Empress of J-Pop to withdraw from Japan, and focus on the US and Europe [Theory]
 

As a response to the rumors about the marriage and retiring headlines, the Japanese magazine "FRIDAY" has published their own theory. All this information is only theories at this stage, I'd take anything I read with a grain of salt. It is apparently "high season" for the tabloid press...

...but this is much nicer than reading the marriage/retiring articles :) ^^

Empress of J-Pop to withdraw from Japan, and focus on the US and Europe
http://ayu.no/images/news/3177.jpg
MTV Video Music Awards. Photo:ゲッティイメージズ

China Daily (中国青年报) – reporting, according to Taiwan media reports and the magazine «FRIDAY», the popular leader of Japanese music and Asian fashion scene Hamasaki Ayumi have returned after 6 years absence from doing a dorama song. She produced one for the Japanese TV drama Dandy! Dandy! named «Sunrise ～LOVE is ALL～»

Hong Kong media recently claimed, in fact that, Hamasaki Ayumi has been slowly fading out of the entertainment industry since last year, and may withdraw from the end of the year, and marry her secret boyfriend, and become a full-time housewives.

In addition to sitting on the value of a about 10 million dollars mansion in Tokyo, Hamasaki have now also in recent years got herself two new apartments, both located in the expensive Hiroo district located at Shibuya, Tokyo. She is also rumored to purchase many high-level furniture, even a toilet covered with diamonds imported from a nightclub in Hong Kong.

The paper «Magazine for WOMEN», reported that she will marriage at the end of the year and is actively preparing this, that's the reason why her cooperation with the underwear brand Wacoal, has quietly replaced the image of her as a spokesman.

Japanese media speculated that her source of income to buy luxury flats are likely to originate in the rich boyfriend, her boyfriend in Japan has a number of senior commercial real estate lots.

The magazine «FRIDAY» on their side put these rumors under doubts. - Hong Kong newspapers can never be trusted, says their press agent Kazuo Inagaki.

FRIDAY on its side has a different and more promising theory. Her management advised Hamasaki to withdraw from Japan and focus on the Asian market, more specifically the mainland China. This happened in 2002, with the launch of the single «Daybreak», and with a remix album based on the million seller «I am». Following the latest years Hamasaki has held two large scale concerts in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. According to a document FRIDAY has got their knowledge of, the launch of Hollywood song Rule was Hamasakis and Avex Group's first major step in the direction of the United States and Europe.

According to the inside document report FRIDAY has got in their possession, the lates international releases from both fellow label colleague BoA and her former rival Utada Hikaru was received with great enthusiasm by producers and critics in the U.S, with the exception of the general public. Under several circumstances, its in fact the name «Ayumi Hamasaki» that have been mentioned and sought after, both during interviews and live presentations, to Utada's and BoA's frustration.

For many it may seem as if Ayu has been slowly fading out of the entertainment industry, but this is incorrect. According to sources within the Avex Group, Hamasaki uses a lot of time to practice her language, which she takes weekly English language exams, preparing for a huge career move.

Kazuo Inagaki refers to a post written by Hamasaki in her official blog last week. This post confirmed that a big decision was made, but disproved the theory regarding marriage. This forces FRIDAY theories about the document regarding a large scale world release. -It is only a matter of time before Hamasaki will aim toward the West, whether it be America, or Europe resume to see, she now only need to be fluent in English language, he says.

Editor:赵纲
Translated from the edition 中国青年报; 11th. July 2009. Thanks to "ruyki"@AMF for translation.

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TA messages mentioned in the article:

What the heck...
2009/07/04 6:40 AM | ayu

I'm so freaking tired, but I can't get to sleep at all.
...came back online to say that.
Starting tomorrow, the PV DANCE REHEARSALS
are starting again, so I really need to hurry up and get some rest!
Just thinking about sleeping isn't gonna make it happen.

I uh...
I made a verrry verrryy big decision today.
I honestly don't know if it's the right decision or not.
But I've definitely chosen this.
I stressed and I stressed.... and I decided.
It's best to resolve to do something, and then get acceptance for it later.
So it's okay.
Definitely okay.

But...

yume ni mita shiawase wa
tsukamu made ga ichiban ii
te ni irete shimaeba kondo wa
ushinau kowasa osou kara...
dakaratte warikireru kurai
ningen tte kantan demo nai...*

*These are lyrics from Ayu's 1998 single "For My Dear...":

"Things are better in the time before
we reach the happiness we've dreamed of,
Because once we finally reach it,
We're so afraid of letting it go...
Even so, humans aren't simple enough
to detach cleanly from that idea..."

