Ayu: Anything Goes [XXV]
 

Wow. We've already reached thread #25 of a series that goes all the way back to the end of 2012. Almost six years!

Anyways, with the end of the year coming up, does it really make sense for me to watch multi-hour televised J-pop specials (Kouhaku, MSte Super Live, Japan Record Award, FNS, NTV Best Artist) if we don't even expect Ayu to be in any one of these anymore? It's getting a little bit too boring (we're tired of Johnny's and AKB48 material, and the latter, plus sister group Nogizaka46, we've had some key departures that have taken the lust away from those groups)...

Well... I think since one CDL show for 31 Dec is already announced, there is no any chance ayu will attend Kouhaku. When was last time ayu was at winter FNS? Wonder why she stopped doing this

I don´t give my hopes up yet.

If Ayu wants to give people "a show" (which is why right now live>tracks) then maybe she feels the TV is too limited to do what she wants? And when she's on TV the comments are brutal :( I don't mind Ayu just "standing and singing" if she looks natural and happy but sometimes it looks like she's not moving because if she does she will lose focus or something. I only watch these shows for Ayu so if no Ayu, me no bother :cool

No problem!

I love A too! UH HUH UH HUH

Are you guys collecting any Ayu-related items?
I had a realization recently that I don't need to buy all Ayu singles and I don't need to collect Ayu stuff I have no use of because I won't listen to those singles anyway - I don't even have a player to play them on! And they're on Spotify, on my walkman, on my computer, on my other computer sooooo why bother? And also I was on ebay and thought "ummm instead of buying these Ayupans for 60€ maybe I could, you know, by food?"
Maybe the problem is I'm too poor now :D :D :D

I usually buy items that I will use. I wear my t-shirts and parka, use key chains and necklace

btw, I'm so disappointed with this item. I locked it to my phone case, and after 2 months of usage the A logo got damaged from metalic ribbon holder
https://s2.imagebanana.com/file/180326/thb/104IBRMq.jpg

Better than a 7500 Yen Defend Paris Shirt that is damaged after the 1st washing...
But yeah I hate it when such things happen, I have a-nation 2010 Keychain at my Keys and it´s still there but lost half of this additinal stars/pearls xD
https://s2.imagebanana.com/file/181031/thb/qrQTvpw1.jpg
I wanted to ise the one you have too but was afraid the fabric will be damaged soon

I never use my ayu goodies because i'm afraid of them getting damaged lol
I used to wear her t-shirts but after multiple washes some started getting damaged so I just stopped, the only thing I can still use is her sports towels when I go to the gym

Text almost washed out from the sleeve. A logo on the back still good
https://img-shop.mu-mo.net/img/pc_sp...em16_thumb.jpg

I lost chain from this bag strap at the crowd T_T
https://img-shop.mu-mo.net/img/pc_sp...28/item02a.jpg

don't use this anymore because ball began to lose fur so easy
http://i.imgur.com/DiSgb.jpg

That's interesting to know... Which shirts are those?
I don't own ayu goodies but I always use the ones I buy from Kuu. Don't know if both of them make their stuff with the same companies, but Kuu's goodies always have great quality ever since I started buying them (right now I have a mug in my office desk in front of me and just yesterday I wore a tee from her 15th anniv), and nothing got damaged or broke. Maybe nowadays ayu's goodies also have a better quality? I love wearing those shirts so I feel a bit sad you stopped wearing yours cause they got worn out :(

^ I own 4 t-shirts of hers : Limited TA tour 2015, Limited TA tour 2016, Arena Tour 2016 and the t-shirt that came with the limited version of A BEST -15th anniversary Edition-

The two that have started to get worn out pretty quickly were TA tour 2015 and A BEST ones, you can clearly see that the design has started to crack on both of them and if you compare the A BEST one to the AT2016 one in the last picture you can see that the white fabric of the A BEST one has gotten yellowish lol



I used to wash them just like my normal clothes at 30°C, at the time my washing machine didn't have a "hand wash" cycle so maybe that's why they worn out so easily :dead2
But I used to wear them only at home so I am fine with not wearing them anymore haha, i just switched to regular pajamas lol.

EDT : Something just came to my mind now, I don't think I have ever thanked ~angel*ayumi~, thanks to you I saved 7 000¥ because I decided not to buy the DEFEND TOKYO t-shirt after you said its quality was terrible lool

Did they come with a tag that would tell you how to wash them?

