[tabloid] Japan Today - Ayumi Hamasaki vs Kumi Koda

[Raleigh]

This coming April will mark the 10th anniversary since the debut of 28-year-old J-Pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki. “A Best 2,” her second “best of” album in six years, will be released on Feb 28 and numbers for the CD have been getting a lot of attention lately.

“Her previous ‘A Best’ album sold 4.5 million copies,” said a spokesperson for Avex, the label she is under. “Unless her new ‘best of’ album sells equally as well, people will start talking about her declining popularity. In order to earn the No.1 spot on the sales chart, the label is doing everything it can for Hamasaki, such as shifting other artists’ release dates. So the release will be a turning point for her career.”

Last year, Hamasaki became the first ever solo artist to sell more than 20 million copies of her singles in her career. At a quick glance, the diva position seems secure, but Kumi Koda, 24, isn’t too far behind.

“Kumi Koda was ranked first in total sales of her singles, albums and DVDs in 2006, accumulating 12.7 billion yen,” said an entertainment reporter. “Ayumi Hamasaki, on the other hand, garnered 6.89 billion yen, which placed her fifth. In 2005, it was 7.6 billion yen for Koda and 6.9 billion yen for Hamasaki. It is clear that Koda surpassed Hamasaki in 2006.”

Hamasaki and Koda happen to belong to the same label, Avex. With two such singers in its camp, it is not surprising that Avex became the best selling label for Japanese music in 2006.

“Hamasaki is the single biggest contributor for the label,” said a label affiliate. “There was a time when Hamasaki alone accounted for 40% of Avex sales. It is not an overstatement to say that Kumi Koda and Ai Ohtsuka became who they are today with the money that Hamasaki raised.”

Long established, Hamasaki likes to indulge herself, the latest being her love for dogs.

“She brings her dog to work, because she doesn’t want to leave her alone at home,” said an Avex employee. “She is kind to us, but becomes a different person when it comes to her dog. We have to keep following her around and catch the dog and clean up after it, which is really tough.”

Far from easing any tension in the workplace, the dog has the opposite effect. “We once had to re-record because the dog barked during the session,” said one staffer.

Hopefully the diva will be back to the top with her dog giving her the energy that she needs. (Translated by Toshiya Fujii)

Link to article

[voltron]

Didn't she debut in 1998. So technically this year is her 9th anniversary.

[Raleigh]

No idea. I only quoted the article.

[SheFliesHigher]

That's kind of inconsiderate of her, making everyone else look after her dog...

[Impracticable]

well, we know how busy she is, so i hope thats why.

[Bruised.Sapphire]

Thanks for the interesting article.

Originally Posted by SheFliesHigher

That's kind of inconsiderate of her, making everyone else look after her dog...

Yeah, she shouldn't have a dog if she herself doesn't/can't take care of them.

[Namie]

Originally Posted by Bruised.Sapphire

Thanks for the interesting article.


Yeah, she shouldn't have a dog if she herself doesn't/can't take care of them.

so true. not a smart move for ayu to get like three dogs.

[Halla]

Originally Posted by Bruised.Sapphire

Thanks for the interesting article.


Yeah, she shouldn't have a dog if she herself doesn't/can't take care of them.

but that's what personal assistants are for

plenty of celebs have personal assistants , I don't think any able-bodied & healthy person really NEEDS a personal assistant. but if you have the extra money why not? the assistants usually get paid pretty well

[Surreal86]

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

“ It is not an overstatement to say that Kumi Koda and Ai Ohtsuka became who they are today with the money that Hamasaki raised.”

I find it interesting for them to use this to defend Ayu against people who are "newer" to music and more popular. To use this argument, it may seem that Ayu's popularity may actually be less than people may think.

Also, does anyone have any idea why they were talking about the dog in the end? It has absolutely nothing to do with news about A Best 2. It seemed like they were making filler, but using the dog as the main part of the conclusion seemed really weak...

I think they mentioned the dogs because Ayumi's pets have been mentioned multiple times before in past articles for either disrupting the flow of a video shoot or to illustrate that Ayu can be really mean to others when the subject is her pets.

