Quote:
Originally Posted by voltron
^ It's funny to joke, but with Namie leaving...is Ayu the top (solo) earner for Avex again? Or is Koda Kumi above her? Or someone else? And I mean all in, like tours and goods and everything.
It makes sense that without Namie Avex is going to put a lot more effort into someone else in order to make up for the loss.
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I would imagine it has to be Ayu that will be the top earner again, because even with much lower CD sales I don't think Avex has any other solo females that can tour consistently to the level she does.
I mean, yeah, what is Avex's plan? Honestly, more than putting that into Ayu (because honestly, they might think she is too old and image too far damaged unfortunately) they might put it into a young unknown? But honestly, Avex has failed to find that person who would be the successor to Ayu and/or Namie for the last ten years, so I'm not so sure.
They might end up just pouring even more into all the Exile groups since that is their bread and butter these days mainly, but ugh.
I mentioned elsewhere that this would be primetime for someone like Maki Goto to make another run at a solo career with Avex; her style of performing and strengths were very similar to Namie, but I don't know. So much up in the air. Namie's absence will be hugely felt though; that's for sure.
Obviously what I would love to see most though is that the attention gets put back into Ayu again. That like it or not, they say to Ayu, your team sucks - here, take Namie's - and they just go to town and give her the same kind of excellent image overhaul and care of planning that Namie got from about 2006 onwards. THAT would be amazing.