I'm sorry to hear about bad quality a but unfortunately I have experienced that myself... I had an Ayu necklace (not a bootleg or anything) and it broke after 2nd use. Now I have it as memory, maybe one day I'll find a way to fix it... Still sad it broke so quickly, I've bought things used from goodwill that still look as new -.-

^ The tags said you could wash them at 40°C maximum so it should have worked, the rest was in japanese so well if there were more precise instructions I must have missed them :laugh
The A BEST one said in english that it had to be washed inside out, which i just noticed now after taking the pictures so i have been washing this one the wrong way it seems :dead2
Whick ayu necklace was it??

https://s1.imagebanana.com/file/181031/thb/EbWd57sc.jpg

After 1st washing (with allowed 30°C and inside out)
My pink CDM shirt I washed multiple times allready, same as my CDM Hoodie and they look still good. I wear the hoodie very often, shirt not so much anymore because it´s too big now xD I also wore my AT09 Hoodie often until I broke the zipper. Ayu´s Hoodies rly have good quality.

I have to say I mostly buy stuff that I want to use twice so I can keep one untouched.

@attractive nausea
Yeah that was probably my biggest Ayu goodie disappointment

Is the gold chipping off? I attached mine to my purse and I've had marks appear like that, but whatever it is I use my nail to scrape it off and it's fine.

Ah about the shirts - I've decided to hand wash them only now. Especially the white ones. I don't like wearing white so much because after a while you get those yellow stains under the arms D:

My mother told me to wash my shirts inside out in order to protect the design!

^ at first it was stains, but now it's scratches

I really want to hear Seven Days War live again.
Seven Days Live was a pretty magical time to be in the Ayu fandom.
And the live version of it is so beautiful... it really captured a moment in time.


Also, Ayu-mi-x 1 is seriously an amazing remix album. I find myself listening to it a lot recently. It’s definitely my favorite of the Ayu-mi-x series. I love how much of a throwback it sounds now.

Wow, I've never had an issue with any of my Ayu shirts. I have a few, including the one from AT10, which is still in really good condition. I wash everything on delicate with cold water though.

I've been using mine as a keyholder and the A is completed silver now! But not in a good way lol Also the names of the tours are all fading and the satin stripes are really weird lol I've really used it as a keychain so I understand it being kinda of "destroyed" but I wish it had a longer useful life.

Sometimes I feel like we should to buy 2 of everything - one to use and one to just have and keep in perfect condition forever lol (I am too cheap to do this)

I am doing this, srsly xD

^I used to do this for early tours (I have a few doubles of AT2006 items, like wristbands and the phone straps) but my finances changed so I couldn't do it anymore. :laugh

Yeah I wish i could use my ayu goods like the clearfiles and keychains but I can't buy two of the same item, my bank account would die lol

Yeah sex is cool but have you ever listened to RAINBOW while going for a walk on a brisk morning?

YES AND IT'S THE BEST THING.

Isn’t it tho!? :luv2
I used to start with it on my morning walks to school and it just made my day. And I’m not a morning person at all really. Lol.

Today I was up earlier than normal leaving a friends house and the aura was screaming “RAINBOW,” so I put the track on and felt utterly sublime. It’s amazing how well the morning reflects the atmosphere of the song, and likewise, how well RAINBOW encapsulates the atmosphere of the morning.

Out of curiosity, just checked the release date of No Way to Say, to find that it's 15th anniversary was yesterday! This single is important to me because it's what made me a fan. So it's also my 15th anniversary of being a fan. :love

It's been fucking ages since I last listened to RAINBOW. I need to sync this song to my iPhone.

REALLY unpopular opinion: I enjoy a lot meaning of love.

I like meaning of love as well.

:luv2

The buildup in forgiveness is amazing.

SAME

MORE unpopular opinion: I really love Thank U

^ I'm also Team Thank U

did avex forget Wake Me Up exists? Because why is that the only video that isn't uploaded in full? Like, how dare they treat her best summer song with such carelessness :irked

I'm kinda annoyed by the lack of music. Not that i complain - she shall have her time, I just feel how I get impatient and that annoys me lol

LALALALAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Me too.

I always loved Thank U, lol.

I got the complete live box in japan for 680yen. yas.

Same here. There’s a need to have fanfare around her releases because 1) we don’t get many as it is, 2) there aren’t videos to her new music, and 3) mini album hell.
Now, maybe this is due to Avex and not Ayu but it’s disappointing how she just tours all the time and we don’t get much new material in the form of ANYTHING. I’m so bored! Especially because the music tends to be okay to good.

