Ayumi is going downhill...
 

EDIT: Since everyone's asking what I like about Ayumi...here it is:

I like to listen to Ayumi because she is the first jpop artist I got into. Her songs were catchy and her PV's were also different from the ones I've seen before. Also, I liked her because of her improvement since poker face. For example, her voice and vocals improved since poker face and now, I can barely hear any random sqeaks in her performances. Another quality I liked about her is her originality, all her PV's and songs looked different...with the exception of the PV for Startin'. Also, she is someone a person can look up to since after rising into fame, she didn't become ****ty and wear tea cloth sized clothing.

And another thing...yes, I like to listen to Rainy Day, Alterna, and Rainy Day, there were too many songs so I forgot to list them.

And for those who blame me for posting soooo many negative comments, you are blunt! Just because your a fan, doesn't mean you have to like everything she does, or what she wears, eats...etc.

Yukitora says: "If everyone was allowed to post their (often negative) opinions with no reason whatsoever, this part of the forum would have just died ages ago. You could atleast asked for other peoples opinions on how she is going."
"If you want good reponses, atleast be thoughtful."

Is there a rule about not posting opinions? Nope, therefore, I can post my opinions!
Have you've seen a forum die due to opinions?? This is a chat-room! Do you want the whole chat-room to be about gossips? "OMG! like, she has a humungo pimple...and it's like...so gross!" or "ooooh, who is Ayumi dating now???".....People should be able to express there opinion, you don't like it, don't read, simple as that.
And did I say that people can't post their own opinions? No I did not...people, post away! People aren't dumb enough so I don't have to ask them to post their opinions, in fact, they already are.
And I never said I wanted good responses, people have different thoughts, posts what ever you think is right...GOD!
And be thoughtful?...yeah, what's your definition of thoughtful? only saying good stuff about ayumi?
Sorry if this is harsh, but you like to jump into conclusions way to quickly!

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YAY! Jump for joy, you get to read me blab about Ayumi....Alright…you guys don’t have to agree with me, but this is what I think: Ayumi is slowly going downhill!!

K, I’m gonna talk about her songs starting from the song Moments to BLUE BIRD (not talking about all the songs and not going in order btw).

First of all, I thought that Moments was a great song because it sounded different from the rest of the songs that I have listened to before. I also really enjoyed the PV because it had many symbolisms within the music video, it was creative, different, and it suited the song very well.

I also thought the song GAME was also really good mainly because this song has more of a “rock” feel in it. Once again, I liked this song because it sounded different. The PV also made me like the song because this is the 2nd time that I see Ayumi as a “rock star.” Like Moments, the PV was different and fun to watch.

CAROLS was a sad song…the chorus got some getting used to due to the high pitch of her voice, however, it was a nice song. The PV was a bit boring, but matched the song nicely.

“About you” was also good, I remembered being so excited to listen to the song. However, I thought that the video was horrible and cheap. The setting looked like it was done inside a horror house from an amusement park and even though I don’t understand Japanese, I didn’t think the PV suited the song.

Walking Proud was a good song…horrible PV. It was soooo boring and looked cheap.

my name’s WOMEN?good song, weird name. The PV was good because it was different from the stuff that she did before…and if you haven’t noticed, I like different and creative ideas in the PV’s.

Inspire…the PV was nice, I liked her claws, but I didn’t really like the song.
Humming 7/4…yeah, I hated the song and the PV, I won’t even talk about it.

All in all the album My Story was not bad, but not as good as her recent works.

After that, I just stopped having interests in her songs.

Bold and Delicious and Pride was probably the worse songs I’ve ever heard. What was she thinking when she decided to begin the song with yaya gaga dada whoa whoa???? What a “great” first impression I had with this song. Pride was boring. Not only that, I PV’s were horrible; yes she looked good, but horrible and boring. Both the videos for Pride and Bold and Delicious looked a like < looks like she’s running out of ideas.

Fairyland, I didn’t like the song, but I didn’t hate it either. The PV was one of the most beautiful one I’ve seen her done. Cept there were some dumb parts like her standing and staring at the fire looking stoned.

Step you and is this LOVE? was not bad…but once again, I hated the PV’s made for these songs, they were so boring… whatever happened to PV’s like Surreal, M, Moments…etc. where she would dress in something memorable????

Heaven was a nice song…the PV was nice, the fake crying wasn’t as bad as HANABI ~episode II~ …that was the dumbest PV (in my opinion) ever made…she cried from the beginning to the end, if it looked real, the PV would be ok, but nope, the crying was really fake and how she forces her crying gives her a million wrinkles on her face and makes her really unappealing.

In conclusion, I did not like this album, the cover art was also bad.

Yay…Startin’…maybe I was wrong about Ayumi going downhill.......or maybe not…

Although the song was really good and catchy…the PV made me not like the song as much. That was the most unoriginal PV I’ve ever seen. I thought I was watching a Britney Spears video, and I hate Britney. I like Ayumi because she didn’t turn ****ty after rising into fame. This PV was dumb, what’s with the butterfly mask? It made her face look like a frog! Motorcycle scene looked like Kill Bill and Britney’s Toxic fused together. And yea, if she actually danced, the PV wouldn’t be so bad…instead, she decided to have SEXY CONVULSIONS!!!! She just stood there and kicked her legs back and forth and waved her arms around.

I didn’t like the song Born to be but didn’t hate it either because it sounded too similar to her previous songs such as Fairyland. The PV was boring as hell and I could barely see anything since the back lights were on way tooooo dam bright. All I see during the whole PV is yellow light and silhouette of people.

BLUE BIRD…I didn’t like the song, it’s not catchy, sounds like Fairyland. PV was like Fairyland. I didn’t like this PV, looked like she got lazy and decided to film her vacation and turn it into a music video.

