Search - Ayumi Hamasaki :: Secret

Everyone has one

Samario C. Oliver | VA | 12/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"including this cute little phenomenom



CD



1.Not yet: Don't end yet. Man I hate it when good intro songs are always so short. 8/10



2.Until the day:she retires Ayumi still suprises me. This is a hypertence song, with one of the catchiest hooks she's ever thought of. Seriously, I can play this while playing Gears of War, telling everyone BRING IT! Ayumi is just a musical genius. 10/10 2nd favorite



3.Startin':to make a CD. This was her first single, and it was pretty energetic, and brought a moderate hyperbeat. 9/10 1st single



4.1 Love:to all, and no it's not Nasir Jones' track from Illmatic. I expected it to be a calm song, but the whole animal house kinda feel this song brought began to grow on me. 9/10



5.It was:hard not to fully like this song. It has a great pace and emotion, but the song in whole has yet to hit me. 8/10



6.LABYRINTH:I normaly don't rate interludes, cuz I skip them. But Rainbow, which I recently discovered, had excellent interludes, and this one is calm, mysterious, and, most of all, beautiful. 10/10



7.Jewel:represents something beautiful, and this song is nowhere near diffrent. It's so calm and beautiful. To me it feels like a great blend of Teddy Bear and Heaven. 10/10 5th single



8.Momentum:Is the turning point of the CD. It starts off calm, until the hook packs an emotional punch. Emotional momentum is definitly Ayumi's stronghold, since this song definitly reminds me of M and Free and Easy. 10/10 1st favorite



9.Taskinst:Calm interlude, that then brings rock, and goes back to calm. Not expected, but I laugh every time I hear it. 9/10



10.Born to be:an artist, and Ayumi's music paints a picture worth more than 1000 words. This song is full of energy, and Ayumi's vocal performance fits perfectly, I'm serious, Ayumi can adapt to a variety of genres. 10/10 2nd single



11.Beautiful fighters:often gives me the impresion of Dead or Alive 4. Anyway, I found this to be a cute and funny song due to the beat, and the high pitched singing in the backround which came by after the hook. It's just a flat out fun song. 10/10 4th single



12.Blue Bird:Makes me think of peace, but here's what I think of this song. Take Fairyland, and multipy it by 10. Oh yea, it's that good. It definitly gives the feeling of fun with the music, and the energy of Ayumi. 10/10 3rd favorite/3rd Single



13:Kiss o' Kill:is a wonderous question. It definitly brings the energy that kills, but with Ayumi bringing an excellent 9th CD convincing me and many others that she's the queen of Jpop makes me want to kiss her. 9/10



14.Secret:is the end game. Sadly this was the low point of the CD. Why couldn't it have ended like Ayumi's past 5 CDs. I found it only as decent. If there's a secret to liking it, I have yet to find it. 7/10



DVD



1.Startin':Definitly brings the song to life with the dancing, action, energy, and sexiness in the video. This video made me appricate the song alot more when I, at first, didin't like it. 10/10



2.Born to Be:The lgihts, the backround, the drummers, the dancer, and, of course, Ayumi made my vision of the song look stupid because it was beautiful. And you can tell this song was done during the olymphics. 10/10



3.Blue Bird:Everything Fairyland should have been, and I mean everything. All fun, sun, joy, and no freaking house burning down to kill my vibe. If this was any decleration of redemption, which I don't know if it was or not, but man, she went top notch, because it was the perfect summer song. 10/10 2nd favorite.



4.Beautiful Fighters:A very cute and funny video, serving up every dipiction of the song's style. Man I I was one of the Americans in that video, I'd know I'd instantly be starstriken while in Ayumi's presence. 10/10



5.Jewel:You see more diamonds in this video than the whole country of Africa. Well enough sarcasim, this video has a very gentle and calm aura which was also present in the song itself. Man, she is on point with the videos. 10/10 3rd favorite



6.1 love:I thought alterna was the last, but there's a clown in this video! NOT COOL MAN!!!! But this clown reminds me of I guy I play on Xbox live for some reason, so, yea not so bad. The video definitly suits the feel of what the song feels. Ayumi was on a pole the whole video. Is that sending a wrong message, or am I, in some way, a messed up thinker on this subject? 9/10



7.Momentum:When Ayumi looks sad, it almost makes me cry. A very calm video with an emotional song. Reminds me of no way to say. It brings a gentle, sad presnce, but Ayumi brings the emotion, right when she wells up, and tears come down her cheeks. That was the emotion, and it spoke louder than actions. This is the I am of her DVD videos. 10/10 1st favorite



MAKING OF:



1.Startin':Does a good job og showing just how much C.G. was used, and it was ALOT!(Think of Sin City). It had some fun moments and god outakes, but man, I wish I was that black dude man. I'm black, but the location...He's just one licky sunuva... 10/10 3rd favorite



2.Born to be:I was highly intruiged with how they made everything in this video live. I thought the dance was C.G. but he wasn't! And what made the lights bright was the passing mist from the machines, and I thought they made the lights bright like fools on the road who make me angry by using high beams. Man, I just love interesting things. 10/10



3.Blue Bird:It had a lot of fun moments and outakes, but the instrumental version of Blue Bird playing through it was just hollow. I found out that without Ayumi the song is absolutly nothing. 9/10



4.Beautiful fighters:Man why can't I live in New York or L.A. or, man! Anyway, this was nice, with cute and funny outakes, keeping up with the song's entierty, but once again the instrumental. 1 time ok, 2 times, unforgivable. But when pushing a car, one of the guys fell. That was funny. 8/10



5.Jewel:Lotsa jewels, lotsa makeup, lotsa outfits, and yea lotsa fun outakes. And the regular not a God-forsaken instrumental version of jewel is playing. 1st favorite



6.1 love:Has abunca fun moments in it, and the whole enviroment including, the costumes, Ayumi on a pole, the half finished place, and the clown that's not so bad. After being on that pole for a while, I wonder how Ayumi felt the day after. 9/10



7.Momentum:The snow machines, comedy with her days on the set, and of course trail and errer. I can honestly say that I never like a making of as much as this, and it's a real shame that the end game had to come so soon. 10/10 3rd favorite



Secret is Ayumi's 9th CD, and the 6th I brought so far(I am, Rainbow, Memorial Address, My Story, Missunderstood) and she continues to show why she is on top of Japan. I think the secret that makes her so great, although she doesn't have the strongest singing voice in Japan, which many say is Utada Hikaru, The fact that she brings variety, and Untold ammounts of effort into her music, and puts so much emotion into each and every track is what makes her addictive, and make people like me keep coming back for more. And when you hear a instrumental You see that without her effort and emotion that brings the song to it's height, the song is completly empty. So in short the reason in my mind why she's so great is because of her unlimited versitiliy, and effort she puts into each song. If you are a fan of Ayu, chances are you already grabbed it. If you're starting with Jpop I always say grab I am first. But this is an excellent addition to Ayumi's carrer, and that's the end game of this review.



peace"

Fantastic

A. Cohen | Maryland, USA | 06/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ayumi Hamasaki has made a fantastic album with songs that vary across the spectrum. Her own lyric-writing has only matured with time. I won't break down the album, but those familiar with the Startin'/Born to Be single should not expect the album to reflect that highly energetic nature. She has some excellent ballads. I must admit that I'm not a huge fan of some of her instrumental tracks in other albums, but these are decent. Overall, I think this album has been over-criticized since it is not a replica of (miss)understood. Ayu remains absolutely fabulous."