[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Rearranging pop songs into tracks for a full orchestra is more than just 'remixing'. I think there's a whole lot more effort and manpower involved (you need to get an ENTIRE ORCHESTRA as opposed to just like a few string players and one or two other musicians), especially for songs that are not originally somewhat orchestral-in-nature.

I hope we can remove that Rule video from the first post since it doesn't really do anything but confuse people.

Using the word 'rushed' with Ayu is so redundant. What's so bad about her not spending 2 years on making new tracks? She's a procrastinator like most people and she tends to work on things up until the very last moment. There are artists out there who take two to three times as long as Ayu to make new releases and quite frankly, the end results aren't even that great. Keep in mind that this is a release project that she hasn't really undertaken in a long time (5 new releases in 5 months) and it's rather amazing considering in 2011 we only really got one new release + remixes from her.

And really, if you're 'starting to erase Ayu from your top artists because you don't like anything since 2010', why not just stop listening to her then? It's not like anyone is forcing you to still try to enjoy what you don't like so I really do not see why anyone would even bring that up here unless they wanted some sort of reaction like 'Oh, I feel the same way, she sucks!' or 'No!!! Don't leave!'. I find this happens a lot with Ayu more than any other J-Pop act. People who have already checked out long ago -still- stick around and I never really understood why. Is it the difficulty of letting go?

It is hard to accept the fact that your favorite artist (or who once was), and not just any artist but that of Ayumi Hamasaki, is not creating masterpieces that used to floor you. That music that you couldn't quite find ANYWHERE else. The fact that she continues to release, and every once in a while hits the nail HEAD ON, while all the other while bubbling under and just coming short of breaking that surface, creates hope. You think "well, maybe the next release... ok, well maybe the next one... ok well a new album is coming out, I'll at least like one new song" ... It is not so simple as to walk away. You might be one of the lucky few who love everything she does, but imagine the emotions you would have if everything you were so passionate about before just wasn't doing it for you anymore... That type of frustration is understandable and people will continue to hold on.

And it's not like she's making absolute crap. It's just a lot of 'nothing special' with hints of garbage on Party Queen. But like I said, you still see that glimmer of hope, you still hear the potential in songs that might have fallen flat for you - that just needed that extra 10-15%... Prime example for me that have shown me Ayu still has got it when doubts began to surface in my mind are songs such as (don't) Leave me alone, Sparkle, Days, Microphone, BRILLANTE, reminds me. It's hard to accept the fact that they may never release something you totally love again when she breaks through that barrier every now and then... and you don't want to miss that the next time she does.