Ayumi Hamasaki Discography Rate Pt. III
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He/Him
27
Tell All: 7.75
HIGH: 10 (@RUNAWAY @Ana Raquel you two agreeing for something‽ I could not believe it)
LOW: 6 (@Weslicious @evilsin)
First of all I love how this simple, B&W cover takes me all the way back to 'NEVER EVER'; it does feel like a nod to that single.
Unafraid to reference or not reference, etc.
'Tell All' was an exclusive digital single for the culmination of releases celebrating Hamasaki's 15th anniversary since debuting in Avex. As such, its release was on April 8 2013, exactly fifteen years after 'poker face' came to light. It also came as a culmination of four other releases: again, LOVE, A Classical and of course LOVE again. It wouldn't be included in an Ayumi Hamasaki album until A ONE, where it was a bonus track on the exclusive TeamAyu version of the album, labelled 2015 Mix (but judging by live clips it's the exact same mix? Ññ). Lyrically, it may be best seen from the perspective of a thank you to the fans, while Ayu is poignant in not wanting to meander on the past, which for the context of her trajectory seems really relevant to me.
I appreciate the punchy rock production, complete with over-the-top guitars, dancey keyboards and reverb. I must add I'm intrigued by the little harpsichord melody after the first chorus. The only other song I can think of where it was used is 'BRILLANTE' off the top of my head. It's just that I think there are more interesting, rich pop-rock bangers still in the running. Off to y'all now:
@otenkiame sees a shameless ripoff to the only Ayumi interlude that has been made into a full song (justice for 'Bridge to the sky'), "'Mirrorcle World' 2.0. Like, in every single way. Starts as a ballad then becomes this bombastic track with lots of synths and guitars. I'd be lying if I said it was good as 'Mirrorcle World', but it definitely stands strong on its own. Strangely, though, I don't ever seek this out despite enjoying it".
While I highlighted the bit before the second verse, @evilsin comes for a different portion, "I always forget about this one, then I always remember that I want to like this more. The strange way the middle 8 is sewed into though, geez". Yeah something about it is off-putting. Reminder I have no idea what the differences between a bridge and a middle 8 are, by the way. Fellow low-scorer @Weslicious could not be reached for comment.
Finally, @RUNAWAY keeps it simple, "this song is everything I love rock-Ayu for. It’s EPIC".
Tell All: 7.75
HIGH: 10 (@RUNAWAY @Ana Raquel you two agreeing for something‽ I could not believe it)
LOW: 6 (@Weslicious @evilsin)
First of all I love how this simple, B&W cover takes me all the way back to 'NEVER EVER'; it does feel like a nod to that single.
Unafraid to reference or not reference, etc.
'Tell All' was an exclusive digital single for the culmination of releases celebrating Hamasaki's 15th anniversary since debuting in Avex. As such, its release was on April 8 2013, exactly fifteen years after 'poker face' came to light. It also came as a culmination of four other releases: again, LOVE, A Classical and of course LOVE again. It wouldn't be included in an Ayumi Hamasaki album until A ONE, where it was a bonus track on the exclusive TeamAyu version of the album, labelled 2015 Mix (but judging by live clips it's the exact same mix? Ññ). Lyrically, it may be best seen from the perspective of a thank you to the fans, while Ayu is poignant in not wanting to meander on the past, which for the context of her trajectory seems really relevant to me.
I appreciate the punchy rock production, complete with over-the-top guitars, dancey keyboards and reverb. I must add I'm intrigued by the little harpsichord melody after the first chorus. The only other song I can think of where it was used is 'BRILLANTE' off the top of my head. It's just that I think there are more interesting, rich pop-rock bangers still in the running. Off to y'all now:
@otenkiame sees a shameless ripoff to the only Ayumi interlude that has been made into a full song (justice for 'Bridge to the sky'), "'Mirrorcle World' 2.0. Like, in every single way. Starts as a ballad then becomes this bombastic track with lots of synths and guitars. I'd be lying if I said it was good as 'Mirrorcle World', but it definitely stands strong on its own. Strangely, though, I don't ever seek this out despite enjoying it".
