[Official Message] New Album.

[Surreal17]

I also hear a male voice. It is probably but slighty edited.

[Chibi-Chan]

I'm tring to figure out if it's an edited male voice or a sound effect since almost 12 years now. Anyway, Far away is amazing. ♡

[MessiahofSilence]

Hey, some of her later songs sound nice and full. Like Born to Be... I'm listening to it now, but aside from the song sounding "full", I wish we had something as energetic and hopeful as that song.

[mi|kshake]

Yeah, I always thought of it as a voice too. I need to re-listen to Far Away and Vogue I think! (Not sure I've noticed the static in Vogue before though)

I do love Far Away - the "voice"/sound effect, the piano and the guitar solo!

[DonkeyKongRemix]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

SAME HERE! omg, I hear so many people nowadays think the voice in "Far away" is annoying (I love the sort of urban/industrial sound it layers on top of the scenic, atmospheric arrangement), and no one even notices how well the static sound in "vogue" contributes to its full sound. I think those are two really good additions to their respective arrangements.

It always reminded me of wind or ocean waves for some reason! Glad I'm not the only who noticed it though, the song wouldn't be the same without it.

[primavera♥]

I'm still lost on this concept of a male voice lol. Edit:
Actually nevermind, I see what people are saying it now. I just never heard it as being a voice before. So that's weird lol. I've always loved that aspect of far away.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

The static in vogue always reminded me of a rustling sound so I imagined like tree branches in the wind...which may have been influenced by the video haha.

[RealLight]

What's the "static" sound y'all talking about?

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

It's a background sound that is present the the entire (or at least majority) of the song.

It sounds like it might just be brown noise?

[Akutenshi]

The sound in vogue always vaguely reminded me of a crowd cheering and applauding very quietly in the back, honestly.

EDIT: Actually, yeah! If you listen all the way to the end of the song, as it fades out, it very clearly sounds like an audience!

[sitara]

^ I also thought it was an audience cheering. which always seemed a weird choice to me to put in this song.

[280301]

If it is an audience cheering, I think it is an incredible nuance within this song, given vogue's inherent meaning; being on the rise, but knowing that it's not going to last forever.

[//ABEST]

how is this all about new album?should this discussion be in anything goes?

[Isicio]

I hate this hype, I think the new album will come like Colours come during the tour.

[Fubuki]

What you're saying about her songs sounding uncomplete is a little alarming to me: the more I'm in contact with something I like, the more I get technical about it, and this takes a lot of pleasure away. I guess I must enjoy her latest music to the fullest before it happens.

Anyway, considering what you're saying about Far away, I hope she'll sing it live again: it's a song I do like, but nothing as special as I read to me, and her performances always help me appreciate "nothing special" stuff a lot. Also, I always thought that effect to be a male voice too, but never investigated about it (which is weird knowing myself).

Returning to the new album, I shouldn't even be talking about it, since I only hope she'll write and sing the songs she feels like rather than looking for what people could like. I have my preferences, and they're also pretty defined, but if for example she tried to make a sort of copy of my favourite album, the result would only be a shade of it. The collaboration with DJs is not really my thing, but I'm better off with a good song of a genre I don't like than with something I'll probably like more in the beginning but that after a while will sound like something done to reproduce an old, beautiful song she doesn't feel connected to at the moment but still has some success.

Spoiler:

Sorry for the shallow comment, I probably should have waited a moment of major inspiration and depth to make considerations, but I don't even know if I'll ever have time to log again and wanted to comment something.

[Brett.Mason92]

I want EDM and sex anthems like Erotica by Madonna. i'm not into her music, not sure why, but that song is what Ayu should do

[Tomoyo]

as far as the new album goes, i am excited. I'm not gonna make any speculations on it, but i hope it has less ballads than A ONE did. I loved A ONE but it had too many ballads for my taste.

[willytbk]

Originally Posted by Tomoyo

as far as the new album goes, i am excited. I'm not gonna make any speculations on it, but i hope it has less ballads than A ONE did. I loved A ONE but it had too many ballads for my taste.

in the other hand, i love Ayu's ballads...so i wish more ballads than in A ONE hahahaha

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by Tomoyo

as far as the new album goes, i am excited. I'm not gonna make any speculations on it, but i hope it has less ballads than A ONE did. I loved A ONE but it had too many ballads for my taste.

Well, Ayu's last several albums have been overloaded with ballads. Colours was the first since NEXT LEVEL to at least balance the number of ballads/midtempo songs with upbeat tracks.

The number of upbeat songs for every record since NL (inc. NL):

NL - 6/10
RnRC - 5/12
Ls - 3/13 (4 if you count Love Song)
PQ - 3/11
La - 3/13
C - 6/10
AO - 4/11

If you break that down into raw numbers, out of 80 songs, only 37% are "upbeat". So, I definitely agree that Ayu should really focus on making this album sound upbeat and exciting. The vast majority of her songs are midtempo or ballads, and it honestly probably contributes heavily to her fall in sales. (Nobody really wants to listen to 10 sad songs if it's not a A BALLAD collection.)

[hayasaki]

I actually have always thought that the sound effect in vogue is wind, something you'll hear from a viking ship that's about to sail.