|
I think this article gives too much credit to Hikki for bringing in the RnB influence. I like Hikki and all and I know her big hits were VERY VERY big, but to say she changed the landscape of the Jpop industry is really overstating her influence because there are many many other influential people in the last decade who changed the industry and helped morph it into the way it is today. (For example, individuals like Tetsuya Komoro paved the shape of the stage in the 21st century. After all, the last decade of the 20th century was pretty much his. I would even argue that Ayu has had a huge musical influence because, who could deny Ayu's ties with the popularity of eurobeat in Japan in the beginning of the 21st century?)
All that aside, I know this article refers to the most influential artist of the decade musically, but the title given to Hikki is "The Most Influential Artist", and I think the word artist encompasses everything from music to image, style, marketing, and impact on the audience. In other words, an artist is not only a musician, he or she can also be a performer or someone who resonates with the audience. Hikki is certainly a brilliant musician. I love her music (but I do agree that sometimes her notes aren't as controlled as they could be.) But she's different in that she's not really a performer. Ayu, on the other hand, may not be as musically talented as Hikki in composing or singing, but she is a brilliant performer and producer (I remember Max Matsuura once saying that the credits of Ayu's albums and singles should really say "produced by Ayumi Hamasaki" due to the amount of work Ayu puts into managing her own career's path.) I think in this scale, Ayu is definitely not inferior.
Now, especially since we're talking about influence, I think Ayu's influence on the industry cannot be ignored, especially since she has been the most important artist to the highest earning music label in the last decade. Apart from that, her influence in terms of style and image has also been very visible. If some girls wanted to dye their hair before, then all girls want to dye their hair now. It's that sort of different. Also, the obsession with huge eyes you see in gyaru magazines is definitely mainly thanks to Ayu.
Anyway, I think I've voiced my response now. I thought the article was indeed biased, but the points it raised about Hikki--I do agree that she has been one of the most influential artists in the last decade. It's just that the article makes this claim while discrediting the influence of other artists. If there were more balance to this article, it would have been much better.
|