[Namie Amuro] She Makes You Believe In A Ballerina In Namie's 80th Thread

[Delicious n Bold]

Well, compared to Ayu, Namie's image is much more 'clean' and isn't that important to the Japanese?
I'm doing this whole Canadian VS Japanese music industry presentation for my japanese language class (of all classes) and im definietly gonna mention these two JDivas.

[ayu_ready?]

^ true that

[marty]

That UNTITLED commercial killed me. I still don't know who I'm in love with, if it's Namie, or it's plainly her hair. NAMIE, STOP THE FABULOUSNESS!!

[Zeke.]

I feel like ayu sets her image, where as Namie has people plan it for her.

[Mr. Goto]

Are we forgetting that as a young idol Namie got tattoos and then had a shotgun marriage with a man way older than her?????? The tabloids used to have a field day saying that she would always leave Haruto at home so she could go out and party. Her mom getting murdered, filing for divorce, and doing a complete 180 in her image and sound (her choice btw, that's why she started having discord with komuro in the late 90s) weren't exactly doing any favors for her either.

Namie has a great image today because in like the past 10 years she hasn't really done anything to publicly embarrass herself unlike the mannie/maro mess.

[Delicious n Bold]

So you're saying that there is such a thing as "redemption" in the Japanese music industry?

[Mr. Goto]

Yes I definitely think so. There are tons of artists who did way "worse" stuff than namie and ayu but were still able to make a comeback in the entertainment industry. They might not be as successful as they once were but hey, they're at least signed to an agency, still being invited to shows etc. Tomomi Kahala/Ami Suzuki comes to mind first even though Ami's situation is different since she was actually blacklisted.... but yeah

[& + H]

Originally Posted by emi♡

^think Namie has it a lot easier than Ayu though.

All she has to do is put on whatever song and dance and be fabulous.

Ayu has to like...worry about still being relevant and whether people will actually even listen to a song.

Completetly disagree. Namie has worked super hard to get to where she is now.

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

Well, compared to
Ayu, Namie's image is much more 'clean' and isn't that
important to the Japanese?

Exactly this. Even though she had some controversies
before like Mr. Goto said, I think Namie learned her
lesson. She doesn't do stupid crap like ayu has, she hasn't put her exes on her covers or videos. She keeps
her image clean. It would be "easy" for ayu too if she kept from being in the tabloids too often.

[emi♡]

Really?

She released one big best album and had a long ass tour and everyone loved her again.

I'm not talking about 10 years ago when her tattoos got her off shows and whatever. I'm talking about now.

I don't think she didn't work hard, but I don't think she worked any harder than Ayu, or other people.

And even WITH everything that happened to her before, she's still remarkably popular, still topping lists. She's the only female solo with any substantial sales, and she doesn't even participate in the making of her songs as much as other people OR promote.

Although everyone's kinda been on the back end of promotion lately.


Sorry, but she's got it made compared to Ayu when it comes to her image and the general populace. Not saying that it's not Ayu's fault though for being stupid with some things. But she wont be able to catch the same break anytime soon.

[Delicious n Bold]

What exactly did namie do to make the populace love her again?
Was it the quality of songs off of best fiction? Or her shift to 'hip pop'?

And the reason why she had a slump before was because of her abrupt marriage, child, family death, tattoo, and maybe falling out with TK, correct?

Because to me, it seems like namie was huge, fell, became huge an then stabilized.
I'm just curious as to how each stage happened, you see.

[Yumsushi]

I thought it was when she changed her sound. I mean after her son was born her singles and album were still selling well but once she and TK parted ways her sound and image changed and her sales plummeted, although it was around the same time she had gotten her divorce so that also may have affected her popularity.

Baby don't cry was used for a drama and it was very popular, and her popularity exploded with the Vidal Sasson collaboration.

But like other people have said, Namie or whoever is marketing her, is smart. She keeps her personal life out of her professional life. Unlike Ayu who now has to struggle to be taken seriously due to foolishly mixing the two.

[pommy48]

Already time to start preordering FEEL tour!

http://namieamuro.jp/news/news.php?nID=VFKs8PkMCO
2014.02.26

[NintendoHTF1242]

People keep telling me that she declined and stuff but like, the only thing that didn't work out too well for her was SUITE CHIC.

