｢Party Queen｣ Thoughts on album?
 

Now that the album has surprisingly leaked so early...

Let's post our thoughts here.

Listening party!

Edit: Wow Timmy raps a lot in NaNaNa... Shake It is amazing! OMG!

I thought I'd hate the rap in NaNaNa, but it's actually... kinda good.

The autotune in this song, it's not anything "fresh" by a long shot. To have an Ayu song in this style though, it's kinda cool.

It's SO trashy, but I love it!

Party Queen - Like the studio version much better than the live version, this song will surely grow on me.

NaNaNa - Timmy his rap or whatever it's supposed to be called totally ruined the song for me, I like all the Ayu parts, but his parts just ruined it for me.

Shake it♥ - This song is really hot, I love it!

taskebab - nice interlude, I don't really care for interludes.

call - I loved the song, it's sweet~

Letter - Nice song, just like call.

reminds me - Really good song, I enjoy it a lot.

Return Road - This simply gave me goosebumps, it's so amazing, I LOVE it.

tell me why - I adore this song aswell, it just has a lot of emotion.

a cup of tea - Not liking this interlude much, just the cute parts

the next LOVE - Not liking this song much, but I don't like jazz sound so that might be the reason..

Smoke, Eyes, Magic - Hm same thing as tnL not liking the sound much...

Serenade in A minor - Ok interlude, but I don't really care for them anyway lol

How Beautiful You Are - I guess this song will certainly grow on me.

So far my fave song is Return Road, it brings me to tears :)
Overall I enjoy this album a lot, the first album I liked so many songs from since years :D

I'm in a halthway, I'll write after <3

Eyes, Smoke, Magic sounds like her singing to an amalgamation of different musical songs. I can hear so many familiar melodies.

Posted the full review on my blog, I adore this album :D http://boldlydelicious.wordpress.com...i-party-queen/

Composers:
NaNaNa - corin
Shake It - BOUNCEBACK (OMG OMG)
call - Katsumi Ohnishi
Letter - Katsumi Ohnishi
reminds me - Yuta Nakano
Return Road - DAI
Tell me why - Hanif Sabzevari/Lene Dissing/Marcus Winther-John/Dimitri Stassos
PQ/Eyes, Smoke, Magic/the next LOVE/HBYA - Timmy
taskebab - tasuku
a cup of tea - CMJK
Serenade in A minor - Yuta Nakano

I think Timmy is definitely an asset as a composer. The two jazz/broadway numbers are two of her most interesting songs. She sang so well in them!

As somebody else has said, Timmy's rapping reminds me of Marc from globe or the rappers in Euro groups Aqua and Toybox.

reminds me is EPIC.

the next LOVE is definitely my favorite of this album ! A true eargasm !
Eyes, Smoke, Magic is very surprising, cute, but interesting ^^

I love every other song, though call/Letter sounds like a double Last Links to me XD
Return Road is very cool too, but the Timmy's voice ruins it ...

And I thought, the guitar riff at the end of taskebab reminds me another song that i can't remember... Did tasuku steal another music again ? HAHAHA

Just one regret, Serenade in A minor is truly beautiful, but a bit too long I think.

^^Timmy's rapping really does give off Marc-vibes! As a big globe-fan, I definitely approve.

I'm only at NaNaNa but damn what a start for the album, both Party queen and NaNaNa are great!

A sidenote; I'm really curious about Katsumi Ohnishi's tracks. His (or her?) songs on Do As Infinity's TIME MACHINE were AMAZING.

call → Letter = amazing.

I really don't have any qualms with any of the tracks. I applaud her for the diverseness. :) All the background vocals are so new for her haha.

But call remains my favorite, very summery.

Timmy composed the jazz stuff? Thats pretty cool. He is pretty diverse in his music...
I guess tell me why is not a cover?

My thoughts on the first three tracks:
Party Queen - purely amazing! Much better than the radio rip, but i dont think as good as the live... it may just be me not remembing though... ill havew to go back a listen.

NaNaNa - is that timmy rapping? Wow.. it doesn't sound like the preview we got for the PV.. I think I like it, not what I was thinking. But Timmy doesn't bother me as much as I thought he would. Sadly this to me is a song by Timmy feat. Ayumi

Shake it - I dont like it as much as I thought I would. It;s okay thought... not the best out of the first three tracks so far. It sure is different though.. towards the end of the song when the music slows for that tiny bit. (upon realizing that it is by bounceback... it explains why I dont like it as much.. never cared for their sound)

Omfg are you serious? BOUNCEBACK?!?!??! I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR THIS AMAZING NEW BOUNCEBACK TRACK

It is from Daft Punk's Aerodynamic

Youtube Link

Tasuku phoned that interlude in. How lazy and disappointing. I hope he actually got permission though and isn't just ripping it off.

