an ayu article in a magazine [8 Days]
 

The cover of the J-pop queen's fifth album intrigued us: the computer generated image revealed an Ayumi that was so beautiful, so perfect and so android-like we thought Rainbow was a comment on how she has become less human the more she becomes a mega-star. This observation is both right and wrong. In collaboration with Do As Infinity, CREA and HAL, Ayumi has come up with a hard-driving techno-rock album that simply bursts with irrepressible energy in the fast numbers and drips with emotion in the slower ones. Rainbow is far from being a cold, unfeeling electronic release, although Ayumi's force of personality is often subsumed by its slick production values. That said, there are too many TV commercial themes here ('Everywhere Nowhere', 'Heartplace','Real me',Free and easy','July1st'), making Ayumi seem less like a bigger-than-life star in the vein of, say, Madonna, than a walking endorsement of MD players, digital cameras and cosmetics. But when a commercial tune is as achingly lovely as the slow-burning torch song 'HANABI', we don't really care. " I don't want the kind of weakness that dares not shed tears/ And I also don't want the kind of strength that holds back the tears," Ayumi sings with faint tremble in her voice, as if reaching for a love that is as intangible as a rainbow. Contemplative, emotionally generous and as dramatic as its title, "HANABI" (Japanese for "fireworks") is arguably the best song here. 'Everywhere Nowhere' and 'Free and easy', on the other hand, represent advertisement songs at their worst: they are unimaginative ad mechanical, and Ayumi sings them as if she's already distracted by the thoughts of the money rolling into her bank account.


Star: 3/5

haven't we seen a similar thread ???

Where???

Ayumi's albums, except LOVEppears, which IMHO the best album ever, never enjoyed much praise from various music critics. They just try to do what they are capable of, picking out bad things out of her.

Normally I just ignore these, unless it's very shocking, I then will post them onto here and let it enjoy a little bit of critics. :P

Woof... that's a hard pill to swallow. "Free & Easy" is mechanical and unimaginative? Yeah, okay. Well, unfortunately, we can not make everyone love Ayu. This is a poor review, nonetheless.

Let the guy think what he wants to.. XP

This person hu writes the article.. looks like she/he doesnt really like ayu that much...

Thanks for the article.

Isaac - I've seen some wonderful reviews of I am...

Ashley

I like Free & Easy, and it's not mechanical or unimaginative have the reviewer ever saw the PV for it?O_O..probably NO.....obviously this reviewer do not like the music in the album..at least he/she did not bash Hanabi >_<

As a reviewer you supose to be objective (ie not showing that youre a fan). This is a pretty good review albeit short.

Hmmm.... How come nothing is said abt 'Voyage'?
It's a good song too.

The songs that are mentioned are mostly in some products cm...
but voyage doesnt haf it... that maybe the reason y the writer nv writes it..:roflmao aniway i also agree that voyage is indeed a nice song

thanks for the article!

I like free and easy and everywhere nowhere!!!!
how can they say this!!~~ :(

Diff ppl got diff taste:D

ill agree that rainbow is probably one of her weakest albums..

i think the writer is writing according to his own tastes... there is no need to force that guy to suddenly like ayu's songs....

whats wrong with "Everywhere Nowhere" and "Free and Easy"?? its cool