namie's FUTURE vs ayu's NEXT LEVEL
 

Well we've seen a bit more of ayu's NEXT LEVEL than namie's FUTURE so far, but what do you think?

Who is going to be able to give more and make better music/works etc on the new stage of their musical careers? Who do you trust the most?


Right now, I'm putting my money on namie's FUTURE. Everything that she seems to be doing since PLAY is so fresh and new. I can't get tired of her ^^


your vote ;)




NOTE: THIS IS NOT A PAST<FUTURE vs NEXT LEVEL ALBUM FIGHT. THIS POLL IS ONLY ABOUT THE NEW PART OF THEIR MUSICAL CAREERS.

Ayu. I don't like Namie's new sound. It's like "LOL OMG LET'S ADD A BUNCH OF WEIRD SOUNDS IN THIS SONG AND SCREW UP THE ARRANGEMENT TO TRY TO MAKE IT UNIQUE!"

Namie's coming out with fresh, new, different stuff that actually makes me want to listen to more than once. (repeat) There was only one maybe two songs I didn't like. (The Meaning Of Us)

With Ayu's NEXT LEVEL, I was like... its "fresh" sounding for Ayu, but it was an okay album. I only really like, "Sparkle" "rollin'" "Load of the SHUGYO" and "Days". I haven't listened to her album as much as I have Namie's and I've had NEXT LEVEL for much longer.

With Namie I think she'll continue to give us great music. Everything from Play has been buy worthy and in my top favorites. WILD has been out for months now and I still like it. And the video for WILD pwned Janet's Feedback. :syeah The spacemen bursting out of the walls to get down was awesome! It made me want to jump on screen and join in on the space-dance-orgy.

We'll see what Ayu has to offer in the future, because her recent stuff this year just didn't do it for me. I mean her latest single... :bsigh BALLAD was mediocre compared to her past winter releases. "You were..." saved this single IMO.

For me:
Ayu : PAST>FUTURE
Namie : PAST<FUTURE

^It disappoints me to say that seeing as Ayu is (slowly becoming was) one of my favorite artists.

Namie

Like you said~ It's just so fresh and the songs are just addicting, even though I haven't listened to them a lot yet, I can just remember them

While I've listened to NEXT LEVEL a lot, but some songs...are just unmemorable~

While both albums were a step backwards for their artists, the step Namie took back from where she was before seems greater than the step backward Ayu took. I pick NEXT LEVEL

I just noticed that both of these albums were of the same concept but since I don't really listen to Namie's music (only a couple of songs) and much less a whole album, I can't really say but NL wasn't that much of a next level (not saying it was a bad album or anything but more it wasn't groundbreaking).

When you guys say "fresh", "unique", "exciting", original, i just say MESS. it's all been done before, but in SEPARATE songs instead of mashing everything together to just create something what really sounds like... a mess. i can't remember the melody to half the songs on PAST < FUTURE because it changes and it's just inconsistent. for instance, i love the last ~2 minutes of COPY THAT but it just seems stupid to throw it in there because it just ruins the flow of the entire song. it should've just ended and another song could've used a beat like that and it would have been an awesome hip-hop-esque track.

NEXT LEVEL and her most recent songs had really catchy melodies, strong arrangements and they were just much easier to listen to. Besides MY LOVE and The meaning of us, there are really no "easy listening" tracks because most of it sounds like a big jumble.

I'll say it again, if this is the future then PAST > FUTURE.

I agree with this lolol.

I don't like the direction EITHER is heading in, but I find Ayu's much more disappointing than Namie's. But I'm sure that's all because I love Ayu a whole lot more. :shrug

Ayu. Much more substance than Namie, JMHO. Allthough I think her latest album is more interesting than NL

NEXT LEVEL was an ok album, but 90% of the songs on it got old really fast. like after 5 plays fast.
and then she released S/S ~LiA~.. and it's a really safe single.. nothing new or fresh. same thing with You were.../BALLAD (even though I LOVE You were...). but yeah, so much for taking things to the "next level".

Past<Future is an amazing album imo, but I have to say that I like her hip-hop stuff more, because I simply prefer that genre.
but I love it that she's releasing music outside her "comfort zone" and that she's experimenting with new sounds and stuff. and that's why I voted for Namie :)

I agree with all of this.

