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Everything that Namie's put out in the last 5 years is more interesting or the very least better executed than what Ayu has done. She isn't afraid to reinvent herself and doesn't really half-arse anything. Starting from the Style era when she started to move into a more urban sort of sound, to her 60s/70s/80s single trio where she started to claim the 'fashion' space, to releasing Uncontrolled with English versions of her singles, to FEEL which placed her solidly in EDM with even MORE English songs.
It certainly helps that her her sound is also very on trend now and is more appealing to what you might listen to in clubs, but it's worth noting that whatever she does, she occupies the sound with such an effortless casual ease it's like she was made to do that song. This is certainly in part due to taste in selecting songs, but I also really believe that a large part of this is in her investment in producers who really make or choose songs that are suited for her. And the icing on the cake is the fact that every one of her albums sound expensive in terms of production values. I just listened to previews from her new album on YouTube and it's already sounded better, crisper, clearer than anything Ayu has put out in the last 5 years. When a frigging YouTube preview sounds better produced than A ONE on its actual CD you know something is terribly wrong.
I've always been an Ayu fan first and foremost, but honestly, Namie is in a different league. I'm not saying that Ayu needs to go and do a 180, but she needs to really sit down, think carefully about what she wants to do as a MUSICIAN, and commit to it, rather than rehashing herself ad nauseum.
On that comment regarding reinvention - yeahh......nah, not really. It depends. If you're a musician with rock roots with an emphasis on songwriting and all that, chances are you can get away with just doing the same thing visually over and over again (Mr Children), and if you're one with a POP image and fanbase then you'd feel obliged to conform to shifting tastes (Coldplay -- first album versus latest album). I don't think it's a gender thing. One of the most 'reinvented' musicians of all times, David Bowie, is very very male. And then you have someone like aiko who doesn't give a fuck and has released the same song since day 1.
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