ALBUM REVIEW: MY STORY by Ayumi Hamasaki

This was definitely one of the albums that really pulled me into Ayu’s discography along with “RAINBOW”. Despite me criticizing the shit out of it as you’ll see soon lmao. The slayage of “INSPIRE” and “Moments” got me stanning instantly. Some of the songs are amazing and I am here to give my little two cents on them. I have seen some mixed opinions on this album on how there are too many mid-tempo songs and that it gets a bit repetitive and boring ... which I do agree with. Most of these tracks are good on it’s own I guess, but when it’s placed back to back on this album, they’re not very good. The album starts out so strong only for it to get worse as the album keeps playing.

ROCK SECTION

I want to start with the first section of the album, which is the rock section. I am specifically going to highlight the excellency and perfection of “GAME”. It starts out quiet and beautiful, but then out of nowhere, the beat kicks in and it turns into a rock song. The verses and the chorus are incredibly catchy. I am a big fan of the vocal effect used during the verses. That really changed the song and made it a great ass banger. This was definitely better than “INSPIRE” so I wish it was pushed as the a-side instead of the b-side, but I can see why it was released the way it was.

“About You” and “my name’s WOMEN”. My gosh, she really devoured the rock section of her album and deserves so much praise. The beginning of “About You” made me think “yeah this is gonna be one hell of an album” only to be a bit let down by the mess that is tracks 14, 15, and 16. “About You” is like the cute sister of “GAME”, but literally everything about “GAME” is just better and overshadows it.

I do laugh at the title “my name’s WOMEN” but this song is actually a feminism anthem. Definitely my least favourite amongst the three rock tracks at the beginning, but it is 10 times better than the pop section.

BALLAD SECTION

The ballad section consists of 6 songs, all back to back. This isn’t another A BALLADS album Ayu ... But anyways, “Liar” isn’t really a ballad but it was grouped in as one and it’s honestly a really forgettable song. I don’t have much to say about the ballad section, but I must let everyone know that Ayu hit the SLAY button with “Moments” and “walking proud”. “Moments” is such a gorgeous song and there were mass hospitalizations. On a side note, the music video was honestly weird and I didn’t like it. This and “walking proud” is real music. I have no idea what’s going on in the music video for “walking proud” but it was nice. Those were the only 2 songs that were worth putting on the ballad section actually, she had so many filler tracks it’s crazy.

POP SECTION

After the gorgeous ballad section of the album, we got the worst section, that is the pop section. I don’t know why she did this but it is so bad I want to give her a zero, but that’s not possible so I give her a 1. Before the pop section officially began, she threw in “INSPIRE” which was a serve. That song is too good to be placed in the pop section and deserved better.

Now diving into this trash section. Sorry to the HONEY stans out there but this song is ass. It is cute, yeah, but extremely cringe. I admit that I do sing along to it when it comes on (cuz she does know how to make catchy songs) but this song is just not to my liking. This song also ruins the entire flow of the album and I wish this song was not placed in this album at all. And what do we have after “HONEY”? We have “Replace” ... which is not inherently a bad song but what purpose does this song have on the album?? Then next up is “winding road” which is really boring. There is nothing special about this song and could have easily been cut from the album entirely. I genuinely think these three songs should have never made the cut. She should have made “&” a non-album single and include “No way to say”, “forgiveness”, “ANGEL’S SONG”, “Because of You” and “Memorial address” into the “MY STORY” album instead. Here is how the track list would look like:

01. Catcher In The Light
02. About You
03. GAME
04. my name’s WOMEN
05. Memorial address
06. Moments
07. walking proud
08. CAROLS
09. Kaleidoscope
10. INSPIRE
11. ANGEL’S SONG
12. Because of You
13. No way to say
14. forgiveness
15. Humming 7/4
 

Now that’s better! Yeah maybe “ANGEL’S SONG” is like a pop song but that shit actually slapped so it gets a pass. With this track list, it would mean the “Memorial address” mini-album would not exist.

After those three messy ass songs she gave us “Humming 7/4”. With those previous three songs I was really worried how the album was going to close, but we did get one final rock track and I guess it makes up for the little pop section that was completely unnecessary. A bit forgettable but it’s not that bad.

INTERLUDES

The two interludes “WONDERLAND” and “Kaleidoscope” ... “Kaleidoscope” was a serve while “WONDERLAND” was a whole ass mess yikes. “Kaleidoscope” was actually better than any of those pop tracks and it’s actually really sad how an interlude is better than actual songs. And I have no comment or opinion about “Catcher In The Light”.

 

Overall, this album is not her best clearly. She needed to make that ballad section much shorter and remove that pop section. I love her tho, she has much better albums than this one.

 

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS:
1. GAME
2. Moments
3. walking proud
4. Kaleidoscope
5. INSPIRE

ALBUM RATING: 6/10