Ayu: Anything Goes [XXVIII]

[Andrenekoi]

Even if I'm not a Koda fan, I find her friendship with Ayu to be really lovely.

Ayu loves herself some beaches... She would really love visiting Brazil.

[truehappiness]

TV mascots getting in on the creator challenge, lol!

[thinkingoutloud89]

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

Best one is Glitter all the way. Glitter/fated still remains the best summer single ever released imo.
July 1st is a bit noisy for me too, but I kinda like it.

glitter/fated aged very bad. I liked it when it came out but both songs are extremely annoying now. The PVs are also shitty.

fairyland and HANABI II are my fav summer tracks.

[DonkeyKongRemix]

I love July 1st, it fills me with a bittersweet feeling towards summer.

I think it actually is my favorite summer song of hers, though she has plenty of good ones.

I'm not sure why but it always fills me with complex emotions. I definitely think Monochrome is set in summer, which fills me with even deeper, complex thoughts and feelings.

[truehappiness]

https://misachanjpop.wordpress.com/2...-production-2/

I went back to read this Love songs production blog entry and checked Yuta Nakano's old blog to see if he had any other tidbits and he did! He had some stuff about FIVE and other releases. He talks about how he made some of the rearranged versions in specific ways like beloved (Orchestra version) having a theme of summer memories that you can't go back to or the GREEN/Days versions being rearranged so they flow as one song because of motifs present within both arrangements.

https://ameblo.jp/nobiblog/entry-10509164469.html

Oo, he did a bit of an entry on Rock'n'Roll Circus too!

From Misa-chan:
I got the chance to participate in the production of Hamasaki Ayumi's new album 『Rock'n'Roll Circus』. Now that it's released, I'd really like to write down some of my thoughts about the recordings done at London.

With regards to Hamasaki-san's recordings, I have been invited over to Los Angeles for the past 2 times, when we did 「Talkin' 2 Myself」 and 「NEXT LEVEL」. This time, because we needed a dark perspective, we worked in London instead.

The first impression I had of London was "The sky's really heavy (laugh)".
It's just somehow always so dark. The environment, the feelings, they all seem to close in on themselves.
And we realized that this had a considerable effect on the sound of our works too.

The people of London, including the studio staff, were all really quiet and kind.
Even the pretty girls passing by on the street smiled at me. (laugh)

『Microphone』 was recorded by a local strings group, and they were unexpectedly good. I was conducting them, and just a pointed look or the slightest nuance was enough for them to understand me. (Not to mean that the Japanese groups aren't like this too. This is just to stress my point. (sweatdrop) ^_^)
However, because I'm so short, the members could not really see me at first. To solve that, they had to resort to emergency measures, and for someone my age to mount something like a stand is a little... The members probably were trying so hard not to laugh. (sweatdrop)

When we did the introduction, we were going to use the harpsichord and violin to give a Baroque feel at first, but after ayu-san gave an idea, we changed it to a pipe organ instead. Because of that, I think that the song was given an extra layer of solemnity.

『Sexy little things』 was done because I wanted to seal away the things which I normally do and that I'm accustomed to, and to look for something new. The process of looking for something which I have never touched on before was really tough, but I think the reward I got from it was really big too.

When you listen to this song, you'll realize that there are really lots of back vocal tracks. During recording of the back choruses, after finishing pile upon pile of scattered back voice tracks, ayu-san asked "Are we finally done?", to which I replied "Sorry, there's more". Her whines of "Nobita!" are such a memory for me. (laugh)

『Don't look back』 was arranged by CMJK-san. If I may say so myself, CMJK-san put the song through a whole explosive world of change, to give it a really sharp and therefore miserable perspective. When I first heard the arrangement in the studio, I was so shocked, but I also felt a strange assent for it. I told JK-san "You must feel like a proud parent whose finally marrying off your kid into a rich family" to which he replied "That's so gross~". (laugh)

But JK-san's arrangement of the chords during the bridge was excellent, with major and minor chords both coming and going at the same time, so that synchronized really well with ayu-san's lyrics "Can I go on? Can I not go on?".

Somehow, I feel like I've forgotten to write about so many things. When I remember them, I'll come write again.
If you can, please listen to 「Rock'n'Roll Circus」. ^_^

http://ameblo.jp/nobiblog/entry-10509164469.html

[DavidChaiLatte]

Apparently one of the special gifts for TA members back in 2000 was a lock of Ayu’s actual hair... Don’t know if I’d want that as much as I love her lmao

[truehappiness]

Yeah, it was a long time ago when she got her hair cut. More of a funny "haha" gift, but not sure if any of them float around still.

