Ayu's music: when did it start to go downhill for you?

[primavera♥]

^too true...images don't translate into music. In all sincerity

And yes apparently ayus image must matter so much to people because if she makes a little mistake in their eyes it just somehow worsens her career
Its not such a big deal. XD

Ah well~ its kinda true about the other artists too

[evolution7931]

Every artist I'm a fan of that has a major fan community freaks if an album cover is fug

[emi♡]

^cause it sucks to have them put out stuff that is fug.

[pepper]

Wow, i almost the same opinion as 1st poster...

She started to do the same scheme all over again with the tracks (summer upbeat songs, winter ballads and rockish tracks, so true~ but it mixes~ like rockish songs for singles in Guilty mixed with winter ballads, and upbeat summers singles)

I hate how she is after the trend in Japan. When i started to listen to Ayu (After RAINBOW) when i looked at the scanlation i could tell the diffrence between the models in magazine and the articules with Ayu's photos. She was freakin unique in that magazines. They tried really hard to make her 'the diva'

Now all i can see it's those whole glamorous-cute styled photos (It started with the (M)U but with some expeptions) like the other models in magazines. I know it's all tredny now in Japan, but Ayu was always UPPER then the models. More creative.

From Guilty to R'n'R C i can see that she started to... be creative. There's still those glam curly hairs, diva makeup from the posters, but the new single sounds.. very old styled. It's nothing special afterall, not the hitbuster, but when i heards blossom i started to cry Oo Im not fan of MOON but this song also have that vibe, that "something".

[hsienko]

Originally Posted by ♥pepicolada

Wow, i almost the same opinion as 1st poster...

She started to do the same scheme all over again with the tracks (summer upbeat songs, winter ballads and rockish tracks, so true~ but it mixes~ like rockish songs for singles in Guilty mixed with winter ballads, and upbeat summers singles)

I hate how she is after the trend in Japan. When i started to listen to Ayu (After RAINBOW) when i looked at the scanlation i could tell the diffrence between the models in magazine and the articules with Ayu's photos. She was freakin unique in that magazines. They tried really hard to make her 'the diva'

Now all i can see it's those whole glamorous-cute styled photos (It started with the (M)U but with some expeptions) like the other models in magazines. I know it's all tredny now in Japan, but Ayu was always UPPER then the models. More creative.

From Guilty to R'n'R C i can see that she started to... be creative. There's still those glam curly hairs, diva makeup from the posters, but the new single sounds.. very old styled. It's nothing special afterall, not the hitbuster, but when i heards blossom i started to cry Oo Im not fan of MOON but this song also have that vibe, that "something".

"The reason I do photographs is to help people understand my music, so it's
very important that I am the same, emotionally, in the photographs as in the
music. Most people's eyes are much better developed than their ears. If they
see a certain emotion in the photograph, then they'll understand the music.---Björk, Index Magazine, july 2001

I think that's what most artists do. I believe Ayu used to believe in this same philosophy but then somewhere around GUILTY or so she started giving in to the way the press and the media wanted to portray her, as a huge glamorous pop idol diva, the madonna of Asia.

[Ranma Matsuri]

Ok I clicked on this thread seeing stuff about Ayu's image and thought I had the wrong thread, lol.

@JackieRos: LOL, yeah I was always a favorite in my English classes especially when it came down to essays and writing assignments. Long, detailed paragraphs have always been my 'specialty' so to speak.

@StrawbariSnowAyu: I agree that images don't impact the quality of the music but being more of a visual person I still find image to be important in complimenting the music. Like evolution7913 mentioned with the RAINBOW album, when I see the cover and flip through the booklet I associate those images with the music and vice versa when I'm listening to the music those images immediately come to mind. Whenever I listening to a song, the music video to it (if there is one) usually plays along in my head so naturally, I don't want those particular images to be fug lol. That's why I find image to be important at least with albums, music videos and singles... with photoshoots not so much because aside from making graphics I don't find them to be that important lol.

@evolution7931 and emiko: LOL same. All my favorite artists get similar reactions when a cover or photoshoot is 'fugly' or the music is "underwhelming' and 'generic'. Imho, I think it's more of a blessing than an annoyance to have a fanbase that does that because it shows that you set a high standard for yourself and at one point, you were wowing your fans so much that they expect that same level of excellence all the time. If you manage to reach or exceed that bar over the course of your career then you're awesome but I think most of time, when a fanbase has nothing to debate or complain about it's usually because the artist is and always has been just "acceptable" so the fans have learned not to expect much from them.

