I agree with most of the comments.

ayu argued with Tohoshinki ???

it's interesting that they said that initially avex wanted to make ayu new kahala tomomi.

also I think they're right saying that she started losing popularity after avex's scandal. because of that scandal, she disappeared from award shows and that also affected on her career I think.

Not really. Iirc, she wanted to sing "Why..." with Juno, but the a-nation staff or avex or whatever banned him from appearing because of the JYJ/Tohoshinki scandal (Juno is a brother of JYJ's Junsu), and Ayu was like "Hey, you either allow Juno to perform, or I refuse to close the show". So in the end Tohoshinki were the last ones performing and Ayu was right before them.

The funny thing is, the first half of Rock'n'Roll Circus is entirelly about it.

OMG The comment about "major flop" ICONIQ killed me LOL

EDIT:
"Madonna = Amuro
Cindy Lauper = Hamasaki
This is my impression."

"That's an insult to Cindy, please stop that."

xDD

well, everyone still does love cindy.

people with all of their "britney spears of japan" talk had it more right.

Sorry but in terms of legacy, Ayu is way more the Madonna of Japan than any other diva here.

People in Japan are so behind the times, they probably think foreignors still love Madonna. But she's made fun of even more than Ayu.

And also who cares about what these people say? They probably helped propel Ayu to this level of fame at some point in their life :-p

Japanese people are sheep, no different than Americans.

Many artists in the U.S. have gone through huge declines in popularity only to continue being embraced by international audiences in Europe and Asia. Internationally, people's judgments about an artist's music and "coolness" aren't altered by the negative perceptions of that artist's personal lives on the same scale it would be in the United States.

By Ayu's standards, I don't believe LOVE again was an excellent album by any means (the awful mixing was probably the worst part about the album). But in the context of what's being released in Asia now... are people kidding? Ayu's ear for melody is ridiculous. As someone who doesn't understand a single lick of Japanese, I'm consistently drawn in by her melodies, rich arrangements, and the overwhelming sense of pathos she is able to express through her music time and time again.

In the West, more and more scholars of media studies are publishing critical assessments of pop music that exist within academia - and there is no doubt in my mind, that if such a phenomenon ever existed in Japan, Ayu would be very widely written about. Her art has enough depth and relevance in popular culture to deserve a great amount of critical examination.

And while we're on the subject of the Japanese... the current musical landscape in their country is an absolute disgrace, as they've basically given up on their own unique form of pop music and surrendered to the shallow aesthetic, robotic production, and mindless melodies of K-pop.

So done with Japan, and Asia for that matter. There is no compelling or innovative art / entertainment coming from that part of the world anymore. It's a damn shame.

And just like Madonna, Ayumi still is making a ridiculous amount of money yearly, even if people make fun of her. :P

The thing is, almost every artist is judged that way. If they fail to make an impression on you, the only views you have on them are the things you hear media outlets say, because you have no interest in learning more about the situation. And fans will always defend actions.

Honestly, I followed Ayu's situations very closely and I still have some critical thoughts towards choices she's made in her career. Most of them were in the last few years, but still. I have voiced them, but people will always argue that Ayu is flawless~, etc.

i've answered this

More like, Ayu is just human. There's nothing wrong with criticism, but I hate when some people talk about her like a kind of perfect being whom always has to live up certain standards. Like how someone complains about her not being like when she was 20. Maybe because she's 30, lol?
God knows if I get all worked up when I read about my favourite singers and their choices, but it's because I care and I want the best for them. Some people just hate lazily, and I think those comments were the perfect example of that. Even when interesting and well expressed, they were never really objective or neutral.

I agree with almost everything they had to say

I guess it's because Ayu is technically an "idol" singer which is kind of comparable to MoMusu in Ayu's early years, but Ayu is much more polished than idol groups like MM and AKB - in some ways she's like an "anti-idol"

I don't know if the comments are fair. The comments are kind of like 4chan comments - who knows how many people are commenting and agreeing....I don't know if there is a "like" equivalent or something to gague the responses but there are still fans around, maybe they just don't bother to argue because people are so determined to hate her because of her cancelled broadcast and seeming to put herself in where it's not appropriate ie the Avex/JYJ thing

^Well, as she peaked 13 years ago, most of her japanese fandom nowadays is most likely over their 20's... It's just not a demographic with as much time to keep arguing with everyone on the internet as teenagers, for example.

Best joke of the year :thud

She isn't she writes her lyrics since the begining and composed in the past. It's like that in Japan singers who technically make nothing in their music are idols and the ones who write and compose are considered as singers or artists ! I believe Namie is the only one among the big names who is technically an idol since the begining but not anymore considered like that since she stopped to work with TK in early 2000 !

the websites that these come from are actually places like 2chan forums... and not all japanese are happy about the way they speak.. my japanese friend who's a huge Ayu fan said she always gets upset and pissed off at those people for their comments cuz most of the time they are just plain stupid. But then again that's what they always do. They just comment to be quoted in some random gossip "article".....

i guess there is a piece of truth in those comments this time, but most of the time they are just plain nasty whith WHATEVER they get thrown in to be chewed by them.

Yeah I think that plays as big a part as anything. Obviously she still clicks with youth on some significant degree as she still gets magazine shoots for the youth market. It is sad to see that her fans aren't quite as vocal but their money is obviously speaking more than the, say, 30 people on 2ch who have the time to talk about her.

As I was saying before we don't really know how much of this is a representative of general public viewpoint and have to take the comments as face value to represent just these people - we don't even know how many people were talking or reading the thread to agree :headache