Has ayu lost her touch?

[FuNsTyLe]

^ Sorry to tell you Crystal_Ageha, but they do sound alike! In arrangment, instruments used... (she likes those "bucket" drums that are always use din those songs like Game, Becaue of You, 1Love, Decision etc... They are very similiar, really...
Its just that every time Ayu is releasing something new, you just know it will contain either one of those familiar "dark" "rock" songs, or a ballad that sounds like any other of her ballads (a few exceptions, mostly from her pre-2005 era) or if it's summer, then let's kick it off with a poppy summer super duper bubbly pop song with a cute voice, and let's shoot it in some exotic beach like we did with Blue Bird, Fairyland and Sunrise

Sorry if it sounds harsh, but you get the drill.

She needs to try something new, find inspiration, find new arrangments and new styles, 'cause she hasn't done that since Bold & Delicious.

I want her to release something that, when we listen to the preview we can say "wow, that sounds so different! Not like anything she has done before.. I wanna hear more"
Instead of what we say these days "Oh, that song reminds me of [insert older song title] and the other track sounds like a [another old song] type of song" - Which is basically what people have done with her songs now...
Just look at the You were/BALLAD thread... when people first heard the previews, alot of them said the songs reminded them of other Ayu songs... That's not good.

[zoomzoom]

Not losing her touch, but getting more and more clouded in judgement. She seems to be relying too much on her staff, the people around her, who are now very much her friends. Friends and work rarely work out great.

There's the Kazuyoshi example. Clearly they are great friends, have fun together and all. But seriously, he, as a professional photographer, must have seen that the results they came up with together just weren't that great. It's possible he just wanted to get paid and kept his mouth shut, but also possible that he didn't want to hurt her for her modeling ability with him or whatever.

On the other side of the coin, ayu might honestly have thought that the pictures, like the S/S covers, were great. I do believe that to be the case, unless she's become a compromising person. But there's also the theory that she's friends with this person and doesn't wanna scrap a whole photoshoot they worked on, basically telling him he wasn't able to come up with the result she wanted.

In my opinion, she needs new people around her. People who can help her constantly improve, not stroke her ego. Tell her what's good and what needs improvement. An artist is only as creatively amazing and innovative as his/her team.

[Bad Wolf]

Originally Posted by zoomzoom

Not losing her touch, but getting more and more clouded in judgement. She seems to be relying too much on her staff, the people around her, who are now very much her friends. Friends and work rarely work out great.

There's the Kazuyoshi example. Clearly they are great friends, have fun together and all. But seriously, he, as a professional photographer, must have seen that the results they came up with together just weren't that great. It's possible he just wanted to get paid and kept his mouth shut, but also possible that he didn't want to hurt her for her modeling ability with him or whatever.

On the other side of the coin, ayu might honestly have thought that the pictures, like the S/S covers, were great. I do believe that to be the case, unless she's become a compromising person. But there's also the theory that she's friends with this person and doesn't wanna scrap a whole photoshoot they worked on, basically telling him he wasn't able to come up with the result she wanted.

In my opinion, she needs new people around her. People who can help her constantly improve, not stroke her ego. Tell her what's good and what needs improvement. An artist is only as creatively amazing and innovative as his/her team.

Precisely. I wonder if she'll start to rely more on herself again, and not on her staff. I mean the whole reason she took everything on herself in the beginning is because she had a very particular vision and idea of how to do things. Basically, she couldn't trust or know that the people around her were going to match up to what she wanted. Now, I feel like Ayu has reached a point where she trusts her staff enough or they're familiar with her after all these years so they know what to expect or aim for with their product. That seems to be making Ayu happy, hence why CREA hasn't made a peep since, what, 2003? The danger with that is the end result: similar themes, comfort zones, stagnation, etc.

The dramatic way to solve this is for Ayu to ditch her staff and do it all on her own again. Have every rein in hand and command each thing. The less dramatic way is for her to get more involved, little by little, with the creation process. She could sit down with her composers/arrangers and either be a "back seat" composer, giving suggestions, etc. I have no doubt Ayu picks the songs she likes NOW, but I don't know how involved she is with the actual creation process. I think that would be a key thing.

And the photoshoots--dear lord. How is possible that Ayu emotes more feeling and strength from the "I am..." cover and stills than she has in the past like, 6 covers she's done her her singles? Seriously, go back and look at Ayu's photoshoots for her singles/CDs from early/mid 2000s. Strong presence and emotion in several of them. Hell, even MY STORY had great covers. After that... I'm not sure when this Kazu dude appeared on the scene but he is sooo not helping Ayu at all. And if Ayu's being complacent and easy on the guy just because they're friends, I'm sorry but that's sad. :< I don't care if he's your friend, if he's contributing to crappy product (or allowing YOU to make crappy product) then you both have to be more assertive and honest with each other. Work first, friendship second.

