Author Topic: (Artist) Hamasaki Ayumi (Read 225892 times)

~Dan~ · « **Reply #120 on:** May 25, 2006, 02:56:13 PM »

Sotsugyou Shashin (on A Ballads) is another one.

aedon · « **Reply #121 on:** May 25, 2006, 04:10:59 PM »

Some of the Japanese are extreme Western-holics, it all started after WW2... I'm not the one to judge anyway, but I personally hate random Engrish in J-pop and it really stroke me when Ayumi started to use it in her lyrics since "RAINBOW" album X_X She's a talented songwriter, her "A Song for XX" text even made it to some kind of elementary school book, and it's kind of sad that she doesn't name her songs in Japanese, imho.

Quote from: ~Dan~

Sotsugyou Shashin (on A Ballads) is another one.

I'm not sure if you can really count 卒業写真, as it's a cover of Arai Yumi, and we were talking about Ayu's original songs... she writes them after all... right? Ghost-writers rumors never end >_>

Wuffer · « **Reply #122 on:** May 27, 2006, 01:05:31 AM »

At first I didn't even notice any english in her songs. Only after reading the lyrics... Japanese just have so magnificent pronunciation. xD Sometimes it's really odd in some Jpop songs, they have english and japanese mixed up in a way that I sometimes think it doesn't even mean anything. O_o I don't think Ayu has anything like that... Maybe STEP you.

I've only been a fan of Ayu for about one and a half year so I really haven't seen the progress or changes she has been through... I downloaded her songs randomly and had no clue which were older and which newer. So I started to think that she's really talented, versatile artist and one can expect anything from her.

I'm always wondering for some people who say they're dissappointed about something she does.

Why can't they just enjoy what she's doing since they are her fans? It's entertainment so why not be entertained? If I define something as entertainment, I don't think deeply about it or try to find hidden meanings. With Ayu it might be good to think sometimes, but I guess I'm too stupid for that. :evil:

Anyway, at the same time I do understand them, one can't like everything. It's just me who can't criticize anything Ayu does.

Not too healthy but nor is it healthy to get depressed over what some distant celebrity does.

EDIT: Hell, 2/3 of the text is just irrelevant chatting.

aedon · « **Reply #123 on:** May 27, 2006, 12:04:06 PM »

I've been an Ayu fan since 2001 (around the time Dearest was released and my first PV was Acoustic Piano Version of it), so I guess it's kind of hard to explain to a newer fan how an old one feels and vice versa. I wonder how older fans felt when she started composing, as some of her best numbers are composed under by herself under penname CREA, like "Endless sorrow", "M" and "still alone". But I remember that "Real me" was a shock, as she used pretty wacky Engrish in the lyrics and danced for the first time in the promotional video. However, she didn't promote the song on the TV and performed "Heartplace" instead, so it could be that she was forced to release that PV. I'm not saying her music is getting worse with years, but she has already wrote her best songs, and I don't think she'll ever surpass the success she had with "SEASONS" and "evolution". It would help if she'd work with Dai Nagao more, "Will" was amazing.

Wuffer · « **Reply #124 on:** May 27, 2006, 02:43:48 PM »

I'm not really surprised she didn't perform Real me since it wasn't on any single. Neither was Heartplace, though... xD Maybe she wasn't confident enough with the dance?
Why would she have been forced to release a PV for Real me? O_o

Quote

I'm not saying her music is getting worse with years, but she has already wrote her best songs, and I don't think she'll ever surpass the success she had with "SEASONS" and "evolution".

[random]In the fantasy books of R.A. Salvatore he says dwarfs can only make one masterpiece during their life... xD[/random]

In the Dome Tour 2001 Ayu said she writes about freedom and love. Maybe at the time she was lacking both of them and had bigger motivation to write than now when I think she has both freedom and love plus she has achieved so much by now.

Will was good but it never stroke me like HEAVEN did. HEAVEN is so beautiful and emotional, the way she sings it...

aedon · « **Reply #125 on:** May 27, 2006, 03:53:16 PM »

You have a point, but (miss)understood title song lyrics are not really cheerful... Also, there's a speculation that some person is collecting/selling information that Ayu's mother gave her advice to get some mental help after her break-up with Nagase and sudden rise of new artists like Koda & Otsuka. avex officials said they're gonna catch that *criminal* who's spreading *false information*, but you know that rumors are always based on little something, even if 99,9% of it is not true (I got this through an auto-translated article too, so take it all with grain of salt).

