Curaga Posted October 15 Posted October 15 oop, may be time for me to skedaddle... That was my last 0 though! I NEVER EVER would have guessed it would be the last of my 0s to go lol; I thought for sure Dearest would last the longest. 1
Meloetta Carey Posted October 15 Posted October 15 I always think of someone falling down the stairs on beat to the chorus of this one Spoiler it's like those chaotic Loona edits, I promise I'm not a psychpath 1
Graves Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 MOSHIMO KIMI NI SASHIDASERU MONO GA ARU TO SUREBA MOSHIMO KIMI NI SASHIDASERU MONO GA ARU TO SUREBA 1 3
Graves Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 2 minutes ago, Curaga said: oop, may be time for me to skedaddle... My villain turn is up next so let me join you on the first highway out of Tokyo 1
Suilen Posted October 15 Posted October 15 I finished listening to the good RAINBOW tracks, it can leave now
Graves Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 8th Single Track #7 on LOVEppears HIGH SCORE: 10 x 6 (Kyle-x, blueberries, Maresia, sanzo, AvadaKedavra, confide in me) LOW SCORE: 4 x 1 (Graves) HOST SCORE: 4 ...Anyway. TO BE, while a perfectly pleasant track, does stick out like a sore thumb on LOVEppears. While ballads like LOVE~refrain~ and Who... have little elements added to them to try and make them slightly more dance-appropriate, TO BE is rather by-the-numbers. I guess it depends on your ballad preference whether this bothers you or not. To some it might even be a nice change of pace from the whirring synths of the rest of the album! ...Not me though, this is boring as hell to these ears. Sorry! Alright, let me be nice for a moment. I do like the parts of TO BE where Ayu does the fast-talking delivery, spitting those lines. Those pre-chorus moments are actually quite cute. As a whole though, I feel like TO BE is more suited to appear on A Song for ×× than on LOVEppears. It's kind of interesting that the earliest singles from LOVEppears paint a very different picture than what the album itself ended up being. There's a concept for a very different sophomore album among them. Imagine the record we would've got if they'd followed the sound of TO BE, LOVE~destiny~ and the Version J of WHATEVER? Shudders. As a single, TO BE did well enough. A #4 peak would've made Ayu's day only a few months prior, but coming off of her first number one? TO BE was a slight disappointment charts-wise. Indeed, this single was the last one of hers to NOT make the top three for the next 14 years. It wouldn't be until 2013 when another Ayu single would peak so "low". Suffering from success, I see? The music video for TO BE is a mess too. A green-screen'd mess. That pink wig they have her in is truly awful, looking like a damn helmet on her. I'm sure some of you like it, though. Kyle-x: Plaintive and beautiful. She was turning a lewk in the video as well. Kind of a weird version to highlight, but I really love the classical version they did for LOVE CLASSICS. Invisibility: She said lemme give you a soothing acoustic guitar moment amidst the beats and the electric guitar riffs. Curaga: The pre-chorus melody is sooooo good wtf. Chorus is a little whiny in comparison, but damn, I love this one too. Meloetta Carey: she kinda gave Mariah's stepniece twice removed on the 10th anniversary version. 8/17 1 1
Graves Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 Just now, UrMom said: Max's favorite @Suilen take the shot. 1
Suilen Posted October 15 Posted October 15 I probably overrated this one due to nostalgia, the chorus is so good.
Suilen Posted October 15 Posted October 15 Just now, Graves said: @Suilen take the shot. Well, let's adjust my score, then. 3
Kyle-x Posted October 15 Posted October 15 I'm okay with her being at this spot though, there's so many killer songs left.