-------------------------------------
No, wrong! Wrong!!
2009/07/04 1:47 PM | ayu

I got alot of supportive
messages from everyone regarding
my posting this morning.
Mostly these three reactions↓

DID YOU FIND A SWEETIE?!
If I had this sort of happy news,
I'd have told everyone ages ago!

ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED?!
I am a girl so of course the desire for marriage is there.... there's
just the matter of a partner.

ARE YOU RETIRING?!
This would be a big decision too, wouldn't it~?
But that's not it!!!!! If I stopped singing, I wouldn't have anything.

So there you go, it's not anything like those.
If my entry was confusing, I apologize.

Credit: Delirium-Zer0

Possible international market entry? That seems to be surprising...

OMFG. This is quite exciting. I hope it's true in a way... :P

Hahaha! I wish~

It will be a huge surprise for us if she goes international.

I actually think this might be a possible next step, seeing how NEXT LEVEL already went a little in the direction of the current american/european mainstream and she travels to Europe and America often, also she doesnt hold asia concerts this year, which might give her time to prepare something "bigger", but I'm scared that, if she really chose that step a) she will totally flop and b)she will sing playback in TV shows...

Maybe it's true... Maybe it's not... But I hope she doesn't release an album in english

lol


And I honestly doubt the validity of this article.

From what we know she only visited Venice once and Paris twice. I wouldn't call this often oO

Sounds ridiculous to me...

she wouldn't stand a chance, and doesn't need to anyway. plus she's far too busy just with japan and bits of asia.

I think it's going to be something else...

acting.

or adopting an african orphan.

shave her head.

dye her hair

come out as gay.

who knows.

but it seems like a fairly personal, and possibly controversial/unpopular decision.

can't wait to find out...

^ most of these things is stuff britney spears or madonna did xD

Could be false could be true. One AHS member asked Max Matsuura and one of Ayu's PV directors at the Next level concert if she is coming outside of Asia and they hinted at it saying she has been taking English lessons so...

Hope not.

I prefer a retired and housewife Ayu which from time to time holds a concert/do a promotion/releases a single just for the fun of it, rather than a complete deaf Ayu caused from a Euro/US career.

All the paper cranes in the world wouldn't help her then and subsequently we would never hear her again as we would like to.

@evolution 7/4 Oh yeah right, I remember that report! And we can all see how her english improved in...lets say Mirrorcle World making of already, and with weekly lessons she will be much better now already, over a year later

@Dan.C
I think you dont understand what housewife in Japan means, whenever some japanese woman becomes housewife, the only way to go back is divorcing, and I doubt ayu would even want to becoma a housewife.(there only really, really few exceptions)
And Ayu only had problems on her left ear, she never said anything about problems with her right ear nor did we ever see or hear something about that. If the same would happen to her right ear, it would take several years and she is more careful now because she knows the consequences and doesnt want to lose her other ear as well. + We still do not know if stress was the reason for her deafness, it could be just the loudness of the music on stage as well, seeing how my father encountered the same from loud music alone(and from only ONE NIGHT of loud music)

[QUOTE=Dan.C;2023491]Hope not.

I prefer a retired and housewife Ayu which from time to time holds a concert/do a promotion/releases a single just for the fun of it, QUOTE]

If she's retired she isn't going to realese anything new...

Mmh... I may be the only one but I would prefer her to stay in Asia...

^ You're not alone~ I prefer her to stay in Asia

IIRC, the many times that they said she wasn't branching out into international markets should be a sign that this theory.. is.. flawed.. haha. Oh well.

I'd like her to perform here at least once or twice though.

she filmed several PVs in America, recorded some songs in america, did fotoshoots in america and for her busy shedule and the long flight to Europe and America, that is really often

Eh, she's recorded in America since LOVEppears IIRC and has had American mixers/mastering directors since then as well. I recall that Dave Way did a LOT of LOVEppears.. I don't think that says anything about whether or not she'll come here though.

