Has the anti-Ayumi Hamasaki sentiment on AHS impacted your fandom?
 

No, I refuse to join in with the Ayu bashing in certain other artist topics.

No
I make my own choice to be excited about her music when a new album comes out and come to the realization a few months afterward that some or most songs aren't as good as I had thought and that there's just one or two songs that sleigh hard.

However it doesn't mean she's free from being dragged lol. No one is safe anymore. Queen better glue her wig to her head if her new mini album sucks. Praying for that red one track. Xoxo part 2.

Nops... But considering stuff some people told me around the forum, I must be a biased blind fan...

Not really. I think people are overly critical of her, especially her more recent output. The decline in the quality of her music is nowhere near as dramatic as folks on the internet would like you to believe.

Not at all. I've been with Ayu for a long time and I have my own opinions about what she does, says, makes. If I were a newcomer, it might be different, but oftentimes I don't read what others have to say until I have my own opinion. I feel like I stay more true to myself that way.

Just to clarify, there are things about Ayu I've disliked, but I don't believe that means I'm "anti-Ayumi".

No, I hate these so called fans that the only thing they do in the forum is blame ayu for everything from her vocals to the most irreverent things as the fonts that she uses on the covers

It's like if you love Kana Nishino so much then go to Kana Nishino international forums if there are any and stop wasting your time trying to criticize ayu

No (and I'm guessing everyone will say the same), but Ayu has by far been my favorite singer since 2006, and I don't see anyone replacing her anytime soon.

I LOVE Namie's new album, and she's been the biggest rival to Ayu for me recently, but Ayu is still unquestionably my favorite singer

Not at all. If anything, it makes me sad how harshly people critizise her in this forum sometimes. That why i stayed away for a few years and just recently started visiting this website again. We are suppose to be her fans. Even if sometimes she releases a song or two we don't like we should support her anyways right? She will always be my favorite artist no matter what! :yes

Not really. Why do people criticize on Ayu so much??? All because of the past track record??? That just simply really hurts the dedicated Ayu fans. But, to be honest, the real reason why I haven't been much on the groove on Ayu recently is the age factor...

No, despite being told not to listen to her bla bla. I always check out stuff myself and don't just listen to other people's opinions and take them as my own. It really annoys me when you can obviously see that a person has no idea what they're talking about and just says whatever they've seen online. It's really sad how a lot of people hold such prejudice against ayu when her music is awesome and she really seems to be a sweetheart.

No, I love her. <3 Don't care about the negative stuff people say. If I don't like an album or single I will take a break and listen to her other stuff but I'm always here if she releases something new.

Nah.

Ayu is the type of artist that people can naturally hate. And tear down as soon as she falls off. And there will always be fans that worship her every move.


I usually can tell when someone's opinion is stan-ish or hater-ish and I don't pay them much mind
It's like this chick on YouTube that always went around saying ayumi should kill herself and had pictures of ayu doing that. Foolishness.

I have my own opinions. If I actually took seriously all of the crap I hear about certain artists, I wouldn't be listening to much music lol. And on the other side of I just listened to the artists people most adamantly stan for, I'd be listening to a lot of music that isn't for me.

I can choose my music for myself and decide what is good or not for myself and I think it's nice for people to be able to do that.

But I understand being put off from an artist when people hate them. Because then you can feel embarrassed to be one that likes them or a song or whatever.

And the same goes for just formulating general opinions about something on the forum.

No... The thing I can't understand is why if Ayu did something that people don't like, she receives all the criticism but if this thing is done by Namie, Koda Kumi, Kana, Utada etc they don't receive criticism and are praised.
Is a generalization, I know. I can't explain good, is not a big problem that Ayu did and others divas did too but they are not criticized. Are little things like fonts, simple pv and the most stupid thing that some people in his forums is trying to find to criticize Ayu.

It hasn't impacted how much I love Ayu. It has somewhat impacted my fandom in the sense that I'm not sharing translations left and right anymore. It's frustrating spending time on a translation if people are just going to bitch.

The negativity makes being a fan unpleasant but it doesn't change the way I feel about ayu. She's still my favorite artist, hands down. I still think her music is miles better than anyone in her league (including Namie... Especially Namie) and her quality is consistent. Even if I don't like a song that doesn't mean I think the song is crap. It can be "technically" good but just not my taste.

