Tomochin doesn't have the core fanbase that ayu had though. The fact that their spots are so close to each other is more a commentary on ayu's place now.

But I'm actually proud of Tomochin even though I'm not really a fan. I first heard about her album on twitter because the models I follow were all posting about purchasing it. And I listened to some of the songs (and after I got over her voice XD) um...they're not bad at all. Some of them are really good!

As much as I love my crazy deep, artistic music, I'll always have an appreciation for fun and great entertainment, and I think a lot of people do.

I think it's great for her that she's juuuuuuuussttt behind Ayu. If life was great, and the industry wasn't so toxic for females, she might even be beating out people like Ayu.


Anyways, deli <3 and sympathy for maikaru~

This.
Tomomi's album is what LOVE again was to Ayu. She released most of the songs in the album before, and just included 4 new ones.
It's, what I like to call, a "let's clean to closet" album and a "cover letter" at the same time.
A year ago she was still in AKB, and she just turned 23, so she still has plenty of time to develop.

Can you link me to these SEVERAL TV appearances? Cause all I've seen is this performance.
A medley would've been way better. Dear J > BRIGHTER > SWAGGALICIOUS > Crush.

Oh, well! In any case, she remembers how she started, how AKB started:

AKB wasn’t big in the beginning either. It was through the little efforts that made them as big as they are today.

So don't worry. She'll stay around. :love

---

As for Ayu. The album doesn't really have an "album" feeling. How can XOXO, Pray and Terminal be on the same album? For real.
The songs aren't bad per se, but I'm never in the mood to listen to the whole thing, with all those changes.
If I listen to XOXO, I go to Gaga, JLo stuff later (Red One and all that).
If I listen to Pray, I go to her other ballads.
And on and on.

I'm super proud of her for including Lico in one of her PVs though. :yes

She's still #5 today. Less than 15k..

LOVE again's 2nd day was 11,010 so if it's around it then it's pretty great that ayu doesn't drop/barely drops between years/albums (2013-2014).

Question if it's really around LOVE again's numbers or in the single thousands.

Yup... perhaps it sold more than LOVE again 1st&2nd day already :bchuck

Which would be a complete contradiction to whatever has been said on the last few pages, but we cannot know for sure. I prefer to wait. I still expect for the "worst".

About some of the things that has been said on the last few pages though. I'm sure that the Japanese are not interested in ayu enough for years so it really doesn't matter what ayu would do, great or aweful (talking about music/visual work/performaces). She is not at a state that the Japanese audience cares enough for it, so she doesn't have to care and deliver what they want, so she finally does the things her way how she wants them. You can love it or hate it. Also, if her sales are not going to drop by a huge amount, it pretty much means that she and her team did a good job getting what they wanted (to try to maintain as much sales as possible) and not shove her to the public to make her popular again, ayu is CLEARLY not interested in it, or else she wouldn't have a choice but to do things differently, wether people like it or not, it's not the problem with ayu's actions, it's the problem with how people/fans recieve it around here (because in Japan except for mainly her fanbase no one cares). And well, except for namie (which is on a different path) there are no other artists that are as veteran as ayu that are still accomplishing that she does, so it's now like she is in a hell state, nor interested in a heavenly one. People also choose to ignore of her capability of making loads of money and with no relation of money for her great perfomances (didn't a lot of people were amazed at Angel's performance?) and still being capable of having a huge crowd per year (and most money comes from it).
The SHOWCASE itself was the main promotion point of the album and if ayu doesn't end up seliing 40,000 in total with it then it did the job. Overall the SHOWCASE should have brought her around 100,000 attendants.

And that's without mentioning Hello new me's digital decent success (hopefully enough to be certified gold).

I totally understand the disconnecion here or distant getting between fans to ayu, but there are many differences between it, her state in Japan, and if the work she does is good or bad.

Rather than people (besides myself), I take artists as a validation on critisizing ayu's work, like the people who work or wants to work with her (Big producers like Red One and Darkchild, even Fedde le grande who's coming to my country for a summer party event, DJing with artists like Aviici and David Guetta, m-flo who are big into artists who make high quality music and like less others that make music just because, namie and kuu who go to see ayu's concerts from time to time). How come these artists don't feel the disconnection and "aweful" work ayu does?

And really, Lelio made me enjoy music like I haven't been for a long time (including ayu herself).


Adding that about the fact that tomomi's album has only 4 new songs, if anything that fact should HELP her because in Japan they love compilations, better than original albums and if it's mainly made of singles then it should even play better for her so it's a reason to sell better in japan, not the opposite.

I wonder why people says the album sucks and blame ayu for that now we have the oricon numbers, but 2 weeks ago everyone seems to think its average/good. It's like base your opinion of the quality of the album in the sales it has.

About promotion, there are lots of billboards in Tokyo, an exhibition in Tower Records and PV's were released on TV as always(?), also the showcase with "free" cds is promotion, the showcase itself. Let's wait till the weekend with the final dates. I think there will be a boost in sales.

I am only sad because I used to love her TV performances. It seems the last incidents she had made her think about not have any... But on the other hand she deserved some rest and enjoy life with whoever she want. Just with royalties she earns enough money to live forever, even her luxury life lol

These numbers. Look sad. I concur with Maikaru and Delirium-Zer0's posts.