While I highlighted the bit before the second verse, @evilsin comes for a different portion, "I always forget about this one, then I always remember that I want to like this more. The strange way the middle 8 is sewed into though, geez". Yeah something about it is off-putting. Reminder I have no idea what the differences between a bridge and a middle 8 are, by the way. Fellow low-scorer @Weslicious could not be reached for comment.
Finally, @RUNAWAY keeps it simple, "this song is everything I love rock-Ayu for. It’s EPIC".
He/Him
26
Summer Love: 7.77
HIGH: 10 (@Ana Raquel)
LOW: 5 (@Weslicious)
Yes, lovelies, I know how much eyesore the cover impacts upon you lot. I just plastered that ROY, first-half-of-the-rainbow, color lookup vomit over one of the promo images in which Ayu (and JUNO) featured for boutique brand Lands of Eden back when she was promoting FIVE. Just look at that waist! It's not far off from those extreme edits of certified OG skinny legend Mariah, isn't it?
Now onto the actual song. 'Summer Love' comes as the penultimate track of M(A)DE IN JAPAN, produced by Mayuko Maruyama. She has quite a history with our girl, as she has been a programmer on plenty of singles since 'INSPIRE', and up to 'You were…'. Interestingly, after years of not being involved in new Ayumi Hamasaki music, Maruyama then landed her first main credit for this track, which also has Yuta Nakano in additional background vocal arrnagements, as well as Tasuku in programming and guitars (it took me a min to remember the chorus has them ddd).
The track, I think, is a pretty solid blend of a classic yet less playful sound of her distant summer singles (just hear the piano melodies!), and the EDM she's been pushing to some extent in all her albums since CoLOURS. In fact, I think the middle section of tracks 6-8 that drags a bit is alleviated by this and 'Mant Classic Moments' as the closing duo. But more on that when the latter makes an appearance.
@Weslicious knows summer is cancelled this year, and lets ha score reflect it, "This piece of EDM is DOA". But enough about half of CoLOURS... Meanwhile, @evilsin calls back to a popular old dance, "Oh, so we're going para-para now? Ok, lead on, Ayu".
Don't mind if she does!
Some people, like @otenkiame, don't see 'Many Classic Moments as the closing track, "A nice summer bop! It's nice to just hear this track about love and warmth where her other summer tracks tend to be tinged in bitter-sweetness. Ayu shows that she knows how to make a dance track right with 'Summer Love'. Glad she ended the album on such a sweet note!'.
Presumably this didn't get a video because Avex didn't care and it was just a one-off album track that barely made the cut, but we all know the reason is that she can only have ever so many beach-themed videos in which she brawls a love interest, namely, Shuya. So have this performance from the 2016 Summer edition of TA in its place:
Summer Love: 7.77
HIGH: 10 (@Ana Raquel)
LOW: 5 (@Weslicious)
Yes, lovelies, I know how much eyesore the cover impacts upon you lot. I just plastered that ROY, first-half-of-the-rainbow, color lookup vomit over one of the promo images in which Ayu (and JUNO) featured for boutique brand Lands of Eden back when she was promoting FIVE. Just look at that waist! It's not far off from those extreme edits of certified OG skinny legend Mariah, isn't it?
Now onto the actual song. 'Summer Love' comes as the penultimate track of M(A)DE IN JAPAN, produced by Mayuko Maruyama. She has quite a history with our girl, as she has been a programmer on plenty of singles since 'INSPIRE', and up to 'You were…'. Interestingly, after years of not being involved in new Ayumi Hamasaki music, Maruyama then landed her first main credit for this track, which also has Yuta Nakano in additional background vocal arrnagements, as well as Tasuku in programming and guitars (it took me a min to remember the chorus has them ddd).
