Lets vent about ayu?/why did your fandom decrease

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by maneayu

maybe after all that has been already said, we could make a list of all of it, since there are a lot of stuff that gets repeated along the thread.

So...
So far from what I've read, results are the following.

"My fandom decreased because:"

VOCALS / INTERPRETATION
- ayu's vocals don't have the same quality/emotive power it did in her peak years.
- ayu sings like she doesn't feel too much anymore.
- Her vocalization was more natural and smooth a couple years ago, now she sound like she's kinda forcing it out. Even nasally at times. She just sounded a lot cooler on her older era.
- she wants to sing with her high pitch, screechy, ear bleeding vocals, when obviously, she can't anymore, and have to push/force her voice and then destroy it.
- The amount of lip syncing during her recent CDL is excessive
- a lot of her live performances have been just plain terrible lately.

IMAGE
- The only thing I see there is a inconsistent singer with a runny nose dressed on a birthday cake while singing a generic ballad...
- ayu drops in self indulgence
- I've lost more and more interest in J-Pop as a whole.
- fans have lost a feeling of "connection" with Ayu
- her persona from years ago was simply more likeable... but it wasn't her. We didn't really know anything about her. Now she can be herself and do what she wants, and she's... kind of boring. Champagne, sunshine, pools and millionaire friends are only interesting for a short while. So, I guess, her life now kind of breaks the illusion in a way. It makes you realise how crafted everything has been all along.
- When I look at her pictures in magazines and on album/single covers, all I see is a Diva. When I listen to alot of her new songs, all I can think of is how uninspiring her music has become.
- Maybe the fact that I changed and she changed and we're no longer as compatible as before (in terms of personal feelings and taste)

PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS
- I miss the Ayu with a meaningful yet low-budget PV
- The music videos have been lacking a bit
- "Feel the love" PV shocked me

MATERIAL
- ayu's material hasn't been great recently
- I want unique merchandise

LYRICS
- her rich lifestyle makes her write bad lyrics
- Her lyrics aren't as lyrical as before
- Like a TON of high schoolers who became fans of Ayu between 1999 and 2000, Ayu resonated with me for her honesty. Even not understanding her lyrics, you could tell she was baring her soul - the arrangements and melodies and her vocal performance had true honest emotions behind them. To this day, my favorite ayu songs are the ones that make me feel whatever she's feeling. So when she sings about being happily in love, dancing, and superficial romantic pain just like every other pop star... it does nothing for me.

PRODUCTION
- ayu was more creative before
- she isn't that active anymore
- Before, she gave me the image of someone strong, who cared, and was giving her best, now I just feel lazyness from her
- ayu have same dancers, doing the same old choreography, crying over the same songs, making the same fake phony sad faces, singing the same damn set list that she has sang at almost every concert for the last 10 years.
- Ayu's current stuff sounds like a cheap rendition of her own stuff from 10 years ago.
- She also tends to recycle stuff in her concerts way too much for my liking.
- releases are no longer accompanied by decent promotional efforts by ayu herself, well thought-out and planned, with a well defined concept, extensive preparation, well prepared schedule and thought process behind the whole thing, as it used to be before. Standards are sinking throughout time.

MUSIC
- Her music just doesn't resonate with us anymore. Probably because of her age and her values.
- ayu's old music was technically better. Better composed, better arranged
- ayu's music is too generic and unoriginal. There is no innovation or originality. It's copy cat off of her old styles and what everyone else is doing
- 2 things: LOVE again and Love Songs. I hope she never release albums like that again
- Party Queen


OTHERS
- To be honest, one of the biggest disappointments in the Ayu fandom is how some of the fans treat each other. I'll never underestimate the value of the fans I've befriended who aren't assholes.
- She's 35 years old
- I've been too focused on other artists
- I've been too busy
- I lost my iPod! Even my 32GB iPhone 5 won't fit everything because I also sync photos to it...


I hope I could convey everybody's feelings here

I was talking about that dearest performance, not about her whole career... I'm pretty happy with what we get most of the time...

[maneayu]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

I was talking about that dearest performance, not about her whole career... I'm pretty happy with what we get most of the time...

Sorry! I'll correct it

[ayu-michan]

I think it was a good idea to open this thread, even though yes, it's not really pleasant that we're complaining about Ayu, we all (at least I assume so) love her and it's nice to be able to discuss about all these sensitive topics openly. It's interesting to see what everyone thinks about the new Ayu changes.

[marty]

^
Same for me.
I'm so glad for this thread.

[emi♡]

Besides, if we have just one main one, then we don't have to have new ones popping up every other week.

[hsienko]

I like the list that was compiled - even though we get katty and throw shade but if you notice we all had the same basic consensus:

She's become un-relatable, un-creative, generic, & the standards for her brand in all aspects have tanked catastrophically.