Ayumi topped a ranking of the "Most dislike utahime (song princess)"

http://www.jprime.jp/articles/-/13714

Second place is Koda Kumi and third place is miwa.

There's not a much better signal of relevance than having an army of haters.

How many people did they poll tho?

I saw that a few days ago too. They say things like:

“It’s disappointing just knowing the past. It would have been great had she retired while yet beautiful, but...”

“Still a song princess even being it’s like her voice doesn’t come out? Her figure at times comes off as pitiable. It would be fine if she adjusted a little more to her age...”


“She’s a little pathetic now.”

“Her singing voice is grating.”

Hahahah
You know you’re at the top when everyone hates you.

If someone doesn't like her voice, that's one thing, but insulting her looks/age is so superficial. I don't blame her for just focusing on her fans nowadays, though I also wish she'd take a break from touring so much to release new music.

I sometimes wonder why they don't release at least a remix album. She wouldn't have to record anything new for it. I'd even take another classical album at this point. Kuu still releases a remix album about once a year right? I'd love it if Ayu did that with some of the less-remixed songs.

or maybe, as some of the comments suggest, people just stopped liking her?

To stop like and to hate/dislike is two different things.
There are some artists who have changed their music style and I stipped to follow them because I don't like what they do now. But it doesn't matter that I began to hate them and their old songs.

Just 22 people and those were even picked by the editorial team of the site, lol
Not representative at all.

Though quite interesting how they summarize in the article, cause it pretty much sounds like people here.

For Ayu they say that her social media outlets are mostly talked about today and how she changed from the past.

For Kuu they say it's her nastiness, but that she has enthusiastic support from various kinds of people, even though those might not be more than some tenthousands. In the published comments, the participants mention the scandal, how she talks like a Kansaian and her too erotic image - nothing surprising here.

And Miwa is mostly disliked by the same gender, cause apparently they think she's calculating and dislike her personality.

They also mention that people like Namie Amuro, Utada, Superfly and Misia are mentioned as well, but their media exposure is small, so there are less possibilities to break the favorability.
They conclude with noting, that Amuro and Utada had divorces and past negative media exposure, while somebody like Kuu is stable married and apparently has no negative elements speaking against her today, so they think their work is still the main influence if people like them as an artist.

Honestly, pretty much everybody known today is in the list.
Imo it's pretty natural coming with fame, that there are also people disliking you. Especially if you have a strong and outgoing personality and that's the case for the top 3.

You still have to be relevant to be hated. Being irrelevant means people don't care about you, and it's impossible to be hated and not cared about at the same time cuz if you hate someone, that person matters to you.

Besides that, Ayu is a controversial figure and she didn't start being one now.

Once she isn't remembered on this kind of poll, THEN I would be worried.

From my understanding the poll was done by the editors that work there. It wasn't a public survey. I don't think it is a reflection of Japan. I also wouldn't say they are haters or hate Ayu. It sounds to me they don't like her voice, too many negative media coverage/scandals, she isn't young anymore, just a general decline in image and quality of output. Most of what is mentioned is pretty shallow basically.:rolleyes
Ayu is always ranking as most liked or most hated it seems.

Can someone translate this please?

https://twitter.com/gakuishida/statu...37809644232704

22 people :roflmao:roflmao:roflmao

yeah my point was totally irrelevant to the topic y'all were commenting. my bad.

and 22 people? really? bye

Idk who this Gaku Ishida is, but his wife is a big Ayu fan and she received a surprise present for their wedding anniversary from Ayu (they married on Ayu's birthday). She immediately wrote a thank you letter to Ayu while watching a live of hers.
He is thanking Ayu in this tweet.

Ok, he's a comedian.
It made it to the news here:
https://mdpr.jp/news/detail/1804483

I can't believe how I've kind of betrayed myself with her music. I was one of those fans who was determined to like EVERYTHING she does.

I am so not interested in that kind of diehard fandom now. I've allowed myself to think more carefully about the music I enjoy.

I guess I'll put it this way....I have no Idea what most of the songs on Trouble sound like, and I am totally ok with that. XD I think I was pretty disappointed in that release. I used to think that there was no room for disappointment if you're a "true fan" but that's not even kind of true! I have found that my favorite albums of hers are A Song for XX and Loveppears, and I'm just selective with the rest.

My Story is also one of her albums that I now love. Some of her newer releases are just not enjoyable for me, and I'm honestly surprised to have come to this conclusion.

It's like...I'm not impressed with her current style as an entertainer or something. She is so talented and still an inspiration to me, but I am starting to feel disenchanted by her performances because her acting is so over the top. I miss seeing her deep, complicated performances.

