They better collaborate with her. She's the true utahime tbh
Ayu who

Namie dont fit bz, just sayin'
Its like Bon Jovi collabing with Nicki Minaj.

April is Ayu's month !!! It would be so cool seriously and out of all the singer in Japan considered like Utahime (Ayu, Seiko, Akina, Namie, Utada and maybe some more ...) Ayu is with no doubt the one who fits better their style (Akina too but she is so silent) ! Shiina Ringo too but I don't know if she is referred in these term ?
We will see ...I don't hold my breath lol I don't know but why they would choose Ayu she is not in the public eyes these days ?!

if it's ayu, it will be very cool as collaboration for her

My vote is for Akina. She recently started being active again (Rojo -Tierra- is amazing!!) and she has a series of cover albums called Utahime and is regularly referred to as such.

What if at the end B'z is working with AKA298398919930011?

Who?

OMG! I would die!! I'm going to a B'z show in May and then to Ayu show in June in Tokyo! If it's true they might appear at her concert as well!! That's gonna be super cool!!!

B'z are not public nowadays. They are doing promo for their new album that's why they had a couple of lives, but for the past 5 years they didn't appear on TV more often than Ayu, not at all. And thy performed together at MSta Christmas special, maybe "Last Minute" caught their attention?

Akina Nakamori. Popular singer from the 80s.

CONFIRM THIS REALLY QUICKLY PLEASE!

MTE!! :heart That would make my fangirl dreams come true! :luv2

:)
The fact she recorded something for another project would make sense ^^
If it's a single for April it could be a good promo for A ONE because this collaboration will make the headlines everywhere in Japan !
I really hope it's her if it's Namie or another I will be really pissed XD

My money is on Akina as well, that was the first person I thought of when I saw the picture. Ayu would be awesome, but Akina seems more likely.

I do think it's a possible toss-up between those two though... Twitter is saying other names like Mai Kuraki, Koda Kumi, Amuro Namie, and Superfly...

I think Mai Kuraki isn't a good stylistic choice, nor do I think she's associated enough with the term "utahime" to grant an "ano utahime" reference.

Koda Kumi and Amuro Namie aren't great stylistic choices either although I wouldn't rule out Tak Matsumoto writing a song for either of them (he's done songs for KAT-TUN and MISIA after all).

Superfly would be a RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME collaboration but she hasn't been around long enough to get an "ano utahime" reference, although if she keeps releasing solid material that may be the case in 5-10 years.


Akina Nakamori was the "darker" of the two biggest solo pop divas in the 80s (Matsuda Seiko being the "brighter", more girl-next-door type). Her songs tended to lean in a darker, more tragic direction. Her first big hit, "Shoujo A" (which she sang on Ayu Ready? with Ayu) was a rock song from the point of view of a sexually frustrated teenager using flirtation to get attention and give herself an independent identity.

When she was 20, after releasing the "MI AMORE (Meu amor e...)" single, she won the Japan Record Taisho Grand Prix award, at the time the youngest artist to have done it.

The late 80s weren't so good to her though and she went from consistently hitting number one (she had more than 20 number one singles in the 80s) to rarely breaking the top 20 virtually overnight.

She was dismissed from her label in 2000 and signed to a new label in 2002. Since then it's pretty much just been cover albums, compilations, and more ballad and enka-style music, and she's proven to be quite successful with it (won an award for her 2007 Enka album, which reached the top 10 actually).

There was jpop before the 2000's :P

I also thought of Akina cause of her Utahime albums, but if this a generic term like Western pop fans say "QUEEN/EMPRESS" and such everything is possible

Neat.

I thought Ayu already hinted that she recorded something new but not going to be in A ONE?
If it's true then I'm looking forward to it!!

Just wanted to correct you. Every Akina single released from 1985-1991 reached the top 3 (all going #1 besides 2 singles which went to #3). Her last single released in late 1991 went to #1 selling over 480,000 copies. It wasn't until 1993 when Akina signed a new record label that her sales started to decline. Her first non Top 20 single was in 1995 so it wasn't "overnight."

In 2014 Akina sold over 150,000+ albums with her original best album going to #3. This year in January she got her first Top 10 single since 1993 that is still charting (and should outsell Zutto by the end of it's chart-run). She also released a cover album that debuted at #5 and is still charting as well.

omg, this would be so amazing