AHAHAHA.

Reinvent herself?

Since her debut [well, not really], well, more like since LOVEppears' singles, she's reinvented herself time and time again, single after single, album after album.

It's her "nature" to reinvent herself. Musically, she's definitely done it all. The only way for her to reinvent that aspect of herself is to surgically change her vocals and fire her current arrangement staff. LOL

lol...why am i not surprised at who started this thread?

anyways...I agree with criminal, demure_dusk, coelacanth, etc

Ayu never left...whats with the comeback....make a comeback or not I dont give a crap.

Its true Ayu is not selling as well as she used to but hey that doesnt mean shes not popular anymore or still the queen of jpop if she cares. Nobody will be on top forever and will have high sales forever. Ayus career is very successful already and alot more successful than many other artists. Her albums, singles still reaches the top of the oricon charts, online shop charts...her tours are getting bigger, better and sold out. She might not be as popular as she used to in Japan...but she is certainly gaining popularity outside of Japan. Take a look at the taiwan music charts...(m)u and secret topped the charts.

Its true I might not enjoy her 2006 music as much as her past works but to me she is slowly getting away from that (b&d, startin, born to be, blue bird, beautiful fighters pvs) I love her later 2006-07 music and pvs (jewel, momentum, 1 love, part of me) Im very happy with the direction she is taking...from the secret album tracks to part of me :) (Secret album is rockier than duty in my opinion)

Some ppl just take the whole queen of jpop, popularity and sales too seriously...if one album flops doesnt mean the career will be over. Im just glad ayu is still releasing music and doing concerts after all these years in the industry. I could careless if Im the only fan left in this world that would buy her album or whatever. Her lyrics still touches me, her songs are still good and that is all what matters to me.

I wouldn't say she's gaining popularity outside of Japan. The popularity outside of Japan was already there.

I believe she is gaining popularity on top of what she already has. My local radio station, japanese restaurants, japanese shops, cd shops are playing her songs back to back which it never happened before. I was very surprised. One time I was having dinner in a Japanese restaurant very recently and they were playing the whole memorial address and Secret albums. Ofcourse I dont mean she is gaining like a lot of popularity...just well known more. I think her asia tour will help too.

Well, if her popularity was already there in places like Taiwan and HK, then why were her albums not previously taking no.1 and stuff..?

I mean, that should be an indicator right? And with Secret, she sold what (m)u sold in its entire run in like, a month or two, right?

Are we talking about this...AGAIN?! *rollz eyes...* I should've just ignored this but once again I just can't stay silent on this issue.

Does anybody listen to Ayumi when she's talking? I don't think so...constantly the poor girl has been saying that money is NOT her motive. Popularity, sales and *peoples-perceptions* are all categorized with that. If Ayu's intentions were like that, do you think she could honestly still be in the game?

On the basis of her style...Ayumi has changed her style so many times that she's bound to run into blah-moments. If you were into her because of her clothes you need to idolize a fashion designer/supermodel and not a singer-songwriter.

On the basis of her staff...The staff of Ayumi is a reflection of herself. No boss is going to hire a slackard for the hell of it. If they do, they are fired as soon as possible. Ayumi's staff has done a wonderful job and has worked very hard for her to my knowledge and in my opinion. They have added a very good influence on our perception of Ayu by providing, assisting and by doing their jobs efficently. If they weren't doing their job, Ayu would look like **** on a stick.

On the basis of her music...No artist has ever been able to please everyone. The only one coming close to that was Michael Jackson and the Thriller album. But even after that, his sales failed to take on that success. So...if you listen to Ayu's music for it's good material, it's okay to NOT LIKE some things. It's not okay to say it's crap though because she (and any other artist in the world) put a lot of heart into it. As far as Ayu & rock...I love her rock songs but the SECRET album had a pretty good amount of it. More than usual anyway. If the occasional rock tune doesn't suit you, try OLIVIA or another J-rock chick.

On the basis of promotion...We don't need another Beyonce in the world. Overexposure is NOT a good thing. I think ABEST II's promotion is just a couple of points away from that.

I think Ayumi is just fine the way she is. Though she isn't selling as highly as she used to, these things happen over time. Gradually, sales drop and gradually they rise. Look as Koda for example, she was one of the worst-selling artists and ended up becoming a best-selling one. You can't always look at numbers as a way of saying, "this is good" or "this is bad"...you gotta listen to it and if you don't like it, that's fine. If you do that's great.

I love Ayu's music. She has helped me heal during downtimes and kept me high during uptimes. I may not like her songs from her 98-99 era but that doesn't make me feel like the rest of her material is designated as CRAP. Some fans may not like her new music, but that doesn't change their perception of her old music. The bottom line is, you either love her or you hate her...there is no mid-section. You either put up with Ayu's off moments or you leave her alone and try something new.

I think there are a lot of retro Ayu fans [from the "golden era" of 2000-2003] that are really hard on her newer stuff.. D:

I think alot of Ayu's music is starting to sound the same. It's too late for her to make a comeback.

Maybe to you.

And just wtf constitutes a comeback? Doesn't someone have to have "gone away" in order for that to happen?

i think options 1, 2, 3 will boost sales and make her popularity rise.

and maybe a change of record label will help, because avex s now too busy promoting koda kumi.

Ive been a fan of ayu since loveppears and I like her music more and more (except 2006 singles and b&d) Ayu cant please everybody...ok ppl want her to make songs like her old ones...ok she have momentum, etc but ppl complain its like a rip off from M...ppl say she should do something new....ok b&d, sweetbox songs...ppl complain theyre not good. Each of her albums have a different theme and feeling to it...shes been reinventing herself already all this time. Shes just done so many things already that its hard not to have some songs sound similiar...and ofcourse shes not the only one with similiar songs.

I really think it's hard to come up with new sounding stuff when you feel so close to your "team.."

I mean, Ayu always has the same people arranging because she loves using them [HAL, etc..] and she probably would rather use them than some other team..

Beautiful Fighters was definitely an innovation, and people shot that down like a seagull :<

She doesn't need a comeback imo. I love her <3

I agree. =D

*cough*

Anyway. o__o I don't think Ayu needs to make a comeback. Just because her sales have dropped a little... so what?

When did that Taiwan indicator thing start functioning? Well for HK, I don't think her popularity is increasing. Maybe it's different outside of HK then.

Probably for quite a while..

I mean, they usually do these ranking things from a certain point on.. and I wouldn't get why they'd do it this recently..

^Well I mean like for albums like RAINBOW earlier.

i would be happy for ayu to go back to her olden days and produce singles that are daily hits like evolution, UNITE!, Dearest etc. but i guess ayu cant stay at the top forever and i am happy of ayu as wat she is now. i will continue to ber her fan and support her music cos she has impressed me time and again that i cant bear to leave her....

She shouldn't do any more rockish songs, especially like the ones on Secret, I don't really like them

You are like, in the minority, I think, ayu'ssong. ._.