[Rumor] Ayu Rumors: Official Chat Thread V

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Ashen Twilight

My vote is for Akina. She recently started being active again (Rojo -Tierra- is amazing!!) and she has a series of cover albums called Utahime and is regularly referred to as such.

My money is on Akina as well, that was the first person I thought of when I saw the picture. Ayu would be awesome, but Akina seems more likely.

I do think it's a possible toss-up between those two though... Twitter is saying other names like Mai Kuraki, Koda Kumi, Amuro Namie, and Superfly...

I think Mai Kuraki isn't a good stylistic choice, nor do I think she's associated enough with the term "utahime" to grant an "ano utahime" reference.

Koda Kumi and Amuro Namie aren't great stylistic choices either although I wouldn't rule out Tak Matsumoto writing a song for either of them (he's done songs for KAT-TUN and MISIA after all).

Superfly would be a RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME collaboration but she hasn't been around long enough to get an "ano utahime" reference, although if she keeps releasing solid material that may be the case in 5-10 years.

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

Who?

Akina Nakamori was the "darker" of the two biggest solo pop divas in the 80s (Matsuda Seiko being the "brighter", more girl-next-door type). Her songs tended to lean in a darker, more tragic direction. Her first big hit, "Shoujo A" (which she sang on Ayu Ready? with Ayu) was a rock song from the point of view of a sexually frustrated teenager using flirtation to get attention and give herself an independent identity.

When she was 20, after releasing the "MI AMORE (Meu amor e...)" single, she won the Japan Record Taisho Grand Prix award, at the time the youngest artist to have done it.

The late 80s weren't so good to her though and she went from consistently hitting number one (she had more than 20 number one singles in the 80s) to rarely breaking the top 20 virtually overnight.

She was dismissed from her label in 2000 and signed to a new label in 2002. Since then it's pretty much just been cover albums, compilations, and more ballad and enka-style music, and she's proven to be quite successful with it (won an award for her 2007 Enka album, which reached the top 10 actually).

[KuuXAyu-fan]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

The late 80s weren't so good to her though and she went from consistently hitting number one (she had more than 20 number one singles in the 80s) to rarely breaking the top 20 virtually overnight.

She was dismissed from her label in 2000 and signed to a new label in 2002. Since then it's pretty much just been cover albums, compilations, and more ballad and enka-style music, and she's proven to be quite successful with it (won an award for her 2007 Enka album, which reached the top 10 actually).

Just wanted to correct you. Every Akina single released from 1985-1991 reached the top 3 (all going #1 besides 2 singles which went to #3). Her last single released in late 1991 went to #1 selling over 480,000 copies. It wasn't until 1993 when Akina signed a new record label that her sales started to decline. Her first non Top 20 single was in 1995 so it wasn't "overnight."

In 2014 Akina sold over 150,000+ albums with her original best album going to #3. This year in January she got her first Top 10 single since 1993 that is still charting (and should outsell Zutto by the end of it's chart-run). She also released a cover album that debuted at #5 and is still charting as well.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by KuuXAyu-fan

Just wanted to correct you. Every Akina single released from 1985-1991 reached the top 3 (all going #1 besides 2 singles which went to #3). Her last single released in late 1991 went to #1 selling over 480,000 copies. It wasn't until 1993 when Akina signed a new record label that her sales started to decline. Her first non Top 20 single was in 1995 so it wasn't "overnight."

In 2014 Akina sold over 150,000+ albums with her original best album going to #3. This year in January she got her first Top 10 single since 1993 that is still charting (and should outsell Zutto by the end of it's chart-run). She also released a cover album that debuted at #5 and is still charting as well.

Nothing I didn't already know (and nothing I said contradicts any of this really, although I can see how incorrect conclusions could be drawn from my post), I just didn't feel like going into that much detail since I was only trying to give a quick summary. But thanks for your clarifications on behalf of people in the thread who don't know Akina

[KuuXAyu-fan]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Nothing I didn't already know (and nothing I said contradicts any of this really, although I can see how incorrect conclusions could be drawn from my post), I just didn't feel like going into that much detail since I was only trying to give a quick summary. But thanks for your clarifications on behalf of people in the thread who don't know Akina

Sorry if I sounded aggressive! I'm just use to seeing a lot of Ayu fans discredit Seiko and labeling her a flop failure all the time while others don't even know who Akina is.