[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by SheFliesHigher

TBH, I remember a lot of people disliking My Story when it first came out, including me. OK, I didn't dislike it, but I wasn't very pleased with it. I think there were big expectations for it, since Ayu hadn't produced a full album for a while, and at first, people didn't feel like it met their expectations.

-----------Back to Party Queen:
I've listened to the album a couple of times, and while I still don't feel like I can give a score, there are a couple of comments that I'd like to make.

1. This album is sooooo different from anything Ayu's ever done before. She's really surprised me. Like, FIVE and "How Beautiful You Are" did not hint at this kind of album at all. Personally, the only song before this that blew my mind was BRILLANTE, and I thought I wouldn't see anything like that again.

2. The instrumentations and arrangements for most of these songs are just amazing. There's a lot of variety both between and within songs.

3. NaNaNa is one of my favorite tracks. It's wild and almost industrial sounding. I love Timmy's segment, and how Ayu goes "nanananana!"

4. It seems like Return Road has an almost 100% approval rating amongst members of this forum. I like it a lot, but I smirk when I hear Timmy pop in with his weird yodeling. He ruins it just a little bit.

5. Tell Me Why has the biggest impact on me. This song is incredible, and it builds and builds and almost brings tears to my eyes at the end. I truly feel Ayu's emotions. She clearly is singing about Mannie and their failed relationship, because she references a male speaker saying, "I'm ok" and "it's my fault", and says she wanted to share his pain, confusion, etc. And of course, she asks "why" again and again. This song is painful and beautiful. I feel like she is screaming out her feelings.

6. I like Reminds Me, but I think she overuses the "la la la la"s. Seriously, I feel like she wasted excellent opportunities to sing powerful lyrics by just filling up the song with "la la la". I pictured her actually singing something, and it sounded so great in my head. No idea why she didn't bother. It kind of kills the song. I just sit there thinking about what could have been.

7. The 2 jazzy songs at the end...I don't know what to do with them, lol. Again, Ayu has shocked me--neeeever would have seen songs like these coming. The Last Love is OK, but Eyes, Smoke, Magic is....I don't know. I can't even say how I feel yet.

I honestly can feel more emotion in reminds me more than Tell Me Why. I honestly feel like reminds me is the highlight here. Every other song I don't feel so connected with but reminds me is right at home. It feels like it was heavily influenced by that kick-ass bridge in progress which is all I really loved from that song anyway. I feel like her voice is the best in this song too. She really needs to switch to exclusive rock for this voice and maybe the autotune thing. The La-la's are the best she's ever had. I love them. Lyrics would ruin it and it definitely makes it an Ayu song. I feel like this is the answer to November. Honestly there was so much love in November, and reminds me really sounds like the pain she feels being "reminded". She's still that little bird from November, singing her heart out to the extreme in this song, as she flies away from Mannie's shoulder. On a side note, the intro really reminds me of decision's intro.

As for my love with MY STORY, it was the first album I had been around for to witness being released. I was an active fan then after hearing older stuff first. So I didn't really have much to compare it to or be let down about. There's always a clear divide between those songs you witnessed birthing, and the songs you discovered from the back of her discography. I love many, many of the songs from before I became an active fan, but it's a different kind of love when it's something you can recall being around for.