Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - Ayu has been using too much English in her songs lately...

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- - Ayu has been using too much English in her songs lately... (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114431)

I dont like ayu work with LESLIE ~.~

I don't mind it. It usually fits the type of song, so I can't complain.

She's been using English for years now and I really don't find it that excessive.

I agree that she has been using more English in her songs as of late...I remember the days when she used almost no English in her songs other than the titles, but oh well, I guess times are really changing & so is Ayu. Honestly, I have never been a fan of Japanese & Korean artists (those are the two I listen to as far as Asian music goes) inserting English in their songs as it sounds out of place to me & it can be very difficult to understand anyway.

ayu said "thank you", "jump!!" and "come on!!" a lot today

The only time I mind is when tries to sound cute.
For example in you & me ooooooh lunch time oooooh summer time like wtf is that.

No one ever talked about why all (except for one?) her songs are titled in English.

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangedream (Post 2893072)

I'm not saying that I hate English or anything like that but I felt that English
can't express the meaning as good as Japanese...

Didn't ayu started using English in her songs because she felt that it expressed what she wrote a little more clearly?

i think it might be the fact that she realized she had quite a big audience of foreign fans that she started using so much english. More people can get the message she's trying to give. *shrug*

as for titles... I am a little confused about that too xD maybe it's just the fact that there's so many different ways to write the names down on the covers and simplier than japanese? Lots of artists use english titles....I do wonder why...

it's kind of weird when artists who sing in their naitive language add english lines into the lyrics, because it never made sense to me why, but it never bothered me lol And i noticed that when someone is in process of taking over the world stage they go straight to using english xD same happened with GACKT and Miyavi and bla bla....they are just too nice to us who don't bother/can't study japanese xD i appreaciate that!

Her use of the language seemed more skilled on the RAINBOW album and on songs like "forgiveness" and "how beautiful you are"... If her English is better now, Idk why her best English lyrics were written in like 2002/2003... Dream ON had disastrous English lyrics in particular.

Her English use lately doesn't seem to serve any particular function... I don't really mind it as long as the melody is fantastic, but I do feel it cheapens the song a bit in some instances.

Thought I was in 2003 for a second.

Anyways, I don't mind her english, it's just her accent that annoys me to no end.

I don't know if it's because she has a harder time singing these days, or what...but it was awful in you and me...I don't remember it being so.

^^but the English in songs like Heartplace is so awkward lol even the English in Real Me.

Ayu's early English was strange to me when I first became a fan and listened to her old stuff. But I don't mind it really.

Her worst engrish was in "are you wake up", "Dream On" and whatever she sings in Forgiveness but overall her English usually makes sense and works for the song. I usually don't mind engrish it if its hilarious ala Namie, Koda Kumi, 90% of J- and Kpop but I find hers generally acceptable and less embarassing to sing. What I would like is for her to have more songs with Japanese names, a mix, like Utada or Kumi. It would be interesting to see what names songs would get.

I discovered Ayu during RAINBOW era, so I'm used to her engrish though. I don't really mind some english in her songs.
But I don't know if I could stand a full english song by her :laugh. I remember her cover of Snowhite's song and I barely get what she's saying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coelacanth (Post 2893486)

If you look in the RAINBOW album credits, there's a translator credit that was never there before. She had help from someone who spoke English back then. She's doing it all on her own now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0 (Post 2893599)

If you look in the RAINBOW album credits, there's a translator credit that was never there before. She had help from someone who spoke English back then. She's doing it all on her own now.

and that is a big reason why i support her using english now.

i do remember like you said, that she was 100% japanese and it was super surprising when she started using english. with that, i was never sure if she really knew what the words meant, even though i personally liked it. now however, we know that she understands the english in her songs.

so since she knows english and japanese, i see nothing wrong with her using both in whatever way she sees fit. :yes

(but i do hope her pronunciation will improve!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangedream (Post 2893072)

In fact what got me into Ayu back then 10 years ago is also partly cos of her 100% Japanese lyrics in her songs.

In fact, 10 years ago RAINBOW was released which is the album with more english lines in Ayu's career.

What I get? What you get?
A woman could be having fun, A woman could be like a nun
In order to survive
I can't smile without you
It's over
Everywhere. Nowhere. Anytime.
We are free to go anywhere we want
The freedom we have the choices we make
The sacrifices we pay make life so complicated
No rain can't get the rainbow
We wish

:rolleyes

I don't mind english in her songs as long as it's good, I don't mind english in NANANA but the moaning "uu summer day, uu friday nite (sic!), uu midnite (sic! - seriously? I thought chinese subber just made a mistake but it's in most videos), uu lalala" just cracked me up. I also disliked how she sang the english verses of how beautiful you are, she somehow changes her accent recently, probably to sound more english but she sounds really fake, I prefer her past engrish.

I'm shocked that people think she uses English too much
I think that she hardly ever uses English
A lot of other Japanese artists I listen to use English far more frequently than Ayu does

It's funny, as soon as I clicked on this thread, NaNaNa started playing on shuffle. :P Anyways, I don't think Ayu is using too much English. Yes, NaNaNa is heavy on it, but otherwise Ayu hardly uses English compared to other artists in her genre. Namie Amuro featured several full-length English songs on her new album.

Quote:

Originally Posted by relmy (Post 2893259)

You mean 10 years ago, when, you know, Real Me, came out.

She's been using English for years, why is it only bothering you now? :/

Okay, sorry for this part I wasn't specific. 10 years ago I was at A BEST era. That's the first Ayu album I bought. All her earlier songs back then was 100% Japanese lyrics indeed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0 (Post 2893365)

I know what you mean, orangedream. When I first got into ayu in 2000, I found it fascinating that her lyrics were 100% japanese when other artists seemed to love random english so much. She said in an interview at the time that she was only comfortable expressing herself in Japanese. I remember being shocked at the english word "Yes" appearing in "AUDIENCE"! It was just like "waaaaaaah!?"

Then when she took her trip to HK in 2002 and saw how many fans she had there, she suddenly started sticking English in her songs. I mean it was welcome at the time, but later, in retrospect, I'd realize that that was when the quality of Ayu's music really started to decline. :( Now that she was writing with listeners outside of Japan in mind, she started getting more & more "safe" with her music and less & less personal.

But she did start easing up on the English. For a long time it felt like she hardly had ANY songs that were 100% Japanese, but i feel like those songs do come up more often now. I do wish she'd back off the English almost completely, because I do feel like she WANTS to be personal but feels like she can't be because of the listeners. That said, the English she DOES use now is the English she's comfortable with (which is why it's so simplistic sounding) so I'm fine with what little she uses now. It bugged me for ages cuz it didn't feel like her talking, but now it does so it's fine with me.

My main concern is that her message gets across in her lyrics. Now that it seems to be doing that, the English doesn't bother me as much as it used to.

I'm so glad u understand me. That was really how I felt..