Do you get the same feelings?

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by BanFan

Liar has to be her last truly emotional song in my book.
Everything else since that song has been pop nonsense.

Yes, even Will and is this LOVE? and stuff D:

/sarcasm

[No_Doubt]

Originally Posted by Kikaru

I personally think Alterna is very emotional. Sure, it's not like the sad emotions that NEVER EVER or A song for XX radiates, but it's a different kind of emotion. I think her songs are still emotional, just a different kind of emotion.

I agree. I think that as Ayu has grown as a vocalist, she has learned how to convey powerful emotions in more subtle ways. Just because she's not trying to sound blatantly sad and angry doesn't make the songs emotionless. Her recent work has been just as emotional as ever. For instance, you mentioned "alterna". Though Ayu sings in a very simple way in the song, her vocals are so impactful. There is such a haunting, eerie sound to the way she sings in alterna and it captures feelings discontent and melancholy perfectly.

[BanFan]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Yes, even Will and is this LOVE? and stuff D:

/sarcasm

Though Will was pretty, it didn't really have any emotion, and as for Is this LOVE?, no emotion at all, just obnoxious wailing. I just don't see Ayumi expressing herself with a lot of emotion lately, I just see a pop puppet.

I cant resist doing some kind of movement when I hear "Beautiful Fighters".

[Kikaru]

Beautiful Fighters makes me want to run around my school track for some reason...O_O

Which is why it's a perfect exercising song for me.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by BanFan

Though Will was pretty, it didn't really have any emotion, and as for Is this LOVE?, no emotion at all, just obnoxious wailing. I just don't see Ayumi expressing herself with a lot of emotion lately, I just see a pop puppet.

I wasn't talking about emotion. I was talking about 'omgz pop'. >>

[No_Doubt]

Originally Posted by BanFan

Though Will was pretty, it didn't really have any emotion, and as for Is this LOVE?, no emotion at all, just obnoxious wailing. I just don't see Ayumi expressing herself with a lot of emotion lately, I just see a pop puppet.

Will and is this LOVE? are very emotional songs. Will does have a lot of emotion. Just because she is singing in a more restrained way does not make it emotionless. Ayu's vocals feel very gloomy, melancholy and grey. That song reminds me of feeling kind of disheartened and downcast, which is very much an emotion. If Ayu made her music representative of only simple emotions like "sad" or "happy" she would be a very one-dimensional artist. You may not identify with Will as much as others do, but it is far from emotionless.

I'm sorry, but calling is this LOVE? obnoxious wailing is ridiculous. That is easily one of her most emotional rock songs. Ayu portrays a sense of hopelessness and desperation in this song in a very powerful, poignant way. Not since the Duty album had I heard that kind of desperation in her voice.

By the way, half of the (miss)understood isn't even pop, and the pop songs on that album are far from pop nonsense. Even her latest singles are far from so-called "pop nonsense". Ayu really shows her prowess as a vocalist on her pop songs, because she can be cute without being cutesy, and poppy without being emotionless. STEP you is a mature, sassy, pop song, fairyland and BLUE BIRD represent nostalgia perfectly, Bold & Delicious is, well,what the title implies, Ladies Night is a dark, haunting electro pop song, Startin' and INSPIRE are powerful, strong pop songs, and Born To Be... and Beautiful Fighters feel triumphant and inspirational respectively, all thanks to Ayu's vocals.

[immel]

^I agree with you on every single point, very good argumentation.

To some people the music from her 2005-2006 era isn't very appealing, thus they probably don't get the same feel for the music as with the earlier music they really enjoyed - what you yourself feel about the songs is important aswell when you judge how emotional it is as the emotional-ness of the song has to effect you for you to feel it. I have a hard time seeing how is this LOVE? could not be seen as emotional when I'm presented with no furter argument than that it is obnoxious wailing .

[Coelacanth]

Although (m)u isn't my favorite album, I think vocally, it's probably one of her best.

Originally Posted by BanFan

and as for Is this LOVE?, no emotion at all, just obnoxious wailing.

'still alone' and 'End of the World' are way more obnoxious and whiny. That doesn't make them emotionless songs.

[BanFan]

I'll agree that still alone is worse (One of my least favorite songs from 'I am...'), but End of the World is slightly less annoying.

[Coelacanth]

UNITE! is pretty X_x too. Especially during the choruses.

[Kikaru]

Unite gets really...screechy during the choruses. X_______X Very unexpected when one's ipod volume is accidently a little higher than normal.

Actually, whiny is a display of emotion. When we were younger, don't we sometimes show our dislike or anger by whining about things? I think for Ayu she learned to express her emotion in a more subtle way and the change is just like how we change the way we express our anger and sadness as we get older.

I'm not making much sense here...

Yes

When I first heard Rainbow, Hanabi and Dearest I cried really hard

When I first heard Bold&Delicious I laughed but I like that song now.

When I first heard BLUE BIRD I was happy and tingly. That song is a really happy song. It makes you feel good