleased with it :)

I am happy. Virgin Road is nice, I liked MOON/blossom, really liked crossroad and LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED (I could go on) Last Angel. I also like the maturity of the singles. Sever Days War and Sweet Season didn't really do anything for me, but I don't HATE them, so whatever. PVs were meh. Covers were nice. None of the artists who I listen to, who have been around for a while, have released anything super amazing to me, so the single project was good to me. If anything, Last Angel is one of my new top tracks for her and that means the world to me.