No, I always thought that her career downhill after NEXT LEVEL but then
I fell in love with A ONE.

I haven't noticed people complaining about her recently.

Yes. Things get pointed out I would've never noticed on my own that make me loose respect for Ayu, such as mixing quality. Then I can't help but comparing the old Ayu with the current. Not that she was perfect before... But she's not the same artist. The sort of constant negative milieu spotlights the fact.

Does 'your fandom' mean my opinion on her or my opinion on the fandom? On Ayu, absolutely not. Except now whenever she does something new (song, cover, photoshoot, yada yada), the first things in my mind is that 'oh, god, they're gonna complain about every detail again, I bet', lol. I've always just rolled my eyes at people who feel the need to whine about everything: don't like one song or a music video? Flop! Career over! Where's old Ayu where's old Ayu! Ayu gives a song that reminds you of her old songs? 'Wow, repetitive much? Be original and fresh for a change!', she's just never doing enough and the constant crying really gets on nerves. You don't need to like everything she does and makes, someone else's gonna love that song/video/photoshoot you don't really care about. What happened to "I don't like this but that's fine"? Just move on.

No, and sometimes I find the bashing she reveives from her own fans quite annoying, but in the end everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Some discussions can be very nice (when people don't become offensive with their comments), and I'm not a blind fan who will love every single thing she does, it's nice to talk about certain aspects of her career and read other people's views. On the other hand, the critisism often gets to a whole other level in this forum... It doesn't change how I think about Ayu though.

But since Zutto.../Last minute/Walk and A ONE releases the bashing seems to have reduced a lot.

The typography issues is just insane. Ayu can't release ANY type of cover without people going crazy over the fonts used, while for most of other artists people don't even mention the writing on the covers, not even to say if they like it or not, nothing. lol

If people have constructive, specific criticism, then that doesn't bother me at all and doesn't strike me as hating or bashing. I think if you see room for improvement there's nothing wrong with saying so as long as you have something to back it up.

People who just bash and say this sucks or that sucks without any justification or explanation, those opinions are too stupid to give any credence to.

I've been a fan for 16 years - even if Ayu's output isn't perfect, if my fandom hasn't been affected yet, it certainly won't be anytime soon.

No, I enjoy following Ayu. However, I find it hard to communicate on AHS. Therefore the bashful things towards Ayu or other members do scare me off sometimes. But that has nothing to do with me liking her.

I do agree that her quality has dropped a bit and her golden era is gone. She made some mistakes, sometimes she looked unprofessional to me either.
But it didn't affected me so much to stops to like her. She's still my favorite singer. As others said, different opinions are good as long as they're not just comments made for the sake of bashing.

The sad thing is, most of the criticisms are from her fans.
Reading people complaining about everything she does it's exhausting sometimes. Thank goodness there's a part of good people to compensate :D

I just love her attitude to life, nothing has swayed my bashing and hatemongering :P but I dont love everything song she does. But I like her energy and outlook in life. And she is what I like and not one other persons remarks or options will every make me give up on what I like and love :) And that her songs are her own words :) But ayu has been my main artist I listen too for years now. I cant think a day I haven't listen to a song. Her music is like its my emotional outlet. I usually say she has a song for every mood to my friends. And with how many songs she has, I dont need much more. Im not some ear slut lol, I don't just let any wannabe artist trample their music through my ears :P I guess they say everyone has one thing they have to wind own and is their pleasure. Some people smoke, some drink beer, I listen to ayumi :P and two dvds a year with a new album, I think thats well more than enough especially after how longs shes been at it :D Like she says, she cant imagine a life without music, and I agree with that :) Shes just a good inspirational person in my opinion. I don't judge her personal life :)

Now of course not. But when I was starting to know her (during PQ era) I made the mistake to come here and read the comments (80 percent bad ones) and that kinda put me off before I started to discover for myself. And because many comments from that era were stated as facts, I used to think ayu was some kind of lost case x.x

Ayu's fandom can be very confusing for new fans.

No.

People can talk about issues or stuff like mixing for example as much as they want, my mind wouldn't enjoy the songs any less, regardless if the whole mixing thing is true or not and they are proffessionals on the subject (or not).

