Originally Posted by Tomoyo
This album was F-ING FLAWLESS! I'm so glad we got the album this early because now I know for a fact that it's an amazing album. I didn't really enjoy A ONE as much as I thought I would, probably due to it being really heavy on the ballads, and although i love Ayumi's ballads, too many of them make the album really boring for me. and I'm like this on all the albums I listen to. On A ONE I only listened to like 3 songs, the rest I just kind of skipped. This is my little mini review of MADE IN JAPAN. These are my opinions and mine alone ^^
01. Tasky - I actually really LOVED this intro. it's my favorite since tasking from (miss)understood in 2006. I love how it plays into the song, some of her interludes don't really go with the song after to me and i think they are oddly placed, but this one is AMAZING. I LOVE the use of the Japanese strings. It's an amazing opening to the album.
02. FLOWER - O.O was all i could do when i first listened to it. It's so different from anything I feel we've had in an ayu album in so long. When I first read the lyric snippet of this song I really thought this was going to be a ballad. The continuation of the strings from Tasky is flawless. I'll admit the chorus threw me off a little, just because she did that little whine thing I first heard in Love Song and like Love Song it threw me off, but it's very quickly growing on me! This is a legit rock track, and this blows WARNING out of the water.
03. Mad World - I expected this to be the rock track from the title, but Ayu has further proved that THE TITLE OF THE SONG MEANS NOTHING lol, I love the piano in this song, it's so beautiful, This sounds very western 2000's to me, which I love so much. The chorus is simple, and beautiful. To sum it up Mad World may not be one of my favorite tracks on the album, but I won't skip it, like i did with 3/4 of A ONE.
04. Breakdown - Very pretty opening for me. This is the first ballad on the album. I was very surprised to see this title. I always expected this to be a more rock track like Mad World, but I do love it. Her medium Ballads, like this song, have always been some of my favorites. Although her mixed ballads: progress, Last minute ect, are my favorites. But this isn't a straight ballad so I am still able to enjoy it.
05. Survivor - My VERY FIRST thought of this song was: This is gonna be awesome! by the first few seconds then it became "WHAT THE EVER FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!" the chanting is so weird to me and I would personally prefer it not be there. I feel like it throws off the song like a lot. But the vocals are really great! I love the arrangement! I'm hearing "Fly away" and "Try again" which makes me really excited for the translation. To sum up, please dear god release a version of this song without the chanting. I feel like "we'll be right back with an awesome ayumi hamasaki track after this short commercial break"
06. You are the only one - The second ballad of the album, and the second longest track of the album. I do wish the other songs were longer, especially FLOWER. I would have been perfectly fine with a seven minute song for it. If i had to say I had a least favorite song on this album, it would probably be this one. It's just very bland to me, compared to the others. But I still don't skip it like I do. She sounds amazing, Her rise in octaves is flawless!
07. TODAY - This song is a little boring to me too. but it's still kind of cute. It's feels like a happy ballad to me, this is without reading the translation. It's very SEVEN DAYS WAR to me. I don't have much of an opinion about this song, but I do enjoy it.
08. Mr.Darling - I wasn't too fond of the title of the song, but I don't mind the song itself. It's very cutesy. I love the acoustic guitar, it sounds like this song could have been on Love songs. This song sounds very Michelle Branch to me most of the time. It's a very cute song.
09. Summer Love - After Summer diary I was expecting something more like that, I was not expecting an EDM track like Lelio but I was very excited! I have to admit the beat does actually sound VERY KPOP, but It's nice to have a legit SUMMER SONG like we use to have on her albums! I actually really enjoy this song. I know some people have compared this to Koda Kumi but I don't think that at all. I love this track and I think it's adorable!
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