I don't believe Ayu ever said anything about how the music on NEXT LEVEL was taking things to a higher level than anything she had previously released. It was more like moving to the next level/stage of her career, like she says in the "NEXT LEVEL" lyrics. It's not like she was saying PAST<FUTURE like Namie, where it's really obvious she thinks her new songs are going to be better than her older ones.

yeah, NEXT LEVEL did sound like she was moving things to the next stage of her career.
but I was talking about the singles released after. they sound like songs she could have released in 2003 or 2007. nothing wrong with that, but there's not much "moving things to the next stage" going on if the concept is the same like the past years.

so what I'm trying to say is that if she wanted to move things to the "next stage / level" of her career she should have continued to do so and not just for one album.
but that's how I see it lol

Lol, we all knew this was coming...


Okay, I actually think Amuro's album is very good (for me, it's her best, besides STYLE), as far as it has a lot of variety and is pretty balanced at the same time. And I really love FAST CAR. :heart The Meaning Of Us, Bad Habit, COPY THAT and SHUT UP are also pretty good. However, some of the tracks are extremely blugh (like Steal my Night, Defend Love and WILD D: ), and I don't like how many of the songs are very repetitive (like LOVE GAME, or SHUT UP and COPY THAT, specifically, which is what ended up ruining them for me x_x'). I also don't like that she has officially gone off into another direction of music style, simply because her hip-hop doesn't sell and she wants her popularity back. :\ Also, it feels like this album will get old pretty quickly (which takes it down a point D: ). But despite everything - because even though I only really like one song, I can see why some people would like the others, and I respect the fact that this is still a much better album than a lot of them - I still give PAST<FUTURE 7.5/10. :yes

Now, please believe, I am not being biased because she's one of my favourite artists, but NEXT LEVEL is actually definitely in my top five favourite Ayumi albums, at the least, and I think it's a great album. I feel this was such a good album because of, again, variety (from GREEN to Sparkle to Rule to Days--wow :O), but also because every song brings something special to the album. The only song I don't absolutely love is rollin', but I still like it. But, the amount of interludes really bothers me, so that automatically takes down the otherwise perfect score - which, it's perfect because not only do I love all the songs and they still haven't gotten old (for me, at least), but because I feel there's literally something for everyone. :\ I give it a 9/10. :D

Namie.

I go with Namie on this one.

Namie!!! :yes
what a coincidence on how the titles have the same concept :O

not counting Ayu's upcoming album thats gonna be released in the future..
Ayu's "NL" seems to be slightly dimming & Namie's FUTURE is brighter ~ in music that is.
but atm, i have higher hopes for Ayu now ^^

Namie won... her songs in the last years are getting better and better

I can's hardly say that about Ayu (sorry Ayu u.u) but since 2 years ago her carrer get stocked imo.

argh....i wanna vote for ayu but i accidentally vote for namie's T_T

Namie of course. more uptodate. Ayu still have her old style song such as Days, GREEN, Rule.

hmmm I like the direction Namie is going. Ayu will always impress me so I always look forward to what she puts out. I haven't been a fan of Namie for as long and I like her current music style so I'm looking forward to what she does next.

I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT AN ALBUM VERSUS POLL.


If some people is voting for their fav album they are WRONG.

PAST<FUTURE is a LOT LOT better than NEXT LEVEL

Thanks for reminding me that before I jump to vote. Cuz if we're voting which album is better, I dun think I will vote on either.

I dun think I will count myself as a namie fan. I didn't really focus on her music that much until probly PLAY came out. I only liked a few songs before that. But I gotta say she did make herself a really good transition. The music choice she's doing rite now, and the fashion she's doing rite now are pretty attractive to the general public. I dunno if she's changed her music direction as I didn't follow her much. But rite now she should be the most successful female artist in Japan rite now.

Well.. for ayu... I've been her fan since 1999. I think I will say... her music stage has been stuck at the same place since er... 2006? Even tho I appreciate that she's trying something fresh in NL (actually it's not that fresh.. it's just a revisit of LOVEppears), I still think she needs to evolve a bit more. I know she doesn't wanna change her direction as much as she did before (yeah she was pretty dynamic back in the old days), still she should try something fresher.


So.. at this moment, I'll pick Namie (even tho I love ayu MUCH MORE).

Oops... I didn't vote completely based on that, but luckily....I still feel the same for what I voted, hah.
I feel they both took a pretty big step into something new for THEM, but for music in general, it's both surprisingly mainstream. :\ But because Ayumi still has that Ayu-feel to it, and because she didn't sell herself out, I still stand by my vote for NEXT LEVEL.

