I love Ayu's voice when she sings 'haru yo, koi' :heart

I wish she would always sing like that.

Just a correction for hikki. Did you mean she has the best selling non-japanese album for a -japanese artist- in Japan? Because Mariah Carey's "The Ones" sold 2,809,000 and is the best selling non japanese album in Japan Mariah Carey also had "Daydream" selling 2,203,000 and "Merry Christmas" 2,080,000, "Music Box" 1,589,000. hikki's EXODUS sold 1,074,000 in Japan (plus 40,000-60,000 more in US and EU together?).

A bit of foreign albums in Japan (that sold over a million):
1. Mariah Carey - The Ones 2,809,000
2. Mariah Carey - Daydream 2,203,000
3. Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas 2,080,000
4. Mariah Carey - Music Box 1,589,000
5. Carpenters - Best of Carpenters - 2,300,000
6. The Beatles - The Beatles 1 1,940,000
7. Whitney Houston - Bodyguard - 1,882,000
8. Michael Jackson - Thriller 1,616,000
9. Scatman John - Scatman World 1,561,000
10. Queen - Queen Jewels 1,343,000
11. Celine Dion - The Very Best 1,246,000
12. Bon Jovy - Crossroad 1,150,000
13. Mariah Carey and others - MAX 1,147,000
14. Avril Lavigne - Let Go 1,136,000
15. Utada - EXODUS 1,074,000 (Japanese Artist)
16. Enya - Paint The Sky 1,063,000
17. Celine Dion - Let's Talk About Love 1,031,000
18. Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin 1,029,000
19. Mariah Carey - Butterfly 1,025,000
Mariah Carey was HUGE in Japan, probably the most popular foreign artist in Japan ever. Madonna doesn't have a million selling album in Japan.
So there are 19 foreign albums in Japan that sold over a million and Utada is at #15. I'm kinda both glad and surprised that Japan didn't have the same boy bands (or girl groups) with foreign artists like they are with Japanese ones. No Backstreet Boys, Five, Westlife and Spicegirls on the list lol =P Even though Spicegirls were nice.

As for tricks, in a fading physical copies industry, they have had to use tricks to sell, but at least they sold it without using idol groups tricks like selling tickets, events, election, 8 editions per each release. It helps AKB48 to sell over a million for the 16th single consecutively, it's crazy.

^My Exodus numbers are outdated, haha! It was the best selling non-japanese album in Japan when it was released :P

Or was it the biggest opening week?

About Ayu, sorry, but changing release dates isn't fair game... And her singles didn't have 8 verions, but some had 4, what is already a lot.

Humm comparing Seiko and Ayumi is not very appropriate ... Seiko was even worse in term of publicity stunt to sell records ... Ayumi has not yet made a press conference televised announcing her divorce with behind a huge promotionnal poster announcing the release of a new BEST OF unlike Seiko ... and considering how her singles sold rather poorly during the second half of 80's I wouldn't be too sure that there were no tricks in order to sustain her record of most 1# single ... =)

Until 2008 with Mirrorcle World she had only 1/2 editions with different contents (CD and CD+DVD) to releases and most stuff since then had 2-3 versions each besides some releases with different limited covers (or CD colors like A).

For hikki, it could be EXODUS first week but no way best selling non japanese album in japan.

Also releases being pushed back is not unheard of, we have luck it happened like just twice(?) with ayu.

^And yes, I would say that this stunt pretty much wins everything ayu did on recent years lol.

She still didn't (as far as I know) change her release dates based on what day would have the less competition.

^
For which single they did it ? I don't recall to have read something about this ?
At the end I don't care ! it's not because she has 25 1# that she is better than other singers who don't have any ... I just want to point that in the past decades they had differents tricks to sell records too ... it's not something specific to Ayumi ...

She did it to 2 singles I believe, You were is one of those, isn't it?

I also don't believe she is better than anyone for having those streaks, but we shouldn't be dismissing the acomplishments of other popstars... Ayu's career is amazing when we look at it, but is hardly the only amazing career in the Jpop industry.

Ok I will search !
I absolutely don't and I totally agree with you about this point ! I'm not the type of person who like to put something I like on a pedestal without looking what there are around :)

The whole point was actually because of the general consensus of degrading ayu compared to hikki and Namie.

Yeah, but we don't need to degrade them back... All of the 3 have amazing archievments.

I also believe that Namie, Koda and Hikki all have songs much more western friendly than Ayu ever did... What makes them easier to the regular western jpop fan. A lot of Hikki hits could play on American radio and Namie's recent music isn't much different from what J-Lo is doing.

The point was is as much as ayu has her minuses in her career, all of them should have these.

That's right, but I still wonder how ayu could be as big for foreigners or even non asian demography as her music isn't as westernized as the others'.

