What would ayu need to do to get amuro-likes sales numbers?

[kotora]

Originally Posted by Pieces_of_SEVEN

So I was looking at the charting for A ONE, which managed to sell over 50k copies in about ten weeks.

Reviewing Namie's newly-released _genic, it has sold, what, almost 140k (I could be slightly off about that) in its first week?

I do understand that namie is somewhat of an anomaly. No shade, because I absolutely adore namie and LOVE _genic. BUT it's an engrish pop album. I know this may not be a popular opinion, but namie has no involvement in the creation of her music whatsoever except giving her voice to the track. As opposed to ayu who has written practically every single one of her, what, 220 songs? Imo, that is a truly talented artist. ARTIST, not performer. WHAT exactly keeps namie "fresh" and popular to this day?

I actually despise the general decline for solo acts in the last few years. WHY do people even flock to absolutely ridiculous bubblegum girl groups with 24 thousand members. I will never understand the appeal, and I won't accept it. It's a little frustrating, honestly.


ANYWAY, what do you think that ayu could do (if anything) to kind of achieve that "comeback" status that namie has been riding on basically ever since Queen of Hip Pop?

Should she switch to EDM? Tried that with Colours (granted it could have been better...except for Terminal and Lelio, those are spectacular).
Engrish EDM? I'd rather her keep her current sales figures.
Not live her life the way she wants (marrying a gaijin, etc.)? I'd rather her do what she wants in her own life and not succumb to opinions and comments from ignorant fair-weather fans. It's disloyal and actually disgusting. I digress.

Should she take a break? She has been extremely active in the last year (and really, for the last fifteen years straight almost). I don't think that taking an extended break would have a positive impact though. If anything, maybe even more people would become less interested in her than they are now.

Is it that Japanese people dislike her sometimes-recycled melodies and lyrics? Is it something about her composers? Do some fans just feel that she is uninspired lately? Do they just think she's a grandma (which is totes ignorant and stupid, because namie is definitely older than ayu, and they both look absolutely gorgeous). I can't wrap my head around it. It just makes me feel like...




While _genic is a SUPER fun, upbeat, fast-paced album, I think that it is just as special as A ONE (or Colours, for that matter), despite being so ballad heavy.

Is ayu fated to simply continue down this path of slow decline until...what? She retires completely? (When that happens, I'll need all kind of psychiatric help and Xanax, btw.)

Anyway, just some thoughts I was having. Opinions?

It is also the matter of expense on Marketing. Today the money for Marketing ayu is less than 10 years ago. Also the TV performance, CM (especially VISEE and Panasonic) and Magazine. Those materials helped ayu a lot for promoting her songs.

Today? Idgaf. I like what she is doing.

[stepYOU1234]

Originally Posted by Pieces_of_SEVEN

Maybe that was on purpose since the song is a cover of a sixteen-year-old song. lol

I also want her to switch up some of her team. I miss the likes of BOUNCEBACK (although I don't much care for shake it), CMJK, DAI, HAL, CREA, etc. (Even though I know CREA will never happen and HAL technically doesn't exist anymore.) I can always dream...

Yeah, I think that style of mix could work well for Ayu as people like her nostalgic songs but not songs that sound too similar to old songs or too dated. So modern nostalgia could work for her.

And yes to CMJK and BOUNCEBACK!

[js_surrealism]

What would she need to do? Start making interesting music again.

[Surreal17]

Originally Posted by js_surrealism

What would she need to do? Start making interesting music again.

And when do you think she stopped doing that?

[js_surrealism]

Uhh. Albums like A One? The whole sixxxxx mini?

[Ryusei]

Join the illuminati and Japan would have to realize that she is one of the greatest gifts they have ever gotten and drop awful acts like Sekaowa

[stickyrice]

^^ Those two albums sound exactly like the Ayu who made "interesting music" in the past though. I mean it's only been a year since Colours and that was definitely "interesting" but it's not like that album garnered a huge amount of new fans. I don't even know what else she can release that will work in her favour tbh.

