Why I think Ayumi's sales have fallen...

[Crystal_Ageha]

I really don't know what you guys are smoking, because Ayu is EXTREMELY non-Western sounding. She is the epitome of J-Pop. You guys must think that anything without Chinese or Indian instruments is Western. But even the Middle-Eastern inspired INSPIRE is still almost nothing but J-Pop. And somebody said something about Real me...? You can't go any further than saying it has a slight Eurobeat touch to it.
Also, when most people say ''Western'', they do usually mean American. And in that case you're even further off. Because, yeah, a few of Ayu's earlier things had a slight European vibe (I'm mainly just talking about LOVEppears and a few other techno-ish songs), but she's never had anything that could be mainstream U.S. stuff.

And for those of you saying things like, 'oh well pop and R&B came from America so yea it's all Western,' you guys do realise that THOSE genres are made up of combinations of music types from, mostly, Africa...? So if you're going to try that, music is all technically African, lol.

[truehappiness]

Well, for me, I was talking about her LOOK being very Western. As for her music... I really don't know what defines J-Pop specifically for me, to be honest since there are a TON of genres contained under the "J-Pop" umbrella. In the end, I guess it depends on what you think J-Pop is personally. (For me, Namie's music is very Americanized/Western, as I can very easily see acts in America performing the same tracks that she does with English lyrics since a lot of Namie's songs are in English that she barely understands herself (apparently) anyway. Same doesn't go for Ayu for the most part imo.)

[Crystal_Ageha]

Aa, yes, she definitely has a Western look; pretty much everybody does, since that's what's considered modern and cool. But her music... Like most of us have said, Amuro is Western (well, she's supposed to be--again, PAST<FUTURE is mostly J-Pop again...), and her genre is often even described as Western R&B/hip-hop. But Ayu..? She's the complete opposite, literally.

[jbrat2219]

Here's a simple solution.

Ayu is Japanese. Ayu sings pop music. Pop music was popularized in Japan by the West. Therefore, Ayu sings Japanese Pop music. The only connection it has to "the west" she has is the fact that's were pop originated from (music experts correct me if I'm wrong).

And if you want to make it even simpler: the only thing that makes Namie's music, for example, more "westernized" than Ayu's is the fact it is at times composed by westerners with lyrics that incorporate heavy English in the lyrics . Ayu's music is composed by Japanese composers with lyrics that incorporate heavy Japanese, making her music pure Japanese pop.

No matter her influences, it's J-pop all the way.

That's just the simplicity of the matter. If you all wanna make it more complicated than that go ahead lol.

As far as her sales going down? Again, simple logic: what goes up must come down.

[truehappiness]

Wait, this is deja vu-y.

Haven't we had this conversation before?

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by Crystal_Ageha

^ Hahah. If only we could all think so simply. ^^'

It's not so hard.

Everyone wants to over analyze everything all the time when it is as simple as pop produced by Japanese in Japanese and 300K people buying an album instead of 3 million lol.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by jbrat2219

Why can't it just be...

If you don't like Ayu, go away
If you like Ayu, you can stay
If you have a compliment/complaint, state it politely.
Respect and be mature about each others opinions no matter how much they differ.

/end.

Simple as that.

Yep, we did, haha.

(from the AYU LOST HER TOUCH!! thread)

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Yep, we did, haha.

(from the AYU LOST HER TOUCH!! thread)

I'm repeating myself all over this forum!

[microphone]

Originally Posted by Crystal_Ageha

I really don't know what you guys are smoking, because Ayu is EXTREMELY non-Western sounding. She is the epitome of J-Pop. You guys must think that anything without Chinese or Indian instruments is Western. But even the Middle-Eastern inspired INSPIRE is still almost nothing but J-Pop. And somebody said something about Real me...? You can't go any further than saying it has a slight Eurobeat touch to it.
Also, when most people say ''Western'', they do usually mean American. And in that case you're even further off. Because, yeah, a few of Ayu's earlier things had a slight European vibe (I'm mainly just talking about LOVEppears and a few other techno-ish songs), but she's never had anything that could be mainstream U.S. stuff.

And for those of you saying things like, 'oh well pop and R&B came from America so yea it's all Western,' you guys do realise that THOSE genres are made up of combinations of music types from, mostly, Africa...? So if you're going to try that, music is all technically African, lol.

Don't make assumptions of me, or anyone. Pop music is a western element, don't you think? Japanese-style pop, while vastly different than American pop, has western roots. Genuine japanese music sounds different. I invite you to listen. It is beautiful. Anyway, I am not the person who said Ayumi is like American singer. I think that is very wrong, and a bit offensive. Sorry to fan of American singers.

Yes, I do know that. Did you read my other posts? I said nothing originated from America. R&B and Hip-hop are considered American style of music. Not necessarily an American creation. Music did not come from Africa, anyway.

