Review of NEXT LEVEL in the Sept issue of Singapore's TEENS magazine

[KarenPang]

I finished my Business Finance final exam today & earlier on before I went back home , I went to the petrol station to check whether should I get some food/drink before dinner (which in the end I didn't lol) & I saw that the latest Sept issue of TEENS is already up & the writer Raine Koh reviewed NEXT LEVEL .

The cover boy for the latest TEENS is chinese pop singer Nicholas Zhang & you can read the review if you have a physical hard copy of it on page 69 .

I took these photos with my camera phone :



upclose shot of it



in case you guys are not able to read the review because of the sub par pics that I took , here it's :

One of the most productive entertainers , ayumi hamasaki (or Ayu for short) returns with her 10th studio album , NEXT LEVEL . For the 1st 6 tracks of the album , the listeners are thrown into a game music fantasy of with hints of 80's retro . The tracks are fun , but 6 tracks of similar sounding songs does not rank high on originality .

Ayu finally serves something different on the plate from track 7 onwards . GREEN highlights Ayu's vocals with the use of traditional Japanese instruments . In this writer's opinion , the song Rule , part of the Dragonball movie soundtrack is a breakthough for Ayu . The pop-rock number is awesome in every aspect .

rank - 4/5

email TEENS for positive/negative & whatever feedback via teensea@epl.com.sg .

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mmm I honestly don't know how should I feel about this review . The part where Raine Koh wrote 'The tracks are fun , but 6 tracks of similar sounding songs does not rank high on originality' kinda ruffled up my feathers a bit but other than that , I'm OK with it .

A bit annoyed that she didn't commented on the later part of NEXT LEVEL & let alone Curtain call , Sparkle & even Days

[yamadashun]

thanks for the upload and typing ^^

IMO it gives me a feeling that the writer is not quite familiar with ayu's songs.

[rainydayumi]

i think that is a terrible review, it must have been written by a young teenage fan? what is "game music fantasy" anyway, does it mean videogame music? and if it did mean that then it is an even worse review!

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

thk for such the great info!

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

lol thanks!

[zyoeru]

I get the feeling that Singapore writers always suck at reviewing Ayumi.

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by Furashubakku

I get the feeling that Singapore writers always suck at reviewing Ayumi.

lol yeah

it's not just ayumi , it's practically every jpop artiste which totally blows

that's why nowadays whenever I read the local media on their reviews on artiste's singles/albums , I will get real embarassed about it

hey even I can read better reviews than this Raine Koh via my music blog

[summersnow]

thanks for sharing!

[JackieRos]

aha im still like wait are they saying it was good or bad ehe

[rakeru]

way to be vague, mister. this review means absolutely nothing to the actual album. he clearly listened to it once, not really paying attention.

[Tony G]

Really crap review. Sounds like it has been written by a 12 year old that has no idea about music.

[Meat Pao]

Instant fail.

[TITANIC]

bad review...

thanks for uploading, Karen

[waterballoon]

It's a bad review lmao how does Bridge to the sky/NEXT LEVEL sound anything like the 80
's??? The only retro songs are like Disco-munication & EnergizE? lol.

[alternarist]

i agree with what it said.. EnergizE, Sparkle, rollin' and Disco-munication are pretty much in the asme electronic genre..

[jbrat2219]

So short and pointless... That's barely a decent review of any album let alone NEXT LEVEL.

[lividlillies]

It almost feels like a product placement when she praises Rule and mentions Dragonball in the same breath.

Also, to say that the "first 6 songs are similar sounding" really just shows she didn't really listen to the album.

But she rated it well and didn't really criticize it much, so... I guess it's alright. It was neat to see a review for it, though, so thanks for the pics! :3 (Also, I could read it fine from the pictures--they weren't too bad.)

[Andrenekoi]

woah... 4/5 is a lot o.o

[chloeM]

wow... that review... he should go listen to ayu's song more often~

[pommy48]

lol such a lame review, the tracks are fun? XD