[QUOTE=Evolution7/4;2023494]Michael Jordan also retired but he still does some charity matches from time to time :D

One piece of BS after another :yes

Read my reponse to your post again. I bolded Europe and not America.

eh, sorry, I forgot about how early she went to America...even before her debut if i remember correctly for vocal lessons in NY

@Empry
I'm sorry, my Firefox sometimes has problems with bolded text, it still shows it non-bolded for me someway...But well, even if she did not went to Europe, she had many PVs with european sets(examples:momentum, Together When..., Days(i think), rainy day, Beautiful Fighters.......) recently showing her interest in Europe and she already showed her interest in the world really early for example in the complete DT01, and now that her english is improving I think that she really is preparing to either come to America and Europe more often or to launch a debut here(though the first option is way more likely of course), I actually think all the PVs with european sets would have been filmed in europe if she had the time(and wasnt momentum even filmed somewhere in europe? I remember shots of the city out of the air)

Though I wanted her to perform in U.S....
I prefer her stay in Asia, I feel like something bad could happen.. idk.. it's just my thought
Plus... I don't want my poor ayu to get hurt... and if this was true and she succeeded ..I'll be so proud of her but I just don't have that feeling right now

you're not alone. i prefer her in asia. not another BoA and Utada. she will only be used to suck money out of then kicked back to Asia. if she does come here, i hope she doesn't give a cheesy impression like the past two. it's humiliating. she truly has to be herself b/c i honestly didn't feel that rawness from BoA and Utada. dear lord... *shakes head*

I'd rather she stay in Asia. She could maybe visit and live in America for inspiration or something... but I'd feel like her image would get tainted and be unappreciated. I'm not a fan of the American entertainment industry.

OK, even though this is a tabloid.....Friday magazine is often accurate...

FRIDAY's often right when it comes to scandals and etc., but when they make these theories.. I dunno. Have they made a ton of "Ayu is preggerz!?"/"Ayu is retiring!!?!" headlines in the past? I don't really recall.. hm..

Hi I dont know about BoA but Utada didnt give a "cheesy" impression here in the U.S. She sounded purposeful, educated, and most importantly humble. :shrug. She actually had a significant impact here if you ask me being the first Japanese artist to break the billboard top 100 in more than 20 years. :love

^ Not that I know of. That combined with her TA message and one of our very own forum members saying Max Matsuura hinted at him about this, I think puts this at least in the "quite possible" category.

Honestly, I don't really like it though.

if ayu goes international, it would be good for me but idk if it would be good for her,haha.

theory simply.. =/
I will not say anything until the rumor is confirmed by herself. :yes
i don't think so...

I don't know if she should expand horizons across the Pacific and cross the big Eurasian land to the United States and Europe, respectively...

I mean, how did BoA and Utada do in the United States? I'm just wondering...

But in the case for Ayu, we'll just have to wait and see if she's going beyond, especially with the digital world today we can know about Ayu from virtually anywhere around the world, even in the United States (and maybe even Africa)...

@ SunshineSlayer yeah, we all know what the american industry is like and what is kind of NEEDED to be succesful there, I am scared the deopth of her music, PVs and concerts would go and she would make a PURE mainstream album just like Hikki
@ Bigtop
They both flopped really badly, BoA didnt even manage to get in the top 100 i think

If I recall correctly, Max and Ayu's bodyguard "told" Maxker when he saw him at the concert..

But.. somehow I doubt that this exchange happened for whatever reason, haha. I guess we'll have to see how this all pans out.

If Maxker was just some random poster, I would doubt it, but at least he has been around for a while.

Honestly, if its true though, I'm kind of dreading it. (for all the reasons others have mentioned) As well as the fact that it will probably not help her popularity in Japan any and if it fails (which history has shown it is likely to), she would likely be coming back to a smaller fanbase I think.

I dont think it would be that good of an idea for her to try and do something in america. Our whole mainstream pop music scene is focuses heavily on sex, lyrics that aren't too meaningful, etc. I feel like it would be a lot of pressure on her to change her image, and become something she's not. I love Ayu, but she's way too much of a goody two shoes to appeal to people here who listen to pop artists like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears.

BoA's album sold around 8000 copies(or more) and reached #127 on the US billboard 200. Utada's This Is The One sold like 16000(or more) copies and reached #69 on the same chart(1st Japanese artist in 20+ years to do this) and she also became the first Japanese artist to reach #19 on US iTune's overall albums and #2 on US iTunes Pop albums.

^ And I would be very dissapointed if she did actually change herself to fit that image. Hopefully this does just turn out to be a rumor.

I rather ayu stay in asia...she won't stand a chance in the US. She's already slowing down releases...if she's gonna focus the US and Europe markets, we'll have to wait even longer for new songs.

I believe this is all rumor.

But if she were to come to America, I'd only want her to come and do a concert so that big fans in America can go and see her. Not make an actual album in English.

