Is There Anything You DON'T Like About Ayumi?

[cosmeticmusic]

Is there any bad quality that you think Ayu possesses? Aside from the ocasional squeak, I don't think she really has any...But do you?

[truehappiness]

Recently I've questioned her decisions in fashion along with her choices in PV directors and musical styles..

Like, she hasn't appeared in many magazines at all lately, and when she has, the shots just aren't up to pre-2007's standards... and PV directors/concepts really have gone downhill since the PVs from (miss)understood.

She's been really confusing lately is what I'm trying to get across. I don't really like that. It used to be a given that what she was going to release to us would've been of high quality in SOME way [whether it be the song itself, the PV, or the CD cover artwork], but recently I think that people have started to doubt her. :[

[xiaou-xijiang]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Recently I've questioned her decisions in fashion along with her choices in PV directors and musical styles..

Exactly. She doesn't switch up her styles as much as she used to, instead it seems like her music has become even more predictable than ever.

I'm also not a fan of her creativity in album themes/cover art as I used to be.

I don't really like her release schedule, she seems to go for quantity more than quality in the past year or two.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Recently I've questioned her decisions in fashion...

Seriously? Everything that ayu wears now is fabulous. I'm surprised that there's something you don't like about it her...
But her style years ago was absolutely atrocious, now her style is immaculate. I love it~

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by KaoriNeko

Seriously? Everything that ayu wears now is fabulous. I'm surprised that there's something you don't like about it her...
But her style years ago was absolutely atrocious, now her style is immaculate. I love it~

Well, it's fabulous, in select shoots, but I meant for photoshoots for her albums and stuff.

I guess it's just bad execution on avex's part. glitter could've been so PRETTY and t2m was them not trying. :[

In regards to the deafness:

Originally Posted by the NTV Super TV interview

But then, after finally finishing the Dome Tour with no problems, bthe hearing in Ayu's left ear was gone almost completely.

This should be what was said during the interview.. it could be that she was not used to having it completely gone? :\

[Kikaru]

Originally Posted by KaoriNeko

Seriously? Everything that ayu wears now is fabulous. I'm surprised that there's something you don't like about it her...
But her style years ago was absolutely atrocious, now her style is immaculate. I love it~

You read my mind.

I dunno, I don't like a lot of her pre-duty works. I guess it depends on your musical preference, because duty's when the rockish influence begin to kick in. And LOVEppears is mostly techno and stuff. I dunno, I'm one of those who really like her rock songs and tend to dislike her more poppish songs. And from the clips of her tour I think she sounds fine live. And the members that went to her concert this year said she sounds pretty good.

Although I do want her to bring CREA back.

[kirei_ayumi]

I don't think I can find anything about ayu that i don't like, not one bit.

[ImpactBreaker]

The fact she hasn't announced a new single/song yet

[ownsarai]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

The fact she hasn't announced a new single/song yet

^agreed.

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

The fact she hasn't announced a new single/song yet

Definitely lol.

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

You crazy. BLUE BIRD is the best song in her entire discography! LOOOOVe that song to death. I really hope she releases something as awesome, and lasting after so many replays, as BLUE BIRD.

Another definitely. XD
I will agree that glitter didn't sound special. fairyland and BLUE BIRD sound awesome though despite the fact that they are "recycled" another summer songs.
I didn't like her bobby hair in 2001 too.
I don't like ayu's Two of us, that song is so boring though the lyrics are good.
That's all I think =P

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

....that her fans seem to think she's better than Kuu. Kuu is kween!

=hah
I liked your agreeing with ImpactBreaker comments better.

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

The fact she hasn't announced a new single/song yet

I agree.Waiting is boring!

[Coelacanth]

The lack of thought being put into album/single covers is particularly annoying.

I feel that GUILTY could have made a bigger impact if it was packaged right visually. I'm talking about like, epic, groundbreaking PV's and a controversial album cover/cohesive booklet.

I don't like how she's extremely focused on her tours. She seems a lot more focused on touring than her actual music, which should never be the case for a recording artist. I also don't like how she's under the impression that she has to release a full-length album around the same time every year. She seems really nonchalant lately about the direction of her musical career.

[naxxo.licious™]

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

The lack of thought being put into album/single covers is particularly annoying.

I feel that GUILTY could have made a bigger impact if it was packaged right visually. I'm talking about like, epic, groundbreaking PV's and a controversial album cover/cohesive booklet.

I don't like how she's extremely focused on her tours. She seems a lot more focused on touring than her actual music, which should never be the case for a recording artist. I also don't like how she's under the impression that she has to release a full-length album around the same time every year. She seems really nonchalant lately about the direction of her musical career.

I agree with u. Her covers most of the time have nothing to do with the songs, specially her album covers. Like Duty. Yeah, the outfit was ok for SURREAL cause it was....surreal lol. But it had nothing to do with Duty. Or as u said, the GUILTY covers...... They're not bad, but they don't suit the album.
Yes ayu, having claws doesn't mean u're guilty

I also agree about ayu releasing one album per year. To be honest i always want new releases, but this is kinda insane. She works SO MUCH. It's not even healthy.

I think she should release an album until she feels she can release a HQ album.
Don't get me wrong. ALL of her albums are just great, MAGNIFICIENT, but the latest ones feel like they were rushed.
GUILTY was incredible. I think the album was really cohesive, but there were 4 interludes! If she had waited some more time, we could've had some new songs instead.

[criminal]

Okay, so I read through the thread and want to quote and reply to some posts.

Originally Posted by guilty_me

Her covers most of the time have nothing to do with the songs, specially her album covers. Like Duty. Yeah, the outfit was ok for SURREAL cause it was....surreal lol. But it had nothing to do with Duty.

