![Single Review: Ayumi Hamasaki - Aurora | Random J Pop The header image for the post. Featuring the text ‘?J SINGLE REVIEW’ on the left and an image of a vinyl on the right. The vinyl is of Ayumi Hamasaki’s single “Aurora”, laying on a surface of shallow water. The cover art for “Aurora” features Hamasaki wearing a scarlet velvet dress, with an aurora borealis shining over an ocean behind her.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xGj0f1gLWEet31idT4DSEI8EFNIBh6NmAvFqtYWeG0o8iifWmw4TO5hZkYL9IgDI0zv6uhZfbtiBuGXyfwWRKhlveF2IzFdkiCIl5VCHHdm0mx2vhtUOvI94mboJmuvPiDXM4zFjI_C8Q2hTRR6xCaZlgpBvSXFByi6T5upuh76RensKCOo0NRSubSdF/s16000/20240627%20Random%20J%20Pop%20(Single%20Review)%20Ayumi%20Hamasaki%20-%20Aurora.png)
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Ayumi Hamasaki - Aurora | Avex Music Creative Inc. |
The problem with this holding pattern that Hamasaki is in, is that the songs she releases rarely elicit a strong reaction one way or the other. Her songs aren’t great. But they also aren’t completely terrible. And they’re not memorable. So you’re left wondering ‘What is the point in this song?’. And this is how I feel about “Aurora”. The song is fine. But there’s nothing about it which will make me point back in ten years’ time and go ‘Oh, do you remember that “Aurora” song?’. I’ll probably remember it more for the music video which she shot in front of a green screen and a Marvel vs. Capcom 2 stage backdrop. And it doesn’t help that “Aurora” was released during the Summer, when it would have been better suited more for Autumn or Winter.
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Ayumi Hamasaki - Aurora | Avex Music Creative Inc. |
The verses have one vibe, where-as the B-section and chorus has another. Both sound good, but something about the switch into the B-section sounds off to me, and I think it’s because the B-section sounds like a bridge for the tail end of the song, or an outro. So every time I hear it, it just feels like it’s in the wrong place. It doesn’t break the song or ruin it by any means. It just makes me cock my head each time, because to my ear it doesn’t make sense in a song where everything else does. The verses are nice, the chorus is great, the bridge (or second bridge section rather) soars in all the right ways and really helps to lift the song. It’s just those damn B-sections. The best way I can describe it, is that they feel like they’re sections from another song, interrupting this one. To such a point that I feel that perhaps they should have been left out of the song entirely and been built out into an alternate version of “Aurora”, titled “Eclipse”—similar to what Hamasaki had done with “Sunrise ~Love Is All~” and “Sunset ~Love Is All~”.
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Ayumi Hamasaki - Aurora | Avex Music Creative Inc. |
💿 Ayu music reviews: Singles 23rd Monster | Nonfiction | Summer Again | Bye-Bye | EPs Five | Trouble | Albums Rainbow | Miss(understood) | Secret | Next Level | Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus | Love Songs | Party Queen | Love Again | Colours | Remember You
⏪ Rewind: Revisiting Next Level
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