ayumi hamasaki NEW SINGLE "Nonfiction" Release 2022.04.22

[waterballoon]

the song is fire and sounds nothing like what'd have been on NEXT LEVEL (just basing off the baseless comparisons many are making).

the PV is so good too (was fully expecting something more low-effort) but girl needs to get rid of those shake-and-go wigs they look so dry and frayed, especially the blonde ponytail!

[Aderianu]

Originally Posted by Chris85

I guess without Timmy proofreading English parts this is all we can get now.

"You don't have no choice" born when Timmy was around

[Katsuyuki012]

The PV has reached 500K views!

[MKAyu]

Originally Posted by Katsuyuki012

The PV has reached 500K views!

I waited to watch it until yesterday (so I could exercise to it) and I love it! It's so energetic, with a bit of that edgier vibe she's so good at. I love how she makes pink fierce, haha!

BTW, someone mentioned all the Balmain--is there a tie-up? That would be fun, actually, Balmain has been doing a lot of interesting crossover art lately, like their anniversary graphic novel. And they dress queens like Beyonce, so Ayu is perfect, too.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by Aderianu

"You don't have no choice" born when Timmy was around

You'd be surprised but native speakers do speak like that. You can even Google "don't have no choice" to see that it is used in other songs, even Pink used it.

[summerain]

Originally Posted by Chris85

You'd be surprised but native speakers do speak like that. You can even Google "don't have no choice" to see that it is used in other songs, even Pink used it.

I was curious about it, sometimes it's like a "street" language or a colloquial way of speaking.

[maxikot]

Nonfiction placed 12 on Billboard weekly top downloaded songs and also #12 on Oricon weekly digital singles chart with 3,665 downloads/sales

[Katsuyuki012]

^It's her best-charting single on the download chart!
For reference (Oricon):

#12 – Nonfiction
#14 – Ohia no Ki
#22 – Dreamed a Dream
#29 – 23rd Monster

And while her chart numbers aren't too important these days, it is a bit of a shame that this could've been her second top ten single there (the first one would've been Ohia no Ki) if they hadn't released it so late* in the week. Still, it's very nice to see a small upswing!

*

Spoiler:

That's also why/how she gets those daily number 1s – it kinda seems like that's what they (Avex and Ayu) are going for. I mean, I kinda get it, but daily chart positions don't mean much against weekly ones soo.
After all, a weekly top 10 song is a top song (overall) but a song that gets #1 for a day doesn't get called a number 1 hit.

But that's just overanalyzing it considering they don't even try. I'm super happy about the result!

[Aderianu]

This single was promoted only at ayu's instagram

[Katsuyuki012]

Yea, that's why it's good. It's really just that the songs could do a bit better if they were released earlier (without them doing more), but that's more a case of "would be nice" rather than it actually being of much importance.

[dumbellz]

Waiting for a summer single to do even better!

[Katsuyuki012]

Originally Posted by Katsuyuki012

The PV has reached 500K views!

And now it's at 560K

[DogboyShugo]

Glad to hear the single is becoming very successful (^.^) I wonder what the new album will sound like? The theme behind it? It's always interesting with ayu because just when you think you might have an idea from the singles... The album takes a complete left turn in a very positive creative way.

[Cahz-]

The single has been well received by international jpopers. The reaction of users on sites like Arama, ATRL and RandomJPop have been more, or less, positive (Except for the owner of RandomJpop, but that was to be expected given his ultra critical point of view towards any new Ayumi release).

[summerain]

Originally Posted by DogboyShugo

Glad to hear the single is becoming very successful (^.^) I wonder what the new album will sound like? The theme behind it? It's always interesting with ayu because just when you think you might have an idea from the singles... The album takes a complete left turn in a very positive creative way.

I think the main theme of all songs released until now (except Ohia no Ki) is "resistance". Nonfiction is a very critical song about sh!t people read and write online (not only) about her (and how she's asking people to wake up). 23rd Monster is a comment about being an old artist not giving up and Dreamed a Dream is following the same route (she opens the song asking what's the difference between 'old' and 'nostalgic', a question concerning her own status in industry right now).

P.S.: Ohia no Ki should be an excellent finale for the album if that will be the theme, because the way she sings about her son shows her strenght and resilience.

[ayu_fantasy]

Originally Posted by Katsuyuki012

And now it's at 560K

Awww!!! 👏👏👏

[KLJames]

if her team didn't post the official lyrics in youtube, i still can't believe she actually sing "Zzz..." "Are you kidding me?" "You're full of shit!" lol

[Katsuyuki012]

I think the "are you kidding me" line was easy to understand, even in the live version.

[Evolution7/4]

Rewatched the PV on my 60 inch OLED and it really wowed me even more then my initial watch. It really does not do the video justice watching on a cell phone!
It rekindled my love for Ayu all over again. She continues to do what she wants to do. Which is particularly refreshing since modern J-pop is pretty much dead. This makes her style of J-pop music all the more relevant. I can tell motherhood has had such a positive effect on her spirit.

[summerain]

Originally Posted by Evolution7/4

Rewatched the PV on my 60 inch OLED and it really wowed me even more then my initial watch. It really does not do the video justice watching on a cell phone!
It rekindled my love for Ayu all over again. She continues to do what she wants to do. Which is particularly refreshing since modern J-pop is pretty much dead. This makes her style of J-pop music all the more relevant. I can tell motherhood has had such a positive effect on her spirit.

What I lament is avex still living in 2009 and posting PVs with not-so-good quality at YouTube hoping to sell them in DVD/Blu-Ray. You can see some macroblocking in many parts of the clip because they didn't upload it in the maximum 1080p quality YouTube supports.