That said, I can't fault people for losing interest and not enjoying Ayu as they did before because the exact same thing happened to me. I don't look forward to her releases anymore. It's just like, oh Ayu has a new album, nice. I listen to it and feel like I don't even want to listen to it for a second time. Or buy it. It's not that I feel the music became horrible or so.

It's just that I don't feel any emotions when listening.

No - yay, I want to listen to this more and more and more.
No - I wonder what kind of PV Ayu created for this song.

All I feel is indifference. It's depressing.

The point is that sales wouldn't be any different/better if this whole forum would drool over it and it would make people feel it brightly. =)

That's true. But then Ayu would still have her long time supporters on her side. But you're right, she probably doesn't care.

I agree with a lot of what you say if not all of it.

And I really do think a lot of her music is still much better than that of other artists and groups. Which is why I listen, I still enjoy her music. Even though it's very different from the music of my other favorite artists. I like her image for the booklet and the cover is fine minus the font. But the image overall is flawed due to the usage of everything and the pvs.

I like reasonable critique of ayu like this and what a few other members have. Some other stuff is like, really? Like when someone complains about an American. I just don't study those people. But otherwise I understand a lot of different perspectives especially different personal feelings. It's sad but true stuff

The thing is the album isn't labelled as a "Best of", but as "1st album", so it doesn't get that kind of promotion.

I agree with the rest of your post though. I feel Ayu's been doing pretty much what she likes for a couple of years (I'd say since the (miss)understood era).
The thing is, these songs would have sounded much better as stand-alone songs, IMO.
If she had turned this into a 5-week-string-single release or something (with the PVs and some performances here and there), I think more people would have checked it out. But an album out of the blue without any sort of cohesion... I'm not feeling it.

Tomomi has her own scandals and she's not liked very much. Her plastic surgery pictures that float on the internet don't help at all. And never equate "Tomochin" with Ayu because they were in two very separate places at two very very separate times.

Like you guys, I am 100% not trying to be like "AYU SUCKS AT EVERYTHING" but at the same time I am 100% sad because I see the long term effect this has on her career.

She says she wants to continue singing, but it seems so effing sloppy and last minute. I know that it probably wasn't, I know. But that's how it seems because the production is so not on par. I get that we all have varying opinions on her voice, so I won't talk about that anymore, but the I'm getting some extremely mixed messages from Ayu and I'm tired.

Back to the long term effect. We all know that she has had trouble selling out even Osaka, and you guys, that's a big deal. Osaka is the second largest city in Japan, and I know there were many factors involved, but there are over 8 million people living in the Osaka area, you couldn't find 15,000 people who would go to the hall? I am so so so scared.

With the way this album sounds and the results of the chart, and the attendance records, I don't know how long this will go on before Avex pulls the plug and stops giving her money. First and foremost, Avex is a business, and if it starts losing money, that's it. Ayu is in trouble, that's what I feel. I honestly think she's actually started doing this all with her own money too. I can't honestly imagine Avex pouring all this money so that she could go off to LA, bring her dance crew, and produce less-than-professional videos. Was there ANY REASON AT ALL for Lico to be in the XOXO video? No.

She needs to start showing that she cares. Not just say it. Go out there, do promotional activities, meet your fans, do whatever the EFF IT TAKES. Show the fans that you actually care, and don't make empty promises like having two fans on a song that you record during your 10th Anniversary. Where is that song anyways? Need I say more?

BRB GUYS GOTTA BE EMOTIONAL AGAIN. I feel like my childhood has been lost LOL

Wasn't the Osaka thing only on the date that wasn't the weekend? I didn't see anything after that or that there was a problem with the weekend dates unless if I missed it.

You can also not know how much money ayu does/is helping make with the tours/goods, releases and digital royalties she does, so we can't know that ayu has to put her own money into stuff she does yet as well.

Hell why taking a song of her for a drama again if she is that bad to use? They could easily replace her with a better choice if they would see fit. And that has nothing to do with avex since after the 1st season they owed them nothing. As much as the japanese are not interested in her anymore, it still doesn't look like she is in a certain aweful state or what not. Looking at the Tales of Xillia tie-ins as well and both songs sold over 100,000 digitally.

Btw the 2nd season has an average rating of 12.9 (first season was 12.4 with how beautiful you are that sold over 100,000 digitally) with no relation to ayu lol. But Hello new me seemed to do well on recochoku. Even better than the new ballada versions of namie's Ballada album.
I also see that it's still #6 on the albums ranking, wasn't it up for download 2-3 weeks already?

Anyway, yeah, things don't look bad for her, not that she has to use her own money, but we can never know if she does unless if she tells us.

I'm also interested to know how does things she does are last minute, if she was working on this album like 6 months in advance (if didn't have plans and started even earlier). Still, I can get people who didn't like the album, and it's their right and just natural, but some of the reasonings are just plain look like "just for the sake of...". You don't like the music/art/PVs look aweful. It doesn't mean as a fact that ayu doesn't care, ayu didn't put effort and ayu didn't work hard on it, because that would be a lie. It can feel to you like she didn't, but state it as a fact and throw lazy at her every two lines is just isn't right.
Especially since she worked on both album and the SHOWCASE, and you can't say that the things she does there are lazy too.

ayu should care about making music, not to feed fans with a golden spoon.

Does her album get sold at her concert dates? Do people buy it there? Does it count less? Just wondering.

