Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - TA Blog: 春よ、来い。| Haru yo koi

Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/index.php)

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- - TA Blog: 春よ、来い。| Haru yo koi (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125204)

Thank you so much remove-mom for your time on translating the post. It's so well-done.

I thought the TA posts weren't shared anymore because TA went global and the cost went down, plus we get English entries anyway now.

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Originally Posted by Earth_maiden (Post 3336578)

I thought the TA posts weren't shared anymore because TA went global and the cost went down, plus we get English entries anyway now.

I've replied to a similar post on an earlier page, but it was never a moderator stance that people weren't allowed to post TA blogs here. The community decided that for themselves. Personally I think this entire forum is an extension of TA as we still have people in countries where the price of TA is still too expensive with the currency conversion rates, or younger members who can't afford it either way, and especially for statements like this they deserve to know Ayu's words as much as anyone else.

As for the EN versions of the blogs, sometimes they're super late or not a properly accurate translation, so I still appreciate fan translations the most for blogs like this one.

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Originally Posted by MKAyu (Post 3336507)

Thanks for translating this!

I'm thrilled to see Ayu so happy to be working on something. I've only recently discovered Yumi Matsutoya, and she seems very cool--very creative and interesting, much like Ayu herself. I'm not at all surprised that Ayu found inspiration in her.

Recently albums are making much less money than singles in the music business. A single is released with lots of pomp, tied into products and video and whatever, and serves as a project in itself. I think that style suits Ayu very well. She can put so much into crafting each song/lyrics/video/product she works on without filler.

My hope is that she'll start doing interesting projects with each single. Her albums don't sell as well anymore, but each digital single can become a small piece of art on its own and give her the time and space to maybe start writing her own music again, even! :love

Sorry for being a bit off-topic but I want to talk about a bit of Yuming.
Yuming is an interesting artist and she was one of who shaped japanese music now we have today! :love I mean... she's so iconic even still today!
She wrote many songs to japanese artists in 80's, one of them, being Seiko Matsuda.
Also, Yuming released an album last year and I recommend so much to listen! Probably, Yumi Matsutoya is the greatest artist alive.

Interesting, especially the last bit, because it can be interpreted in so many ways.

Although it makes me a bit sad I don't really like her current voice that much anymore even though she is obviously putting so much effort into the whole thing. But I haven't heard the full song yet, of course.

Thanks for posting, koumori!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rainBOWWW (Post 3336582)

+1

Big THANK YOU to Koumori and remove-mom for putting in the effort of translating this. I loved reading through it. Such a personal post. I'm so glad Ayu decided to share these thoughts and feeling with us :heart

Yumi is an outstanding artist. I highly recommend checking out her Time Machine tour. Such a great show filled with beautiful music.

^It also features this gorgeous performance of Haru Yo, Koi. :)

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Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan (Post 3336533)

^^
So yes, she talks about how she was not putting her everything into her work during the last few years. And honestly, I respect her a lot for saying this. She is not perfect and her work neither. If she had some years when her priorities shifted and she felt "having fun" was more important, that's fine. She indirectly says that having fun with her work was more important to her for some time than the dedication for the entire outcome of a project like she used to have in the past. But working on a song that important brought back for her how it felt to dedicate herself to her work and that this is Hamasaki Ayumi and she needs to return to that Ayu and won't stop. It's a very brave thing to admit that and if anything, I love her even more for this.

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Originally Posted by koumori (Post 3336536)

I want to say that regardless of how you interpret her words, it's still okay to be a fan of the work she has done in the last few years. Those are moments that she was having fun with, or expressing herself in the most honest way she could, finding those moments of freedom and happiness in what has seemed to be a long time of strife and hardship personally behind the scenes. I don't look at the long gap between music releases and think she was just having fun, I see it as Ayu struggling to connect with "Ayumi Hamasaki", and the few pieces of music we have had (in comparison to her typical release schedule) are even more remarkable to me in retrospect, in acknowledging how hard it has likely been to write and record things in that sort of headspace.

It doesn't mean I don't agree that there was definitely a shift... but she's human. I don't think she could help it. She needed this time to do whatever she needed to do.

For anyone who has been just as much a fan for years (whether you were enjoying all of her output or not), you have still been supporting the same Ayu. Here it is Ayu finding that she has refound a spark that she had lost, but it doesn't mean her recent work is any less special. It was just Ayu coping in a different way and this marks a new era.

That's my interpretation, and I'm sure there will be many more that people will have. Everyone here is such an invested fan that they come back after all these years, and still care for her well-being most of all. Let's try to remember that even if we may have different opinions on her work, past or present.

Having fun with your work is perfectly fine, and NECESSARY. If you no longer enjoy what you're doing, then what's the point in it? Artists need to have that option to just be carefree every once in a while and just blow the steam off. I am all for her enjoying it and not taking it seriously all the time. She has all the right to do it. I, as a fan, can totally skip releases if i don't enjoy them, that's what i did with Colours, it's really not that big of a deal, for me personally. It's awesome how so many different people can find bits and pieces to enjoy in her discography. That is the beauty of it, bringing different tastes together. And it's all done by one person. How cool is that?

