Alot of ayu's older songs are done in such a way that you can tell a song is sad or happy or angry or frustrated, and whether it deals with life in general or love, from its arrangement, melody, and how ayu sings it. That's not so much the case anymore (and when you CAN tell a song is happy or sad, it seems so over the top and forced that you can't really "feel" it anymore). But back in the day - especially with albums like "Duty" (which I dunno WHY anyone would call it boring o_O!) and I am..., you could tell.
The first time I heard "Far away" I knew it was a sort of frustrated sadness that she was talking about. The first time I heard "teddy bear" I knew it was a mournful sort of song. The first time I heard "A Song for XX" I knew she was singing about some sort of apprehensive, angry determination to change something. The first time I heard "Fly high" I knew it was an inspirational, uplifting track - and all of this was without knowing the lyrics.
I haven't felt that in awhile. Songs like "fated" are too over the top with the fake crying type of voice in the bridge. Songs like "Sunrise" sound like she's trying to convince herself that she's happy, nevermind trying to convey the message to us.
"HEAVEN" just about had it right, but then the fake crying in the video nearly killed it for me. I just don't watch the video and I'm fine, lol