Namie. She's really good since beginning of her career and she's evoluate all the time to make better, more mature music. Ayu stuck with one style and she's repeating over and over the same old melodies. All her changes are to "worse" and that's the point why she's loosing fans since "MY STORY". Ayu's my fave j-pop singer and I have big sentiment to her, but honestly there are better singers making better music than she's doing now.

How do you know that's the reason? Namie's style has never remained stagnant in her career ever - she has always changed with every album either drastically or by gradually adding on to what she did in the previous album. Plus she was never completely Hip HOP to begin with, but the more accurate self-proclaimed term Hip POP. And while that style may not have sold astronomically when it was first released, Best Fiction sold over a million copies and Play and Queen of Hip Pop certainly were no slouches either. That style certainly was indeed, selling. If she really wanted to play it safe and cash in, she could have stuck with that style, but she chose to change again. Couldn't a lot of what you described be applied to Next Level as well? Why isn't it acceptable that they both want to have their music change and grow? I would hate it if Namie just kept releasing Style over and over again, just like I would hate it if Ayu had never moved past Loveappears.

I trust namie more.

Ayu isn't doing anything new...We even just got our standard winter single lol

Ayu's schedule seems to do more with the schedule she's always had and avex's fiscal year and the type of songs she's creating isnt really changing...even if she changed the instruments she's utilizing.

Not that I'm not happy she's discovered there's more instruments than just drums, guitar, and keys...


But uh, I'm quite disappointed with the both of them tbh. Both of the albums were underwhelming...and their futures in music looks uninteresting.

I voted Namie but I have gotten used to Nekku so much I like that now actually pretty much. I have to confess that it wasn't a easy decision. And I won't say anything else of this fact because I'm lazy. :D

And by the way I thought Ayu was winning this poll but she wasn't. wow. o.o

Namie.
Ayu's music isn't the same like some years ago, that's true, but I'm much more disappointed with her "new" music (NEXT LEVEL mostly). And now we're back to the "usual" winter ballad. :shrug

Namie on the other hand did something very new to her (electro influenced music, much more layered and diversed music etc.) and it turned out great! I got so easily boredwith most of her older music, cause it's so repetetive most of the time. I still don't like 2/3 of her discography. But I love her new album ( minus the repetetive songs again). I truly think Namie will stay the highest selling and most popluar female singer the next years.

Hmm, I'll vote for Ayumi. Her music is still emotional and deep, whereas Namie's music is pretty much just the basic feel-good stuff and sexy lyrics, and a huge part to me personally in music are exactly the emotions and lyrics..

In terms of music, PAST < FUTURE surprised me as it grew on me after just few listens (at the few first I totally hated it lol) and I rarely really like the r'n'b-electro-dance music. But I have to agree with who said the arrangements on that album are not really original, but I enjoyed (most of) them nonetheless because they still managed to bring the Namie sound to them. But, I don't see myself listening to this album much in the future, maybe that's just like I said that I need something deeper.

NEXT LEVEL, then. I hated it at first too lol. But then one day it just clicked, and now I love it. What I like more about this album is that it has so much diversity and isn't just same elements recycled from song to song while still keeping the big picture. For me, NL is somehow so simple but so awesomely complicated at the same time: if you overall think about the songs they are very simple but if you really listen to them with your heart they get so deep and distinctive. Oh and the album makes me feel insanely good. :laugh Also You were.../BALLAD is great imo.

Ayu's (imo) amazing tour also brings points to her, but it's hard to compare since Namie hasn't yet had done a tour since P<F... It's kinda hard to compare their "next levels" otherwise than just the albums because Namie's album was just out. :/

I will judge from their past albums.

Guilty ~> NL is much more smoother. The lyrics became easier to understand, she's speaking directly instead of being ambiguous. The direction in moods of the albums is definitely a plus. The difference in albums is really apparent although the structure of the albums is alike since Secret.

Play ~> P<F is such a huge disappointment. Both albums had nice dance beats and weird engrish. The only difference was P<F had more of an electric vibe, not that Play didn't have those. >.> Hint, look between Hide and Seek and Fast Car. @_@ I think the main change isn't music, it's more fashion oriented like from S&M bondage of Play to Cute skirts/hip fashion of P<F.