True, but his site hasn't exactly been known for providing the most accurate information [no offense, Maxker, haha.] like the Oricon sales figures with Ayu at the top with 30 billion, or the report that Together When.. sold millions of ringtones when it really only sold 750k and it linked to some random avex press release.. it was just really weird.

Here's his description of the situation:

Yeah, maybe she should stay in Asia, where opportunities are better, as I think her English skills might be fine but not sufficient enough to compete with more-popular Western artists from the United States, such as Miley Cyrus...

will we ever know what was the big decision she made? :shrug

omg~ same date..

-----------------

You know me ...
11-07-2009 04h21

I do something or I do nothing, in any case is subject to controversy, and is it unfortunate? I am accustomed. And every time you agitated on forecasts or mere rumors, I say aah, when I reached well below the point where I could never go back, because every time I took my responsibilities and I have always argued right before me.
With reason, thinking that I am alone and have to know my own truth.
It's the same thing for the future.
Whatever happens, with regard to my own life and my own choices, I want to say, full of confidence in me.
For 13, it appears that the risk of rain getting smaller, and I also know what are the expectations of all members of the "TA" (*^_^*)
I was well broadcast the fact that you sent me many "teruterubôzu" (a kind of small lucky to keep the bad weather) (T_T)
So we too, we decided to put all that and we also manufacture.
I believe in destiny.
Not escape the inevitable, but we can influence its fate.
The energy of "TA3 reach to the heavens. Sure!
I may be selfish, but I decided that I, I live forever contemplating EVEN IN THE LANDSCAPE AND LOOKING AT THE SAME SPEED.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Y/ayu_s_10.jpg

With our hands held not ever split ...

Ahh, I didn't know that was his site actually. Still though, it seems a pretty coincidental thing if he made it up then.

My opinion has pretty much always been that if Utada, who is a native speaker and technically American, can't make it in the US - then it is doubtful that any asian can, at least for the time being.

I see. It's ok.
To be honest, I don't see the setting of all these PVs as an indication for Ayu's interest in European countries. For example, she had often used Christian symbols in her PVs but it doesn't mean that she is a Christian.

I would rather say that the French fans who met up with her when she was filming Mirrorcle World and who were asking her about an possible concert, were the ones who have gave her an idea that she would be very welcome in France (at least to a group of people). Aside from that some other well-known Japanese musicians have been coming to give concerts in Paris. One of them being L'arc en Ciel. It would be great, if Ayu and her management were considering the idea of having one or two concerts outside of Asia but that is wishful thinking.

As a fan, I would really like to see her continue her career in Japan (and Asia as well), since that is where her biggest fanbase is. But I would really love if she gave one concert in Paris and another in NYC or LA so that her oversea fans would have the opportunity to see her live. Aside from that the creation of an international TA fanclub would be something else that I really wish for.

And she didn't go overseas for the momentum PV shooting. Otherwise this would have been mentioned in the DD Diary. And the opening shot over the city that you are talking about, looks rather like a photo to me where particle effects have been added.

Ayu in US= not the slightest chance at all. I may think she's awesome but I can safely say that atleast 99% of the country would find her tacky

Ayu in Europe= maybe in France. They're more open minded. Kanon Wakeshima had some successful concerts in Paris didnt she? Then again, there are places like Germany where she tried and failed (German singles)

I dont know how I feel about Ayu being in the world music scene. I just dont picture it happening.

Agreed.


I think one of the main reasons Utada was able to (somewhat) break out in the American industry was her perfectly unaccented english. She may be Japanese, but she sounds American, and familiar, which is of course what people here like. BoA may be able to speak english, but to me she just sounds like some asian girl trying to sing outside of her native language. I feel as if that was one of her major downfalls in trying to make a debut here. I see the same thing happening to Ayu if she tries to do an english album. She can take as many classes as she wants, but she's not going to sound native.

Well Rhianna doesnt have such nice English if you ask me....and she's insanely popular....her music is pretty close to BoA's in style. I think BoA has the right attitude and style but her English needs work (though it is improving A LOT). Utada has her unique lyrical abilities and great knowledge of music...and flawless English....but in the end...lets be honest...it comes down to one thing that stands in their way: They're Asian and people wont look past that...which kinda sucks. Being Asian myself I would like to see an Asian artist make it big in the U.S but its not likely to happen for a while. Or atleast untill Utada gets her game plan together

Yes, that's correct. But she's known for having one of the most faithful and suporting fanbases in Japan. (of the female artists of course).

