[Tabloids Translation] Ayu Under Fire for a-nation Performance
 

http://aramajapan.com/wp-content/upl...soieaatbev.jpg

Singer Ayumi Hamasaki (36) has (almost) always had the honor of carrying out the final performance at avex’s summer festival a-nation.

This year, she performed at four dates in Tokyo and Osaka.

Besides Hamasaki, South Korean top-tier acts like BIGBANG, Super Junior and EXO as well as popular Japanese performers like Sandaime J Soul Brothers, AAA and E-girls were on the guest list.

However, even with such an all-star lineup, not all tickets were sold this year.

“Even though a-nation looks tremendous at a first glance, a lot of fans do not enjoy it that much because their favorite artists’ performances are short. There are plenty of other music events in summer, ‘Summer Sonic’ for example, so people get tired of festivals.


Ayumi Hamasaki is no longer a hitmaker. Her last #1 single was released in 2010 and her 2014 single ‘Terminal’ peaked at #24. The same goes for her albums. Her last #1 was ‘LOVE again’ but the two CDs that followed reached #5 and #4 on the weekly chart.

Certainly, there are still a lot of people who follow Ayu but most of them are in their 30s. They are probably married already and sure don’t want to go to a summer festival just to see Ayu carrying out the final performance.” (Industry official)

If Hamasaki was still as popular as she used to now, her fans would have rushed to ticket booths just because of her name was on the perfomers’ list.

People on the net are saying that the “tragedy of 2012 has repeated itself”. By that, they are referring to an incident that happened three years ago, when Hamasaki was scheduled to perform right after BIGBANG. As soon as BIGBANG’s performance was over, half the audience rushed to the exit and left during Hamasaki’s performance.

This year, the same thing happend when she entered the stage after EXO’s performance.

Not just the demand for her CDs, but also for her lives seems to fade away.

Hamasaki is struggling in other areas as well.

Her fans who watched her segment at a-nation voiced their dissatisfaction with her cover of ‘DEPARTURES’ (globe) which she performed together with legendary music producer Tetsuya Komuro:

“She can’t reach the high notes”
“DEPARTURES isn’t such a vulgar song!”

Also, rumors about a personal crisis have surfaced. It seems that her husband, an American UCLA student, wants her to gain more weight.

“That her husband told her to gain some weight is because unlike Japanese men, American men prefer glamourous women. However, here in Japan, Ayu is a top artist and songstress.
Even if she gains weight, there are limits because she also has to maintain her figure for her fans. Before being a wife, Ayu is a singer and he doesn’t understand this because she is not well known in America. It’s nothing strange that conflicts like these can tear a marriage apart.”

Hamasaki got married only a year ago. Is a second divorce drawing closer? Or is she considering to retire for her husband?

Source: http://aramajapan.com/news/gossip/ay...-rumors/22210/

I am so mad with this article I don't even know where to begin, what the fuck is that last sentence

I honestly feel sorry for ayu. I can't imagine how mentally and emotionally exhausted she must be to face criticism and scrutiny with everything she does. She can't do anything right and is always being compared to other artists. And no matter how hard she may try to express herself, if folks don't like her musical or promotional direction they accuse her of not caring. She's a strong woman, I wouldn't be able to handle it!

I'm angry after I read this, esp the last sentence, again they wrote something based on their imagination, why not write some story book? Why this again? Are they really happy and celebrate for days if that's true?

Everything is so horrible, and the last part sounds stupid, lol.

About half of the audience leaving after their K-Pop artists, I believe it's true, especially because EXO's fans are insane.

The part about her personal life was totally unnecessary. But the part about a nations empty seats, is totally true, I saw it in the video. Her singing wasn't that great either. Ayu is at a stage in her career where she can't be the headliner anymore. :( Man ayu can't catch a break, she has a lot of damage control to take care of before she's forced to preform in halls.( haha now I'm totally over reacting) :roflmao

Still-talked-about queen of pop causing controversies. Rake in the money ayu!

I wanna slap the one who wrote that article for God's sake. But since mama Ayu don't give a f**ck i'm good. Let them have a good life. lol

"She is not popular anymore, her CDs don't sell that much... AND BY THE WAY HER HUSBAND WANTS HER TO GAIN WEIGHT." This article is disgusting.

Read it at arama already yesterday. Not very amused at how they highlighted Terminal peaking at #24 meanwhile her other singles and albums are doing quite well :grumpy they are clearly trying to create a buzz out of this!

After all she keeps being slammed for doing anything, duh. And girl will just do anything she wants ;)

lol like that article is legit.
It's like the chinese tabloids, just Japanese.

