^ There is this thread with links to either download or watch all 74 episodes on google drive

^ thank you!!

During her peak around 1999 and early 2000s her songs were really well known at that time. But look back at the whole Heisei era, I don't see any of her songs is iconic enough to be one of the classic song in Heisei, especially when compared with Utada and Namie. First Love is super famous among Japan and Asia which is still mentioned frequently 20 years after its release nowadays. CAN YOU CELEBRATE gained the highest CD single sales of Japan solo female artist. Even Mika Nakashima's Yuki no Hana is much more popular than any Ayu's song as it was covered by not just Japanese artist but also in various languages. For Ayu she didn't has any song which is widely spreaded within Japan and Asia and to represent Japan music. What makes me strengthen this feeling is her songs are seldom be covered by other artists. I could only remember GACKT did SEASONS recently and Ken Hirai's version of LOVE ～Destiny～ which is already 10 years ago.

There are covers of A song for XX by other artists, some pretty recent, solo performances from members of those idol groups, but they are not recorded, what most likely means people aren't covering her because they aren't given permission. YouTube is also filled with common people, amateur singers or independent artists covering several of her songs, even those who never got really big, and I'm not even talking about her fans recording themselves in karaoke.

And you even got shit like that:

On karaoke rankings BLUE BIRD and a song for xx is her most sang songs.

I remember Party King had a pretty complete list of every song Ayu performed while celebrating her anniversary. As we had a new chapter to that with Power of A~3, I decided to add the new tracks to the list:

Wow 108 songs!!

A fan compiled all the thoughts of artists who have cited Ayumi. It’s quite impressive look at this :
https://www.dclog.jp/en/1509895/198668594

I can’translate it so if someone is willing to try I thank you :)

B'z

「彼女の詞の世界は奥ゆかしい」

Mr.Children (Kazutoshi Sakurai)
「創造性溢れる曲目に感嘆」

Southern All Stars (Kuwata Keisuke)

「あゆのＭは衝撃的だった」

Takuya Kimura (SMAP)

「UNITE!好きっすよ？」

YOSHIKI

「彼女は100年に一人の逸材」

Gackt

「作曲家としても群を抜く」

hyde (l’arc en ciel)

「LIVEの回数が半端ない。

あの小さな体で尊敬します」

TERU (GLAY)

「彼女を超える歌手はマドンナぐらい

Koda Kumi

「いつか一緒に歌いたい」

KEIKO (globe)

「歌唱力が凄いね」

Tetsuya Komuro

「100%の才能」

Nomura Yoshio (Her guitarist)

「死ぬまであゆの曲でギターをひく」

Enrique (Her ex bassist)

「彼女と出会えて幸運だ」

ATSUSHI (EXILE)

「エンターテイメントの盟主」

HIRO (EXILE)

「色々学ぶことがある」

Nakashima Mika

「目指しても壁が高すぎる」

Masahiro Nakai (SMAP)

「マリア～♪っだべ？？」

Shingo Katori (SMAP)

「歌やばいね～」

Goro Inagaki (SMAP)

「歌詞がいいね」

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (SMAP)

「歌いやすくていい」

Sanma Akashiya (comedian)

「あゆがから騒ぎに来たときは緊張した」

Ito Saori (comedian)

「あゆの懐の深さには感激」

CHEMISTRY

「セッションでは感動」

KinKi Kids

「同年代で仲良くさせてもらってます」

Tomoya Nagase (ex boyfriend)

「１番に好きな人ではなく0番に好きな人。

惹かれ合いすぎて届かない存在」

ISSA (DA PUMP)

「カラオケで絶対に歌う」

Mao Asada (figure skaters)

「勇気づけられる歌」

T.M.Revolution

「話が合うんでフラットな人」

Tamori (comedian/TV host)

「一層に輝いている」

Tetsuji Tamayama (Actor)

「意外と普通な女の子って印象です」

In general that stuff is never talked about in Japan on those kinds of shows.

@mizuki-7
Utada also talked about Ayu in English during the Exodus promo... I think someone asked about Ayu during an event, the host asked who was that and she said it was a huge singer, and a very pretty one, but thar they were very different from eachother as artists.

