I wonder if Ayu is actually aware of her career situation.

It feels like she's in a bubble. Surrounded for years by the same people who only compliment her and make her feel like the best thing ever.

Since she's their boss and she's sensitive they can't say anything bad. Their jobs depend on it. But she, in turn, considers them as friends and thinks they're honest.

Just my opinion though.

By getting longevity with the sales of Play, that didn't manage to get all that much sales but charted for over an year, and with her 60s70s80s tie-in. It's not like Namie was ever that big on TV performances since her 90's tragedy.

Her songs haven't got an airplay top 20 for some years now. As they aren't that popular I doubt they got that much airplay on TV either and her maganize appearances lately are for a niche audience.

When she almost lost her streak back during the release of Blue Bird or Glitter (I can't remember) she thanked TA for buying the song. She also add dates to her tours based on the public demand and the only time she actually put far more dates than she could decently sell was AT13. So, if anything, unless she is extremelly dumb, she is aware her tours are shorter than they used to be during early 2010's and knew that she almost didn't get a #1 when breaking the record was still a thing.

Maybe people continue to ask if she's still releasing songs because every time she appears in public she sings the same material over and over again! If I saw an artist continually singing the same tracks every time they appeared on television, I'd think the same thing - that they have no new material to promote because they have ceased recording it. Her behavior is causing the reaction.

Praise Days! :love

Listening to her singing hurts a little bit.

At this point of her life she probably doesn't care AT ALL about her career, I mean with all the achievements, records, fortune she has made she doesn't need to care at all, I mean, she likes to write and sing, and that's what she does, she's just having fun, she doens't need more money, without promotion her albums still charts, she just makes new music for fun and for the fans to enjoy, she doesn't need to prove anything to anyone, if you want to listen, great, if you don't, great, also she's probably releasing as much music as she can before to get completly deaf, idk, that's what I think at least.

i wouldn't say she doesn't care, if she didn't, she would just quit and move on. Everyone is using the term a bit off here. I'd say she's not doing backflips over being number one anymore and proving things to people, she does what she enjoys and if someone follows that - she's happy, and if not - it doesn't matter. She has a status and a streak of records already, i really don't think she needs to get out of her skin for popularity at this point. She's totally aware of everything and is fine with how things are. I dunno why people keep saying she doesn't care about anything nowadays. She's just comfortable in her own skin. That's all there is.

^ Totally agree.

I think she still very much cares about her career, and her art. It has evolved and taken different shapes over the years. She continually puts her all into concerts and trying to one-up herself year after year.

With regards to her music, she is making the music that she wants to. YEARS ago when she was still doing singles, she said she was going to break her cycle of the seasonal singles and doing what was expected. She has always had a rock-leaning side, and that has become more and more prevalent over the years, despite the fact that it is not what the general public wants to hear (from her, or in general). She cares about her career and putting out music that she loves, and that she thinks her fans will love, but what I don't think she cares about is top 40 mainstream radio (or at least not as a primary concern).

Would Ayu love to be all over the place again and selling out dome tours? She probably wouldn't complain. But you're also not going to see her take a step back and go back to being some anonymous mystery, putting out whatever scraps from a US producer her label throws at her. That may work for Namie or others to be completely non-offensive and _generic (and hell, I enjoy plenty of Namie songs as mindless drivel), but you will NEVER see Ayu do that -- she has too much personal investment in her music and her art, even if you/we do not always like the result.

Well she cared enough to choose her career over her marriage twice.

According to RIAJ, Progress just turned platinium : http://aramajapan.com/chart/the-reco...ugust-3/64422/

Maybe I didn't make the correct choice of words, when I said she didn't care I refer more in sales, sorry if it misunderstood, but I agree with these last comments.

Well, it took 5 years to get that. Reminds me of the certification of MY ALL on 2012. I'm super happy for this ngl :love

Hahahah yes :D I am happy anyway!

This. She doesn't have a relationship or kids..all her friends seem to be made through professional avenues..if she doesn't care about her career then what does she care about?

I think she's quite aware.

Hence far more TA stuff in the past few years. It was more than 10 years since her first TA tour, and now we're getting a third one.

I think she could certainly make better song choices, but it's hard to say how much power she really has.

In terms of this MSta Hikki is actually the odd woman out, because her song choice wasn't really a song that's particularly famous in her discography. But her appearance was more about promotion/a comeback--so it's understandable.