The track, I think, is a pretty solid blend of a classic yet less playful sound of her distant summer singles (just hear the piano melodies!), and the EDM she's been pushing to some extent in all her albums since CoLOURS. In fact, I think the middle section of tracks 6-8 that drags a bit is alleviated by this and 'Mant Classic Moments' as the closing duo. But more on that when the latter makes an appearance.
@Weslicious knows summer is cancelled this year, and lets ha score reflect it, "This piece of EDM is DOA". But enough about half of CoLOURS... Meanwhile, @evilsin calls back to a popular old dance, "Oh, so we're going para-para now? Ok, lead on, Ayu".
Don't mind if she does!
Some people, like @otenkiame, don't see 'Many Classic Moments as the closing track, "A nice summer bop! It's nice to just hear this track about love and warmth where her other summer tracks tend to be tinged in bitter-sweetness. Ayu shows that she knows how to make a dance track right with 'Summer Love'. Glad she ended the album on such a sweet note!'.
Presumably this didn't get a video because Avex didn't care and it was just a one-off album track that barely made the cut, but we all know the reason is that she can only have ever so many beach-themed videos in which she brawls a love interest, namely, Shuya. So have this performance from the 2016 Summer edition of TA in its place:
RUNAWAY
Staff member
he/him
I think the 2 songs from Colours were released as a special single at a concert or something....only Ayu...and now Kumi I guess too....
Oh, that kind of single. Never really counted those as proper ones.
He/Him
25
NOW & 4EVA: 7.8
HIGH: 9 (@RUNAWAY, and yours truly)
MID: 8 (@otenkiame @mi|kshake @soratami @lalaclairi_)
LOW: 7 (@Ana Raquel @Weslicious @evilsin @ThisIsRogue)
Recall how I said twenty-six eliminations ago that 'petal' was the least divisive track in the rate? Well turns out I was wrong. Crashing out is 'NOW & 4EVA', the closing track of CoLOURS, which received only three different scores from you lot. The consistency! By the way, Team Ayu should totally hire me to design her stuff from now on. I mean, just look at this cover! an annotated, peer-reviewed, color psychology-consistent work of art.
The song's composition is the work of Kazuhiro Hara, and is the second track produced by him appearing in the rate so far. The closer is notable for featuring backing vocals by Yumi Kawamura, who's best known for performing the opening and closing themes of a variety of films of the Persona franchise, as well as during the second half of the 26-episode anime adaptation, Persona: Trinity Soul.
'NOW & 4EVA' definitely takes cues from the soundscape of Love songs, with its piano + strings melody, melancholy and the rock feel of the chorus, which make it akin to 'MOON' in that sense. Probably by mere association to that era, is that I am so fond of the track itself. It also helps that it's a good track coming at the end to its... tumultuos album.
@Weslicious would agree on the comparison I drew earlier, "The chorus melody just sounds like so many of her others. Nothing special". But still throws a decent ratin her way. Guess a recycled chorus is preferable to 'XOXO' and 'Feel the love', no? Looks like @evilsin is in the same boat, "Even a stale Hara Kazuhiro production is still somewhat lit, huh? The kinda choppy chorus is definitely nice".
@otenkiame words his critique a little differently, and shows more positive recption, "Unlike the album it came from, I always found this track to be the most Ayu-ish. It's power pop to the max, starting off slow and pretty with a lovely piano melody before coming in strong and confident for the hooks. I enjoy it a lot".
Watch a live recording of it during the Feel the love PREMIUM SHOWCASE below:
NOW & 4EVA: 7.8
HIGH: 9 (@RUNAWAY, and yours truly)
MID: 8 (@otenkiame @mi|kshake @soratami @lalaclairi_)
LOW: 7 (@Ana Raquel @Weslicious @evilsin @ThisIsRogue)
Recall how I said twenty-six eliminations ago that 'petal' was the least divisive track in the rate? Well turns out I was wrong. Crashing out is 'NOW & 4EVA', the closing track of CoLOURS, which received only three different scores from you lot. The consistency! By the way, Team Ayu should totally hire me to design her stuff from now on. I mean, just look at this cover! an annotated, peer-reviewed, color psychology-consistent work of art.