@mizuki-7 This is interesting! I'm only using google translator so if someone could do better translations would be really appreciated! so far, I love the quotes from Yoshiki and Gackt! I couldn't understand what Hyde meant (probably because of the poor quality translator lol) and Kumi saying she would like to sing together with her someday :luv2

Wow! The list of people that talked about her in insane!! Amazing! Gotta read it later.

By the way, found on Instagram that Ayu sent flowers to this japanese/american Jewelry Shop that had opened a pop up store in Tokyo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwcBja3HbTM/ It's in Omotesando Hills, if someone wants to see it there.

I have a question, does anyone knows when Ayu and Nagase made their relationship official to the public? Because I was watching Ayuready with DA PUMP as guests and they kept asking about Ayu's type of guy and all of that "romance/love life" thing and I was wondering if the media knew she was with Nagase at the time...

Hyde says “the frequency at which she performs lives is impressive.”

thanks! was interested in his translation the most )

Yoshiki said that she's talent that appears ones in 100 years?

Some translations:

Mika Nakashima
「Her aiming level is really high.」(something like that)

Tomoya Nagase
「She's not my number 1 loved person, but the number 0.」lol

B'z
「The world of her lyrics is very modest.」

YOSHIKI
「She's an outstanding talent that only happens once in 100 years.」

Gackt
「She is also outstanding as a lyrics composer.」

hyde (l’arc en ciel)
「The amount of lives she does is impressive. I have respect for that little body.」

Koda Kumi
「At least once I'd like to sing with her.」

KEIKO (globe)
「Her singing skills are amazing.」

Tetsuya Komuro
「100% talent.」

Masahiro Nakai (SMAP)
「Maria～♪」

Shingo Katori (SMAP)
「Ain't her songs amazing??」

Goro Inagaki (SMAP)
「Her lyrics are good, right.」

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (SMAP)
「It's nice and easy to sing.」

Keiko, just cut it out, girl, you were there, even during her best years Ayu couldn't sing "A Song Is Born" well.

^https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xls09s

Nice try, but it's a lowered key :-P

Well, maybe Keiko was comparing Ayu to herself lol

It was in September 2001. This website recorded some details about how their relationship was unveiled. http://monochrome0408.web.fc2.com/PC...PICS.htm#A2001

pedronekoi thank you!



AAA member Naoya Urata arrested on charges of attacking a female convenience store employee
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/201...890661000.html

First drunk tweeting, now this. He seems to have problems with alcohol.

One more reason to increase Ayu's bad publicity :(

He’s such a piece of shit.

Omg! Thank you for that link! I had no idea that she announced on a letter :)

About the Urata Naoya thing... I feel bad for the other members of AAA that have nothing to do with that and now must have their activities suspended for a while and/or having to deal with it in public. For me he's over, I can't forgive violence against women.

and keiko could??? :shakehead lol

I was looking forward to seeing him and ayu sing What is forever love together in live one day...

So Urata Naoya isn't gay after all?:dead2
As someone who doesn't really drink alcohol, I never can understand why people drink so much that they reach this level of behaviour. Why can't anyone drink responsibly?
Hopefully he learns from his mistake and becomes a better person.

haha I love this comment. hyde's got also a comparatively tiny body. he's like 156 cm?

Ayu and George (I think that’s his name? Lol) are presumably friends. There was a picture of them together on his IG before.

Watching the TA Limited Live 2015 tour and I love that they used so many remixes from Gold & Silver in the DJ/radio section.

So Sweet magazine is celebrating 20th anniversary and they put a big advertising in Omotesando Station with all the covers the've released. And, of course, there's TONS of Ayu. I saw it yesterday but because it was too crowded couldn't take any pictures, but found it on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwwNVmVgTZG/

^ That's really cool!

Love the advertisement.:luv2

Not sure what this is exactly, but a Book Off parody video featuring a rather well done male cover of evolution!

https://youtu.be/T_bHSeTdKck

^I'm not sure what's going on there but is not bad at all :laugh

^Its a Hard-Off. they sell hardware articles. probably really just a funny ad.

