Review of NEXT LEVEL in the Sept issue of Singapore's TEENS magazine

[KarenPang]

I finished my Business Finance final exam today & earlier on before I went back home , I went to the petrol station to check whether should I get some food/drink before dinner (which in the end I didn't lol) & I saw that the latest Sept issue of TEENS is already up & the writer Raine Koh reviewed NEXT LEVEL .

The cover boy for the latest TEENS is chinese pop singer Nicholas Zhang & you can read the review if you have a physical hard copy of it on page 69 .

I took these photos with my camera phone :



upclose shot of it



in case you guys are not able to read the review because of the sub par pics that I took , here it's :

One of the most productive entertainers , ayumi hamasaki (or Ayu for short) returns with her 10th studio album , NEXT LEVEL . For the 1st 6 tracks of the album , the listeners are thrown into a game music fantasy of with hints of 80's retro . The tracks are fun , but 6 tracks of similar sounding songs does not rank high on originality .

Ayu finally serves something different on the plate from track 7 onwards . GREEN highlights Ayu's vocals with the use of traditional Japanese instruments . In this writer's opinion , the song Rule , part of the Dragonball movie soundtrack is a breakthough for Ayu . The pop-rock number is awesome in every aspect .

rank - 4/5

email TEENS for positive/negative & whatever feedback via teensea@epl.com.sg .

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mmm I honestly don't know how should I feel about this review . The part where Raine Koh wrote 'The tracks are fun , but 6 tracks of similar sounding songs does not rank high on originality' kinda ruffled up my feathers a bit but other than that , I'm OK with it .

A bit annoyed that she didn't commented on the later part of NEXT LEVEL & let alone Curtain call , Sparkle & even Days

[yamadashun]

thanks for the upload and typing ^^

IMO it gives me a feeling that the writer is not quite familiar with ayu's songs.

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

Originally Posted by yamadashun

thanks for the upload and typing ^^

IMO it gives me a feeling that the writer is not quite familiar with ayu's songs.

same impression to me, the cooment is a little bit "cold", but true is that for who doesn't like the genre the songs are a little repeatitive

[rainydayumi]

i think that is a terrible review, it must have been written by a young teenage fan? what is "game music fantasy" anyway, does it mean videogame music? and if it did mean that then it is an even worse review!

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by PaPaRatZi

i think that is a terrible review, it must have been written by a young teenage fan? what is "game music fantasy" anyway, does it mean videogame music? and if it did mean that then it is an even worse review!

I disagree. I personally think NEXT LEVEL, specially the very first songs commented there, have clearly a video game music influence. I'm a fan of video games and NEXT LEVEL actually called my attention in that same aspect, because I thought some of the songs had a mix of 80's disco club songs + video game influence. It made me even wonder if in Japan, they've been creating a new sound to electronic music by adding video game like music samples and effects. For the example, "rollin' " starts playing a 8-bit console sound (NES) that I'm sure most people who have played that video game noticed that very peculiar sound to that song.

The review is short and a little too personal, but it wasn't that bad imo. NEXT LEVEL does get a bit repetitive on its themes anyways, so I don't think it was really a bad thing that the guy compalined about that.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

I disagree. I personally think NEXT LEVEL, specially the very first songs commented there, have clearly a video game music influence. I'm a fan of video games and NEXT LEVEL actually called my attention in that same aspect, because I thought some of the songs had a mix of 80's disco club songs + video game influence. It made me even wonder if in Japan, they've been creating a new sound to electronic music by adding video game like music samples and effects. For the example, "rollin' " starts playing a 8-bit console sound (NES) that I'm sure most people who have played that video game noticed that very peculiar sound to that song.

The review is short and a little too personal, but it wasn't that bad imo. NEXT LEVEL does get a bit repetitive on its themes anyways, so I don't think it was really a bad thing that the guy compalined about that.

The influence even made it into the tour... Every report comented the Mario Bros part...

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

thk for such the great info!

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

lol thanks!

[zyoeru]

I get the feeling that Singapore writers always suck at reviewing Ayumi.

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by Furashubakku

I get the feeling that Singapore writers always suck at reviewing Ayumi.

lol yeah

it's not just ayumi , it's practically every jpop artiste which totally blows

that's why nowadays whenever I read the local media on their reviews on artiste's singles/albums , I will get real embarassed about it

hey even I can read better reviews than this Raine Koh via my music blog

[summersnow]

thanks for sharing!

[JackieRos]

aha im still like wait are they saying it was good or bad ehe

[y_nathz]

Originally Posted by (me)JackieRos

aha im still like wait are they saying it was good or bad ehe

yeah me too !! lol ~

[rakeru]

way to be vague, mister. this review means absolutely nothing to the actual album. he clearly listened to it once, not really paying attention.

[Tony G]

Really crap review. Sounds like it has been written by a 12 year old that has no idea about music.

[Meat Pao]

Instant fail.

[TITANIC]

bad review...

thanks for uploading, Karen

[waterballoon]

It's a bad review lmao how does Bridge to the sky/NEXT LEVEL sound anything like the 80
's??? The only retro songs are like Disco-munication & EnergizE? lol.

[alternarist]

i agree with what it said.. EnergizE, Sparkle, rollin' and Disco-munication are pretty much in the asme electronic genre..

[jbrat2219]

So short and pointless... That's barely a decent review of any album let alone NEXT LEVEL.