[A] Decoding the leopard prints on Ayu's albums.

Miidoriness · #1 14th December 2012, 03:38 AM

Hello all~

Sometime ago, I read a thread (I'm sorry but I forgot what the thread name or the writer's name >~<) regarding to why Ayu chose leopard prints for her sad albums such as...

If you look really closely, you would notice that it's not exactly leopard prints but rather lynx prints. Lynx and leopards are in the same cat family, therefore, their fur print looks alike. I did a few research on animal prints meaning and according to a resourceful source, lynx prints means secrets

I came to a conclusion that maybe Ayu was trying to deliver secrets within her songs/albums... Or she might conveying her secret feelings within her songs...
Hmm... I wonder why she didn't used any animal prints for her album, Secret???

[NOTE] This thread is just MY OWN OPINION!!! If you have different opinion please state it but don't attack me >~< I just want to share my thought and research ^^ Thanks!! <3

Source: Animal Prints Meaning

happiholic★ · #2 14th December 2012, 04:12 AM

Ah, that is interesting! Perhaps Ayu finds comfort in "leopard print". I know I do!

emi♡ · #3 14th December 2012, 04:35 AM

wow! I never thought about it lol

But the PQ one is leopard, no?

It's different from the others.

Anyway...I actually like that bit of imagery for the Duty and GUILTY albums. The idea of secrets.

I actually always liked the Duty cover, cause it's such an atypical look for her. At least it was for me since the time I became a fan.

ExodusUK · #4 14th December 2012, 05:12 AM

It's a mask, she's shedding her skin/mask with her music~

Andrenekoi · #5 14th December 2012, 05:24 AM

Well, the leoparn/lince print comes back everytime she is going to release a darker album... Duty, Guilty, Party Queen, all of them are pretty dark even for her standarts and her darkest releases ever... So, to me, it end up meaning "Ayu going through emotional down"

tokyoxjapanxfan · #6 14th December 2012, 05:26 AM

I never realized that A BEST was also using animal print during it's promotion. Interesting.

But as Emi pointed out, Party Queen's print looks more leopardy than lynxy lol. Either way, I don't think it makes too much of a difference. To the majority of people, it's all leopard

And yeah, Duty was so creative. The entire photoshoot was so well done, imo. But that's besides the point haha.

Thank you for pointing this out!

ohsixthirty · #7 14th December 2012, 05:35 AM

i like the idea of secrets. i always thought it conveyed something wild though, like an animal.

reixminako · #8 14th December 2012, 07:35 AM

Leopard prints are Illuminati symbolism, lol. Especially the sex kitten in a cage imagery of Duty and Party Queen. It's all symbolic of the mind control to which some artists are subjected in the music industry. Or so I've read...It's all very interesting and seems like it could be true when you notice how pervasive the imagery is throughout the music industry. Ayu's even directly written about it in songs like alterna.

***koumori*** · #9 14th December 2012, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reixminako

Leopard prints are Illuminati symbolism, lol.

...or it could be that she just really like leopard print, and someone ****ed up and got lynx print.

Either way, it's an interesting thread. Thanks Miidoriness

I also never knew that A BEST used prints during the advertisement..

reixminako · #10 14th December 2012, 10:39 AM

^Either way there's a lot of shady music business symbolism going on.

susiowong · #11 14th December 2012, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reixminako

Leopard prints are Illuminati symbolism, lol. Especially the sex kitten in a cage imagery of Duty and Party Queen. It's all symbolic of the mind control to which some artists are subjected in the music industry. Or so I've read...It's all very interesting and seems like it could be true when you notice how pervasive the imagery is throughout the music industry. Ayu's even directly written about it in songs like alterna.

Huh. Why did this never occur to me before? That's interesting.

FoObY · #12 14th December 2012, 10:36 PM

Interesting interpretation, but you may be decoding something from nothing.

ComatoseBunnySnatcher · #13 14th December 2012, 10:53 PM

I've always thought it was a way to inject "strenght" during dark times as well as the feral side of her. She has said before that animal print makes her feel "powerful".

Miidoriness · #14 15th December 2012, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koumori

...or it could be that she just really like leopard print, and someone ****ed up and got lynx print.

Ok? What's that supposed to mean? I never said I was right.

Rae Noir · #15 2nd January 2013, 03:09 PM

The ideas I've always thought of have been this (and I know I'm going far too into it, but what can I say, I'm a writer with too much imagination to throw around):

Once upon a time...

In the artwork for Duty, Ayumi Hamasaki is little more than a captured animal, but one that has been showered with gifts and riches. I saw this as representing her then-status as a still relatively new artist still finding her way in the music business and fame game, but already trapped by such institutions while at the same time overwhelmed by her success. She's also incredibly sultry and sexual, and this is how her captors have decided to present her as, an image for other people rather than for herself. On the cover the bars of the cage have been bent, but she's neither escaped nor decided to stay. She's on the edge of both worlds, not knowing whether to stay within the confines of her comfortable prison but ultimately stifled by her small surroundings, or go out into the big wide world and risk making her own mistakes that she'll have to take full responsibility for.

When we get to Guilty, we find she did choose to escape after all, but she has found herself lost in a desert-like wilderness, shading her eyes from the light on the cover and searching for a path to follow. Perhaps this could have represented how Ayumi may have felt at that time regarding her life and career. Taking this risk and escaping from her cage has led her to evolve; she's still in leopard / lynx / whatever print, but is now more like a human than an animal.

On Party Queen, the leopard / lynx / whatever print is still there, but has been stripped down (pardon the pun) quite dramatically. It's now limited to certain designs as well as her boots, suggesting she has now become almost entirely human, but one that is little better than her sex kitten stage, reduced to a sexy being in underwear while also looking skinny, gaunt, pale, and certainly the most vulnerable she's ever been, trapped in her new prison of a trashed but once luxurious hotel room. In trying to become her own person in the music industry and in her private relationships, she's simply become a different version of the product she's always been, but one that is more fragile and exposed than ever before.

I told you I have too big an imagination!

sitara · #16 11th January 2013, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reixminako

Leopard prints are Illuminati symbolism, lol. Especially the sex kitten in a cage imagery of Duty and Party Queen. It's all symbolic of the mind control to which some artists are subjected in the music industry. Or so I've read...It's all very interesting and seems like it could be true when you notice how pervasive the imagery is throughout the music industry. Ayu's even directly written about it in songs like alterna.

i agree with this statement having read very much about MK and the symbolism in the entertainment industry. after gathering all this information, it also seems quite plausible to me. you see the same symbolism in most movies, songs, music videos etc. too bad most people only shrug it off (or even delete the comment....) when it comes up.

the entertainment industry is shady; period.