NEXT LEVEL album thoughts

[Infernaeus]

Most of the tracks on the album seem to be unequivocally bad. I am almost certain I heard the same two chords being stroked over and over again to a completely static drum beat with little synth diddlies thrown around. It is like her writers aren't even trying. Even D.A.I. fell short of what I was expecting, and he has a stellar track record with this stuff. I am really longing for a return of good composition here. As suggested, I played a song from this album and then a song from her older albums and there was no competition in my mind.

I don't doubt that her lyrics are still wonderful as always but when she is so busy that she can't compose her own music anymore, and when her music directly suffers as a result, I would think her other responsibilities should give way. Nothing would please me more than seeing some more CREA tracks. And I don't mind Avex hiring writers for her, but stop hiring bad writers!

[extepan]

Next level is amazing! it's the first album that i am really excited to buy since "memorial address". compare this with the last album, guilty, i bought it several months after it was released, and i still havent listened to it cos i am still uninterested in it.

and after listening to next level, completely fell in love with it. the tracks are amazing, especially sparkle, energize, days and curtain call.

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by TakaSama

Don't worry, you're sooo not alone. It my new favorite Ayu song!

Originally Posted by waterballoon

^ Me three! rollin' is awesome!

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

LOVE 'n' HATE isn't as good to me anymore, rollin' is now one of my favorite tracks xD

YAY!!!! rollin' for the win!

@ Nintendo, yeah LnH lost it's steam with me as well. But I still like it.

[Ayumi27]

I still dislike rollin' and sparkle, but the rest of the album is AMAZING!

[xtinavrilayu]

i really love the album <3

[everlastingRAINBOW]

My album review:

Bridge to the sky- Nice opening, not my favorite ever.

NEXT LEVEL- It has a mysterious feel to it and is very summery. I love the bass in this song, it really makes it for me. It's like a classy way to get to the next level without using tons of electro-pop like most of the album, simple and wonderful.

Disco-munication- Very cool, probably my favorite interlude on the album. Fun to jam to!

EnergizE- I <3 this! It's so cute and cheesy, but it's not grossly poppy. She does manage to get some guitars in the chorus which makes it even cooler. The crazy synth she has going on in some parts actually make the song sound a tad bit creepy.

Sparkle- Never got super into this song. It's cool, but yeah.

rollin'- Super crazy dance party! It's cool how it kinda has a little interlude before it starts; actually, the whole song is like one cool long interlude. Would love to dance to it in a club. Why am I suddenly craving ecstasy?

GREEN- Very lovely song. Love the instruments at the beginning, very classic and beautiful.

Load of the SHUGYO- Reminds me of the music from the video game Extreme G back in the day. Would be an awesome song to go laser tagging to. Kickin' some ass!

identity- Glad to know that even though this song was compared to 1LOVE, it's better. I like the random noises that appear once in a while, and love the chorus, especially "watashi no ID ID ID ID". I don't really understand why it gets all bollywood at one point lol.

Rule- It's cool I guess.

LOVE 'n' HATE- Makes me think of something Britney would have sang back in the day. I imagine Britney's I'm a Slave for You video when I hear it xD. It's totally sexy and cool, the violins are a plus. The break is really groovy, it's very r&b meets rock meets electro-pop.

Pieces of SEVEN- When this interlude starts and I hear the pan-flute in the background, I am immediately taken to the great plains. Ayumi is with her tribe of Native American friends. They all ride horses with their hair blowing in the wind. Then the music shifts, it's getting more dire! The sky suddenly darkens and cowboys appear over the horizon, guns and swords in hand. Ayumi gets all Joan of Arc on them (like the Free & Easy cover, just think Native American instead) and starts kicking some major ass. She has a final epic battle with the leader of the cowboys and takes him out by beheading him. Then Days comes on, which totally kills the "I'm Ayumi and I'm here to take your ****ing head" mood.

Days- Just kidding, I love this song lol. It's cute and wintery and blah blah blah. But it's sweet and endearing. "I'm Ayumi and you have to love me."

Curtain call- At first I didn't like it that much, then I saw the PV. The PV is definitely my favorite from the album, and probably one of my top favs of all time. So pretty and simple, and that they did it in one shot was amazing. Great way to end the album <3.

[AyuGAME]

sorry to bring back this thread alive...
i don't know why, but i really want to say
that NEXT LEVEL is really working on me..
i mean...this is the first ayu album, that i can hear from first track to last track without skip and in repeat mode...and that show me that this album is really GREAT...because usually i will skip one or two full songs and interlude when i hear an album...but for NEXT LEVEL i can hear it without skip at all...

[Sommernacht~]

I bought this album immediately on March 24th at Tower Records (2CD+DVD), and I can say it's been a long time since I loved every track of one of Ayu's albums! =)))
My favourites would be NEXT LEVEL, LOVE'n'HATE and Identity. I really do like these tracks. It's like, the Ayu from RAINBOW I loved so much has come back. Very self-confident and a bit mysterious. And I don't care that there are 4 interludes on the CD. No, to be honest I like Ayu's interlude thing )) It gives the whole album a special touch.

