Message to the masses.
Written: Dec 15 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Singer/songwriter pop/rock with some nice touches, and I believe is really pretty.
Cons: Incredibly same-y and tracks easily blur together.
The Bottom Line: ayaka's got a promising career ahead of her, and this album isn't bad -- I just wish it were a little less genre-restrictive.
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| shimatani87's Full Review: First Message - Ayaka |
When nineteen-year-old Ayaka Iida (stage name simply "ayaka") released her debut single I believe in February, it rocketed to #3 on the charts (fueled by its tie-in with a popular drama) and ended up selling almost 230,000 copies.
It was a ballad.
When her pre-debut song mikazuki was released as a single in late September, it jumped all the way to #1 and has sold over 200,000 copies to date.
It, too, was a ballad.
In-between, however, ayaka released two other singles. One, a special release in honor the start of her first tour, was limited to fifty-thousand copies. An easy feat for someone whose debut single proved such a success, right?
Not so. That single, melody~SOUNDS REAL peaked at #14 and sold only a third of its limited-pressing amount. A follow-up single, Real voice, released in early July, suffered a similar fate, peaking at #11 and selling just short of fifty-thousand copies. Why these two singles flopped is a matter of speculation, but I have two theories; 1) Promotional tie-ups in Japan (and promotion in general) is everything when determining sales -- if you have a crappy song but an incredibly-good tie-up, you can sell anything; ayaka's second and third singles didn't have the strong tie-up that her debut did and, 2) ayaka debuted with a piano-driven ballad; the two follow-up singles were incredibly different, stylistically, featuring a guitar-heavy pop/rock sound. This, quite possibly, might have alienated fans who were used to her debut sound.
First Message, ayaka's debut album, was originally scheduled for release at the beginning of September. However, with one strong single and two flops under her belt, it seems ayaka's producers feared a low position and sales; therefore, they gave fans what they wanted: mikazuki, a song made and promoted before ayaka's major-label debut, released as a single. When it proved to be a strong seller, the album was scheduled for release shortly after, on November 1st. Driven by the popularity of her most recent single, ayaka grabbed the #1 spot on Oricon's weekly album charts, selling almost 360,000 copies. As of December 15th, the album has sold 711,299 copies and is the thirteenth best-selling album this year in Japan.
ayaka is certainly deserving of her fame, as she's a talented young woman who has a way with words and a voice to match. However, as an album, First Message is a twinge disappointing, for the simple fact that it is far too same-y and repetitive. I believe and mikazuki, both beautiful, wistful, piano-and-orchestra driven ballads (although the former is far more interesting than the latter, which simply drifts along and is far less memorable) both seem incredibly out-of-place in a landscape that's dominated by the heavy sounds of singer/songwriter pop/rock; I will, however, give whomever arranged the track listing kudos, because the placement of these two songs serves as a fine distraction -- if a bit jarring one -- from the rest of the album's in-your-face style. A small qualm comes with Sha la la, as well. First heard on ayaka's second single as a live version, the studio version presented here pales in comparison; the slightly-jazzy sound of the piano comes across as flat when it's overrun by the guitars and drums, and ayaka's performance, while still good, is missing that punch one finds when she performs the song live.
However, even when the material tends to blur together, there are little touches that make this album worth hearing. Many of them come courtesy to little instrumental parts buried amongst the crunchy guitars and drums: as mentioned earlier, Sha la la incorporates light touches of jazz; kimi no POWER to otona no FURI sounds like it stepped straight out of the 60's, with the piano taking a slightly-more prominent part, featuring driven slides up and down the ivories and a bubbly accompaniment part that compliments the guitars well; eien no monogatari is a welcome breath of fresh air, a quick two-minute piece that finds ayaka paired with only a couple of acoustic guitars -- it's pretty and simple, which is always better; and toki wo modoshi te throws a fine ol' brass section amongst the midtempo drums and lighter guitar parts. So, while there's a lot of the same here, there's also these small bits of variety that make the album listenable.
Vocally, ayaka is pleasant to listen to. She's got a strong voice for being so young, being able to both belt glory notes and throw in some growl and passion when called for. She tends sound a bit same-y on certain tracks, though, as if she's not sure how to sing the lines. Even so, she does a fine job on the album as a whole; the only real song I have trouble listening to is mikazuki, simply because it's so boring that even ayaka's performance comes across as slightly yawn-inducing.
In the end, what one makes of this album is up to each individual listener. Those hoping for more I believe-style ballads will be sorely disappointed, and those who love the singer-songwriter folk/rock/pop genre will be more than delighted. In the end, ayaka's debut album is a pleasant, if slightly-same-y and disappointing, collection of rather-memorable tunes. The girl's got talent, I'd just like to see her use it in more than one or two genres.
ayaka: "First Message"
[ CDA | WPCL-10374 | ¥3,150 | 2006.11.01 ]
01. Start to 0 (Love) [ 3:58 ]
02. Real voice [ 3:58 ]
03. Sha la la [ 3:29 ]
04. BLUE DAYS [ 4:54 ]
05. I believe [ 4:57 ]
06. Stay with me [ 3:47 ]
07. melody [ 3:29 ]
08. kimi no POWER to otona no FURI [ 4:09 ]
09. eien no monogatari [ 2:13 ]
10. toki wo modoshi te [ 4:19 ]
11. 1・2・3・4 [ 3:43 ]
12. Story [ 3:47 ]
13. LAILALAI [ 3:16 ]
14. mikazuki [ 4:39 ]
15. message [ 1:07 ]
[ http://www.ayaka.tv/index.html ]
[ http://wmg.jp/artist/ayaka/ ]
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
shimatani87
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Member: Zach Jones
Location: Urbana, IL
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 17 members
About Me:
St. Louis-bound graduate student with a passion for pop.
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