Reflections on Ayu's music
 

Never-mind this thread...

I still pretty much feel the same way about my first set of Ayu songs [teddy bear / For My Dear...] as I did back when I listened to them almost 10 years ago. They were fantastic! I loved them and still do now. Same sort of thing goes for the first album I was around for. ANGEL'S SONG is still my jam and so have all of the other songs I fell in love with as time has gone by and Ayu has released new albums. I swear, it's like there's this timeless quality for her music to me. The songs I loved will be songs that I always love and it's weird because there's very few tracks I'm actually not willing to want to go back and play when it comes to Ayu. Every once in a while, I play her albums all the way through after a while of not playing them and re-experience the feeling of listening to the albums for the first time and just being amazed. It's just incredible to have found an artist that I can rediscover time and again. I don't think this is the case for many other people, but eh. The way I listen to music is a bit different than most people since I don't really follow as many artists as others, but the ones I do listen to I feel as though I have a connection to, if that makes sense.

I feel that she needs to stop releasing things every year in a continuous block and focus on being a real artist. She needs to go away and find some new inspiration and have a comeback. I've paid less and less attention to her since NEXT LEVEL because everything has been so formulaic. Her singles get weaker and her albums feels rushed. Maybe its her label just trying to make money, Who knows?

I felt that her older stuff really took music further and had more impact to me as a listener. A lot of the stuff she does now seems so bland. Her PVs just has her sitting and staring into space and standing somewhere and looking out into the distance. There needs to be some major re-invention.