Max told me and my friend "She's training her language skills", while Stan smiled in the backround. But she has done this at least since the start of 2005... I remember a TA post mention of a english test/training on a airplane some years ago. Or maybe it was a blog post at Mika's site..hmm

truehappiness: haha, yeh, I know. But that's partly because we post everything that has to do with Ayu, also rumors and not so credible articles from other forums (mainly chinese). sometimes the information turns out true, others not.
For some reason, people have a tendency to ignore the "Rumor" comment, and post our stuff as "news", on other forums/sites. >.<

Those CDs were never released under the name "Ayumi Hamasaki" and didn't get any promotion (although some people told me that they have seen the Depend on with the Svenson & Gielon Mix once a German music channel). I don't think you can call this a failure.

In that case, you need to write in HUGE RED BOLD LETTERS:
"THIS IS UNCONFIRMED" haha. Because seriously, people need that.

I wouldn't mind if she really went for it, as long as she stays true to herself and doesn't get caught up in having people tell her to be a certain way to succeed. If anything it would be a great chance to actually see her if she came here.

She most likely wouldn't do too well though unfortunately, all of the factors mentioned work against her. And her name is really foreign sounding, it's like "ew, is she Chinese?" -.-

I think a lot of people are probably scared for her to debut in america, because of the past failures of other asian artists.. BoA, and Utada are only small shadows of their popularity in asia. I know I feel hesitant for Ayu to do this too.. I don't want to see her fail..

If she makes this decision.. I hope she knows english WELL. Lisps/engrish will definitely put her at odds with the american music industry. She just needs to perfect the sound of her english, and learn the language very well. There's a lot of pressure.. But she's so talented.

But what kind of music would she do here? Ayu doesnt have an ounce of Hip Hop or R&B in her (just the way I like her) and those are basically the styles of the current generation...unless we're counting vomit-inducing kiddie pop artists like Miley Cyrus.

Just another interesting point about the article - it mentions hiroo. This is, once again, the same small district that I always stay at and had long heard rumors that she owned at least one apartment there. Her mothers store is also located there. I would say at least that part of the article is accurate. It's also a place where mostly foreigners reside. (basically the foreigner and celebrity district)

Several others have tried too - Dreams Come True, NOKKO (Rebecca lead singer), Nakamori Akina, and Seiko Matsuda all tried and failed.

Of everyone, believe it or not, SEIKO actually came the closest to making it big. In the early 90s she had a single in the billboard hot 100(#54 USA, #2 Canada) - I remember hearing it on the radio and seeing the video and everything. It was a duet with Donnie Wahlburg from New Kids on the Block. That sounds cheesy now, but back then it was basically the equivalent of Ayumi releasing a single with Justin Timberlake today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfqH-LNX5CI

She most likely won't go deaf. If she did, she would've done it already, right? Given it's just one ear, and we've never heard of any trouble with the other. Many artists have also been around much longer than her and has their hearing in order. I think most likely she was predisposed to have an ear-problem in hear left ear.

It's rather funny how people still think that her touring was what 'caused' the hearing loss, haha.

Especially because Connected was the most succesful japanese single in Germany EVER, coming at place 82(i think) in the german single charts and one of the remix singles even got a very high(somewhere in the top 5 i think) dance chart position, i think it was a m remix.
I think for concerts and rereleases of her japanese albums(in the way many J-Rock bands do, without promoting them of course, only releasing and a little internet and concertpromo) she could fill halls in some european countrys, I think the countrys with most japanese artists coming there are Germany, France and Britain. In these 3 countrys I think she could sell her albums and fill concerts ina way in which she would NOT make a minus, but also without earning much money.

@truehappiness
If youre talking about the stress of touring, than I think thats definitly not the reason, but the volume on stage and while rehearsals is really, really harmful. Especially because a) she has dancers, so they need monitors on stage and b) when rehearsing, she sometimes walks around in front of the stage watching her double, where its even louder

Rihanna's from Barbados. English is the official language there, but she might not speak perfect American-English.

She would really have to tone down her show though just to break even. And didn't she say in some interview, she would only perform overseas if she could do her usual show?

If Ayu ever came to the UK... damn.. I'd eat a pair of knickers.
True story.

yeah, she would have to do something like TA Limited Live Tour, but on the other hand, in an european concert, she can use a small stage and REUSE costumes and effects, that would make minimal costs, because the highest costs would be making new things and flying over a big stage, and maybe only take like 4 dancers with her

lol rumors.
btw if the western debut it's true, what kind of musical genre will she sing?
Maybe electronic music? I don't know.. though Ayu sings a song like Eat You Up makes me smile lol.