Beautiful fighters…the song was ok, I wasn’t excited about this song either. The PV was horrible!!! Come on, she’s like what? 28 or 29 years old and she acts like a teeny bopper during the car scene! It would’ve been better if the dance was more “advanced.” I mean come on, my lil sister could dance better, and she’s a horrible dancer. She could’ve tried a little more dancing like she did in Fairyland. The scene where she’s and her dancers are doing these odd jobs however was interesting and funny.

Hmm…well, to me, she’s going down, I’ve lost interest in her stuff after the My Story album was released. Hopefully I’m wrong since she’s really talented.

Oh yea, no BASHING! These are my opinions, not saying that you have to agree with me.

Well, my only complaint is you left out some of her really good songs from (miss) Understood. . And how could you forget about Will, Alterna, and Rainy Day? Those were all really, really good songs.

And worst of all, you missed Ladies Night! It's one of Ayumis best songs and has a very unique PV with symbolism, you should check it out.

I don't agree with you. But you basically just have a negative opinion about everything she's done for the past 2 years, what DO you like of her music?

I don't understand the whole point of creating a whole new topic just to voice some of your negative opinions without giving anyone at all any benefit at all.

"BLUE BIRD is crap". "Beautiful Fighters was so immature". "this is my opinion so don't bash me".

If everyone was allowed to post their (often negative) opinions with no reason whatsoever, this part of the forum would have just died ages ago. You could atleast asked for other peoples opinions on how she is going.

Anyway, I completely agree with you about the MY STORY album track PVs being rather cheaply made, but I personally loved her (miss)understood PVs. STEP you is far, far better than surreal, M and Moments in my opinion. I don't get how you think a normal wedding dress and the other boring dresses she wore in those PVs are more memoriable than her exotic STEP you ones :P

Bold & Delicious for me was her absolute best song since STEP you. Though I loved HEAVEN I was absolutely crazy about B&D. This is how I feel and it doesn't feel nice when you say it's a piece of crap and she should explode because of it. Btw I think you totally took the hanabi ~episide II~ PV the wrong way :P When people are emotional - they're not supposed to look uber polished and beautiful. I also loved that PV...

I may sound harsh but this is my own personal opinion and do not know you in real life so i'm probably wrong but from what I can tell, you look as if your VERY blunt. If you want good reponses, atleast be thoughtful.

....

If everyone wanted to say what they felt, we'd have hundreds of these sorts of threads..~_~



I wouldn't consider it 'going down hill' until people stop filling up her concerts.. xD

Hmm, I have a different opinion.

I don't think she's going downhill necessarily. I guess I don't like some recent songs too much. I didn't like B&D and Pride when I first heard them, but I got used to B&D, especially after seeing the PV. It wasn't anything special, but I thought it was different from what she usually did. It's not always dependant upon how much money she spends on PVs anyways.

I wasn't too impressed with her recent PVs either actually. I thought they were crap, especially BF. And I agree with you on that one. I hate how she tries to act cute. She reminds me of all those girls on myspace who have recently begun following the picture fad of holding up a peace sign and doing those pouty lips like they think it's cute or something. Ayumi was cute when she was younger and she can still be, but that really wasn't the way to go.

I do however notice something with her PVs. it seems to me, like a lot of her past PVs have been "dark" in a way. No smiling, some fake crying, or whatever. And her recent PVs, are like, happy go lucky, giddy, woohoo kind of. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but it may be because a lot of people find the dark PVs boring and while they do have meaning, they're still...I dunno. I've read some people saying how they are sometimes unattractive because of their darkness and the whole dark scheme. So, the recent PVs are a change, IMO, to something happier, more girlish? Though I'm not sure.

I dunno. Maybe her PVs have changed and so have her songs, but I still like her songs. I like BLUE BIRD because it's nice. I don't think it sounds anything at all like fairyland and it's 'attractive' to me. BF is nice as well. It's different and I really like the robotic sounds.

And the whole thing about Startin' and the PV being all britney spears-y, I don't know how anyone relates it, unless you actually watch/listen/pay attention to her. So while some people are saying that it's a rip off of B.S., I don't see it. I just think it's some weird cowboy movie. Though I guess I don't like it either...cause the motorcycle scene is gay. So is the part where she's all like, "ew don't touch me. *kick*" (and of course, it's the black guy first lol). Though I do like her butterfly sunglass..things =/

I think she's still got some stuff left in her.

I think that despite what people's feelings are, her music definitely has not gone down in quality.

I mean, some people love alterna, some people hate it. Some people adore fairyland, and others despise it.

If you look at it from a musical perspective, her music has certainly retained its quality and production value, right? :]

[/pokes at the GEO versions of the (m)u tracks]

All you have mentioned are some of the bad songs like B&D, but other great songs were left out - like Rainy Day and those ronin542001 has mentioned.

It seems to me there's nothing that you like of her songs. Everything seems horrible and dumb to you -even the names of songs you have opinions. I do not deny that there are some bad songs to me, but mind you, it's difficult to be a singer. It's not like you see the same person getting the same best singer awards in VMAs, or other award shows.

I agree with truehappiness. If her concerts are still blooming with fans annually, and that's downhill - we sure have different definition of that word.

Also if all of us say out our demands to ayu's next song, I wonder if there will be a song where no one can find fault in. Heh dont say ayu, you might try other singers' songs but i doubt it.

well, B&D was copied (w/permission) from sweetbox, and they had originally the ya go da wo, so she just copied the feel, tune, and extras, while adding her own lyrics and remaking it. heaven, loved the song. never noticed she was fake crying. startin' pv scared me O.o;;;. born to be was too bright. bb i liked. bf didn't reeally mind the pv. also, dun leave out the really good songs! (including (m)u itself XwX)

Maybe she is going downhill cause her age, not the song. I agree with you in my story, the PV was look cheap, but not all people look from PV, right?

