Anyway. I do have a point I’d like to get to, and that’s a rant about a musician who’s near and dear to my heart. Or more specifically, her cover art.

I speak, of course, about Ayumi Hamasaki. One look at the cover for her most recent single, Sunrise/Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~, should tell you everything you need to know. It’s very pathetically Photoshopped and she looks ridiculous. For Ayu, or at least her cover art, this is a new low.

But it’s one I definitely expected. I haven’t liked any of Ayu’s covers for a long time now, and each one is just another disappointment. The last one I actually liked was talkin’ 2 myself, which came out in September 2007. Since then, it’s been a string of one terrible cover after another.

Case 1: GUILTY

The CD/DVD cover isn’t terribly unique, but I like the colors and the font. But what the hell is up with her nails? Is she trying to poke her eyes out? I don’t even want to talk about how absurd she looks on the CD version. Just… no.

Case 2: Mirrorcle World and Days/GREEN

When the Mirrorcle World single came out, I thought it was something simple, nice, and new. And I liked the colors. But when Days/GREEN came out, it just killed it for me. The concept worked fine for one single, but twice it just looked awful. There’s also the fact that I hate “Days” with a vengeance, but even without that I just can’t stand it.

Case 3: A COMPLETE

As a collection of all of her singles to date, she could have gone for something that represented her as an artist, like her A symbol. Instead she has a boring picture with little variation between versions. Yawn.

Case 4: Rule/Sparkle

Just look at it. Seriously, what the hell? The colors clash, the outfit is bizarre, and what is up with her hair? And that pose? WTF?!

NEXT LEVEL

The colors and disco concept, I love. But it came out incredibly wrong, from her clothes to her hair to the background. Just… ugh!

And that brings us to Sunrise/Sunset, which I don’t even need to explain.

Well, maybe I’ll like her next cover. Then again, I’ve been saying that for two years now…

Oh, the actual single? Sunrise/Sunset is yet another one of Ayu’s summer singles. Following in the steps of NEXT LEVEL, "Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~" isn’t the usual pop but more dance/techno, and I like it. "Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~" is the same song in ballad form, which in comparison is rather boring but could be worse.

I’ve listened to it almost two dozen times since it came out.

Ayu blew me away with NEXT LEVEL, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to be so wrong. I won’t go so far as to say it’s perfect, because it has a few things that I’m not so big on, but overall it is a terrific album.

I started listening to the album with significant trepidation, but I obviously needn’t have worried. “NEXT LEVEL” sounded much better after “Bridge to the sky” than it did in the promotional video, and I settled myself in for what I thought would be a decent album.

And then “Disco-munication” came on and shattered whatever expectations I had about the remainder of the album. I like some of Ayu’s interludes, but never to the point that I’d actually want to get up and dance to them — because usually they’re interludes. This one makes me say “wait, am I still listening to Ayu? What have I gotten myself in to?!”

(Please view the post to listen)

That question is answered in “EnergizE,” which is so catchy you find yourself singing along halfway through. (I have no doubt it’ll be part of her next tour, and I can’t wait to see it.) “Sparkle” fits in to this album so much better than it could ever sound by itself (and the PV is brilliant and really would have improved the “Rule/Sparkle” single). “rollin’” is easily my favorite track, and another song that sounds nothing like the Ayu I’m used to. Instead, it’s a thoroughly unique song — between the distortion of her voice in parts of it and the background behind it in the whole song, it makes me wonder why I ever worried in the first place.

(Please view the post to listen)

I never would have thought the very Chinese-sounding “GREEN” would work so well after “rollin’,” but it does, and actually got me to like the song much more than I did the first time I heard it. It’s followed by “Load of the SHUGYO,” which aside from having a bizarre name, is another interlude that makes you forget it’s an interlude.

The rest of the album is great, but there are several things about it that don’t make it as good as it could have been. For starters, “identity” strongly reminds me of her 2007 song “decision” and makes it difficult to listen to seriously as a result. And although “Rule” does sound better when listened to in the album, I still find it pretty bland. “LOVE ‘n’ HATE“, however, makes up for this. Like “EnergizE” and “rollin’“, it is a thoroughly different sound for Ayu, and the album is definitely improved by it.

“Pieces of SEVEN” sounds like the interlude it is, but at least it sounds interesting. The thing is, it fails as an interlude, because the transition between it and “Days” is fairly disorienting — it’s more of a dance-influenced track the whole way through, and “Days” is a winter ballad.

In fact, “Days” is the weakest point of the album. I’ll be blunt: I hate this song. No, I utterly despise it. In general, I find most ballads boring, and although there are a few of Ayu’s I like, “Days” is not one of them. It’s beyond boring, it’s utterly pointless and a waste of a song, and it sounds entirely out of place on this album. The one and only good thing it does is transition well into the final song, “Curtain call,” which primarily features just Ayu’s voice and a piano and sounds lovely. It closes the album beautifully, at least until you turn it back on.

I love this album. I’m going to be listening to it years from now, marveling at the fantastic creation it is, and all the time in between. It’s sort of a surprise I like it so much, I suppose, considering I’m usually not big on dance-influenced music like this, but I love it. I just wish it didn’t have “Days” (which at this point I can’t even listen to anymore, I just skip straight past it). More than anything, though, I’m thrilled that I was wrong about NEXT LEVEL, because it was nothing like what I expected — it was a million miles past it, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.