Ayu's music: when did it start to go downhill for you?

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Does this make her duty to inspire people and touch them on personal level everytime she releases a song? Not really

It's not, but no one is saying, on here at least, that they hate Ayu because they see her like that and they are disappointed with her new releases.

I think everyone here has just been explaining their opinions on her past and recent work. All I've heard a lot of people say is that Ayu hasn't produced the music they like from her lately. That's it. They weren't saying they're going to boycott her because of it.

I agree, because I feel the same way. She's still one of my favorite artists for her songs from the past. Those songs can't change, so I'll always be a fan of her. I'll still listen to her new releases to see if I like them, the same with anyone.

[Ranma Matsuri]

Originally Posted by StrawbariSnowAyumi

@ranma matsuri: in regards to identitys post, that's a quite a bit more than 10%. 14 of those are from the past 2 albums. Which are about 22 total songs if I recall. 22-14 is 8 and tbh I can add more lyrics to lessen that amount and in honesty that is not 10%. more than half
10% of the lyrics in her whole career would be more ballpark

In summary, a lot of u guys are really exaggerating on the point of most of her lyrics sounding similar and I question if u just don't take the time to even interpret her messages
*sighs* if the lyrics on rnrc, NL, and etc are the same then I can easily go and find similar lyrics in her old albums.

Mmm...this. May be my shortest post in this thread miraculous

Yes, I was exaggerating on that point with is why I added the smiley at the end. I wasn't being serious with the percentages nor did I expect people to take them seriously. What I should have said before is most of the lyrics I've read from her seems to similar themes (the hand holding, the girl power anthems, etc.). It's not a big deal since I can't understand Japanese anyway but I get a little disappointed when I'm downloading the translations to completely different songs and finding a lot of similarities in the lyrics. That's all it is really. Then again, I'm not really a person for "wordly" themes, they're great when done right (which Ayu always does) but I've always been more for the artist/lyricist speaking about their affilictions, their own emotions and problems because if it's coming from the source it seems a lot more real and no two people will think/act/react and feel the very same about something happening in their lives so it's always interesting. It's not a proven and convention free method but that's just the way I feel about it.

@Uemarasan: I think in terms of the actual music (the singles, the happy summer songs, the angry rock songs, and the few oddities etc.), Secret has for the most part laid down what she's been doing recently but as for the actual structure of an album, I believe that all started back with RAINBOW. It wasn't anywhere as cohesive and clean cut as say Secret and GUILTY but the blueprints was there... before then, she had interludes but their function wasn't necessarily to lead into the 'sections' of an album. I felt like she tried to give the album a layout but since there wasn't any clear idea of what each section would represent, it ended up just being a fluid album that went gradually up and gradually down but with no sense of direction.

With MY STORY she tried it again and since there was a very strong central idea this time, she not only got it right but actually perfected it. Each interlude lead seamlessly into the next part of the album capturing the tone and moving the 'story' along. You had Catcher in the Light, soft and light starting the story from the beginning showing that at one point, everything was fine then at the two minute mark here comes trouble with the heavy guitar then you dive right into About You as Ayu rocks out her anger until Wonderland when she suddenly loses her fighting spirit and becomes melancholy instead. Then around Kaleidoscope is when she finally starts making peace with herself and comes to a resolution in winding road, celebrating her new outlook in the final track.

She went away from this format in miss(understood) which was an album that broke away from pretty much everything she had been doing with her albums until then, not that that was a bad thing. I think with Secret, she went back to the format but with different ideas and less polished tracks and has stuck with it since. Imho, none of her albums featuring this structure has come close to MY STORY's fluidity and cohesiveness. NEXT LEVEL was close but the odd placing of Days/GREEN (which imo should've just stayed a stand alone anniversary single like it's predecessor) ruined the flow... at the very least, GREEN should have been put in the same section as Days and Curtain Call... but now I'm rambling lol.

Sorry for the great wall of text but I thought should back up my claims.

[Andrenekoi]

@Emiko, Uemarasan and xLitax I'm not talking about this thread only, but about stuff I read over the years here on AHS

[elepop]

For me, it would be with the release of (miss)understood. Which is something that's weird to me. Why? Because all of the singles from (m)u were incredible. And then Ayu decided to cover Sweetbox and it all went down hill since then. She became uncreative, repetitive and her music simply lacked character, edge and depth. She tried to be experimental with her last to albums, but it's simply not doing it for me. It just sounds forced and awkward. Her music used to sound so effortless and true to herself. It's just not the same anymore.

[JackieRos]

You people would make an English teacher proud,
7 pages full of paragraphs O.O

You guys should help me write my essays.

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by JackieRos

You people would make an English teacher proud,
7 pages full of paragraphs O.O

You guys should help me write my essays.

Sometimes thoughts, words and ideas just flow without any control. Especially if you're passionate about something.

[primavera♥]

@ranma: trust me I don't think ur stupid enough to assume 10% (^__~)and that's not what I'm seriously talking about with exagerrating... But just what I said was me pointing out how very few if any of her lyrics really have many similarities and if they do they elaborate different things. But I do find it exaggerated (the exageration I'm talking about) that ayus lyrics are so similar. They are no more similar then what they were a long time ago.