I've just finished re-reading the famous rockin on japan interview. The feels strike me everytime as it was the first

I wonder how ayu feels now when she doesn't have spring tour first time in 10 years or so :) I guess she's relaxed & happy and works at her new album without hurry

I'm into gyaru style lately and they call Ayu the gyaru Queen, can someone explain since I've never noticed her make-up that dramatic...right? I thought Namie was the gyaru icon or something.

I think it was for the hime-gyaru style(?)
http://zyrex.org/gallery/d/18466-1/ph68.jpg
But her makeup has always been soft, her eyes never have been 'marked' as the common gyaru.
Namie: tan skin and b-gal, I guess; Ayu: soft make-up and 'princess/chick' style, maybe.

http://i60.tinypic.com/qwx2yh.jpg

Ayu updated TA and mentioned big news will be released soon!

I wonder if this big news was the other post???
Was planning on going to japan at the end of july... i might have to bump it up to the start so I can go to this tour!!

I am enjoying and looking at how they pile up the +20 CD's I recently bought, not only including Ayu CD's, but also Laruku, Judy and Mary, and others from the 2000 era when I was going out of school (yes, I'm old... T_T).

I found a Dome tour as well! T_T

I wonder if the songs of the new album will have the same amazing vocals we heard in My Way~ :heart

My friend who only likes "Dearest" due to InuYasha, thought that Ayu's voice in "My Way" was insanely good. When we got into my car, I told her to go to the track with SOL (she's a huge BIGBANG fan) since I had the m-flo album in the stereo, but she went straight to "My Way" and said, "After this song."

<3

Am i missing the full song of that somewhere???
I didnt see it for download.

Awww :love
Here's the link: http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119848

I'm loving My Way on the first listen! Quite surprising, since almost all of her recent songs need sometime to grow on me. She needs to sing more of simple song like this<3

oh coolness, thanks!!!
Cant believed I missed that. I had heard pieces of it from that preview with the TV show its attached too... might I add thats going to be AMAZING!

EDIT:
Nevermind... I just realized I know this song already and love it... LOL

I love My Way....Sooo much. That's my jam walking to class every day lol. Makes me all confident until I ball up in a corner when I look at my test scores lol.

In the meantime, I'm really excited to introduce one of my new good friends here to ayu. Not even sure what to start with but since she's interested in hearing more japanese music and Ayu is my fav she wants to hear it. And Utada later since she knows her some.

Her voice in "My Way" is so clean, I love listening to it.

With the release of Amuro's ballad best, it pains me even more that we've yet to get an A BALLADS II. :(

It deserves a second one.

^
Totally.
Tons of amazing ballads to have fun rearranging, not to mention the possibility of another lovely cover and a new song! <3

I'd absolutely love a new ballad best-of with some rearrangements... maybe bring some of the GREAT melodies from older ballads into this decade a bit more. SEASONS and Dearest would sound great with a more modern arrangement that leans a bit real-instruments and less synth, you know? And a less cheesy version of Voyage.... >_< I love the lyrics & melody of it but the BG vocals and bombastic disney soundtrack arrangement don't do it for me at all.

I agree 100%!!!!
I think a new A BALLADS would be great if they rearranged some songs or re-recorded kinda like they did it with A Song for xx. The way they changed up songs and made them sound so different was great, I loved it!

I do have the same problem with voyage but I've only seen positive comments about it on here. I think the lyrics are nice and the melody is sweet but the arrangement kills it for me, it's just too much, I tend to skip the song whenever it come on and that's sad, because it is a nice song.

You have no idea of how much I feel you with this one.
You just summed up what Voyage is for me: a great, powerful classic, yeah, but... a tiny bit less Disney feeling, plese? lol

A BALLADS II. And a proper studio version of Haru yo Koi as the last track *i'd melt

I was watching some extra ancient ayu lives and looking at some old but not as old photo shoots. Or more like, all of them and it's just weird looking at everything again while ayu is not new to me.

Like her voice was really bad in those lives at times, just a lack of any singing technique. But I still enjoyed it because there was some emotion. And then I realized that's how I always feel about her voice when it's awkward or just plain bad.

And then looking through magazine eras, I can't even say that she ever had a good era aside from 2000 and now. Ironically. Everything in between had something off about it, and something different each time lol. I could jokingly blame her continuous decline on her magazine shoots throughout her career. It's weird though. I don't expect everyone to look perfect and be the perfect face of beauty. But I guess I've seen the beauty of ayu so looking back at everything is like meh. What was going on? And who actually liked this? Like, I can't imagine being a fan in 2004 and looking at that granny style and saying, oh wow, this is flawless.

Still, I love her, and her music, and her lives. And specific selection of magazine shoots. I really like what she's done this year and part of last year. Finally found a bit of a decent place.