Namie ! i'm too dissapointed with NL ~~!

oh god, i'm in doubt. I trust Ayu maybe a lil more

But it's different for Ayumi, because she's always stuck to a very strict core genre, even if she experimented a lot. And that's how it usually should be (with a few exceptions, but Namie's case is definitely not one of them). You don't go from Japanese techno-pop to Western hip-hop (two completely~ different things) and then back again, at least not whenever you claim that the previous style is who you really are and you switch right when your new genre becomes popular. Ayumi has never claimed to be anything she's not; so even if she did switch genres, unless every time (like Namie) she switched to what was popular, I'd just say she was confused and was experimenting.
I'm sorry, because you're obviously a huge Namie fan, but to me she's a sellout, because, no, she wasn't originally hip-hop, and no, her hip-hop projects didn't do very well. And now she's doing electro/techno pop stuff, which is what's big now. So for that, I can't see her any other way. The most hip-hop or even R&B she had until after Hikaru Utada came out was a few ballades with R&B BEATS. Having an R&B or hip-hop beat doesn't make you that genre. :no (Think Kumi Koda--just because she almost always has a heavy beat, that certainly doesn't mean all her songs are hip-hop. She's fake hip-hop a lot of the time, and Namie has many songs just like that - it's much more mainstream pop than hip-hop.) Play did sell pretty well, but not the other two, especially for a "Queen." Hell, even Play should have sold more, between the promotion it had and for all the titles both she and her fans claim her to be. :o
And I love how in her most recent interview she tries to claim that she's not doing hip-hop anymore, simply because she can't get into it right now. She made a HUGE deal for almost ten years about how she was full blown Western hip-hop--the QUEEN of hip-hop (or hip-pop--whatever, it doesn't matter)--yet now...she just doesn't care at the moment..? Coincidentally, right whenever she realises that this "reinvention" of her style will sell better? I'm sorry, but it's just too much of a coincidence for me to blow off, considering she wasn't exactly original in her style at the start of her career, either, and so I can't respect her as an artist, for that and a few other reasons. In my mind, she's a complete joke (especially this new thing she has, with moving forward to her greater future - beyond the hip-hop stuff, I guess :\). She's been extremely lucky throughout her entire career, and she's had everything handed to her. I thought Ayumi had the luckiest break, but no, I've recently found out that, again, it's Namie. :headache

I completely agree with your post. Namie like I've said in her thread has been releasing consistantly GOOD albums. They're all addictive and I listen to it OVER and OVER and I don't get sick of it. Not that I get sick of Ayumi's music, that's never happened.. NEXT LEVEL I really liked but I haven't listened to it nearly as much as Ayu's older albums, and with Namie's FUTURE I can see listening to this album a lot for months and months to come its completely entertaining and exactly what I've been needing musically.

Last week as I was listening to Ayu which I haven't listened to in quite some time, I noticed that too, Ayu is slowly becoming my favorite artist now. =\

Ayumi by a landslide.
I don't really see a huge shift in Namie's style with this album, its like a mix of old and new which isn't bad at all but Ayu has always experimented with music and continues to surprise me.

I enjoy more NEXT LEVEL.

namie's music bores me to death XD

I was really excited about PAST<FUTURE.
But after the first listen, it sounds MEH.

I mean, P<F has really catchy songs, more than NL. But isn't basically really new, fresh or OMGSOEXPERIMENTAL in my opinion. The only different and fresh (omg am I talkin' about a fruit? :laugh) song from Namie's discography is Dr.
So P<F isn't so innovative for Namie. It's just a bunch of catchy songs putted together (and in a messy way).

So I voted for NEXT LEVEL.
I've always feel it as a stronger version of Loveppears.
I mean: electronic theme album but with less depressing lyrics. She seems said 'I look behind (Loveppears) and now I see myself grow up (NEXT LEVEL)'.
Sorry for my stupid engrish explanation ;__; but it's my personaly way to feel this album.

I'm fan of Ayu and Namie both, but only NEXT LEVEL seems the future for Ayu's career.
PAST < FUTURE it's only a nice album.

You did not just say that, lol. Honestly I have to agree a bit with this though, at one time I was starting to turn into a Namie stan and learned a lot of things about her and the more I learn the less I like her (seriously, only writing about 4-5 songs in your whole discography? your music better be FLAWLESS to get away with that, and it really isn't IMO)

Really? I had NO idea. That's. so. disappointing. :bsigh

It makes me rethink--everything.

Even if some people do think she's a complete joke, her sales for this album did well debuting at #1 and selling more than NL.
So obviously not everyone has this opinion.