That pretty much sums it up

[orangeakira]

I have not kept up with this thread so if all of the stuff I'm about to say has been said before sorry.

I think one problem is she finds something that works (let's say her singing a sad ballad at a concert while looking painfully out at the audience while shuya dances around her reaching to her) and then she abuses the shit out of it and does it over and over. Trust me, if she stopped performing "surreal~evolution~surreal" at concerts people wouldn't just stop coming and her sales wouldn't drop by the hundreds.

The thing is, with being an artist, you have to constantly stay relevant and change your style (not terribly, but to a degree). Instead of trying to appeal to new generations of people and keeping up with the times (except for those one or two dubstep remixes) she found her niche/routine and stuck with it and these days she's seemed really dependent on it. She seems to care more about not losing faithful listeners and catering to them than bringing in new listeners.

--Also, I realized that Jpop really isn't as popular as it used to be. My best friend doesn't even listen to Japanese music anymore. She's all about Kpop. They cater to new sounds and fresh beats. I'll be quite blunt here, Japanese music has a sound that really hasn't evolved. Visual kei still turns out songs that sound like they could be from 10 years ago. Hell I've only ever been to 2 anime conventions in my life, the last one was in 2011 and I gotta say it felt like a step back in time. I felt like I was in middle school again. Although there will always be otaku's in every generation I think the idea of the 1998~2005 pocky/ramune soda/inuyasha sailor moon case closed one piece naruto/yaoi/ramen/myspace generation is all grown up and moving on with their lives and the people who really listen to Jpop are the ones who grew up in that generation. Japan had their spotlight and now it's Korea's turn since kids born in the late 90's and early 2000's are now teenagers and every generation has their own likes and dislikes. Korea is definitely catering to the younger more urban pop look and sound and kids these days (that makes me sound really old) love it. Ayu is a part of that older generation now and if she really wants to be popular again she'll have to change her style.

[maneayu]

Originally Posted by orangeakira

I have not kept up with this thread so if all of the stuff I'm about to say has been said before sorry.

Yes, it was already said actually (look at my list)
But thanks for expressing your frustration. I truly share your pain.
(although I cannot get rid of the old image of ayu in my head, and I still follow her because I have the hope to see her creative side again)

Originally Posted by orangeakira

I think one problem is she finds something that works (let's say her singing a sad ballad at a concert while looking painfully out at the audience while shuya dances around her reaching to her) and then she abuses the shit out of it and does it over and over.

This one! --->>> ayu have same dancers, doing the same old choreography, crying over the same songs, making the same fake phony sad faces, singing the same damn set list that she has sang at almost every concert for the last 10 years.

Originally Posted by orangeakira

--Also, I realized that Jpop really isn't as popular as it used to be.

From what I've read so far, many people expressed their same feeling.
But this is not an isolated "gaijin" feeling. I believe I've seen this situation happening at 2ch as well (majide source). The sensation that Jpop is dead, and all what is left was from the 90's - 2000's era (omg, I feel old right now ).

[marty]

Originally Posted by orangeakira

The thing is, with being an artist, you have to constantly stay relevant and change your style (not terribly, but to a degree). Instead of trying to appeal to new generations of people and keeping up with the times (except for those one or two dubstep remixes) she found her niche/routine and stuck with it and these days she's seemed really dependent on it. She seems to care more about not losing faithful listeners and catering to them than bringing in new listeners

There's some truth in what you're saying, yet in some cases even reinventing yourself won't work. Sometimes it's just not your moment and nothing you're gonna do will work. 'Till one thing, maybe, possibly, inespicably, will and maybe you'll get a second peak.
I think Ayu is in that kind of moment of her career. (Even if in the past years her marketing decisions have been mostly terrible, imo, and that didn't help, I suppose.)

[Andrenekoi]

I don't get the "same setlist" complaint... She usually repeates 3 or 4 songs from a 22 set, what is pretty much standart to every other music act.

[terra]

^I still miss SURREAL and evolution as themselves tho SURREAL has this super cool song vibe while evolution just get your spirit high

[hsienko]

I don't get the "same setlist" complaint... She usually repeates 3 or 4 songs from a 22 set, what is pretty much standart to every other music act.

Just like you always have to say your opinion I will say mine too. So don't constantly try to malign me just cuz you didn't agree with it. I've never seen you post anything that was not throwing shade or negative towards someone else in the 7 years I've been on this forum. Bye felicia.



Anyways, I do have a question, didn't her a Max Matsuura have a falling out a few years ago I remember somebody mentioning that during the last "Decline of Ayu" thread.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by hsienko

Just like you always have to say your opinion I will say mine too. So don't constantly try to malign me just cuz you didn't agree with it. I've never seen you post anything that was not throwing shade or negative towards someone else in the 7 years I've been on this forum. Bye felicia.



