I don't get it. This should be funny or what?

It's a common thread for that sort of thing in like all Japanese pop artists. It's rare that they have a full hold on things and it's ALL POLISHED.

I agree...
https://i.imgur.com/lOYEE9w.gif

We will see how things go. Not much has happened recently so the team must be really small to avoid having to give paychecks to people when she's mostly touring, so promo staff is like nonexistent aside from like some web intern probably.

Ayu's media team is just a textbook example of lost potential lol It's endlessly frustrating seeing all those slipped opportunities to make better use of her profile and skills. A revamped image for Ayu would do wonders for her public likeability, sales, marketability etc

Spotify is a good start but I would love to see Ayu take a kpop-style marketing approach for a year or two and see where it leads...

Even if she's a bit older than most popular idols she does have a decent handle on English and if she offered timely translations and full versions of her stuff or opened a V LIVE channel with subs etc it wouldn't cost her anything (people can even subscribe to V LIVE now so it could be used to self-fund her experiment) but the time needed to make videos.

V LIVE, PV uploads on YouTube with subs, a few variety slots here or there with her caring for animals, media play about some charity work, run a collaboration album with a few international acts and a small-scale international tour and see where that lands her in a year or two's time.



I was watching Dome Tour 01 today, it was so funny hearing her do her cute nasal voice then shouting normally and going back to cutesy hahaha I had honestly forgot how high pitched it was!

I believe she would be trying to expand if she wanted to expand.

If she isn't, she most likely is happy with where her career is right now.

^ Well said,

We can say whatever we want and wish from Ayu's team, but Ayu seems genuinely happy at this moment. She releases music she likes to make, she is performing a lot... and it feels like these are all her own choices.

Besides that, I think she already set the bar high for J-Pop singers these days. She had her peak, and she still has a career because of it. She is known for a couple of things, and to me it doesn't really matter if she keeps releasing new material that has the same vibe. It won't make a lot of sense if she suddenly changes her image.

I am only just a fan since 2006 and I don't know if I could remember all previous Ayu-releases that clearly, but one vibe I always had is that Ayu was or angry/sad (GUILTY era, Party Queen era) and tried to overcome it with experimental new music (NEXT LEVEL, Rock 'n' Roll Circus). Her latest years, from 2013/2014 onwards, sound way more if she is in a better place. I don't mind this personality of her.
She still makes nice material, she is definetely not playing safe (ambitious tour, acrobatics) and yet she comes over as very relaxed and happy.

Which is good, right?

I’m at the ayu night drag event / dance party. I started to record the first performer but someone told me I couldn’t do it, even though the person ahead of me filming with their phone the whole time. Maybe cause mine was a digital camera.

Anyway someone performed Terminal and it was fucking epic! They mixed with with snippets of ayus vocals from the Morinaga hi-chew cm and I was dying! The performer was handing out hi-chews haha.

Drag is art.

I think these are all valid points. She does give off the vibe of greater happiness. I think people feel so thrown off by this after getting used to seeing someone who was on edge and filled with powerful feelings.

I think there's not much good in asking for more, though I understand why people do it. I do find that my favorite recent songs of hers tend to be the more optimistic ones because they come off as more sincere anymore, which is funny, because I used to see it somewhat the opposite.

tbh I find her recent projects (aside from her tours) to be partially completed. As others have said, if there was more polish and attention to detail, it would make all the difference.

Jeees I had a dream today I stopped interesting in Ayu then when I came back to forums she was realesing an album. We had like 4 full songs and rest was in previews. One was called "tomodachi" and it was for her fans, the music video was just scraps of Ayu interacting with fans/concerts/hotels etc. It was a ballad, but very unique, she was chanting in the beginning in english. The rest was of album was soooo bad, I dont even remember the titles but one was sounding like mix of Lady Dynamite and Warning and I remember how people disliked it here sooo badly. The rest was kinda in Colours electronic vibe with some dubsteps itp and it was sooo boring :D

So........ misono did a cover of Voyage on a TV Show.......... with full blonde wig and the outfit similar to the one ayu used on the cover. I'll just put the link here and won't say a thing about it. lol

https://twitter.com/miixx_xxx/status/934016390075314176

Good that someone who used to be semi relevant is covering her, even if its... this.

She should have sang it in her own voice instead of trying to sound like Ayu tbh. I would have enjoyed hearing her own version.

LOL :roflmao

Oh, errrrrr...........that's, uhm............I guess I can appreciate the gesture. I think it would have sounded just fine in Misono's actual voice, though.

I would rather watch Ayu's last Music Station performance than watch that again.
Ayu sounds better than that, even on a bad day.
Awful.:shakehead

Wow, that was awful. But nice gesture I guess :usaidwat

I don't know if it was live or pre-recorded, but unlike Ayu she was pitch-perfect and didn't shout. Ayu's rendition of Voyage has been painful for years tbh.