Also, Ayu's never been a happy person, from her childhood till she was like 25 or so, you could tell that just by listening to her first 3 albums, without reading masa123's interview translations and analyses even. To be honest, I think that people write their best works when they're not happy, as when you're happy you don't think about meaning of life and the like, and Ayu kinda proves that since her best songs are all sorrowful. But unlike dwarfs from fantasy books, she actually wrote a few songs that won't be forgotten in a while, like "A Song for XX" and "teddy bear", they're what I'd call a masterpieces without a doubt. "Memorial adress" would be among them if the music wasn't used for a soundtrack before Ayu's got her little hands on it lol

aedon · « **Reply #126 on:** May 30, 2006, 08:15:49 PM »

Bad news for die-hard fans, as they's gonna be 3 versions of "BLUE BIRD" single:

~AVCD-31051B CD+DVD 2 PVs + making of BLUE BIRD
~AVCD-31052B CD+DVD 2 PVs + making of Beautiful Fighters
~AVCD-31053 CD only

All 3 have different covers. avex sure knows how to make money off poor fans. And of course the PVs will end up on new album... probably the making ofs too, in some way, like as they did with "photo gallery" on (miss)understood singles & "real" making ofs on the album.

aedon · « **Reply #127 on:** June 02, 2006, 12:32:19 PM »

BLUE BIRD first promotional photo/possible cover:

Emaschi · « **Reply #128 on:** June 03, 2006, 11:32:03 AM »

Wuffer · « **Reply #129 on:** June 03, 2006, 07:34:13 PM »

Guess I have nothing reasonable to say since I havent written here... xD

Quote from: aedon

You have a point, but (miss)understood title song lyrics are not really cheerful...

(miss)understood's lyrics actually made the biggest impression, of the newer songs. Some songs maybe sound a little... depressed? xD They're not happy but I wouldn't say they're sad either.

EDIT: Oh, and what I meant with the dwarf thing was - probably - that if Ayu already has written some materpieces (of course she has more than one

) she can't write so good songs anymore? At least I hope she would be able to write a song that would be called a masterpiece once more.

It's really insane to have three releases of one single... >_< I wanted to order the CD+DVD release, now I don't know whether to order or not.

Somewhere I read that pic above would be for the A jacket.

I wonder how the rest of them are. I guessed if she would be dressed as a blue bird.... Well, at least she is dressed in blue... xD

The new pics from Popteen are great.

That's one beautiful woman. O_o
I was really happy the other day when my friend saw a pic of Ayu and said she doesn't believe Ayu has had any surgery.

aedon · « **Reply #130 on:** June 03, 2006, 08:28:34 PM »

I think I got what you meant, I guess I just didn't like the comparison itself o.O; I'd say Ayu might've written herself out, exhausted her inspiration or something, instead of comparing her with little ugly mythological creature lol And in fact, I think "HEAVEN" could be called a masterpiece... maybe. It wasn't the Japanese "My heart will go on" as they claimed it to be before it was released, but it was really nice and it had an unusual verse structure.

And avex is getting trickier with their ways to make fans buy multiple copies. I only have 4 Ayu items in total, but it pisses me off that I'd have to buy "A complete clip box" AND "Memorial address" if I wanted complete PV collection... oh, and "(miss)understood" too :/

btw, what is everyone's favorite concert of Ayumi? I only watched 3 so far: limited Team Ayu FC (dled), Dome 2001 & Arena 2003~2004 (bought). I feel a little ashamed to admit it, but I liked the last one a lot more than the Dome which is supposedly her best (at least my one friend says that lol). And I also regret about not getting more low-priced DVDs, I hope avex will release more for Xmas =.=

Masabi · « **Reply #131 on:** June 06, 2006, 05:06:59 PM »

My favorite concert is A MUSEUM, it's the only one I've bought. I like it because it was special and not a yearly thing.

aedon · « **Reply #132 on:** June 06, 2006, 06:39:57 PM »

BLUE BIRD covers:
A

CD only

B

BLUE BIRD making clip

C

Beautiful Fighters making clip

+ a free poster (folded) will come with 1st press:

Masabi · « **Reply #133 on:** June 08, 2006, 03:02:31 PM »

Thanks for the magazine HQs

drt28 · « **Reply #134 on:** June 09, 2006, 09:53:35 AM »

Yeah ! more of this queen

Emaschi · « **Reply #135 on:** June 09, 2006, 11:15:42 AM »

aedon · « **Reply #136 on:** June 09, 2006, 12:10:31 PM »

Quote from: Emaschi

Utsukushiii~
I wish she wore a little less make-up though.

chocolate · « **Reply #137 on:** June 12, 2006, 08:10:19 PM »

BLUE BIRD's covers looks so nice. Also I've been watching that PV a lot

It's my favorite song right now - Beautiful Fighters has also shown on tv. Probably it will be available for download soon.

aedon · « **Reply #138 on:** June 12, 2006, 10:20:45 PM »

Quote from: chocolate

BLUE BIRD's covers looks so nice. Also I've been watching that PV a lot It's my favorite song right now - Beautiful Fighters has also shown on tv. Probably it will be available for download soon.

It is already @ Jpopsuki!
AVI / MPEG2

chocolate · « **Reply #139 on:** June 13, 2006, 09:23:00 PM »

Both songs are so good but I like more Blue Bird PV. Oh...and I have a same casette player in my basement as shown in Beautiful Fighters PV at 2:39

... I haven't used it for 10 years.
BTW Ahsforum is being transferred to a new site. I have wondered what has happened to it as it hasn't been working.