[melissalove]

^ Let go of her past hits and create a new nostalgic ayu. With the old style greatness into new music. Namie left Her old hits behind a longgggg time ago.

[280301]

She needs to begin appearing on TV again. I mean...it has passed that period of over-saturation in terms of her TV presence.

[Machiko]

Ayu might be too busy for this but I'd totally kill (maybe not so literally) for a movie or a drama with her in it! That probably is relevant to what 280301 said above though, but yeah, generally more TV appearances!! I don't really care about the sales I just want to see her face a little more.

[YukiUsagi]

It's not necessary. Simply, she cannot. She has die-hard fans, her team and she's happy with what she's doing.

[kalikagai]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I think Ayu has lost her appeal in part because music doesn't serve the same function for people that it did 10-15 years ago. This is true in the west AND the east - most music listeners back in the day enjoyed music because it resonated with them or it made them feel something; nowadays people like the singers who are cool, and sound-wise they just want whatever can be inoffensively playing in the background. People want a soundtrack rather than music they can listen to.

You've just opened my eyes... I believe it's so true.

I've been working at school for almost 10 years and I notice some kind of degradation among population. I mean cultural, intellectual and... soul? degeneration.

The main motive among young people is "Do not bother". Don't bother talking (it's easier to chat), don't bother thinking (too difficult, it's easier to consume mass opinion), don't bother feeling (it's easier to live without feelings at all). Maybe it's typical just for my country, but I believe it's a world-wide situation.

IMO, ayu's music, first of all, is about thinking and feeling - it aims to resonate with your heart. And sometimes it resonates with your pain, so it's nothing about the entertainment. Young people want to be entertained, not to cry

If that's the reason to ayu sale declines, so be it, I'm ok with that.

[Ryusei]

Originally Posted by Lady Dynamitez

I don't really care about the sales I just want to see her face a little more.

This!
Daiiiiisuki na sono egao~

[js_surrealism]

Originally Posted by stickyrice

^^ Those two albums sound exactly like the Ayu who made "interesting music" in the past though.

Disagree. It sounds nothing like Duty or even Loveppears. Give me an album on par with that level of songwriting and we'll talk.

EVEN IF they sound 'exactly' like it (which they don't), it's 2015, not 2000. There's a difference between having a consistent sound that you evolve and refine, and putting out the same song 20 times.

[Delirium-Zer0]

They definitely do not sound like THAT ayu. They sound like Ayu is back to where she left off after Rock'n'Roll Circus.

Ayu's music was getting more & more fomulaic after her visits to Asia in 2002... it's certainly not a bad formula, but as much as I like her music even after RAINBOW, i do miss the more interesting variety of material she released between LOVEppears and the H single.

[paper_doll]

Sixxxxxx and A ONE are like the definition of dull and generic, imo. They're not bad releases, but there's nothing interesting about them either. And when you're putting out music like that after being around for so long, who's attention are you grabbing, exactly? It's not exciting enough to draw in new fans for sales, and fans that have been around longer know that she's basically done all this before.

I think her music was best (songwriting, creativity, sound, vocals, image) between LOVEppears and Memorial address. Anything after that mini... idk lol

[Delirium-Zer0]

I blame KOME for all Ayu's musical problems. lol

[Yumsushi]

I don't know about anyone else, but songs like Last minute, No future and Shape of love are a sound I never thought I'd hear from her again. Too bad they were surrounded by a lot of mediocrity in that I couldn't enjoy the overall release. I honestly don't know how fans could know what in the world she's trying to do if she doesn't. A Lot of the original Ayumi Hamasaki appeal is gone and I don't know how long she can keep her old fans around, much less gain new ones, so long as she keeps putting out these sort of releases.

[Delirium-Zer0]

I joke, but seriously, I do think KOME being her A&R guy has been at the core of her most major musical problem, and that is a lack of direction. It's always been true that A&R would narrow down the demos they submit to Ayu, and then she picks from among those... I think KOME is giving her a really really dull pool of demos to choose from. I think his selections have been based on WHO does them rather than how they sound, whereas with Kentaro Furusawa at the helm, it was based on sound.

If KOME is choosing based on sound, he's choosing very safe work in an attempt to keep Ayu's sound more or less "timeless," but the result is that they sound quite old fashioned.

But I mean, look at the songwriting credits from before the Kentaro Furusawa departure, and then look at the gradual change after. Under Furusawa, a bunch of songwriters and producers who turned out to be very talented got their start because he chose them for Ayu - and that includes some vital collaborators like DAI, Kazuhito Kikuchi, tasuku, and Tetsuya Yukumi. HAL's only credit was the production on the Sailor Stars theme song (and I'm not even 100% sure that was them), but then a few uncredited samples later and they were able to get their start cuz A&R took a chance on them for ayu-mi-x.

Now, however, ayu's primary collaborators are already established artists. Ever since KOME was successful in getting GEO to let Ayu use his demos, KOME has maintained that pattern.

Ayu wants to work with producers of western pop? Let's get big popular ones like RedOne and Rodney Jerkins, nevermind that Ayu's ambivalent lyrical themes make it hard for pop producers to tackle her material.

Ayu wants to get a timeless, nostalgic sound? Let's get Tetsuya Komuro, he's a sure thing since he sold like crazy in the 90s. Nevermind that one of the reasons Ayu got popular in the first place was that her sound departed from, and improved upon, that 90s sound in a major way.

What's funny and sad is that if you look at music charts over the course of the last 50 years, it's the unconventional songs that chart the best. Pop that's made in a "safe" way puts you on the fast track to #10, but getting just a LITTLE bit unusual will put you at #1. KOME is giving Ayu demos for #10 songs, not for #1 songs.

[chocopockymaster]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I joke, but seriously, I do think KOME being her A&R guy has been at the core of her most major musical problem, and that is a lack of direction. It's always been true that A&R would narrow down the demos they submit to Ayu, and then she picks from among those... I think KOME is giving her a really really dull pool of demos to choose from. I think his selections have been based on WHO does them rather than how they sound, whereas with Kentaro Furusawa at the helm, it was based on sound.

If KOME is choosing based on sound, he's choosing very safe work in an attempt to keep Ayu's sound more or less "timeless," but the result is that they sound quite old fashioned.

But I mean, look at the songwriting credits from before the Kentaro Furusawa departure, and then look at the gradual change after. Under Furusawa, a bunch of songwriters and producers who turned out to be very talented got their start because he chose them for Ayu - and that includes some vital collaborators like DAI, Kazuhito Kikuchi, tasuku, and Tetsuya Yukumi. HAL's only credit was the production on the Sailor Stars theme song (and I'm not even 100% sure that was them), but then a few uncredited samples later and they were able to get their start cuz A&R took a chance on them for ayu-mi-x.

Now, however, ayu's primary collaborators are already established artists. Ever since KOME was successful in getting GEO to let Ayu use his demos, KOME has maintained that pattern.

Ayu wants to work with producers of western pop? Let's get big popular ones like RedOne and Rodney Jerkins, nevermind that Ayu's ambivalent lyrical themes make it hard for pop producers to tackle her material.

Ayu wants to get a timeless, nostalgic sound? Let's get Tetsuya Komuro, he's a sure thing since he sold like crazy in the 90s. Nevermind that one of the reasons Ayu got popular in the first place was that her sound departed from, and improved upon, that 90s sound in a major way.

What's funny and sad is that if you look at music charts over the course of the last 50 years, it's the unconventional songs that chart the best. Pop that's made in a "safe" way puts you on the fast track to #10, but getting just a LITTLE bit unusual will put you at #1. KOME is giving Ayu demos for #10 songs, not for #1 songs.

I always love your comments, but this one is spot-fucking-on.

This dude needs to go. He needed to go ten years ago.