[SheFliesHigher]

Though my boyfriend likes a couple of Ayu's songs and think she's hot, he generally does not seem to think very highly of her for many of the same reasons your friend pointed out. I tell him she writes all her lyrics, occasionally composes the music, and has a lot of control over her image and what projects she takes part in, but he has a really hard time believing me because of his pre-conceived notions of what exactly "pop music" is. To him, all pop music is someone with little to no talent doing what a company tells them to do in order to make money. Obviously this a massive generalization but he's just one of those types, you know? The kind who thinks "alternative" usually means "better", and "pop" is vapid drivel. Your friend is probably also one of those types. He could benefit from being a bit more open-minded. I feel Ayu is quite different from many of the top pop singers in the US...but many people just want to dismiss her right away because of their flawed ideas concerning what it means to be a very successful pop singer.