Anyway, I'd love to see something a bit different from Ayu. I look forward to 2010 and I hope she raises the bar on her next album.
No more overtly rock overtones or covers by Sweetbox though. :no

I love Ayu much more then I could ever love Namie, but the direction Namie's going in is so much better then the direction Ayu's getting in.

Out of all of the divas, Namie is the only on I feel like is improving. Namie's changing the game, and changing her sound. Ayu's doing basically more of the same, even with this single, it's the standard winter ballad, and the soon-to-be-standard oriental ballad (Will->part of Me->Secret->GREEN->BALLAD). Namie's doing different things, Dr. is the most original song released this year.

So I had to vote for Namie, even though she's not my favorite, not anywhere close actually, and I love my Ayu a whole lot more. Namie's just doing it better right now.

^I Agree. Especially after reading the interviews Namie just did. She's looking forward to a fresh start, not totally scrapping her past works.

OMG there's another non-Namie-stan here!? (Just kidding.) Wait, you mean "write," as in, compose? Or lyrics? Because I was annoyed that she never writes her own lyrics, but I didn't think she did a single composition... If she's composed something, I do have to give her props for that.

So.... Some people think Namie Amuro writes most of her stuff..? Oh my, I need to get the word out, lol... And a major reason she's selling so well is not only because of great promotion, but because this is her first studio album in two years. I can guarantee Ayumi would have sold at least 200k more than what really happened, had she been in this position. Hell, maybe even Kumi would've. :O But we all know this'll probably never happen for those two, at least not the 'waiting two years' part. -_-
And I agree with you about Ayumi. I do think she took a good step forward in her career, but I want more! :eviltongu Maybe I'm just being greedy...

:laugh I was almost becoming one.. and I used to like defend her here and stuff, but I just can't anymore. And I meant lyrics. I don't think she has ever composed lol

A bit off topic, but a lot of people are forgetting that earlier this year, when Ayu and Koda's albums were on sale, japan was in deep recession and the only albums that seemed to be spared were Bests and Boy band releases. Various financial newspapers reported that Japan emerged from this recession around August. Not to mention that this is the best time to release an album, Christmas time, so as far as I can see there are many factors helping Namie's album sales at this time. Can someone who follows the charts closely tell me if I am mistaken?

They do? HAH.

Unless I know for sure my artist composes and produces all their stuff, I'd never make that assumption in Japan.

I don't consider Ayu a composer...regardless if she did "compose" a song or five...doesn't really put her in the category of an artist that writes their music.

Not by a long shot lol

some people are dumb or what? lol read the bloody thread before voting

She's actually composed like... 20 or something. Though that's only like 1/7 or 1/8 of all her songs so yeah.

This... and most of the songs she composed, she didn't it all by herself...

About Namie... you need to chose what r u going to practice, and in the end of the day, u will need to give up on a lot of things... Namie doesn't compose, doesn't write lyrics... even if she select the songs she is going to sing...

But damn, the girl can dance! And she can overdance almost everyone on Jpop (IMO, she only is beaten by BoA on this)

Then what would you call Ayumi when her first album was a hip hop/rap album and she went around proclaiming herself in interviews to be the worlds youngest female rapper, but then when that didn't sell she pretty much ignored that the album ever existed? Wouldn't that by your definition make her a sell out? And once again, she has never been Hip HOP, but Hip POP which are two different things. She went from being a pop artist, to a pop artist with R&B elements, to a pop artist with even more r&b thrown in to become Hip Pop. Like you said, she has always been a mainstream pop artist and she has never denied being a pop artist so I don't know why, but you seem to have the impression that she was like this hard core hip hop rapper that put down other pop artists or something and that can't be further from the truth. I don't know why to you, changing ones musical style over their career = sellout, but then for some reason, Namie is the only one that you don't like because that can certainly apply to many artists. And I definitely don't see either Ayumi or Namie as sellouts. First of all, by American standards, just about every single pop artist in Japan would get labeled as a sellout. ^_^ I also don't know why you seem to get so bent out of shape over this particular artist. :) Lately you and I have agreed on a lot of things, but this subject I don't think I can ever see your point of view on. :)

Also, about having something "handed to her" she had to work for it just like many artists. I mean she was going to a school afterall that was specifically for training singers, dancers, other entertainers - she didn't just suddenly get a record contract handed to her while at the arcade or something. She came from a poor, single parent family, just like Ayu did and she would walk to and from her lessons for hours everyday. I'm not saying that to make her seem better than anyone else, but more that it seems many of your statements meant to minimize her, are just based in a place of personal dislike for her.

