Is Ayu hated in Japan?

[Taishaku]

This subject has always been kind of controversial. Most 2ch users are known for being very negative when it comes to Ayu. If I'm not wrong, some people also hate the fact that she was discovered at a young age and she didn't have to study a career and get a normal job like most people do, and some Japanese people think of her as an old brat and laugh that she's sometimes called "Ayu-chan" even when she's on her early 30s... And don't even get me started on Youtube comments.

So, like most artists, even if she has thousands of fans, she also has people who HATE her with passion.
How do you react to this? And why do you think some people hate her in her own country?

[tsumekaze_]

When you get THAT famous it's only normal that there will be people worshipping you like a Goddess and people hating the shi* out of you. I guess it's only normal. I don't particularly mind, I love her and nothing is going to make me change my vision. Japan doesn't hate her btw, she still sells a lot and ranks among the firsts positions if not first in many polls etc. The latest one is for example:

from https://twitter.com/ayuangel_news
"Who is your favorit artist ? " #SCAWAII RT @TABC_ek5672 エスカワイイのSガールズ白書ってとこのP130にQ.好きなアーティストは？ １位『浜崎あゆみ』だって〜！！♡️ pic.twitter.com/Fc4CCuXLoC

Where she ranked 1st as favourite artist from SCAWAII readers, above kana, miliyah and namie!
2ch is not to be trusted. You can only and always find negative comments about just anyone. lol

[marcoba]

Negative comments and hate in general it's just normal when you're famous or successful in something. You can not have 100% love from people.
There will always be someone how just hates you because you have money, success or other people how actually likes you. Jealousy is just a normal thing in our world and we can not control it. The best thing to do is just ignore it .

[marty]

Oh, I don't really think so!
She surely isn't as popular and "trendy" as before, but as people already said, she's still a well-known and kind of respected artist.
When you get that famous, usually people split up between those whom listen to you and whom declare war to you, lol. I mean, think about stars like Madonna, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift here in the West and the amount of hate they have to deal with.
Don't even get me started on Youtube and 2ch. The first is a laughable source and the latter is the lovely nest of every brainless japanese citizen.
So "hated" is too much of a strong word. "Not trendy anymore" is more like it, I think.

[truehappiness]

Ayu is just not 'cool' but I don't think that means general listeners hate her. Certain people have hated her for a LONG time now and that hasn't changed for sure, but she's lost the 'appeal' to most people since she's a bit of a relic from the 90s to most Japanese people.

[YUKARI]

I think she is something like "guilty pleasure" in Japan. some girls&boys may like her but won't tell it other people

[Surreal17]

Originally Posted by YUKARI

I think she is something like "guilty pleasure" in Japan. some girls&boys may like her but won't tell it other people

omg

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Ayu is just not 'cool' but I don't think that means general listeners hate her. Certain people have hated her for a LONG time now and that hasn't changed for sure, but she's lost the 'appeal' to most people since she's a bit of a relic from the 90s to most Japanese people.

A relic from the 90's? She debuted in 1998, the 90s were practically over. I'd say a millennial relic.

[Linza-mo]

Ayu isn't hated but the most of japanese don't care about her, that's all !

She's not cool and not in vogue, only her fans are interested in her news =D

Well, as in every country there are a lot of haters who loooves write comment on internet (2channel for example) but when you speak with some japanese, very often even if they don't really love her they say "oh, it's the past!" but they often add "yes she's the biggest singer in japan" or "yes, I love this song or this song"

She's still one of the most popular singer, not the most loved of courses, but everyone have a point of view about her ha ha !

[ayumisrael]

Actually I was surprised to get to know two japanese people by the ages of 22 (hardcore fan) and 23. The 22 years old one is a hardcore ayu fan (in Team ayu) and one of them is a fan of ELT, like some ayu, kyari and ketty perry (and know only 3 songs from namie and doesn't know her old classics at all) and all of that was a surprise to me, but I suppose they are out of the consensus. It's like a rare thing I suppose. So except for many trolls ayu has, and a bit of a bad media that makes people gossip about her, I don't think she is really hated by the general public. They just don't care for her anymore.

I just think ayu needs to let people forget her personal life and be more on the music, shows and loads of promotion with good endorsements. (if promotion would ever happen again).

[My Rainbow]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Ayu is just not 'cool' but I don't think that means general listeners hate her. Certain people have hated her for a LONG time now and that hasn't changed for sure, but she's lost the 'appeal' to most people since she's a bit of a relic from the 90s to most Japanese people.

