Ayumi Hamasaki

AYUMI HAMASAKI: TELL ALL

Ayumi Hamasaki's "Tell All" is said to be a single that she's giving away as a gift to fans who've previously bought her other 15th anniversary releases, which include the recent mini-albums Love and Again in addition to the full-length album Love Again. (If I understand correctly, there were two other 15th anniversary releases you also had to buy to get this track, but I thought the three I just named were the only three released so far?) She's also given those fans a PC wallpaper featuring a never-before-released photo.

YouTube Video: 

AYUMI HAMASAKI: AGAIN

In honor of her 15th anniversary as a pop diva, Ayumi is in the process of releasing five works in five months. The first was the mini-album LOVE, which I recently reviewed and had mixed feelings about. (http://otaku.collectiondx.com/musicreview/ayumi-hamasaki-love) The second is this new mini-album, Again, which I liked much, much more. Now, onto my track-by-track rundown...

TRACK 1: "Wake Me Up"

AYUMI HAMASAKI: LOVE

Before I give you a track-by-track rundown of Ayumi Hamasaki's latest mini-album, I have to state the obvious: LOVE is a rather generic album title. And it's a little weird coming from Ayumi, considering that she's previously had albums called Love Songs and LOVEppears. My best guess is that she chose this album title to remind fans of those albums, considering that her last album, Party Queen, was almost universally hated (at least by critics).

TRACK 1: "Song 4 U"

YouTube Video: 

AYUMI HAMASAKI: PARTY QUEEN

Ayumi Hamasaki's 13th studio album kicks off with three songs that are quite a departure from her usual sound. The greatest departure is track one, the title track. "I am your party queen," Ayumi proclaims over and over again, though the hard, driving, club-ready beat is what will really capture your attention. It's quite the banger. Unfortunately, it sounds too much like Ayumi is just trying to sound like her American contemporaries. It's as though they deliberately set out to make something that would sound like it was produced by RedOne.

AYUMI HAMASAKI: HOW BEAUTIFUL YOU ARE

From what I’ve been able to gather, Ayumi’s new single, the touching ballad “How Beautiful You Are,” is presently only available in digital format from the Japanese iTunes store and Mu-Mo (http://music.mu-mo.net/). It is reported to be the theme song to Fuji T.V.'s new 10P.M.