Overall, I really liked the album. It had a lot more variety than Love Songs did which I feel was desperately needed. Return Road is beyond amazing and definitely my favorite on first listen.

NaNaNa and Shake It - WWOOWW - instant love... And I love Party queen, so the 1st 3 songs = best album of the year already...

edit1: omg call and letter, can't believe the album is actually getting better...

edit2: reminds me... speechless

edit3: Return Road - EPIC

edit4: tell me why - needs a few more listens, but so far it's the weak track of the album

edit5: next LOVE / Eyes Smoke Magic - fun as hell, new sound for ayu

edit6: serenade / how beautiful you are - best album closer she ever had

i am so speechless over this album. i don't... i just can't. this woman amazes me so much.

Reminds me is so freaking epic.....it feels like Heartplace a little in that aspect

So far my favorites are: NaNaNa, Reminds Me, Return Road, Tell Me Why, & How Beautiful You Are

Ahah, NaNaNa is sexy. I don't understand a word of the Japanese lyrics, but I'm having fun just listening to this track. I like the transition between it and Party Queen, it flows nicely. Let's see what happens later~

Oh boy, it gets worse with each track ... I don't mind Shake It; taskebab is an experimental move on Ayu'a part, but like a lot of her interludes it is no more than a filler; call is boring, it lacks flavour, has no colour; Letter sounds like a hundred other songs I've heard since discovering Japanese music. I like the guitar solo in reminds me, but the song feels incomplete.

Yes! I love the organ in Return Road--it's my second favourite instrument--the middle part of the song is great too. It feels experimental, like it could be used in a video game. The verses seem to lack something, but no matter. I like it.

Tell me why is ... I don't know, ok I guess. I like it more than Letter. It reminds me of Over in a way, with the atmosphere it sets, and I love Over, so ... why isn't cup of tea a full track again? It has potential. They could have at least tried to make it into something.

the next LOVE ... hmm, sounds like something Ali Project would do. The beginning is better than the rest of the song, but the song is just like any other song in that style. Listening to it is not very rewarding, though if it has interesting lyrics, it might grow on me. Eyes, Smoke, Magic ... Burlesque, Christina, Cher? I don't care for this track. Serenade in A minor is nice, but had they made it longer, inserted an electric guitar somewhere in the middle, and basically made it into a full song, it would be better. Ah, yes, with that melody expanded, it could have been a decent industrial song. how beautiful you are is nice, but it isn't my type of music. When I'm in the mood for an Ayu ballad, I'll listen to BALLAD, or RAINBOW, or something else.

Well, I'm pleased with how much diversity there is on this record. And Timmy's compositions differ from one another, which is a good sign. Composers need to be diverse. I don't mind it if he composes a song or two for Ayu again in the future. I definitely prefer Love songs over Party Queen. I was pretty excited for this release, with the concept they had planned, but the whole thing hasn't left a big impression on me. The arrangements are good, the production could be better, the lyrics I'm sure are excellent, but the album isn't strong enough to build a tour around it. I hope Ayu will enrich the set list with some of her older songs, maybe from RAINBOW, Memorial address and GUILTY. The songs that I can see myself listening to in the future are NaNaNa and Return Road, but I have a feeling that the rapping in NaNaNa might start to annoy me. I'll probably listen to Tell me why again, ideally put it in a playlist after Over. I'll give the whole album a spin again later tonight, some things might change.

Mixed to rave reviews. Makes me very excited!

It's Daft Punk, 50% of their music consist of sample libraries. The same goes for tasuku, they probably took from the same sample library and both paid for the rights. Happened before, happens in electronic music ALL the time. No "phoning in" involved, it's normal.

Yeah, do we know for sure that it's Timmy? It sounds EXACTLY like Marc!

