Has Ayu peaked?

[Akhet]

career wise...i dont mean in terms of sales but rather in the quality of her music. she has had multiple peaks imo, and im sure she will have more. loveppears, duty, and i am all represent peaks of a different kind. each album has a different flavor that carries through and through. all three are very good albums with no filler. the 7 or 8 songs ayu composed on i am are some of the best of her whole career. duty has such ayu classics as seasons, vogue, and surreal. loveppears well, is just flawless....this album is just great.

to me rainbow was a big dissapointment. free and easy, dolls, and heartplace were great, but songs like over and real me were just not as good as ayus other material.

i can say that i really miss ayus old rock style found on the i am album. because of you is brilliant, as is memorial address take 2, but why has ayu stopped releasing rock edged singles? i think that its in this vein that ayus voice really shines.

in any case, i do like ayus recent work with memorial address and moments. but just how many mid tempo ballads can u release as singles back to back?

i think forgiveness was definitely a peak for ayu - what a song.

so anyways, lots of rambling, but what im saying is that ayu has had many peaks in her career and i look forward to her future ones.

but get dai to compose more of your stuff or better yet compose yourself

[jiayulam]

peekaboo... iseeyou.................. so her career is like the NYSE ups and downs...

[Hugo_Perry]

No... No... No... Ayumi Hamasaki didn't really forget anything from the past. Though i really had to said that " RAINBOW " is really dissapointed! But i think she was just trying out something new, ya know? Actually, i do realize that her vocal had started to change from " I am... " and from " forgiveness " that single start. You could hear how much her vocal is better than before on " I am... " and " RAINBOW ". From " forgivness " this single she's trying to get a old vocal back!!! Ayumi Hamasaki still stick with her Dark Rock songs like " free & easy ", " ourselves " and " Because of You ". You just had to listen to her recent songs more... What more can i say?! Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru totally rock the JAPAN!!!

[~K+]

She's peaked, and Nagao's getting progressively worse. I don't know what to say...I want a time-turner.

[silentscreamer]

i guess its kinda subjective to say ayu's quality of music has peaked or not ..

all depends on what songs you like i guess .. what you like is different from what other people like ..

i know we're not talking about sales but for example, how you said forgiveness was peaked or what not, i think japan doesn't think so, since it didn't sell as much as the other singles [i think]

[weijie22]

she need to try out everything
or else will be outdated

[MMooo]

I'll agree that forgiveness was a peak but definitely not sales-wise. One of her worst selling singles to date.

However, I think she's definitely a ballad powerhouse. Her vibrato is very powerful at this point. When she was younger and had that higher pitch, faster songs were so much better for her. INSPIRE seems to be the fastest we've seen from her in a long time.

[Apekuz]

Her voice matured alot, that's for sure. I think she's still gettin' better, her recent live performances are definitely alot better than her old ones.

[AfanforXX]

I say her career has waxed and is now waning. *big-boy words * She'll be remembered for her 1999-2001 period, now 3 years ago. The peak of her career sales-wise, and in my opinion musically as well, is the period between the release of A and the release of M, this is when she released 4 remix albums that all debuted in the top 10, and released her #1 selling original album Duty, and released 3 million selling singles *A, SEASONS, M*(i don't remember if Boys & Girls was before or after A).

I think her music took a nose-dive when she released H, and since then her releases have lost much of the spark that made her great. When you compare bilge like ourselves, Greatful days, Moments, No way to say, and ANGEL'S SONG to songs like SURREAL, AUDIENCE, Dearest, SEASONS and Trauma, you see the difference in quality.

[Queen Bee]

I think Ayumi has another year or two before she reaches her peak.Everyones career has ups and downs. I personally thought RAINBOW and Memorial address were great CD though I am... is my absolute favorite so far. I think Ayumi's career could have been at a low during RAINBOW and Memroial address (I personally don't think so) and is heading back up.

[Unimatrix Prime™]

all depends on what songs you like i guess .. what you like is different from what other people like ..

