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Originally Posted by Coelacanth
I think timing was key in Ayu's case. They define that particular era of Japanese pop music. She wrote her own lyrics.. very well might I add. Her melodies were top-notch. I believe that DAI is the most important composer in her career, and possibly one of the largest contributors to her success. BLUE BIRD, arguably her last 'successful' single further proves that.
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I'm so glad you pointed out DAI. ALlthough it might not be the biggest reason for a loss in sales, when a lot of former ayu addicts mention her songs are not the same, but were before, the only constant through her golden age and rise of fame is really DAI. He has a straong presence in her first albums, even though the arangements, styles and themes of the songs differ a LOT (ASFXX to LOVEppears to Duty to I am...). I was one of the apparently few who loved BLUE BIRD from the start, and it was not due to the arrangements. =P
I think the way avex promotes their artists in general, in addition to the usual way of female singers in japan is the reason why she declines in sales. Instead of thinking of somwthing that wouldn't have happened IF she did something different, I think it's better to see it as something she's been postponing in a way that harly any other female idol (Yeah, she was a "mere" idol when she started..)/ artist has done. She's the exception. These females are always heavilty tied in with a fashion or a style, which also means it will fade. Ayumi's chameleon changes made her avoid that along with plausible lyrics. Her fashion changes and sound changes were much more rapid and obious before RAINBOW. I know she couldn't go on like that and I think she makes really good music now as well, but take any song form the pre RAINBOW albums and mix them up they could've made up any of her recent released albums whereas mixing her first fours would've been rather strange.
I cannot remember any other female artist of her caliber that has held up this way, on the contrary I think I can count them on one hand. her staggering number of records sold (note that even if she debuted during the peaks of CD sales, she was debutng while the sales were on their way down. Her sales records are not solely to blame on her time of release)proves this.
As an example of someone who uniquely has managed to get in and out of fashion is Namie Amuro. She was pimped just like ayu, but after her fall managed to create a new base of fans and a new craze being the queen of hip-pop.
Utada is very different from all the others. She was never an idol (which shows both in her packaging, looks and style), she made things her own way from the beginning and debuted as an artist, not to please creepy old men nor specifically teens. She debuted because she could and loved music, she's not an avex idol and it shows through her release pattern as well as many other things. I don't see the need to compare her that much to ayu. If ayu slowed down her album releases she would've been dead. SHe needs to constantly be in the spotlight and release. Like the chart of her first week sales vs other sales showed, her hardcore fans are the biggest fan base sha has left. THat's why she doesen't need as heavy tie ins as Utada for every release, fans will know. Utada needs the right song and the right tie in to attract more non-hardcore fans.
Aside from her sales (ayu's) and even though she might be in a decline in japan I think she could still be seen as an up and coming world wide artist. She's arguably the most known and popular aritst in east asia, and she has a rather big underground following in other parts of the world as well. While the japanese tsunami still taking the world og pop culture with storm and ayumi's english (or maybe even french Haha) improves, she still has a future ahead of her in music with increasing popularity, but maybe not mainly as the aging music diva of japan. She's IMO the first japanese singer that has this unique opportunity, one that never was presented to former like Seiko Matsuda and mome yamaguchi
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know many will find this irritating to read, as I'm sounding harsh and blunt, but it's just that she has been using a simillar formula for so long and the same composers and everything. I mean, she's so conservative about her careeer, that sometimes, it really seems like things are just coming automatically, in a fordist way, as a production line. The summer single, the ballad single, the rock single, songs with simillar themes (I'm not saying I want her to shift to a Hip Hop singer but I kinda misss when she was daring enough to try electronic, medieval, arabian and religious themes in her music). Also, we hardly hear things like: "today ayu met the composer "y" famous for doing certain compositions for this and that. ayu decided she'll try something different this time and is she'll be working pretty close to him so that the final result will have her special touch, blah, blah" - i mean, things we see other succesful artists doing. All we hear about is how ayu is getting prepared to shoot a PV, or to shoot for a magazine cover, or working in her tours. We hardly ever get to hear about her getting involved in her music, I mean, there were obviously exceptions in which we got a few heads up: i.e RAINBOW - the song, HEAVEN, the Geo songs, but that's was about that
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I agree with this. Allthough I like most of GUILTY, most songs are very conservative ayu and not very daring.