I wouldn't even mind flying to Paris to see her perform there...but I'd rather her come to London, I wouldn't even want an elaborate concert, after all European concerts aren't often elaborate imo. ^^
Toned down would be nice. But she couldn't change ridiculous prices like avex does in Asia...no one would be willing to pay no matter who she is to Asia or us...

^ actually Ayus prices arent that high compared to other japanese prices, some artists, like Seiko Matsuda, have concerts where special tickets(with good seats) cost 4 or 5 times(sometimes even more) than an ayu ticket

The international atempt doesn't really mean "releasing an album in english"... She can have a world tour to her international fanbase for example... I think it's nice to Hikki releasing american material, cuz she is american... But I don't really trust ayu skills of composing on another language... and it would be strange if she releases music with someone else lyrics outside Japan...

noidea: Jeeze that's insane. I can barely afford an Ayu ticket right now. ROFL
Woe is being a poor student. :)

Adrene: Well, a lot of visual k bands manage to gain sucess in Europe without singing in English, look at Dir en grey! :)

Im thinking though, where in London would she perform? Japanese artists usually go to the O2 Academy Islington which is quite small and I dont think she'd perform there. Then theres the O2 Academy Brixton and thats just ... yeah.

Im not sure where she'd perform.


... she should come to Birmingham's Symphony Hall. Just puttin that out there.

If nothing else is, this is so true and hilarious!:yes

That's also what I'm dreading. Going abroad may cause changes in Japanese feelings. It can makes her more absent, less connected to the Japanese audience... :shakehead

And I also think being asian and staying there makes her special... I don't know how to explain... I don't want to see her on TV or to hear her songs while buying in supermarkets (... mmh why not? ^^).
No definitively no.

The worse that could possibly happen is that only her fans in the us and europe buy her stuff on Itunes and after BoA's and Utadas run she will at least be succesful in that department. She doesn't have a chance making it big as any american artist though unfortunetly. And its not necissarily her, but the American public. Not sure about Europe.
However, if she did do a concert/press conferance ala Utada'a Sephora events she will attract hundreds as did Utada.

She's got the money to do her shows, its just a matter of selling tickets. A NY show in summer could garner a huge crown me thinks.

yeah, this is what I'm thinking^^
She is already being officially released on the west btw (itunes)

Or she could come to Machester...even Sheffield. :lech

Adrene: Yeah! I mean, if Dir en grey can do it, I think that Ayu could...even if she'd have to do stuff she's unused to doing like whoring herself around events~...

Call me crazy, but I'd rather not have Ayu do a concert near me. I'd rather travel across the world to Japan or something. It's hard to explain.. But yeah, if she performed at like an anime convention or something here I totally wouldn't go. That's just degrading for an artist of her caliber. If I'm gonna see her live, I want it to be biiiig and spectacular, you know?

I can't even bear to read some of your responses...lol
Why would anyone want her to go international?
She would NOT do well in the US or UK
To even sell the bare minimum she would have to COMPLETELY change her style
she wouldn't be ayu anymore.

It will end up like BoA or hikki's US careers...if you can even call them careers.

Stick with Japan.

edit - although, a tour in the US would be AWESOME
even if only a few shows...then I could actually see her.
It would be a dream come true...

I see where you're coming from. But Ayu only has that calibre in parts of Asia. If she's planning on making it in the West, we have to be shown she's prepared to work for it.

SoCrazy: I disagree, if Dir en grey can do well in the West, why can't Ayumi? In my opinion, BoA and Hikki have failed because they're too willing to change themselves, whereas I think Ayu will keep herself as who she isn't.

Yeah, I'd so go to Paris too! TBH, after Utada's This Is The One, I'm not too fussed about an English album. She'd have to spent a lot of time promoting too - rather than pumping out the singles/albums. I guess I would be a bit apprehensive about an english album because I wouldn't want to be disappointed by the results. She'd probably have to work with US producers rather than her usual people. (I'd want an Ayumi album in english, not an Ayumi album made for the english market e.g. compare Utada's first two english albums) [/end rant]

mi|kshake~

After a long decade of hard work, she is free to explore other markets or do whatever she wants with her life and career... but I really hope she doesn't release an english album!