As for the song writing thing (this is directed at everyone) - since when is it a prerequisite for pop stars to write their own stuff? In Japan, it is especially a rarity. People like Ayumi and Koda are definitely exceptions. It's part of Japan's idol culture. Did Nakamori Akina and Yamaguchi Momoe write their own stuff? Nope and yet they are considered some of the most revered female singers in Japanese music history. Plus, people can enjoy different artists for different reasons - I enjoy Ayu for her lyrics but with Namie I don't really care about the lyrics and more about just being entertained.

Who? Ayu? lol

Yeah...to me it doesn't really matter how much of a chunk her composed songs take out of her discog...she could have "composed" all of her songs...and it still wouldn't make her a composer lol

other people feel different I think...they're like "omgz ayu has the credits for composing this, she writes her music!"

um, no.

But I mean, something like that never really mattered to me because, while it's something that I love in an artist, I know that, it's not the only part of the industry...


I mean, if the music industry was only filled with artists who only wrote their songs, and lyrics and stuff...man...it would be grim lol

I think having these females who have the looks, the charisma, sort of the whole package represent all of these fantastic people who are writing songs, like testuya komuro, I mean that's really important, because these people are really talented, and I think sometimes people forget that and they just want to be like, "well it's just for the market and to make munny, and they don't do anything..."

You think tetsuya komuro could have ever marketed all the great songs he's made for female vocalists himself? lol that would be funny.

To me, it's not something that an artist should be put down for...people who are disliking Namie because she doesn't write her lyrics and never wrote a song? Please. I am a music elitist, and I always will be, but I understand that it's not black and white, and that people like Ayu and Namie are a necessary part of how our industry functions, and imo a great part, because it makes everything just a little more colorful, and it allows for more people, like HAL, and CMJK to be apart of the process, and allows for more versatility.

^ Yes, I agree with all of that. :)

I prefer my artists singing good material from other people than singing their own crappy stuff if something like this is going to happen...

Some people act like singing/dancing/acting in order to make a song more than just notes, but into something beautiful and emotional as something less important... Not every composer can put out a good performance (yeah Utada, I'm looking at you :P Even if u can really put lots of emotion on ur voice) and not every amazing performer is the best of the composers (people around here enjoy bashing humming 7/4? well, it's by Crea :P)

About Namie being a sell out...

Ayu was a dance artist, and after that, a rock artist, and she released evena gospel influenced song! If variety means "sell out", well, she jumped from a metal influenced album into a eletropop influenced album... she is a sell out^^

Utada was a r&b artist... and after that she released some eletronic music... and after that, more r&b... ooops... sell out :O

Mika Nakashima... from jazz to rock! Damn!

Koda... hmmm... r&b... hip hop... eletropop... cutesy songs... another sell out...

Maybe Japan is just the country of sell-out music acts!

^ lol exactly. :) Every Japanese artist is a freaking sell out! Even just having your song in a commercial labels the artist as a sell out in America - so yeah, Japan is just a bunch of copiers and sell outs. ;P

even though I dislike the direction that ayu went with when she did next level (she is redeeming herself now), namie's music has begun to all sound alike to me. I couldn't make it through p<f because all the songs start to sound like one big megamash of her just repeating the same words

ur my love love love copy that copy that ur my love love love.... the meaning of us.


well.. thats a bit exaggerated on my part. but for such a hyped up album... those are the only three songs i even like. well. i don't like copy that. :(

Sunshine, I think Ayumi didn't know what to do with her music career when she did the rap record. And I'll also give Namie the benefit of the doubt and say she didn't really know what she wanted to do when she had more dance influenced music at the start of her career.
But now she's changed from her "real" style back to a similar style, which just happens to be popular. And she changed to hip-hop (or hip-POP--WHATEVER--that's, in my opinion, just her way of trying to make everything better, because everybody knows that she was trying to be real Western hip-HOP) when it looked like hip-hop may get big, after Hikaru's burst. It's not a matter of variety, it's the fact that she decided to completely "reinvent" herself at the exact time after a certain style started to get attention. Yeah, that's technically variety, but it's also technically selling out. The way she experimented between songs on PAST<FUTURE itself is how you are supposed to do it (that's considering if, of course, that's really what you want to do, and not just a selling point).
You guys are bringing up other artists... Kumi has ALWAYS had this: a heavy beat mixed with pop, often making it into a hip-hop or techno influenced song. She's experimented, but that's always been the core. So, not a sellout. I DO believe Hikaru sold out with her last English album. But not because she went from electropop back to R&B, but because that album obviously wasn't who she really is. Just like how all these changing of styles isn't what Namie is. At least, that's not what she tells us. So if she's a person who loves to experiment with every album, incorporating each time major elements of what's mainstream...then that's fine. But she's said for years now that she was something completely different, so THAT'S why she's a sellout, not because she has variety, or even if she goes in a different direction (like Utada did, starting with Deep River). Well, I take it back... I guess she can either be a sellout or a flat out fake. Your pick. But it's definitely one of those.

