Ayu is rarely angry on Twitter. She did say once that she wants Twitter to be a happy place. Based on that, I doubt she'll bring up this controversy, and if she does, it'll be minimal.

The media is crazy all over the world - no matter what the artist says, the media will always say something different. Ayu's had other "scandals" much worse than this, some she never brought up because it wasn't the truth. And she's apologized when she needed to. She doesn't need to apologize for this, though. Hopefully this will blow over quickly!

She has the 2nd biggest following on twitter when it's about japanese musicians... only behind Hikki (as she aways is)... That's pretty good IMO.

Considering how it's 'cooler' to like Utada, it's not surprising. Most often when J-Pop is concerned, people cite their favorite/best in J-Pop as Utada... (which I don't believe personally) though it is surprising that Ayu isn't that far behind when you think about it.

I think Utada got a little "old" right now... When I talk to most recent jpop listeners, they usually like neither that much (but they also don't really know them).

Still, both girls are the most relevant jpop musicians since Namie, and some of the few that have enough control over their own careers to feed their own twitters... In the end, even if Ayu is not selling loads, a lot of people over here who doesn't overestimate her actual level of fame underestimate it...

Also, Utada has a safer image and deals with safer themes on her lyrics and videos, what makes her easier to reach a larger audience... She experiements a lot more than Ayu when it's about melody, production and arrangment, but Ayu touches subjects that not everyone is really pleased to hear or see... what limit a little her public in comparation to Hikki

5 days without ayu's twit >___<

Yeah, maybe right now she's in "cooldown mode"...

Why can't you believe Utada can be someones favourite Jpop singer? What an odd thing to say.

She has been replying to some fans, mostly about the new collection of Aquascutum, and also about a new date of A3DII in Singapore.

I guess that she will be online on weibo, but not in Twitter, until this storm passes.

You meant about that typhoon?

omg lol you are awesome. XD
I think Deibel is talking about the media and the Music Station thing...

Well... for some bizarre reason, some people like to think Hikki is sort of a underground singer (what's ridiculous, considering her career, her songs, her label and her sales) and find it "cooler" to say she is their favorite jpop artist even if they only know First Love, Simple and Clean, Sanctuary and Flavor of Life...

Saw that more than once, even in college there was a girl on my class that LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED Hikki so much and only knew the Kingdom Hearts themes...

Still, in Japan (and considering Kingdom Hearts impact, worldwide) Hikki has a larger fanbase than Ayu...

Probably because she's kept a rather "normal" image, suggesting she doesn't give in and/or try to be trendy/sell out. But really, she's had her name attached to huge marketing tactics, like video games and electronics, which is far from not being mainstream haha. I also think it has to do with her mostly artistic videos. Granted her biggest hits weren't artistic at all... And no I'm not suggesting everyone thinks this way about her, just my feelings about it haha.

But yeah, I don't even know how she was brought up here xD

^Me neither... But is always refreshing to know that I can talk about Hikki on a Ayu board without anyone trying to eat my head :P And even if Hikki is my favorite musician, First Love, Flavor of Life, Traveling, For you and some other big hits from her really are on the generic side of the spectrum...

I think it's a good thing for her to take a step back from Twitter with all the drama that has been going on. She seems to have posted on weibo which means she's ok and still around. I'm not worried, Ayu has always been very strong about everything!

I love the picture of her nails with the smiley! Now I totally want to do this on my nails! All 1 color except ring finger and paint a smiley on it 8D

She should just use twitter to communicate in English, Japanese stuff should be TeamAyu as it makes it harder for tabloids to write stuff.

^ yeah you're right!

6th day without ayu's tweet!

La La La... La La La... La La La... aisaretai LOVE ayu IS good ECSTASY!
#LOL#

I prefer Weibo for her international communication than twitter :yes Because twitter is too public for her. But with Weibo, it seems like she's even closer to her international fans even her followers has reached 1 million :D

I am not sure if you could use fanbase as the right word. I think Ayu has more hardcore fans while Hikki manages to appeal to more casual listeners and I think that the physical sales of some of her later singles show that very well. While Ayu was still selling 300k Hikki was barely selling 100k, but was still doing great digitally.

^Hikki doesn't have an idol image or a image based career, what means her material doesn't have as much collection value as Ayu's... Not saying one is better than the other or any ******** like that, but there a good amount of fans who buys Ayu physical stuff cuz they feel they need to have a physical copy of everything she does, while on Hikki's fanbase, the most important thing is the music in the end of the day (even to her, as she put little to no effort on her visual stuff since her divorce).

So, considering the differences on the way both ladies focus their careers, I don't think we can compare theirs hardcore fanbases based on physical singles, as, from my experience, to a considerable part of Hikki hardcore fanbase, a paied download of her latest release and a physical copy of her latest single value the same...

If we take sales in consideration, it's also nice to notice that even if Hikki's oversells Ayu digitally, what means people can easily get her newer songs they liked if they are casual listeners, she also beats Ayu on album charts, what means a lot of people are interested enough in listening to her whole production even if they have access to only the songs they liked.

I for sure know more Hikki hardcore fans than Ayu's, what's funny considering I'm part of a Ayu forum but never bothered being part of a Hikki forum (mostly cuz her fanbase is disgusting).

This has a lot to do with the fact that Hikki is mostly seen as a musician, while Ayu is mostly seen as an idol (even by part of her fanbase, as we can see daily over here) what explain the differences of behavior on their fanbases...