If ayu was American...

[Mirrorcle Monster]

Imagine if Ayu was American and she released her albums in an American style: no interludes, first the album then the singles... Also try to imagine the chart position of the singles


Title: A Song for XX
Tracklist:
1. Hana
2. FRIEND
3. FRIEND II
4. poker face
5. Wishing
6. YOU
7. As if...
8. Trust
9. Depend on you
10. SIGNAL
11. from your letter
12. A Song for XX
13. For my dear...
14. Present (Bonus Track)

Singles:
1. A Song for XX (#26)
2. Depend on you (#13)
3. YOU (#10)
4. poker face (#34)
5. Trust (#38)


Title: LOVEppears
Tracklist:
1. Fly High
2. Trauma
3. And Then
4. immature
5. Boys & Girls
6. TO BE
7. End roll
8. P.S II
9. WHATEVER
10. too late
11. appears
12. monochrome
13. LOVE~Destiny~
14. Who...
15. kanariya (Bonus Track)

Singles:
1. Boys & Girls (#1)
2. LOVE~Destiny~ (#1)
3. Trauma (#1)
4. appears (#5)
5. TO BE (#13)
6. Fly High (#17)


Title: Duty
Tracklist:
1. Duty
2. vogue
3. End of the World
4. SCAR
5. Far away
6. SURREAL
7. AUDIENCE
8. SEASONS
9. teddy bear
10. Key
11. girlish
12. ever free (Bonus Track)

Singles:
1. SURREAL (#1)
2. SEASONS (#1)
3. vogue (#4)
4. AUDIENCE (#14)

Title: I Am...
Tracklist:
1. I Am...
2. Connected
3. evolution
4. Naturally
5. M
6. still alone
7. Dearest
8. a song is born
9. Endless Sorrow
10. No More Words
11. NEVER EVER
12. Daybreak
13. UNITE!
14. flower garden (Bonus Track)

Singles:
1. evolution (#1)
2. M (#1)
3. Dearest (#1)
4. UNITE! (#9)
5. Endless Sorrow (#6)


Title: RAINBOW
Tracklist:
1. WE WISH
2. Real Me
3. Free & Easy
4. Heartplace
5. Over
6. HANABI
7. everywhere nowhere
8. July 1st
9. Dolls
10. Voyage
11. Close to you
12. independent
13. RAINBOW
14. + (Bonus Track)

Singles:
1. Voyage (#1)
2. HANABI (#1)
3. July 1st (#4)
4. Free & Easy (#24)
5. RAINBOW (#13)


Title: Memorial Adress (EP)
Tracklist:
1. ANGEL'S SONG
2. Greatful Days
3. Because of You
4. ourselves
5. HANABI~episode II~
6. No way to say
7. forgiveness
8. Memorial Adress

Singles:
1. No way to say (#1)
2. Greatful Days (#7)
3. Because of You (#10)


Title: MY STORY
Tracklist:
1. About You
2. GAME
3. my name's WOMEN
4. Liar
5. Hope or Pain
6. HAPPY ENDING
7. Moments
8. walking proud
9. CAROLS
10. INSPIRE
11. HONEY
12. replace
13. Humming 7/4
14. winding road (Bonus Track)

Singles:
1. Moments (#6)
2. INSPIRE (#13)
3. CAROLS (#14)
4. GAME (#18)
5. walking proud (#24)


Title: (miss) understood
Tracklist:
1. Ladies Night
2. STEP you
3. (miss) understood
4. In The Corner
5. is this LOVE?
6. alterna
7. Bold & Delicious
8. rainy day
9. Pride
10. fairyland
11. Beautiful Day
12. criminal
13. HEAVEN

Singles:
1. STEP you (#1)
2. HEAVEN (#1)
3. fairyland (#3)
4. Bold & Delicious (#27)
5. is this LOVE? (#10)


Title: Secret
Tracklist:
1. until that day...
2. Startin'
3. 1 LOVE
4. It was
5. momentum
6. Born To Be...
7. BLUE BIRD
8. kiss o' kill
9. Secret
10. part of me
11. JEWEL

Singles:
1. BLUE BIRD (#1)
2. part of me (#5)
3. Startin' (#9)
4. JEWEL (#7)
5. momentum (#23)


Title: GUILTY
Tracklist:
1. Mirrorcle World
2. (don't) leave me alone
3. talkin' 2 myslef
4. decision
5. GUILTY
6. fated
7. Together When...
8. Marionette
9. glitter
10. untitled~for her~
11. Life
12. MY ALL