Well, full concert halls in Japan are a bit different than elsewhere. For example, someone like Seiko Matsuda (extremely popular in the 80s and early 90s) - her new albums and singles don't sell well anymore, yet she is still able to fill up the arenas every year based on the strength of her past songs. So while people aren't exactly eating up Seiko's new releases anymore, they still go to her concerts anyway.

Thank god it's only YOUR opinion and not most of ours. Her music has only been more polarizing and diverse.

Well, it is obviously more than just the opinion of one person since her CD sales have taken a drastic drop in such a short period of time.

Blame downloads?

Downloads have been around for years. They didn't just suddenly pop up with the release of B&D. :)

Utada's music single sales have also fell sharply over the years, but apparently she's still well thought off and her album is selling a lot now too. :yes

But I'm not talking about the course of years, I'm talking about the course of months in Ayu's case. Heaven came out and sold over 300,000, then shortly after B&D fails to reach 200,000, then m(U) comes out and is her first album to not sell 1 million copies, then Startin' comes out and also fails to sell 200,000. That's a worrying pattern right there and says to me that perhaps the sharp sudden drop has more to do with the quality of the product as percieved by the public more so than anything else.

I think everybody has to high expectations of Ayu...lok at Namie ...she dancing and dancing but I still love her like the first day...and the only thing I hate about ayus newer stuff is the cover art of (m)u and the PV of Born o Be...(even if its is much better in DVD Q)....on the other hand...STEP you and further made me like ayu, so why should I hate it? STEP you is still my all time favoruite. At the End I wanted to say, if you really like ayu, you should not think of alltime good PVs and songs or something "Never-Was-There"-thing oon evry new single or a deeper meaning of every PV....sometimes I enjoy a "Just-PV" like BB....It even looks like Ayu enjoyed it herself^^

Ah and about B&D/Pride...it was just to close to the album...but still very good songs...ayu doesn´t have to write them all the time and she made the translation herself^^

to me, i have to agree that music quality after MY STORY, instead it was after STEP you/is this love single that i find that ayumi's song quality is going down since then... i was waiting for a maxi single that contains real nice songs... i have not listened to blue bird/beatuiful fighters cuz my computer loudspeakers are spolit... so i will wait to see if this single is good... if not, i will wait for her next album!

mybe she's losing her teen taste in makin songs?

It is probably true that she is on the downside of her career, but i think she is still releasing quality stuff maybe not up to the standards of 4 years ago but still good quality stuff.

I disagree on most of your negative opinion..
except that you said Born To Be's pv was boring~
I really love the "yaya gaga"part in Bold & Delicious~~
I love this song so much~
Ayu has been always trying new things in the recent years~
And I really glad that she loves to try...
Otherwise,,her music will become boring..
and there's no point to do same things repeatedly..(like having the same music style all the time)
She should try more and explore more music styles..
Perhaps you don't get used to her new stuffs..
You've so many negative opinion abt ayu,,I really want to hear why do you love her?haa....

P.S. It's good that you gave out your opinion~^^

I don't really see it as Ayu going downhill, because she's had good/bad songs and PVs since the beginning of her career. I see it as more of a creative slump - something most artists go through at some stage. It's very difficult for any type of artist to constantly produce brilliant works, or something that everybody likes - not humanly possible really, you'd have to be some sort of superhuman to be able to do that.

ehmm..if she's going to fall...why there are still lots of new fans growing up because of her new album (miss)understood.
i got lots of friends who begin to love her since (miss)understood which also the era where she wants to be herself..

as a matter or fact, a senior artist who doesn't sell that much anymore like in his/her old times, it doesn't mean that she's going to go down..

example, namie amuro..she was a trendsetter for the japanese teenage girls and she was so famous just like ayu in her old times..but look today..she's not going down..she still exists and do good even though not in her best like in previous years...

this also means an evolution.. look around there..lots of new artists..people are just going to get bored if you're only stucked on only one artist for several years..so it's just normal to have that kind of thing..

ayu has been working for about 8 years now..
it's a normal thing if she got less sells of her works than the days she began to sing..

even though, ayu is going to fall or downhill or whatever it is, she is still be remembered and respected by lots of people in the music industry..
so why don't we just accept that..and she doesn't care about it....

i think ayu is now like a respected Japanese diva, an important and influence person in the music industry throughout Japan...

This is all personal opinion. You may think she is going down, others might think she's going up, another bunch might feel she's staying consistent. What really matters is the Japanese public, and the thing that they didn't like was her past 2 singles (doesn't include BLUE BIRD) and to an extent, the album.

Anyways, I think that MY STORY was stronger overall than (m)u, largely in part of the stronger album tracks. (m)u had the amazing singles, but generally, imo, weaker album tracks. Her singles from 2004/2005 (-B&D/Pride) have been really good. Although I dislike B&D/Pride and Startin'/BTB... it's good that she does some stuff that I don't like, cos she can't satisfy everyone at the same time and she is human. Imo, she rebounded with BLUE BIRD.

The Yayagagadada part, it was part of the original song, so she either had to include it or left the beginning of the part empty.

The PVs, I think she gives input to the ideas to a certain extent, but she doesn't plan out the entire PV. That's why avex hires creative teams/director to do the job?

i disagree with most of the things you said. its not that ayu is going downhill. its jus that you cannot accept what ayu is doing. ayu has to move on. she cant stick to singing evolution, UNITE! and SURREAL all the time. i feel that MY STORY is her best album as i skipped only 2 - 3 songs. since you have so much complaints about ayu's works. den what do you like about ayu? her nails?

I think Ayu's merely trying to forge out her own direction in music now, having tasted so much success in previous years. Some people may like this change, some may not, so maybe it isn't really fair to say whether she's going downhill or rebounding, because we all have tastes that vary so much.

