I was hoping something like this would not show up...lol Hope there wont be any fights or bashing. I would also want to say that I wouldnt call the album that I dont like suck or whatever coz even though I may not like it, the artist itself put alot of work into it.
I listened to both albums and I chose Secret..not that because Im a ayu fan. I have my reasons! In my opinion, both albums didnt have good single tracks.
Kumi had 8 single tracks + wont be long as a single with exile, plus songs that are released already as something else before the release of the album (GO WAY!!, twinkle) so basically there werent that many album tracks and plus some of them are too short. I didnt like any of the single tracks...I like yume no uta, unmei, Ningyo hime musically but I dont like her voice in them...and I think that kinda ruined the songs for me...so I dont like them.
Ayu had 4 single tracks on the album and the only single song that I could listen to without kinda skipping would be born to be (coz of the arena tour dvd...it was awesome
) but I didnt think it fit the album....just like b&d didnt fit m(u) in my opinion. The rest of the single tracks, I had to kinda skip...especially beautiful fighters..
Album tracks:
Some of kumi's album tracks are way too short...I thought ayu's were short.. I think the only good thing about this album is the introduction and get up & move...those two were great to start off the album...but I dont see myself repeating those 2 songs...and I also thought they was kinda misleading. If I didnt listen to the single tracks before, I would of thought the rest of the songs would be more r&b. I think the only song I truely like on the whole album would be puppy...the rest...I deleted all from my computer. Also the album didnt really flow well. Something about her voice too...its gone weak and she sounded awful...especally milk tea.
I never thought I would say something bad about her voice because I think she has one of the most strongest voice Ive heard. I think her voice needs to rest coz seriously I might enjoy more of the songs if it werent for her voice. Well I did give the album a try...but it didnt work out for me.
Ayu's album tracks were excellent in my opinion...ofcourse if you compare them to her old work, they are not as good...but atleast they are way better than the single tracks. I heard this album before kumi's and I thought ayu's tracks are a bit short...only 1 song that is more than 5 mins long...and its beauiful fighters...-____-...I love the introduction...I love it more after seeing the translations....the second song flowed smoothly after the intro...at first I didnt know it was the second song already. I wish they would make the intro into full length. I think this is the only ayu album that I dont need to skip any album tracks...and I think she did a good job in making them better and more different than the single tracks. I also like her deeper voice in this album and how she sang until that day and 1 love differently than normal. There are some things I didnt like though...only 14 tracks and we have 2 interludes and intro...it would of been nice if there are more tracks if she have to keep them. Also I think there is room for improvement on the arrangements of some of the songs.
I felt ayu improved her album tracks and pvs from her single tracks and I really appreciate that...and that is also one of the main reasons why I chose Secret. I dont want to imagine if she still stick with the single type songs and pvs...well atleast she made up for it I guess.
Black cherry has a song that kumi composed for the first time. It was a nice attempt from her and I appreciate that for her trying...but sorry I dont like that song at all...her voice...
Is it a good thing that its so short? and I also think her album tracks werent as great as her single tracks (except for puppy) and I dont like her single tracks in the first place...so I dont like the whole album. Atleast for Secret, even though I dont like the single tracks, I like all the album tracks and there are none that I need to skip.
edit: lol...I chose Secret