Has ayu lost her touch?

se7entheaven · #1 3rd January 2010, 07:00 AM

Evenbefore this CDL, everyone has been complaining about her. Whether it's the costumes, vocal, tour, etc etc.

After watching this CDL, I got this feeling that ayu somehow lost her 'touch'. I don't really feel it anymore. Everything is starting to get boring. Considering ayu produces her tour and everything, kuu-chan who produce he own tour always has creative ideas, dare to do sth different, be it song arrangements and performance-wise. ayu sometimes looks as if she's rushing everything...she's even not as busy as before...

1. Stage-wise (I know the concept of this CDL stage and AT stage with the steps are good) she's been using this design for like...3-4times???

2. Costume-wise, ok she have had a lot of costumes, and I must admit she recycled the design by adding different details and stuffs, coz Namie do it as well (think Namie's infamous short dress/skirt/schoolgirl outfits, she has like 1000 different versions each tours), but ayu....doing something different won't kill you. Performing Pride doesn't mean you have to wear HUGE dress, for example.

3. Performance-wise. Like how many times has she repeat the same thing again and again? why can't she just sing 1LOVE with the bands? I'm sick of the cage thingy and all the same antics that she do for the songs. you get the idea.

4. and more...

I'm sorry I'm just tired of seeing the same thing again and again...even NEXT LEVEL tour didn't surprise me that much, let alone this CDL, we've seen the same antics since 07-08, 08-09, and now this.

nanakopy87 · #2 3rd January 2010, 07:06 AM

i feel like she's lost.especially CDL09-10.i don't know why i have such feeling.i just feel she's like singing just to satisfy the fans.she's not singing because she wants to sing.

slavomiros · #3 3rd January 2010, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nanakopy87

i feel like she's lost.especially CDL09-10.i don't know why i have such feeling.i just feel she's like singing just to satisfy the fans.she's not singing because she wants to sing.

well, to be honest...i have the same feeling. In the CNN interview back in 2006, she said somethink like "...my songs come from my deep inside...if i don't sing, i'm ~nothing~...i die". Watching her latest performances makes me think, she's like without a soul. There is not so much drive and passion like during CDL 04-05 (INSPIRE perf. for ex.) or AT 06.

The fact she's repeating her outfits and stage settings...well...sure is a pain for the audience...have to agree with that. The reason why she does these things with rush and no propper preparation or inventiveness...hmm...maybe some "gap" in her private life?...who knows

pchan1986 · #4 3rd January 2010, 07:13 AM

to me i think it was 2009. the whole year was so bleh to me with ayumi. Her album and singles were so weak to me. I LOVED AT2008(the costume was OMGOSH and the ship!) ,PCDL(so many great songs sung) but man AT09 it was soo boring i had to skip parts and i hardly do that. CDL i havent watched but the bad reviews of it is flowing nonstop.....

AyUmIXx · #5 3rd January 2010, 07:16 AM

i think she's always been so busy every year..
releasing singles, album, ARENA TOUR and CDL every year..
where Kuu or Namie doesn't do as often as Ayu (well yeah, Kuu has her yearly Arena tour, but she doesn't have CDL like Ayu, and Namie barely release single or album...) so it makes sense if Ayu recycle her concert stuff since she and her staff doesn't have so much time to create new things...
that's the only thing i can think of why she recycles her stuff for these recent years..
but i still enjoy it though.. i still love her efforts.. i still can feel her singing to the fans..

pchan1986 · #6 3rd January 2010, 07:19 AM

i agree with Ayumixx
sometimes i wish i could :
Shake Avex and tell them 'shes not a machine, give a grl some rest!'

pommy48 · #7 3rd January 2010, 07:20 AM

Ah...I've felt like this for a long time

I mean just watching some of her older concerts is a fresh breath of air to me. In A Museum, she dared to do something different with "M". For A Song for XX, though the outfit isn't unflattering, at least it's something new

But now? Every concert we get those split-sided pants...I think Ayu need to get a new costume designer too

And the ribbon twirling and the hoops? Been there...done that~ When I first became an Ayu fan, I was fascinated by her concerts, but now I'm just bored watching them~

The 1 LOVE cage....why couldn't she do a different kind of cage then? She's been using it since AT02 with NEVER EVER...or maybe sooner. Recycling outfits/performances is ok, but when you do too much, it gets really tiring

AT08 was pretty great with the ship, but she just sounded terrible in some of the songs. If a performance is cute.....that doesn't mean you have to sing cutesy with it too....