5/10 :thud

Over all opinion (March 13th 2012 first listen)
This album had no direction and was very confusing. This album is like a mixture of GUILTY and NEXT LEVEL. There were R&B and techno feels then jazz then ballads and then a splash of goth. Jazz doesn't suit Ayu at all. I feel like too many of these songs are too simple and more layers needed to be added to make them more interesting. This album is full of "album filler" tracks. I feel like Ayu was trying for a bit of a Beyonce feel with this album (not saying she's copying her I'm just saying the same sort of style with 1/2 of this album). Much like MY STORY she compensated for lack of releases by releasing a mash up of generic songs that aren't super special. There wasn't a single song on this album that grabbed my attention right away there were no "instant classics" for me on this album, those songs you love right away (even how beautiful you are didn't grab my attention super good on the first listen) (and that's a first for any Ayu album for me). I've never listened to an Ayu album and had not one song that grabbed my attention right away and kept it that way for the rest of the song. Many will hate me for it but I don't care. I would say that FIVE is a better album than this one because at least that album had 3 tracks that I loved right away (progress, ANother Song, BRILLANTE). This album may have more tracks but it's full of, I'm sorry, a lot of crap… Rock'n'Roll Circus before this was my least favorite Ayu album (but it caught my attention right away with Don't look back and Microphone) but now this is (so far) I will always listen to an Ayu album a lot and over and over before fully judging it but I almost don't want to because I'm afraid it will damage my judgement of what good music really is. I love Ayu to death but this is her worst so far.

Song rating average score: 5.89/10 (OUCH!)
Take out the interlude scores: 5.86 (a little bit more ouch)
Looking at the album as a whole score I would give it: 5/10

Party queen
I have a love hate relationship with this song I don't know if I like it or not. I'm not too big on Ayu's high vocals I tend to hate Ayu songs like that. It's a cute song with addictive elements to it but it's also forgettable. I don't think this is a "skip over" song for me but I don't think I'll find myself listening to this song often other than through my itunes shuffle. 6/10

NaNaNa
Probably the best song on the album other than "how beautiful you are" and that's not saying much about the album unfortunately :( I liked how Marc (from globe) was in it! That's something I've never thought of before but a cool move on Avex's part! This is really addicting and strangely reminds me of an electronic version of a track on the "Bad" by Michael Jackson. The layers on this song is what the rest of this album is lacking, there is complexity in the music, vocals, and over all feel of this song. 7.5/10

Shake It♥
Not something super special but it's strangely addicting like a bad Brittney Spears song that shouldn't be considered a good song but because it's so strangely addicting you love it (and I'm not saying Ayu is as bad as Brittney Spears she is way beyond her I'm just saying that's the feeling this song gives me). This will never be something I love to death but I'll never skip this song when it comes to play. 7/10

taskebab
Fun and up to beat I love the guitar solo in it. Super electronic and I'd love this to be a full song! Ayu should do an 8 bit song! 8/10

call
The over all feeling and tempo of this song is nice and I like the male background vocals this was kinda a happy HANABI ~episode II~ Ayu's vocals are nice. Another album-filler track with nothing super special about it. 6/10

Letter
The background vocals really enhance this song. Over all this song is pretty generic and un-original for Ayu, a typical "lets fill in a track space for the album" it reminds me of YOU mixed with RED LINE ~for TA~ not bad, but nothing special just another annual album filler. 5/10

reminds me
I LOVE the la la la la parts and the build up before it. Over all this song is quite good, not what I would call a classic. The instruments were well placed and her vocals are good I like the classic mixed with rock. The vocal melody isn't super original. A good album track this song will grow on me. 6.5/10

Return Road
Title and sound of this song are very similar to other songs in the past. The sound is very typical of Ayu and nothing particularly special but I like it more than previous albums album-only tracks. There is a special kinda magical feeling to it. It sounds like a song composed by J-rockers Mana (Malice Mizer) and Sugizo (solo and from Luna Sea). 6.5/10

Tell me why
Nothing super special I love the beginning vocals very creepy and sad. The vocals are quite good. It's much better than most of the album-only ballad tracks in previous albums. The layers at the end are very beautiful I wish she'd do more ballads with those type of layers in them. I feel like this song will grow on me a lot and I'll grow to love it as one of my favorite tracks on this album. 7/10

a cup of tea
A really unique interlude that is fun and spunky and suits with the theme(s) of the album. I like it a lot 8/10

the next LOVE
Pretty boring, her vocals were O.K. but the song was just blaaaaah like any other jazz song. I'm not big on jazz. Nothing sparked my interest with this song, very forgettable. 4/10

Eyes, Smoke, Magic
No… just no. I don't like this style of music. Ayu's vocals are pretty bad in some parts and the style is just annoying it sounds like a carnival song. One of her worst in a long time (maybe her worst ever). I bit my lip through this song. I think the only other time I'll listen to this song again is to give it another fair critique in the future. 1/10

Serenade in A minor
Super sad and boring, beautiful skills on the instrument players part but it's too depressing and sad and doesn't fit well with the album, very random. I don't think I'll ever listen to it again 2/10

how beautiful you are
Gorgeous song, some of her best vocals in a long time, a very meaningful song. I'm not too partial about the male choir break in the middle of it but it's O.K. I just feel it doesn't suit with the rest of the song. A great Ayu ballad that I'll listen to over and over and remember for a long time 8/10