[namiie]

Originally Posted by Beyond the Sea

Here's how the title came to be, oh great over thinkers of AHS:

Ayu: (In Japanese) Hey Max, we need a new english album title. Whats a cool english word?

Max: (Opens a dictionary to a random page and points to word)

Ayu: AHHH! GIRUTI! SUGOI!

Lmao that's pretty funny. That's almost like truehappiness's "Guilty Ayumy Hamasaky" theory.

Originally Posted by Ayesha

I love the way you analyse things, you must write great essays

Well, I shall explain why I relate the title "guilty" to "victimism".

I'm used to deconstruct the meanings (I study Criticism at the university and my favourite is deconstruction so... I can't help it )

I relate the meaning of "guilty" with those of "forgiveness", "regret"... If you feel guilty for something (it doesn't matter why), you may expect redemption and forgiveness from the others.

A guilty person is someone that has done something (he or she is the subject), but, if we take into account the idea of forgiveness, that "guilty" person becomes the object of others forgiveness.

She claimed to be (miss)understood already; now she expects to be forgiven. OK, she has said it in a very subtle way, but to me, it has been implied.

In my opinion, this creates a certain uneasiness to her audience, to their fans.

(this is just my opinion, of course)

As I write these lines, I realise Ayu establishes a dialogue with us through her titles (well, I suppose I already know this, and you too, but with this title in particular, I think it is even smarter, stronger and relevant).

BUT, ok, let's study the title from another perspective.

It seems to me that playing the role of Ayumi Hamasaki involves a great effort to Ayu's persona (using really well chosen word by namiie). She is constantly fighting (we read it in her lyrics), and she loses sometimes. I am sure she feels she has lost some of her true identity through these years. And she feels guilty for that... has it been really worth of it? This is one of the possible reasons for that guilt.

Thanks Ayesha! Your thoughts are quite insightful too It does make sense considering that years of carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders, both professionally and personally (as poorly executed as they were, "glitter/fated" did a semi-good job at showing how her job affects her own life outside of her career) contributed to the possible "victim" mentality that a lot of veterans of the entertainment industry feel.

In that sense I guess I can see why she would feel guilty....she probably feels that she should be extremely grateful for her fans and her success (and I'm sure she does, given her interaction with her fans and her public statements), but at the same time she's resentful of who she is because it takes away a lot of the freedom that a person usually has, e.g. dating like a normal person or just going shopping or whatever without being mauled by the paps.

In that sense, yeah I can see the guilt. Or I don't know, maybe it's just one big album about her breakup with Tomoya XD;