I think you expressed my feelings here, i really appreciate some songs and then people come and point out all the mixing/whatever stuff and then it's like i'm reconsidering and asking myself questions "wait, it does sound messy, her older songs did sound more polished" and sometimes when i listen to older stuff i'm kinda telling myself things like "why can't she do such quality production anymore", it's like i'm becoming like these people and it drives me mad ! Because prior reading their comments i'd just blindly love her songs and move on with my life but now it's like their "negativity" is impacting the way i see her recent work and i can't help it.

I'm in love with about 99% of the things she releases though, but it's true that sometimes when a preview comes out for instance and i get super hyped about it, the moment i see people telling things like "i hate it" "this is a (insert a song name here) rip off but even worse" "why can't she innovate" "it sounds dated" i don't feel that excited anymore, it's not that i don't like the song anymore, but it's hard to be excited about something if there is a lot of negativity.

No. I don't give a damn about what people say, especially because it seems it's their hobby to bash her all the time.

I love to hate on Ayu though... But in actuality, I preserve my own opinions on Ayu. I don't really read the topics focused solely on Ayu anyway so I don't notice the bashing. Like Delerium said, criticism is good if written intelligently. But straight up bashing is a no-no. But if you see me dragging Ayu, it's all out of fun tbh. Story is one of the best songs of this year from all my faves so...

No, Ayu's one of my favourite singers and I always enjoy coming to AHS to read everyone's opinions.

I figure people might be hating on a new cover, song etc initially but once some time has passed they have time to appreciate it properly.

Is it partly to do with Internet lingo and fandoms nowadays? When new media is released regarding a fandom it's like the reactions have to immediately be either "SLLAAAAY" or "FLOP"! (Preferably the flop comments should include some pun on aforementioned singer's etc names)

I feel this way always. When I read all the bad comments is like "Oh... Ok...". Ayu releasing songs like Walk or WARNING shows this negativity can reach her and how it affect her... The sadness during WALK perfomance... :no but people seems not going to change.

I feel like part of the negativity comes from the fact that some of her recent material needs some time to sink in and to understand where is she coming from... And when people listen/watch to the material and don't love it on the very first instant, for some reason mistake "I don't know if I like it" for "I hate it". But this is something I've been seeing to be pretty common on the last 2 or 3 years, and not only here.

I love ayu to bits but she's not perfect. Yet who is?? I guess everyone's entitled to their own opinions positive or negative. It's difficult for me to believe that one would trash ayu deliberately Unless there's a reason. I personally have a real problem with fans that think ayu can see no Wrong, hear no Wrong, say no Wrong and do no Wrong. Yet that doesn't change my love for her.

LAWL, well that apllies to me, i'm a detail freak and Ayu is my favourite, but in the end music takes over the mater.
Some complain about music she does, some complain about fonts, and some complain about music videos, and then there are those who complain about people complaining. In the end we all are complaining lol

I really don't give a single ....... what others think, if i love it, i love it lol I can throw a freaking patty all by myself if i am excited with something she does and others dislike it xD

BUT people who can't get over someone's opinions... well lets just say me having a different view on the music of one other of my faves now make, made me leave the fandom of his completely, because of crap they'd give to you, like it would turn to ridiculous pointless arguments and name calling. They just couldn't handle a little bit of "dislike" from a fellow fan, cuz their king is a musician that cannot have a single song disliked by a fellow fan. :rolleyes but this place is a bit more friendly i think people here are...individuals with strong opinions xD

Im just tired of the Namie Amuro comparisons, aside of that I don't really care :)

No. But it makes me avoid the forum hardcore.


The only reason to even come here anymore is for downloads . I've been a member here for almost ten years, I grew up on this forum and I can tell you the hatemongering towards Ayu always comes from the same group of about 10 people/stans and they've been doing it since I've joined. (See this thread for a list of names of the people I'm referring to) They hate on everything that Ayu does - spamming up every thread and forum with why her current project sucks, an essay on why it isn't as good as [x]'s current project, how she can't sell, etc. But most of these people have no taste (Exhibit A) nor class (Exhibit B). I mean literally, if you don't believe me go through even just 5 threads and you will see only the same 10 names pop up over and over. I just think its hiliarious how the only place you get shelter from them is the artist and groups threads and one of the weepo stans will pop in and say "I was playing FFX-2 today. Real Emotion is such a goooooooooood soong I wish Kumi-sama would release more good stuff like that like she used to when she was relevant and I would listen to her more" LULZ wtf kind of reference is that? You're still listening to a 15 year old song playing a 20 year old video game. But after all, these are the same people who are committed to not growing up. They don't get that when you get older you don't like the same things you did when you were younger and that includes music. Eventually, you move on and get new interests you don't join a forum 15 years ago, stop liking the artist 14 years ago, but spent the last 14 years trolling the forum running off anyone new to fandom. No fresh air is ever getting breathed into this place and I would shoot myself than participate in another one of Pieces_of_SEVEN stupid threads on how to arrange his Ayupan collection in his apartment that has no furniture in it or another of Surreal 17's stupid "Everyone Let's make a list of old Ayu songs" threads. Shit is so stupid. But then again what do you expect? these are the same people that blow shit loads of money on leggos, multiple copies of the frozen soundtrack, magazines, stuff animals, every last thing ayu has ever release no matter how much they hate her, they're clearly not well mentally.