In my opinion, music is one of the hardest things that one can put an opinion/judgement on.

I think 2006 has been a bad year for JPOP so far, I haven't really liked anything as much as last year. (miss)understand was good but none of Ayu's music after that has interested me :(

i agree with you, totally :)

i love her latest works rather than her old works..(but i love some her old works, of course)..because it's more true to her self.... and she enjoys in doing the new sound of her music..and she's also a happy person these days.

it's very funny to see ayu sings songs like the oldies..which are younger, energetic, teen spirit..or whatever the definitions are...

she's a matured woman now and she needs to make her music that fits to her image today..

^ exactly! she cant be singing poker face now. -_-

^LMAO!!! hahahha... poker face again? lol

True true true! :yes

Maybe to see things in a different light, just compare all her releases to Hooker Face. Then you'll see she can never go downhill now.

we all have opinions. you think ayu is going downhill. someone else thinks she's at her peak. its all opinions. :shrug

Even the forum is just an archive of opinions... :D

Look at Namie Amuro. After her retirement, her popularity was going downhill. Her record company put less restraint on her, less control of her work and finally was able to do the songs she wanted to. She re-invented her image and sound as is gaining more fans and popularity (her recent single debuted at no. 2)

I think with Ayu it will be the same. I think Avex is letting go of Ayu and giving more control to her to make the songs she wants. (since Avex's main focus now is Koda Kumi) All she needs is to find a sound that could bring more fans in. (since rock is gaining popularity I think she might head into that direction). Some people might not like her at this very moment, but she is just testing to see what songs people like & what songs she likes to make.

the music industry is a fickle industry, i'm just glad she never stops experimenting different genres of music.... so i won't b surprised if she made some boo hoo songs.... cuz she;s tryin to capture the audience attention and find the right direction of songs she would take on...

I agree that Ayu can't make the same style songs over and over, so she has to evolve. Who knows if this is the new direction for her, but if she remains the same, maybe she will never know how much better she can be?

It reminds me of Tetsuya Komuro in a way. So many hits one after another....but at some point he started to go really crazy with experimental music especially with Globe. As much as I was a Globe fan from the beginning, it was hard for me to listen to the newer works. They were just way out there, but really the thing was they were just "different" than what i was expecting and used to.

Maybe Ayu is in the same position. She is obviously successful....so maybe she feels this is the time to really pursue other ideas and see where it leads her. As much as I love Ayu, I agree there are some recent songs that can really polarize her existing fans....but also she seems to gain new fans who never had never heard her earlier stuff. Either way, I hope this is a learning process once again for her to lead to even better songs.

Whatever she does, i'm sure all her fans can still agree its exciting to know she is still making music. Can you imagine the day she stops?

Songs aside, my personal problem of late is her music video directors. IMHO B&D and Pride were ok, but they looked rushed. However, Rainy Day was also simple, but a gorgeous video. The production values were obviously higher which is more consistent to the majority of her PVs.

I enjoy all her videos, but I was really dissapointed with the Born to Be PV. I really love that song, but that PV just hurt my eyes! :p Too bad as she looked so beautiful when i could actually see her :(

I think she is going thru her 'experimenting' period now after having gain so much before...I think if she experimented last time, today's Ayu would be pretty worst of...(no offence)...

And STEP you and tis PV is indeed a very gd PV...better than leopard-skin, singing on a mountain in some nightwear, in a wedding gown looking around the church...i think it was STEP you which showed her change...look at the different styles, i think it was conveying the message that, "I have so many styles and im gonna show them now"...

There are definitely ups and downs in this industry, u cant expect Ayu to go all strong all the way (she is strong all the way for me thou; ignore PVs)...

Not all the PVs you mentioned were bad, you missed all the good ones! alterna had the best PV of 2006 in my opinion. XD You are a bit negative too, those PVs weren't TERRIBLE. (except for maybe Beautiful Fighters)

However, I must agree the music quality has inded gotten low since MY STORY. Songs in MY STORY had a certain quality that (miss)understood did not have. (even though (miss)understood is my favourite album) Perhaps the ugly artwork contributed? XDDD She did quite well last year actually, all the songs were excellent, only this year have I been disapointed. I like the music this year, but the Pvs have been a bit lousy. I guess that doesn't really matter though. =p

Even though I like the rate of her releases, I think she needs a break to gain some inspiration for better songs. Ayu REALLY needs to do something amazing to redeem her popularity. I hope she does something soon, or wait a while and do something like '&'.

EDIT:
Actually I saw spacelion's comment and I COULD NOT agree more. spacelion has hit the nail on the head hard. XD She probably is experimenting as she had tried new directors, composers etc. (such as Geo) Even though I don't like the current music as MUCH as a love past music, (I like her new music, don't get me wrong) I know that Ayu will come out stronger. :3

o yeah...i totally agree with this entry too....
i just can't imagine ayu sings songs like evolution, UNITE!, boys & girls these days...

woww..this is another great opinion...
i love your idea..
it's really making sense...

human evolves why not Ayu??
she's trying to do some thing NEW that she has never done before so she may know what will the fans react to the NEW invention she did...
(she ever said something like that on the CD Data interview or what magazine interview..i forgot..it was the recent interview...when she was about to release (miss)understood album)...

moreover..most important..she loves that kind of music..
remember how excited she was when she first listened to Sweetbox's samples of songs?

I disagree. I actually think (miss)Understood could be the best album she has ever released. I was so surprised when I listened to the whole thing and just loved it to pieces. It disappoints me that it didn't sell well.

I think Startin' is a good song, and the PV amusing. Born to Be...is only decent, with a terrible PV. Blue Bird & Beautiful Fighters fall short of my standards for Ayu, and the PVs aren't that great either. At this moment I don't think Ayu is at her musical best, but she'll probably wow me again sometime soon. I certainly wouldn't say she's been going downhill...but there are many people who do say that.