Graves Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 Just now, Kyle-x said: I'm okay with her being at this spot though. - Me, if this was #86 and not #26. 3
Graves Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 Track #6 on I am... HIGH SCORE: 10 x 5 (Kyle-x, UrMom, blueberries, AMIT, confide in me) LOW SCORE: 7 x 2 (Fevesy, sanzo) HOST SCORE: 7.5 Ooh, that opening synth riff is giving a lite LOVEppears chai. Unafraid to reference or self-reference. So, depending on how you view those German single releases, this may or may not be the highest placing I am... album track? I can't say that I totally expected this, but I do like it. My score could maybe be higher even, but still... top twenty-five is nothing to scoff at. Naturally is a banger, first and foremost. I love the way that evolution flows right into this track - sequencing queen. Beyond that, it really does feel like an "evolution" excuse the wordplay on the dance sound she'd inhabited for the LOVEppears album. Unrelenting beats, the same beeps and boops production we've come to love, and her propulsive delivery as sharp as ever. However, I am... is not a dance album. Not entirely, at least. When slotted into the scattershot tracklist of this album, Naturally represents one of Ayu's masks. One of the personas she has mastered. The dance diva from earlier, showing that she's still very much got it, while also demonstrating the harder edges her sound has developed since then. A great track for sure, but a especially good treat for her hardcore fans. Suilen: this one has grown on me. Kyle-x: Dare I say this is the best song on the album…? The call-and-response vocal delivery is so addicting and the chorus just washes over you. The lyrics really punch you in the face. I love the "dolly remix" and the "Human Mix" but the suite of Wippenberg remixes on the German single are the BEST, especially the 8 minute extended version. Invisibility: This gets a bit lost in the shuffle but it has its moments. Such a sister song to UNITE! also. Meloetta Carey: the end of a relentless (mostly complimentary) four track run, maybe that interlude wasn't so bad after all. AMIT: this song is absolutely incredible to me, like infinitely replayable. 5/16 3
Suilen Posted October 15 Posted October 15 Okay, Who... isn't that bad on second thought. I hope nobody from the Avex executives likes that one. 1
Curaga Posted October 15 Posted October 15 Umm yeah I may have low-balled Naturally... even at 9.5 lol. It's saur good 1
Kyle-x Posted October 15 Posted October 15 Now this is unacceptable, this should be top 15 AT LEAST! 1
Graves Posted October 15 Author Posted October 15 Track #16 on LOVEppears HIGH SCORE: 10 x 5 (Kyle-x, UrMom, AMIT, sanzo, AvadaKedavra) LOW SCORE: 6.5 x 1 (Suilen) HOST SCORE: 8.5 Just like A Song for ×× before it, Who... is another album track that grew to become a full-blown Ayu classic. This piano-led ballad is the official closing song on LOVEppears ...and a few other places, actually. It has the honor of being the final track on A BEST, one of the best-selling albums in Japanese history, the final track on A COMPLETE BEST, Ayu's biggest album for recurrent sales, as well as the closing number on several Ayu tours. It has more Spotify streams than all but one of the album's actual singles and was even re-recorded for her tenth anniversary, an honor only otherwise bestowed upon singles. What kind of insane resume... an individual release be damned, Who... is an Ayu hit regardless. It is a really nice ballad, and manages to not sound super out of place on LOVEppears thanks to a few twinkly synth lines inter-weaved throughout. I think I'm more forgiving to this one than a few of the other ballads on the record because of its position - the closing track is only a natural place for a ballad, no? It's not a pace-breaking snore like certain other tracks on LOVEppears in that way. This sort of uplifting, singalong ballad isn't usually my cup of tea, but Who... manages to do it inoffensively enough. It's a pretty song! Being one of Ayu's signature songs, there more version of this track than can be counted. Which ones do we love? Which do we not mess with? Which performances touched us the most? I think there's something interesting about the A BALLADS remix, but my personal favorite way to listen to Who... will always be at the end of a LOVEppears listening session <3 I'm skipping kanariya afterwards, of course. Suilen: I listened to the version from A BALLADS to see whether it can help me add an extra point, and while it's slightly better, I still don't find it that breathtaking, even though I understand its significance. Kyle-x: The way she has these album tracks that become some of the defining songs of her career, see when you make ALBUMS…. one of the most beautiful songs of her discography. Love to see her crying her eyes out to this on stage ajljadklsa. The "Across the Universe" version on A BALLADS is gorgeous and the 10th anniversary re-recording is also lovely. The "Blue Obsession Mix" is kind of weird but also fun to hear. AMIT: an iconic album track, not everyone has that. 7/17 2
Kyle-x Posted October 15 Posted October 15 At least Curaga isn't at the scene of the crime this time…
Curaga Posted October 15 Posted October 15 Just now, Kyle-x said: At least Curaga isn't at the scene of the crime this time… Yes, thank you, @Suilen, for covering up my 6.9! A saint! But no, I do like Who... just not as much as other songs, so I'm happy with its placement. 2
Suilen Posted October 15 Posted October 15 Well, you can take two points from TO BE and add it to this one, though I don't really care about watching tours like that, so while I get why it's important, I'm not personally invested.
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