Also, someone asked why there was reason to have Lico in the XOXO pv. That's probably the nicest part of that pv. Starring Lico. I don't know what it's like for the transsexual community in Japan but I know here, it's nice to feature a transsexual performer. I remember someone saying here that she should have just had one of her other female dancers. But that's the problem. That's why I like that it's Lico.

Well it's not new that ayu love the LGTB and transexual community and supports it. =)

Last time I checked oricon count 30% of sales at live venues, but they usually don't really help to boost sales, maybe because most people that go to the live already got it.

Yes, the albums are sold at the venue, and yes, it does count less (1/3) in Oricon. Colours mostly didn't go through this and I curious to see how her new marketing strategies will affect the final sales.

I dont understand the problem here, I´m happy that she isn´t that girl from "Alterna" MV. She knew if she keep that way she will be thrown away like a doll. I´m glad she keeps making music. I love this Cd, Lelio, Xoxo I have so much fun listening to it, actually are the first songs that my parents sings when I listen to it. So... She "just wanna have fun like a girl does"

1st Week

2nd Day

Position: #5

I kinda disagreed with you the point that no one is feedback to ayu of what she shouldn't do, or what she should have done... IMO, i think those recent albums are mainly 90% idea came from ayu, but not because she doesnt have anyone to guide her... Rather, I think she is producing what she wants, instead of what the company wants (that would probably suits most of the people around)...

I might be very wrong, but yrs ago, I think that ayu has revealed too much of herself to us (she used to be like someone who doesnt really care about anything, a super cool person)... and that results the loss of the mysterious-ness in her... (I rmb someone in this forum mentioned bout this as well...). And I think, it also gotta do with the fact that she does not want to be treated as a product. Irony, this didn't turn out to be quite right... Coincidentally, her voice also become deeper as each yr goes on...

Now, I think she is living the way she wants, and she's enjoying it (i think at her stage of life, probably she needs someone who loves her, and that's more than enough?) But still, I think that she is putting her very best in giving the best quality music to us... Just that, it's in her way of doing so, rather than following to the company's way... Furthermore, I think despite her low popularity, she should still have a much say in the company...

I think you're pretty optimist when you say she'll stay around, don't you know most of AKB soloists are defunct? :tired Just to name a few: Oshima Mai, Ono Erena, Kuramochi Asuka, Iwasa Misaki, Ogu Manami and Matsui Sakiko. :shakehead face it

Also the status of other solists are very questionable like Kashiwagi Yuki (she only do lives), Takahashi Minami (1 single released only?) and Maeda Atsuko (3 more singles and she's done, same as Itano Tomomi :rolleyes)

The only one with future is Watanabe Mayu, I believe her soloist career will be resumed once she graduates from AKB

And I said several TV appareances, not performances

I completely agree with this, I really think that all of what you wrote is what happens in reality and how ayu acts. I think that people should just accept it and feel ok if they disconnect from her because of it or don't like stuff she does.

Very interesting conversation here.
I wonder if it's true she's doing what she wants and nobody dares to defy her, or (like a lot of people used to say not too long ago) she's too much influenced by others and now her tastes and way of doing things kind of changed.

I know most people won't bother to read this since I'm not one of the 'popular' members nor and I one of the outspoken ones but here is what I have to say:

It is interesting to see everyone's point of view and I respect most of them (even the negative so don't even try to twist my words). Honestly I feel some of you should say something to her about it whether it be on TA or Twitter. We know she acknowledges fans on Twitter so I don't see any harm as long as it's done in a professional manner. I think maybe if someone were to spark the conversation about the 'yes men' and feeling like Ayu has lost her way then maybe a bit of the old OCD Ayu would come back?

Maybe fans could give her ideas on how to connect with them again? Maybe another LINE event (that was it wasn't it?) or even do a fan meeting events like she did during the promotion of Party Queen. Also I think appearing on radio shows would be a great idea. I think Ayu has the ability to create another big J-Pop Queen era for herself but I think at the same time I think her entire team needs to revaluate how they work.

As for TV I definitely agree she needs to be more visible on that platform. While she may not have the strongest vocals her stage presence and energy certainly makes up for it. Look at the a-nation footage for example. Both fans and non fans go crazy when she appears on stage. There is something about her that makes people happy, remember all the fan she met oversea and how they felt when meeting her even when they had met her before? I feel this is a sign she needs to perform on T.V. shows again and not just one or two at the end of the year.

As for all the other side work like magazines, eye lashes, contacts, ect. I think an overhaul could possibly be done here as well and maybe we should also tweet her new stylist for this aspect. As far as magazines go The think the amount she appears in them at the time of album releases is generally good however I think she should make some change. With someone as versatile as Ayu when it comes to fashion she could easily wear styles in all different price ranges like she used to. As for the other stuff like eye lashes, she needs to forget those little throw away projects. However I think she should still do photo books. If I'm not mistaken all the ones that she has released have been well received so if she want's to put her feet in the fashion world more I think that is the route she should go.

Ugh...sorry that was so long. I just needed to say what I was thinking. As for this album, I personally like it. The flow was a little odd at first but I'm okay with it now. I can honestly say I'm intrigued by the PVs and choice of album covers. I love the covers but I almost wish they were slip cases and the red out fit against the brick wall would have been the cover underneath but I'm not the Ayu or the Art Director so my opinion on this really doesn't matter. After writing this and reading over everyone's comments I have to say I liked being in this line of work and I'm happy I'm slowly getting back into it.

