This is a move that has me colored with surprise. Normally a company that keeps things very close to its chest, Avex, has just put out twenty-five, studio acapella tracks from J-POP legend, Ayumi Hamasaki for the Ayu Creator Challenge. The release of the acapella tracks goes in conjunction with the upcoming AyuMix 2020. With the rampant spread of Coronavirus, the label stated that they wanted creators who are spending time at home more than ever to still be able to flex those creative muscles and share their creations online using the Ayumi Hamasaki acapella tracks.
Similar to the previous m-flo Tell Me Tell Me remix contest, they have stated that there are absolutely no limitations on how you can express yourself using these acapella tracks, so when you share them on SNS, they’re requesting that you explain what you did with the acapella such as “I played the song with Piano and Guitar”, “I made an EDM remix”, “Collaborated with a Vocaloid P”, or something along those lines with the hashtag #ayumix2020.
This is also a really good opportunity to get some recognition as well, as the best submissions will be featured in a playlist on Ayumi Hamasaki’s official YouTube channel.
There are planned to be 100 songs released as acapella tracks over the coming time, with the first 25 being released today. There are no announcements as to when the next batch will release or what the songs will be on future batches, but the batch that released today contains the following songs:
「poker face」
「LOVE ～Destiny～」
「TO BE」
「Boys ＆ Girls」
「appears」
「Who」（オリジナル・アルバム『LOVEppears』収録）
「vogue」
「SEASONS」
「SURREAL」
「M」
「evolution」
「Dearest」
「Voyage」
「Moments」
「INSPIRE」
「fairyland」
「HEAVEN」
「BLUE BIRD」
「JEWEL」
「Days」
「Love song」
「You ＆ Me 」
「Hello new me」
「Last minute」
「Mad World」
The fact that Avex is doing this shows a very promising nod towards the fans and hopefully, this is something that they continue to do with more of their artists as it not only gives their artists the ability to get a global reach, it also allows them to possibly find new talent which may have yet to be discovered. With that being said, it’s time to get your creative juices flowing and make something with these Ayumi Hamasaki acapella tracks!