I also don't see what's so wrong with the original poster making this topic. There is no topic like this currently on the front page, so it's not like it's a repeat thread. Maybe some of you are getting mad because it's a repeat "idea" that you don't like...?

Hmm I think it's Ok to express opinions^^

I really have to agree with you in some points-I also don't like Blue Bird a lot because it's similar to Blue Bird in my opinion.
I think the Carols Pv is very boring.
And the Walking Proud PV isn't very interesting...
Yes, I also don't like much of Ayu's songs since Missunderstood a lot.
But I don't think Ayu goes downhill.

If you know Ayu you know that she is a singer since 1999 and released around 100 ..can't you imagine that she don't wants to release alwys the same kinds of songs?
This would be more boring!

I personally really like the (new) Music Style she used in Missunderstood.
This "Ya ga da wo" sounds very bad at first listening-but anywhen you get used to it. XD
I personally love Pride and B&D a lot^^.

I think we only have to get used to Ayus new Music Style-that's all^^

I think it's so meaningless to discuss this kind of things. People have diffirent opinions and tast and Ayu, she will continue to make music and PVs thats makes HER happy now.... might be a piece of crap for somebody else but Ayu dont care and you disappointed fans can't do nothing about that. argue all you want about her music and the going downhill thing, it dont matter.

Everyones opinions are fine, but everyone also seems to be ignoring the simple fact that her sales took a sudden and swift downturn with the release of B&D and has yet to recover. (we will see about Blue Bird) And that is something that is not opinion, but fact.

I don't think she's going downhill, but I have to agree that her recent stuff haven't been all great.

IMO I dont think ayu is going downhill at all and she is far from going downhill you gotta look at all aspects of her career before you say she is going downhill

To me ayu's not going downhill.(Alteast for the music part) Her recent songs just aren't as mainstream as before but they still have their own uniqueness (ladies night, altera, born to be, beautiful fighters) I listen to ayu's songs like everyday at work and my playlist consists of mainly her recent songs (my story, (miss) understood, 2 new singles) I do have to agree her recent pvs arent very good (except for moments, carols, game, my name's woman, alterna, step you, is this love?, ladies night...) but on the bright side, her vocals improved as well as her concerts...my story:love I bet if the (miss) understood cover was better, it would of sold more. Atleast I would of bought the cd version too. About the low sales, IN MY OPINION, there was a lot of factors. (b&d released as a single, the song itself wasnt that easy to accept by ppl, (miss)understood cover, and when all that was going on, another artist, kxxx became very popular and started releasing lots of songs that are liked by many (mainstream) and became the "it" girl. (with all the fresh image) but just because someone else is more popular, that wont change anything to me. Ayu will still be my fav artist...and I also dont mind what other ppl say about ayu (bashing) they have their own opinions and I accept that.

If you ask me which ayu album is my fav, it would be (miss) understood...even though it has the worst cover!! but music wise, its my fav!:luv2

My blue bird single's been shipped out! yay!

It is a fact, but not one that means Ayumi is "going downhill". To me, "going downhill" means the quality of her music is declining, and I don't think that is the case. Less people may like her music / Ayu herself these days, and that could be why her sales have been lower, but does that REALLY mean her actual QUALITY has declined? There is plenty of high quality stuff that is not popular, and plenty of low-quality junk that IS popular. Popularity and sales do not necessarily indicate quality, at least I don't think so.

Do we really need this thread? We have discussed this over and over...Yes, its okay to express your opinions about Ayu, but again this whole opinion thing is turning into yet again another discussion about it. We cannot keep having the same arguements over and over. And yet, we still have threads like the "To those who don't like beautiful fighters," and this one.

I don't think Ayu is going downhill. She's doing her thing. She's doing new styles.
You say you like Ayu because she was the first artist you ever got into to and she didn't turn into a hoe. I think you really need to reevaluate why you like Ayu. You also need to see the things that make Ayu special. We talked about it in another thread...i think you should read it. Do you read lyrics? Some people don't, but I've found that Ayu writes some of the most beautiful lyrics, and they seem to go with her PV's.

I just think that you need to understand everything about her...i'm not sure that you do from reading your ridiculously long post. There are going to be people who don't like everything she does, and we, the people at this forum, I've found, respect that. But it just doesn't sound very mature of you to just bash everything IN DEPTH. You can have your opinions, and that's fine. But the way you came out in that first post does not benefit you.

I agree with Namie above. Ayu will continue to do what she wants, make her own music how she wants, and sing it how she wants. She's AYU, she can do anything. And while we her fans may not like her songs, it doesn't, matter, because she likes them. And that's what's important to her.

Sorry, I only read the first posts, but wanted to give a short comment.

I disagree with the OP. In my opinion, Ayu has been going up after MY STORY. I agree with some of the crits, especially about Bold&Delicious, but in whole, it seems that Pyro2787 is just a bit tired of Ayu and can only see the bad sides while forgetting the good sides. Personally, i'm always amazed how hard working Ayu is. I can't think of other artists who have the strength to shoot a PV for almost every released song. It's just something. And imo, every PV she's released has been unique. And I really liked the walking Proud PV too...

matter of taste i guess.. And for some reason, most people still love Ayu's music. ^^

I'm sorry, but I have to respond to this:
Can you please tell me how am I suppose to judge whether I like what I'm reading before I read it?

But anyways, no, Ayu's only going downhill in your opinion. I think she just reached a creativity slump as Hanabichick said, which is understandable because after having 200 or so songs one's bound to have one. And as an artist (although not singer), I can understand what it's like to have one. I personally think she's experimenting, and not everyone would like it. I personally think music cannot be truly judged on quality because there's no standard (well, unless one's tone-deaf).

P.S. for the heaven PV, you do know that most people don't look nice when they cry, right?