As for Ayu saying You were.../BALLAD was a new thing from her, I feel like that was a bit of a lie. Not that I'm accusing her of BEING a liar, but it's not exactly true, is it? You were... is a rehashed winter ballad seen in Together when..., HEAVEN, momentum, JEWEL, Close to you, no more words, POWDER SNOW... It's Ayu's "theme," which is fine, but new? Come on now. The ONLY thing new about that single was BALLAD (she's only done, to my memory, two "traditional" style songs [theme of a-nation 03 and GREEN]) and the music box mix of You were...

Maybe to AYU it was totally new, on a level we won't understand unless she explains it to us, but yeah.. not really seeing the innovation here anymore.

[taskinillusion]

Originally Posted by InoriNoUta

Precisely. I wonder if she'll start to rely more on herself again, and not on her staff. I mean the whole reason she took everything on herself in the beginning is because she had a very particular vision and idea of how to do things. Basically, she couldn't trust or know that the people around her were going to match up to what she wanted. Now, I feel like Ayu has reached a point where she trusts her staff enough or they're familiar with her after all these years so they know what to expect or aim for with their product. That seems to be making Ayu happy, hence why CREA hasn't made a peep since, what, 2003? The danger with that is the end result: similar themes, comfort zones, stagnation, etc.

The dramatic way to solve this is for Ayu to ditch her staff and do it all on her own again. Have every rein in hand and command each thing. The less dramatic way is for her to get more involved, little by little, with the creation process. She could sit down with her composers/arrangers and either be a "back seat" composer, giving suggestions, etc. I have no doubt Ayu picks the songs she likes NOW, but I don't know how involved she is with the actual creation process. I think that would be a key thing.

The thing is, she got so huge so fast that she simply CAN'T have the reins for EVERYTHING she's involved in. That's just insane! And here everyone is always saying how she needs to "take a break" and "rest", but then you guys want her to control every single aspect of everything she does now? That's impossible. She does way too much for her to have absolute control over EVERYTHING. This is why she relies on her staff so much these days. Maybe in the beginning, when she didn't have herself spread so thin, she could have the reins of her projects all to herself, but these days? No way! Sure it makes sense for her to start taking more control little by little, but we have to realize that means she's not going to be resting anytime soon. To stay on top, she has to keep moving. She's been doing this for a long time now, so she's not going to be a "fresh" as she was when everything she did was new.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by taskinillusion

Maybe in the beginning, when she didn't have herself spread so thin, she could have the reins of her projects all to herself, but these days? No way!

Huh? In the past she was spread way more thin. Waaaaaaayyyyy more thin. How busy she is now does not come close to how busy she was in the start and middle of her career, yet apparently she had more direct control over things then.

I would like to see her take a break, but at the same time when she comes back I would like her to take a more direct role in her production again. She may be heading in that direction given what we saw with the Ballad PV and how she seemed to take a more active role there again.

[Tom Punks]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Huh? In the past she was spread way more thin. Waaaaaaayyyyy more thin. How busy she is now does not come close to how busy she was in the start and middle of her career, yet apparently she had more direct control over things then.

Thank you. Despite how everyone seems to think Ayu is so busy nowadays, she was obviously MUCH busier back in the day. Of course she's still busy these days, but it's nowhere near how busy she was back then.

[Ayumi~moments]

Shes not lost her touch for me. I admit this year hasn't been the best for her, shes realised more so shes deaf, she even knows her live performances are suffering because she appolgised for that Evolution performance recently. She loves her job and she loves to sing and i think her passion lives on and she doesn't want that to die because she loves it.

My impression of most Ayu fans is because of the other music you listen to. A lot of fans i see here like a lot of RnB and over the top pop lark. Ayu isn't that singer AT ALL. Shes a pop artist and ballad artist. Which is completely different. Yeah she may have done songs sorta on the other lengths of pop like STEP you and such but there her one of songs shes written shes not always like that.

Most people i think on here expect too much also. Come on the woman is what 30? Shes had 11 years in music. The music industry seems to value songs about sex, getting women, getting drunk in clubs, finding some lover, drugs, war - Ayu sings nothing about that to be honest and she never will do. You guys all listen to this usually and expect ayu to come out with something amazingly dramatic. Not just that come on guys shes deaf in one ear - there logic tells me she can't dance that well. As a dancer myself you can't dance very well being deaf because your balance is effected dramatically so where other artists are putting on some amazing show with dancing and all this - its too much on Ayu herself. She has to be able to hear her own voice with one ear for a start which is hard enough so dancing and trying to do that is hard because you shake your dear drum and cochlea by dancing thus proving it difficult to hear.

I admit her singing hasn't been the best and her sunrise and sunset single wasn't that great but Japan likes her being who she is and they still buy her CD's and tour tickets and stuff. I was in Japan when Sunrise was out and i saw people buying the single in HMV and tower records. So people just like her for what she is and Japans not keen on people reinventing and changing so much. Hence why Miss didn't go down that well in Japan because it Ayu used the bg music of sweetbox. They don't like their artists to go too far out of boundaries.

If you don't like it i suggest you stop being a fan she's had a hard few years and reinventing herself will just make her sales shift further down. I think she needs to sort her ear situation out and learn to focus to listen to her voice in one ear and her vocals will improve. They have been fine during some of the you were performances.