I wouldn't be surprised if she has bought an apartment in Hiroo. Her Mom lives and works in Hiroo, so if she does have one, I wouldn't be surprised if it was so she could be close to her Mom (at times).

I know people who liked both BoA's and Utada's album, but it all has to do with promotion. If it isn't being promoted, and it the artist isn't so popular (esp. here in America), then it probably won't do well. But, yes, it's funny how Ayu is brought up around other J-Pop artists here in America, haha.

But, like Max said, Ayu IS practicing up on her language skills, so maybe she is preparing to take her career to the "next level" aka moving to more English-speaking places (England, USA, Canada) or other places around the world.

If she does try to perform or release music (or do both) around the world... it's very hard to say where she'll start first. Europe holds more Japanese music concerts, but Ayu has been to the USA many, many times and loves it there. She has a very interesting look, something foreigners both love and hate, and people are always very intrigued by it, so they may check out her music just because of it. They may check it out because she is known as the Queen of J-Pop, too.

In my opinion, if she WERE to release something worldwide, she might be better off with doing another "best of" compilation. She can put either her favorites or her biggest hits on a CD or two, and then have an international tour promoting it.

It's just me that think that Hikki's american career kind of... screams "hikki"?

As far as I'm aware, no J-pop act as tried to become famous in Europe, they all to America, which in my opinion is a very bad idea. Europe is a better starting place than the US is...but that's just how I see it.

If she did decide to make a decision like going into European countries and the states, I hope its just to do a world wide tour. Nothing like making an English debut or any of that nonsense. I love Ayu, just I don't particularly see her making it outside of Asia.

Great article, thanks for sharing!

I've had jury duty this week (for the first time I might add) so I'm still catching up with the little bit of news we got this week.

Getting back to the point, IDK if Ayumi will come over to the US at all anytime in the near future. If I were her producer, I would advise against it because part of the main reason why BoA and Hikki...oh and lets not forget SE7EN, can't get the exposure they need is because of the STATE of the American music industry. Compared to Japan, we (the US) no longer have the television outlets for music anymore. If you wanna look at music videos on MTV, you'd have to wake up at 5/6 am, while on VH1 3 am-10am (I think) is the slot for their videos. BET is just a hot mess, FUSE mostly caters to rock music (not that it's not a good thing), and CMT is for country music.

Things have changed so much here that is difficult for a debuting artist that comes from this country to get a kick start. Sure promotion has to be a little more creative these days (Hell, Taylor Swift used her MySpace to generate her career). But it's nowhere near as simple as it used to be, nor does that same creativity guarantee the necessary exposure needed to sell. Look at how famous Shakira became after her US-debut, but look at the amount of exposure and video rotations she received from MTV and VH1. So far to my knowledge, she is the only foreign act in modern music to establish a successful career in the US with English as a second or third language.

Europe would be a much better area for Ayumi to start in. From what I have seen, their music scene is much more open to new and innovative products (musicians). If she arms herself with the right producers, learns to control her accent a little, and comes out with the right song she'll find a great amount of success in EU.

I agree. It is possible that this is just what Ayu and Avex has in mind. The visit to Paris last year and the attention they received from the French fans. I think it opened Ayu's/Max's eyes, that there is a possible market outside of the United States.

and .. (hahaha), her favorite photographer and good friend Kazuyoshi Shimomura is based in France, and has good contacts in the cultural sector in Europe. I don't know if that can be an influencing factor when Ayu and Avex considers possible new debut markets.

I don't want her to come to America. BoA and Utada tried it and have (so far) failed, and I don't want to see that happen to her too.

She'll just be wasting her time.

I agree completely

I agree, simply just do the tours and concerts no english cds. I was excited when I initially read this for the sole reason that I may be able to see her in concert, meet her at a signing sessions, etc.

Shakira used to be really, really famous here. Sure, people know her name, but she doesn't release quite as much stuff anymore, nor do I hear her music on the radio. Even though Enrique Iglesias was born in America, he mostly speaks Spanish, and his records, both in Spanish and English, are very popular here. Same with Ricky Martin (though he wasn't born in the USA).

And I agree about music on television. Our biggest music performing show, TRL, was canceled last year. Late-night talk shows usually have a performer each night, but obviously, those come on late at night. To see videos, most people either watch it on On Demand, somehow catch it on TV, or just watch just it on the internet. If Ayu were to come to America, she'd be better off with internet promotion, or even late night promotion. Of course, she COULD make an appearance on Good Morning America or the Today Show, as well.

