Ayumi Hamasaki Discography Rate: Part 2 (FIN)

smh @ this Ayu vs Kuu drama ... Let's not fight.mp3 wrong thread
Can't wait for the results to start!

 

Oh I forgot I was going to ask about this:

Only one person has asked for a guest elimination so there's plenty left if you'd like one!

 

AND VOTING IS CLOSED.

Thanks to all 23 of you who turned up to vote to make this the most populated J-Pop queen rate yet!
I didn't fact check this watch me Sam Smith it up

I've got the first elimination ready for you momentarily, and when I wake up I'll rip through the rest of the bottom 10. I'm still sorting everything out behind the scenes, but I'm aiming for 4 eliminations a day to give it to you quick and dirty.

If you're still itching to score more Ayu songs, you can score part one, which will be factored into the master list at the end of part three! These are due by the end of part three so you still have oodles of time. Also be sure to mosey on over to Koda Kumi's Part 2 Rate to continue supporting our J-Pop queens!

Now hang tight and guess what's gone first while I put the finishing touches on the write-up~

​

 

lol @ me asking for guesses as if I'm not doing this during the graveyard shift. The first song eliminated is...































Happening Here
(5.295)



▲10 @ohnostalgia
▼0 @send photo @otenkiame

Surprising almost no one, we have collectively decided Happening Here is the worst song of this selection, although it beat some of the part 1 songs average-wise. Happening Here was originally released by TRF, but between this and teens I have no interest in looking them up. It is hands down my least favourite song by her. I can't really explain why I hate it so, it's just a giant mess to my ears. Thankfully she stepped her cover game up in the coming years. I originally planned to dump this in part 3 where it belongs, but it just barely creeped in as it was released at the tail-end of 2011 as a digital single. If you want it physically for some reason, it's included on A SUMMER BEST, which I originally bought for You & Me. As y'all know, she slapped that onto Love again making A SUMMER BEST a relatively useless purchase, but more on that in part 3.

First voter One Stop Candy Shop gets first word, "TRF classic. Not here for Timmy rapping." evilsin purges Timmy from his mind, "Who the fuck are all those people trying to rap? Dizghusten. The song itself is just out out there." vague was less fortunate, "a real low point in her discography. mess. thanks, timmy." Joining him in agony is my fellow zero otenkiame, "Hearing Ayu rap again reminds me of "NOTHING FROM NOTHING", and that alone is enough to turn me off of this. And that middle eight with Timmy(?). Sorry, no thanks." And EachSmallStep takes one last dig at Timmy, "Has interesting parts, but has an unfinished demo quality to it, from the karaoke echo that’s just a little too prominent to the weirdly placed instrumentals. A little better live. Timmy’s rap…" And Weslicious has had what? It, "No, just no. I remember seeing this opening something (a CDL, tour?) and everything was just an over done mess, like the song itself."

Finding positivity between the lines is RUNAWAY, "I find it sort of strange how in this same period of Ayu’s career, she covered not one but TWO TRF songs, and not just random ones, but this one and teens that were on the same single even. I like the original better, but this cover is solid. Her voice is sort of shrill in some parts, but its good. The rap is ICONIC though. Queen of the gays." Cutlery cuts through the negativity to find the bop, "The lashings this gets are understandable; after all it's pretty out there in her discography (at least compared to the rest of the tracks in this part) and it definitely does too much with the featured/sampled vocals and that kii “straight or gay” lyric. Still a bit of a bop tbqh". Bopping along with him is eliminathan, "Maybe I'm delirious from not sleeping but I'm bopping to this even though I can tell it's not fantastic. The instrumental sounds like a crappy midi but its so good with headphones. The English rap was absolutely disgusting in terms of quality but it was funny too so I can't fault it too hard." Lastly, previous part host ThisIsRogue finds the silver linings, "Ayu's voice is a little bit lost in the layered vocals. Her rapping is quite good here though. The speak-singing style of rapping works for her because it allows her to infuse some character in her delivery. There are some flourishes in the production that are a nice touch as well. I like it."

ddd I'm just now realising she's saying "great" and not "weird". I've listened to the song maybe 5 times though so​

 

Bye teens x

 

Eaux

 

I would like to withdraw my votes so this will be tied with Namie Part 1 on voters.

 

I had some extra time without last-minute ballots to enter, here you go sis~

teens "acoustic version"
(6.522)



▲9 @Animalia
▼1 @soratami

Bada bing bada boom, the TRF covers are defeated. Y'all know I'm a ballad queen but even this one's a touch too soppy for me, and it seems I'm not alone in this opinion. I believe this makes SEVEN DAYS WAR the sole-remaining cover (I can feel the (miss)understood jokes already). Even if I'm not a fan of the song, the completionist in me still had to buy the Startin'/Born To Be... single. As informed earlier in the rate, there's a mildly more upbeat version on some other album I have no intention of looking up.

elimination digs into the definition of acoustic for us, "You don't usually hear orchestral instruments in an "acoustic version" but I guess it still technically counts as acoustic as long as no electric instruments are in it. That being said, the orchestral instruments are the best part." Weslicious, on the other hand, could give a rat's ass about this song either way, "Pretty 'meh' acoustic or not." Fellow super stan One Stop Candy Shop stands with me on this number, "A lowlight in her career. "I wanna be a sweet angel" is an awful lyric." It didn't work without the "sweet" 8 years later either. The sweet works for evilsin, "This is sweet for cover, almost sound like one of hers." And it's just sweet enough for otenkiame, "A sweet track, though a little too slow. The middle eight(?)'s crescendo almost makes it worth the wait." And one last sweet for vague, "i don't know the original, but this is pretty cute. not, like, a career highlight, but it's sweet. i wouldn't skip it, but i also wouldn't seek it out."

"A pretty ballad that's somewhat useless in the grand scheme of things; hearing the many English lines in it is definitely something," Cutlery discovers while looking for the redeeming qualities. Perhaps RUNAWAY can help us learn to love it, "her cover of this song is so beautiful. It helps that the song is good anyway, but her voice and arrangement of the song is gorgeous and helps lift the song to a different level. I really like the other version of her cover that’s included on Lif-e Motions, but the acoustic version is perfection."

 

@ohnostalgia, sis I gave this an 8. It's everyone else that has trash taste.

 

I gave it a 9 myself. Would have been a 10 if it weren't for that awful guy rapping.

 

Happening Here is deservingly in the last place, but oh my god at @ohnostalgia's 10! And I thought teens would go later, it's not that bad at all.

Don't stress, hun, it's all in good fun, considering we scissor each other weekly, right, @send photo?

 

They're both loveable flops at the end of the day and the only ones with sustained success are Utada and Namie.

 

The Popjustice Forum in doing a song with the word "acoustic" in its name wrong SHOCKER.

 

Ayu's rapping was the only good part of HH. She's so cute when she raps.
When I first heard teens way back when, I hated it, but somehow it grew on me despite its sappy cutesiness which I normally don't care for. I think I just like the emotion Ayu put into it, like maybe it's one of her own favorite songs from her younger days.

I know bb, don't worry, I don't actually take anything y'all say seriously and that should probably be mutual.

 

Sunset is already two spots too high oop

teens deserved a bit better but I guess I'll deal dd

 

Glad that those two are out of the way so that the real rate can start.

 

I gave a 6 to several songs, but I'm not going to name them in this thread because I don't want people to drag me ddd. If they could leave next, that would be great!
Iconic start to an already iconic rate xx

 

We could always ask @send photo for receipts.