Ya know, since Ayu has a twitter account now, it's easy for these people who want to know if she's retiring to just ASK her personally, instead of going around assuming things. It's not that hard.
And obviously someone DID ask her, and she said she is not. So yea.

Of course she doesn't hate Namie. She thinks Namie's a monkey... :laugh

Since I first became an Ayu fan back in mid-2006, I have heard probably about 2 or 3 dozen retirement rumors. I know that her hearing is going to get worse, but what I hope more than anything is that Ayu makes music like she has been this year. She's back to the good releases, and if she releases singles frequently after L, I'll be even happier. These two single albums feel empty to me; I wish I could have the same excitement for an Ayu album that I do for a Nakashima album with its myriad of single releases.

^_^ I was so wondering why the friend request earlier??... Now I know. :) HI!! <3

And I agree. Her voice is probably at its best now. ;)

Because it's VERY rare for someone at her age in Japanese entertainment to stay in her position. Matsuda lost it very quickly about 10 years into her career, so did Namie, and let's face it: BoA, Utada, Otsuka, Nakashima, even Koda, have lost it and are hanging on by a thread nowadays. Last year we saw BoA and Utada both lose their #1 streaks on Oricon. Even Ami Suzuki, who had a massive comeback after being blacklisted, has fallen off the face of the earth. Japan culture likes new things and Ayu isn't so new anymore... Every other singer that has been around as long as Ayu has has lost it, and the fact that Ayu can still sell 70k in one week without promotion is a sign that she's definitely the Empress of J-Pop.

The big stars now are the young girls like Nishino and Kato. (I think Nishino will probably be the next big thing like Ayu, and Kato will definitely be the new Hikki... they're both so good.)

Tomoya was her boyfriend before, right? I thought Last angel would be about Tomoya if it were about someone. She had some awkward feelings about that, especially considering how her feelings changed over the course of their time and she felt more like she loved him as a brother instead of her lover. And she said at one point that she felt really guilty about how that turned out, but that she was happy with their time.

please no... this honestly makes me depressed...

but kudos to you for finding all those references~

I can't believe you noticed all of the relations within the lyrics. Amazing!

I don't think Ayu will retire anytime soon. She's said before that music is her life and she wants to do it forever. I remember Ayu posting a TeamAyu message when she announced her hearing loss. She said something along the lines of "I won't stop singing until I lose hearing completely." Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've always been nervous about her losing popularity in Japan and slowly fading from the entertainment business until entirely giving up. But, like joshua said, 70k in sales for Ayu is great! It's definitely proving that she's still on top.

Give me a break...

Ern...
I think he was talking about people over here thinking that Avex controls every little act Ayu does... Anyway...

Seiko's first number 1 single was released on 1980, and her last, on 1996... so, for 16 years, she was strong enough to have big hits... 16 is more than Ayu's entire career... And anyone that thinks that Ayu is hardworking needs to take a look at Seiko's discography... I don't like her, but if 44 albums on 30 years is not being hard working, I don't know what it is xD

The only reason that Namie's fame faded was the pregnancy+marriage+divorce+workingmom thing... She went from the supreme queen of jpop to nobody... and her recovery is also absurdly uncommon

Utada never really promoted herself by her streaks... Even so, she still holds her album's streak (even if TITO failed, UTADA is considered a different artist by Oricon) and she still does oversell almost everyone on digital charts... Being 7 of her post "come back" singles million sellers...

BoA and Otsuka never were as big as her western fans like to believe... they never got even close to Namie's, Ayu's or Hikki's status

Mika and Koda both had huge peaks and now maintain a stable fanbase... even if they got bigger than BoA and Otsuka, still not as big as the other ones

It seems like you guys are taking her "来年？" answer too literally. From the way I see it, the answer's a little more ambiguous than that. I don't think she means she's thinking of definitely taking a break next year, it's more like a "Who knows? We'll see." kinda answer.

not me:

I just wanted to say avex can not control her life anymore, she's free to decide what to do by herself but sometimes I've the feeling that she still needs to ask for permission to do anything but yes, she's going to take a break because she deserves it, also I think she will never retire, music is her life... ok, let's wait next year...

She did not said she will take a break in 2011...
" there is a difference between VACATION (休み)　and BREAK (休憩／休養 etc) in Japanese in this context. Moreover she put a "?" so it is maybe next year... Is to say that she will maybe go to hawaii haha

AND look at this

"I won't!!!!RT @takopi3298: @ayu_19980406 After releasing L you will retire??(T_T)I'm not okay with this~"

So you have the answer. (u_u)

^and that should prove that the rumors are just that, but some people just fail to see it, or they believe what they want to.

ayu won't retire yet we all know she's still on top... why would she retire only at 30!

Well, there we have it. Close the thread.

The only way I see Ayu retiring soon is if her other ear starts to lose hearing.

Her life is NOT over until it is, and it appears it's not coming soon...

Yeah, everyone always remembers the "music is my life" quote...but they hardly ever remember that Ayu said that she doesn't really like looking into the future.

She always says "who knows? we'll see." lol to those kinds of questions.


I do think that, out of all the times people have asked this question, this time is a bit more relevant, considering it's her 50th single and all...but meh.

There really is no use speculating about it until she actually says something. We should just be happy that at least for right now, she isn't.

You're thinking way too much xD

HAHAH @ the tweet. I think she probably finds it ridiculous. But i love how the song is linked to other songs...It's like this song can be about love or career... ayu's life in general

yey! very ridiculous! :rolleyes if so why among the hundreds of tweets got in her TL she chose to reply @ this tweet??? I think she wanted to let us know needs to take a break. It's her decision and she's free to do what she wants right?

While I hope your theory is wrong, I actually thought it was interesting how she referenced so many of her older songs :) Didn't know that.

If this is true then 'L' is "Last"? :yes:yes:yes:yes
I'm just kidding :D