^ lol. It just seems you are way to hard on her and I totally don't get the reasoning at all. :) But like I said, this is something I'll never understand from you, so we will just have to agree to disagree.

Well... in the end I find the concept of "selling out" completely ridiculous... People sometimes think that artists do photosintesis in order to live, and that the music/paiting/writing/whatever isn't really a job, but some bizarre way to give love or whatever to the world...

If Namie needs to sing bossa nova in order to sell, do that just cuz she wants more money and the final product is good, kudos for her!

I probably shouldn't even be posting here since I haven't hear P<F yet, but that's not what this is about anyway. To be honest, I trust both with their music in the future. When I look at the whole picture of each artist, neither of them has ever failed me. With Ayu, she always found a way to experiment while keeping her music the same. Some criticize her for it, but if you really think about it, do ANY of her albums sound exactly the same? No. Key songs do (summer, winter, etc.) but her products and overall progress as an artist doesn't. Ayu has never disappointed me. I may not like some songs but I can't like everything.

With Namie, it seems like she just keeps growing and growing. If you listen to her music from the 90's and listen to her music now, it doesn't even sound like the same person. She's always keeping people on their toes. However, her music doesn't have any personality like Ayu's does. It's just great, fun, catchy music. In my opinion, I think that's why she's able to completely change her style so often, because there's never really any of "her" in it. But that doesn't discredit her as an artist.

In short, I look forward to both of their future music and I trust both of them not to let me down :)

Namie

Ayu!

I really loved Namie's music like it was a few years back, but I don't like her new style. It's so common. She is not standing out anymore and the lyrics don't have any meaning behind them...at least, not to me!

Ayu's just getting better and better. She is constantly re-creating herself, but she still stays true to her old self!
She writes her own lyrics and has her own voice and style. That's what makes her different from so many other Jpop-singers and that's also one of the reasons why I'll always love her.
Ayu is unique!

I'm gonna go for Namie's album which totally blew me away

Namie of course.It was awesome from the beginning till the end. The only thing good about NEXT LEVEL were the tracks that were already singles. The other songs were :no

people still voting for the albums LOLOLOLOLOL OMFG

Namie of course! :yes
ayu's songs sound nowdays totally the same and they aren't good :< namie is fresh and her new songs are cool.
and namie's sales aren't dropping like ayu's.

I know this isn't part of the discussion...but I don't think this is really cool.

I mean, hikki is a person, not only with an extensive knowledge of music, but also someone who has always loved R&B and the western scene. I mean, she even talked about Ace of Base when she was interviewing for her english album lol as an example of the feeling of what she was looking for. And the lyrics and such is something we've seen from her before, and we all know, well her fans I guess, know her quirky personality lol I think, in many ways, her english album is more "her" than some of her other works.


I agree with Andrenekoi anyway. The concept of "selling out" with your musical direction is a little...eh...hard to pinpoint.

I think it's a little bit more difficult with pop music anyway...I mean, it's such an all encompassing genre, when you really do think about it...a lot of other genres have certain staples that are always there, but there's a lot of freedom of movement in pop.

^I don't wanna hear about utada in this thread ever again please.

Going with Namie on this one... PAST<FUTURE owned NEXT LEVEL and if that's any indication... yeah.

I adore Ayu but I am really digging Namie's new stuff.

I don't really care for the direction either of them are going but I still think they can release good music. Ayu's music has been in a type of safe zone. Namie's music is changing but a lot of her new stuff seems to blend together to me.

I still think both will release something good but we just have to wait.

Neither Namie nor Ayu.
I like Past<Future, but it doesn't sound new to me. Everything except Wild/Dr was more like an upgraded version of Play, therfore I don't see much progress.
NextLevel & Ayu's latest releases were nice too, but also nothing special.