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

This is an excellent post, Ranma Matsuri. I agree, the seeds had already been planted even before Secret. The summer single began with Boys and Girls and reached its apex with H, the winter ballad with M, but for me at this point in her career she was still interested in musical exploration. With Blue Bird, she seemed to have settled for a more uplifting, exuberant sound in contrast to Fairyland (and maybe that's why Next Level is a slightly more interesting listen than the others: there is no typical summer track). Rainbow is definitely a predecessor of the structure of her recent albums, but it's far more interesting precisely because of its lack of polish and direction. The album is still unpredictable and volatile; you don't know where its coming from and where its going. With regards to My Story, though, I think its structure is very different. It's not easily divided into three parts and there is no turning point; rather each track seems to react and respond to what came before it. It's like a diary in musical form. Each track seems like a self-enclosed entry at first but then listening to the entirety of the album gives you the sense of why the songs were sequenced that way, as though they were slowly unfolding her identity. Unlike Guilty et al, none of the singles stick out. They are all seamlessly integrated into the album.

So what I meant to say with calling Secret the blueprint for what came after is that each subsequent album seems to share the same thematic progression. With Rainbow, Ayu might have had a vague idea of the direction she was heading towards, but she turned against that by experimenting with the albums that followed, until Secret, which was the crystallization of all her musical preoccupations.

Yep I see what you're saying now and I completely agree.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but covers are important. It's a major selling point to albums and singles. It sucks, but I've heard many people not buying something because of the cover. I'm not one of them, but I understand. Some people like visual better than audio, and the other way around.

Oh, and I don't really mind the summer single/winter single thing as long as the songs are good. It would be nice to have a variety of single release patterns though, but too bad!

[love in music]

Originally Posted by xLitax

Yeah, I hate to say it, but covers are important. It's a major selling point to albums and singles. It sucks, but I've heard many people not buying something because of the cover. I'm not one of them, but I understand. Some people like visual better than audio, and the other way around.

Oh, and I don't really mind the summer single/winter single thing as long as the songs are good. It would be nice to have a variety of single release patterns though, but too bad!

Yep, I think they're pretty important too, who doesn't want to see ayu maintain her gorgeous image? I just think it's stupid to care more about a couple images than the music. I think it's idiotic to buy a single only for how good the cover is, but that's just me. If I love what I hear, I'll buy it, no matter how ugly or pretty the cover is.

[AyumiAi]

I think to the hard core fans the covers matter, but not enough to sway us from buying the single or not. What happens is, for example me, if i see a cd or a single with an interesting cover, or something that draws my attention ill listen to it or preview it at the store and if its good ill buy it. Thats the point of a good cover. To draw new people in. Even if i dont know that artist ill be like cool cover, cool song, why not buy ?

[Mintkisses]

As I fan, I'm a little guilty to admit that the cover of the single/album is a factor that I consider when wanting to buy an album. And that's why I am a human. There would be no such thing as advertisers and people who went to college for 4 years to specialize in advertisement if it didn't matter to the public.

What stands out to me is creativeness. I don't want to buy a single with a one color back ground and Ayu making a cutsey pouty face with a t-shirt on. Unoriginal, non-creative, and boring.

Some examples of un-creativity. glitter/fated and Sunrise/Sunset covers. Obviously, background's fake and she's standing in a 2 foot tub (or whatever) of water. BALLAD/You were... she's laying on the floor. The I am... photo book wasn't too bad because of the different angles that were shown (this made it believable).

From my opinion, as a huge fan but also a buyer, I want to see something creative. The RAINBOW album as a whole was creative. The cover was nicely done, and the photo book was enjoyable to look through. MY STORY and Memorial address were brilliant. I adore each and every cover and photo in the photo booklets. Even little things such as in the UNITE! single cover, UNITE! is written in the sand and not computer generated.

In some way or another an album/single cover will influence buyers (not saying that there isn't any fans who could care less). The photos can not only be important to the fans, but the general public who might have never heard her work or seen Ayu before is also involved. Smart little tricks that could have attracted new fans were her topless cover in LOVEppears, the bird on her shoulder in I am..., her cat outfit in Duty, etc.

[evolution7931]

Originally Posted by identity

Yep, I think they're pretty important too, who doesn't want to see ayu maintain her gorgeous image? I just think it's stupid to care more about a couple images than the music. I think it's idiotic to buy a single only for how good the cover is, but that's just me. If I love what I hear, I'll buy it, no matter how ugly or pretty the cover is.

Well, what's the point of buying a CD when you can download the music (legally) and still support the music that way. This isn't 1999, we don't have to buy CDs anymore to get the music.. so the whole point of buying a CD to me is to have it as a collectible. To hold it in my hands and look at the pictures in the booklet. So to me, buying a CD is -all- about the packaging. Because I can hear the music on my computer all I want without it.

If that makes me idiotic then so be it.

^ No. I like good covers too, and I will admit that I do buy based on that. But what I meant was if I really want a CD and the covers aren't to my liking, I'll still buy it.

Who wants to own something with ugly packaging?

[lfe.]

Best album imo was m(u), then things started going downhill. Secret was still good, a lot of tracks I enjoy from that album. GUILTY was boring, t2m decision fated are the only tracks I still tune to. NEXT LEVEL was great for the first week then quickly got old, re-playability is not that album's strong suit. R'n'R Circus was a big step up from the last two albums but I only tune to Microphone most of the time. Or perhaps I just tune to Namie too much these days. /shrug

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by evolution7931

Well, what's the point of buying a CD when you can download the music (legally) and still support the music that way. This isn't 1999, we don't have to buy CDs anymore to get the music.. so the whole point of buying a CD to me is to have it as a collectible. To hold it in my hands and look at the pictures in the booklet. So to me, buying a CD is -all- about the packaging. Because I can hear the music on my computer all I want without it.

