Empress of J-Pop to withdraw from Japan, and focus on the US and Europe [Theory]

[AyuGAME]

wow...let's just wait and see, that's all i can say
thanks for sharing the article

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Furashubakku

I think that if Ayumi went in there and decided to sing in her native language, but give interviews in fluent English it could work.

I know that when my dad was younger X Japan and Loudness were big in America and the UK, in fact my dad loves Loudness~. So I think it's possible to make a debut and make it work...

X-Japan and Loudness have never been "big" in america. Big in America would mean that the average person has heard of them, which certainly they haven't. X-Japan hasn't even played a single concert in the US before. As far as I know, they've never had any real significant following in the UK either. By significant I mean beyond the typical anime/visual kei crowd.

Also when it comes to Visual Kei bands, they play rock music obviously - most of the time you can't even understand what they are saying to begin with. Pop music is a whole nother ball game - in order for it to work, it would have to be in understandable english. Singing in Japanese might work to get some amount audience in Europe, but even then, I think to go truly mainstream it would probably have to be in English. For America it will be immediately rejected if its not in English. (Unless of course you are just content with Ayu singing at anime conventions.)

[JackieRos]

even if she decides to focus on other countries
i dont think she will withdraw from japan

[zyoeru]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

X-Japan and Loudness have never been "big" in america. Big in America would mean that the average person has heard of them, which certainly they haven't. X-Japan hasn't even played a single concert in the US before.

Also when it comes to Visual Kei bands, they play rock music obviously - most of the time you can't even understand what they are saying to begin with. Pop music is a whole nother ball game - in order for it to work, it would have to be in understandable english. Singing in Japanese might work to get some amount audience in Europe, but even then, I think to go truly mainstream it would probably have to be in English. For America it will be immediately rejected if its not in English. (Unless of course you are just content with Ayu singing at anime conventions.)

Okay. Maybe not "big" but I still think that they had a following in America. Which is something at least. Also Rammstein is a band which I think most people will have heard of, they don't sing in English yet they have a pretty big following too.

Even if Ayu never gets big in America, I think she could make it in Europe just fine.

And I think you're right Jackie, Japan is her birth country, so no doubt it'll be the country she spends most of her time in.

[JackieRos]

she will be bigger in europe than usa IMO

member mirrocle world yeah shot in france and even people knew her there

[kendelle]

I don't care what she does, where she goes, as long as I one day get to see her perform live!

I think she would have a niche market in the EU but the US....I don't think so.

[Beauty4123]

personally, i hope ayumi just sticks to japan. that goes for other artists as well. i don't think it's worth trying to make it big here, honestly. if utada, who's actually american, couldn't do it two times in a row (even though "this is the one" is pretty mainstream), do you really think ayumi would? maybe she'd have a chance in europe, but i wouldn't even bother with america. but that's just my opinion, lol. she'll be really criticized and hated with all the stereotypical comments from haters or random people (like BoA last year on one of these blogs that i read), and i don't think it's worth it to just come here for that. i personally dislike the music industry here, anyway, haha.

so that's just my 2 cents.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Furashubakku

Okay. Maybe not "big" but I still think that they had a following in America. Which is something at least. Also Rammstein is a band which I think most people will have heard of, they don't sing in English yet they have a pretty big following too.

And I think you're right Jackie, Japan is her birth country, so no doubt it'll be the country she spends most of her time in.

Yes, even I heard Rammstein in highschool here in the US. But the thing is, in the US they were treated as a novelty act and disappeared after one single. And once again, they are a heavy metal act - totally different game than pop music.

As for the last part about her spending most of her time in Japan, well honestly that is part of the problem with Japanese acts that try to break into the western market. The reason why Dir En Grey has been at least somewhat successful is that they have spent years trying to build a fanbase in Euro/US. Years of playing clubs and other small venues in order to build an audience from scratch. Most successful J-pop acts it seems are not willing to do that. And who can blame them really? The money for them is in Japan. Typically they release a single/album, it lands with a thud, they head back to Japan and wonder why it didn't work. Whereas visual kei groups really don't have much to lose since there isn't much money for visual kei in Japan these days anyways so they can take the time to really try to build a fan base overseas.

[JackieRos]

and they usually succeed

Dir en grey was in FUSE alot of people watch that

and they sell merchandise here in hot topic every rock fan has them

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by (me)JackieRos

and they usually succeed

Dir en grey was in FUSE alot of people watch that

and they sell merchandise here in hot topic every rock fan has them

I think Dir En Grey though is pretty much the only one though that you can classify as at least somewhat successful. I don't say totally successful because still very few people have actually heard of them outside of certain more underground kind of circles.

[JackieRos]

totally true

[crea_spain]

thanks for sharing the article

of course I'd like to see Ayu in concert in Europe.. although I'm sure will return to Japan to see her again very very soon ^_^

the big decision could be about Avex / Ayu are thinking of a World Tour in 2010 with concerts in Japan, China, HK, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, United Kingdom and USA (Hawaii)... hey why not??

or maybe is to become an actress (again) for any kind Batman movie ~~

[JackieRos]

somebody mentioned this a long time ago

that it wouldnt be such a good idea for ayu to try to go to the america market
because imagine flying the tour stages across the world

[zyoeru]

Hmmm, well SunshineSlayer, I do understand what you're saying but I'm kinda hoping you're wrong. I just think maybe Ayu should come to Europe for a few years, maybe go back to Japan in between them and try and drum up a fanbase, I guess there isn't any harm in trying. Alternatively, she could go and conquer the rest of Asia, I mean there's still a lot of countries there that would eat her up.

[lfe.]

A US debut is just another flop in the making like Se7en, BoA, and all the others that have tried. Its not really worth the time, effort, and energy. She should just stay in Japan/Asia. She also mentioned something about Japan being home and that she would never leave so I doubt it will ever happen.

[Bigtop]

I think Ayu has a lot of obstacles to do before she enters the intercontinental markets of the United States and Europe. I mean, think about this - where airline companies have to face obstacles and competition when trying to operate new international service, I think this is similar to that. Ayu has got to be sufficient enough to face competition to similar artists who have experience in that particular region.

But I feel for now, she should stay in Japan for a while until she knows English more efficiently...

And if she would like to attack the international market, maybe the Europeans could be the market to start, unlike other Japanese artists where they usually start off at the United States but with so-so support. She might need serious advertising around the region to let people know that Ayu's really releasing a single or album in that particular region...

By the way, how well did Tegomass do in Sweden? And how about PuffyAmiYumi (known in Japan as PUFFY), Angela Aki, Dir en grey and other Japanese artists doing in the United States?

[JackieRos]

dir en grey are doing very well in usa

[zyoeru]

^ Wasn't Uroboros received well? I know it got to 112 on the billboard, which isn't bad.

[Mirrorcle]

Goodness, everyone's so negative about the possibility of her coming to the US. Negative about everything. Picky about everything. ;_;

I'm sure Ayu knows about the attempts made by BoA and Utada, and if she's really debuting in the US, I'm sure she stressed over whether or not it would be a good idea herself. I mean, she wouldn't assume that she'd have great success, so I'm not worried about her feeling disappointed afterwards. In fact, I think it's probably a world tour to go see her fans everywhere around the world, since not just people in Japan idolize her and want to meet her.She'd do it for the fans, maybe?
If she is deciding on writing an English album, she'd write the lyrics and probably have them analyzed for grammar mistakes. I'm sure she knows that she'd have to be PERFECT at English (By the way, BoA probably would've done better, maybe up to how Utada did, if she could speak English perfectly. Anyone see an English BoA interview? It's way to obvious she doesn't speak English fluently). Anyway, I really don't think she'd do an English album, but if she does, I'm still going to support her. (:

[ストロボ・EdGE]

Originally Posted by Furashubakku

I think that if Ayumi went in there and decided to sing in her native language, but give interviews in fluent English it could work.

Do you really think a person singing in Japanese would be popular to the American mass? ( ) Why would she even sing in Japanese to American people? Yeah, I can totally imagine that in American radio.