Scans shared by ayufan.com.

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Queen of summer

This special season called “summer” with everyone……

There is a special mood that can only be felt during summer. There are songs that we want to sing because it is summer. Deep, rich shadows carved out by the scorching sun. Cumulonimbus clouds obscuring the entire blue sky. Ayu, who understands the cheer of summer, has revealed her summer’s best, chosen together with her fans. This year, ayu brings the real summer to us!

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Summer in Japan is really short. I feel that it’s a really special season. That’s why I want to treasure each day more than any other season.

More than the end of spring, autumn or winter, the end of summer truly feels desolate.

Evening in summer just somehow feels sorrowful. The lively mood during the middle of the afternoon, paired with the sadness of evening. There are songs which can only be sung in this special season.

For “You&Me”, I tried singing about the sorrowful brightness of such a summer. I am laughing, but the tears come anyway. That’s the feeling.

I want to end summer with a smile at a-nation, feeling that “this year was such fun too”. It’ll be great if my summer songs can help to create that kind of fun mood.

Before a live, when I’m on stand-by alone, I always think this. “I’ll surely bring everyone along. I need to have that overwhelming power to bring everyone along.”

Whenever I have trouble with creating a show, I always go back to the idea of “Will the audience enjoy watching this?” Whatever I decide on must fulfill this.

This summer, I hope that the fans will feel that they have played a part in the production of ayu’s summer best.

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Ever since April, she has been touring the country, hosting shows almost every weekend. Before the curtains rise, as she waits on stand-by alone, listening to the audience’s cheers of “Ayu!”, she always thinks:

“I’ll surely bring everyone along. I need to have that overwhelming power to bring everyone along. I concentrate really hard on this. If you’re standing beside me, watching, you’ll probably see my entire self burning up or something (bitter laugh)”

Ayu knows that everyone who comes to watch her lives will be carried along by the extraordinary joy and sorrow, anxiety and suspense of her music and performance. However, when the show reaches its final stage, ayu herself will make it personal. “In the end, it’s everyone”. Without everyone, she won’t be able to create that extraordinary happy, emotional space. It is due to every single person who has gathered at the venue.

“Especially for this year’s tour, I truly feel the presence of “things that can’t be seen”. At first, the concept was to create a hotel on stage, so the ideas were really complicated. Things which I’ve always wanted to do on stage, but never had the chance to make it real, are finally coming to life in this show. And because I love to come up with concepts for the stage, I think up ideas, create designs and direct the whole production until it is finished. My job ends there, but the ones who really have to battle it out during each and every show are the staff. When things are delayed for 2~3 seconds, they find out what’s causing the delay. When a door doesn’t open, when a stairway doesn’t retract, all these things are really so tough to control. When a set unfolds dramatically on stage, the work required behind-the-scenes is about 300 times more than what the audience can see.

Every time the audience enjoys the world created by the show, my heart is filled to the brim (laugh) I’m really so glad that I can put up this tour.”

Holding various records as a female solo artist, Ayu’s recent shows are more than just charismatic coolness. She treasures her comrades and fans, and the feeling of “team spirit” lingers on long after the show has ended. Anyone who watches the show gets a joyful illusion of being a part of “TeamAyu”. Even A SUMMER BEST, which will be released on 8 August, is a compilation of songs chosen by fans’ votes.

“For example, when we are creating the show, the most important thing for the members and tour staff, including myself, is whether the audience will enjoy themselves. That is everything. It doesn’t matter whether we may enjoy doing something ourselves, as long as the audience have fun, we will do whatever we can. If there is something which we believe the audience will truly enjoy, no matter what it is, we’ll do it. A SUMMER BEST was compiled this way too. As all the songs inside were picked based solely on votes, it becomes a good memory of how everyone created an album together. That’s why, I hope that the fans will feel that they have played a part in this production.”

For ayu, there are many songs which summer brings to mind. Just why is summer such a special season for ayu?

“Summer is Japan is short, isn’t it? That’s why I want to treasure every single day. And when summer ends, it feels more desolate than the end of spring, autumn or winter. More lonely. More sorrowful. This is a feeling that only comes with summer. When spring comes, we wait for summer. During the rainy season, everyone thinks of the shining sun, wondering when fair weather will come again. When July arrives, simple sunny weather can make us happy. However, when it comes to mid-August, we think “Oh, summer is ending! Ending, ending……” (bitter laugh) Summer will come again the following year, but we still feel so much sorrow at the end of this summer. It makes me want to cry. (laugh) Why does it feel so sad? That’s why, summer is always special, and songs that can only be sung during summer will always be born out of me.”

She will be performing on the finale of a-nation in end-August. With this best album, ayu brings along an extraordinary summer, and during this annual music festival, she will sing her songs and announce the end of her beloved summer. Summers with ayu’s songs are hot, intense, fun, but also somehow sad.