CD
CD + DVD
CD + Blu-ray
1) Feel the love
2) XOXO
3) What is forever love
4) Hello new me
5) Pray
6) Terminal
7) Angel
8) Merry-go-round
9) Lelio
10) NOW & 4EVA
ayumi's last album release was last year's LOVE again & in Colours , it only includes 1 physical CD single release Feel the love / Merry-go-round .
In addition , this's ayumi's 1st album not to include any introduction openings and/or interludes . And there're a total of 8 new album tracks with 3 of them that received music videos .
Prominent music personnel such as Rodney Jerkins , Armin van Buuren , Fedde Le Grand , DAISHI DANCE lent their expertise in the production of Colours .
Feel the love is the 1st song in the album & it's the 1st A-side of ayumi's 51th single Feel the love / Merry-go-round .
Described as an electronic dance music number , Feel the love was produced by DJ Hello Kitty & composed by Komuro Tetsuya . Promo wise , it was used in the ads of H.I.S Christmas Fair + as the opening theme song for TBS's CDTV for Dec 2013 & Jan 2014 .
XOXO is the 1st album track & this's 1 of 3 songs that received a music video .
This song is 1 of my fave in the album as it's a bold sassy no. & the music style ayumi went for in here is something she never tried before until now .
What is forever love is the 2nd album track & this song features the vocals of AAA's Urata Naoya . This's the 3rd time Urata collaborates with ayumi , in which previously he also collaborated with her on Dream ON & ANother song (from her 2nd mini album FIVE) .
Just like XOXO , What is forever love is another standout track in Colours & the credit really has to go to DAISHI DANCE for composing this great infectious tune .
In fact before the album credits were released , I somehow had the feeling DAISHI DANCE was the 1 that composed What is forever love as the music style going on is quite similar to other songs that he composed for other artists (such as BENI & Mika Nakashima) . Also I frankly do not mind Urata collaborating with ayumi again as I feel the harmonisation of their vocals is good .
The next song after What is forever love is Hello new me which was 1st released digitally on 14th May prior to the release of Colours .
Hello new me was picked to be used as the theme song for the drama Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi . Up to now , I still think this song's average sounding as there're other better songs in Colours for me to enjoy .
Pray follows after Hello new me & for this , it was used as the theme song for the movie BUDDHA2 Tezuka Osamu no Buddah -Owarinaki Tabi- .
Honestly I think it's a pity that Pray was not released as a physical single as it has a lot of potential to be a good 1 but still , to see it included in Colours , it's better than nothing I suppose as it's 1 of the more better ballads included in the album .
Terminal is track #6 & this song was composed by Armin van Buuren .
With a name like Armin van Buuren , it's easy to see why Terminal is a great bold futuristic track that's perfect to listen to in a club . In fact , an English version of Terminal was also recorded but eventually it was scrapped in favour of the version that was eventually included in the album .
Angel is the 2nd of 3 album tracks that received a video . I like the melody of the song but what didn't made me in liking the track was the way ayumi sings as I did not like the way that she over stretched her vocals a bit too much . If not , this mid tempo ballad would have been something for me to like .
Merry-go-round is the 2nd A-side of ayumi's 51st single Feel the love / Merry-go-round . In this song , ayumi teamed up in working with m-flo for the 1st time .
Described as an hip-hop flavoured dance tune , the melody for Merry-go-round was produced by ☆Taku Takahashi & it features a rap section from m-flo's VERBAL .
Even though there're only 2 collaborations in Colours , I think both of them are well put together . Likewise for Merry-go-round , I still prefer it a lot more than Feel the love & the music direction that was undertaken in Merry-go-round is something ayumi never tried before but it works really well in her favour in here .
Lelio is the 2nd last song in the album & it's also the last track that received a video .
This alongside with XOXO & Terminal are the 3 standout album tracks in Colours , especially Lelio as it's just too infectious & it's downright impossible not to get hooked onto this addictive sounding dance no. . Kudos has to go to Fedde le Grand for composing Lelio .
NOW & 4EVA is the final song in Colours & this was 1st released digitally on 21st May prior to the release of the album .
To me , there's nothing really special going on in NOW & 4EVA as I feel it's quite a boring no. . I suppose after being impressed with the upbeat songs in Colours , the mid tempo tracks do not stand out as much as the other tracks in which unfortunately in this case , NOW & 4EVA was overshadowed quite significantly .
After being in the business for 16 years , ayumi hamsaki released her latest album offering Colours .
I have to admit , her last album release LOVE again is easily my least fave album coming from ayumi as I disliked the way the album was marketed a great deal & the album tracks in her last album were something that were left to be desired about .
But for Colours , there're some really surprising if not great music styles going on in Colours which ayumi never tried before which made things rather enjoyable .
On the other hand , Colours felt really short as this's ayumi's 1st album not to include any instrumental openings and/or interludes in which it feels really odd as all the while her albums are known to have them so for not any of them this time round feels strange & I needed some time to get used to .
Also , this time round not all the new album tracks are good . I noticed that the standout tracks in Colours are the more upbeat ones while the mid tempo ballads are the weak link in the album .
All in all , Colours is not exactly ayumi's best album as I feel it's not an all rounder album as compared to her previous albums but for her to still keep on going in the business after so long , props to her .