Anyways, I do have a question, didn't her a Max Matsuura have a falling out a few years ago I remember somebody mentioning that during the last "Decline of Ayu" thread.

Chill, I wasn't throwing shade at you, I was just saying the setlist isn't the same. Don't throw your anger issues over me...

[orangeakira]

This isn't out of spite or hate. This is just for information. I hope no one will assume I'm trying to prove how over sung some songs are. Take what you will from this post

Since I have no life and I've been avoiding studying for finals all week I decided to make a list of all her songs, and then count how many times each has been performed. I'm using wikipedia, eneabba, and the ayu news section from this site for the tracklists so some of them might be off (it gets confusing when she performs songs and it's not listed). I'm going by countdown lives, a-nation, and tours, not tv performances, and if it wasn't officially recorded and released on dvd (as in it was a one time performance at an early tour date) I'm not counting it. Although again I'm kinda iffy about the a-nation performances. Also "surreal~evolution~surreal~" I'm counting as a performance for each song -one for surreal and one for evolution-. I'm also counting each song in a medley as it's own performance, and just for the hell of it I'll count return road from hotel love songs as a performance since we sorta kinda got some footage of it during the credits. I bolded the ones she performed 10 or more times.

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by A song for xx

A song for xx 12
Hana 1
Friend
Friend II
Poker Face 2
Wishing
You 2
As if
Powder Snow 1
Trust 2
Depend on You 6
Signal 2
From Your Letter
For My Dear... 1
Present

Originally Posted by LOVEppears

Fly High 12
Trauma 16
And Then 2
Immature 2
Boys & Girls 34
To Be 5
End Roll 3
PSII
Whatever 4
Too Late 3
Appears 4
Monochrome 2
Love ~Refrain~
Who… 10
Kanariya

Originally Posted by Duty

Duty 4
Vogue 8
End Of The World 2
Scar 1
Far Away 3
Surreal 17
Audience 13
Seasons 7
Teddy Bear 3
Key ~Eternal Tie Version~ 2
Girlish 1

Originally Posted by I am...

I Am... 2
Connected 1
Unite! 14
Evolution 28
Naturally 2
Never Ever 6
Still Alone
Daybreak 1
M 9
A Song Is Born 3
Dearest 6
No More Words 1
Endless Sorrow 4
Flower Garden 12

Originally Posted by RAINBOW

We Wish 1
Real Me 4
Free & Easy 5
Heartplace 2
Over 1
Hanabi 8
Everywhere Nowhere 3
July 1st 12
Dolls 1
Voyage 3
Close To You
Independent 11
+ 3

Originally Posted by Memorial address

Angel's Song 2
Greatful Days 8
Because Of You 4
Ourselves 3
Hanabi ~Episode II~ 1
No Way To Say 3
Forgiveness 3
Memorial Address 3

Originally Posted by MY STORY

About You 3
Game 2
My Name’s Women 2
Liar
Hope Or Pain 2
Happy Ending 1
Moments 5
Walking Proud 3
Carols 3
Inspire 6
Honey 2
Replace 1
Winding Road 2
Humming 7/4 13

Originally Posted by (miss)understood

Bold & Delicious 5
Step You 8
Ladies Night 4
Is This Love? 4
(Miss)understood 1
Alterna 1
In The Corner 2
Criminal
Pride 2
Will 1
Heaven 3
Fairyland 3
Beautiful Day 1
Rainy Day 3

Originally Posted by Secret

Until That Day 5
Startin' 4
1 Love 3
It Was
Jewel 1
Momentum 2
Born To Be... 2
Beautiful Fighters 1
Blue Bird 6
Kiss O' Kill 2
Secret 1

Originally Posted by GUILTY

(Don't) Leave Me Alone 1
Talkin' 2 Myself 2
Decision 3
Guilty
Fated 3
Together When... 2
Marionette 2
Glitter 5
My All 5
Untitled ~For Her~ 1

Originally Posted by NEXT LEVEL

Next Level 1
Energize 2
Sparkle 3
Rollin' 1
Green 2
Identity 1
Rule 3
Love 'n' Hate 1
Days 3
Curtain Call 1

Originally Posted by Rock 'n' Roll Circus

Microphone 2
Count Down 1
Sunset~Love Is All~ 2
Ballad 1
Last Links
Don't Look Back 1
Lady Dynamite 1
Sexy Little Things 1
Sunrise~Love Is All~ 5
Meaning of Love
You Were... 1
Red Line~For TA~ 1

