Ayu ~Anything Goes~ XVIII
 

Another round of Anything Goes here!

Personally my fave happy song is ANGEL'S SONG.

Next Level was the last album of hers I truly, completely loved and enjoyed.

I'd say BLUE BIRD is my favorite happy song. :yes It released right around the time I got engaged (on the beach!), so it brings back happy memories.

My favorite happy songs:
-Depend on you
-glitter
-Beautiful day
-TODAY
-EnergizE
-Greatful days
-Winding road (I think this is seriously one of my most favorite songs ever)
-NEXT LEVEL
-Audience <3

I always get Winding Road mixed with Walking Proud. Not when the songs actually play, of course, they're so different sounding, but when I'm looking through my discography and want to listen to one, I always click the other.

Today I listening the JT CM mix of immature and I'M IN LOVE with the bit from 3:07 to 3:22. It's so magical, kinda what I used to feel when I first listened to monochrome (good times :')).

--

Hear any similarities? (the first 40 sec.)

^ damn that's uncanny, but instead calling it out I think that is absolutely genius.

It was pretty well known that she used that as the intro to Free & Easy, even though it was an un-credited sample. The Messenger really impacted the whole visual/Joan of Arc theme for the entire single/era.

is evolution considered as happy song?
If yes then I love it the most :D

OMG!!! I love that movie and I didn't knew about this soundtrack and that free&easy uses a sample from it. Shocking and amazing!

I love how our personal taste is so different hahah Funny to see some people saying that they love some song that I dislike.

Question! What is the chance of Ayu releasing "A BEST 3" in 2017? Or do you think she will wait until 2018 (her 20th anniversary) to release it? I feel like it will be the album to revive public interest in her. Her best collection albums always sell like hotcakes. Namie's best album revived her career so I think if done in good taste, A BEST 3 or "A Complete 2" will do wonders to Ayu's career.

You know... that's a good question. If she does it in '17 then she could maybe revive her image/public interest enough for preparation for her 20th. But at the same time it seems it would fit so well for her 20th because... well... it's her 20th. xD

And, you're right, if it's done tastefully then it could definitely give her popularity a big boost. Namie's BEST FICTION was handled very skillfully. One, they released it at the perfect time. It was the time she was starting to change her image from a 'bad girl, don't touch me,' to a more 'cool girl, let's chill,' type of style which is more appealing to a wider audience (including more teenagers who, let's face it, are the general market for pop stars.) Two, her popularity was also starting to revive itself because of such releases like her singles Baby Don't Cry, Can't Sleep Can't Eat I'm Sick etc... leading into the release of her album, PLAY, which sold nearly 100,000 more than her previous album: Queen of Hip-Pop. So, since her popularity was already on the rise and she had a big grip on the general public, it was the perfect time to release a BEST album since they (as you put) sell like hotcakes (not just Ayu. BEST albums tend to sell better because... well... they have the artists best songs xD) So, yes, Namie's BEST album did revive her career, but that's because her career was already reviving.

Ayu, on the other hand, is kinda going down the other end. Her career is a bit stagnant right now. So releasing a BEST album could go either way. It could sell well, sure, but it may not do what it did for Namie in the long run since Namie was already climbing up the ladder, you know what I mean? But that doesn't mean it can't happen for Ayu. It just needs to be handled well.

... I just realized I didn't answer you question at all. :laugh It just leaves me hoping that Ayu/Ayu's team handles this 20th very well. She's done waaaaay too much for the Japanese music scene to let it go by unnoticed. Hmm. Actually. No. 'Unnoticed' is not the term to use. There'll probably be lots promos (I'd hope). So I guess I should say, she's done too much for the Japanese music scene to let her 20th go by unappreciated.

Namie was already coming through a big boost on her popularity when Best Fiction was released... Play charted for over an year and Baby Don't Cry sold over 1 million ringtones. Also, her singles sales rised almost 2x from Style to Queen of Hip Pop.

:yes

Like I said, she was already reviving. The release of BEST FICTION is just what knocked it out of the park. Her and her team really did plan that out perfectly. They saw their opportunity, knew what to do with it, and took it. (it also gave me Do Me More which. I. love. to. death.)

I just realized I've been talking about Namie in 3 threads and only 1 of them is hers. :laugh

I'm not sure if an A BEST 3 would sell that well as we expect for a compilation album. :/ It can be a huge flop in Ayu's career and go to the opposite way. At this point, I'm not sure if that's a way that she get her popularity back like Namie did...

^ This, no matter what she does, i don't think she'll ever get another peak. No matter how hard she promotes, no matter the quality of her music/pvs/whatever, i think she'll never be huge again. + The general public will barely know 1/4 of A BEST 3 if there is one, so i don't think it'll have huge sales.

I think a cover album would get more interest/be a better idea than A BEST 3, considering most fans already have a majority of her discography besides the casual listener. People were impressed with her cover of MOWY and Many classic moments, so a cover album would get people talking about her again

I'm all up for a cover album ever since she performed Haru yo, Koi by Yumi Matsutoya on a TV show years ago. It was beautiful and the song fit her voice so well! :heart It's still my favorite cover of hers. She already has a few that could also be added to an album, so I don't see why not :yes



Ignore the title of the video, the person who uploaded it apparently thought it was aiko :laugh

^ I love love love this version so much! It fits perfectly her voice. <3 It would be nice a cover album+tribute album just like they did with Utada and TRF. I would love to hear other artists singing Ayu's song (that's very rare).

Yeeees! A cover album would be so good, or at the very least, a tribute album. Ayu's team really needs to get on that soon, as Utada and Mika Nakashima already have their own too.

and have a studio version of this :D