Disappointing 10th anniversary.

[waterballoon]

Well, sometimes, a year just goes by way too fast.

I mean, the tour is more or less necessary since I suppose Ayu gets most of her money from the revenue of tours.

The thing is, with the tour going from Japan to the rest of Asia, there just isn't too much time left for her to do much about anything else.

I mean, so far the time line for 2008 has been as such

Jan - GUILTY
Mar - a-yu-mix GOLD/SILVER
Apr - start of Arena Tour 08 and Mirrorcle World single
August - a-nation' 08
September/October - start of Asia tour 08 and A COMPLETE

There's nothing TOO interesting over there, since really I think this 10th Anniversary is too heavily focussed on touring.

But still, this is only July and the only confirmed activities going on after July are a-nation, A COMPLETE and Asia tour.

She still has August, September, October, November and December.

Who knows, she might do some real kick-butt things during these months.

Which was why I hope A COMPLETE will be the REAL start of the celebration of her 10th Anniversary.

I'm sort of disappointed too, but I guess the news of A COMPLETE gives me hope about 2008 for Ayu.

[ArchangelLegend]

Am I the only Ayu fan who doesn't really care for a new single? It would be nice and I would 100% get it, but I'm not looking forward to it per say. I must be a stupid fan who doesn't make sense. ^_^

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

But it just seems to me that she simply doesn't want to and has lost some of that drive and passion that she used to have and all the other reasons given by fans are simply excuses.

Just be careul with your choice of words (excuses vs reasons). Some excuses could be actual reasons. I mean it's kinda wierd to say that "Ayu being on an Asia Tour is just an excuse for her to not release many singles this year." Doing something else is a good reason to not do another thing. I can also say "Ayu doesn't want to release a single this summer." That's just a reason (she doesn't want to) and can hardly be viewed as an excuse.

But I do think "she needing a break" CAN be an excuse, especially since I don't know her lifestyle and personal life. For all I know, she has taken a lot of breaks already. (even though it may be an actual reason in reality)

Or "she broken up with her boyfriend" can also be an excuse since for all we know, she recovered and got over with it completely. (again it might actually be true, I do doubt this tho)

Also saying "she is busy traveling doing photoshoots" can be a reason. For one thing, it's what she does, and you can't be in two places in one time, stating the obvious. Or maybe, "she rather wait for a later date for a new single" can be a reason as well.

So we really don't know if certain things are really an excuses or reasons.

Also, I think she still has passion and cares a lot. I also don't think she cares that it is her 10th anniversary, but I do think she just cares about her fans and of coarse the people she knows. I personally don't care about the year number and that she would do anything special to it, but I do care that she always does her best. And as an Ayu fan, that the main thing I care about now, I want her to do what she wants and do it good. I used to expect a lot more, but I found it unnecessary and I found myself being more selfish for no good reason.

A lot of this is just speculation. So yeah, I could be completely wrong.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by ArchangelLegend

Just be careul with your choice of words (excuses vs reasons). Some excuses could be actual reasons. I mean it's kinda wierd to say that "Ayu being on an Asia Tour is just an excuse for her to not release many singles this year." Doing something else is a good reason to not do another thing. I can also say "Ayu doesn't want to release a single this summer." That's just a reason (she doesn't want to) and can hardly be viewed as an excuse.

I was referring to people saying she is getting old, is resting her voice, is taking a break etc as excuses for not doing more this year. Being on tour is neither an excuse nor a reason for not releasing new singles because other artists do it all the time and Ayu has done it in the past herself.

It just seems all to often that Ayu fans get too wrapped up in making excuses/reasons for her instead of just sitting back and saying she just simply doesn't want to do as much this year

[ArchangelLegend]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Being on tour is neither an excuse nor a reason

Then what is it?

Also those two words are distinguishable, but it seems you made them the same thing. I mean "my dog ate my homework" is a made-up excuse to not do well on a test while "I didn't study" is a reason to not do well on a test (of coarse, there can be more reasons).

[thesilentspeaker]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

What do I want?

I'd have been happy with a regular schedule of like 4 or 5 TV appearances and more than 4 magazine appearances. That would've sufficed in my opinion.

But this is the first year in Ayu's history that she's only appeared on four magazines in the first half of the year. She hasn't even been on MUSIC STATION. It's like she just disappeared other than her tours.

having ayu on magazines and TV is not solely for her to decide~ it's the Magazines' and Tv stations' decision. If they think ayu's appearance is beneficial to them, i.e: able to boost their ratings or increase circulation, then of cos, they'll decide to put her on their covers and tv screens~~

i thk her preparing for her tours is the most crucial thg right now~~ i mean the no. of stops this year has increased. of cos she has to prepare to ensure that she doesnt disappoint her fans. isnt that what we fans shd be looking fwd to right nw?

[truehappiness]

No, it's not their decision, it's Ayu's promotional coordinator's decision. It's like saying that D&G just asked Ayu if she wanted to use their clothes for GUILTY.. I'm sure Ayu has some say in whether or not she appears in some shows.