Now people can dislike her current lyrics. They can not feel or understand or like what she's talking about. But she is talking about different things. And if anything IS similar ayu does a good job on elaborating different facets of things. That's what she's done for several songs in her career.
Sincerely I don't see why now her lyrica are SO similar. Early in her career she had similar things then if fans want to be so ridiculously general. fans may have just enjoyed what she wrote earlier more and didn't mind similar things I think is all
But I don't get where the "her lyrics are so repetitive" things comes from as if every four songs is a pattern "go girls" "love" "some more love" "future"

Its a little far fetched but here (since I consider ayu. Very poetic). Edgar Allan Poe has many similar themes. Dark themes often in his poetry. However there truly are so many facets to these themes and still he has other themes too of course. But he is perfect to reaching into the depths of different sides. Nothing is so one-sided. That it only needs to be written about once. Its like how u have teddy bear and memorial address.
And ayu has some feminist sounding songs scattered throughout her career. But she has focused on so many sides of these positive and negative and I doubt she's done haha~ and I'm ready for more

Its like that, yeah.

[ストロボ・EdGE]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

When you've lived with and loved Ayu for so long, you'll definitely have something more to say than "Guilty. Lovez it." or "Next Level suxxor". And frankly, I'd rather read long intelligent posts rather than short, abrupt sentences lacking in thought and depth. Please don't belittle other people's efforts

I wasn't belittling anyone's efforts, and I don't appreciate the assumption. These are good threads were people give honest opinions and respond to each other civilly. The thing is, it's just kind of mind-numbing when all those posts are so long and you want to try to read them all and it becomes a little too much.

And intelligent posts don't necessarily equal eight paragraphs just as short posts don't necessarily equal lack of thought or depth, and by that I'm not implying that anyone here's posts were pointless.

[kagami]

I honestly think it's less about being in a rut, and not daring to try new things (which I will never agree with), but more about finding the sound she likes. I just think she has been searching for herself/her place all this time and recently she has found it. She's comfortable and happy with her life and what she is doing.
The performance of NEXT LEVEL in arena tour 09 really brought this home to me.

[evolution7931]

Originally Posted by elepop

For me, it would be with the release of (miss)understood. Which is something that's weird to me. Why? Because all of the singles from (m)u were incredible. And then Ayu decided to cover Sweetbox and it all went down hill since then. She became uncreative, repetitive and her music simply lacked character, edge and depth. She tried to be experimental with her last to albums, but it's simply not doing it for me. It just sounds forced and awkward. Her music used to sound so effortless and true to herself. It's just not the same anymore.

Totally agree and another thing that irks me about her now is that.. she's like 30.. whats with the babyface poses and lookin like a 12 yr old on all her stuff? I know it might be a Japanese cultural thing to look ~cute~ all the time but I still think it's stupid. From Duty right up to My Story she had an edgy, mature image .. every photoshoot was stunning and creative. Now it seems like we get glimpses of that mature young woman that she was, buried amongst the massive amount of material with her opening her eyes as big as possible and pouting and whatnot..

Last night I saw the performance of EnergizE from last year's tour and my jaw almost hit the floor.. all I could think was "is this really the woman who released I am? evolution? Rainbow? ........ wow"

saddens me quite a bit

[Ayumiko]

for me it was after the release of (miss)understood till rock 'n' roll circus. I do like some tracks from secret, guilty, and next level...but the albums as a whole didn't wow me like her other albums did. Rock 'n' roll circus was definitely a step up. I hope ayu will continue the awesomeness.

[primavera♥]

^^thats just ageist. how many times does ayu mention trying to act like an adult and failing. Its a part of her to be that way
And about past photoshoots. Umm just for the record there are some REALLY bad pics she's taken in the past. And very unflattering to the point where she looks super aged.
For one take a visit to her worst pics thread here. Or just relook through some shoots. Even at jpm there was recent mentioning of her bad fake tan pics. Ugh It did not start with sunrise XD there are several just as bad shoots in the past.
Just sayin~

Also-in the yrs u mentioned...her image wasn't always so edgy or mature or either it was too mature. She looked like 60 year old granny sometimes
ah well ~ to each his own...like...not everybody gets their little fantasy ayu image. What ur getting is ayu and if u don't like it oh well. That's what ur not liking. no harm there

I don't care to elaborate on ayus looks as this thread is about her music I thought. But if someone will use this space to bring that up I will say what I. Mildly feel.

[emi♡]

idk ayu was pretty hot back then...

now she's just like...beautiful lol

I don't think the doe-eyes and the cutesy faces translate necessarily to acting younger though...it's something else.

meh, people change. I dont think she tries to do the "hey im me and im cool" image anymore...cause...well, she grew out of it lol

Now she just does...herself. Who she understands herself to be at this point in her life.

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by emiko

idk ayu was pretty hot back then...

now she's just like...beautiful lol

I don't think the doe-eyes and the cutesy faces translate necessarily to acting younger though...it's something else.