Originally Posted by Love songs

Love Song 3
Crossroad 1
Moon 4
Sending Mail 1
Last Angel 3
Like A Doll
Blossom 1
Thank U 3
Sweet Season 1
Do It Again 2
November 1
Virgin Road 2
Seven Days War 2

Originally Posted by FIVE

Progress 1
Another Song 2
Why... 2
Beloved 1
Brillante 1

Originally Posted by Party Queen

Party Queen 2
NaNaNa 1
Shake It 1
Call
Letter
Reminds Me 1
Return Road 1
Tell Me Why 1
The Next Love 1
Eyes, Smoke, Magic 1
How Beautiful You Are 2

Originally Posted by Love again

Wake Me Up
Song 4 U 1
Missing 1
Sakura
Melody
Bye-Bye Darling
Snowy Kiss
Sweet Scar
Petal
Untitled For Her ... Story 2
Gloria
Ivy
You & Me 1

Originally Posted by Other

Ever Free
Life
Love ~Destiny~ 2
Love ~Since 1999~
Rainbow 3
Sotsugyou Shashin 1
teens 1
Part Of Me 2
Theme Of A-Nation '03 1
Mirrorcle World 5
Dream ON 2
Happening Here 3
Tell All

[primavera♥]

I don't think ayu is so uncreative. Maybe love again is. That would be how I define that. But NL, RnRC, and Love songs weren't lacking in creativity to me and had lovely themes too. Same for the last few tours before ABL. And her being relatable is subjective. Though maybe I'm just too emotional and have to much empathy. I still really connect with and love taking in what she sings about. Buy I can see how other people would fail to relate. She is very different from most of her fans I'd imagine and is in a different place in life.

Ayu just seems so wise sometimes though as a person. and still has some awesome things about her career. I can't just believe that she is some completely lazy diva who doesn't even try. Idk.

On another note, I think sometimes I have to step back and remember that I don't know the real ayu. Which is disappointing. Like I don't really know what she thinks, how she feels, what problems she may have. I feel like I've always viewed her as this idealized woman and had the highest expectations because I didn't view her as human like I would a personal friend who I give less judgment and more understanding to when things aren't perfect. I wish ayu could be perfect by my standards. And she's come closer than any artist. But idk, I feel like I've only realized all this this year. And it has made me more chill about what she does while still able to critique

I think what I would like from ayu for this new album is a music video that pays attention to detail. She doesn't always have extra special music videos but I want something like alterna.

[November4]

I love Ayu dearly, she's been an inspiration for me for a decade and has dictated a large part of my life. Coincidentally, each release was appropriate for me at that time, as if I was making the music:

NEXT LEVEL > going to college, visiting Japan
Rock'n'Roll Circus > fights with friends, quit college, moved back home
Love songs > went to Japan alone, very happy, dating, going out, making friends
Party Queen > lived in London, became alcoholic, partied 4 times a week to forget
LOVE again > I was in Taiwan, feeling amazing & better
HOTEL Love songs > became drug addicted & crazy
Hello new me > back home and myself again

So I love her dearly, but ever since Power of Music I haven't connected with her music at all. Production is bad, her vocals lack emotion, the concerts are like circus + broadway show, recycled stuff... Can't wait to see what's next, though.

[channy]

I fear, a lot of the new album could vastly suffer from a tremendous amount of cheesy dubstep/drum'n'bass elements. I have that distinct feeling for a couple of weeks by now. I'd be entirely devastated, to tell the truth. Fingers crossed it won't happen...

[primavera♥]

Originally Posted by channy

I fear, a lot of the new album could vastly suffer from a tremendous amount of cheesy dubstep/drum'n'bass elements. I have had that distinct feeling for a couple of weeks by now. I'd be entirely devastated, to tell the truth. Fingers crossed it won't happen...

I suppose that's what may happen when some other fans want her to work with new producers and not sound "dated"

I am still hoping that this works out very well and isn't garbage or just okay, but not great. I'm excited. Either way, I am glad she that she is hopefully switching it up

[NintendoHTF1242]

Originally Posted by channy

I fear, a lot of the new album could vastly suffer from a tremendous amount of cheesy dubstep/drum'n'bass elements. I have that distinct feeling for a couple of weeks by now. I'd be entirely devastated, to tell the truth. Fingers crossed it won't happen...

I like cheesy dubstep/drum n' bass shit so oops

I can't wait! I hope she does a shit-ton of it. Love Ayu's voice with these types of arrangements.

[adantatu2]

Originally Posted by channy

I fear, a lot of the new album could vastly suffer from a tremendous amount of cheesy dubstep/drum'n'bass elements. I have that distinct feeling for a couple of weeks by now. I'd be entirely devastated, to tell the truth. Fingers crossed it won't happen...

Well, this isn't going to be a full electronic album, we have Pray and Hello new me, the typical ayu ballads