Quote:
Originally Posted by truehappiness
Well, if you look at the different people who have had high sales / enjoyed success as a J-pop female artist, you'll see that they either had the ambition to sing / perform well since they were a child, or like.. they were born into it. [Hikki was born into a musical family, Namie went to an academy for training artists, Ai Otsuka's got the music in her and such, BoA was discovered in Korea for her dance/singing, Ami Suzuki [doesn't really count] entered an ASAYAN singing contest and won by like 370,000 phone votes, Yuming was a composer/arranger/pianist/singer-songwriter..] Ayu just sorta just got discovered and from there, she's evolved into one of the most popular female artists that Japan has probably ever seen in its lifetime..
I'd have to say that I don't think anyone who discovered her in 1998/1999 thought she would last this long. I mean, sure, some of the 80's idols had enjoyed some 5-6 years or so of amazing popularity, but they all fizzled out after a while, whereas Ayu still remains relevant. [though it is VERY difficult for her to gain a new fanbase since she's been around for so long.. but I think that can be solved with the right song and the right tie-up. Just look at Hikki and the sort of.. never ending "growth" of her fanbase. Kingdom Hearts, EVANGELION, Last Friends, random-tie-ups that boost the amount of people that are interested in her.. I wish Ayu could have that luxury.
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Oh I see. You meant like...even those who wanted to go into music since they were young. In that case, yeah, it is pretty rare to find a J-pop diva who sort of just wandered into professional singing like Ayu.
Yeah, I got into Ayu's music late 2001/early 2002, but if I were to watch her career in 1998/1999 alone I don't think I would have that much faith in her longevity either, from a purely technical standpoint. Of course, the Song for XX/LOVEppears days were great too, but even avex themselves thought she was going to fizzle after 3 years, hence the pre-mature release of A BEST in 2001, right?
Yeah I don't know why Ayu doesn't have any good tie-ins either.