It's just the trend now, even Lena in your set is the QUEEN of cute. <3

[kagami]

Originally Posted by StrawbariSnowAyumi

^^thats just ageist. how many times does ayu mention trying to act like an adult and failing. Its a part of her to be that way
And about past photoshoots. Umm just for the record there are some REALLY bad pics she's taken in the past. And very unflattering to the point where she looks super aged.
For one take a visit to her worst pics thread here. Or just relook through some shoots. Even at jpm there was recent mentioning of her bad fake tan pics. Ugh It did not start with sunrise XD there are several just as bad shoots in the past.
Just sayin~

Also-in the yrs u mentioned...her image wasn't always so edgy or mature or either it was too mature. She looked like 60 year old granny sometimes
ah well ~ to each his own...like...not everybody gets their little fantasy ayu image. What ur getting is ayu and if u don't like it oh well. That's what ur not liking. no harm there

I don't care to elaborate on ayus looks as this thread is about her music I thought. But if someone will use this space to bring that up I will say what I. Mildly feel.

^I know right? I always wondered why people think she only started acting cute recently. Sure, it can be more over the top sometimes, but she's always done it. She's always done the 'fishlip' thing that everyone seems to hate as well...
She actually talks in a less cutesy voice than she used to nowadays so it's not like she's always trying to be that way.

emiko has a point too. She's not trying to be at the forefront of fashion anymore, she's just wearing what she likes.

[microphone]

I'm surprised at some of these posts! I consider Secret to be her best album. I think her fall was during (miss)understood era but Will, Heaven, and fairyland were incredible songs. The rest of the album was disappointing. Good thing Secret was born! (and GUILTY, NEXT LEVEL, Rock'N'Roll Circus...)

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by jbrat2219

It's just the trend now, even Lena in your set is the QUEEN of cute. <3

yes she is <3

do you think it's just the trend now? I guess so. Open a Vivi and all the models are doing the same thing lol

[evolution7931]

Originally Posted by StrawbariSnowAyumi

^^thats just ageist. how many times does ayu mention trying to act like an adult and failing. Its a part of her to be that way
And about past photoshoots. Umm just for the record there are some REALLY bad pics she's taken in the past. And very unflattering to the point where she looks super aged.
For one take a visit to her worst pics thread here. Or just relook through some shoots. Even at jpm there was recent mentioning of her bad fake tan pics. Ugh It did not start with sunrise XD there are several just as bad shoots in the past.
Just sayin~

Also-in the yrs u mentioned...her image wasn't always so edgy or mature or either it was too mature. She looked like 60 year old granny sometimes
ah well ~ to each his own...like...not everybody gets their little fantasy ayu image. What ur getting is ayu and if u don't like it oh well. That's what ur not liking. no harm there

I don't care to elaborate on ayus looks as this thread is about her music I thought. But if someone will use this space to bring that up I will say what I. Mildly feel.

Yea you may be right, and some people may LOVE the image she's going for now.. I'm just throwin out my own opinion.. maybe I'm just an overly superficial person but I feel like image is important in the music industry cause mentally that's what you associate the music with (or at least I do, maybe I'm just a weirdo).. so when I see for example the I am album cover where Ayu is half naked looking like a goddess, when I'm listening to the album and going through the booklet, well, thats the image that stays in my head while I'm listening to it

so... when I see a crapload of pics of Ayu lookin 12 it just kind of makes it hard for me to relate to the whole thing as a 20 yr old male (and the actual music has gone 'downhill' in my personal opinion [not saying its fact] as well, but I just thought I'd bring image into the discussion cause it influences my opinion)

but again maybe I'm just overly superficial or something, I dunno really

[elepop]

Originally Posted by kagami

^I know right? I always wondered why people think she only started acting cute recently. Sure, it can be more over the top sometimes, but she's always done it. She's always done the 'fishlip' thing that everyone seems to hate as well...
She actually talks in a less cutesy voice than she used to nowadays so it's not like she's always trying to be that way.

emiko has a point too. She's not trying to be at the forefront of fashion anymore, she's just wearing what she likes.

Around ASFXX up to Duty, she did pout and act cute. But it was cute.
Now she does the infamous "fishlips" and has those dead/empty doe eyes. And it's REALLY annoying.
They aren't the same thing. Look back at her pictures from then. When she posed in a cute way, her face was normal and she looked cute. Now she's just plain scary.

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by emiko

yes she is <3

do you think it's just the trend now? I guess so. Open a Vivi and all the models are doing the same thing lol

I have been collect ViVi (with Ayu, Kumi or Namie on the cover) since 2006 and the trend was definitely going on then as well. It must be a long one that just won't die LOL. But you can tell the Japanese love it because in a recent issue they were showing make up tips on how to make your lips extra pouty and they used Ayu as an example. So all of the people who complain about her fishlips need to realize no one in her country is complaining, they still idolize her for fashion, make up and looks. Not to mention, other artists do it too. That one Kana girl, it seems like all she does is pout! I call her Ayu 2.0 as far as the innocent, doll, soft look lol.

[edit]

This girl!

Spoiler:

Come on now...

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