J-Pop artists you used to love but now lost interest in

[henrydawg87]

Koda Kumi - OMG. She needs to slow down and listen to her music. Best~second session~ was pretty all that she had going for her, but the 20,000 singles she decided to release in the following months pretty much lost my attention. I just kept asking myself, "Wait. Didn't she just release
something last month?" Black Cherry was a mess and a half, not to mention the TERRIBLE song order. JUICY, Candle Light, and then Cherry Girl. SERIOUSLY? JUICY makes me want to dance, and then I want to slit my wrists with Candle Light before dancing some more to Cherry Girl. She has talent, but I think she needs to concentrate on putting it into one amazing song.

BoA - For some reason, this is one artist that I love to hate. Her latest single - sweet impact - is garbage. I think it was the beginning of the end after the release of Love and Honesty. There's something about her voice that is so annoying that I just have to keep listening to it. Whenever she wants to be dramatic, she sounds like a goat. Merikuri? ZUTTO! ZUTTO! SOBA NI ITE! Ugh. Nails across a blackboard. There's no more excitement. It's the same old stuff, single after single.

Utada Hikaru - She was one of the first artists I adored when I discovered Jpop. After her English album, Exodus, she's failed to capture my heart like she used to. I dunno. It seems like she just remixes her old stuff and adds new lyrics. I also recently realized how annoying her voice is. She can't sing without breathing every 2 seconds, and when she holds out a note, it just fades away and makes this annoying noise. It's the Utada noise. Be My Last? BE MY LAST...ttt...ttt...tt...t...

Hitomi Shimatani - She has such a pretty voice and BEAUTIFUL black hair, but her music is so generic and plain I could die. Except for maybe Mahiru no Tsuki, her entire Prima Rosa album is skip-worthy. I can barely listen to an entire song the whole way through without saying, "Didn't she already sing this song?"

Beni Arashiro - I thought this girl had potential to hit it big. I really loved Harmony and Miracle, but she just went downhill from there. I don't even know how she keeps releasing so many albums without realizing that her music is crap. It's like she's allowed to only sing the songs that even BoA rejected. I can't find a single emotion in her songs. It's just full of random beats and sounds with vocals thrown into the mess.

Ai Takaoka - Her debut album, Sunny, was amazing. I thought she knew how to play her guitar like a master. And then she released her second album, and I was like, "Wait, is this a remix album?" I swear, every song on Sunny was remade for acoustic love. Same guitar sounds. Same beats. Same everything. It was like she forgot how to play the guitar and was desperate for a new song.

Chihiro Onitsuka - I dunno. It's not like she's bad, but she's really depressed or something. ALL of her songs are slow, and she has that goat-like roar that puts me to sleep. Her new single sounds like every other ballad she's made. I'm just so tired of her being sad.

[Uemarasan]

A lot of vitriol here

Mika Nakashima, BoA, and Mai Kuraki

What happened? After Glamorous Sky, Love & Honesty, and Fairy Tale, it all went downhill fast.

The biggest disappointment:Hikaru Utada

I struggled and I struggled over who I liked better before: Ayu or Hikki. And then Exodus came along. Flavor of Life had me fooled as a great song for a few weeks, and then I realized it was just an inferior version of Colors. Kiss and Cry, I will have to see...

Never really liked:Koda Kumi

I like a handful of songs. I like her personality. Too bad the overall music isn't as great as the sales numbers make it out to be.

Through it all, Ayu's music has remained consistently appealing to me. Not as intensely exciting as before, but now more like a plateau of bliss. Thankfully, I never really fed off the hype, so I know my love is genuine Hehe. I've been having an eight-year affair with Ayu. I am not giving up anytime soon!

Namie, too, hasn't failed me yet. Some singles are terrible, but she always makes up for them with better ones or a great album.

Been doing well so far: Angela Aki and Chihiro Onitsuka (new single rekindled the love).

Why no men? Well...

[AmyRoseM]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

Through it all, Ayu's music has remained consistently appealing to me. Not as intensely exciting as before, but now more like a plateau of bliss. Thankfully, I never really fed off the hype, so I know my love is genuine Hehe. I've been having an eight-year affair with Ayu. I am not giving up anytime soon!

AMEN. :p My affair has also been 8 years long, and while I'm not in awe of her songs anymore(like Endless Sorrow.. I remember listening to it when it first came out and thinking, "how does she keep doing it?"), I'm consistently pleased with whatever she puts out. I don't think I'll ever lose interest in her. Which is pretty awesome, actually.

Okay, back on topic:

Mai Kuraki: DUDE. where did she go?!? I miss her awesomeness.

Utada Hikaru: I was SUPER IMPRESSED with Ultra Blue, but her latest singles have just not done it for me. *shrugs* But I have faith.

Otsuka Ai: um..wtf. PEACH, while pleasant, is NOT what she is capable of. And for this, I am disappointed.

Originally Posted by henrydawg87

Hitomi Shimatani - She has such a pretty voice and BEAUTIFUL black hair, but her music is so generic and plain I could die. Except for maybe Mahiru no Tsuki, her entire Prima Rosa album is skip-worthy.

...You're joking, right? Hitomi Shimatani, generic and plain? She's like one of the most unique artists Japanese music has to offer! Her crossover genre is just so OMFGLYK.

And PRIMA ROSA is probably her best album too.

- - - - -

YUI Boooring. Her music keeps getting worse and sounding more similar since CAN'T BUY MY LOVE. I honestly was not looking forward to I LOVED YESTERDAY, and as expected - with the exception of 2 or 3 tracks - it was bland as, ummm, bread. LOL
LISA In LISA standards, this past year or so has been so below-par. I only really liked crave on ready to disco.
Koda Kumi Come back soon with your new single, and make it good. Kingdom didn't last me 2 weeks before I deleted it from my library. Well, it's back up again now though, not that I listen to it. All that hype for nothing. Her musical quality peak for me was definitely secret.
Tenjo Chiki Bleh. I was addicted to them for a while back. Now I've come to the conclusion that they suck.
Hitomi Shimatani I never thought I'd say this, but it's true. Since PRIMA ROSA she hasn't made a really strong crossover track - which is what made me a fan. Ever since Neva Eva the only song I've really liked is Shinku, and Neva Eva itself was only alright. I hope crossover isn't gone forever... can't say I'm looking forward to the upcoming album if it all sounds like this! I still adore Hitomi though, jsut going through a rough patch.

[CatGirl]

Koda Kumi - I was really liking Kuu's stuff until late 2007ish >> Like, honestly, 2007 was just a repeat of 2006 for Kuu. And is it just me or is Kuu's voice getting really annoying? O-o; If you compare her vocals in songs like Ai no Uta or LAST ANGEL, for example, to stuff from secret, they sound a lot more whiny, imo. I don't really like it X_x; I didn't even bother with KINGDOM 'cause I know I was just gonna be disappointed x.x However, I DID download her 1st best, so it's revived my interest in her a bit~

Mika Nakashima - I used to LOVE Mika but I've lost so much interest in her lately >: I think it's because the majority of her songs are slow/ballads, and I just haven't been a ballad person lately X_x; And her new single isn't very impressive either, imo. I wish she'd experiment a bit more and make more songs like Kumo no Ito instead of either ballads/jazz songs all the time :/