True that. I guess she would need support from her overseas fans if she were to debut in the West, but I'm not sure how supportive I would be of such a drastic career move.

I don't like Utada's Japanese material, but I think This Is The One is a great record. It seems friendly for mainstream, too.

I think it's hard to say whether or not it's being promoted enough. I mean, I've heard her on the radio.. I've seen ads on all major websites.. I've seen her on display in Border's/Target/Best Buy.. Sure, she's not being completely shoved in our faces but I do think her record company is doing their part.

I feel that if the mainstream doesn't like This Is The One, then Ayu doesn't have a chance in hell - unless of course she pulls out some crazy gimmicks like Gaga.

But, don't you people forget somthing. Ayumi Hamasaki is neither Utada or BoA, she is "Ayu", known as the "The Empress of J-pop", and even better, recently the media is nicknaming her "The Supernova Of Asian Entertainment". She is clearly the biggest female artist in Japan in the last 10 years. Utada might have sold much, but maybe she is just too anonymous for Europe and the U.S, she's even pretty anonymous home in Japan.

Anonymous is the opposite of what Ayu is. She's a product, a easy-selling brand. (you like it or not .. ) If Avex runs the same strategy in Europe, with the cover-shoots, impressive tv-lives, posters and sales stands outside the record stores, they are almost guaranteed to be noticed. The only thing she needs is a dance hit, without BoA's "Engrish" included.

Thank you Maxker! :heart You, SunshineSlayer & truehappiness have made really good points in the past few pages... and I THINK this might be true after all.

Kazuyoshi Shimomura is based in France yes... this might also be why she traveled to Paris to film Mirrorcle World. Coincidentally, Mirrorcle World was Shimomura's first Ayu PV.

Just one thing though - if she were to really focus in the West, I hope she wouldn't release albums in English - seeing as how her English is comprehensive... but a full album in English seems really hard for her...

And also, I think Ayu's album music style is gonna be a little too new and fresh for the west. Very few mainstream American singers actually have interludes in their albums... I'm really afraid and worried that if she focuses on the west, she's gonna fall very hard...

And about the retiring - if she really has a secret boyfriend... I don't know. She dated Tomoya Nagase for 7 years, and she only got ready for marriage like on the 6th year or so. Assuming she's faithful and knew this secret boyfriend after her break-up, then it seems kinda unlike her to jump into marriage, barely a year after knowing this guy.

I'm on the fence on this whole issue, so we'll see how things go.

Thank you again, Maxker. I love the news you post around here! :heart

as always these news are doubthable, but it would really be interesting to see Ayu come to Europe :yes
and like it was said, J-music is pretty well accepted in europe, unlike the US; she could get some attention from european fans :D

BoA and Utada have shown us that J-pop fails in america, so i'll keep my hopes up and wish she won't waste her time and energy for america and use it for europe :D

In terms of Visual Kei bands...It really just depends on how you measure success. Most only go outside of Japan because of the fact that they really aren't well known inside Japan to start with. Its amazing how Visual Kei fans in the US/Europe know all these obscure bands that no one really cares about in Japan, yet they've never heard of B'z or Mr. Children. :)

Even so, most Visual Kei bands have niche audiences overseas at best. Dir en Grey would be closest to mainstream popular, but even they really haven't achieved that.

And people still keep on mentioning BoA and Utada as the only examples of asian artists trying to and ultimately failing to really make it big in the US and/or European department. But as I mentioned before, the list is actually quite a bit longer than just those two, so the hurdle is set even higher for making it happen.

Well, I think she wouldn't have to make an English debut. If she can talk fluently in English to give interviews, she shouldn't have to sacrifice her lyrics to be in English.

You're completely right. We're open to a lot of new styles of music and I think that with the right marketing she could do well. She should set up a myspace, an official facebook, all those social networking sites, word of mouth. I really think that viral marketing is the way to go with many artists making it like that these days.

Hikaru and BoA failed because in my opinion they were trying to be something they were not. Hikki even said she wasn't going to write in her usual style. She sold herself out, as did BoA. I think that if Ayumi went in there and decided to sing in her native language, but give interviews in fluent English it could work.

Interludes mean nothing, if the music is good and the publicity is right people will eat it up and actually I've seen many mainstream instrumentals.

As I said before, Europe is the place to start, not the UK just yet, but take France, Germany, etc then come over to the UK then go to America when she has all of Europe.

I know that when my dad was younger X Japan and Loudness were big in America and the UK, in fact my dad loves Loudness~. So I think it's possible to make a debut and make it work...