This year has just been a big blur to me...I remember getting all excited for her releases, but now I can barely care what her newest single sounds like. I'm just not excited like I was when I was a newbie. Her old ballads used to make me cry and I thought they still did till the other day I realized that I was crying because I missed what her older ballads had to bring.

I'll still support her...but I don't see the point of buying her concerts if she's gonna sound like she does now. The other day...I couldn't even remember if I brought AT08 or not...

The gimmicks of her concerts really doesn't impress me. I would much rather have her there like for her MC and just sing her heart out. I was just watching AT02's Special Unplugged Version and I really miss that.

I don't think Ayu lost her touch because obviously many people still love what she does, but for me, she has as in the way her older songs reached out to me that her new songs just can't.

emi♡ · #8 3rd January 2010, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pommy48

Spoiler:

I've felt like this for about 2 years.

@SunshineSlayer: Everyone just thought her voice had changed, and was lower in 06, and therefore exciting. No one paid attention lol

@Coelacanth: Your position...about falling in love with Ayu the musician, thats also how I feel. I fell in love with the brilliance of her music, its originality and creativity.

And as a huge fan of Ayu, Koda, and Namie, I'll tell you, that I happen to like them for different reasons.

My love for Koda and Namie doesn't have to do with the creativity of their music, which is nearly nonexistent. I love their presence, and their ability to be entertaining. I also love the part of me that gets to come out when I listen to their music.

Anyway, the way I feel about Ayu is turning quickly to them. I can't love her for her music when it's total crap. It's no longer great music...just boring.

So, I love her, for her, and the person she is, and the influence she's had over my life. And I really do love her...it's just not enough for me to like her music, and it never will be.

SunshineSlayer · #9 3rd January 2010, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emiko

@SunshineSlayer: Everyone just thought her voice had changed, and was lower in 06, and therefore exciting. No one paid attention lol

The change to deeper was fine.

But I began noticing probably with the tv lives of Startin' an ever so slight decline in the quality of her voice when compared with 2005 and imo it only very gradually got worse from that time on until finally we get what we have today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emiko

And as a huge fan of Ayu, Koda, and Namie, I'll tell you, that I happen to like them for different reasons.

My love for Koda and Namie doesn't have to do with the creativity of their music, which is nearly nonexistent. I love their presence, and their ability to be entertaining. I also love the part of me that gets to come out when I listen to their music.

Nicely said, and that same goes for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

She can't change her stage every year, it's the most expensive part of the concert... it would coust her +- one house (and a big one) every year... it doesn't matter how rich she is, she is not made of money

You mean Avex.

If they really wanted to put the money and effort in, it could be changed every year. There are a number of artists who have new stages for just about every tour. Even with the same amount of money she currently budgets on her tour, you can still come up with something else you just have to come up with more creative/effective ways of using that money.

Coelacanth · #10 3rd January 2010, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emiko

My love for Koda and Namie doesn't have to do with the creativity of their music, which is nearly nonexistent. I love their presence, and their ability to be entertaining. I also love the part of me that gets to come out when I listen to their music.

Anyway, the way I feel about Ayu is turning quickly to them. I can't love her for her music when it's total crap. It's no longer great music...just boring.

So, I love her, for her, and the person she is, and the influence she's had over my life. And I really do love her...it's just not enough for me to like her music, and it never will be.

I can respect that. I can understand why you dislike Ayu's (new?) music. And of course, I can see why people love Namie and Koda. I love old "Concentration 20" Namie, also STYLE and her SUITE CHIC persona. Koda, well.. I'd definitely play with her boobies. And she can sing pretty well live from what I've seen, which is something Ayu can't do right now. I don't know enough about the other J-pop divas besides Ayu to really discuss them, honestly. It's just that from what I can gather, there's nothing too similar about any of them to warrant constant comparison (It's just a J-diva thing, I know). But the way I see it, it's like comparing Nickelback to Sum 41 just because they're both Canadian "rock" bands, which is sooooo.. I don't know.. ignorant? lol.