[thesilentspeaker]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

No, it's not their decision, it's Ayu's promotional coordinator's decision. It's like saying that D&G just asked Ayu if she wanted to use their clothes for GUILTY.. I'm sure Ayu has some say in whether or not she appears in some shows.

actually it works both ways~~ I confirmed with a friend who's working at MTV Asia Artiste Management department. The promotional coordinator will help promote the artiste by convincing Tv stations to allow the artiste appear on programmes. So ultimately, it's still the Tv staton's decision.

but of cos, i guess ayu also wants to concentrate on preparing for the tour ~~

[Mirai Noah]

This year as been disappointing for me, Ayu-wise. I can understand if she's taking a break (she does deserve one), but I really miss hearing new music from Ayu.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by thesilentspeaker

actually it works both ways~~ I confirmed with a friend who's working at MTV Asia Artiste Management department. The promotional coordinator will help promote the artiste by convincing Tv stations to allow the artiste appear on programmes. So ultimately, it's still the Tv staton's decision.

but of cos, i guess ayu also wants to concentrate on preparing for the tour ~~

Well, it's not like they'd have to do any convincing to have Ayu on the show tbh. This isn't like JE and their owning of MUSIC STATION so that THSK cannot perform.

[ayumisrael]

The people that think that ayu's taking a break are killing me XD.
ayu doesn't release new material at the moment because she needed to re-record Who... work a bit on this A COMPLETE thingy (maybe covers? booklets? and a whole promotion?).
Afterwards she has to rehearse a-nation and ASIA TOUR 2008 and then do the overseas venues of the tour while being there some days before and the last one is on November 2nd, meanwhile she will most likely release a new single. ayu is definitely not resting and it doesn't even look like she want to rest.

[truehappiness]

ayu doesn't release new material at the moment because she needed to re-record Who... work a bit on this A COMPLETE thingy (maybe covers? booklets? and a whole promotion?).

You're kidding me, right? I'm pretty sure recording Who... takes Ayu like 10 minutes.

And A COMPLETE probably hasn't even started work yet.

[Not~Yet]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

You're kidding me, right? I'm pretty sure recording Who... takes Ayu like 10 minutes.

Actually, I think it takes longer than that (not much but still ), she has to record the bg vocals too, and sing the song from beginning to end at once and often these song recordings don't just go right for the 1st try, and that's why there are several versions sung, breaks in between the sessions and Ayu probably joins to mastering the song. So it can take several days if she wants it to be 100% perfect.

But yeah though, it shouldn't take too long to record in the end.

[truehappiness]

I was being sarcastic, but seriously, it shouldn't take her longer than 30 minutes to sing and record Who...

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I was being sarcastic, but seriously, it shouldn't take her longer than 30 minutes to sing and record Who...

How do you know?
It doesn't called Who... (10th anniversary ~take 1~ version).
Even without it, she's got plenty of things to do. The last thing she does is taking a break, that was the point.

[truehappiness]

Recording for Ayu is probably a piece of cake. tbh, she should be done within a day. She's recorded this song 3 times already, actually.

[tourniquet]

that woman can write 5 songs in one day and states, she never listens to her recorded stuff - she should be outta the studio within half an hour, really. didn't she record Secret in one take?

the only thing I'm concerned about is that her vocals might be pretty strained from touring and need a little rest before recording.


besides, one of my newer theories is that her "bg vocals" are pure synth sounds or they wouldn't be in the instrumentals. also, that "gucci" in the inst. version of the inspire remix made it pretty clear how far they can go with forming her voice in the computer.

[maikaru]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I was being sarcastic, but seriously, it shouldn't take her longer than 30 minutes to sing and record Who...

Usually it takes an artist maybe 1 - 2 days, depending on the difficulty of the song, because the producers will want to have many takes to work with.

Although I guess "anything goes" with Ayumi~~
But I remember the story about Momentum.. lol and her frustration.
It said so many days for her to record!! ._.);

I thought the story was... she WANTED to record Secret in one go.
But she couldn't because of what happened with Momentum?~

BG vocals are synth sounds?
But you can clearly hear the words??
o.o)a I don't really understand. ahaha.
I was told earlier this week that she HAS a bg vocalist

[tourniquet]

yes, she has a bg vocalist, but she/they is not credited on all releases. therefore, I assume, that they do it in the computer. you can manipulate sound to an incredible level so that it sounds like a human voice and most people won't notice any difference. especially low-budget productions make use of this when it comes to choral parts (cf. for example Bara no Seidou from Malice Mizer).

the other thing would be that they simply pitch up the normal vocal track and double-layer it or whatever. in any case, I'm pretty sure, ayu doesn't have to do anything for these bg vocal parts.

[sibby]

i think we should wait for like near the end of the year? o-o im sure she has something planned up or something. who knows seriously

[Not~Yet]

Originally Posted by tourniquet

besides, one of my newer theories is that her "bg vocals" are pure synth sounds or they wouldn't be in the instrumentals. also, that "gucci" in the inst. version of the inspire remix made it pretty clear how far they can go with forming her voice in the computer.

Actually it's not "gucci" but "kuchi" she's saying and it's ripped of the chorus line "kuchi ni suru koto wa" and therefore it's not made by computer.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I was being sarcastic

Lol okay then