Love Songs by Ayumi Hamasaki
Love Songs
Love the instrumental in the beginning, very pretty. Guitar starts. I’m not liking her voice when she screams. I like the chorus more than any other part of the song. The verses are ok. I feel as if this kind of song has been done by her many times. Overall, not a bad song, I just feel the screaming is annoying and the song doesn’t feel “fresh”. Not a bad start.
3.5/5
Sending Mail
An ok start. The beat is interesting especially with that soft cymbal. Her voice is completely in the center. Despite this her voice doesn’t sound annoying to me as usual. I sort of like after the chorus where the beat stops and her voice is slightly distorted. I like the verses a lot more then the chorus but I love the pre-chorus. The louder guitar in the chorus annoys me. I wish the pre-chorus was the chorus instead. The ending makes me giggle
4/5
Insomnia
. Ok a little less scary. I enjoy this. The instrumental in general and her repeating voice.
4/5
Like A Doll
One of the better previews, hope it doesn’t disappoint. The melody reminds me of a Christmas song
. I actually love when her voice goes high, it sounds nice instead of annoying. Everything about this song is a disappointment, BUT when she sings the high notes and then “like a doll” gives me LIFE, if only the whole song was like that.
3.5/5
Aria
Mmmm, not much here. There is a certain sound that reminds me of one of Utada’s openings/interludes.
3/5
Thank U
Sounds like a continuation of Aria. I like the “Lala” part. Unfortunately it’s the only good part of the song that stands out. Not much to say, nothing else is memorable about this song.
3/5
Overture
Boring beginning. It’s supposed to be relaxing but this does nothing for me.
2/5
Do It Again
Don’t like the piano start. This is the best song on the album so far despite her English making me want to kill myself.
. Bridge sucks as it usually does in Ayumi songs. The chorus gets repetitive but I wish the rest of the song was better.
4/5
November
, that one instrument.
. I only like small parts here and there but I dislike a majority of it.
3/5
Seven Days War
Live song
. I don’t like the song much. Does nothing for me.
2.5/5
Overall
This album was pretty meh for me. I know most of you dislike Next Level but it’s still a better album to me. Everything was just so average. The few songs that I liked from the samples turned out to be not so amazing. I usually say a good amount in this section of the review and for the songs but I’m cutting it short this time, nothing worthwhile to say except I knew this "2 album a year" strategy wasn’t going to turn out well. I might keep 'Sending Mail' or "Do It Again".
3/5
(It would be worse if I counted the songs not in the download file)
I prefer girl groups. My only exceptions are BIG BANG and Super Junior.