Haha! That was actually really cute. That's reason enough for me to visit a Hard Off.

I enjoyed that video! It would be nice to see Ayu do a self cover of Evolution.

I don't want to totally derail this thread but I found everyone's thoughts on the Trouble Tour thread about Ayu's career and fandom recently very interesting and was wanting to post something myself but it took me a while to gather my thoughts so apologies if I am going off on a tangent here.

I definitely feel like I'm witnessing the decline of Ayu's career through sales (which are understandable), lack of releases and band and even the number of posts on this forum(which I get, I'm not exactly the most regular poster myself but it's just a another reminder that there's not much going on. 50 posts a day is now sounding like a lot to me!). Of course it was nice to see her selling well in the past and I always knew there would come a time where sales would decrease, but I always thought it wouldn't matter if I was still getting new music, PVs and tours to enjoy granted with a lesser budget. I loved how much content we got from Ayumi in the past but we had it so good for 18 years and that was never going to last - it's not realistic.

Obviously there's Ayu's health to think about too which could be contributing to the shorter shows which is fair enough. I think it's just the uncertainty around her future now and the lack of releases. It would be one thing if I had her concert releases to enjoy but there's now numerous shows gone unreleased. That was one of the things I liked about Ayu and JPop is that you could always depend on a DVD/Blu-ray release of a tour.

I get it that this is something that Ayumi needs to do whilst she can and totally support her in that. However, it's only just now it's hitting me that we may never return to a usual schedule. I was really positive about the tours at first but that does lessen when you're not able to buy the final product although I did really enjoy watching the Power of A^3 show!

The lack of a band is also concerning for me -tthey're almost as important to the show as she is and I always loved hearing how her songs sound when performed by a band. Especially Yoshio's guitar solos. But now I wonder why they are absent - is it unavailability, budget, they're on a break?
As a fan I would like the chance to buy her tour releases. And by buy her tour releases I mean through YesAsia. Not limited to the fanclub which incurs an extra expense as you have to go through a middle man and incur more expensive shipping. Hey, I'm not saying I could afford them all if she released them right now, but it would be nice to have some Ayu content to buy. A remix album would be nice but I guess with sales, Avex may not want to go down that route.

I always thought Ayumi would be like Kumi with her schedule. Yes, Kumi's sales aren't what they were during her peak but she still releases albums - sometimes 2 a year!!

Anyway, hopefully this post doesn't sound too negative! It was just good to put it all down although I do struggle to always convey what I mean without getting too repetitive etc lol.

Does this remind anyone of a ASFXX/LP era song to anyone else?


I don't know why but I thought of two of us and from your letter when I heard it.

I made a video of Pikachu dancing to "Boys and Girls" lol he looks so cute! Sorry about the watermark but I'm trying to promote my fanpage :laugh

https://twitter.com/EvanOdinson/stat...64881310707712

^ Omg it's so good xD

THIS IS PERFECTION.

It's cute but I hate that version of Pikachu.:laugh

I know bounceback composed it and it's suppose to be 2000's style (or Ayumi's style) but I would say this song is a cover more than a mashup, I know this song before it lol



EDIT: Oh! This song https://videa.hu/videok/zene/tatsuya...Vb9JwwKAZ6ypLx

Oh my god, it's so cute! I love it!

I love that Kalen Anzai girl, hope she keeps working with bounceback.

on topic: TO BE turns 20 today!

Wow, Ayu style song but in a good way. PV looks like Ayu's Vise cm. :love

It would be so cool If one day there'd be a leak or even better an official release of unreleased Ayu songs. But for some reason I also think that Ayu don't much of finished unreleased songs.
Especially from her early days, her schedule were so busy that I can imagen that she didn't recorded much songs that wouldn't have the chance to appear in the album. What I mean is stuff like a finished song and Not some lyrics here and there and maybe an instrumental track, we know that these kind of things exist ( like petal or some other songs from LOVE again that she Had for years but waited for the right time to record it).

