Ai's not a teenager, she's 22! :P

But I was expecting it soon, and Mika and Ai seem to be getting pretty popular now..

awwwww... what a waste... :( she'll always be my Jpop queen...
but otsuka ai will be my fav dressing queen wahahas :P

Bof. She's so-so. She always looks tired (sleepy eyes). Plus her songs are quite boring. But that's just my opinion.

Yap! Theres nothing that last forever...
I think its about time that young artist such as Mika wear the crown and become 'the next big thing' in Japan!

Thx AYU! for the ride!

not a very good news indeed,

no matter

ayu will always be the j-pop queen for me

ya. she doesnt look like she's 26 more like in her earlier twenties(20~22).

a 22 that acts like a 8 .. :P

Haha, I doubt anyone is going to replace Ayu soon. Ok, enough debate about her being 26 years old or so because yar, it's still quite universally accepted that she's still quite young. (But in Japan, well, the younger you are, the better so she might be considered slightly old there as opposed to all the super young like Morning Musume and so on)

With regards to Mika Nakashima and Otsuka Ai, yup, I think Mika Nakashima has a lower possibility of ascending the throne as she's not as versatile as she is. Yup, she can do extremely good ballads and so on, but with regards to fast songs, I don't really think she can handle it with her voice. (Imaging Mika trying to sing "evolution") Yar, I think she can try, but from how she sounds, I don't think she can tackle those fast songs. Yes, she can "fast talk" (like how she did in FAKE) but she gives a very sleek, cold and high class feeling.

However, with regards to fashion, yup, Mika can definitely pull off a lot of images very well. She has this super cool feeling to her so I guess it's possible that she can dethrone Ayu from reigning in the fashion scene but then it's going to be very hard too. (Afterall, Ayu has tried on a lot more images than any of them have)

With regards to Otsuka Ai, I think she is very versatile musically wise. She can do fast and slow songs well, in fact EXCELLENT at times like KINGYO HANABI and DAISUKIDAYO, but I think she needs to grow out of that "cute" image, and the squeakiness to somehow be more appealing to a larger crowd. She comes as a fresh face to the music scene, as well as to the fashion magazines, so she might be the next big thing to hit the magazines.

However, at the same time, Otsuka Ai has not experienced as much as Ayu has and she's obviously lacking in experience. Ayu has to do tours all year round but Ai hasn't even started any yet.

Ai also has a few other selling points too like her Ai drawings, her rabbit mascot thing and so on, so she could actually sell her drawings or draw for children and so on. However, again, these cute things seem to appeal a lot more to the Japanese, so yar, it basically has to do with what the Japanese think. However, if she wants to try to dethrone Ayu, I think it's again quite hard.

Ai, technically speaking, still keeps to somewhere between cute and slightly matured image. She probably won't be looking superb in something like the super huge white dress that Ayu wore for the 52nd Kouhaku. She might look superb, I don't know, but certainly, Ayu has tried on more different styles and images than she has.

All in all, Mika and Ai do have a potential to ascend the throne for the fashion scene, but it won't be anytime really soon. They each do have selling points, but I think they still have to work on styling their images.

w4ell.. a replacement is a good to see... n then ayu will be more mature singer... ^^ coz shes not the queen anymore ^^ :D.. but.. honestly i dun care ^^

You forgot the single sales though, ms Ohtsuka has a single that is still in the top 30 after 1 year

hmm... and Sowelu seems to doing better with her second album.. too bad she lacks in originality and a strong promo machine to get her notice

Let's not forget that we still have no idea about when Hikki will move on from her singing career to something else. She may playing to a slight different crowd, but huge crowd that overlaps into many others'.


Is they're not gonna stay. well I can still have LOVE PSYCHEDELICO and maybe even Miliyah Kato hahaha

omg..
i wonder how ayu feels..
that's probably why she wont accept awards as well.. but i mean she's still real pretty and REAL talented... if she can.. i'd hope she's everlasting..

pshh.. i think what people fail to realize is that they may be able to officially label someone as the queen of whatever, but to me, Ayu will always be the best (unless one of the record companies manages to find someone thats actually better.. but i have yet to find/hear someone better).

Besides, they never said anything about queen of music. They just said fashion. Unless i misread. The only thing they said about music was that in order for a singer to become "queen of fashion" they also have to be a good singer.

To me, that means Ayu is still queen of music.

Who cares? Ayu'll always be very, very popular in her own right, even if others outsell her.

^amen.

who's yuki?

I wouldn't worry so much... when a singer is famous you have to expect others wanting your fame. However I don't think there's a singer who has what it takes to become the next "queen" yet.

sigh.. the problem of the scene of music now... the medias has shaped the music scene to be so much related to fashion and trends... frankly speaking, producing music is just music, why all the fuss to put in all those fashion trends and so on... and that's why there are many artisties who have talent couldnt really make it =( people are now more concern about how the singers look than the music sounds and means... though there are still many people who still knows how to prefer good music.. but i think this fashion thingy still cant leave their mind when they are judging the singer... =/
but on the other hand i do agree that with all these fashion and trend thingy, the power as in influential of the singer will increase a lot a lot more...

however such 'news' is expected.. because no one can be the queen forever, esp in japan this type of fast progressing country... :yes... however, i really do hope they put her in the hall of fame or something so Ayu is always there!!!! XD IMO, i think ayu is still the best... mika and ai seems to lack of something, i cant really figured out coz i never 'study' them... they still lack of somemore and dont seems to be able to fit into the throne entirely... and i think thats why they are still lower than Ayu... remember it took Ayu less than 2 yrs to build her status now, and mika has debut more than 2 yrs right? ...

These "news" are here for a long time. Don't worry.