-

After reading the first and third pages of posts, here's what I have to say.

I myself don't think that Ayu is going downhill because I actually became a fan when My Story was released (and that actually got me into her music). Still, I also thought that m(u) was great despite the somewhat underwhelming tracks B&D and Pride. I also don't think that the PV quality has decreased. I thought that Ladies Night and alterna (especially alterna) were very symbolic and reminiscent of her unique past PVs. However, I do think that BLUE BIRD is too similar to fairyland. Beautiful Fighters and Born to Be are good, but in my opinion, nothing exceptional. And as I saw it, Startin' seemed as if it were more of a parody of Britney Spears' videos (I'm a Slave For You and Toxic), as they seemed very much alike to me.

Still, I don't see this as any sort of downfall on Ayu's part. While BLUE BIRD and Beautiful Fighters aren't anything wonderful, I still like them better than some older singles such as Far Away and NEVER EVER (but that's just my opinion). And although I disagree, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have the right to say how you feel. So I respect your opinion :)

But to repeat what I said earlier in the thread: "But I'm not talking about the course of years, I'm talking about the course of months in Ayu's case. Heaven came out and sold over 300,000, then shortly after B&D fails to reach 200,000, then m(U) comes out and is her first album to not sell 1 million copies, then Startin' comes out and also fails to sell 200,000. That's a worrying pattern right there and says to me that perhaps the sharp sudden drop has more to do with the quality of the product as percieved by the public more so than anything else."

So in short, the quality of the product is going to directly effect the number of sales. The quality of the product, meaning everything from the music, to the covers, to the PVs. When it comes to someone like Ayu, who is already extremely popular and doesn't really need to win over any new people, her sales would directly relate to the quality of the product. There is something that is keeping 100,000+ people from buying her products recently, that always bought her products before and I don't think it is just Koda Kumi. :) The reasons for the slump are ultimately irrelevant - creative slump, trying something new(although I don't see anything that she has done this year as being "new") - it doesn't change what the situation right now is at all. The bottom line is that her popularity is going down and I think she is going to have to put a lot more into the quality of the product if she wants to continue to stay on top. I'll always support her of course, but as a fan, I want to continue to see her get to make high quality PVs, to headline A-Nation, to continue getting CM endorsements, to continue performing on TV as often as she does - and if her sales continue heading in this direction that will not happen anymore.

She is still making it to #1 in the Oricon chart.

Creative slump. Yeah, definitely.. But usually when a music artist reaches a creative slump, they like to take a little break, you know? :)

People use the excuse "Oh, she's doing the kind of music she wants to do." That's BS. She's just crapping out music with recycled lyrics, themes, etc. for what? To pass time? To increase her fortune? I think so! If she really wants to put out the music she's been putting out lately (I'm talking (m)u album tracks -> BLUE BIRD), I think she's taking the easy way out. Oh yeah, and she obviously has horrible taste in music all of a sudden (Someone needs to seriously break into her house and throw away them sweetbox albums)

I love Ayu, I can't even begin to explain how she positively affected my life with her music. It's not that I hate the recent songs, some of them I don't really hate, but there's something lacking that's unexplainable that was never existant before. I hate seeing these songs added to her discography...

She's just rushing it seems. And she thinks bringing back old composers like DAI and Kikuchi for the new single are gonna help her sales. Pfft. I doubt it. Hope it flops.

"Ooh! Let's bring in DAI to compose a summer song, kinda like fairyland or July 1st, we'll add some outdated techno synth, (no real drums, of course) have no vocal bridge and add some 'la la la's'. And the b-side will be another 'girl power' song because I have nothing else to write about."

She's predictable.

Yes, she is going downhill, but so what? I still like ayumi! I am ayu fans forever. I still waste money to buy her CDs and stuff.

No need to dicuss.
kthanksbye

I'm sorry, but I'm just drawn by curiosity. Assuming you have the power to decide Ayu's releases, what would you want that is "high" quality?

Something that has a strong melody and good vocals, like Beautiful Fighters would be high quality for me.. :yes

Well it just depends on when she's releasing. If avex makes a wrong move, she can easily be #2. (ie: if she released vs. B'z or any of the popular Johnny's groups)

Well said!

I'm just glad that we're all still concerned about her music that we're willing to discuss about if so fervently here. Even the very fact that people say she's going "downhill" shows that they're concerned about her career.

I worry for her sales as well. I agree with what SunshineSlayer has said about her decreasing trends in sales. However, when nmskalmn reminded us that she's still making it to #1, I think Ayu's sales would be an indication more so of the J-pop scene. You might not just pit J-pop artistes again each other. It seems that English songs are very popular as well. Cultural erosion? I don't know.

For me, as long as she produces and releases music, I'm happy. (So that there's something for me to critique about!)

The whole "Ayu's popularity/music is going down" mentality is unfortunately inflitrated and propogated by tabloids, leading to people believing in it and adopting mentalities that yar, she's really going down. I don't agree at all but what can I do? These mentalities are inherent in the media and I think overall, people just start to lose faith in her music because they believe what the tabloids are saying. I'm not saying that people who think "Ayu's music is going downhill" have this mentality because of tabloids, but it's the tabloids that have introduced such a mentality that has in itself, affected people's judgment on her music.

^^do they really say things about her like that? I mean I know they would have to say something, they probably use the same reasons all of the fans use.

Ayu's sales are low...but she's still number 1. Doesn't that mean that sales are just low everywhere? It's a definite fact that her sales are low for someone like her, or does it just mean that her sales during the A BEST era, for example, were really inflated?

I don't know...I still think that Ayu is going to do whatever she wants to do, and if that means showing us how much she likes American culture, let's say, then she's going to do it, and it's only going to add to the overall effect of the music and what it says about what kind of person she is.