I don't know why other artists performed old+new songs. Perhaps because they're more relevant? Even their old songs are from within the past 5 years lol.

I have a hunch Ayu possibly demands a lot for her troupe and herself. She was the last solo female artist to perform, which is really a sign of her success/career. She also had like 30 people with her lol.

I wish she'd choose other songs to perform, and I find it weird she doesn't, but maybe she's insecure about them?

As far as the rock side of things goes, honestly I feel like she's done less and less of it until the most recent album. A ONE had WARNING, the rest was vanilla. LOVE again had Wake me up (a few rock elements) and the rest was vanilla. CoLOURS had no rock whatsoever. I am... was very rock, 1 LOVE was almost a single, alterna was on a single, and look at t2m. And step you/is this love? That was 10 or more years ago. MY STORY was very rock - 2007. I feel she's pandered to vanilla more so than anything past 4 years.

Because she got the best marketing team... I think you might know that namie got a good tie in such as the new death note movie and lots of another things, and even got the best space in shibuya station to promote her genic album, and also the tour at that time...

Reinvention can only happen if there's some form of reinvention. That means being recognised for the music that you do. It's pointless to put out new music if you're not being recognised for it.

It's fine and dandy if we enjoy it within ourselves as fans, and maybe most of us are totally okay with her doing whatever she's doing right now.

But I think she could be so much more.

I feel Ayu's career is like Mariah Carey's one. They both have a great old records, great discography, big sales. But today they both are really below the public eye for new music. I think is an artist and bad publicity fault, bad choice of trends or just bad management. Namie Amuro in the other side changes her music style like her clothes, make such great tie ins, all around her persona is very intriguing and secret. Like a fan of Ayu and Mariah I still love the music they make, but I recognize that the other people aren't aware of it in any way,with such borings Pvs and concepts. That's is what sells today.

^ I totally agree (and also love MC).

I think if you look at the biggest pop acts in many places in the world, the most successful ones are usually "mysterious." They may have strong personas, but generally everything isn't known about them, they may not share the strongest opinions on anything, and they leave fans wanting more. Mariah early in her career, same as Ayu, Beyonce, Namie, etc.

When there is a lack of information, fans are able to write their own narrative about an artist they like, and they can fill in the blanks with details that fit their own image of the artist. Once an artist becomes too well-known, generally that fictitious image is shattered and people begin to turn away.

That's not always true, of course, but I think it happens quite a bit.

What about COLOUS? XOXO / Lelio are the definition of generic.

I'll never understand when people complain about Ayu's choices (or even her team) blaming her popularity. Ayu, just like Mariah, will always be an A+ celebrity, she can work with good people, she can have the best if she wants. The concept of her latest releases are quite messy, going for a more indie style of PVs and stuff, but that's probably what she wants.

And why are people so obsessed with the idea of a second peak? Wasn't she so tired when she was basically a recording machine, releasing and touring like crazy? Sometimes I feel like people want to Ayu to have better sales / be "big" again just for the sake of going "yeah, she's a goddess, queen of pop, your faves could never" than just wishing her the best in what she's doing now.

That was my experience in Japan too. Unless they were specifically a fan, most people did not know anything of hers that was past around 2006. It's different for us because we follow every music show, performance, etc. But it's just like here in America, sometimes while randomly watching tv I'll see an artist that I didn't know was still active.

Unless you are actively paying attention specifically for her, you wouldn't really know.

Actually she was constantly on tv between 2001-2005. She has a crazy high amount of tv performances from that time period. Even though her sales were tanking in that period, she stuck with it and the audience eventually caught up. And although Play was great, I feel that it was actually Queen of Hip Pop that was the turning point; that album also charted forever and showed her first upswing in sales in a few years.

Name changed her whole style, look, feel, atmosphere everything and was ahead of the trend a bit. It did very poorly at first but she stuck with it and eventually it came to fruition. What's more impressive though is how long it has lasted.

Ayu doing something similar though would really be a big risk. I mean, it was risky enough when Namie did it, but you also have to consider their ages which I think would be a big detrimental factor to Ayu having a second peak. Namie's second peak began in her early 30s and the impetus began for it in her late 20s. Ayu is already in her late 30s and Japan is quite ageist. Not saying its impossible, but something big would have to change.