^ I agree with you so much on this one you don't even know omg \m/

Biggest problem with magazines is that the excecutives have literally no clue on how to work with retouching photo software. Obviously, that's not disturbing the target group; I believe, fans want the photos to look blatantly fake.

I hated this period..the 2003/2004 soft lesbian look..
http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/...th0923/002.jpg

That was one of the first Ayu mags I bought hahaha.

I guess 2004 was the year I became a fan so that style is what i remember :-p I thought she looked cool. And she exuded style to me.

But everyone's going to have different likes and dislikes. RnRC was one of my least favorite style eras.

Really? I love the Rock'n'Roll Circus era. That haircut really suits her. I also love the Love Songs and A Summer Best/LOVE again era.

I also dislike the 2003-2004 era in term of style. The pink hair in Party Queen era is so annoying.

Yeeesssssss.

I really don't understand what you're talking about, lol.
Going through her past magazine scans is one of my favourite pleasures when on the computer. She always had this way of rocking all kind of styles.
Except for some bits of Party Queen. It wasn't the pink hair, it's just that sometimes she was like...No. But she was still riding that unicorn for LANDS OF Eden flawlessy.

Rainbow is so flawless. Bless

beloved is so gentle.

I liked ayu's more tomboyish styles. Not always the MTRLB stuff (cuz she overaccessorized with that stuff at times), but like the Miu Miu dresses & jackets from '99. So simple and classic and not so overembellished.

I miss when Ayu wore fashions I could find cheap knockoff versions of. Not a fan of the gyaru stuff at all, or the granny stuff she did in '04-05 and Next Level era >_<

I still think her brown 2006 hair with side swept bangs is the best. She looks AMAZING with her hair like that.

I miss Lands of Eden!

Yep. Especially during springtime, it's such a Spring album for me (if you ignore Close to you, lol.)
Bless that album, really.

for me too :yes
I'm glad someone agrees with this. In an older thread, people were considering RAINBOW to be a summer album but for me it's such a springish/autumn album. The ambiental/ethereal vibe of the album really sets the tone for an April day.

I've been listening to Rainbow for 2 days now! Haha

I always thought RAINBOW was an autumney album lol. I love it too ♥

No way, I Am... and NEXT LEVEL are my summer albums!
And now, of course, there's A SUMMER BEST too! <3

That's weird, I think of RAINBOW as an absolute winter album, no question lol... maybe because of the shiny rainbow colors in the artwork, maybe because of the mood of most of the ballads, maybe because of the fact that I listened to it nonstop for the two months after it came out XD But I associate that album with Christmas break!

I never thought about it before till last year when a few of us where doing winter collections and stuff and I agree, rainbow is very christmasie... especially that one song with the chimes... cant remember the title, but I put that on my christmas playlist during the holidays.

^ Close to you? She actually sang that at some winter special thing like ten years ago haha.

Here!

http://i.imgur.com/i5XHCx8.png

ayu has gone too far with this costume choice...

She wants him to be like kuu, what's wrong with that? =P

just read on ayu angel that shu-ya is not joining for the showcase. OMG SHU-YA I WILL MISS YOU TOO MUCH IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THE SAME ANYMORE

I'm sorry to jump in with something completely unrelated, and I may not be the first to notice this, but I actually did laugh out loud. Someone at jpopasia has a good sense of humor: http://www.jpopasia.com/celebrity/ay...me::36943.html
xD

omg :)))))0000.....only four songs

Oh, dear.

Oh dear...:no

I don't care what people say, Ayu's performances featuring other artists are always amazing! *rewatching Ayu with M-Flo*

I have come to the conclusion that A BALLADS is my favourite Ayu album. idc if it's a compilation, every single song is gorgeous and the remixes/remakes are FLAWLESS.

^ You are not alone! My favourite album of Ayu is a "Best Of" compilation, too.

A BEST 2 -BLACK- ;)

You have a great taste, lol! A BEST -BLACK- is an amazing album, I love allmost all of the songs with a passion. and part of Me is :luv2

I burst out in tears every single time I listen to RED LINE. The lyrics are just so beautiful and touching, I can't help but feeling supported.

This short of Bey and Jay promoting their On The Run tour reminds me of Love songs trilogy :laugh

Much fierce and better produced than Ayu's one, but yeah, it reminds to Virgin Road-Love song-Last Angel trilogy xD

PD: Coming NEVER xDDDDD

I haven't watched Kylie's showgirl tour this far but I guess Ayu adapted this section for AT07's appears, even the couple choreography when Ayu/Kylie leans to Shuya/Jason.

Is do it again a continuation of Naturally? I actually read the lyrics of do it again for the first time and...

The intro to BoY is so good ugh. It gives me chills whenever I get the chance to see it live.

NOW & 4EVA reminds me so much of it.

