The Colours era concepts analysis thread!

Andrenekoi · #1 26th July 2018, 03:48 AM

Overall guide-lines:

-The intention of this thread is discussing the concepts of Ayu's several releases, analysing the lyrics, the music, the visual, the videos and the tour concept.

-Everyone's insights about the concept of an era is welcome!

-Please, let's avoid the "this era rocked"/"this era sucked" stuff.

-And remember, when it's about the interpretation of a creative work, there's no right and wrong, just different impressions. Offenses towards another member discussing the subject will be reported.

Other Threads:
GUILTY
NEXT LEVEL
Rock’n’Roll Circus
Love Songs
FIVE
Party Queen
LOVE again
A one
M(A)DE IN JAPAN

Colours

1. Feel the love
2. XOXO
3. What is forever love
4. Hello new me
5. Pray
6. Angel
7. Terminal
8. Merry-go-round
9. Lelio
10. Now & 4eva
Colours was Ayu’s 15th studio album, released in 2014, giving her a change in directions by working with several western producers and being heavily influenced by the EDM fever of that time. It’s biggest hits were Feel the love, XOXO and Lelio, the later 2 becoming somewhat of concert staples.

You can find the album lyrics in here

You can find the booklet in here

Music Videos

Spoiler:

Tour

Andrenekoi · #2 26th July 2018, 03:50 AM

So, it has passed some time since we had one of those. I believe her latest albums aged enough so we had the time to digest them and discuss them :3

If you guys are into it, I will open threads for the next releases too.

Andrenekoi · #3 26th July 2018, 04:26 AM

So, just the other day I decided to revist Colours lyrics.

I find it funny that Feel the love and XOXO are both songs about partying your issues away. They seem lighthearted, but they seen to sugest there's something darker behind the party, pretty much like Party Queen up beat tracks.

Spoiler:

What is forever love talks about regreting growing apart from someone you love, even if it felt like the right thing to do at the time

Spoiler:

Hello new me is about being changed by a new love OR changing in order to keep a new love, followed by pray, a song about loving someone from apart and praying they found happiness even far away.

Now, this is where things get interesting. After singing about partying your issues away, about going back to someone you got separed from and changing in order to keep a relationship, Ayu sings Terminal:

Quote:

Hey, what was it that left such a deep scar on you?
Hey, why do you look like you’ve witnessed despair?

Ahh, if only you’d smile for me, I’ll give you everything

If you so wish, I can turn into the devil for you
If you so wish, I don’t need creatures like angels

For you, for you…

If you so wish, I can turn into the devil for you
If you so wish, I don’t need creatures like angels

followed by Angel, were Ayu says she would become an Angel in order to be back with whoever left her. Those 2 songs paired are basically Ayu saying "I would do anything, good or bad, in order to be together with you again".

Merry-go-Round pretty much ressonates the overall album feeling, all the "I miss you", "I regret leaving you", "I would do anything to get back to you again", but this time it goes on a different direction:

Quote:

I’m here, dreaming of you
And then, I’ll dream of you tomorrow again

I’ll move on without turning back
Had you ever faced my way?
I’ll move on without turning back
That’s my final strength

Followed by LELIO, were Ayu pretty much goes on full "fuck it, I do me, you do you":

Quote:

Jump out or stay, it’s your choice
What do u wanna do (oh oh oh oh oh)
Follow my feelings, that’s my choice
That is all I need (ea ea ea ea ea)

I mean it, I mean it, I mean it
You know what you want
You know what you want
and I know what I want
and I know what I want

NOW & 4EVA is the final track, and it got the classic Ayu sound. After all the ups and downs about a failed relationship, she still is sad, but she also knows there's nothing else but to move on, even if she moves on still loving that person. This part of the lyrics grabed my attention:

Quote:

I’ll scream again and again, crying and screaming
I want to keep dreaming the same dream with you

Usually, when Ayu talks about having the same dream, I feel she is talking to her fans. "The dream", in this case being her career, or herself as a popstar. Ayu herself once said she was a dream during that Time magazine interview.

I believe this is an album about trying changing in order to please her fans, going as far as pursuing a trendy sound and having a very sanitized and fashion foward image, something that was asked constantly to her by the public (and some of the points people used to justify why Namie was overselling her), just to realize in the end that despite all the suffering, she can't be anyone else but Ayu.

Machiko · #4 26th July 2018, 04:41 AM

Quote:

What is forever love talks about regreting growing apart from someone you love, even if it felt like the right thing to do at the time

Quote:

What is forever love talks about regreting growing apart from someone you love, even if it felt like the right thing to do at the time

Quote:

followed by Angel, were Ayu says she would become an Angel in order to be back with whoever left her. Those 2 songs paired are basically Ayu saying "I would do anything, good or bad, in order to be together with you again".

Merry-go-Round pretty much ressonates the overall album feeling, all the "I miss you", "I regret leaving you", "I would do anything to get back to you again", but this time it goes on a different direction:

Me n my hopeful ass:

awful post I apologize

Andrenekoi · #5 26th July 2018, 04:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Machiko

Me n my hopeful ass:

awful post I apologize

LOL

Opening the thread was already worth it xD

cosmicfirefly · #6 26th July 2018, 07:28 AM

That's a really interesting analysis of it. When I first read the lyrics of those songs, I read them out of order as they came out, so I never made any connections between them. This makes me want to go listen to Colours now.

Uknow! · #7 26th July 2018, 09:10 AM

First of all, I do not have a lot of vocabulary and my English is bad, I tried to explain myself the best I could. My opinions or what I try to express might vary a lot without the right words or the right way to express them.

