What Ayu album had biggest/most dramatic step up compared to the previous for you?
 

Loveppears from ASFXX...ASFXX's melodies and arrangements are quite pedestrian and "safe" but Loveppears feels like it was recorded in a different lifetime and world in comparison but it was just 10 months later.

whatever that comes after LOVE again --- it couldn't go the other way

LOVE again is a classic Ayu album for this era.

LOVE again to COLOURS then back to A ONE.

Kind of like a roller coaster as far as over all theme and sound.

I feel like I Am... to RAINBOW was the most dramatic step

(miss)understood was reallly fun but I think LOVEppears was the biggest step up

I would actually say Loveppears to Duty - only as I think Duty was her musical 'peak'.

Love songs to Party Queen?

I think people are confusing quality or preference.

lol. Yeah, pretty much this. I think this album has about two songs on it that I listen to. By far her worst, imo.

LOVE again to COLOURS for sure. I think stepping down in quality has a lot more options.

Yup

Guilty -> NEXT LEVEL

Probably LOVEppears being released right after A Song for xx, I feel like she became a true artist so quickly after her debut album. She was probably full of ideas and creativity at that time and it showed a lot (that can also be seen in Duty, which came next).

Maybe Duty to I am... because she started experimenting with different/more sounds. Each song could almost be a different genre.

LOVE again - COLOURS - A One

What was this?

Also GUILTY -> NEXT LEVEL was pretty... unexpected.

"Party Queen" to "Love Again"

In the long run I've learned to love several songs on PQ (call is actually one of my top favorite songs by any artist) but when PQ came out I was on an Ayu decline for several albums and PQ was my bottom (it still has 3 of my top 5 least favorite Ayu songs) and "Love Again" for some reason reminded me why I absolutely love her

GUILTY > NEXT LEVEL
Party Queen > Love Again
Colors > A ONE

I think those were really dramatic changes because her songs sounded so different from the old era that it's kinda shocking! (not talking about quality but about music production, genre and content lyric-wise).

my story to (miss)understood

I think (miss)understood really suprising me and that album shows Ayu sing the song that she like not because what the trend is.

But it's like double axe because I remember many persons not really liking the style of it. She is losing fans because of this release. Pretty much it's a sweetbox cover album.

:yes

Such a fun thread idea, just going to bump it, sorry not sorry :)

The most obvious answer is A Song for ×× to LOVEppears; A Song for ×× is a cute enough album with some cool songs, but LOVEppears was a shocker that catapulted Ayu straight to queen status. An argument for another jump between LOVEppears and Duty can also be made, imo - Duty is where we started seeing the diverse range of styles that Ayu would fill her albums with over the next few years, which I always felt was her strength and what sets her apart from so many other J-pop artists (of course, she is also just really, really good at it.

Colours to M(A)DE IN JAPAN (is that fair?) is another for me. Colours is middle-of-the-road and generic - listenable but not very exciting. M(A)DE IN JAPAN takes me back to classic Ayu times, such a fun, diverse album with great compositions and some fun productional choices.