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I normally don't post here, more of a lurker honestly. But since I can answer some of these questions, I thought I should.
2008 was simply a breaking point for her. If you had followed her prior to that then you would have seen an upwards momentum starting with her 2003-2004 "SO CRAZY tour" which re-established her as a top performer. Her touring, particularly touring in remote parts of Japan opened her up to new audiences and gave her a new reputation as a must-see performer. The rise in popularity in her music increased with her intense touring schedule. You can see this beginning with "ALARM" with her sales rebounding with each era.
She also revamped her image around the same time in an effort to change public perception of her. She had previously changed her image to suit her role as a mother which was detrimental to her success, because women weren't as interested in her. The change, returning to the boots and mini-skirts that initially brought her fame also brought back that demographic. From 1998 to 2002, her fashion was much more conservative. The combination of her fashion icon status and her appeal as a performer, helped usher in a new acceptance of her with younger audiences. She and her team worked very hard to gain mainstream acceptance. Together they took what made her initially famous and retooled it for a new generation. Which was probably the smartest thing she could have done, because there isn't a real difference between what Namie Amuro was in 1995 and what she is now in 2013.
As for her own contributions, she and the people who work with her have been upfront about how much input she has. Is she sometimes presented with ideas by other people, sure. But I guarantee you, no one thinks up everything on their own, Ayu included. Not to take anything away from her, but it's not like she writes her songs on her own. She puts lyrics to demos given to her and tweaks them to suit her. That's not far off what Namie does, she just doesn't write lyrics. She thinks the lyrics she writes are not appropriate to the music she makes, because she primarily writes ballads on her own. So, she is involved in the making of her songs. Even TLC talked about her role in producing the new Waterfalls. She had a big say in its arrangement. Namie also practices her own brand of quality control. For example, it was Namie who withheld "Put 'Em Up" a song that was originally was going to come out after "NEVER END" in 2000 until she found a lyricist who could give her the product that she wanted. And in another example, it was her who chose "Baby Love" to sample for "New Look." The original sample was going to be a Beatles song. These are just two examples, btw. Nowhere near exhaustive. Lastly, there isn't anything Namie does these days without her approval. That doesn't mean she thought up everything on her own, but it does mean she's not doing things against her will. It's been reported that the relationship between her and her management is rocky, btw. And if you know her agency, then you know how old fashion Vision Factory is. It has a tight grip on most of their artists.
It's condescending to say Namie's success is simply handed to her. Namie's most popular songs aren't even her dance songs. In fact, many of them underperform compared to her ballads especially the really sexual songs. So, no, she can't just put out a song, dance and be fabulous. She's not Arashi or AKB48, the only thing consistent about her sales are her albums. Her singles are still a toss up. Foreign fans don't tend to see what she does as risky, because her music sounds like what is popular in the states. But even when Japan had its R&B-boom in the late 90s, it was still a hard sell. Lots of R&B artists popped up, few of them were successful and even now with the shift into EDM, most songs dominating the Japanese chart are not EDM.
I know a lot of you like to think she operates at a level similar to an idol, but you guys are giving her too little credit. Yes, she has a team that she works with, but that doesn't matter. Every artist has a team. And not even Ayu can do everything that she wants to, she's spoken openly about that. It's the entertainment industry, everyone compromises in some way. Some people are content with the compromises they've had to make, others aren't. It's how it is.
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