TA Blog 「Happy New Year☆」(2.1.22)

[love in music]

If she were retiring, I really don't think she would announce it like this.
I personally think it's something else completely and we will get clarity from her within a few days or a few weeks because like Aderianu said, if TA members are fearing about retirement too, I feel like they will message her a lot with questions to the point where she won't be able to ignore it and will need to clear things up with a message.

If it is retirement, it's kind of a bad and weird way to announce it in my opinion.
I feel like it's not something she would want to drag on and on and make people wait for. But we will see. If she does retire soon I will respect her decision. I wouldn't want her to continue doing something that no longer makes her happy. I can't even begin to imagine how physically and mentally draining her job is, not just with now having kids but her hearing limitations.

[truehappiness]

I saw a lot of JP fans saying that it doesn't make sense since she wouldn't want to sour TA's mood after 25th anni, so it's probably something else... maybe she is hopping to her own label?

[Cahz-]

It could be many different scenarios:

- She won't be able to tour anymore because it's leading to her losing her hearing in full.
- She's going into a indefinite hiatus in order to fully enjoy/devote herself to her life as a mother of two.
- She's retiring.

And I think the retirement is the last option because I just don't see her (or maybe... I'm just refusing to believe it) taking that drastic decision.

[lizzylovesongaku]

Honestly, I do not get the impression she's announcing her retirement. Everyone is focusing on the "last" part of her English Instagram post, but the phrase is "the first and last". 1) the post is in English. We all know she's probably semi-conversational at best in English. She definitely knows more that most Japanese pop-stars, but she's nowhere near fluent, so she might not realize how dramatic that phrase sounds. 2) "The first and last" can mean "the greatest" or the "biggest", "one announcement to trump all announcements", type of thing. So, yes, she's going to announce something big, but it's not necessarily retirement. 3) We also need to look at her TA message. It's very positive and sweet sounding, not at all the tone of someone who is about to end their decades-long career. We all know that Ayu loves performing and making music. It's unlikely that she's going to retire Namie-style. If she stops it's because she HAS to stop. I could be very wrong here and just trying to stay optimistic, but I don't get the sense she's about to announce her retirement. Hopefully she'll make a clarifying statement at some point, otherwise we'll just have to wait until April lol

[Andrenekoi]

I always find it very funny how Ayu fandom always take whatever she says to the most tragic interpretation

Considering her historic, this could pretty much be something completely stupid like a 25th anni calendar or some shit like that.

[hidekirby]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Considering her historic, this could pretty much be something completely stupid like a 25th anni calendar or some shit like that.

I'm 80% confident it will be something like that.
Retiring now it so off. Even if she has to for whatever reasons, she won't announce it this way.

I'm leaning towards some news for the Asia Tour.

[voltron]

I've also been wondering if it could be something like ear surgery, another baby, or marriage. I don't think it's any of those things, and while the gut reaction is to think retirement, I think it's something else altogether.

[Zeke.]

It’s not a mistranslation as in Japanese something with a similar level of urgency was written. All the Japanese fans were speculating retirement on Twitter too, based on what was written in their native language.

Anyway, I’m still hoping for a global extension. It makes little sense how her colleagues of similar status have expanded to performances outside Asia while she never has? I would think it’s something she would like to try at least once, and it’s getting to the point where it’s now or never.

[xLuna&1LOVE]

Your reactions make me even feel more worried about the post, than I initially read it. My first thought was announcement of the Asia Tour, and maybe some extensions (dates, places)

Let's hope for the best

[Lyssayu]

Maybe it will be the first (and last) global TA tour...

[Didz-19]

or maybe she'll be releasing "A BEST"?

[AyuGAME]

I think it's a world tour. First and last, that makes sense and is logical. First, world tour and it's gonna be the last as her fame is getting smaller and smaller.

[adrtwb]

I’m guessing maybe she will “graduate” from Arena Tours and only do concerts in halls (smaller scale venue). That explains the 聖地 and it’s the last time she will perform in Yoyogi. This is the worst news I can take, anything else NO!

[LOGMAN]

Originally Posted by adrtwb

I’m guessing maybe she will “graduate” from Arena Tours and only do concerts in halls (smaller scale venue).

She's pretty much been doing that since 2017. She basically does one concert a year in a large venue.

I can't imagine her wanting to publicly say 'Hey everyone, I'm not popular enough to fill arenas anymore, so I'll only be performing in smaller venues from now on.

[krtman2002]

I love how we fans can't accept her retirement and we are trying to justify her words saying possitive ideas like a world tour outside Asia. It's like... the Ayu we know will never retire and have her fans waiting for the official announcement for 4 months.

I was very sad with her post but reading some of you give me hope for her future in the music industry. She has always been the queen, and will always be.

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

Damn, well I hope that we get enough time to go watch her perform if she retires

[truehappiness]

I think what she did for that though since 2017 was because she wanted to tour way more which was more feasible with halls. TROUBLE was supposed to end with an ARENA leg after the 101 shows were done but that was smashed by COVID.

[Sim']

I didn't realize she deleted her insta post until now, does that mean it was a (horrible and very) bad buzz and there's no "first and last big news" annoucement to drop anymore ?

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by Sim'

I didn't realize she deleted her insta post until now, does that mean it was a (horrible and very) bad buzz and there's no "first and last big news" annoucement to drop anymore ?

that post (from 2 January) is still on her Instagram, it's one of her pinned posts at the very top.

[Sim']

Originally Posted by Deep snow

that post (from 2 January) is still on her Instagram, it's one of her pinned posts at the very top.

Oh you're right, thank you!! I was scrolling down, so I was a bit relieved to not see it below... And now knowing it's pinned, I'm scared again... And angry again...