[Andrenekoi]

^Yup. Anyone working on a field were there is so much money being used won't have 100% freedom for doing whatever they want, and there's a chance a lot of the more product aspects of Ayu's career weren't Ayu at all, like deciding to release seasonal singles and I'm sure her album direction was decided by her market team more than once, and this apply to any popstar. Madonna herself, who could actually release anything she wish as the has the money to back it up has a manager, hired by her, to stop her to being too crazy.

^^I think we got to that point we will just keep on throwing opinions at each other for no effect, so I will just take some points I believe need adressing:

- Utada IS following trends closer than Ayu, and that's ok. She spent 10 years out and need to take her space on the market again (what also explains why she is taking a more traditional promotional road than she did in the past). I'm not questioning her as an artist as much as I'm pointing out something she is doing for the moment and that she has not done since Distance. Ayu pretty much done the same thing starting in 2003 to 2010, following market trends closer ir order to keeep relevant for longer, as did Namie after Past > Future. If your career last long enough and you are a pop musician, you will have to play it safe from times to times. Hikki is actually my favorite musician in the world and I have no problem with she following trends closer for a while in order to reintroduce herself.

- Sorry, IMO Guilty is one of her worst releases to date and it aged really really bad. I don't care about the context if the execution wasn't good, and IMO this one wasn't, even if I liked it at the time. And she didn't announce she was going deaf to the public, it was leaked from TA, a very limited space.

- I listen to Ayu since 2003. I consider myself an Ayu fan since 2005. I have been around for most of her career, so, I'm not just someone who listened to Lelio on youtube and subscribed at the forum.

- I don't think selling less makes anyone more artistic. But manufaturated musicians TEND to sell way more than those with some kind of artistic vision. And really, we are discussing Ayumi Hamasaki, the best selling solo act in Japan, not some indie artist. The same goes for Hikki, or even non jpop artists I enjoy like Uhm Jung Hwa, Madonna, Beyoncé, Mylene Farmer or the brazilian musicians I follow. Being able to allie the market powerhouse that exist in pop music with the creativy vision of an artist is what interests me the most.

-There wasn't ever that list pointing out Ayu as one of the richest celebrities in the world in Forbes. That's some fake info some crazy fan made up to inflate her numbers. On the same way, there's no official statement about her sales overseas. Her sales WERE good on other Asian countries, but it had more to do with Japan having a big mass culture influence on those countries than with Ayu. Anyone on her position at the moment would sell well on those countries. Even so, the sales on those countries were always VERY low compared to Japan, as the music markets were way smaller.