Half of the crowd lol, and the remark of her husband, like they would know. XD

This article just makes me sooo sad. Even tho I know it probably isn't legit. I still want to believe that Ayu is The most popular artist in Japan even tho I know she no longer is.

Its funny how the article starts by naming all sorts of popular acts that performed, and then blaming Ayu solely for the sales. And how do they know about this weight gain request? And so what? whats between her and her husband is there business but its not like he asked her to donate her kidneys to science so he can dissect them

I'm not surprised about everyone leaving before her performance, ya know? a-nation is essentially a music festival, and EXO has been the craze much more than Ayu is this year. You can't really force people to stay and watch Ayu, especially considering a-nation starts at like 1PM and she doesn't perform till like 8PM lol

LMFAO the thing is this article is completely unfounded...

I think the majority of the people I saw at A-Nation were in their 20's and young kids and a LARGE number of them all had their Ayu Towel and T-shirt they just bought. literally sitting next to me was a group of 3 girls maybe 15 max 18 with like Ayu merch from not only this A-nation but a bunch of other concerts. Also A-nation is usually just for Japanese music, and so the people who go enjoy mostly all the line up, but the people who go for the k-pop groups tend to really only carea bout that one group, so once they're done performing the leave. The same thing happened to every group, Acid Black Cherry performed before exo and i saw a bunch of people leave after ABC performed its not just that no one wanted to see Ayu, its that people go to see who they want to see.

That being said, by the end of the concert the venue was still like 80-90% full. I don't think this article has any real truth behind it.

Come on guys... what can we expect from Arama Japan? This "article" omitted so much information about sales and more.

:yes

As long as people keep writing articles about her, she is relevant. If they wrote bad things about her is because they knew people would be interested to read it either to bash her or the article.

Another article like this... (sighs)

This is surely shocking. But it isn't surprising.

I don't know what the future holds about Ayu... :( (along with my interest in her)

i was also so angry reading this article yesterday...heck..
it's not liked half of audience in the stadium were gone, i watched the last day of anation, there were still at least 80% ppl watching her perform, wth?
ppl only were leaving when ayu was about to finish 1st july song, courtesy of my friend who attended the concert.

so what? it's not liked EXO fans were all there to fill the stadium..geezz.. (i personally don't have problem with EXO)

and the rumor about her divorcing her husband just because her husband demands ayu to gain weight LOL..that's so ridiculous, even if it's real, heck, just divorce him, she doesn't deserve a man who doesn't accept who she is.

It's not real, the tabloid it was taken from could have said anything.

They could write her husband asked ayu to go through a surgery to become a man or to become Angelina Jolie, will they divorce?

That's so stupid lol.

Exo fans are generally middle and high school students, and many go with their moms. This is the same for most kpop acts. Japanese soccer moms love the korean boys lol. And so tooons of them leave, and would leave no matter who was last, after they perform. It's a mad house leaving that stadium, they essentially close you off if you don't leave your seat immediately after the fireworks.

And if you -only- went for one act that isn't even a major act in Japan, then leaving isn't disrespectful lol. The people who went for Ayu stayed for Ayu, the people who went for other artists stayed for those artists. People left after AAA too. It's not like the entire arena cleared out after Exo...tons left after Acid Black Cherry too, now that I think about it. I can tell you that if Exo was last, far far faaaaar more people would have left. Because Ayu fans as well as people with 0 interest in Kpop let alone one that hasn't even debuted in Japan are just as fickle lol.

The part about weight gain is lame. To tag it on at the end...it has nothing to do with a-nation. Ayu looked hot.

My goodness.

Everyone gave Ayu such a hard time for running off to the States, and she gave herself a hard time about it also, but, seeing something like this when she's clearly tried so hard over the last year, who could blame her? I would want to run away also when, no matter what I do, the media comes up with so much to talk about.

She was the last performer on most of the days, wasn't she? Somebody has to be last, and people leaving before the end of a festival, show or game is perfectly normal because otherwise it's hell to get out. Also, to put upon her the burden of having to carry the entire thing is terrible. Fans go for the artists they want to see; it's not a big deal that some of the audience that went weren't as interested in her as they were in other artists. Fans that wanted to see Ayu, stayed for Ayu.

And to bring her relationship with her husband into it, I think, is a bit cruel. To a certain extent, Ayu still guards her relationship; I doubt details of such a thing would get out to anyone who would dare utter it to the media.

