Quote:
Originally Posted by sugarbasil
I think people are misunderstanding the way some of us are using the word "execution"...especially in the context of the cover and not the album as whole package.
I don't think it's unfair or bad form to say the cover isn't executed well, in our own opinions. I feel (as do others) that if it was going to look like a tabloid, it could have done a better job at looking more like a tabloid and less like a 12 year-old fan made a cover. That's part of execution, and no one's going to convince me the music in the album is supposed to affect that. Unless the lyrics explicitly state why the cover doesn't do a good job resembling a tabloid (imo), I don't think the music and lyrics will influence this aspect of the execution.
In some ways a cover is tied to the music and in some ways it's not. There can be a disparency between the execution of the cover and the execution of the album. We can agree to disagree on this if you'd like, but I don't think my opinions are "uncalled for."
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I see what everybody is saying about "execution" and I completely agree. They could have used the exact layout for a tabloid magazine and put headlines all over it with scandalous pictures and whatnot... Seriously, so many other ways to execute this theme. The mistake she made was actually alluding to the real meaning behind the covers. She should have ignored the entire shitstorm and just let it be. Great novelists leave their works open to interpretation, they don't go out and try to explain it. That's the beauty of art.
I just think it's funny that when Ayu actually does produce a cover that is supposed to have some deeper, hidden meaning (because lbr most of her covers are straightforward glamour shots) it's criticized immediately. If you read the initial reaction by members in that thread, there's comments that attack her character, her morals, and just various comments that are extremely misogynistic. Now, after Ayu explained it, the same people are trying to backtrack and say that the covers would have been fine in terms of the sexiness BUT were executed poorly. Why can't Ayu be "trashy" for the sake of being "trashy"? And who's to say that this is the first "trashy" thing she's done for the sake of being "trashy"? People have a complete lack of respect for the subjectivity of art and they get on their moral high-horses. When I explained to people that I thought the Duty cover was more risque they all asked if I was "smoking crack" as if my interpretation of those covers was completely unfounded. I see dark sexual symbolism behind those covers. If you don't, that's fine. Just because YOU don't see it, doesn't mean it's not well-executed. I'm also glad Timmy called out fans. Judging by the misogynistic comments on this forum, some of you are rather unsophisticated and vapid.
Also, I think Ayu would take offense to those who are saying she's trying to change her image, or trying desperately to be "trashy." We all know she isn't Koda Kumi and that overt, in-your-face sexuality is never going to be her major selling point. There's a lot of different sides to her as a woman - that's what she was trying to get across in the STEP you PV. She doesn't want to be put into one box. You know, maybe the reaction to these covers is merely proving her point and helping to make the idea behind these covers more salient...