Singles:
1. Mirrorcle World (#1)
2. Together When... (#7)
3. talkin' 2 myself (#26)
4. glitter (#10)
5. fated (#21)


Title: NEXT LEVEL
Tracklist
1. NEXT LEVEL
2. EnergizE
3. Rule
4. identity
5. GREEN
6. rollin'
7. Sparkle
8. LOVE'n'HATE
9. Days
10. Curtain Call

Singles:
1. Days (#1)
2. Rule (#6)
3. Sparkle (#13)
4. GREEN (#27)

Title: Rock'n'Roll Circus
Tracklist:
1. Microphone
2. count down
3. Last Links
4. Sunset
5. BALLAD
6. Don't Look Back
7. Lady Dynamite
8. Sexy Little Things
9. Sunrise~LOVE is ALL~
10. You Were...
11. meaning of Love
12. RED LINE

Singles:
1. Microphone (#8)
2. You Were... (#3)
3. Sunrise~LOVE is ALLL (#5)
4. Lady Dynamite (#23)
5. Don't Look Back (#22)


Title: Love Songs
Tracklist:
1. Love Song
2. crossroad
3. MOON
4. Last Angel
5. sending mail
6. like a doll
7. blossom
8. Thank U
9. Sweet Season
10. Do It Again
11. November
12. Virgin Road
13. Seven Days War (Bonus Track)

Singles:
1. Love Song (#13)
2. MOON (#6)
3. Last Angel (#17)
4. Virgin Road (#10)
5. crossroad (#28)


Title: PROGRESS (EP)
Tracklist:
1. progress
2. Why... feat. JUNO
3. BRILLANTE
4. ANother Song feat. URATA NAOYA
5. beloved

Singles:
1. progress (#3)
2. beloved (#10)
3. BRILLANTE (#22)

Title: Party Queen
Tracklist:
1. Party Queen
2. NaNaNa
3. Shake It
4. call
5. Letter
6. reminds me
7. Return Road
8. Tell me why
9. Eyes, Smoke, Magic
10. the next LOVE
11. how beautiful you are

Singles:
1. how beautiful you are (#11)
2. Party Queen (#17)
3. NaNaNa (#24)
4. Return Road (#22)

Title: WAKE UP
Tracklist:
1. Wake Me Up
2. Song 4 U
3. Missing
4. SAKURA
5. Melody
6. Bye-bye darling
7. snowy kiss
8. petal
9. Sweet Scar
10. untitled for her... Story 2
11. Gloria
12. Ivy
13. You & Me

Singles:
1. You & Me (#3)
2. Song 4 U (#4)
3. Wake Me Up (#9)
4. Missing (#15)
5. SAKURA (#20)

[miru2590]

Wow this is great.

[perfectodub]

When you say " if Ayu was American" you mean any country of the continent like Canada, Mexico, USA (?)

[Chibi-Chan]

I don't get it...

[TeamAyu2004]

the OP is talking about if ayumi was releasing music like a western musician.

[Sensayunda]

Very original thread. I liked it. I liked to feel like reading a completely different career

[monochrome99]

But western musicians do have interludes and preludes and album openings...

just look at any Mariah carey or Janet Jackson album, they are filled with them.

[Mimichild]

Wait! IMO Sparkle, Lady Dynamite, Microphone, and ourselves should be worldwide #1's! And the Sparkle/LD PVs would be heavily censored or shown after midnight lol

[NintendoHTF1242]

5. momentum (#23)

umm no this would be #1 for like fifteen weeks straight okay

[Delirium-Zer0]

If she was releasing albums like a western musician, we'd probably only hear about 15-20 songs for every 30 or so she recorded... only the most polished & most personal material would end up on the albums, and some other tracks would end up as single b-sides.

So honestly there'd probably be half as many albums up there on top of the tracks being rearranged.

And let's not forget the shift in titling conventions, too. Where ayu has ellipses, we'd just put nothing, and where she has XX, we'd put ellipses. And oh yay, traditional title capitalization! lol


------------ERA ONE-------------

A Song For... (Late 1999)
01. A Song For...
02. Depend On You
03. End Roll
04. You
05. Trust
06. Boys & Girls
07. Flower
08. Wishing
09. Powder Snow
10. Signal
11. Trauma
12. Appears
13. To Be
14. Love (Destiny)
15. Who

Singles:
1. Depend On You
2. Boys & Girls
3. End Roll
4. Appears
5. Love (Destiny)
6. A Song For... <-- most artists don't get to 6, but it can happen depending on the success of past singles & how long the label has to wait for new material.