The J-divas all have certain strengths and weaknesses, and people assess these strengths and weaknesses in different ways. Admittedly, I think people are sometimes really insane for how they perceive their attributes... I think we all have moments like that here. For instance, I don't understand how anybody can think Ayu sounded excellent at CDL. I also don't understand how some of Kuu's songs are loved by anybody. We all have our radical douchebag "wtf are you on?!" moments. So when I say, "I don't understand why Koda/Namie/Ayu have the same fans blah blah" I don't really mean to offend anybody or anything. I just find it questionable for some odd reason.

AyUmIXx · #11 3rd January 2010, 07:30 AM

i don't think it's avex who forces ayu to be busy each year..
but it's Ayu herself.. she enjoys what she loves to do... i don't know, somehow i can just feel that she's enjoying it..
i want her to take a rest so badly.. really badly, in the sake of getting her great vocal back again.. but still nothing we can do about it.. she still loves to do things..
maybe Japanese fans don't complain to her as much as we do here?

are there any Japanese fans there think that Ayu should stop singing and take a rest?
anyone who go to Japanese forums can tell that?

ExodusUK · #12 3rd January 2010, 07:31 AM

She needs to take a break and get a new creative team. The dancers and band are like pieces of furtinure now. The band is awful and can't do the songs justice (Evolution is a big example, they can never capture the energy and skill of the song's production) and the same cheap live arrangement of songs is wearing thin. The dancers, um where do I begin? That's a whole new topic in itself. Maybe use other people for costumes instead of that one guy, like use a designer or something.

GRACE · #13 3rd January 2010, 07:33 AM

I decided to delete my other post and start fresh here...

I don't think Ayu has necessarily lost her touch... but I think the way she's shown to us has caused US to lose something... if that makes sense. The music industry has changed in a greater part of the places we live, and even the Japanese music industry has changed. But I feel like Ayu... is still in her own place. She hasn't changed with the industry.

Suddenly, we're feeling left behind because we've changed, but she hasn't. I don't think she's necessarily doing anything wrong, other then ignoring her obvious need for a vocal coach. I think the problem is more with us... if that makes sense. Cause Japan doesn't seem to feel this way.

@nanakopy87: I think we're watching different concerts, but I heard them cheer incredibly loud at the beginning of CDL, and it took them even longer then usual to quiet down this year because they were all calling out to her

njanjayrp · #14 3rd January 2010, 07:40 AM

First of all, if this was influenced by the recent CDL - it's certainly not the worst one she has ever had (imo both CDL 02-03 and 07-08 were pretty much worse than this one). So the answer is no - you're over-reacting. Oh as for people not cheering that much - they already knew what songs will she perform so there was no element of surprise for the most of those people, plus the sound of the file was bad enough and we could barely hear Ayu - in other words I agree with GRACE ^^

AyUmIXx · #15 3rd January 2010, 07:46 AM

whenever i watch Ayu's concerts, i always can hear clearly that they cheer very loudly!
if they don't cheer for Ayu why have to come to her concert then?

foxhana · #16 3rd January 2010, 07:53 AM

how long has Ayu bee doing this? This is call constant. Not losing touch. After someone peaks, she remains constant. She cannot peak every year you know.. Ayu is in a transition period. After this she will peak again.

Kuu has been doing this for a few years only. of course she has new things she wants to do, yet has not done, or finish doing. and she will keep them coming.

also, there are many reasons for Ayu doing this, we are not in Japan, we don't see and hear her and her news and stuff everyday. We dont' get the littlest details from her away from Japan too. So we wouldn't know. If we live in Japan, and get in touch with her more, then we can understand, and acceptance level is higher. Again, we are not Japanese, so there are many things that are too hard to comprehend. Asians stuff are generally harder to understand than the west, because the west is all about "BOOM", but asians stuff aren't apparantly slower but better.

we need to wait. I'm not sure how her next album will be considering her recent singles, but her next next album will be much better.