Who knows...maybe she's trying to go in a new direction and it's not working. Maybe she want's to be like Kuu...who knows. Does it really make a difference? Will that stop all of us from being her fans?

It's a combo of both. Yes, sales are down for several other artists as well (except Johnny's groups really) but the reason that she is still continuing to get #1 is because Avex is releasing her stuff on weeks where it is almost certain that she will get the top spot. Any other week this year or last fall and she more than likely would not have gotten #1.

Yeah, I kind of agree with that. No one can know that "this is the kind of music she wants to put out." If it is something that she composed herself, then yes, that is what she wants to put out. You can't say that she wants to put Blue Bird or Beautiful Fighters out more than say songs like Endless Sorrow, M, heartplace etc (the ones that she was more heavily involved in the making of.)

I know it seems mean to say you want something from your favorite artist to flop and for Ayu's sake, no I don't want it to flop. However, if it does I would hope that it serves as a wake up call that she needs to either:

A) Take a break.
or
B) Assert herself 110% into the song writing process and give everything the proper amount of time that it needs to become something memorable.

She got lucky 2 times, once with HEAVEN, the other with B&D/Pride. It all comes down to which week she releases. and it doesn't necessarily mean that sales are low across the board, it could just be Ayu/older more established artists.

what do you mean she got lucky? How much did they sell? I mean, did they sell more than others?

^I think she got number 1 by barely few thousands. I know for B&D it was like by 5K or something...

Assuming this is correct, in 2005 only 2 female artists had a higher sales number for a single than Ayu. I don't think that's just getting lucky.

And for Heaven, it was beaten for the number 1 spot by kanjani8 in the first couple of days, but edged them out to be #1 for the week.

But that is for 2005. We are talking about her releases starting with B&D which does not count for the oricon charts in 05. And yes, for Heaven in 2005 she did get lucky.

In the end HEAVEN still sold more CDs than the other female artists.

Music that actually means something. Real instruments, strings- not over-synthesized garbage that sounds like every other artist. Lyrics that have meaning, and aren't recycled themes, words and phrases used before.

There's a reason I went from listening to her 95% of the time to about 2%. There's a reason nearly all of the users on this forum from before 2004 aren't around. Her music sucks. Plain and simple. Luckily enough for me, I've found real musicians with talent who know what they're doing.

Like Phantoma said, and Brian has emphasized on occasion after occasion, Hamasaki is predictable; which isn't a good thing.

Ayumi isn't going downhill. Correction: Ayumi went downhill.

I'll worry about ayu when everybody (and I do mean everybody) who is a fan of hers stops liking her not just people on ahs and not just tabloids ...

I'm not gonna give up on her that easily

But that is not what is being talked about. It's who is number 1 for the week, not who is the top selling female artist. But, if you want to talk about that, this year so far in sales for female artists, Ayu has been beaten by:

Ayaka - I Believe
Koda Kumi - Koi no Tsubomi
Koda Kumi - You
Otsuka Ai - Freinger
Yuna Ito - Precious
And based on the first week sales, it is quite possible that Ultra Blue will sell more than m(U) unless it really drops like a rock next week.
That's already worse than last year and the year isn't even over yet.

Ayu just wants to be the original ayumi hamasaki.Be herself.no matter go downhill or up .She doesnt care now.U can figure out from MU to now.She already been the TOP for many years.nobody could keep it forever.And its tired to keep it.Ayu wants to rest.Just like Madonna.Ayu is not the most popular one in japan.But nobody could ignore her exists.Real fans wont care about the sales,the PVs.how cheap it is ! Real fans just would wait there for ayu new songs.listen ayu's music.care about what she wants to do.Just support her ever.otherwise.U are the a fake fan like those millions who dropped ayu from A-BEST till now.Be real fans.otherwise shXt up plz.

^ ^ Oh geeze. :rolleyes Far be it for anybody to want Ayu's products to be better.

I'd rather Ayu sell 1 000 000 copies and be number 2 than for her to sell 50 000 and get number 1 by having no competition. :)

Yes, I do think ULTRA BLUE is indefinitely going to beat (miss)understood's sales.

Well that's what I mean - Ayu is selling relatively low and still getting #1 because of lack of competition.

Maybe after BLUE BIRD, it's bound to change? So far promotion for BB has been good, so I think we can see a sales rebound.

Yeah, there should be a sales bump considering the promo compared to the promo of Startin'. If there isn't a significant bump though, then Ayu definitely has her work cut out for her.

From what I've gathered from the first post, the guy only thinks Ayu's going downhill because he doesn't like what has been released so far; so is there anything concrete to suggest a drop in the quality of music? Clearly no.

I think that the decline in her sales is inevitable. Every Little Thing used to sell MILLIONS, but they aren't now. The same can be said for artists like Kuraki Mai and B'z, but everybody's taken a dip in sales. Instead, increasingly, we see newer (less established) artists taking top spots and selling bucketloads (in today's terms, relatively. for instance, 500k in today's terms would probably equate a million a decade back). So the only I can conclude is that audiences are fickle, they like obsessing themselves with different things every now and then, we can't expect someone to hold the top spot forever, and the same applies for Ayu. It's all a matter of popularity and changing tastes as opposed to a real decline in the quality of her music. If quality were a factor at all, we'd see many artists doing much better in terms of sales, and similarly, we'd see the 4312412984109 Johnny groups getting dropped.

And on a more personal note, the PVs. I get extremely touchy when people start using words like "teeny bopper" and "Britney Spears copy" to criticise PVs like the ones for Startin' and Beautiful Fighters. Because I refuse to believe that Ayu is mindless/stupid enough to blindly rip someone else off and expect her fans to think it's original! Anyone with an ounce of sense would realise that such a blatant imitation or the Kill Bill outfit or retro songs must have been a deliberate attempt at parodying these things. They are meant to be funny, and I think Ayu's intelligent enough to know that copying Britney won't exactly elevate her popularity.