Honestly I don't know if the tv performances help to increase the sales. When she was on that SMAP show, she had many negative comments. And when she sings, there are thousands of comments saying she is a grandma with a horrible voice.

And avex is doing some promo with the bus and billboards, obviously they care, but maybe they can't get magazines and TV performances for ayu now.

She needs to do some fan-meetings, she needs to show that even if she lives in LA, the fans are important.

IMO

I don't understand why people say ayu doesn't care anymore. She obviously doesn't care about her popularity or Japan's opinion of her. If she really cared about where her album would be on Oricon, she would do something to promote it apart from her usual tour.
But musically speaking, it's obvious to me she still cares. And she's just doing whatever she wants, without thinking about what's popular in Japan right now, or what would cater more to the public, what would make her sales increase. She worked with different producers for this album, some pretty famous ones in popular music, and even if the results are not pleasing for everyone, the songs are a reflection she's trying something different and expanding her horizons, something she didn't do for a while in her carreer. She's also trying the rope thingy in her shows, which is something that's totally out of her comfort zone. This is proof enough to me that she still thinks her carreer is important, she just doesn't feel like being #1 is the focus of her artistic life right now.

LOLWAT
Let me enlighten you:

Oshima Mai was never serious about her solo career. She started after she graduated.
Ono Erena was butthurt that she left AKB and tried to come back to showbusiness. Failed greatly and is retiring now.
Kuramochi Asuka just released a single cause she won some contest.
Iwasa Misaki has an ongoing career. It's enka, so don't expect much from it.
Oku? Really? She released a single in 2007 and you consider that a career?
Matsui Sakiko is a freaking pianist. What the hell do you expect from her? lol

The only careers AKS has been serious about are Tomochin's, Acchan's, Mayu's and Yuki's. And ALL OF THEM have had better sales than Ayu in singles as of lately. Check your facts. :mischief

And Takahashi has just released a single cause she's the freaking leader of the whole thing. Like she has time.

So yes, I do think Tomochin will continue her career for a while. If Ayu is, why can't she?

And that signature screams BUTTHURT, btw. The fact that people feel threatened by a newcomer and feel the need to stress the fact that THE ALMIGHTY AYU TOPPED TOMOCHIN... :rolleyes:roflmao

She should be more concerned about her popularity if she can't fill arenas to accommodate her extravagant stage shows.

I mean, I could care less. I don't need the smoke & mirrors glitzy circus shows and if she just did shit like Limited TA Tour 2003, that'd be cool with me. But is she okay with that? Is she prepared to scale down? She's putting on these extravagant stage shows, yet can't even fill an arena in Osaka? It's just not really a good sign.

lol where are the AKB stans coming from tho?

We shouldn't exaggerate with the can't fill in arena in osaka thing since it was just 1 date, the Japanese fans themselves said that it's probably because it was in the middle of the week and not on a weekend (which is irregular) and well, there weren't overload of newspapers reporting that ayu couldn't fill an arena lol.
I'm also sure avex planned in advance and could see it, it was probably worth it anyway or they would just cancel/not plan this date.

If seiko matsuda sell 2000 for an album and can fill arenas, I wouldn't worry about ayu just yet.

Seiko's new album last month debuted at #5 and sold 20,000 copies.

Really? I wonder what sparked it, that's new. Her sales are still lower than ayu's since ayu's debut at least and she fills arenas.=P

It will always be that thing the number of people that go to shows is bigger than people who purchase CDs.

I mean, even without that Osaka date the SHOWCASE overall has 110,000+ attendants. That's loads of money for ayu/avex and I can definitely see why they keep doing big shows for her in big venues with the possibility of many attendants. Why would they stop it?

So what? she's an AKB soloist after all and she was a front line member!

Sorry I forgot Ohori Megumi. And Tomomi's and Acchan's last singles sold like 45k each, ayu's "Angel / Lelio" sold over 60k ;) check your facts

Because for example Itano's sales drop rate is -33% per single
On the other hand Ayu's sales drop rate is only -16% per single (Since BLUE BIRD)

Itano's next single will sell like 30k and the next one after that 20k and then it's over

@Coelacanth
The concert being mid-week may be a good enough reason for not selling out... She usually books her gigs for weekends, doesn't she?

About the AKB stans... Ayu is so irrelevant and so low right now that other fandoms feel the need to spend their time coming over here and remembering us how unimportant she is! :P

I was in tsutaya and I was going to buy the album but the songs make me a bit too depressed and ¥3000 for 10 songs isn't a good deal for someone on a tight budget I think.

But lemme tell y'all. I was on the jr going home from shinjuku. Was supposed to meet friends at some Starbucks at shinjuku but there's literally 17 billion different Starbucks around there. So I never found them, got pissed (mainly due to insane jet lag) and went home. But when the jr stopped at shibuya, I saw an ad for Colours and immediately got off. The same long lengthwise ad that was posed in a different thread by another member. I was like, time to go see Ayu at the tsutaya. It was irresistible.

Y'all both honestly sound ridiculous. Please go find another thread to be in lol. Why can't y'all be nice like in the AYU48 thread. Trying to argue over the success of ayu and akb soloists and defending them when they aren't doing well....like it matters.


Considering how much people like to say ayu is shit and act like she's at the bottom of the j-pop world, it's not surprising that some fans were surprised that she placed where she is. It's not that serious.