Just like Elva Hsiao that singer, she had one baaad album. But her recent one is better. Transition period. Awkward period. Period of testing and experimenting, of the environment (us fans) changing as well and they need to catch us.

yatenkouxoxo · #17 3rd January 2010, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foxhana

how long has Ayu bee doing this? This is call constant. Not losing touch. After someone peaks, she remains constant. She cannot peak every year you know.. Ayu is in a transition period. After this she will peak again.

Kuu has been doing this for a few years only. of course she has new things she wants to do, yet has not done, or finish doing. and she will keep them coming.

also, there are many reasons for Ayu doing this, we are not in Japan, we don't see and hear her and her news and stuff everyday. We dont' get the littlest details from her away from Japan too. So we wouldn't know. If we live in Japan, and get in touch with her more, then we can understand, and acceptance level is higher. Again, we are not Japanese, so there are many things that are too hard to comprehend. Asians stuff are generally harder to understand than the west, because the west is all about "BOOM", but asians stuff aren't apparantly slower but better.

we need to wait. I'm not sure how her next album will be considering her recent singles, but her next next album will be much better.

Just like Elva Hsiao that singer, she had one baaad album. But her recent one is better. Transition period. Awkward period. Period of testing and experimenting, of the environment (us fans) changing as well and they need to catch us.

Agreed. It's a transition period and I think she's just biding her time. This has happened before, and then she came out with MY STORY. So, with the next album, I sense some change.

love in music · #18 3rd January 2010, 07:54 AM

I don't think she has lost her "touch" but I think she has lost some of her creativity when it comes to her live performances. I think a new tour should have all brand new outfits and performance ideas, and so should a new CDL, it keeps things exciting/interesting. She has become too comfortable though IMO, she has her one designer for all her tour outfits, the same "lost love" theme for ballad sections in tours/CDL's, her one photographer she always uses, using the same video directors over and over again... I don't mind her using her same composers/arrangers though because I think 90% of the time they do a fantastic job, but here and there she could change it up and try working with new people, or even composing herself again.

SunshineSlayer · #19 3rd January 2010, 07:57 AM

I don't think she has lost her touch, she still has her stage presence. But she has lost/is losing her voice. Also, creatively she has been pretty stagnant I feel. I really don't like it when people say things along the lines of "she's been around so long, there is nothing more she can do." Watch a Matsutoya Yumi concert or even a Johnny's concert and then say there is nothing more she can do. Or even just throw all the concert theatrics aside and do a stripped down show of just Ayu and the band because even that would be something different and mostly welcomed imo.

njanjayrp · #20 3rd January 2010, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

I don't think she has lost her touch, she still has her stage presence. But she has lost/is losing her voice. Also, creatively she has been pretty stagnant I feel. I really don't like it when people say things along the lines of "she's been around so long, there is nothing more she can do." Watch a Matsutoya Yumi concert or even a Johnny's concert and then say there is nothing more she can do. Or even just throw all the concert theatrics aside and do a stripped down show of just Ayu and the band because even that would be something different and mostly welcomed imo.

Not to be mean, but so far I've seen 2 NEWS concerts which I can't even tell apart, besides the fact they sang different songs and the clips I saw from KAT-TUN concerts were terrible - the only thing they shared were REALLY ugly, kitsch costumes and JE dancers, not to mention that in each of those bands only 2-3 people have good vocal skills (and the others are there to create hype) while the rest sound pathetic and choke to death when left to do their solos (Nishikido Ryo can't possibly handle code and ordinary), so let's not even get into that.

When left without all the noise and heavy instruments in teddy bear, she actually sang really good, so yeah she just needs REAL TRAINING. You can't force creativity on someone, she might be out of fresh ideas. Of course she is going to do the same Because of you performance! - she hasn't done it in years and there is nothing wrong with it. Could you think of a new performance for evolution every time she performs it? Hardly.

As emiko said, I don't like Ku for the same reasons I like Ayu and I could hardly say I like Amuro (even though I like her music), so yeah those two pretty much have nothing to do with this, they have their own issues.

As for the change in Ayu's voice, imo the STEP you/is this LOVE? TV lives were the very first "signal" of her voice getting worse, even though those performances were mostly murdered by Peco.