New album 'Colours' out July 2nd

[tsumekaze_]

I did not like a single video. I'm so disappointed and so tired of being disappointed. I was having hope with the beautiful covers and songs...my God ayu, i'm sure your genius is still there, why can't you make the right use of it anymore ? Either she lost it long time ago or she never had it and everything we thought having been produced by her really wasn't. Sorry for the complain.

[adantatu2]

Good songs, OK covers, bad music videos.
This era isn't bad and fans can save money if they don't like the music videos

[se7entheaven]

My friend complained how ugly she is in both XOXO and Angel and how lousy the videos are. I couldn't agree more coz I myself was embarassed to show him. Oh well stick to the songs then ;(

[hidekirby]

Originally Posted by tsumekaze_

God ayu, i'm sure your genius is still there, why can't you make the right use of it anymore ? Either she lost it long time ago or she never had it and everything we thought having been produced by her really wasn't.

I'm also having this thought a lot these days.
A third option could be she is losing interest in her job. But I don't know. I'm afraid she just used to have a really good and professional team which helped her a lot. Now she just seems to be surrounded by friends and amateurs.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I think for the time released, forgiveness was acceptable. The wings in Angel are basically on par with forgiveness, but forgiveness was released 11 years ago lol. (To be fair, I watched it on my phone, perhaps the cgi is better than it looked in HQ BR quality).


I think the premise was good for the video. The execution was shoddy. Seems to be a reoccurring theme...

I think maybe the ropes signify that as a demon, she can't be (read: fly) with the angels, and the ropes are lifting her up to be with them?

Angels have white wings, so she's definitely not one of them.

[Coelacanth]

Do the iTunes editions usually come with hidden tracks attached? Still hope to see 'Tell all' in CD quality...

[Larisa-chan]

These PVs.... lol... Angel had a good concept, poor execution. Last good PV I remember from Ayu was Brillante...

[rikku1994]

I can understand why people are annoyed with Angel's MV but XOXO? I mean, what kind of MV are you expecting from that song? If a song has "Girls just wanna have fun" in its lyrics then you better expect a music video like that.

And why is everyone comparing Namie's dancing with Ayu's? I mean Namie came from a girl group and consistently releases dance songs? Seriously, Namie is a better dancer but you don't have to bash Ayu for it.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

Xoxo is the one video that I think is completely fine. Her and Lilico (spell?) actually have chemistry that's believable--they perform the same way at her concerts. So I enjoy them together. She looks great too.

It's no work of art, but it's effective and appropriate. I'd take this over some car driving and fist pumping, scenic California beach party possibility anyday haha. (Ie: Wake me up)

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by se7entheaven

My friend complained how ugly she is in both XOXO and Angel and how lousy the videos are. I couldn't agree more coz I myself was embarassed to show him. Oh well stick to the songs then ;(

Why are you showing videos you dislike to your friends? xD

[orangeakira]

^Probably an outsider's opinion. It's good to get critiques from 3rd parties that probably don't listen to jpop or know who ayumi hamasaki is. I feel like since we like ayu, our opinions and views are kinda "set" by standards we've given her based on previous performances. "The videos this time aren't as good as on the last album; This song sounds like a rip off of that one song she did years ago; The sound is pretty generic for her new song; The vocals she did for her concert are definitely at her best from the last five years." let someone who doesn't know anything about her and has no pre-formed opinions about her watch or hear something of hers and let it be judged for what it is without comparison.

[emi♡]

I'd show Lelio to everyone if the video wasn't so awful.


I think on my facebook I just shared the soundcloud link

People would take one look at that video and be like "did she make this in her garage?" Surely no professional would have such garbage videos, but there it is.

[jyujiw]

Geez, the album is now being bashed just because of the PVs

General opinion of the forum:
Colours before PVs release: I LUV IT AYU THANKS GOD YOU'RE RELEASING THIS ALBUM NOW. THIS MUSIC GIVE ME LIFE WAAAAA
Colours after PVs release: GO TO HELL AYU. WTF IS THIS. THIS IS PROBABLY HER WORST ERA OF ALL TIME

I think that concludes that most of us are pretty visually impressed hahaha

Calm down everyone, I still love the musics and I'm here mostly for them.

