[News] BUDDHA2 World Premiere Appearance in France

[Chris85]

My first impression - generic ballad that can't be compared to her best ballads like Carols, Together when, Jewel, Sakura, etc. Hell, I think even Life is better. Her voice sounds strained and forced in this song. Although lyrics are nice and I like the beginning of verses.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

There's a part of the melody that really sounds like "HANABI" before the finale.

I hear this too and it makes this song even less refreshing for me.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by Chris85

My first impression - generic ballad that can't be compared to her best ballads like Carols, Together when, Jewel, Sakura, etc. Hell, I think even Life is better. Her voice sounds strained and forced in this song. Although lyrics are nice and I like the beginning of verses.


I hear this too and it makes this song even less refreshing for me.

Agreed about first impression. Best ballads don't sound generic to me at all. Maybe generic as in predictable, but for me, predictable just means they got the nail on the head as to how the song should sound and it's full potential. HANABI and JEWEL are relatively easy to swallow, which makes them so pleasing to the ear.

The term "generic" gets thrown around a lot, and misused when describing ayus songs specifically. I would not say those epic ballads are generic, but predictable? Yeah, I might agree to that. Generic refers to something that isn't special, and something that any other artist could have released with identical results. The catalog of hits she has built over the years of those epic, perhaps predictable, songs have something to them that just screams ayu. Lately it hasn't been the case, hence the term generic being used in the correct manner. For me, when a song progresses and it hits in all the right places that you felt it was growing toward, that's perfection. But when it hits and you're all "oh, so this is how it's going to be? Ok, I think I can get into/used to this." Then it's already a battle to enjoy the song as much as you enjoy the former experience.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

The term "generic" gets thrown around a lot, and misused when describing ayus songs specifically. I would not say those epic ballads are generic, but predictable? Yeah, I might agree to that. Generic refers to something that isn't special, and something that any other artist could have released with identical results. The catalog of hits she has built over the years of those epic, perhaps predictable, songs have something to them that just screams ayu. Lately it hasn't been the case, hence the term generic being used in the correct manner. For me, when a song progresses and it hits in all the right places that you felt it was growing toward, that's perfection. But when it hits and you're all "oh, so this is how it's going to be? Ok, I think I can get into/used to this." Then it's already a battle to enjoy the song as much as you enjoy the former experience.

I think it's totally possible for a song to be generic within the context of Ayu's discography, especially so late in her career when she has 250 songs. Are "Together When..." and "CAROLS" generic in the world of JPop? Goodness no. They're VERY ayu. But are they generic among Ayu ballads? Absofrickinglutely. She has a ton of mid-tempo sweeping ballads that I can't immediately identify because they're all in a pool swimming around in my head. The ones with more distinctive arrangements within the pool of Ayu tracks - like HANABI with its echoing percussion & music box, JEWEL with its piano basis and "fuller" sound than teddy bear - I'm going to enjoy much more.

This one feels different than Together When..., CAROLS, MOON, part of Me, etc. Those songs are all in a similar key with a similar feel and outside of the intros they're not that different from one another, at least to someone with my music (both listening and performing) background - someone who listens to or studies different genres than I do will probably not feel the same way. But to me, Pray does stand out among them.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

Agreed about first impression. Best ballads don't sound generic to me at all. Maybe generic as in predictable, but for me, predictable just means they got the nail on the head as to how the song should sound and it's full potential. HANABI and JEWEL are relatively easy to swallow, which makes them so pleasing to the ear.

The term "generic" gets thrown around a lot, and misused when describing ayus songs specifically. I would not say those epic ballads are generic, but predictable? Yeah, I might agree to that. Generic refers to something that isn't special, and something that any other artist could have released with identical results. The catalog of hits she has built over the years of those epic, perhaps predictable, songs have something to them that just screams ayu. Lately it hasn't been the case, hence the term generic being used in the correct manner. For me, when a song progresses and it hits in all the right places that you felt it was growing toward, that's perfection. But when it hits and you're all "oh, so this is how it's going to be? Ok, I think I can get into/used to this." Then it's already a battle to enjoy the song as much as you enjoy the former experience.

ge·ner·ic [juh-ner-ik] Show IPA
adjective Also, ge·ner·i·cal.
1.
of, applicable to, or referring to all the members of a genus, class, group, or kind; general.

If you can predict how it will sound because it sounds like tons of other ballads, it is generic. You are welcome.

About Pray, I love how I couldn't really predict it's direction... It also sounds very... mature, I believe, would be the therm.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

If you can predict how it will sound because it sounds like tons of other ballads, it is generic. You are welcome.

About Pray, I love how I couldn't really predict it's direction... It also sounds very... mature, I believe, would be the therm.

But in the sense that people use the term, it is as I described. I would say most of her best songs gave me a sense of "Ah, this is how it should be" when the song progressed. Feeling natural and somewhat predictable in a good sense, meaning the flow of the song set you up for what was to come. It's not just ballads. And it's not because it sounds like other songs. Pray is a bit all over the place, and instead of feeling like I was listening to a song, it felt more like a bunch of notes put together in a sequence that wasn't as fluid.

[primavera♥]

Originally Posted by Chris85

My first impression - generic ballad that can't be compared to her best ballads like Carols, Together when, Jewel, Sakura, etc. Hell, I think even Life is better. Her voice sounds strained and forced in this song. Although lyrics are nice and I like the beginning of verses.


I hear this too and it makes this song even less refreshing for me.

Eh, for me Carols, Together When, And Sakura are so not her best ballads. Don't even care for them much. So I can't really agree. If I compared this to forgivness maybe, that would be hard.

I do like this. It sounds good to me as her ballads usually do. Not a new fav. But quite good.