Looking back at some old posts, seeing some other artists having praised Ayu in various circumstances is pretty stunning.

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showpo...&postcount=415

Originally Posted by pedronekoi

Mika Nakashima
「Her aiming level is really high.」(something like that)

Tomoya Nagase
「She's not my number 1 loved person, but the number 0.」lol

B'z
「The world of her lyrics is very modest.」

YOSHIKI
「She's an outstanding talent that only happens once in 100 years.」

Gackt
「She is also outstanding as a lyrics composer.」

hyde (l’arc en ciel)
「The amount of lives she does is impressive. I have respect for that little body.」

Koda Kumi
「At least once I'd like to sing with her.」

KEIKO (globe)
「Her singing skills are amazing.」

Tetsuya Komuro
「100% talent.」

Masahiro Nakai (SMAP)
「Maria～♪」

Shingo Katori (SMAP)
「Ain't her songs amazing??」

Goro Inagaki (SMAP)
「Her lyrics are good, right.」

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (SMAP)
「It's nice and easy to sing.」

compiled from https://www.dclog.jp/en/1509895/198668594

[Katsuyuki012]

It's really nice to read through these comments - thanks for sharing them. Also, I think it's kinda cool to see Shingo Katori praise Ayu, knowing that both of them starred in Miseinen. He knew her when she was still trying to become famous. But obviously they interacted several times after that (due to SMAP).

[Evolution7/4]

LOL @ hyde's comment

[truehappiness]

https://www.nihonkaki.com/fs/nihonkaki/c/gr449

In a funny turn of events, Ayu's "Ohia no Ki" had people buying Ohia flowers in Japan so this retailer is out of stock other than their late July shipment.

[Aderianu]

When ayu shows something that ordinary people can afford, it became sold out very quickly

[truehappiness]

Funny to note but apparently Kazuhito Kikuchi had a folder on his computer just for songs made with Ayu in mind or for her to potentially use. Two years ago people saw it on his Mac in like an Instagram story or something and there was just this folder with Ayu's name on it. He's also mentioned demo tracks on his computer in like 2007 on his blog that didn't end up making it to final production for Ayu releases.

https://twitter.com/kazuhitokikuchi/status/16330753666 - mention of the "Who... two" ballad maybe

It seems he must send demos pretty often but since Beautiful Fighters in 2006 till Ohia no Ki, his demos were just never enough for the final cut.

[ayu_fantasy]

Tomoya Nagase actually said that about her when they are dating? I am surprised cos I thought they have never mentioned each other in public.

[Evan Odinson]

I made a TROUBLE casette design just for fun, I love casettes and I wondered how her recent work would look in that format so I gave it a try and I love how it looks

This was just for fun and decorative purpouse, it's just a case, Avex if you are reading this please don't sue me, I'm poor lol

[EndOfTheWorld]

The cassette design is gorgeous!
I really need Ayu to start re-releasing her albums on vinyl.

[Evolution7/4]

Yes I love the spine!

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by ayu_fantasy

Tomoya Nagase actually said that about her when they are dating? I am surprised cos I thought they have never mentioned each other in public.

It actually was after they dated apparently shortly after the split. There's another phrase missing from what he said as well which seems to imply that she is "0th" because the attraction is too strong for them to exist alongside one another.

[YUKARI]

Originally Posted by Evan Odinson

I made a TROUBLE casette design just for fun, I love casettes and I wondered how her recent work would look in that format so I gave it a try and I love how it looks

This was just for fun and decorative purpouse, it's just a case, Avex if you are reading this please don't sue me, I'm poor lol

awww

I did ayu cassette compilation back in 2002. I printed the cover with my b&w printer and then painted it with colored pencils. the funny thing I recorded the cassette by holding a microphone to my PC's speakers. and the songs were not even .mp3. it was .wma!! like 800kb songs. so you can imagine the quality. it was soooo bad haha

but I enjoyed listening the cassette in my parents' car. oh sweet old times

[Toniayu123]

Just noticed ayu is wearing the exact same gold necklace as I am <3 Always connected, never unconnected

[love in music]

Just bringing attention back to this because I forgot about it and how amazing it was:


she sounded so beautiful here and her cheer at the end was so cutee