Lastly, on opinions. Is it wrong to have an opinion? Absolutely not. Is it wrong to attempt to justify your opinion and put it in a light that suggests it is anything more than just your perception (i.e. Fact) with things that are clearly not absolute? Verily Yes.

amen

Worrddddd.

Yes, it is inevitable. But I think I've addressed this in a few other posts - it is the very sudden and sharp drop in popularity since last fall that has me worried - this wasn't a gradual tapering off.

And that also goes for everyone who thinks the music lately has been excellent.

Of course ayu is going downhill - it's the snowball effect all the way down. No it's not my opinion, I actually don't really think she's going downhill. It's just that it gets really simple why people think her releases are getting worse and worse. If ayu had never released trauma, vogue or SEASONS but had released all the rest of the songs she released so far and she just decided to release these songs now, a lot of people would rate them plain, mediocre or unoriginal. It's just that each time ayu releases something new, things get at a proportion of a snowball. Some people (not all who have a negative opinion) seem to be living to compare anything new that's released with her previous stuff. Now just think a poor single like BLUE BIRD being compared against all the best songs of A Song For XX, LOVEppears, Duty, I am..., RAINBOW, Memorial adress, MY STORY and (miss)understood? Her next single will be these+BLUE BIRD compared against it and next year when she has already released her album and is going to release a new single, the snowball will grow bigger and people will use that (unfair) fact to judge that ayu's positively declining for sure.
For example, people blame ayu for recycling at this moment, making songs such as BLUE BIRD (comparing it to fairyland + July 1st + w/e...) and yet they say her best album ever is "I am..." which I think is her only album that batantly recycles a song that is already in the album (featuring a song and a recycled version of it: yeah evolution and UNITE!).
It's pretty easy to say that all of her past stuff was beyond excellent, when you actually only have in mind her best hits and mentally erase all the regular/average songs released back then.

While I agree with some of your post, I don't think you can necassarily make that claim - there is no way to know that for sure. A good song is a good song regardless of when it is released.

...

Uh, Ayu never started out as a 'talented musician who knew what she was doing.' O_o; She was just some girl going to karaoke bars to have fun. And now she's a superstar~ :D

No, her sales have been dropping since the Free&Easy single (The Daybreak single was limited so let's leave that out). The more significant drop in sales for the B&D single was probably due to the fact that everyone knew her album was coming out within weeks of the single's release and that the album would contain both new songs on that single. Her later remix albums have had sales that pale in comparison to her earlier ones, does this mean that the quality of the remixes in these later albums are necessarily worse? I don't think so (though I may be very, very wrong here because I will admit that I sometimes am unable to tell remixes apart)

And yep, I'm not exactly claiming that her recent music's excellent, but I like it well enough, the music makes me happy.

Like I've been saying through the whole thread, I'm only refering to her releases since B&D on.

I think we can all get a reality check now that no matter what we think, Ayu isn't an artist, she's an idol, Avex's money sucker. She has no control over what music she can do and can't do. She can't go jazz if that's where her passions are at because it will alienate her audience. She can't take her time to say something original because she's on schedule - it's impossible to churn out original music on schedule. The whole point of Ayumi Hamasaki has been to make commercial pop music, we shouldn't really expect more. Even though she did manage to make good music with good lyrics in the past I doubt that now she has any thing refreshing to say every 3 months.

I wouldn't say Ayu is going down hill; she's just fallen back to (more or less) typical idol status.

....

She is an artist. O_O~ She has like, super control over what she wants to do.. maybe in the beginning she was some 'omg idol' but.. now? She's definitely grown way past that.

Yeah, while she is releasing on a schedule, she certainly has more control and say so than a typical idol.

Yay..another nice and great point of view...love this entry~

I love when people accuse the artist of making bad PVs like your statement of how you basically say 'Ayumi DECIDED to film her vacation' when all in all, directors make videos, not the singers.

Personally the only song I ever dislikd of Ayu's (Singles wise) "STEP you" but now even that's grew on me, I don't maybe there's just something I don't see that other's do. I guess with her status and what she has to live up to people expect more and are easily dissapointed.

She is not going downhill.. simple..

To simply put it, people say she's going downhill because they are not pleased by what she puts out. I certainly think she's gotten better and better every year :>~ Amazing.




[even though her sales have recently been less than satisfying to us.. she's doing a lot better than most artists.. look at ELT! They went from a 70k single to like... 17k.. And last September they debuted at #2.. now they debuted at #9.. wth xD]

Well, that is another case where I think their music has really declined and the singers voice for whatever reason over the last couple of years has really turned bad - don't know what happened to her.

I heard she got a case of acute laryngitis. x.x [which explains the long delay between Koibumi and Kimi no te~ and their avoidance of hard rock songs..]

No, because after Free & Easy, H was released and that sold a million. And on top of that Voyage and & sold more than Free & Easy. forgiveness was when her sales dropped, but she went back up with 'No way to say', which she became consistent all the way to HEAVEN. In less than a year, she has had a non-million selling album, and 2 singles (it wasn't just B&D, Startin' too, and it was an entirely new single) that weren't near her 'typical/expected' sales of 300,000.

Remix albums, I can see sales going down, because they don't have any new material and there really isn't much of an incentive to buy.

No, because fangirls are powerful. They'll stay with their group until i) the guys get married ii) either the fans themselves grow old and die or the members.

HEAVEN sold like 5000 more than K8. I call that lucky.
Bold & Delicious/Pride sold 1300 more than Seishun Amigo which was 2nd, and like 2100 more than Remioromen which came 3rd

who made you the controller of the universe?

When in any of my post did I say that she did? I said that I like artists who are. Read what I wrote, then reply.


I am... is a completely overrated album. Duty, LOVEppears, A Song for XX and Memorial address are way better than I am...