Hamasaki Ayumi - talkin' 2 myself

Hamasaki Ayumi isn't afraid of making rock songs and when she does she is very good at them; they just don't seem to appear as often as insipid RnB ballad efforts. Imagine the happiness then, when all the buzz around her latest single was that it was both very good and a rock single - i.e. not just one rock song and then a retreat to dullness.

talkin' 2 myself is one of Hamasaki Ayumi's heavier songs with powerful bassline and strong, thumping electric guitars. The hard rock sound and lower key suits her voice wonderfully. The chorus is a little lighter, relieving one of the metal guitars for a few moments and picking up the tempo. It is not instantly catchy but it is definitely one of Ayumi's more interesting songs and it might just appeal to a few rock fans who would otherwise turn their noses up at her ballad/eurobeat style. That is not to say talkin 2 myself is a completely new style though as tracks off of (miss)understood contained Is this love...? and Alterna, which both further proved how well the heavy rock sound suits her vocals.

Hamasaki Ayumi knows how to make a single flow and not pack it with too many different styles, as some other artists have recently done. The second track, decision, fits somewhere between the new style of talkin' 2 myself and a more traditional Ayumi sound, which can be heard in the somewhat grand chorus and in the minor key shift during the bridge. The use of strings complements the electric guitars and the drums do not intrude into the music. Then stripping the verses of the electric guitars to introduce them dramatically later in the verse creates interesting changes of pace. decision stands well against talkin' 2 myself and could itself even be a worthy A-side.

fated provides the ballad for the single. There seems to be an unwritten rule in Jpop that if an A-side is fast then at least one B-side must be a ballad. This version of fated puts a rather enchantingly sung Ayumi ballad to a full orchestrated backing. Her vocals are smooth with a number of lower notes that give her voice an authenticity she cannot get when she screeches a ballad. Ayumi makes so many of these and most are dull, but fated was beautiful already and the orchestrated melody further enhances the track into a genuinely gorgeous song.

The single concludes with instrumental versions of talkin' 2 myself and decision.

For an artist who releases so much material on a constant basis, it is hard for Ayumi to be perfect all the time. However, occasionally she will release an incredible single amongst a lot of average material. talkin' 2 myself is one of these. The most recent Ayumi releases around Secret have been fairly uninspiring, with the exception of fated, but perhaps she was saving herself for this. It is a highly accomplished single with songs that complement each other well and feels entirely complete.