I hope you guys understand what I mean XD it's late but I wanted to share this thought here after listening to some unreleased songs from other singers

Well, Love Again was mostly made of never released before demos. It's pretty unusual for any artist to have completely finished never released songs floating around, but she most like does have several demos at a pretty advanced state. Some of her songs certainly take more time for her to finish, some others certainly are noticed to not fit the current project after a point of "doneness".

She is amazing, even vibrato was good :D

^ She looks very caucasian to me o.ô Well done, though.

^ She is, she's a 30 y.o American singer named Diana Garnet.

I'm so distracted by the wig lol

I've heard this for years but I've never found the source where it came from. Did Ayu said this in magazine interview during that era?

The source is the fans.

Yes, she mentioned at least Wake me up, SAKURA, Sweet Scar, Gloria being old songs she finally decided to release during the whole LOVE again era in this interview.

Thanks for the link! I really miss those days that Ayu would explain her works...

I was watching her interview with Tetsuko and is so... awkward. I was wondering if it's related to the japanese "social code" of how you're supposed to behave and talk to older people. Seemed like Ayu was holding back and trying not to talk too much. It's such a waste of interview because she really didn't said anything relevant lol

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22ticg

I wish they'd update the TA app, I get the same ten or so songs when I do song of the day. :grumpy

They even not updating other contents except those wallpapers and Ayu blog in TA now, what are you looking for? Do you see how long is it since the last update of that web magazine and gallery section?

What I miss in TA is the magazine. They only made a single online mag. That's sad. I wonder why they never do it again?

I was just reading the 70 questions and it was to read those answers this many years later.

Some things are just relatable, but for others, it's interesting to see what she's done since then and how it aligns

Probably one of the results of lowering the annual fee while they renewed the website in 2014. They have still published one issue of physical TA magazine in 2016 but for those who joined TA after the renewal they have to pay 2500 yen to buy.
Meanwhile it makes me feel what they said in the announcement about the renewal of TA in 2014 is totally a scam. We only got one single issue of web mag. Most of the “member's exclusive documentary films” can actually be found on her Youtube or from Line Live until they put those selfie footages from recent TROUBLE TOUR. The so called treasured photo gallery has never been updated since 2015. They never have held live broadcast corner that we can Q&A with Ayu real time. Ayu herself even more active on updating instagram rather than her TA blog now. What I see is they don't care about contents of the TA website anymore because most of them are seldomly updated. In fact I won't mind paying more to get a membership with more comprehensive contents like the previous A course TA, but what they have been doing currently makes me feel it's a bit not worth joining.

;) Don't jump to conclusion so fast.

I don't think that the new fee is related to that unfortunately. As the web magazine was out after. (Sorry I should have clarified in my last post that it was only the webmag that I miss). It looked more as all the new things they did in the past years. They launched them then never do it again or updates them as you said in your post. :/ I wonder why they barely update things. It's not as if they didn't have any material. Even with the touring there are plenty.

I just remember that I wanted to create monthly "magazine" with ayu's posts from instagram
I stucked at the page design and then successfully forgot about everything)

Yeah but I don't look at those other sections as much. Aside from the news blog and monthly wallpapers I only use the song box feature. I just want a variety of her songs, I've gotten Will about 10 times and no other song from missunderstood album. I only re-joined last year to get tickets for January show so my fee is already well spent. :D

I remember it was such an event every time Ayu updated her blog, sometimes 3 or 4 entries a day.

I believe that A Room corner the song box included has already been abandoned as it is no longer accessible on TA website. They have updated the song box serval times and each time there were different lists of songs for the lottery. So this is probably the last list and that's why you are getting same songs. Btw thanks for reminding it can still be accessed through the TA app. :P

I guess there are less man power in TA now so that they could not afford those works like making TA magazine and updating the gallery like what they did in the past. One of the reason they could lower the fee maybe the shrinking in TA staff.

Oooh okay, well that sucks. I only download the wallpapers from my PC if they're decent enough but the last two months haven't been very nice. Otherwise I use the app to access TA. I might renew my membership if I need to use the ballot system again, otherwise I will probably cancel it when it runs out in a few months. Especially if the daily songs aren't renewed haha.