Yeah; to me, I think she peaked in early 2002, but perhaps people here who heard about Ayu in 2003-2004 may think her peak hasn't passed yet. I think it just depends on how long you've been a fan and which songs you like.

[gakkun]

I don't think people should compare Ayu's current sales against her say, year y2k sales, cuz with all the leeching and whatnot people just don't buy cds anymore. forgiveness still reached no.1 right?? That's good enough.~ Just because people don't buy the cd doesn't mean that they don't like it, people still listen to the song through whatever means they got it. I'll only be worried if she didn't get her no.1's anymore...or worse, dropped out of top 5. If that happens (one day it will...) then it's pretty certain that Ayu's reign has finished.

[Grantith]

For my taste, she definitely peaked and is on her way down. I Am and H were good, and everything after has been downhill. There have a couple bumps upward like the song Memorial Address, but then it goes right back down.

Her sound has changed, and it no longer suits my taste.

[jerms]

hahahah. i think her career is confused in which way to move. i wasnt disapointed in rainbow or memorial address at all though.

[voltron]

There's no way around it, her voice is getting more and more hoarse as she goes on. It was at it's peak around the I Am... era. I mean, just look at lives of a song like "Dearest" and think about when the last time was that she performed something so beautifully. I don't dislike her new music, but Rainbow and Memorial Address just don't live up to I Am.... And, to be honest, I miss REAL ballads--strong, power ballads. I miss songs like Dearest, M, Still Alone and fast songs like Evolution, Unite, etc. Her voice just isn't suited for such things anymore.

And if you think that Ayu is perfect in every way--I love Ayu to death, but that doesn't mean that I can't criticize her, as many fans seem to think. If anything fans have more right to criticize, since they usually know what they're complaining about.

[kournikova]

well i thing ayu always release a nice stuff... she always tries a new things to do... so i dont find anything "peak" or not

[Larisa-chan]

Ayu peaked with the release of Free & Easy... after that it's all been downhill. Her music quality just isn't what it used to be, though there are a few exceptions

[silentscreamer]

Originally Posted by gakkun

I don't think people should compare Ayu's current sales against her say, year y2k sales, cuz with all the leeching and whatnot people just don't buy cds anymore. forgiveness still reached no.1 right?? That's good enough.~ Just because people don't buy the cd doesn't mean that they don't like it, people still listen to the song through whatever means they got it. I'll only be worried if she didn't get her no.1's anymore...or worse, dropped out of top 5. If that happens (one day it will...) then it's pretty certain that Ayu's reign has finished.

that's true too actually .. i'm not really sure on the details but in general haven't all the artists in the industry suffered in sales? because of mp3's and stuff like that? but i guess you can compare her sales to other singers that have released their work lately you can vaguely take a glimpse of how ayu is doing in terms of popularity?

[amanda loves u]

I really think she's in a definite valley right now, as far as music goes. Her past two albums have been soooooo incredibly boring, especially when compared to Duty, which I think was her pinnacle. It may have to do with her maturing and becoming a happier person, because her songs are so dull lately, with the exception of Hanabi ~episode 2~, which is an absolutely brilliant song in every way. I guess I'm just trying to say...I miss the old Ayu...*cries*

[sxesven]

Originally Posted by amanda loves u

I really think she's in a definite valley right now, as far as music goes. Her past two albums have been soooooo incredibly boring, especially when compared to Duty, which I think was her pinnacle. It may have to do with her maturing and becoming a happier person, because her songs are so dull lately, with the exception of Hanabi ~episode 2~, which is an absolutely brilliant song in every way. I guess I'm just trying to say...I miss the old Ayu...*cries*

I agree with you. 100%. Duty's always been my favorite; great songs from beginning to end, etcetera. I do think Ayu had some good moments before and after that (quite a lot, actually), but just recently it has been going downhill. Hanabi ~episode II~ was outstanding, but it was the only outstanding song, really. Some others were okay, but not like old Ayu. Let's hope everything gets well.