I don't really think Ayumi thought about the idea of being in an animal print suit for the cover of her album.. It was her duty to be in that suit.

Originally Posted by guilty_me

And talking about her amount of albums, it's quite scary lol. For example Hard Candy from Madonna, who's started in 1983, was her 11th album.
While GUILTY from Ayu, who started in 1998, was her 9th album O________O

That's just a thing about the Japanese music industry. You have to keep pumping out releases in order to be remembered, for most of the time. I agree that it is scary, but at least we've got so much great music from Ayumi, rather than 4 albums or 5, if lucky.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

And regarding her photoshoots. I think she's looked a lot less on-point with recent covers.. disregarding Mirrorcle World, I'd say that glitter, t2m, A BEST 2, and GUILTY were all very lukewarm-ish covers. They lacked the oomph that Ayu releases usually have. [couldn't they have taken more shots?]~

Maybe she just doesn't care about that so much anymore. She's made her name and she has sellout concerts. Maybe her priorities regarding her career have changed?

Originally Posted by koshka

Oh! I forget this.

I dislike the fact she don't make collaborations after 'a song is born'.
Ayu it's selfish XDDD

I think that she's just an individualist since her lyrics and her songs are so close to her. She can't really share that with anyone else.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

[He's the guy that shot A BEST 2 and t2m]

LOL WTH.. REALLY?! O_O Those are cool pictures.. they're just cool as pictures and not really as meaningful covers. They're kinda like shots from whatever that make-up magazine is. [SCawaii? bea's UP] They're so ordinary and Ayumi chose THAT dude to shoot a music video?! OMG, I have no idea what was going through the management's head at that moment.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I remember when we used to see Ayu on TV like every day.. :[ :[~

I want Ayumi to have that influence she felt she had when she had to change the cover for I am... [this is getting a little sappy and nostalgic.]

[Chibi_Venus]

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

I also don't like how she's under the impression that she has to release a full-length album around the same time every year.

I agree. Everything's always either on New Year's or somewhere close to Christmas. What I wish for is a release somewhere around September, like "Duty."

The only thing I have to argue about with repetitive lyrics and a usual/cliche message in her songs is that, kind of like what truehappiness (and even other members in the past have) said, she's been around for ten years. She's bound to repeat something. All artists do. In a nutshell: Her "repetitive" lyrics don't bother me.

I think the reason we have glamorous shots, fashion magazine styled photobooks, and even ideas that seem like they weren't thought out (whether cover art or not) is that her career is not as high or where it used to be in the past. She still has tons of supporters, but people move on and either grow tired of her or start listening to new artists. I don't think she and her staff are shrugging things of like they don't care, but I think they're getting more around of the ideas of releasing something everyone might enjoy, not just the Ayu fans. Do you know what I'm trying to say? This is all very hard for me to explain while trying to not sound like a basher or someone who's losing interest in Ayu.

Anyway!

The only thing I don't like about Ayu (along with what Coelacanth said about a regular release date for albums) is her overuse of incorrect vibrato. What she does with her voice to create the vibrato effect is, well, completely incorrect! Yes, plenty of singers and performers create the effect by moving their mouths, but hers is slow and forced rather than like the final vibration of a bell. I just can't stand it.

[naxxo.licious™]

Originally Posted by Chibi_Venus

The only thing I don't like about Ayu (along with what Coelacanth said about a regular release date for albums) is her overuse of incorrect vibrato. What she does with her voice to create the vibrato effect is, well, completely incorrect! Yes, plenty of singers and performers create the effect by moving their mouths, but hers is slow and forced rather than like the final vibration of a bell. I just can't stand it.

LOL yeah i know what u mean. Her vibrato can be rather awesome or plain awful.
And as u said, the main problem is that she overuses it. But well, i'm used to it, and after u listen to it several times, u come to like it lol

[truehappiness]

I think Coelacanth meant nowadays. Back then, Ayu was just fine, since she kinda did EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to make all aspects of her releases amazing, but nowadays it just seems like things are "we'll do it as we go".. [starting from (m)u's covers]~

[naxxo.licious™]

^ Yeah i know. Maybe she's a lil bit more mainstream nowadays and that's the reason.
Talking about her recent photoshoots, i think they're all about being glamorous. She looks beautiful, that's for sure. But i'd like to see a crazy photoshoot/photobook again. Like Uraayu (even tho i don't really like it lol)

She used to have some very original songs as well, like SURREAL. Her songs right now are awesome too, but they sound more "usual".

Her lyrics have always been awesome tho, and i think they're still one of the best things from her songs

[Coelacanth]

Originally Posted by guilty_me

Her covers most of the time have nothing to do with the songs, specially her album covers.

Yeah, one doesn't even have to be that creative to come up with decent ideas for an album/single cover.

I've seen more creative pictures by like, ten year olds on Facebook than any of the post-(m)u shots.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Back then, Ayu was just fine, since she kinda did EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to make all aspects of her releases amazing, but nowadays it just seems like things are "we'll do it as we go".. [starting from (m)u's covers]~

Yeah. Ayu and her staff seemed very involved in every aspect of her career back then.

To tell you the truth, I'm not too fond of the whole CD+DVD era because I'd rather have there be ONE definitive cover for an album/single than like four different poses in the same setting. It's gimmicky and it truly takes away from the... I guess credibility.. of the record.

[truehappiness]

Well, back in 2000/2001, I think it was a lot easier to be original since she was still somewhat new and only had about 2 albums worth of material. :\

Now she has what, 10 albums? Though I don't think we can just say "Oh, she's just got so much material" because it seems she's gotten stuck in a rockish slump. :| [Life proved to be very unlike that so.. I'm hoping for the best.]