I don't unverstand why a lot of people spend their time coming here every single day to say bad things about ayu, that now she is irrelevent, etc... If you got nothing good to say, just don't say a word please. I'm really upset about all this annoying things that have been flooding this threads. Today I came here thinking that I could catch some good conversation but it was all the same thing, a lot of people saying that ayu doesn't sell like she used to, that her concerts are flopping bla bla bla. I really love this forum but I don't think I'll be able to stay here if people who were supposed to support ayu in the first place continue to slash her this way.

The only thing that's annoying me about the low sales is that this is such a good album and more people should be listening to it! I'm sure there's many that have bought it digitally or illegally downloaded it but I feel like this album deserves to reach more people because it's very, very good (imo)! :P

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way :(

Why the people who doesn't care about ayu anymore still come here to comment and write long-ass texts about how irrelevant she is and how much they don't care about her anymore?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wocSa-jbce...y-confused.gif

I didn't realize that one could only be a fan and post here if they absolutely worshiped every release and everything Ayumi did no matter how poor they thought it was.

^Read, read, read, do it again...

Nobody is complaining about people who disliked the album, people are complaining about some users who didn't like anything in more than half a decade and still show up to write long ass texts about how much they dislike her now AND about people who never liked her to begin with, comes to the forum to take part on the Asian Music Chat and only leave that part of the forum when there's a new release so they can troll.

I think they just get tired of the ridiculous people. I get tired of them on both sides, stans and haters alike. However, some constructive criticism and expressing legit personal struggles with ayu, I can get.

I know fans like to feel like they're being attacked for either being too positive or too negative. But really. If you just look at the other person's perspective you'll usually get why they may seem frustrated with negativity. It's usually when the interesting constructive criticisms and comparisons sometimes gets washed out by the rudeness of some people who literally clearly do not like ayu and just have all these unchecked biases, close-minded uninformed views, never look at the big picture or small details, too clouded by nostalgia (which isn't necessarily bad), make unreasonable comparisons with other artists, and don't want to see anything positive. and are sometimes just plain prejudiced about certain aspects of her life. Those people.

I've seen so many people here say the most compelling things about ayu's career and give thoughtful criticism. And then there's just the bs.

^Yeap. Nobody is actually fighting with the people who simply disliked the release. Nobody is even fighting with people who disliked the last 2 or 3 albums...

I haven't had a chance to come to AHS for a while and today I stopped by and saw this discussion... It's interesting to see this in an Oricon thread.

I feel after 2010, Ayu's team has been changed. :( The marketing is not as good as before. Even the TeamAyu magazine's beautiful cover design has completely changed. It used to be hand drawings that relate to a single or album cover, but after vol. 35 it changed completely. IMO her drop of fans also happened in 2012 and 2013. Public image, voice, and the poorly executed 5-consecutive release.

^Her sales are falling since A Best...

Honey, if somebody hates everything ayu does since 2006, he/she is no longer a stan, a fan or anything. There's no point in commenting about her or even come in this forum.

I come to this forum to get informed about Ayu and discuss about her, her work, etc. I'm fucking tired of reading bullshit. One thing is that you don't like a specific album, single, song, PV, cover or whatever, and another one is complaining about everything, every fucking time.

It's like going to see a movie and then you end up not liking it. But instead of leaving the movie after it's over you lurk outside the theater doors telling people how much you don't like the movie and how much you think its sucks and try to turn them away.

Your post is in the wrong topic, Andrenekoi. I was wondering why you were calling out poor Sunrise for no reason.

Oh, thanks! It really is! xD

edit: Nops, it isn't, Yumsushi deleted his post.

I feel like some people really latch on to their favorites when they're doing well and then will start to drop them when they're not relevant or selling well. You know, trends. And then use that as a defense for the quality of everything, especially their music. And lose sight of anything else.

And so, "Flopasaki" becomes this beautiful target even when she's not even bad in many senses and would be looked at as better if trendy.

But you know, a lot of amazing artists don't sell shit so I can't go with that. And a lot of people don't. But I notice some people that have a lot of random hate to offer to certain artists seems to be that way while reluctant to criticize their successful favs until it gets too bad career wise.

Just a minor observation that I've noticed for a while.

It's sometimes that or just different standards for different artists which Deli mentioned earlier I think.

lulz the long ass posts from everyone this past week have been the best discussions ahs has seen since like before I was even a member.

People aren't even being rude to each other.


But all of these threads tend to be umbrella ones that expand on different topics. That's not anything new. If you don't like their discussions, don't take part.


I wish the word "flop" would die. You can't even apply it to the majority of artists anyone knows about lol Honestly, some people think this stuff is ridiculous? Go to any other large jpop forum and deal with those trolls :laugh

I kind of like when people have high standards and will call anything and anyone out, including myself. Worse certainly exists. But in general it doesn't make anything here better. Thankfully though, there are no rampant problems in this thread outside of the obvious minorities. Like it's nice.

Off topic and all. But interesting discussions for the most part.

And we don't even know the sales numbers yet. It's great lol

It's just like, I haven't even really seen that much crap. Maybe one or two people. But I tend to skip over that stuff. So like, when I see all these people complaining about alllllllllllll the bullshit everywhere, I'm just like "who are you even talking about XD"

But it is nice, because then yeah, the forum isn't filled with trolls.


ugh and these sales numbers. Like ever since whoever from whereever stopped doing it, it's so annoying to get them. I'm too lazy to go get them myself lol At least for other artists. idk about ayu people. They're usually on stuff.