The only thing i wish is for people here to stop calling everything that's not to their agreement "toxic". We are allowed to dislike something just as much as people are allowed to like something and state that. It's really not that hard to grasp that.

At the end of the day we cling to different things that Ayu has done, and it's awesome. It means she's a rather diverse artist that has a bit of everything, rather than being a one trick pony. It means that more people can enjoy her stuff and the experience.

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Originally Posted by BlackSilence (Post 3336599)

Having fun with your work is perfectly fine, and NECESSARY. If you no longer enjoy what you're doing, then what's the point in it?

Exactly :)

Thank you very much Koumori and remove-mom for sharing this!
I really hope she will find the right balance for her. The perfect recipe.

I don't see any changes with A BALLADS 2 (or Haru Yo Koi will be something else). Maybe next time. Or it may even never shows in her work.
I'm still not hoping for anything more than we've been having for the last few years. I've been disappointed so many times. My dream would be more quality on several levels. Just hard work and creativity on arrangements could do WONDERS.

Let's see what the future holds. Just hope she will be more at peace with her career.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi (Post 3336526)

Here it's a live performance from Yuming herself. It totally feels like something Ayu would do.

thank you so much for sharing this link to her performance. I just saw it and completely agreed. the round stage, the pageantry, the dignity with which she sings this, it's the things ayu could pull off with her rendition of the song, as well. can't wait to fall in love with ayu's version of this!

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Originally Posted by AJFmzk (Post 3336540)

Trying to force creativity is very draining, emotionally speaking. Trying to put into words or song or music your inner feeling when the creativity just isn’t flowing is so frustrating and exhausting. It’s a hard thing for an artist to feel as though they’ve “lost it” but still trying to create. I really loved オヒアの木 because it felt like she had some of her old inspiration back with her son, and she crafted a song for him that you can really feel her love.

I honestly had never thought about it that way until I read this. you made me understand why her recent work feels the way it is. I hope ayu gets to rekindle much of her creative force back again :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackSilence (Post 3336599)

The only thing i wish is for people here to stop calling everything that's not to their agreement "toxic". We are allowed to dislike something just as much as people are allowed to like something and state that. It's really not that hard to grasp that.

amen to this so much.

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Originally Posted by Deep snow (Post 3336623)

I honestly had never thought about it that way until I read this. you made me understand why her recent work feels the way it is. I hope ayu gets to rekindle much of her creative force back again :)

I’m glad I was able to help explain. I can’t speak for Ayu, only for myself, but trying to force creativity somehow expends more energy than when it’s flowing easy. When things are flowing easy, there’s usually such a feeling of excitement that you can forget even to eat or drink and you just don’t want to stop because if you stop you risk losing your flow of creativity. However, when you’re trying to force things it’s much harder, things aren’t coming, it’s not feeling right and you’re just dissatisfied with how it’s going, you’re sad and disappointed in yourself which on one hand makes you work harder but also increases stress and feeling of dissatisfaction with your work if it doesn’t feel right right away. Of course, I can’t speak for Ayu only for myself, but I certainly can see her feeling this way if she wasn’t connecting to her flow of creativity the way she used to.

thank you for the updated translation - really gives me the chills reading it again!

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Originally Posted by AJFmzk (Post 3336625)

:yes

And it was probably even harder for her who actually could produce way more than the average artist in a very short time spam.

She did so much for so long, it's only natural for her to have been running in fumes alongside other issues going on. It's nice to see she realized some stuff was going on. I enjoyed her work up till the last album/EP so it just goes to show how powerful she is still even when she may not be at 100%.

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Originally Posted by Andrenekoi (Post 3336630)

:yes

And it was probably even harder for her who actually could produce way more than the average artist in a very short time spam.

Yep. She was (and still is I think) a force to be reckoned with, even when she’s not at 100%. I’m always so inspired and amazed by how much output she had in her first few years, and she slowed down to “only” one album and 3 tours a year (Arena, A nation, CDL, sometimes more) plus tv appearances.

Thank you for posting! I got very emotional reading this, especially this part:

Quote:

There's no way I can stop here. I need to see it through, to give Ayumi Hamasaki back to Ayumi Hamasaki.

I think this is what most of us have been thinking for almost a decade now. I'll always love Ayu, but there have times in which I thought "is she tired? Maybe she ran out of ideas?", which is perfectly normal because there's no way a person wouldn't change in more than 20 years...

But reading that Ayu is discovering herself again gives me so much hope. She's an incredible artist and I'm sure there's still so much more for her to tell us through her art. :heart

I really love how honest this post is from her. It's beautiful to see that she is excited about her work and putting so much of herself into it, and also beautiful that she is coming to certain realizations about herself.

So much respect for her.

Thank for the translation. I hope Ayu will continue to be true to herself