I know styles change over the years though, and honestly, music seems to be more about huge performances these days.

Oh that's sweet :luv2
Thank you Corvina.

There is a ranking of best selling japanese artists with physical and digital sales combined (Oricon + RIAJ) Ayu is at #2 with 66.02 millions and remains the best selling solo artist. I think this is not an "official" ranking (posted by Oricon or RIAJ) but the numbers are correct so those are her current sales :yes

https://i.imgur.com/E3e8NeF.jpg

@Evan Odison:
That's interesting, do you have a link to the post?
Kuu's is not right e.g., she's at 35 million with recochoku and 13 million with physical through Oricon, so at least at 48 million.
Also Ayu must be a bit higher as well, as recochoku already reported more than 30 million digital sales for her + her 50 million physical sales.

You are right, this is counted by a baidu user with only RIAJ certifications, he didn't used recochoku info

Ok, RIAJ counts recochoku as well, but for the public they only publish certifications for single songs and albums and not total numbers, so there's a bunch missing. So the user counted Oricon and song certifications by RIAJ.
Thanks for clarifying.

That's right, only Oricon + RIAJ, if we add recochoku all of them would have higher sales, I wonder if there's an official recochoku count so we could get the exact total :laugh

The <EVERYTHING> in forgiveness is amazing :heart :yes

no Ayu at Kouhaku ;_;
I rly hoped she whould do an appearance for her 20th Anniversary

^I thought she would too, maybe she would have if she hadn't confirmed CDL?

I didn't expect Ayu to be in the Kouhaku this year, so that's no surprise. But it's still unfortunate...

+1

I'm in love with meaning of Love! :luv2
Too bad it is so underrated...

I really loved Beloved a lot. I think it's really pretty, and the video is just enough for me.

YesAsia failed me again, ugh.

Last year i ordered Ayu-ro-mix 3 and I had to wait like 3 weeks before they tell me that actually they didn't have it in stock. Since it wasn't available on CDJapan I was surprised to find it on YesAsia and I was happy to order it there but they ended up cancelling my order because they don't know how to check their stock (or their supplier's stock) and update their website accordingly.

So! I was now looking to buy the DVD of CDL 2010-2011 ~do it again~, and it was sold out on CDJapan (that's like the only recent CDL of hers that is sold out, i have no idea why lol) so I went on YesAsia to see if it was sold out as well : Nope! It was available, apparently ready to ship within the next 7 or 14 days. So of course I ordered the DVD on YesAsia about three weeks ago, but i hadn't forgotten about what happened last year and was doubtful about the whole thing. So I waited, and two weeks after i placed my order I wasn't getting any news about it. I decided to send their an e-mail asking them to ask their supplier if they actually had the DVD, and turned out they didn't. My order got cancelled again. :grumpy

So now I guess that I have learned my lesson : If something is out of stock on CDJapan, better not order it from YesAsia because even though they act like they have it they will most likely not and make you waste your time.

That's sad to hear, I'm sorry for you...

^i saw that CDL at book off Ikebukoro for 700 yen lol

Beloved has been popping into my head recently even though I haven't listened to it in ages. It's one of those songs I wouldn't rate as one of my favourites but every so often I do really appreciate it.

I can so relate! This happened to me on 2 separate orders over a couple of months when I was trying to work my way through Globe's discography. I ended up realising that older albums (which I would have thought were popular enough to keep in print) weren't actually in stock. I have managed to get some cheap preowned copies from Amazon though so Amazon is my go to for older albums.

Yeah, you can find most of her concert DVDs at bookoff now from 500-1,500. Super cheap.

And I've had the same experience with YesAsia lately. Three items that I ordered and charged me for and all were canceled over a month later because it turned out they didn't actually have them in stock.

I randonly found accapella versions of Trouble on Spotify...They sound pretty awesome TBH.

I enjoy the acapella version of We are the queens more than the normal one :D
Those Wow wows after the chorus are just amazing acapella!

Have you tried Amazon Japan at all? They tend to have that one concert quite cheap. (well, cheap by Japan standards)

^ No, I have never used Amazon Japan because i'm not sure whether they ship internationally or if I have to use my Tenso account, since using Tenso is costly i'd rather use it as a last resort in case I really don't find it anywhere except on japanese websites :dead2

Often times they will ship internationally. If they don't it won't let you checkout.