Throwback to Asia Tour 2007 where ayu's costume had a tear in it?

http://oi65.tinypic.com/2dgnzhu.jpg
http://oi64.tinypic.com/1zywufb.jpg

^you mean at her armpit? i don't think it teared, should be the cut. you can clearly see the seam going further right at the edge.

To me it looked like the seam tore apart/opened. I mean, I could be wrong of course but I simply thought that'd be an odd place to make a cut on purpose.

Maybe it is open in that area so that Ayu wouldn't have trouble moving around on stage?

It's not a tear. It's part of the structure of a traditional female kimono and it's called Miyatsuguchi.

http://img-cdn.jg.jugem.jp/3e6/18008...125_554456.jpg
https://ichi-up.net/_images/2566ac45...__________.png

^thats what i wanted to say. otherwise you couldn't move in this because it was too tight.
Plus, as I said, you can clearly see it seamed on both sides of that "rip".

Ah, I see! That's really interesting. Always good to learn something new! Thanks everybody! :)

It wouldn't be too tight - it's a helper to dress yourself properly in a kimono or yukata.

^yeah i figured as soon as I pressed send. Anyways.

I was wondering what is the most sad Ayu song in your opinion? For me it's a tie between "no more words" and "A song for xx".

Pownder snow

hanabi

The first song that came to my mind was ever free. Then I tried to think of other songs I thought were really sad too and I thought of Secret, It was, reminds me.

Two of us
and maybe untitled for her

imo Far away is really heartbreaking.

Especially listening to the acoustic piano version is such an experience. I don't know, I can feel her desperation so clearly in that song. Far away makes me sad too, whatever mood I have.

And, I know it has already been stated her, but POWDER SNOW - also the piano version that could be found on disc 2 of LOVEppears (if I am right) I prefer this version over original, because it sounds A) colder/icier, and therefore B) so lonely and sad.

And a more recent song I found so beautiful and sad is Missing. Also I agree on reminds me, that song gets me everytime. And I guess that Return Road should be mentioned too because of the backstory in her private life.

I always wondered how other artists felt when the a-nation DVD release came around and everyone would get one or two songs featured while Ayu got like 5+ :roflmao I'd be pissed lol

I'm sure they understand why.
Egos are pretty fragile things, though.

Well speaking of a-nation it doesn't seem that Ayu will take part this year...

https://s2.imagebanana.com/file/180326/thb/104IBRMq.jpg

I just noticed that my strap has 2 times Arena Tour 2002 and is missing Arena Tour 2010, anyone else have this mistake? (AT02 is the light green one)

Dare I say it? For fans who don't go to her concerts, this ongoing season of Ayu is pretty boring. Goes to show that I'm just another spoiled fan.

I always roll my eyes when the discussion of retirement gets brought up, but at the bottom of my heart, I do feel an ominous sensation that her era is on the brink of ending.

Strange, mine is fine BUT 2002 and 2010 straps are the same color so I guess that's why they made the error?

Mine is fine! If you've bought them during the first dates in April you got the first batch which has the mistake but they later fixed it when I bought mine in July.

I got mine in the first date of April and it has both At 2010 and 2002 haha

Feel lucky, I guess! lol Limited rare mistake keychain

POWDER SNOW

I also like the live version from PCDL

There are several for me! But the main ones are always HANABI and Dearest, the combination of her voice, lyrics, and the music really get to me. You Were... is also up there and POWDER SNOW like others have said.

I was on the AWA streaming music service and I got surprised looking at Ayu's profile, apparently her second most played track there is Secret with 921,254 listens. What???

Link to her page

So... On Monday, Ayu was "featured" in this TV show called "YOUは何しに日本へ？" (What you came to do in Japan, basically). And they interviewed an American guy who, apparently, loves Ayu. The whole thing is very cringey tho... But the guy do know a lot of stuff about Ayu lol

If my TV show interviewed a foreigner that came to Brazil cuz they loved Ivete or Anitta I would make it cringy too xD

New thread:
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124555