Thanks for the replies, guys!
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Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0
She WAS, however, very much manufactured. She knows that. On the front of the poker face promo single, there's a short bio with lie after lie about her... saying she could dance, for instance. Her official site's profile lies as well; it says she liked rock music cuz of her brother but then her taste turned to Babyface and En Vogue. Not true at all. She's always liked rock music more but they couldn't say a pop singers influences included acts like Deep Purple and Joan Osbourne. Plus, we've since learned she never had a brother or any close male relatives for that matter. Anyway, yes, she's still manufactured to some degree today, since only recently has she had enough power to do her own thing with her music.
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Well, I won't argue the meaning of manufactured, because I personally think that any artist with significant creative input in the music-making process cannot be manufactured. Mika Nakashima, for instance, as far as I know has never written the lyrics or composed the music to her songs (correct me if I'm wrong, Mika fans!), and yet her music depends so much on how she sings it. Take away Mika Nakashima's voice, and her songs are nothing even if Mariah Carey or Teresa Teng herself were singing them. The same goes with Ayu. Take away the lyrics to her songs, even those in A Song For XX, and even if Fiona Apple were writing the lyrics herself they wouldn't mean anything.
In my opinion, I don't think Ayu's music has ever been manufactured. Maybe her image was manufactured before she took control (I think this is during the Duty era), but never her music, because in my opinion her music, through her lyrics, has reached that personal, artistic depth.
And I would never compare Ayu and Hikki. I'm just saying that it's unfortunate I've lost interest in Hikki these days. I really, really loved her back then. Oh well, at least I have Mika and Kumi (gasp).