Ayu ~Anything Goes: A Thread for XX~

[Uknow!]

love it

[melissalove]

^ her voice sounds beautiful here.

[love in music]

Does it bother any of you that, for the most part, Ayumi isn't very creative?
For example, she's hardly ever coming up with new, fresh, ideas for her concerts.
She takes an idea and sticks with it for years, instead of changing it up.
It gets boring watching the same thing over and over again. Do you think she does
this out of laziness (not calling her a lazy person at all btw, just her being lazy when it comes to creativity) or not having enough time to think up new ideas, or just not
being a very creative person in general?

[YUKARI]

^ hmm, wasn't aerial stuff creative? I'm glad she's not doing it anymore though haha.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by love in music

Does it bother any of you that, for the most part, Ayumi isn't very creative?
For example, she's hardly ever coming up with new, fresh, ideas for her concerts.
She takes an idea and sticks with it for years, instead of changing it up.
It gets boring watching the same thing over and over again. Do you think she does
this out of laziness (not calling her a lazy person at all btw, just her being lazy when it comes to creativity) or not having enough time to think up new ideas, or just not
being a very creative person in general?

She tours yearly, for the amount of time most popstars would have 1 tour, she has 3 or 4, so, not only she does have less time to come up with something 100% new (whatever this would mean in performance, I mean, live performance in iself has limitations), she also sticks with the same concept for more or less the same amount of time most performers do.

Now, I know Namie and Koda also tour yearly, but I don't see big changes on their tour ideas from one tour to another, as much as there are differences as when you compare their tours from different periods of time.

Ayu, like everyone else in the business has her signature elements (she gets tons of inspiration from circus and musical theater), but that's also true for pretty much everyone else that will be repeating themes according to their personal tastes and to the limit of their abilities.

But also, IMO, the celebratory tours apart (tours from 2013 and 2017) I find the tours from this decade to be far more different from each other than the ones from 2004~2009. Even if some elements are present in more than one tour, AT10, AT11, AT12, PSC, AT15 and AT16 all have very different feelings, themes and artistic intentions.

[Toniayu123]

I don't know what it is, but for me any of the artist mentioned are creative when it comes with their concerts (not really with music anymore either). If I were an artist my concerts would be mind blowing lol Maybe is a $$$$$$ thing, which is what I think...

[truehappiness]

She used to try to push herself hard because she thought she needed to. You can kinda tell she has changed the way she views herself and what she "needs" to produce. I don't think it's a bad thing though.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

I don't know what it is, but for me any of the artist mentioned are creative when it comes with their concerts (not really with music anymore either). If I were an artist my concerts would be mind blowing lol Maybe is a $$$$$$ thing, which is what I think...

I didn't say any of them wasn't creative, just gave them as examples of other people that reuse some stuff. But in the end of the day, any artist lucky enought to have a long career will reuse a lot of stuff along the way and any artist releasing too much stuff on a minimal amount of time will repeat themselves.

[voltron]

Honestly, the impression I get is that Ayu was searching for the message she wanted to deliver to the fans -- sometimes getting closer, sometimes getting further away (musically, on stage, etc.). And now her tours feel like a continual refinement of ideas over time (even if we individually don't always think so). I think she pushes herself to improve, but not always innovate.

[EndOfTheWorld]

I think Ayu is still very creative with her tours. I think she builds upon previous tours to create new ones. Sometimes I do feel that certain things would benefit from a refresh. But I don't think it is too bad.
I would say the creativity is lacking when it comes to album releases and music videos in recent years. But at least the lyrics are still strong.

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by love in music

Does it bother any of you that, for the most part, Ayumi isn't very creative?
For example, she's hardly ever coming up with new, fresh, ideas for her concerts.
She takes an idea and sticks with it for years, instead of changing it up.
It gets boring watching the same thing over and over again. Do you think she does
this out of laziness (not calling her a lazy person at all btw, just her being lazy when it comes to creativity) or not having enough time to think up new ideas, or just not
being a very creative person in general?

It bothers me a lot. Ayu performs the same songs every year with the exception of one or two songs. She even does it on tv too. I love her but her tours aren't that interesting. I mean come on, she's got other songs.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by melissalove

It bothers me a lot. Ayu performs the same songs every year with the exception of one or two songs. She even does it on tv too. I love her but her tours aren't that interesting. I mean come on, she's got other songs.

That's just you being delusional...

[love in music]

I guess I just think that if she's going to perform a song for the millionth time, and there's not a good chance she could outsing her best vocal performance of it anymore, she could at least try to bring something new to the performance, even if it's a completely new outfit that doesn't look just like something old she performed in, or just a new style of performing. Maybe that wouldn't go over well with a lot of her fans though? I don't know.

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

That's just you being delusional...

How is that me being delusional?? So your seriously implying that ayu doesn't sing the same old songs over and over again??
How many evolutions, surreals, Fly high, boys and girls, until that day, because of you, season, you and me, my all, step you, love song, talking to my self, voyage, who, unite, inspire performances haven't we seen. Not to mention that practically almost 60%( give or take) of her setlist on every tour after 2010 is stuff we've already seen before. Which is sad really, she's got so many unperformed jems

[Katsuyuki012]

^Well, many of these songs just work - because the audience loves it. Sure it might get bored to watch these songs again and again on every DVD but most of these songs just work live and the audience loves them. Of course Ayu wom't be like "Oh, the crowd loves evolution but I can't perform it - people don't want to have it on another DVD".