Ayu's NL for me^^

READ READ READ READ READ



urgh...

while music-wise they're BOTH going on new tracks. Ayu is experimenting and Namie is starting with fresh stuff. They're bringing in the new decade in different styles but with similiarities... truthfully, I don't know who's going to make it better. Right now Namie is riding on a Comeback wave while Ayu is kind of just "Around" so probably Namie will be recongized more but if Ayu perfects whatever she's experimenting with (I'm speaking of how NEXT LEVEL was full of different-sounding tracks for her) and people start to see the potential thats in it i'm sure she'll go to the "next level" as you put it.

I see none of them giving up though, that's for sure

ayu! But Namie's PAST<FUTURE is really freshh

PAST < FUTURE is a PERFECT ALBUM (far from NEXT LEVEL. LOL) but i'll go with ayu, and she said that she's going with the new ~future classics~themed-album and i can't wait to hear this. Sunrise and you were... really touched my heart, and yes they're fresh and new. (at least i think so. LOL)

My only answer NEXT LEVEL from ayu.

voted for Ayu!

IMO, namie will normally go for styles that will be popular. Yea, she can dance and sing, but seriously her songs, after a few plays i just got bored. There isn't much new or unique elements in her songs. I think she will focus more on adding her own flavour into the dancing instead of the song itself, which is a :no for me.

unlike, Ayu's. The new styles that she has tried, though highly experimental n risky, I still find them very successful. They don't sound like those usual or similar styles other singers may adopt, Ayu's songs really have the Ayu style in them, which is what I look for in music. I really look forward to what type of styles Ayu will try in future. (praying hard) For me, the most dissappointing style she had tried was the Bold and Delicious and Born to be.. yucks i really hate that 2 songs!:no But definitly not those in Next Level, they are really great! However, more of Ladies' Night and Step You will be good too!

So, that is why I have more faith in Ayu's new styles rather than Namie's.

I'm voting for Namie.
She has a promising future and her sales prove that, but I do have my concerns.

Whenever I think of Namie, I immediately think of a machine. Outside influences program it, alter it and completes its tasks albeit in an efficient manner. To put it simply, homegirl reminds me of the Terminator. Point blank. Despite her new sound and direction, I do not get the sense of fervor from her in her music. Don't get me wrong I adore her album and listen to it quite frequently but at the same time something does not sit well with me. I constantly feel this discrepancy between her and her music and I've felt this way since she released "Genius 2000". Prior to that I admired her more and felt a sense of sincerity from her. I can't put my finger on it exactly but this reaction is ever present within my mind. I am in no way labeling her nor am i insulting her, these are just my humble thoughts boiled down to the bone. :yes

NEXT LEVEL
THIS:yes

My vote goes to Ayu :yes

I'm bad at explaining myself, I'm sorry I couldn't add more >~<

There is no comparison for me.
FUTURE all the way!!
Amazing album. But then again, everything from Amuro is always amazing! ;)

Comparing Ayumi & Namie's futures...

Namie is more 'exciting', and I agree that she has grown so much since her career started with improving vocally and such. But there is a certain polish and perfection about her music...She dances well but I wish she would LOOK more involved. Smile. Please. (I think this is why I like her in AI's FAKE pv...lol She always seems happier in other people's pvs. :thud )

Which leads me to why I love Ayumi. Ayumi has so much input into her music; you listen to her music, you listen to Ayumi. That is the charm her music has that (for me) makes up for her less-than-stellar singing and the mis-steps along the way.

I'm optimistic for both of their futures, for different reasons. To me it's hard to compare Namie and Ayumi because they are in different categories.

I chose namie's FUTURE....

Namie's
But if you put RnRC instead of NL maybe I'll vote for Ayu XD

Ayu

NEXT LEVEL

I voted NEXT LEVEL :)

I guess FUTURE. Although, I didn't really prefer either, tbh.

Ayu's by far. Namie's is loaded with filler

Namie's Future

Its not the NEXT LEVEL was a bad album, it just doesn't have as many songs that I LOVE.

Past<Future has SO many amazing songs.

NEXT LEVEL,of course >_<

I really like both, but I will always prefer NEXT LEVEL!

NEXT LEVEL is a better album to me, but I like the P<F direction Namie's going in.

ayu's NEXT LEVEL
I like more songs on her album than namie's album. I kinda miss Namie's old style...
But from what we see with Namie's re-emergence in the public, seems as though the vast majority like her more.

namie's FUTURE

Ayu's Next Level.