[Chandrachan]

^true it was like they try to defend Ayu and than they talk about her dog - who has nothing to do with Ayu's sales...Kuu has a dog too
They were talking about what Ayu likes and the latest thing Ayu likes is dogs

[JinHamasaki]

Well Ayu isn't as popular before, but the sales from 2006 and 2005 are about the same for Ayu - meaning her popularity is nice and stable now.

Stability = Two Thumbs up

[truehappiness]

You have to remember that in 2005 and 2006, Koda had best albums.

2005's big "woah" was because of the first best, and the 2006 "woah" was because of the large amount of singles and yet another best..

So if you subtract that "income" from 2005, Ayu is a bit higher than Koda. But for 2006.. even if the best hadn't come out, I think the DVD sales helped a bunch too x.x


Oh, and I think Ayu takes care of her dogs when she's at home and so on, but while she's working, there HAS to be people there helping with the care of the pets, otherwise they'll just roam all around, screwing things up. So it's not really inconsiderate of her to have other people take care of the dogs because she's busy with what she has to do as a singer ~

[and she has like 5 dogs, if I recall correctly. Or even more!]

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Oh, and I think Ayu takes care of her dogs when she's at home and so on, but while she's working, there HAS to be people there helping with the care of the pets, otherwise they'll just roam all around, screwing things up. So it's not really inconsiderate of her to have other people take care of the dogs because she's busy with what she has to do as a singer ~

Exactly. I also think the reason that she always has one of her dogs around is that it is important for someone in her position to have someone that loves them unconditionally.

[Kikaru]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Exactly. I also think the reason that she always has one of her dogs around is that it is important for someone in her position to have someone that loves them unconditionally.

That's the nice thing about dogs. They always love you whether you're rich or poor. I guess it's like a safety blanket.

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Oh, and I think Ayu takes care of her dogs when she's at home and so on, but while she's working, there HAS to be people there helping with the care of the pets, otherwise they'll just roam all around, screwing things up. So it's not really inconsiderate of her to have other people take care of the dogs because she's busy with what she has to do as a singer ~

That's no excuse. If you go to a workplace, you shouldn't bring animals with you. It doesn't matter if there'll be people taking care of them or not. Specially dogs, which can be annoying as hell. I honestly can't really imagin a bunch of dogs barking aloud at a workplace. It's horrible and annoying.
And dog's poo and pee are pretty stinky, or are the guys she hired to take care of the dogs going to sniff the whole bad smell before they reach other people's noses? Unless her dogs drink cologne and fart perfume.

Originally Posted by emiko

omg what is wrong with people? because I'm sure it's SOOOO HARD for them to take care of a tiny dog. hmmm...I wonder how important their job is anyway if they have all this time to slave after her dogs while SHE is the one in the studio working to make the music.

And....omfg really? They had to re-record...ONCE? My god, I think I'd die if I was ever a singer and I had to re-record a new song that I was already in the process of recording...think of all the money they are costing Avex...I mean, it doesn't matter that Avex has about 5 million BEST albums coming out...they must be poor with that dog making them re-record so many times...

She's the only one working? that's quite untrue. There's a team working while she's recording. At each recording, they have to work all over again. avex doesn't exist for ayu's satifaction so that she can sit and make the workers her slaves. It surely isn't any good if you have to repeat the recordings over and over. If recording song were such a damn cool thing, I bet the RAINBOW songs would have come a little more polished and reviewed, instead of having ayu with too much hoarse vocals and overused vibratos. And well, it's pretty much well known that time is money.

Seriously, like moomba said, what a lame ass excuse for them to mention the damn dog...but you know what is really amazing? PEOPLE ARE BUYING INTO IT...omg...I'm just...not going to say anymore...that's the end of my bf for today...

Even though I find the article has a point in saying taking dogs to workplace is an annoying thing, I have to agree there's no need to mention it on a "news article". But hey, this is a tabloid, they have actually toned down quite a lot, I'm impressed. At least it's nothing like the STD stuff

And i'm not saying I believe what the tabloid mentioned, but if they are actually true, they honestly have a point. Keep your dogs at home or walk with them on the squares or sidewalks. But don't bring them to workplace.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

That's no excuse. If you go to a workplace, you shouldn't bring animals with you. It doesn't matter if there'll be people taking care of them or not. Specially dogs, which can be annoying as hell. I honestly can't really imagin a bunch of dogs barking aloud at a workplace. It's horrible and annoying.
And dog's poo and pee are pretty stinky, or are the guys she hired to take care of the dogs going to sniff the whole bad smell before they reach other people's noses? Unless her dogs drink cologne and fart perfume.