Ayu is topping Dam Karaoke's ranking for the now ending Heisei era:

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...921/1dM3QH.png

She has no single song in the Top 50 though.
Full news:
https://www.dkkaraoke.co.jp/news/181121.html

DAM only started business in 1994, so the ranking is basically more of an all time best ranking for DAM.

Amazing!

I’ve been listening to a lot of remix songs lately and I really would love a remix album (or albums) release. More ayumix please! Plus Ayu is awesome.

I've never been into remixes in general, there's only a handful of Ayu's that I really love, off the top of my head:

YOU (Aggressive Mix) - first song I EVER heard from Ayu because I was looking for Initial D songs on Limewire. :laugh

Wake me up (Remo-con rmx) - For the nostalgia of seeing it live in 2012

Season (H-H mix) - self explanatory

M (Above and beyond mix)

I am (huge fairy tail mix)

Key (nicely nice waterfowl remix')

Otherwise I don't really care for remixes. Don't flame me. :tired

Interesting that BLUE BIRD is not on the Top50! But amazing that she's the #1 on the artists ranking :)

I was watching this video of Kemio - famous japanese youtuber - about him trying some color contact lense (lol) and was surprised that, after failing on putting the contact lenses, he decided to play Ayu because he is really addicted to Ayu lately. And he said that he felt like listening to Ayu would help him put the lenses lol And he plays Voyage and even remake the lyrics lol And obviously jokes about the falsetto lol Love him and was surprised to see him playing Ayu.

There was an article published recently stating ayu will appear in Kouhaku after all to perform as a special guest, being that she was the most sung artist of the Heisei era through karaoke.

Lmao, I died when he’s like “ayu onegai NE!!?” right before he attempts to put it in again lol.

Which ayu's studio song has her worst vibrato to date?

I have to think about that, but for live it's definitely 'no more words' AT'02 - she ruined that song there...

I’m no expert on musical technical stuffs but is it just me or the quality of her newer music’s mixing went downhill compare to back in the 00s? For example step by step sounds really noisy, like the instrumentals don’t have any layers and they just throw it all together. But her old music has a ton of different instumentals, but they don’t sound “noisy”. Am i the only one in this??? Nowadays every time I listen to her newer albums (like Trouble for instance), I have to lower the volume because whenever she sings high notes, the background music would pierce my ears. It feels like 128kbps in comparison to 320kbps LOL

Every song released in 2009 loool

A lot of people here feel like this, I do feel like this also. I thought A ONE's mixing was an improvement, but songs like We are the QUEENS are really painful to listen to because of this

^ Yes I feel like it’s not because of the “song” itself that is bad, I think her new materials sound good in terms of melody, but it’s the mixing that sounds painful to the ears. I wonder how ayu and her team still allowed this to continue :/

I am not happy with the sound quality of Ayu's recent albums. Especially 2012-now. But her albums have mostly followed the general trend for the music industry. Everything keeps getting louder and the difference between the quietest sound to the loudest sound in the recording keeps getting smaller and smaller. There is no air between the layers of sound. Every component of the song is at the same level and volume, loud. It feels like a giant wall of sound is attacking your ears.
For me personally, the worse side effect to the loudness war is that it makes it difficult to enjoy all the details in a track.
I wouldn't expect things to change any time soon sadly.:no

"A Song for XX" is at 7th place on a poll for women about "the song which you identify the most":

https://www.facebook.com/ayutube0408...9533298113910/

Do y'all sometimes forget that it's Ayu's 20th anniversary year?

^ Yes and it is mildly promoted.

Yea, as far as I'm concerned the decline in the mixing/mastering (I'm no expert, either) in Ayu's albums started with "Love songs" (the .WAV version of "MOON" from USB is the only one with a bearable guitar instrumental during the chorus, while the CD versions all show similar distortions (single/album likewise).

At some point of her career Ayu must have lost some important people that were responsible for processes in the studio production. You can definitely tell her music has been lacking that "polished" feel for a couple of years by now.

The digital version of "We are the QUEENS" that was initially released - yes! Ever since we got hold of the CD version everything sounds decent to me, though :)

I'm no music expert but it took a while to get into A ONE because of its mixing - and I still have a hard time listening to WARNING x__x I don't know why but most songs feel "flat", especially in songs like Last minute and Sorrows, when all instruments hit at once and you instead of feeling blown away by all that it just makes a wall of sound in your ears. Gosh, Last minute could have been even stronger than it is if not for that :(
While MIJ was an improvement, I felt things going backwards with TROUBLE. It makes me so sad cause her music is so amazing and it feels like these new stuff ain't getting to the better state they could be.