I chuckled when they compared Terminal, which is a re-cut single (so it's obvious that it wouldn't do well on charts), to her last no. 1 single, but they didn't compare her last no. 1 album to sixxxxxx, probably because it debuted at the top and was 2 weekly...
Gosh, how I love when that happens on gossip sites; everyone gets pissed and it's just a massive bullshit and manipulation of the facts ♥

Also it's a natural thing for stans (not respectful fans) that they won't stay to listen and watch another artist... Recently I've been at some kind of festival in my city and every time there was other artist than the main idols their stans didn't even applause and were saying things like "go away, I want my X". I assume that if someone like ayu performed at the end, they would leave too and the place would be almost empty.
So it's not ayu's fault for the empty seats but again, it's just a gossip article :rolleyes

I stopped to take this article seriously after the 2nd sentence which contains false informations.
Ayu only performed 3 dates of a-nation not 4. If the writer is not able to get such a simple information right....

arama is a tabloid isnt it? oh well, i believe that sales can be improved, if marketing is done correctly :( but ayu is not doing it.

actually, if it's me, i wouldn't stay for artistes whom i am not interested in as well. So i dont think there is anything wrong with it, just that yeah, it's a pity.

"he doesn’t understand this because she is not well known in America"

Yeah, there's something about "the girl is in the top ten richest female singers of all time" that them Americans don't seem to get. BLAME THE HUSBAND!

WTF is that article, and what relevance does it have? While he was writing this garbage, Ayu was busy preparing her SECOND tour of the year, because, you know, people don't want to see her live anymore.
I'm usually not bothered about reading how her popularity has decreased, which is a fact anyways, but don't people have other things to waste time on?

nothing comes good at arama for ayu~
/ignore

The live performance doesn't show a lot of empty seats though. Except when ayu goes touring in the scissor lift, all the fans rushes to get near her.

They are haters of Ayu .
Never publish positive things about Ayu

This platform is just a bunch of haters. Wouldn't take anything seriously from there. And if I would have noticed earlier where the "article" came from, I wouldn't even bothered to read it.

I thought this was something serious xD until I read the sentence with her husband lol

The writers even bash her on the comments...

I think half empty is too much...many data from this article is just a speculation..no prove at all...it's really poor article..bless the writer...

Gosh, that comment about her and her husband just seems like a low blow to me. Like, I totally hope they're still together and will be forever but at the same time, it's no one's business.

they blame Ayu for the ticket sales? Most of the audience where likely her fans, Super Junior are not even that huge in Japan, though I love and respect them. And there are singers worldwide that don't even make the top 40 and yet sell out concerts and make more money than those that do.

And don't let me start on that last segment. Her husband wants her to gain more weight because he wants her to be glamorous? can anyone say sexist and racist? Even if its true that he wants her to gain more weight, he is a medical student and likely thinking of her health.

What a bunch of wankers, seriously

I thought Amara was a site that translated Japanese articles in the news for the English fans of Japanese media... Just wondering, because its not right to bash the wrong people, even if you are angry. Pretty sure it was written by a Japanese source.

Anyway, whoever wrote the article just wanted to talk about something to sell papers. When the majority of a crowd goes to see a certain artist its understandable that they would leave after. It's nothing personal about Ayu.

Yup, turning 30 this year...and what?

The main problem with arama is not this, but all ayu posts are bashing her, it seems like either they're only selecting negative articles or every single person in Japan is mad at her

Haven't seen a article like this for a while now, lol. I only laugh and facepalm because this is just so stupid. How in hell would they know what Ayu's husband thinks? Do they have a camera in their house or do they listen his phonecalls to Ayu? Or does someone have magic powers that lets them know these things? I seriously won't take these seriously. :roflmao

Everything in that article is not true... I Was at a-nation. Some people leave when exo finished performed. But some people also comeback because they just going to buy something during the break..

But before ayu finished july 1st some people just went home because they don't want to get hold by the staff and have to get out in order started from the arena. Can you imagine with thousand of of people went out of the venue like ajinomoto stadium at the same time? That will be too crowded.. So the staffs will close some of the exit door so people can't get out at the same time.. Thats why some people leave before she finish sing july 1st..

This article is utterly rubbish. I attended a-nation last year are the MAJORITY of people who attended that day were Ayu fans (you could tell by the goods they were carrying), and even those who weren't seemed to really enjoy her performance. I was seated among Super Junior's fans (my ticket had come from their fanclub, not TA) and the girls around me were all impressed with Ayu's performance and were cheering happily. I hardly believe this year would have been all that different.

And WTF are they talking about conflicts in her marriage because of her weight? This just confirms how stupid this article is.

Let's ignore this kind of trash

half of the audience left the venue. it can't be.
Although I didn't attend to that night, according to what I watched in the TV version, the amount of the light sticks said that the venue is full at least over a half or 2/3.

I don't know why there aren't any positive article about Ayu these days... The more we have, the better for Ayu

btw I would add [Tabloids] to the thread's name (if not deleting) this thread. lol

The whole thing itself makes no sense.

1. We all seen the a-nation broadcast. The audience was pretty ok with ayu. People leaving and not having interest doesn't add up.

2. How would they know anything about her marriage? Ayu has been (apart from a few photo ops) fairly quiet about her marriage. How would they have gotten this information? And even then its utter bollocks. Ayu's husband is a medical student (right?), why would someone in the medical profession encourage a healthy person to gain weight?

3. One minute they say ayu is "no longer a hitmaker" and then a few lines down say she's one of the country's top artists! They can't even agree on her status and they're trying to belittle it. Stupidity.

Am I the only one really upset about her husband demanding her to change her body for his pleasure? If it is true, that is (which I hope it isn't because that's so so horrible)

Thanks to tenshi no hane. Link to the interview

lol it says nothing about a divorce and ayu clearly says she's discussing things with her husband, not that he tells her to gain weight and if not they will divorce, or something like that.

These tabloids just throw anything to the air.

^Thank you.

This interview is the complete opposite of what they said on the tabloid lol
By the interview she seems found that her husband cares about her health and if she's taking proper care and doing the right exercises for her body. She's obviously much healthier now and she seems quite happy about it, the exact opposite of conflicts of interest the tabloid suggested.

The tabloid just twisted everything on that interview. Perhaps ayu's current figure in Japan is considered chuby ( crazy I know) and maybe that's why!!

I'm SO glad we're seeing articles like this again :)

I know that sounds sarcastic, but I'm being 100% honest here... Articles like this are a symptom of success, and it means that Ayu's name still sells papers & news subscriptions & ad space.

:D

^I guess that's one positive way of looking at it. Still a bit frustrating though.

Maybe it's just cuz I know people in the entertainment business and I know precisely how BS this stuff is (like.... almost 100%. Yes, some of it is ROOTED in a true fact or observation - like people leaving after EXO - but with so much inaccurate conjecture piled on top of it that the grains of truth don't even matter anymore).

And also because I know Ayu has done the wrong thing by acknowledging what's being said about her (either by defending herself and appearing insecure, or by leaving Japan and becoming terribly depressed as a result) and I'm kinda hoping I can start a wave of positivity in order to prevent any of those reactions on her end... Not likely to make a difference, but hey! A girl can dream :D

Tbh I don't think she should've gone all emotional during the Songs interview, but oh well. The article does seem really dumb.

"That her husband told her to gain some weight is because unlike Japanese men, American men prefer glamourous women. "

Lol what has weight got to do with glamour? Are they basing this on Kim Kardashian?

I mean idk why ya'll are mad, this is some funny shit man... THO "the tragedy of 2012" rofl it's like they're saying it's as iconic as Britney's 2007 breakdown

lemme tell you. THEY WOULDN'T KNOW. They just make up shit to sell. Also i think i've heard of this before somewhere that he was supposedly wanting her to gain weight. They were doing bloody yoga together. This doesn't make sense lol

these articles are always so stupid. lol

They should write some fiction storybooks since very good in imagination... :rolleyes

I actually agree. It's not like these people hate Ayu personally, they are doing it because they think people are interested.

Exactly. If people didn't care about Ayu, no one would read it and there'd be no point in publishing stories like this. Bingo.

Right??? It's almost like people are assuming that if she and her husband talk about her health & body AT ALL, it MUST be because he wants her to change - it can't be because they're both health nuts and have a major hobby in common, oh no. WTF kind of thinking is that lol

I think this sums it up.
She has slowed down. She no longer sells her self to products, her tours still sell, and she does well with download sales. She's just no longer the it thing in Japan. She is still a big name and most of the new artist in Japan will never reach her level. And to say her husband wants her to gain weight. Honestly were is this coming from.

Most of the problem that's come to ayu is tabloids going crazy and adding things to try and make her look worse than what she was. But I think she will continue to do what she loves. Even little kids in Japan still get excited to see her when she pops out in the streets.

If she was truly as bad as they said, they wouldn't of made an article about her. Her name sells stuff. But using her marriage to add a random stupid bit to the story. Shame on the tabloid. Making up she's heading for a divorce or retirement to get fatter for her husband. Its the cherry on top which makes this sound like a story done to sell magazines or get views

^It is somewhat expected for women in Japan to retire once they marry or get pregnant, and for them to adapt to their husbands expectations... It's no wonder there are so many articles set around the idea that Ayu will get bent do social norms... It's what people expect from rebels.

Maybe that's it, for guys in Japan, she doesn't set a good example for females to be be good house wife in the view of some, so she gets bashed, it may seem harsh, but I guess its just from Japans views on marriage and women. Regardless of Japan, there are people everywhere who are against the female being the 'husband' :P and female empowerment. In america in Colorado, someones made gun threats to the feminist classes at a Uni recently because they didn't agree with the message it taught women.
I say let girls do what they want, in history they generally make better leaders. Even China before being communist, in its past was ruled by a women, Wu Zetian, who brought china into a golden age. (but she was the only one because the men said it was against the law of nature)
That's a little off topic but I just don't get the blah and expectations some people say women need to be. Everyone should be free to choose there own life. Man or women.
And she married a American, If they think, he is not Japanese, so he does not share the Japanese view on marriage, women are quite acceptable to be the 'bread makers' in the west.

But they say, that no news sells like celebrity babies. Maybe they are just sour she wont give them a golden story to sell :P

I think this sums tabloids up nicely

I mean, we all have these gossip trash rags that print whatever they want for sales, right? Or things obviously written by haters. This has happened countless times in the past. I really wouldn't worry about it much, guys. :P

Part of the hassle of being in the spotlight, unfortunately.

Honestly, guys. I don't think it's haters or people who think that Ayu is setting a bad example by not retiring who are writing these articles to attack her. She's just the Queen and there for her name will always sell papers. Kuu has a hubby and baby without retiring, but no one bashes her. I would say its because she never achieved the level of success Ayu did, so her "fall" isn't as dramatic, and therefore won't sell as many papers. Clam down with the crazy theories, guys. Don't make Ayu fans seem like a sour bunch. You gotta roll with the punches like Ayu herself does.

^ Japan bashes Kuu too... But the new trend of J-pop international fans is bash Ayu.

Again, this is a translation of a Japanese article, I'm pretty sure. That's basically what arama is. Perhaps there are more translations of Ayu articles, but it proves the same thing I was saying before. Articles about Ayu are more popular because her name creates more of a stir.

^ I know this is a translation of a Japanese article, I'm a follower of arama, but I read a lot of japanese articles bashing Kuu... but talking about international fans, they bash Ayu a lot more without sense. Ayu is more "popular" than Kuu so you will se more articles about her but they criticize Koda too.

Okay, they bash Koda, too. But, if they bash Ayu more my point is still valid. I don't get what you are arguing with.

I'm not saying you're wrong or I don't agree with you, I only wanted to said that Japanese people have criticized Kuu for these things. Not intention to being rude ^^ And I want to add that the bash to Ayu is more strong not only because is more famous, because international fans bash her more too.

Yeah, probably most of the people who write the tabloid articles don't really hate Ayu... in fact, they probably love her for the amount of copies they've sold over the years and still sell on her account, for all the random made up stories and scandals they come up about her.

What annoys me the most aren't the articles themselves, but the haters who believe in all those obvious lies and post some utterly stupid comments on those news websites... But, oh well, nothing that can be done really. All famous artists have tons of haters, the more people that know their name, the more haters they'll have, and, in Japan, EVERYONE knows who Ayu is.

Though sadly I guess its just what tabloids do. They done it for ages and they will continue to do it. I guess they keep things interesting at least but I wouldn't pass it as them having no hate for ayu. The a-nation remark was just mean. Not all Japanese like ayus music, so some will leave like any mixed music events that happen anywhere. They make it sound like only 20 people remained when she popped out

^ Well, you have to think about what would sell more to the random general public, an article saying Ayu did a good performance just like every year (basically no big news at all), or a sensationalist article saying that the once queen of j-pop is losing all her popularity, that people left when she performs and that she's having problems in yet another relationship? It's not necessarily that they hate her, it's just that those stupid articles are the ones that grab people's attention, unfortunately.

I honestly never read articles like these, but the thread title caught my attention just now. I couldn't help thinking, "what could she POSSIBLY have done now?". I do no understand the media's need to bring Ayu down all the time. It's crap like this that really irks me. Okay, maybe her music isn't selling as well as it did six years ago, but she still has many loyal fans; she isn't a washed up has- been like this article is trying to make her out to be. And her personal life is just that! That remark about her marriage is completely irrelevant to anything else mentioned in the article! That last bit, I feel, was a cheap shot. Ayu is still Ayu to me, she is still wonderful. I wish people had nicer things to say about her, but this is a tabloid we are discussing, after all...

I'm with you!

Am I the only one who found the article funny?

kinda stupid article.
but I agree that her voice and popularity are much worse now, so