She's the only one working? that's quite untrue. There's a team working while she's recording. At each recording, they have to work all over again. avex doesn't exist for ayu's satifaction so that she can sit and make the workers her slaves. It surely isn't any good if you have to repeat the recordings over and over. If recording song were such a damn cool thing, I bet the RAINBOW songs would have come a little more polished and reviewed, instead of having ayu with too much hoarse vocals and overused vibratos. And well, it's pretty much well known that time is money.



Even though I find the article has a point in saying taking dogs to workplace is an annoying thing, I have to agree there's no need to mention it on a "news article". But hey, this is a tabloid, they have actually toned down quite a lot, I'm impressed. At least it's nothing like the STD stuff

And i'm not saying I believe what the tabloid mentioned, but if they are actually true, they honestly have a point. Keep your dogs at home or walk with them on the squares or sidewalks. But don't bring them to workplace.

I think she cares about her dogs too much to leave them alone at home..

I mean she's always all cuddly with them during the "downtime" in making-ofs for PVs and photoshoots..

[emi♡]

She's the only one working? that's quite untrue. There's a team working while she's recording. At each recording, they have to work all over again. avex doesn't exist for ayu's satifaction so that she can sit and make the workers her slaves. It surely isn't any good if you have to repeat the recordings over and over. If recording song were such a damn cool thing, I bet the RAINBOW songs would have come a little more polished and reviewed, instead of having ayu with too much hoarse vocals and overused vibratos. And well, it's pretty much well known that time is money.

I didn't exactly mean that she is the only one working. What I meant by my obviously sarcastic post, is that this "article" is just bull. And to be honest, if ayu wants to bring her dogs to work, then she can bring her dogs to work. They might calm her down, they might make her feel better. Whatever the reason, I really don't care. Ayu isn't going to produce any less quality of music because her dogs are there, it is absolutely irrelevant, as you said.

Because this is a tabloid, and they were completely unprofessional, I refuse to acknowledge their point. I will possibly listen to it if, they provide clear evidence that her dogs are actually disruptive and it somehow affects her music, until then, this article is worse than crap. At least other tabloids funny. This one was just horribly written and...it's just...smut.

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by emiko

I didn't exactly mean that she is the only one working. What I meant by my obviously sarcastic post, is that this "article" is just bull. And to be honest, if ayu wants to bring her dogs to work, then she can bring her dogs to work. They might calm her down, they might make her feel better. Whatever the reason, I really don't care. Ayu isn't going to produce any less quality of music because her dogs are there, it is absolutely irrelevant, as you said.

Because this is a tabloid, and they were completely unprofessional, I refuse to acknowledge their point. I will possibly listen to it if, they provide clear evidence that her dogs are actually disruptive and it somehow affects her music, until then, this article is worse than crap. At least other tabloids funny. This one was just horribly written and...it's just...smut.

LOL it's really funny! A thread about "how to make a tabloid" should be created because they always follow a very very simillar structure. They usually begin "kinda" informative and positive in the first paragraph:

"JPOP star ayumi hamasaki who broke the record of selling x million records..."

The second paragraoph, they decide to clash ayu with somebody else, in a rather mild way:

"koda kumi, who surpassed ayu the past years on total record sales, blah, blah"

In the third paragraph they put some really random uncofirmed fact that will have a negative overtone:

"ayu treating her dogs like kings, being egoistical with the flight seats..."

LOL There we go, our tabloid is ready (and HOT) to be released

They usually use the last paragraph to sting fiercely because:

-fans won't get annoyed when reading the first paragraphs and end up reading the whole thing, so they get their point accross that way.
-conclusions are supposed to be in the end of every article. With them putting the negative information as the conclusion, ends up making that part (the end of the reading) to stick much more into the readers mind.

[Raleigh]

Koda is also always dragging her dogs along with her during recordings and filming. Hamasaki has the money to have assistants anyhow so I don't think she doesn't take care of her pets.