Single Review: Ayumi Hamasaki – Aurora

I knew when Ayumi Hamasaki released “Bye-Bye” and I said it was good, that the follow-up single would probably not match it in quality, let alone better it. And, now here we are with the follow up “Aurora”. And it’s certainly not a bad song. Not by a long shot. It’s just…whatever.

Ayumi Hamasaki – Aurora | Avex Music Creative Inc.

Hamasaki has long been in this state of putting out pretty middling music. I have never been a huge fan of her music, even back when it was charting high and going toe-to-toe with Hikaru Utada’s releases on the Oricon charts. But even so, I can acknowledge that the general quality and approach that Hamasaki had to her music back then was different to what it has been for the past decade. Hamasaki has always been the type of artist to play it pretty safe. And even when she took ‘risks’, it was still within the realm of something she could conceivably do. Rarely did she put out a song which felt like it was so far removed from anything she’d ever do. But now, it feels like Hamasaki is completely averse to even trying something new and it’s placed her music in a bit of a rut.

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.

Ayumi Hamasaki – Aurora | Avex Music Creative Inc.

“Aurora” follows a template and does something which Hamasaki has done for years now, which is to take elements of a ballad and a thrashy uptempo song, then clusterfuck them together—as per songs such as “End of the World”, “Never Ever”, “It Was” and “It This Love?”

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~”.

Ayumi Hamasaki – Aurora | Avex Music Creative Inc.

Despite my issues with the B-section, “Aurora” is a really nice song. As per “Bye-Bye” it’s a solid take on something Hamasaki has done before. But the problem is, that whilst “Bye-Bye” felt like an improvement and a clear refinement of songs Hamasaki had done in the past, “Aurora” is neither of these things. It’s a nice song. But it doesn’t add anything. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table. I can’t see “Aurora” being a song which will be remembered or being a fixture in live shows the way a song like “Bye-Bye” has the potential to. Not every song needs to be something which will stand the test of time and be a fixture. It’s fine for a good song to be a good song. But at this point in Hamasaki’s career, it would be nice to have her release songs which show growth and go some way toward building upon her legacy, as opposed to just releasing material which makes her come off as a relic of the past who is stuck there and cannot move forward.