STYLE and Queen of Hip-Pop still did well on the charts, and PLAY was when her reign of terror started.

[RisingPro]

I normally don't post here, more of a lurker honestly. But since I can answer some of these questions, I thought I should.

2008 was simply a breaking point for her. If you had followed her prior to that then you would have seen an upwards momentum starting with her 2003-2004 "SO CRAZY tour" which re-established her as a top performer. Her touring, particularly touring in remote parts of Japan opened her up to new audiences and gave her a new reputation as a must-see performer. The rise in popularity in her music increased with her intense touring schedule. You can see this beginning with "ALARM" with her sales rebounding with each era.

She also revamped her image around the same time in an effort to change public perception of her. She had previously changed her image to suit her role as a mother which was detrimental to her success, because women weren't as interested in her. The change, returning to the boots and mini-skirts that initially brought her fame also brought back that demographic. From 1998 to 2002, her fashion was much more conservative. The combination of her fashion icon status and her appeal as a performer, helped usher in a new acceptance of her with younger audiences. She and her team worked very hard to gain mainstream acceptance. Together they took what made her initially famous and retooled it for a new generation. Which was probably the smartest thing she could have done, because there isn't a real difference between what Namie Amuro was in 1995 and what she is now in 2013.

As for her own contributions, she and the people who work with her have been upfront about how much input she has. Is she sometimes presented with ideas by other people, sure. But I guarantee you, no one thinks up everything on their own, Ayu included. Not to take anything away from her, but it's not like she writes her songs on her own. She puts lyrics to demos given to her and tweaks them to suit her. That's not far off what Namie does, she just doesn't write lyrics. She thinks the lyrics she writes are not appropriate to the music she makes, because she primarily writes ballads on her own. So, she is involved in the making of her songs. Even TLC talked about her role in producing the new Waterfalls. She had a big say in its arrangement. Namie also practices her own brand of quality control. For example, it was Namie who withheld "Put 'Em Up" a song that was originally was going to come out after "NEVER END" in 2000 until she found a lyricist who could give her the product that she wanted. And in another example, it was her who chose "Baby Love" to sample for "New Look." The original sample was going to be a Beatles song. These are just two examples, btw. Nowhere near exhaustive. Lastly, there isn't anything Namie does these days without her approval. That doesn't mean she thought up everything on her own, but it does mean she's not doing things against her will. It's been reported that the relationship between her and her management is rocky, btw. And if you know her agency, then you know how old fashion Vision Factory is. It has a tight grip on most of their artists.

It's condescending to say Namie's success is simply handed to her. Namie's most popular songs aren't even her dance songs. In fact, many of them underperform compared to her ballads especially the really sexual songs. So, no, she can't just put out a song, dance and be fabulous. She's not Arashi or AKB48, the only thing consistent about her sales are her albums. Her singles are still a toss up. Foreign fans don't tend to see what she does as risky, because her music sounds like what is popular in the states. But even when Japan had its R&B-boom in the late 90s, it was still a hard sell. Lots of R&B artists popped up, few of them were successful and even now with the shift into EDM, most songs dominating the Japanese chart are not EDM.

I know a lot of you like to think she operates at a level similar to an idol, but you guys are giving her too little credit. Yes, she has a team that she works with, but that doesn't matter. Every artist has a team. And not even Ayu can do everything that she wants to, she's spoken openly about that. It's the entertainment industry, everyone compromises in some way. Some people are content with the compromises they've had to make, others aren't. It's how it is.

[Yumsushi]

Style and Break the rules didn't sell that well at all compared to her previous sales (200k and 300k). But Break the Rules had Never end which was pretty popular. So really Style was the lowest she went album sales wise.

[emi♡]

Yeah we have to remember that back then 250,000 in the first week wasnt that great.

I mean, MY STORY sold twice that in the first week I think. And m(u) sold even more I think, despite coming later.

All of those Namie albums had pretty bad sales.

[NintendoHTF1242]

Oh yeah I forgot 250,000 was considered bad back then :x

[lfe.]

Namie & her dancers, posted by Rocky Raven

[NintendoHTF1242]

Hello man in the white can I get yo phone numba

[UHPlus]

Originally Posted by lfe.

Namie & her dancers, posted by Rocky Raven

It from this "Thank you for 1,000,000 Likes" video: