Disappointing 10th anniversary.

[truehappiness]

Why can't we just thank her for what she is doing right now, and stop saying "How disappointing" or "I want this and that."
She is doing what she wants to do. Obviously, what she is and she is not doing has different opinions that will never be resolved... =\

Because it is disappointing? I love the material, but dang. Even misono is outpromoting Ayu.

[Rebirthia]

even the a best 2 release had much more promotion, with those horrible covers, let me add. it's very surprising all the moves avex are making, now they add a player in the web... what for? at least, if they would add a new song...

[truehappiness]

The new music player is more for an easy access to ALL previews in her discography. It's a nice idea, since it's nice for sampling discs before you buy.

[ayumisrael]

I love that music player, better than the previews in RP or WMP thing.

[(miss)understood]

lol stfu anthony


Just cuz you cant go see her live in concert doesnt mean shes having an imperfect year.
I mean compare her career to yours.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by (miss)understood

lol stfu anthony


Just cuz you cant go see her live in concert doesnt mean shes having an imperfect year.
I mean compare her career to yours.

That's a terrible argument. Immature as well.

Sort of like when people are like "Oh, you can't criticize because you haven't sold millions of records, so uh stfu."

Does that mean that Ayu has the right to compare her career to anyone else's? No.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by GRACE

Seriously, why isn't anyone so hard on any other artist?

They are, but this is an Ayu forum so of course you are only going to hear about Ayu here.

Originally Posted by ArchangelLegend

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).

You're right, I should have clarified better. What I should have said is that yes, being on tour could be a reason to not release new material, but imo, it is not a very good one. She did it in the past all the time, other artists do it all the time. Compared to many other artists, Ayu's schedule the past couple of years, especially this year would look like a virtual vacation to them.(I'm talking relatively of course) That's why I don't particularly like the "she's too busy, she's on tour, she needs time to re-release Who, needs time to release another single collection, etc" examples for why she hasn't done more this year. She could be doing more if she wanted to, I'm sure. I just think there is likely a different reason for why not, that maybe only Ayu knows? I don't know.

I don't know why some people are coming down on those that are expecting more from Ayu. I don't know, if I were Ayu, I think I would rather people expect more from me, rather than expect less. Just like a person always wants to expect more from themselves, never less from themselves.

It would be fine with me if this 10th anniversary year were even on par with just a regular semi quiet year from Ayu (ie 2006 and 2007), but it is not even on that level. And considering that this is supposed to be a special year, yes it has been disappointing so far I think. Maybe she will surprise me in the second half though. I'm also going to be back in Japan again next spring, so I'm hoping she will be touring again then (can't believe it'll be my 8th time seeing her live!) and maybe that will be a more 10th anniversary like type of show.

[JimmyKoria]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

They are, but this is an Ayu forum so of course you are only going to hear about Ayu here.

D: I don't think Grace has been to a tatu forum before. The fans are sometimes out for blood latley.

[truehappiness]

D: I don't think Grace has been to a tatu forum before. The fans are sometimes out for blood latley.

The Western-ish artists' forums are much crazier than AHS.. and AHS is pretty crazy right now. They have like 10x as many fans and 100x the insane fans... like, truly insane..

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

I'm tired of this crap of ppl saying she is going through a rough time. EVERYBODY goes through rough times.

I agree with you 100%. I don't think that people mean to, but everytime they use "rough times" as a reason, to me it seems like kind of an inadvertent slap in the face to other artists and the people on staff because it assumes that they don't go through the same kinds of things. Almost like Ayu is a separate species or something that can't possibly deal with hardship like the rest of us. Please have a little more faith in Ayu's strength to handle things - I doubt this is the lowest point of her life.

Originally Posted by GRACE

Well you're a **** >.>... News flash, you aren't Ayu. You don't know how close she was to this friend, and you don't know how their death affected her. You don't know how Ayu reacts to losing a long term relationship like that. I'm not saying she can't deal with them, where did I ever say that? I'm saying that she needs the space to deal with them, but she's pouring all she can into her tour. I can't imagine her having more to give than she's already giving to it. Asking for new stuff all the time, when there's so much else going on is like treating her as if she's a robot, she's only human, the issues themselves can be worked through, but all at once she lost her boyfriend of many years, a close friend, and finally seems to have come to terms with how she'll never hear again out of that ear.

Of course everyone heals at their own pace and I don't pretend to know how healed she is or not, but the way you and some others are making it sound is that she is sooooo fragile that she couldn't possibly have worked this out already or work at the same time. And I personally think Ayu is a lot stronger than that.

She's the one that broke up with her boyfriend, if anything I would imagine he was the most effected of the two parties as it has long been known that he wanted to get married and Ayu constantly put it off and then eventually broke up with him.

Also, the ear, while devastating to a singer is honestly not something that she just learned about overnight. It has been going on since 2000 and she was already close to being deaf in 2004, she just never got the official diagnosis until 2006. This is not some new shocking development for her - it's something she has been living with and working with for a long time.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I'd say that for all of you saying that we aren't Ayu and we don't know how she feels and such, you're doing an awful lot of talking for her. I'm sticking to the argument that some Ayu fans just don't give Ayu enough credit and they think she's a frail little woman who is going to break if someone tells her she's fat or ugly, so people defend DEFEND DEFEND like the wind as if it's going to help, but it's not.

Wow, I'm really surprised to hear this coming from you of all people! (not that its a bad or good thing, just surprising)

I just wanted to say that I hope people don't get the wrong idea and think all I want to do is criticize Ayumi - I love Ayumi and have supported her a lot with what I'm sure is an ungodly sum of money by now. There actually isn't a single song of hers that I hate (there are some that I think are just ok, but that's it) and I've collected every single live performance on TV she has ever done - I am a hugely obsessed fan. But I'm also not the type of fan that supports everything no matter what - If I don't like a pv, performance, set list, or a misdirection in her career imo, then I will always try to constructively criticize it. It's much more healthy stance than always defending I think.

