What should Maaya's next album be like?

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Merri
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What should Maaya's next album be like?

Post by Merri »

The year is closing to its end and it appears to be that we're not getting a new album this year. Yet this shouldn't stop us from thinking the possibilities for the next album :D

In my opinion, Shounen Alice wasn't as good as Lucy, for example. The album wasn't balanced and it has too much differing between loud and cute. So, I'd like the next album to be more like the older albums and not to the direction Shounen Alice went.

That's the short way to push out my opinion, wonder if anyone else thinks alike :)
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Li_Nickole
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Post by Li_Nickole »

hi!! i think I agree with you, Lucy is my favorite album, and I think that Shonen Alice was lacking a happier tune... I don't know.. jejeje for example i would have loved that cloud 9 was in the album ...
But I think the album shows a more mature Maaya hehehe cause it's a little darker than usual
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Merri
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Post by Merri »

I think Maaya were more mature by the use and power of voice, but I kind of miss the softness of the earlier albums. I happen to like softer stuff more, though Sora wo Miro for example is a nice change.

When I heard Shounen Alice the first time, I were actually horrified. It took me time to get used to the different style, even though it still recognisable as Maaya-style.
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Stranger
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Post by Stranger »

I didn't like Shonen Alice that much either... There were too many "quiet" songs (i.e. *very* sparse instrumentation - Uchuu Hikkoushi no uta, Chibikko Folk, Okitegami), and too many "pointlessly loud" songs (Sora wo Miro, Wakare no uta), one song ruined by needless extension (Park Amsterdam - the whole story), and only one song which I thought was classic Kanno style rich orchestration with layered instrumentation (Hikari Are).

My favourite album is Dive though, so I would like a return to that style... Lucy's was quite nice too, but I think the album didn't... gel... together as nicely as a whole like Dive did.
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Merri
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Post by Merri »

I might think different if I had more Maaya's albums (I don't listen to songs in album groups, except if I happen to have the cd itself), but with a quick look at the song list, I find atleast five songs I do like a lot. Though, from Lucy I can say I like six - suprisingly hard to try to imagine what an album sounds like as one piece when you've never listened the songs in a particular order.

I have to disagree with Park Amsterdam, since I didn't like the original version: the whole story atleast had more reason to listen to it. Otherwise it'd have been just another quiet song on the album. All the quiet songs you mentioned, they're ones I don't listen much, ie. tend to skip when they start playing from the playlist if I'm not on a listening mood. Scrap ~ Wakare no Uta gets even more rude action, I often skip it immediately when it starts playing :D

I find it interesting they started advertising the album with Hikari Are, since it is most like the older stuff, yet the album itself is quite different. Hmm, anyone happens to know Japanese opinions? Actually, I don't know pretty much anything of Maaya's Japanese fan base.

Anyways, what do you think are the possibilities Maaya goes back to her older style? (seriously, I think I don't know enough by myself to have much idea or even guesses on this)


This message have been written when extremely tired after only some five hours of sleep :maayagrin:
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chibiNekomancer
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Post by chibiNekomancer »

Meep, i tought everyone liked shounen alice, that said in the fact that when it was released it was very popular... now i see it was only because it was new_ T_T

But that is not the point, Shounen Alice is different from the other albums, even if it has weird songs (wich i must say i love all together). My point is, would you have liked this album if it was just another expansion of others albums before it?, maybe this thread would have been "Maaya needs to change her style!"

I like the Shounen Alice songs and without going into my favorites, i think they are just as they are meant to be no? As for future songs, indeed i would request sweet songs (ala neko to inu and dive album! XD).
Neko ga Suki na Anata to
Inu ga Suki na Watashi
-- Neko to Inu, Maaya Sakamoto
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Post by dillpops »

*writing from narita airport*

I thought people liked Shonen Alice too 0_o

I love Shonen Alice it's probably my most listened to Maaya album. Lucy is good but I don't think a lot of the songs are very interesting to me, I skip a lot of them if I'm not pressed to hear the whole album wheras I can listen to all of Shonen Alice bar 'Call to Me' :P

Go Shonen Alice! I think it's good Maaya is developing her style!
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Post by keldo »

I like Dive and Easy Listening (does that count?) the best. I mostly like Alice but I think it is over produced and there is far to much going on in most of the songs. I like the softer ones, especially Chibikko Folk the best. For the next album I would be more real instruments and less syth noise. I would also like to see no English lyrics but that is probably impossible~
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Li_Nickole
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Post by Li_Nickole »

Hi!!! I never said I didn't like shonen alice :maaya: I really like it, but Lucy is still my favourite album cause Kuuki to hoshi, Honey Bunny and Watashi wa Okano Uekara Kabin wo Nageru are in it... I love the softer songs of Shonen Alice, I really really really love Okitegami I love how Maaya's voice sound in it, it makes me cry :cry:
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Post by kaijyuu_m »

FYI -- I wrote the post above.

Merri: This board is a bit weird? Why is my post marked "Guest" when I was already logged in?
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Merri
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Post by Merri »

I have no idea, probably a problem with a cookie. You should be able to see when this happens as when you are writing a message, there shouldn't be "username" field above the "topic" field.
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Tenson
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Post by Tenson »

:) yo!

I think that evolution is good for an artist, and likely inevitable, but...
How will be the style of the next Maaya's album. Well, I don't know. In fact I don't know who has the responsabilities in that: Komadori? Victor Ent.? Kanno-san? Maaya itself? all of then? none? What do you think/know/supose about that?

Well, in case she has a word to say regarding the music style, I think that her music likes and dislikes have evolutioned since Grapefruit, taking actually that "ShonenArisu" direction and the next record will be in the same way.
In case her career is strongly directed, maybe as Maaya grows (she is not already a sweet teen) the target changes, and now, in her twenties, she is focused in another public.


I will follow in a later ocassion 'cause I'm busy those days, so...
To be continued...
:P
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Post by dillpops »

Yeah maybe this is more Maaya's style poking through now she's older and probably has more imput in the style/direction than on her other albums. I mean, technically Kanno is the music and I think a lot of the times since most of us don't speak Japanese the music is the most important part. So swap the singer an duse Yoko Kanno's music and we still like it, huh?

So maybe Maaya's taking more objective and Shonen Alice is the result?

I dunno what I'm saying.
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Tenson
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Post by Tenson »

:evil: Hey, I'm back!!

I've been busy developing a few changes in a software I made the last year, but everything that has a beguinning, has an end :P

What should the next album be like? I really like a Cowboy Bebop style, with songs like 'Blue', 'Is It Real?', 'The Real Folk Blues', 'Call Me, Call Me', 'Rain'... but i think Maaya's voice doesn't fit well that kind of songs :(

I'm not very happy with the 'Park Amsterdam' whole-story-version. I like the original c/w song. I think the album version is nice, but I don't like the way they inserted the new 'material', cutting the song and pasting a very different produced music in the middle of it.

I think the Shounen Arisu album is irregular. It has great moments like Uchuuhikoushi no Uta, Okitegami, Sora wo Miro, Hikari Are and other songs that I allways skeep like 03+ or Hero. But in fact that happens with every Maaya's album, at least for me.
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