I don't think Avex give her that much budget either no more and tbh am happy shes recycling her stuff at least shes showing she doesn't need to buy the fans with other crap and can just as well get by being herself and doing what she enjoys. Shes helping the planet for one thing as well by using the same stage.

[slavomiros]

n my opinion, she needs new people around her. People who can help her constantly improve, not stroke her ego. Tell her what's good and what needs improvement. An artist is only as creatively amazing and innovative as his/her team.

in other words...she needs US - the fans that will never let her down, even if we don't have TA membership and can't express our ideas directly to her. We just try really hard and wish her best of luck and i'm sure, she'll be able to feel it even over there in the far far Japan ;-)

Love you Ayu-chan, will support you no matter what! ^_^

[GRACE]

I don't know if she realizes she's recycling stuff. She described You were.../BALLAD as a unique singe that sounded nothing like what she'd done before right? She mentioned how the stage for CDL was inovative and unique, right?

Exactly

[SunshineSlayer]

^ Yeah, that's why I really have to question her mental state sometimes. She really is her worst enemy sometimes because often the way that she hypes up and describes things isn't really accurate. Either that or we are getting very consistently bad and way off translations. I like You Were a lot, but it certainly isn't something new or innovative and neither was the stage.

[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

^ Yeah, that's why I really have to question her mental state sometimes.

Maybe we should rename the thread to "Has Ayu lost her marbles?"

[slavomiros]

she tends to use this "passage" reaching out into audience...didn't have that in the past...it's so "last year" to me...when she walks it with band members and dancers....
better have smth like during A-nation...like the coach that went around audience ;-)

[FuNsTyLe]

Well someone should tell her... Or else it will become like the "Emperors new Clothes"




Who remembers when she used to do alternative live versions of her songs... Like...unplugged or acoustic versions... I'd love to see that again. There was a Grateful Days acoustic live she did on the beach, really summer-ish.. I loved it!

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

^ Yeah, that's why I really have to question her mental state sometimes.

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

Maybe we should rename the thread to "Has Ayu lost her marbles?"

You know, it honestly surprise me if she was completely sane. I can't imagine her being after all the tragedy around her, plus being one of the most famous people in Japan.

[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by GRACE

You know, it honestly surprise me if she was completely sane. I can't imagine her being after all the tragedy around her, plus being one of the most famous people in Japan.

I was joking about the thread rename.
So she thinks that shes doing something awesome but in reality its far from that. I think theres a big difference between being delusional/in denial about the quality of your work and being insane. Saying shes even slightly insane is very harsh and unfounded.

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

I was joking about the thread rename.
So she thinks that shes doing something awesome but in reality its far from that. I think theres a big difference between being delusional about your work and being insane. Saying shes even slightly insane is very harsh and unfounded.

I'm just saying, it would surprise me if she wasn't even slightly insane. There's no reason to call me "harsh"

It's not "unfounded." Someone with so much tragedy in their lives plus a huge(and it was definitely sudden) rise to fame is bound to have some issues

[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by GRACE

I'm just saying, it would surprise me if she wasn't even slightly insane. There's no reason to call me "harsh"

It's not "unfounded." Someone with so much tragedy in their lives plus a huge(and it was definitely sudden) rise to fame is bound to have some issues

Why the assumption? I think many people who have had tragedy in their lives can overcome these issues and become stronger, more mentally composed and not degenerate. In Ayu's case when there is no actual evidence to the contrary, it is unfounded.

[tourniquet]

Originally Posted by GRACE

It's not "unfounded." Someone with so much tragedy in their lives plus a huge(and it was definitely sudden) rise to fame is bound to have some issues

I don't think she's been through more than your average person in her personal life. if you think otherwise it's maybe because you're still relatively young.

being the biggest female solo artist since the glorious days of seiko is another matter entirely. the background noise of stardom and the responsibility for so many people (all the people who work in the 'ayumi hamasaki industries' + her fans). that one guy from TA committing suicide surely didn't help.


just watched the CDL 09-10 and found myself humming to a beautiful piano melody while maro? showed a little choreography to the audience. at first I thought it was an older ballad like teddy bear or Who... but then I noticed it was Sunrise.
I think the problem of her new stuff is the execution. the songs written for her are insane material.

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by FuNsTyLe

Well someone should tell her... Or else it will become like the "Emperors new Clothes"

Actually, imo I think that's exactly how it is lol

And Japan, with their culture being the way it is...who's going to tell her any different?

Max?

Pff.

[taskinillusion]

"Lost her touch?" As what? There are so many aspects that you could look at this from...

As an entertainer? No. TIMES change, so she has to change along with it. But she's still an amazing entertainer. She's never been the strongest singer and has definitely sounded better before, but she still has her really "on" moments. No one sells as well as they used to anymore due to the economy changing and whatnot, but she still gets number 1's! I'm just extremely grateful that she's still out there doing her thing and trying. She'll never please everyone. People go through phases of liking a person, so the same people won't always like her and she'll still get new fans. All I know is, she's still out there trying and I'm very glad that she is. I will continue to support her and will always look forward to whenever she releases anything new!