The song's composition is the work of Kazuhiro Hara, and is the second track produced by him appearing in the rate so far. The closer is notable for featuring backing vocals by Yumi Kawamura, who's best known for performing the opening and closing themes of a variety of films of the Persona franchise, as well as during the second half of the 26-episode anime adaptation, Persona: Trinity Soul.
'NOW & 4EVA' definitely takes cues from the soundscape of Love songs, with its piano + strings melody, melancholy and the rock feel of the chorus, which make it akin to 'MOON' in that sense. Probably by mere association to that era, is that I am so fond of the track itself. It also helps that it's a good track coming at the end to its... tumultuos album.
@Weslicious would agree on the comparison I drew earlier, "The chorus melody just sounds like so many of her others. Nothing special". But still throws a decent ratin her way. Guess a recycled chorus is preferable to 'XOXO' and 'Feel the love', no? Looks like @evilsin is in the same boat, "Even a stale Hara Kazuhiro production is still somewhat lit, huh? The kinda choppy chorus is definitely nice".
@otenkiame words his critique a little differently, and shows more positive recption, "Unlike the album it came from, I always found this track to be the most Ayu-ish. It's power pop to the max, starting off slow and pretty with a lovely piano melody before coming in strong and confident for the hooks. I enjoy it a lot".
Watch a live recording of it during the Feel the love PREMIUM SHOWCASE below:
He/Him
Now this one's for the naysayers who don't believe an iTunes single or a promo CD given away in venues are single-enough for these years, when she's not chucking out 5-6 physical A-sides per album anymore!
24
Last minute: 7.85
HIGH: 10 (@RUNAWAY)
LOW: 5 (@Weslicious)
Not us dishing out the last third of the last physical single she released before the top 20! As said before, 'Zutto…/Last minute/Walk' was released as the lead single from A ONE on Christmas Eve 2014. This had a cutre run in the Oricon chart, peaking at #5 and charting for 7 weeks. It also gave Ayumi the milestone of being the third artist ever -and first solo act- to have fifty top 10 singles in their catalogue. The 2002-2010 singles run from 'Free & Easy' to 'L' does hit a different kind of way.
'Last minute' is a winter ballad, and for it we go back to the Yukumi + Nakano combo. The dramatic track refers to Ayu's last dying breath because she's probably had more heartbreak than the average J-pop icon in her life. There's some purple language here and ther but y'all know how she loves to let her vault of
@otenkiame would differ with the purely ballad descriptor, "At first I thought this was just going to be another ballad. But boy was I proven wrong. After a rather pretty piano-driven beginning, the track turns into this hard-hitting rock track with all kinds of attitude. It's dark. It's mysterious. It's tinged with pain. It's Ayu". Yes, and we love her for it don't we? Meanwhile, @Weslicious was probably too fed up with the album at this point to type up any words for this.
And @evilsin references a song I haven't heard in a very long time, "This is such a sequel to 'Memorial address' with that first half being all quiet. With the break would've been more polished, as it sounds like a freaking garbage bin being emptied. Also, the mastering levels are off at the end and Ayu is drowned out by the music. Apart from these moments, this is stellar". Honestly this is a good moment to say I have never really given the mini much of a chance dd but
There's not an awful lot happening in the song's accompanying video, but the swinging ligthing is gorg, I like the editions, and the two Ayus wear stunning looks. A great little aesthetic moment. Also, here's a cutoff live performance from the 2014-15 New Year's Eve Countdown.
With it coming so early in the tracklist I have to thank you for doing my shade for me.
He/Him
Well…
22
æternal: 7.9
HIGH: 10 (@lalaclairi_)
LOW: 6 (@Weslicious)
@otenkiame "Very Ayu in sound. It's like a ballad but also not like one? Not sure what I'm trying to say, except that I like that the hooks pick up pace with the inclusion of a relatively fast beat. Not a bad song, but it's just missing something to make it stand out for me in the long run".