I decided to not listen to anything from this new album 'till release date (after LOVE again disappointment because of bad marketing and timing, I'm taking it slowly).
I thought it'd be superhard to resist temptation and not download everything, instead I found out I can wait easily. I listened to the preview, I liked them, I'm all pumped, but I'm just... calm.
I'm calmly waiting and I'm loving it, lol.

I am loving the Wall 5 remix of Will!

I am so happy Ayu decided to stay away from Yuta Nakano taking over an entire album this time around. Everything we've gotten so far from Ayu in regards has been great! Loving all the new producers she decided to work with. It actually has me excited for the next era lol!

that's interesting.


Andrenekoi if you come in here I'd like to hear your opinion on it~

Oooo yes the couple section is similar and the skirt of the dress actually!

*fear*

Ok, I will read the lyrics translatons from Kiwi-musume and think about it :P

*read and listen to both songs*

Ok... Naturally for me looks like Ayu's standart "it's hard to face reality in life" or "I never grow up" songs while Do it again always hit me as a song about the sacrifices you have to make in order to keep going... To be who she is now she sacrificed a lot of things, like her personal life, probably a lot of childhood dreams and her freedom to some extent, and instead of it she must keep on singing and dancing over and over again as her position demands her to do.

I saw this blog...

http://randomjpop.blogspot.com/2014/...15th.html#more

"Ayumi Hamasaki's album releases just a mere week before Miss Japan 2014: Kyary pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~ Pamyu releases her 3rd studio album. Ayu's street and promo team need to milk this weeks' head start for all that it is worth, because once Kyary's shit drops, it's a wrap for Ayu and her sales trajectory will nose dive faster then Ecco the dolphin. Promotion in that week prior to pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~pretty pony~ Pam's release will be a struggle in itself, because Kyary will be everywhere for weeks leading up to her album dropping. Kyary is everywhere in Tokyo at the quietest of times, let alone when she has something to plug."

That moment when the writer compared Ayu with Kyary...

https://yczmmq.bn1302.livefilestore....500.gif?psid=1

^
I love that blog, lol. I always laugh so much reading to his posts!
But, yeah, his opinion are all kinds of wrong for me, ahah.

^He's funny but sometimes his post makes me say "wait... whuuut?" lol

Well... It's his blog so~ yeah~

Could we have a discussion about the potential tour tracklist please? This forum is too dead for its own good and we have just a few days till the first show.

^I just hope she have an electronic or dance themed tour this year with gimmicks and stuffs ofc

This is my take on the potential setlist, I revised it from my original post after reviewing the songs

OMG YES for opening with WHATEVER, and then connected. I LOVE THOSE TWO. I'd love lelio or FTL afterwards tho<3

This is too good to come true, honestly.
NEXT LEVEL ACOUSTIC, I WOULD DIE...

I believe AHS has exploded with happiness and is now in the midst of an Ayu dance party.

^
It is, and it's A W E S O M E.

^Agree it is, been awhile since I'm this excited about Ayu tbh and I'm enjoying every second of it

These new songs are already quite awesome but imagine the potential for remixes!

haha yeah!

Feel the love & Merry-go-round fits perfect! Everything's perfect except may be for NOW & 4EVA :laugh

Maybe NOW & 4EVA acts as bridge to Hello new me and Pray?

Pray also doesn't fit :/ hmm... may be it'll be the last track so it'll be easier to skip XD

That's what I think as well.
NOW & 4EVa and also What is forever love? might be transition songs.

I was madly listening again to Ftl/Mgr single ('cause I swore to wait the release date for the new songs, but the waiting is kinda driving me insane, lol), and I just realized that now I like Feel the love better. I prefer it to Merry-go-round and I even think it's a little bit superior and more memorable.
When the hell did THAT happen to me?? lol

I was mulling over on how the album tracklist would go since I wanna put them in my iPod in an orderly fashion lol

I thought of this
01. Feel the love
02. XOXO
03. Lelio
04. NOW & 4EVA
05. Angel
06. Terminal
07. Merry-go-round
08. What is forever love
09. Hello new me
10. Pray

But then other possibilities came, like having a heavy dark tracks upfront, ballad middle the party-fun track last or such lol

Guys, some Ayu fansite shared this on fb and I think it's amazing. This person drew Ayu's faces from 2013 LOVE again era to 1995 Nothing from Nothing. Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIZCgtaHdhM

It appears to be so! I don't mind at all but I'm still loving Pray.

What is everyone's favorite version of WHATEVER?

Dub's 1999 Club Remix on LOVEppears

The Dub 1999 Mix and the version M

LOVEppears version, "Dub's 1999 Club Remix"!

Apparently, misono sang progress and Song 4 u during a medley at Tales of Festival 2014~

^I can't imagine her singing those songs with her voice lol