Still, it's not like it's only two different songs every year

Agree though about her having many great songs that didn't get performed yet.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by melissalove

How is that me being delusional?? So your seriously implying that ayu doesn't sing the same old songs over and over again??
How many evolutions, surreals, Fly high, boys and girls, until that day, because of you, season, you and me, my all, step you, love song, talking to my self, voyage, who, unite, inspire performances haven't we seen. Not to mention that practically almost 60%( give or take) of her setlist on every tour after 2010 is stuff we've already seen before. Which is sad really, she's got so many unperformed jems

Every artist will have fan favorites on their setlists... Casual listeners don't go to concerts to watch album tracks they don't know exist being performed, they go for the hits. Still, saying she only put 2 different songs on her setlists and them sing overperformed stuff is a reach, even because, Boys & Girls and evolution aside she isn't performing the same staple songs every year.

Most of her post 2010 albums actually were pretty present on their own tours, the exceptions being Love Songs and Love Again and she has performed tracks that didn't get live performances in a long while like immature, Duty, Happy Ending, About you, Far Way, Vogue, forgiveness, Kiss o' Kill, Green, Secret, etc.

This year tour has a boring setlist so far, but so does pretty much every single one of her celebratory tours since A Museum.

I will agree that we could live without a new WARNING and Love song performance.

Originally Posted by Tio/Tayumi

^Well, many of these songs just work - because the audience loves it. Sure it might get bored to watch these songs again and again on every DVD but most of these songs just work live and the audience loves them. Of course Ayu wom't be like "Oh, the crowd loves evolution but I can't perform it - people don't want to have it on another DVD".

Still, it's not like it's only two different songs every year

Agree though about her having many great songs that didn't get performed yet.

She actually tried to tour without having evo or boys & girls on the setlist, I don't remember wich one, but she had to add the song to the setlist due to the public demanding it.

[Party_King]

Originally Posted by melissalove

How is that me being delusional?? So your seriously implying that ayu doesn't sing the same old songs over and over again??
How many evolutions, surreals, Fly high, boys and girls, until that day, because of you, season, you and me, my all, step you, love song, talking to my self, voyage, who, unite, inspire performances haven't we seen. Not to mention that practically almost 60%( give or take) of her setlist on every tour after 2010 is stuff we've already seen before. Which is sad really, she's got so many unperformed jems

for example: talkin' 2 myself was actually performed the first time since 2008 during the last CDL... and UNITE! wasn't performed between AT'09 and TA Tour '15

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

She actually tried to tour without having evo or boys & girls on the setlist, I don't remember wich one, but she had to add the song to the setlist due to the public demanding it.

PREMIUM SHOWCASE ~feel the love~ / no evolution or SURREAL but added Boys & Girls at the final date...

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Party_King

PREMIUM SHOWCASE ~feel the love~ / no evolution or SURREAL but added Boys & Girls at the final date...

I think she tried avoiding Boys & Girls even before that, but had to add the song on the begining of the tour, but I may be remembering it wrong.^^

[primavera♥]

I think the critiques are a bit exaggerated. Her tours have had varied setlists and she has been including new elements in each tour whether it is singing in a pool or recreating the last supper or a flower boat or hotel rooms or an elephant and various other things she has done recently. Sometimes she brings back things from the past, but I don't think ayu's performances need to have crazy elements everywhere or something that is really weird just so it can be super unique. She already does so much at her concerts honestly. That's why I like Power of Music so much and wish she would do something like that again.

Anyway she has sung songs that she hasn't sang in a while at these tours and cdls for the past 7 years and I think it's fine. The only issue I can see with her tours is the way she performs or other things like that. And like others have said there are some classics that she has been singing forever because when people go to an ayu concert, they expect to hear them. I want to as well when I finally make it to one.

Anyway, ayu has toured every year and a single person is bound to have some similar elements over the years but really she still does try new things as well. The longer you're around the less surprising you will be even if doing some of the new things she did in recent years would have been praised in the past. I think the shock value of her tours is pretty much on the same level when I go back to recordings of old performances. Like when you perform for years, even if you switch up some songs and things, it's eventually going to feel like something is repeated. It's especially like that if you follow someone so closely.

Idk I just have also been following her recent tours and I don't see these as the extreme issues. Although, if she didn't perform Warning that would be great lol. So I can get on board with that part. Anyway usually I worry about other things like her voice, acting, etc.

[mi|kshake]

On the tour front, I can see why people are seeing repetitiveness recently with the 15th Anniversary tour, current tour and whatever the 20th Anniversary tour will bring. She does tend to stick to a lot of the same classics but equally if I like the song enough I don't care. Someone mentioned Love Song and I'm happy to have another performance of that but we've maybe had enough of Warning for now.

There are still some other classics she could perform next year to mix it up a bit like Too Late, Monochrome, Dearest, Hanabi, Moments etc.

On a different note, and I know I've said this before, but I would love a chillout/ambient remix album from Ayu.