In mi opinion the covers are simple but beautiful and it represents the Ayu of that era, more into sports and a healthy life (thanks to her husband?), with a more relaxed and clear mind. The title itself can mean a lot of things, I always thought that it conveys the differents colours Ayumi Hamasaki has, the tracks in the album are quite different despite working with international producers, you can listen new styles for her but at the same type the old ones (pray, NOW & 4EVA for example). And at the same time, the title tries to show how important colours (metaforically) can be in our life after Ayu have sung about monocromatic points of views.

XOXO's PV is a parody, I think there is no doubt about it, or am I being delusional? I recall the moment I read the startin PV thread and a lot of people criticized it without understand that it was a parody even when others tell them that it was lol

On the other hand, despite being it a parody, I think Ayu tries to show more the funny side than the critical side. Another good point is that she included Lico as a representation of LGTB people which is perfect for an era like COLOURS, which seems like an era about changes, superation, freedom and joy (with the typical dark side of Ayu).

I think we can read more in XOXO's PV, but I don't feel now like I want to rewatch it, I like the PV though.

Lelio's PV is simple like lyrics of the song, which I love, both are very directly.

I'm quite sure that Angel, PV and song, both have a beautiful meaning than can be connected with the performance, but apart from the performance, I hate the PV and the song lol so it never takes my attention.

I agree with Andrenekoi in his opinion about the lyrics. I need to revisit every song but Ayu is always playing with duality in her lyrics. Her lyrics can be about love, can be about something more or even autobiographical, I would like to add that in NOW & 4EVA she is expressing her fears about losing her fandom and her place in the scenary.

I would like to remember that after COLOURS Ayu started working in A ONE, which was an album about meeting again with her fans, a way to apologize for running away and she talked about the feelings we can read in NOW & 4EVA, even in songs like sorrows.

Quote:

I’ve wanted to see you
I don’t want anyone except you
Dreaming of you, I woke and cried

It makes sense with the fact that Ayu was separate from her fans in this era, she felt disconnected.

Quote:

I noticed that we were separating
I noticed that we were drifting apart
Like we had forgotten the warmth of our joined hands

Quote:

I want your smile all to myself

Typical when Ayu is talking about her fans.

Quote:

These memories won’t fade away
Won’t change even a little, can’t change
Now, I remain insecure as usual
Continuing to evolve

This is my favorite part, I think differentes meaning can be read here.

Now I'm remembering a cute moment in Cirque de Minuit Tour If I'm recalling well, where she sang this part touching her left ear (which can be a coincidence because she had the mic in the other hand lol)

Quote:

I hear you

I love COLOURS but it never takes my attention in a conceptual way because I felt like the most important thing about this album is to have fun the same way Ayu did while doing it.

freedreamer · #8 26th July 2018, 09:36 AM

I remember ayu saying she initially had the whole concept for this special album drawn out but due to some new songs coming in, the whole concept for the album changed. I suspect those songs to be Pray and Hello new me and probably NOW & 4EVA got added in later.

I think she was conceptualising an EDM album from the getgo with Feel the love and Merry-go-round as the forerunners. But Pray had such a big tie-in she had no choice.

Andrenekoi · #9 26th July 2018, 03:24 PM

^That's very likely. Even more considering the 2 ballads from the album were tie-ins she was hired to record.

Ayu_Love · #10 26th April 2019, 11:55 AM

Thank you! This makes me want to listen to Colours again. I always find it sad when one of Ayu's albums gets trashed when people don't take the time to understand the deeper meaning of it, like with Party Queen, when both these albums have amazing songs.

rainbow_smile · #11 29th April 2019, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

So, just the other day I decided to revist Colours lyrics.

I find it funny that Feel the love and XOXO are both songs about partying your issues away. They seem lighthearted, but they seen to sugest there's something darker behind the party, pretty much like Party Queen up beat tracks.

Spoiler:

What is forever love talks about regreting growing apart from someone you love, even if it felt like the right thing to do at the time

Spoiler:

Hello new me is about being changed by a new love OR changing in order to keep a new love, followed by pray, a song about loving someone from apart and praying they found happiness even far away.

Now, this is where things get interesting. After singing about partying your issues away, about going back to someone you got separed from and changing in order to keep a relationship, Ayu sings Terminal:

followed by Angel, were Ayu says she would become an Angel in order to be back with whoever left her. Those 2 songs paired are basically Ayu saying "I would do anything, good or bad, in order to be together with you again".

Merry-go-Round pretty much ressonates the overall album feeling, all the "I miss you", "I regret leaving you", "I would do anything to get back to you again", but this time it goes on a different direction:

Followed by LELIO, were Ayu pretty much goes on full "fuck it, I do me, you do you":

NOW & 4EVA is the final track, and it got the classic Ayu sound. After all the ups and downs about a failed relationship, she still is sad, but she also knows there's nothing else but to move on, even if she moves on still loving that person. This part of the lyrics grabed my attention:

Usually, when Ayu talks about having the same dream, I feel she is talking to her fans. "The dream", in this case being her career, or herself as a popstar. Ayu herself once said she was a dream during that Time magazine interview.

I believe this is an album about trying changing in order to please her fans, going as far as pursuing a trendy sound and having a very sanitized and fashion foward image, something that was asked constantly to her by the public (and some of the points people used to justify why Namie was overselling her), just to realize in the end that despite all the suffering, she can't be anyone else but Ayu.

Wow I really liked your interpretation, thank you!

Tbh sometimes I feel like some of the songs that fans dismiss as "just romantic love songs" are actually about her fans