[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by channy

I sometimes feel like we are not talking of the same artist.

Just lately, Ayu has been devastating the musical industry with her absolutely terrific POWER of MUSIC concert which could possibly be considered as one of the most high quality concerts Japan has seen to this day (...?) and ever since of the release of "LOVE again" she pretty much proved once more that she is not going to follow any recent, promising pop music trends.

Have you noticed how every second pop singer in Japan turned into a electro-pop clone when that genre would become utter famous? Ayu never jumped on that trend, she released a few songs with electronical influences here and there but she did that since LOVEppears. Avex could have forced a electro-pop sound on her - they did not!

Funny enough, "NEXT LEVEL", themed with an electronical vibe, eventually turned out to have a diversity of genres, with only two electro songs (rollin', Sparkle), which made the visual concept more 'electro' than the actual musical output itself xD

Frankly, you could tell Avex did not want to recycle their most genuine artist by converting her image to something a thousand artists were producing at that very time.

In my opinion Avex has always carefully assured Ayu's distinct sound would stay true to its origin and this basically makes me somewhat fond of Avex being her label, at least to a certain extent.

Originally Posted by jbrat2219

Outside of Namie, it seems other female solo artists (mainly those who are veterans) are pumping out more promo, performances, concepts, art, "clear direction," etc., and none of them are doing particularly better than ayu.

I think Avex is smart. No amount of extra effort is going to translate into sales for ayu. Namie's situation is unique because not only did she drop off the face of the Earth for a while, she came back with a completely different sound & image. I simply don't see ayu doing this no matter which label she joins. Ayu has always gone her own direction, she's not the kind of artist to do whatever it takes for sales (Avex may try dirty tricks but it doesn't reflect on ayu's music as an artist). And does she really need to? She's broken so many records and achieved so many accomplishments it takes a 48+ member group to even reach her level. Why can't she just make music and leave it at that? Isn't that what it's all about? Are we fans of ayu, or are we fans of her accomplishments?

I'm not sure that anyone is specifically saying Ayu has to change musically or artistically. Right now I can honestly say her music is her only saving grace. However, Ayumi has never been just about music, she's also created an image to go with her music and that image also extends to marketing. And since her packaging and marketing have been abysmal recently, many people like me are torn because they like Ayumi's music and are still fans but feel that either her or her company aren't putting in the effort as before and it's disappointing because it's Ayumi who has set these standards in the industry for herself. No one is asking for gold dusted cd covers but as a longtime fan, its hard for me to just see something like her 15th anniversary fiasco and just be happy with the music and ignore everything else that came with it, especially when it makes her look like a joke.