If that makes me idiotic then so be it.

No, I agree with you. These days, when you can get the contents of a CD so easily other places, the packaging now means even more than it ever did.

[love in music]

Originally Posted by evolution7931

Well, what's the point of buying a CD when you can download the music (legally) and still support the music that way. This isn't 1999, we don't have to buy CDs anymore to get the music.. so the whole point of buying a CD to me is to have it as a collectible. To hold it in my hands and look at the pictures in the booklet. So to me, buying a CD is -all- about the packaging. Because I can hear the music on my computer all I want without it.

If that makes me idiotic then so be it.

CD's are higher quality, I'm never going to stop buying them because of that. To me, there's nothing like listening to great music in the highest quality.

[primavera♥]

I understand people caring more about the cover and packaging and there's nothing wrong with that. Its.only strange imo when people go so crazy over a bad cover or even a good one. Its like they can critique it as much as the single and album if not more. O.O some people really care about image (a lot) but no problem with that

But for me there's other reasons for actually buying her albums (which thanks to my parents I basically can't do). Of course I can just download them. but I'd rather not
U see. My fav album is (m)u. And so my parents got the CD version. Even if the cover isn't perfect I'd rather have it other tthan any other ayu album or single because its my favorite and it has a sentimental value. Just owning it.
My An Cafe mini album (cd+dvd)...they're not on the cover. Its just a bunny witha gun or something (althought its cute). But I liked just having their newest album at the time.
I won't buy albums if they mean nothing to me and I won't buy them because they have a pretty cover (not worth it imo)

But if ur simply buying for the pretty cover then does the music even affect the determining of the purchase
Like is it there to just sit there and look pretty? If its as evolution said. Just a collectible for looking through the photobook.

[hsienko]

Originally Posted by StrawbariSnowAyumi

I understand people caring more about the cover and packaging and there's nothing wrong with that. Its.only strange imo when people go so crazy over a bad cover or even a good one. Its like they can critique it as much as the single and album if not more. O.O some people really care about image (a lot) but no problem with that

But for me there's other reasons for actually buying her albums (which thanks to my parents I basically can't do). Of course I can just download them. but I'd rather not
U see. My fav album is (m)u. And so my parents got the CD version. Even if the cover isn't perfect I'd rather have it other tthan any other ayu album or single because its my favorite and it has a sentimental value. Just owning it.
My An Cafe mini album (cd+dvd)...they're not on the cover. Its just a bunny witha gun or something (althought its cute). But I liked just having their newest album at the time.
I won't buy albums if they mean nothing to me and I won't buy them because they have a pretty cover (not worth it imo)

But if ur simply buying for the pretty cover then does the music even affect the determining of the purchase
Like is it there to just sit there and look pretty? If its as evolution said. Just a collectible for looking through the photobook.

The way I view it is if a single or w/e has a bad cover then there's like a 45% chance that the song is bad or the album is bad.

[SPEAKERnight.]

It never really does go downhill for me. I just love how she has grown since she started making music.

[Mintkisses]

Originally Posted by evolution7931

Well, what's the point of buying a CD when you can download the music (legally) and still support the music that way. This isn't 1999, we don't have to buy CDs anymore to get the music.. so the whole point of buying a CD to me is to have it as a collectible. To hold it in my hands and look at the pictures in the booklet. So to me, buying a CD is -all- about the packaging. Because I can hear the music on my computer all I want without it.

If that makes me idiotic then so be it.

I agree 100%. Other way I see it is if I'm spending the $20 on a 4 track CD, might as well like the whole package (cover and booklet). For me, if I don't like the cover of an album/single it kind of brings the value down to me. Like you said evolution7931, I could just download the songs if I wanted them.

[Mai82Go]

Interesting Thread. It's obvious that the opinions differ from person to person about this issue, but I assume that the people still care about Ayu and that's the reason they are still here.

Downhill...mmh, I don't know if I would describe it as downhill, but for me I have Ayu-phases, when I enjoy her music more and then I don't listen to it or watch her concerts either, for some time. At the moment I am in such a phase, my interest is minimal.

The thing is, I don't feel Moon/blossom like I felt Ayus music before. So probably this last single is the one that is the downhill point for me. I'm also not a big fan of Rock'n'Roll Circus, I prefer the much hated NEXT LEVEL over Rock'n'Roll Circus any day. But since I don't know what's coming in the future maybe this is not downhill just a temporary decline in quality for me. But Ayus music this year...I just don't like it as much as the music from the past.

But I'm optimistic and I'll just wait what happens in the future. I'm sure she will put out some song that I will really enjoy sooner or later again.