an ayu article in a magazine [8 Days]

[destiny_ayu]

The cover of the J-pop queen's fifth album intrigued us: the computer generated image revealed an Ayumi that was so beautiful, so perfect and so android-like we thought Rainbow was a comment on how she has become less human the more she becomes a mega-star. This observation is both right and wrong. In collaboration with Do As Infinity, CREA and HAL, Ayumi has come up with a hard-driving techno-rock album that simply bursts with irrepressible energy in the fast numbers and drips with emotion in the slower ones. Rainbow is far from being a cold, unfeeling electronic release, although Ayumi's force of personality is often subsumed by its slick production values. That said, there are too many TV commercial themes here ('Everywhere Nowhere', 'Heartplace','Real me',Free and easy','July1st'), making Ayumi seem less like a bigger-than-life star in the vein of, say, Madonna, than a walking endorsement of MD players, digital cameras and cosmetics. But when a commercial tune is as achingly lovely as the slow-burning torch song 'HANABI', we don't really care. " I don't want the kind of weakness that dares not shed tears/ And I also don't want the kind of strength that holds back the tears," Ayumi sings with faint tremble in her voice, as if reaching for a love that is as intangible as a rainbow. Contemplative, emotionally generous and as dramatic as its title, "HANABI" (Japanese for "fireworks") is arguably the best song here. 'Everywhere Nowhere' and 'Free and easy', on the other hand, represent advertisement songs at their worst: they are unimaginative ad mechanical, and Ayumi sings them as if she's already distracted by the thoughts of the money rolling into her bank account.


Star: 3/5