That was such a stupid comment... D:

And that's weird coming from you.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by My Rainbow

That was such a stupid comment... D:

And that's weird coming from you.

Well, what's stupid about it?

We know it's not exactly cool to like Ayu.
We know people are kind of tired of her. (anecdotal evidence among other things)
We know she's got a band of people following her every move so they can rag on it and pretty much say she's a failure/hag/Babasaki/etc...

No matter what she does really, she's sort of stuck when it comes to gaining favor with the general listening public when they just don't really care about what she does. I mean, is there anything saying otherwise? I'd like just as much as most other fans for Japan to be head over heels when it comes to Ayu but outside of people who already like her, there just doesn't seem to be much change in her fanbase.

I guess the way I see it is that even though Ayu has never really left the scene in Japan, it seems to me at least that the general public stopped paying attention to her music sometime in 2005/2006. Outside of a small handful of tracks, the ones they know are all of her 'classics' from earlier on in her career. It's a shame imo since she has always kept the quality of her music up there, but people just moved on.

[adantatu2]

Who is the most hated, Ayu or Kuu ??

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by adantatu2

Who is the most hated, Ayu or Kuu ??

I don't want a flaming war here...

[Minttulatte]

Originally Posted by adantatu2

Who is the most hated, Ayu or Kuu ??

No, this talk needs to stay out of this otherwise very interesting thread, please. ;_;

[Sandy]

I found this thread really interesting. I have a friend in Japan and I asked her to ask her friends where they live (Sapporo, Tokyo, Fukuoka) to name some Ayu songs. 12 people all and all.
Here they are:
Trauma, Boys & Girls, Fly high, SEASONS
That's it. One new the chorus to July 1st and one new Days PV.

This was a shock to me. They just laughed and said she's not popular anymore, and not seen as much in TV as before. But everyone knew her, and knew he was still active. I asked what is popular now in Japan and before I was able to finish my sentence one told me: "Girl groups. And Korea is hitting it hard."

But for me Ayu's still cool ^-^

[My Rainbow]

My Japanese friends know Voyage, Days and STEP you also and they are not fans. It's true, she's not as popular now as she was before, but that's how things go in this business. Namie is enjoying a nice era, she's very popular, but she also had her low times. Who know if Ayu will become more popular in the future. What's true is that she need to be seen more on TV, she needs more promotion. This business is tough everywhere but in Japan especially, there's a lot of competition, trends come an go, and recently Ayu has been very discrete musically. She's not hated. Come on! No female in the Japanese music industry has been as successful as Ayu and Namie, no female has had such a rich career. She's like Madonna, no matter what she does in the future, her legacy is there and nobody will evert top that. There's just one Ayu, one Namie and one Madonna.

[Didz-19]

I don't have friends who loves/likes Ayu (in my country, and I knew Ayu from my sister)....let alone knowing her existences. people love boy/girl band nowadays, especially the korean.

But I think, people doesn't hate Ayu, they just "had enough" with her. She was practically all over Japan (magazine, tv, cm etc etc), she was the "it" during the late 90's and early 00's.

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by Sandy

This was a shock to me. They just laughed and said she's not popular anymore, and not seen as much in TV as before. But everyone knew her, and knew he was still active. I asked what is popular now in Japan and before I was able to finish my sentence one told me: "Girl groups. And Korea is hitting it hard."

Actually when I meet japanese people, they always say she is not on TV anymore, like it's an important thing to do in order to be popular, but actually, namie doesn't perform on TV (though she does really awesome different promos so she doesn't even need it). I also don't think that music shows are as popular as they used to be in Japan though I might be wrong. But they do always say she is not on TV anymore.

Also, I noticed that a lot of Japanese love and know BLUE BIRD like it's as classic as SEASONS, M and Boys & Girls and that one was released on 2006.

[Andrenekoi]

Madonna (or Britney) is an old but good comparation... They ARE known. They ARE big. They MAKE tons of money every year, more than most current acts... But they aren't the epicentre of pop culture anymore.

They will have big hits from times to times, some of their recent releases will become classics of their aesthetic and if they play their cards right touring will always make them tons of money and they have a prestige that can't be taken away from they anymore.

Still, a lot of people can't name a Madonna hit since Hung Up (2005), Music (2000) or Vogue (1991). And a lot of people can't name a Britney hit since Gimme More (2007, but mostly the "It's Britney, bitch" line) or Toxic (2004). And sometimes they even HEARD the songs, they just didn't care enough about them to knowledge who was the singer.

Ayu's last big song was Blue Bird (2006) and her last big video was Days (2009), but she still selling better than most and quite a few of her recent songs are getting download certifications...