This!! It's AHS after all not NAS

It ALMOST, kind of has, in a way. Sometimes it can't be helped. But I always subconsciously shake it off and decide how I feel about things on my own. Usually songs that people talk the most crap about, I love so much.

it doesn't impact my fandom in the least. I'll admit that A ONE was the first time I have been really excited about an ayu release since Love Songs (and it was actually a let down for me) but i will always love ayu. She was my first jpop artist that I really fell in love with and so i don't think i will ever stop being a fan of her.

Is not Kumi Koda forum either and people like to compare her with ayu as well.

There are sections for other music as well, this is not strictly an ayumi forum either.

No it doesn't though it occasionally saddens me that some are never satisfied with her work. I don't love everything Ayu has released (I am still not a fan of the album Rainbow though the song Rainbow is amazing) and there are things I love that others may not. I don't expect others to share my opinion and I won't force my opinion on them. We are free to like/dislike whatever we want.

It doesn't effect me at all. The bashing just makes me shake my head and also makes me not want to get involved in any conversations... so I don't. Ayumi is the only female artist I listen to, and I'm never going to stop.

If anything, it has made me a rebel and caused me to fight harder with my fandom!! :D I do feel though, with the way people freely state their opinions on here, though sometimes offensively lol, I can now think for myself and I don't feel forced to like certain things in her music, but in my opinion that doesn't necessarily downgrade my view or fandom.

If that makes sense. :D

No, it hasn't. I prefer to listen to new songs or albums and see what my own reaction is, and even after a long time I still like the majority of Ayu's songs. It has impacted how I feel towards the forum though, because the complaints are always the same, with the same negative words used, and the new trend now seems to be to complain about a new release before even hearing anything. I'm not talking about the people who are able to constructively say why they don't like a song or an album, because they're able to explain in an understandable way why they don't like something. This creates interesting discussions here, this is the part of the forum I've always liked. It's the constant bashing on everything Ayu does that has made this forum unpleasant to be at times.

I like Ayu that's why I know AHS...
NOT because I know AHS...I like Ayu

so...even though I do feel that lots of negativity coming out from AHS about her...It's not change me on liking her...

It wasn't AHS that impacted my fandom. It simply died as I became a different person who could no longer connect with Ayu's music/image. Other people's opinions don't influence me so easily. I'm always willing to listen, but in the end I form my own.

Not really. I still love her as much as I loved her years ago. Sure she does stuff I like more or less, her PVs changed, her voice has changed as well. Somethings I like more, some less, but I'll still try my best to go see her live whenever I can and every time I realize I love her even more.

The only thing it does is just make me avoid the forum really. I check in to see what Ayu is up to or anything else, but I am not here to give a flip about anyone's negativity. :)

Same here! I respect Ayu way too much and I appreciate what her music gives me.
Although, I have noticed that I've listened more to if Ayu sings bad or not live after reading complaints on AHS. It doesn't bother me though since I think it's so interesting to hear how Ayu's singing and voice has changed during the years.

Negativity doesn't affect me, it's more like my entertainment these days. It's amusing how much people can hate on Ayu's stuff. I used to be negative as well during 2008-2009, but then You were.../BALLAD happened and I decided I can't hate her stuff or her because after all, she was too important to me. I may not like everything she does, but I try to find good things in everything. She can do whatever she wants, she doesn't need to please people. These days I'm always interested in her new releases, even when I don't always come here to comment on things - especially since I like to talk about Koda Kumi more in her threads since she's my personal favorite, but Ayu is one of my favs, too. :)