Seriously tho, a lot of users her equate sales = "quality of music" , they call her lazy, flop and etc. Then still call themselves as fans.

Like everyone knows she's irrelevant? So? Now what. Complaining sky high isn't going to change that fact. Then they go compare her to Namie and Kuu who are so different in what she does, like why do they have to bring that shit up? And say that she needs to bring "the old ayu" back... Seriously that "old ayu" comment is bullshit.

Honestly, some "fans " are so fucking shallow that they won't even bother giving the new album a chance just because of the album cover/MV. I don't give 2 shits about the charts either.

I think the people complaining about trolls & haters are just overly sensitive. I'm with you emi, some of the discussion surrounding Ayu on this forum has actually been really interesting to engage in.

It's especially great for me because I'm totally in both camps right now - upset AND crazy happy. Yes I think Ayu is doing a terrible job with visuals and some aspects of her music compared to what she used to do, but at the same time I also think this album is solid and well produced and it's quite a relief to hear something as nicely put together as this album XD

I've never cared about Ayu's sales. I didn't like her because she was popular, I liked her cuz I heard my life & my feelings in her music, and I STILL like her because no one else has even approached that for me, even as Ayu's material got weaker in my eyes. Plus, even the songs I don't like much at first ALWAYS grow on me, and I can't say that about anyone else either.

Ayu still has a top 5 album and that's freaking awesome for her. She was so happy she cried when "Trust" got into the top 10 at all, why are we complaining about an album at #5? Jeez, perspective you guys.

I'd probably be happy with a top 20 tbh, with all the bullshit that comes out of this market -_-


lol im so mad about it im sry. I can't even express my hatred.

@emi

I think we don't have numbers because it isn't in the top 3. Idk. Ayumisrael or brener would know.

But like yeah, even I have a habit of zeroing in on minorities sometimes. Or preaching to the choir. But for the most part, this thread really is good. I mean, around the rest of the forum, idk lol. But here is nice.

@Delirium,

I think some of us are happy that she's even in the top 5 lol. I was surprised tbh. But everyone has different expectations still really and that's up to them I guess.

I dunno if some of these comments are directed to me, but I'm going to state once again that I am in no way hating on Ayu. It is a very different experience when I was a child and Ayu had released an album to now, and I can't adjust. I can remember now, Oh shoot! Ayu is going to have a talk show! Ayu is going to be on Music Fair! Ayu is going to be on SmaSma! She has a comment on CDTV! OMG there's going to be an event in Tower Records! We have to go to the concert! She's releasing a new best album?! GREAT!!

Now there is absolutely nothing, and I just feel like what the actual eff? Did she release an album or did I just dream it? And everything she did before used to look so professional, so flawless, and sound great (Besides ASFXX, but I still listen to this album) that everything she's been doing recently just looks like she didn't have time to perfect it. Even the TV lives, Kohaku, everything - everything feels so unprepared and she just was like "Okay well I'm just gonna do it, see what happens!" and it looks like the music and everything is controlling her, and not the other way around. She used to be the center of everything and that she was above and knew exactly what to do, but now, I don't get that feeling. But I don't know how to shake this feeling.

I guess I'm just overreacting because it's not what I'm used to, and I want to feel the same way about her and her releases as I did when I was younger. I remember when I couldn't wait to buy her single or album, and now I just don't even care... it sucks. :( You guys, please help. Ahaha.

I feel like I should send her a msg on Twitter.

^ you're not alone. I feel exactly the same

I think we're all having a tough time adjusting to the super low-key Ayu who does basically zero promotion. And if she is on TV nowadays she's singing old songs... It almost feels like she has to remind people "Look how great I used to be!" when she should be up there owning her NEW songs.

^The only times she massively sang older songs was when she was promoting best ofs and the annis, wasn't it? Other than that it's either a new song or a new song + classic, what seens pretty fair to me.

I will get annoyed once she goes Ayaka Hirahara (who I love) all the way and starts singing the same song everytime she shows up.

I don't think anyone has any problem with you stating your dislike for the album (I know I don't :P). I think it's just natural your relationship with your idol changes over time... She also had a huge image change after her 10th anni and I feel like she's going through another one now... Even if I'm a fan since 2005 or so, I never related as hard to her as I did from AT10 to AT12, and even if I'm a fan, and if I liked Colours, I feel she may be going on a direction I won't relate as much as I did at that time. I mean, I think it's natural for you that was so used with what she did once to feel like that once she changed directions, even more if you can't really relate with the direction she picked.

It's not even just her though for me. It's also like, the times.

Some of the other artists I listen to aren't even bothering with physical releases anymore :(

And what ratings are they going to pull being on tv shows, versus any of the big name acts, or even versus other things being broadcasted. What sales are they going to ever have.


I'm happy that now in the world, there seems to be these communities popping up that are dedicated to spreading music in new ways and making things accessible.

But I'll always love the fanfare and the pageantry of entertainment, and Ayu at her peak is such a wonderful example of it. Thousands of people united together in their love of music is very precious, even if it was only always about the money for some of them.