@evilsin "This could have been a lot worse. The melodies all glide very nicely in one another and that half-key change in basically every chorus is pretty nice".
@Weslicious "This is good, if unoriginal for her".
Return Road: 7.9
TASTEFUL: 10 (@RUNAWAY @Weslicious and ME THIS IS MY FIRST 10 OUT Y'ALL TERRIBLE)
FLOPS: 5 (@Ana Raquel) 6 (@soratami @lalaclairi_)
Album write-up coming later today, or tomorrow, or someday. As soon as I am able to put together a graphic for it ññ
@evilsin "There is something about Ayu and the organ that just works so well. So grand and massive. The melodies are top-notch and the fact that this is a sequel to 'Virgin Road' only adds to the overall greatness of this piece". I love this way more than 'Virgin Road'. Oops.
@Weslicious "Yes, Drama Queen. I’m a sucker for these kind of songs by her". Yes, we love 'BRILLANTE'.
@RUNAWAY "Truly amazing, and it’s so interesting that this incredible song is on THIS ALBUM..." Stop! Stop! Party Queen's already dead!
@otenkiame "Oh wow, dramatic! Very much gives me 'Microphone' vibes with that organ! But it also sounds very much like a winter ballad. Yeah, aside from the organ, this is much different than 'Microphone'. Very wintry in delivery, though whenever the organ pops up, I just love the haunting vibe it gives. Ugh, especially that creepy bridge. So good". That's what I was thinking while reading your comment, that they're not very alike other than the organ. I was all, what is she on?? But it's all good.
By the way it's such a mess this didn't appear in the DVD of 〜HOTEL Love songs〜, though it was performed at four dates in tour. And also appeared for two dates of the TA Limited Tour in Fall 2016 to never be heard of again. Snubbed of the album's best track!
22
æternal: 7.9
HIGH: 10 (@lalaclairi_)
LOW: 6 (@Weslicious)
@otenkiame "Very Ayu in sound. It's like a ballad but also not like one? Not sure what I'm trying to say, except that I like that the hooks pick up pace with the inclusion of a relatively fast beat. Not a bad song, but it's just missing something to make it stand out for me in the long run".
@evilsin "This could have been a lot worse. The melodies all glide very nicely in one another and that half-key change in basically every chorus is pretty nice".
@Weslicious "This is good, if unoriginal for her".
Return Road: 7.9
TASTEFUL: 10 (@RUNAWAY @Weslicious and ME THIS IS MY FIRST 10 OUT Y'ALL TERRIBLE)
FLOPS: 5 (@Ana Raquel) 6 (@soratami @lalaclairi_)
Album write-up coming later today, or tomorrow, or someday. As soon as I am able to put together a graphic for it ññ
@evilsin "There is something about Ayu and the organ that just works so well. So grand and massive. The melodies are top-notch and the fact that this is a sequel to 'Virgin Road' only adds to the overall greatness of this piece". I love this way more than 'Virgin Road'. Oops.
@Weslicious "Yes, Drama Queen. I’m a sucker for these kind of songs by her". Yes, we love 'BRILLANTE'.
@RUNAWAY "Truly amazing, and it’s so interesting that this incredible song is on THIS ALBUM..." Stop! Stop! Party Queen's already dead!
@otenkiame "Oh wow, dramatic! Very much gives me 'Microphone' vibes with that organ! But it also sounds very much like a winter ballad. Yeah, aside from the organ, this is much different than 'Microphone'. Very wintry in delivery, though whenever the organ pops up, I just love the haunting vibe it gives. Ugh, especially that creepy bridge. So good". That's what I was thinking while reading your comment, that they're not very alike other than the organ. I was all, what is she on?? But it's all good.
By the way it's such a mess this didn't appear in the DVD of 〜HOTEL Love songs〜, though it was performed at four dates in tour. And also appeared for two dates of the TA Limited Tour in Fall 2016 to never be heard of again. Snubbed of the album's best track!
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He/Him
I know I know! Weirdly enough it's her only release I haven't heard yet.
I expected all the lashings, but still, disappointed.