B-Sides:
-Monochrome (on "Depend On You")
-Two of Us (on "End Roll")
-For My Dear (on "Love (Destiny)")

"And Then" and "P.S. II" would probably get carried over into era 2 since they continue the stories of A Song for XX and POWDER SNOW.
"WHATEVER" and "kanariya" would probably get released as non-album, club-specific remix-rich singles under the name AYU, ushering in her second "career" as a club queen.

------------ERA TWO-------------

Duty (Early 2002)
01. Evolution
02. Powder Snow II
03. Dearest
04. Duty
05. Vogue
06. Far Away
07. Seasons
08. Surreal
09. Naturally
10. M
11. Endless Sorrow
12. Teddy Bear
Hidden Track: flower garden

Singles:
01. Vogue
02. Dearest
03. Naturally
04. Evolution
05. Seasons

B-Sides:
And Then (on "Vogue")
Key (on "Dearest")
Never Ever (on "Evolution")

"Connected" would be released as a club-exclusive single as well. "a song is born" would have been a standalone single that didn't appear on the album, being for charity. Ayu's solo version may end up as a b-side or a best-of compilation track much later in her career.

"I am..." and "Daybreak" would have stuck out like sore thumbs by virtue of their more raw sound and would have been carried over to the next era to be released later.

------------ERA THREE-------------

"RAINBOW"/"A BALLADS"/"Memorial address" is a hard era to deal with because of the range of sounds, but I chose to take her in a darker direction given that she'd be mourning the passing of the subject of M.a. by the time it came out. More polished pop/dance and wintry ballads from this era would be saved until later.

Memorial Address (Early 2004)
01. Rainbow
02. I Am...
03. Moments
04. Fireworks
05. Independent
06. July 1st
07. Because Of You
08. Free & Easy <-- this would have the string intro removed to avoid litigation
09. Heartplace
10. Daybreak
11. Everywhere Nowhere
12. Fireworks (episode II)
13. Memorial address
Hidden Track: A Song For... (studio live version)

Singles:
01. Rainbow
02. Independent
03. Moments

This is the period in which Ayu's label no longer knows how to market her because she's getting too personal. Critics love the album and call it Ayu's most artistically relevant work to date. The album sells reasonably well - not as well as previous efforts, and old fans feel like Ayu has betrayed them for this self-indulgent stuff, but well enough & it has brought Ayu a whole new audience. The label is getting desperate for a radio-friendly ballad rather than this mopey BS, which leads to the next era:

------------ERA THREE POINT FIVE-------------

Untitled Christmas Album (Late 2004)
01. Forgiveness
02. No Way To Say
03. Carols
04. Dolls
05. Close To You
06. Voyage
07. White Christmas
08. Silent Night
09. Itsuka No Merry Christmas
10. M (Winter Parade Remix)
11. Appears (Holiday Remix)
12. Dearest (Acoustic Version)
13. M (Acoustic Version)

Singles:
01. Voyage
02. Carols

------------ERA FOUR-------------

Ayu takes a break to travel overseas. The result is a very multicultural and "aware of her audience" album, full of world sounds but all very radio-friendly. Ayu adds a creepy intro as a nod to the nagging she's gotten from her label recently. This era contains carryovers from the last one, plus MY STORY, (miss)understood, and Secret.

My Story (Late 2006)
01. Wonderland (Intro)
02. Inspire
03. Blue Bird
04. Walking Proud
05. Will
06. Ourselves
07. Step You
08. Secret
09. Bold & Delicious
10. Fairyland
11. Heaven
12. Happy Ending
13. Real Me
14. Honey
15. Jewel

Singles:
01. Blue Bird
02. Walking Proud
03. Secret
04. Heaven

B-Sides:
01. We Wish
02. Graduation Photograph
03. My Name's Women


Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd so it goes. A bunch of the darker and rockier songs from MY STORY through GUILTY would end up on the next one. But it's 1 AM and I've already put WAY more work into this than is necessary.

I'm also basing alot of this on how the industry was up until about 2002, I pretty much stopped following western music at that point. I miss how things worked in the 90s so that's sorta what I did here.

[tasking]

The sad thing is, the titles look like that on Wikipedia lol