I think that's also what makes tours so wonderful. As long as in the end there are public performances....I think it'll all be ok~

Totally understand. When I discovered ayu it was through Depend On You but at the present time she had just released Memorial Address / Moments was anticipated. But, I get everything you're saying.

As I've said before, its moronic for members to bitch that the "naysayers" should just give up. It's not so simple. For me, ayu is home. Music is such a HUGE part of my life and shaped who I am and still does to this day, and Ayu is a huge part of that. To discover this foreign artist who truly captivates you and brings so much pleasure and joy to your life in every way - and then to feel that slip away more and more with each year that passes and each release that goes by. It's very sad. Ayu is a part of all of us and to lose that love is to lose a portion of ourselves. It was a very unique experience to discover and follow her with such passion, that it helped me identify as an individual with my own tastes and not be influenced as heavily by the music that was just there. I had to seek her out - most all of us did. We invested time and energy within her and her community because of the passion we all felt / feel.

There are also those who are content with ayu and those who always crave new direction / styles. I've always been content because why change something that was so good to begin with? It's like you have a favorite food. You love that food more than any other food. When you go to consume that food, you expect it to taste exactly as you remembered - because that's what you crave. Suddenly, the ingredients where changed - the flavor isn't as outstanding, and you long for the days of the old flavor which gave you so much joy.

You just never know what you're gonna get with her music now.

Then sometimes she releases something with promise. Something that shows she's still capable of stirring magic within us. And you have hope. For me it was Days, Sparkle, Wake me up, reminds me, BRILLANTE, etc.

So how are the individual tracks doing on the digital chart?

Hello new me is currently charting at #43 on the RecoChoku singles chart. None of the other songs are in the top 200.

Hello new me is #21 for the Uta Ranking. XOXO is #49. Lelio is #75. NOW & 4EVA is #85. What is forever love is #88. Terminal is #171 and Angel is #200.

The album is number 5 today too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by visionfactory (Post 3085862) So what? she's an AKB soloist after all and she was a front line member!

No, she wasn't.

Quote:

And Tomomi's and Acchan's last singles sold like 45k each, ayu's "Angel / Lelio" sold over 60k ;) check your facts

Where does that data come from? From the Ayu-workers that sold the single in the arenas? From your dreams of Ayu still #1? Cause it didn't hit the shops.
If Feel the Love barely hit 40k with "more promotion", I doubt that one did. Don't get facts out of your pants just because you can't admit she's doing worse than other people. :P

Quote:

Because for example Itano's sales drop rate is -33% per single On the other hand Ayu's sales drop rate is only -16% per single (Since BLUE BIRD)

REEEEEEEALLY???

L: 94,573
FTL: 37,366

Wow, I must be very bad at math cause I don't see a -16% there... :rolleyes

If Miwa, Nishino and Ayaka can continue their careers with that kind of sales, why can't others?


This discussion is getting tiresome. And again, your signature speaks volumes about your attitude towards anything AKB-related. So I'm not going to bother. :D

I bet Ayu has the most amazing fanbase ever

Actually I already wanted to say yesterday that this discussion restored my hopes in ahs and that I really liked to see so many comments that though criticising weren't bashing in anyway. Ok, there were one or two people, but I just ignore them. So I don't get why some people already start again a war between "stans" and "haters". This time those terms definitely don't fit.

I myself have my problems with Ayu these days. Not with her music or lyrics, personally I never felt any disconnection with those. Her shows and concerts are perfect and Rock'n'Roll Circus and Hotel Love Songs are two od my favourite Arena Tours.
But despite FIVE and Party Queen I wasn't impressed with any album cover after (miss)understood. I loved her covers back then, but beginning with Secret they do nothing for me and show zero creativity.
After Rock'n'Roll circus there were just a few PVs I liked and even if the idea was great, it was poorly executed imo.
I don't care who the fuck she is marrying or dating, but the way she was handling her private situation in the public and was pittying herself on twitter was too much for me. If people state things the way Ayu did about how they feel on facebook, I block them 'cos it's just plain annoying.
When I got into Ayu over ten years ago, I wasn't only in love with her music but also with her visuals and the "mysteria" behind her. That got lost for me and because I still love her so damn fucking much it hurts that she doesn't deliver the whole package as perfect as it used to be for me.

You (and anyone) can't really compare a single from Dec 13 to a single from 2010 lol... Besides that ayu was slightly more popular, sales were also better in general. It's 3 years difference! Even with no single between them.

I completely understand that part and I'm glad that since her marriage to Tyson she became more cautious and she is not shoving her personal life to the public or in her work.
Even when she posts pics nowadays it's mainly of her alone/with friends. Barely saying anything about her relationship/husband.

Colours is at #5 again for the 3rd straight day

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2014-07-03/

And tomomi itano fell to #8... so she wasn't a competition for ayu after all :P

#3 sold around 7,800 so if ayu it around the 6,800 it's as good as LOVE again's 3rd day of 6,070. That's assuming again that it's these numbers and not way less.

Btw the NINKI for Colours is #4 67.20.

When do we get more definitive sales numbers? Keep going with top 5, Ayu!

Only when we will know the weekly sales on Tuesday.

wow yay ayu is still no.5! glad to know that!
go go ayu!

yeah, poor tomomi, I wish she had better sales for a debut album =(

By the way I'm pretty happy about Colours positions, so steady, it could have fallen a lot, but it didn't.