[KuuXAyu-fan]

In all honesty boy bands are taking over. Sales of almost all females have gone down quite a bit. I mean TRICK was the #1 female studio of 2009 yet only sold about 400k. I just hope the females can get back in the spotlight and dominate the market again.

[Piccolo]

Well, this is certainly one of the better first posts I've read in a while.

[Cherry Dynamite]

This is why I never label music.
It's a song and if you enjoy it why do you have to think about if it's too western or whatever.

[Bigtop]

Why are boy bands more popular? And why do Johnny's Entertainment groups (and its related subsidiaries) DO NOT put their music on iTunes or some sort, leading to "astronomical" sales numbers that usually girls like Ayu could reach in the past but cannot reach today!?

Why don't we all just shut up and stop arguing.

This person wasn't even offensive to anyone, including Ayu, in their post, and yet people are going psychotic over it.

I don't know why this person decided to pretty much join a forum just to say this. They must have known some people would start defending Ayu.

[hayasaki]

Originally Posted by freedreamer

Ayu's peak was there and now she's become an artiste that deserves RESPECT more than sales.

This is exactly what i am thinking of as of this moment.

[Lady~Deviance]

Originally Posted by xLitax

Why don't we all just shut up and stop arguing.

This person wasn't even offensive to anyone, including Ayu, in their post, and yet people are going psychotic over it.

I don't know why this person decided to pretty much join a forum just to say this. They must have known some people would start defending Ayu.

Agreed hun, agreed.
Y'all a bunch of crazy folk! It's amazing how the fangs and claws came out on this thread and now you have folk actin' like a bunch of demon eyed hyenas fighting over a carcass. I find it absolutely hysterical!

I did not agree with 85% of what the poster said but at the same time I'm not going bash or insult him/her or anyone for that matter. Opinions are opinions. Take it or leave it. (Granted some of the things the person said was totally out of whack.) And instead of jumping to conclusions, maybe the poster never came back for other reasons we do not know of. Just sayin'.

And enough with the name calling for pete's sake. It's not necessary to insult someone to get your point across. Talk and treat others the way you would in person. Because we all know for DAMNED sure if we saw each other face to face people would behave differently. Y'all take care now.

deuces

[Polyrhythm]

Opening poster, I may disagree with many points you make, but I find your arguement compelling. People who are flaming like crazy hell dogs, you need to chill. Just because someone doesn't say "omgz ayu is god" that doesnt mean he/she is an "attention seeker."

[channy]

You guys are talking like business mens!! It really makes me wanna disappear xDD So embarrassing. Talking about music, but only speaking about sales, the look of a person, genres etc. I could spit out my meal from yesterday.

I wanna see how much of a fan you guys still are, when all pop stars get bald heads, no makeup and chubby stomaches. What shallow ppl are calling "music" nowadays makes me blushing.

Let's be HONEST: The kind Ayu is acting on TV shows since years, its EMBARRASSING. She's trying so hard to be cute as a little girl while shes already over 30 etc. She's a woman, not a 7-years old. Also the tons of fakelashes, extensions, makeup and over-photoshopped photos etc. I mean, I'm allways havin a hard time, to keep sticking to Ayu's music, but what you guys are writing here, makes me angry ò.0

Because it gives me the impression, that most people are talking about her successes, plastic body accessoires and artificial image S*(HI''T. Lets get back to the MUSIC, just ignoring the other details, which don't really have to do with music, like the F''U&CKIN))G SALES which are actually important for no one else but AVEXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!

I DON'T CARE IF NAMI AMURO IS MORE FAMOUS BECAUSE OF HER SILLY FASHION AND HER AWESOME SALES! SHOW ME HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LIKING THAT WOMAN IF SHE WEARS MAN JEANS AND A SIMPLE T-SHIRT.

Thank you.

[freedreamer]

It's been long haha.

I have a question. What's westernized? If that means Beyonce, Lady GaGa..R&B, Hip-Hop then Ayu is definitely NOT westerized. By westernized for me, I mean that Ayu doesnt do SUPERJPOP-esque songs like ARASHI yet at the same time, it's not full-blown westernized music because if you rip away all the instruments, you get a melody that is easy on the ears, AND THAT is Jpop. A song like "too late" has such a Jpop melody but remix and arrange it in a different way and it can give a different vibe. Just like "Sparkle". Have heard english covers of it and it fits only because of the Music NOT the melody.

about what hpg23 said about the lyrics. That's something new for me. I never thought of it that way that majority of the people would have something fun rather than meaningful (maybe I'm just a more sensitive person). But reading that, it suddenly makes sense. People would rather be hooked onto a line (as for majority Kpop acts...and I enjoy Kpop too) rather than breaking down the lyrics. But I have once said to my friends, when you listen to a song for the First time, it is the tune and sometimes catch phrase that jumps at you rather than the true lyrics itself. I guess with So much more music these days and as the Speed of modern life increases, people find it harder to concentrate on such details.

[PEARL]

Seriously, i think both namie's & ayu's songs are americanized.
namie's songs are quite westernized..