Ayu go on!!!

[HangPHAMee]

I don't have much of an opinion of it now, but the style of music is definitely different from what I'm used to from her past couple albums XD

[Chibi_Venus]

I'll go into detail another day, but I can easily say that I don't regret receiving this album.

[qwerty]

This is one of the best albums she's released, hands down. It's incredibly refreshing after numerous rock albums; I was getting kinda tired of those albums. The beats are amazingly catchy, and I love the electronic/video-game music feeling of the album. Ayumi really outdid herself this time. I expected a good album from her after having listened to all of her singles since last year, but I didn't expect this.

[SolarAngel]

Ayu brings decent songs to the plate as usual. But after listening to the whole album, i'm sort of beginning to understand why sales for this album is quite low. Ayu songs are normally about epic scale instrumentals but this time there's a lot of electronic themes going on. Seems like the budget for producing this album has been lowered substantially and this can be obtained from many many artistes in Japan. So where's the appeal of ayu?

I do not enjoy the 'disco' songs (energize, sparkle and rollin') much. I would say her best songs are clearly the single tracks when her album tracks used to be much on par with them. So there's this filler thing going on for me. I still like the album and give it an overall 3/5. It's just that Secret and Guilty seem so much better. Maybe i need more time to let it grow on me.

[Jason]

I posted my review aaaaaaaages ago, and I remember saying how EnergizE was one of the weakest tracks on the album... It's grown on me after a alot of listens. rollin' can rub me the wrong way depends on my mood. But it's a great song overall.

imo, NEXT LEVEL needs a little time to really give you it's full effect...

[CoriKaru]

Finally listened to the Album and well.......yeah. To sum it up. I actually like the first 2 Interludes more than anything else on the Album. Not so good. Doesn't fair well for the Album. Not to say I didn't like anything else on the Album. Of course I like the Choruses in "Sparkle". I like the verses in "LOVE 'n' HATE" and I like some of the Chorus in "NEXT LEVEL" and I like a very very small bit of "rollin'". I must say though that having enjoyed the first 2 Interludes so much, when I got to "Load of the SHUGYO" I had high hopes for it saving what was left of the Album and was hugely dissapointed. It definitely was a load of something. "Pieces of SEVEN" would have been perfect but it was just too long and drawn out. If it had had vocals I would have let it pass but it was just too boring after a point. Everything else on the Album was just blah for me and I'm not all that surprised by the sales anymore and I get what people were saying. I'd say this and GUILTY are on the same level for me.

[dawnss]

Man I love this album I like how it is so light and not heavy emotionally, in terms of the lyrics and the sound of the music. I remember reading on yesasia.com, I think, that the person who reviewed the album thought that the album lacked lyrically especially concerning the single rule. However, I like how this album doesnt sound dark, now granted I like Ayu's dark songs like far away, endless sorrow, marionette, and etc but it is really refreshing to hear an album that reminds me of fly high, blue bird, and fairyland which by the way I love all three of those songs!!! I am sorry that I keep on rambling but I am really thanking Ayu for this fun filled album. Oh yeah did I mention that I love sparkle, next level, and bridge to the sky? Oh yeah and that I love how the video to sparkle shows Ayu's sexy side but she is not advocating sex in order to sell her music, which is cool because many artists can not do that. And I really like the music video to next level because it reminds me of the music video to trust.

[chloeM]

oh oh........... i listened to this album when i was driving... SO SURREAL~! love it

[SolarAngel]

^Haha i feel fans will run Next Level through their heads when driving along lonely winding roads instead of Country Road.

[UHPlus]

I don't like the idea of having all the great songs at the second half of the album and all the meaningless interludes. So I rearranged the album in my MP3 player:

01.Bridge to the sky
02.GREEN
03.identity
04.EnergizE
05.Sparkle
06.NEXT LEVEL
07.Days
08.Disco-munication
09.Rule
10.rollin'
11.LOVE 'n' HATE
12.Curtain call

^ Now I really enjoyed listening to the full album unlike previously when i skipped the first half and start listening to GREEN onwards...

[SolarAngel]

Originally Posted by UHPlus

I don't like the idea of having all the great songs at the second half of the album and all the meaningless interludes.

Totally agree with you (except for Next Level which is tolerable). So many interludes seem pretentious somehow, adding unsubstantial bulk to a short album.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

out of curiosity, do people appreciate the album more now that it's been a month+ since it's release? or do people still dislike it as much as when they first heard it? Has time caused you to enjoy it more, or do people still group this as "one of her worst albums ever~~~!!!" haha, just curious

(i'm speaking mostly to the people who originally didn't really like the album ^_^)