[lumieregrl]

I think I need to quite reading these threads. My eyeballs hurt, and now I'm a little depressed.

I'm happy with whatever Ayu does, but then I've been a fan for a year and a half. It's all new to me. :lol

Part of me thinks that Avex has shoved her aside. Namie's having an amazing year (first #1 in 10 years!), but I think that all got put together because PLAY did so well. They heard the cash register ringing and dreamed of more...

[Lora-Ayu]

Ayu's also a human being, so we have to understand that. So many things we don't even know are happening in her life before and right now that has affected her and some of us fans keep complaining that this 10th anniversary of hers is DISAPPOINTING?!

She is strong, (well, I believe she is) and up until now she is fighting and still standing there touring even if she's not releasing anything new yet for now.

Why say her 10th year is disappointing and upsetting, when 2008 isn't over yet?

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by Lora-Ayu

Ayu's also a human being, so we have to understand that. So many things we don't even know are happening in her life before and right now that has affected her and some of us fans keep complaining that this 10th anniversary of hers is DISAPPOINTING?!

She is strong, (well, I believe she is) and up until now she is fighting and still standing there touring even if she's not releasing anything new yet for now.

Why say her 10th year is disappointing and upsetting, when 2008 isn't over yet?

Because the first half of this year was basically her least interesting first half of any year since... ever?

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

The Western-ish artists' forums are much crazier than AHS.. and AHS is pretty crazy right now. They have like 10x as many fans and 100x the insane fans... like, truly insane..

Oh I know! I'm a big Guns N' Roses fan and their forums are like "holy crap these people are nuts!" This is the calmest fan forum I've been on, lol.

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

That's a very good point I wasn't thinking about the travels..they can really wear one off, depending on the time spent traveling

That's usually very true.....but only if you are talking about a place much bigger than Japan. With the bullet train, it really doesn't take long to get anywhere in the country anymore.

Btw, sorry I got back to this discussion a little late. I ended up reiterating things that had already been said because I didn't read the last few pages before I started replying.

[GRACE]

She COULD be purposefully making us sweat a little to make anything else she has in store for us that much more powerful. It's a different road for her, but I have a feeling if we do get anything new, it'll be sprung on us like A Complete.

[truehappiness]

That was my expectation with Mirrorcle World, that she was building up promotional time in order to have a huge blitz later on.

I'm pretty much hoping that she's on 40 magazine covers later this year as well as like every TV show possible, judging from the complete lack of Ayu's presence on anything this year so far.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

That was my expectation with Mirrorcle World, that she was building up promotional time in order to have a huge blitz later on.

I'm pretty much hoping that she's on 40 magazine covers later this year as well as like every TV show possible, judging from the complete lack of Ayu's presence on anything this year so far.

I wouldn't mind even seeing her on some variety shows. If she isn't going to perform on TV, than she could at least be doing some variety shows. There are tons she has never been on that are so much fun that I am sure fans would love to be able to watch her on. If she wants a break from recording and performing I think she could at least do something like that.

[Piccolo]

I think she's having more fun touring outside of Japan than writing songs and appearing on magazines/tv shows. Maybe she'll have some new inspiration after she's done touring and we can all look forward to that. Or maybe her tours will continue to expand.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

I wouldn't mind even seeing her on some variety shows. If she isn't going to perform on TV, than she could at least be doing some variety shows. There are tons she has never been on that are so much fun that I am sure fans would love to be able to watch her on. If she wants a break from recording and performing I think she could at least do something like that.

I would like Ayu to go on one of those random quiz shows, or just appear on shows to talk about stuff like her collections and stuff.

Maybe we can actually get a tour of her shoe-seum one day.

[though the negative point to this is that like 5 people will understand what is going on and half will kinda get the gist and the rest will be asking "tranzlationz plz!"]

[dawnss]

People I have to ask this, if ayu had not released a (new) album and a (new) single, would there be this much commotion over her lack of releases? Better yet, has anyone asked themselves why she truly became famous? Here's my thought when Ayu first came out most people, PROBABLY, thought, " Cute girl, who has lyrics that I can relate to, but her voice and fashion sense is crap". Fast forward to now, "Beautiful woman, who has matured and grown as a PERSON and MUSICALLY, however her current style of music has alientated me". What I am trying to say is that for AYUMI, not the people who hyped up this tenth anniversity, she is doing what she does best, and that is relating to her fans; sure she is creative, has a beautiful voice, is easy on the eyes, and appears to be a genuine person. However, Ayumi is different from most artists in the aspect that she has an uncanny ability to make songs that reach her fans heart's and give them the ability to move on through whatever difficult situation they have. I am NOT implying that other artists cannot do this, it's just that even though some fans may not like her recent music they can still weep at her current lyrics. And because this is an anniversity, which is a time to reflect on one's past, or in this case reflect on the positive contribuations Ayumi has made to our lives, not what it is she is doing or why she isn't doing what we want her to. But, instead we as her FANS, not her critics need to look at why we love AYUM and why we are willing to spend so much time out of our hectic schedules and chaotic affairs to accept her for who she is, and not the machine her record label makes her to be. I'll start off I love Ayu because she has lead me to accept how God made me even though I may have issues with others.
Also sorry if I offended anyone, but this is a time for celebration of AYU and her ability to connect with her fans; not for her fans to either agree or disagree with what she has or has not done.