1st Week

3rd Day
Position: #5

It's strong at #5! I was afraid it would drop, but it's doing fine :)
I hope it gets to 50k... not sure if it's possible

I think it's really possible for Colours to reach 50k on its debut week, it just needs a little rise during the weekend (at least 5k per day I must say) =)

i actually hope that it'd rise a bit to ranking no. 4.. is it possible? haha

^
Let's not lose hope because the last three dates of the tour could rise sales =) A top 3 would be awesome, even for 1 day.

I'm really happy with this album and thank God I don't care about charts at all, but for me she's doing fine so far.

And after all that new Oricon policy of not counting overseas shipments she's still holding up =)

Are first, second and third positions gotten(?) by the same releases?

#1 Kisumai (same since the first day)
#2 UVERworld (same since the first day)
#3 Odaka Zumasa (rose yesterday from #4)
#4 Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi (debuted at #3 but fell to #4 yesterday)

^^

I really don't care about her chart numbers but I'm really happy for her and wish her the best for the weekend! :)

BTW can someone explain this NINKI thing for me?

NINKI = popularity

Oricon ask around 500 people which of the newest releases they gon buy... that's it ^^

It's so funny that you don't even know me, you would be surprised I'm an AKB fan and I have a few of their CDs.. Itano Tomomi was my favorite member ever since Acchan graduated but you can't put her at the same level of Ayu, get it, I'm not a hater, I'm just making you and all the people that said that Itano was going to outsell Ayu face the facts ;)

And are you putting Itano at the same level of Ayaka and Nishino!? LOL there is something really wrong with you

Continuing the surprising run, although behind a dozen boys (two groups and two old-time soloists)...and I'm really surprised about how Tomochin's really struggling to keep pace with Ayu (although I think single sales may be higher in the future).

I'm also surprised about the NINKI rankings for Tomochin as well.

I definitely agree that her music is a step-up compared to most music that I hear today.

I just hope Ayu will keep fighting. Even if she has to take some time off to think up new material or improve what she already has, I still see that as fighting. XD

I think it's crazy how disinterested I've been in this album (and her more recent stuff in general) considering she was my NUMBER ONE singer for a looooong time.... I mean, I listened to her music constantly.

...but now I feel a tad bit more neutral... I just don't know how this has happened. XD

But, I still really think she's cool.


I actually haven't cared a whole lot for her lyrics as of late, but I think it's all a matter of tastes.

I would agree with this if we were talking about LOVE Again, to be honest. And that album was already one to get angry at...

But really, if I wanted to listen to something like XOXO, I'd go to JLo's On The Floor, not to Ayu's discography.
She can't even do justice to Angel with her voice and it sounds like a Kelly Clarkson song. Terminal is sending mail on steroids and it's fairly nice but it gets lost in all the techno stuff.

I feel the only song, apart from Pray, that still sounds like Ayu is Lelio, and it still pales in comparison to Sparkle.

I'm not gonna say she doesn't care anymore cause I guess she has money enough to noy even try and just live the rest of her days sunbathing in LA. But I feel there's some inconsistency between what she tries to do and what she ends up doing (she saying she makes the songs turn into rock when she sings them and now... nop).

She is |not even trying|, but she went to work with popular producers (doesn't even matter if they are still today) and even put a show(case) to this whole album up where she does new challenging stuff like air acrobatics herself to perform and convey whatever was being thought and actually -tried- to experiment some more in a style she didn't touch a lot and now she wanted to touch it the most with this album. Yes, she "isn't even trying".

Meh, I don't really care about charts. I'm just happy if I find at least 3 mind blowing songs from her albums these days lol. :D

I think you should read my post again. I said that SHE IS. :D

It was kind of confusing because of that sentence "she has money enough to noy even try and just live the rest of her days sunbathing in LA."

Because even though it's true... it doesn't mean she won't make effort in her work (she will also always want more money probably like everyone else) but music is her only thing and she would go nuts without it, so she will always do her best in her work, if people like the things she does or not, even if things look good/bad, expensive/cheap and wether she does promo or not (doing promo might be the only thing she barely cares about) but she is inclined to make music, not necessarily promote it if she doesn't want.

I think, even though I enjoy her trying stuff, that really, she shines the brightest with rock tinged songs. It's the one genre she does better than all the other J-divas (well, IMO and all that). She looks amazing doing it, and it suits her perfectly.

I'd love her to play that up more. Maybe do something even harder than she's done so far. The occasional dance influenced song isn't bad, but I always find it strange when singers who can't dance release dance songs. Iunno, seems strange to me.

Another route could be more ethereal type music. Her lush compositions always made her stand out. I hope she realizes this haha.

I want another GUILTY era with amazing rock songs, or a very Dolls/walking proud experimental era

Colours is at #5 for the 4th straight day

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2014-07-04/

So it's safe to say the #1 & #5 spots are guaranteed confirmed to be weekly overall now ?

I also think rock suits her best :D

Full of drama queens really... especially on this site, I mean over-analyzing her career will just make them more frustrated, they complain and say these lame ass excuses when someone points out how childish they look. like whatever ayu does is like an abomination for some and write these essays like they know her life.

I come to this site for new info but I end up seeing comments on which member is smarter than the other. :rolleyes

4th Day

Position: #5

After the concert finished just now I saw quite a few people exiting the arena and going directly to the stand selling Colours, so I think it's fair to say the showcase is successfully helping to promote the album :)