And well, in regards about having opinions about people who doesn't really know Ayu. This album received a good reception imo, everybody who I send some musics loved one or another, essentially Lelio, Terminal and XOXO. Maybe because it's more mainstream?
I don't know but I think she's on the right direction if she wants to be more popular from now on.

[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by emi♡

I'd show Lelio to everyone if the video wasn't so awful.


I think on my facebook I just shared the soundcloud link

People would take one look at that video and be like "did she make this in her garage?" Surely no professional would have such garbage videos, but there it is.

The sad thing is that Lelio is a masterpiece compared to XOXO and Angel haha (or atleast tolerable)

[Coelacanth]

Probably one reason I'm always disappointed with her PVs is because I have a vivid imagination and always daydream these super epic visuals to accompany the music, lol.

Does anyone remember the alterna PV leak? If I remember correctly, the first time anyone had heard the full song was along with PV. Dunno if anyone remembers, but I think that was by far the most epic day in Ayu fandom (while I was a fan, at least).

[NintendoHTF1242]

Originally Posted by jyujiw

Geez, the album is now being bashed just because of the PVs

General opinion of the forum:
Colours before PVs release: I LUV IT AYU THANKS GOD YOU'RE RELEASING THIS ALBUM NOW. THIS MUSIC GIVE ME LIFE WAAAAA
Colours after PVs release: GO TO HELL AYU. WTF IS THIS. THIS IS PROBABLY HER WORST ERA OF ALL TIME

I think that concludes that most of us are pretty visually impressed hahaha

Calm down everyone, I still love the musics and I'm here mostly for them.

And well, in regards about having opinions about people who doesn't really know Ayu. This album received a good reception imo, everybody who I send some musics loved one or another, essentially Lelio, Terminal and XOXO. Maybe because it's more mainstream?
I don't know but I think she's on the right direction if she wants to be more popular from now on.

Well yeah, the PVs are awful but the songs are still great. All the PV leaks has done is change peoples minds on which version of Colours to order.

[emi♡]

omg sushi never say that!

I'm sorry, I'm just so salty about her pvs right now. This music had such potential to have amazing visuals. I'm really hoping she doesn't pull a NEXT LEVEL "lets be high on drugs" tour either with these songs.

I'll never forgive the amazingness that could have been those performances, but instead I just got random LSD dancing.


alterna PV leak was amazing. Everyone was all over fairyland, and alterna was just like, this random b song side over there. And then the PV hit, and no one could figure out which one was better, and everyone was just reveling in the awesomeness.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Aw man, alterna/fairyland.... good times. ;_;

[Kogepan_19]

I think that a fair analytical frame to perceive Ayu's new work is through the standards of American popular culture, as a majority of the music in this new album has been produced by people who work in that realm. In this respect, I think that Angel's PV is acceptable, but I am quite speechless about XOXO and Lelio. With regards to Lelio, even other mainstream EDM tracks these days have a much better video, potentially paired up with some sort of depth (not going to bother with examples). XOXO seems like an unclassy version of J.Lo's On The Floor (possibly due to Ke$ha's influences), and I personally feel like Ayu should have conceptualized the video from a different angle. Feminists can argue that Ayu is a free woman who can do whatever she likes with her career, but I would have liked to see how "girls just wanna have fun" in a more grown manner than simply perpetuating nightlife stereotypes.

[Coelacanth]

2005 was the most bizarrely awesome year of her career.

All the singles...

STEP you
is this LOVE?
fairyland
alterna
HEAVEN
Will
Bold & Delicious
Pride

She was experimenting so damn much with her sound that I thought the sky was the limit for her. I consider Secret, GUILTY (edgier rock, but safe for the most part), Rock 'n' Roll Circus (minus maybe Sexy little things and Dlb), Love songs, and LOVE again to be extremely 'safe' albums for her when put next to (m)u. The album is a mess in terms of flow and cohesion, but if anything that album proved her versatility as a recording artist.