[News] New Album TROUBLE on August 15th ~II~

[rainbow_smile]

It's not like people in the west are much better and judge celebrities much less

[Chibi-Chan]

I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the hate on the internet for Ayu has something to do with Japanese culture. Britney for example gets similiar hate posts since basically 15 years now.
I think the answer to why those people make those comments, that are mostly about their bodies and per se horrible voices is simple: they are women. The world has a lot of hate for every female who dares to not look as fuckable as she could and furthermore people want from both that they sing with a voice that isn't their natural tone at all but makes them sound more like young girls, so that's basically the first reason again. Since somehow only women who look and sound like girls are fuckable and therefor worth noticing and allowed to take up space, but not women who passed 30 and dare to be almost 40.
This is a culture we all grew up with. People here constantly also comment on how she looked bloated, fat in a paticular dress or whatever. Even though they are not directly bashing her and don't want to be mean or something, it's part of a culture in which it's totally fair game to analyse women's bodies and to comment on them. We honestly don't need to wonder, that if we think we have the right to analyse Ayu's body and to comment on it, that people who don't like her basically do the same, only without trying to be understanding like members here try to be.
Personally I think we should stop commenting on how her body looks. Because everytime we say she looks hot, we still judge her and automatically "save" this version we like in our brains and need to find an explanation when she doesn't look as we expect her to look. There is no "positive" judgement of women's bodies, because when we judge that this woman is hot we automatically set a standard women have to fulfill.And then the discussions about Ayu having her period or using fillers start.

(Edit: I don't think saying something like "she looks good" or "she looks sexy" is automatically the same as saying "she looks hot". Looking good or sexy can mean a lot of things, whereas there are no two ways of looking hot within celebrity culture and I think there are a lot of damaging iimplications which "looking hot" has for women, because it's way more about physical appearance than about different things like overall style, charisma and so on.)

[Kacku]

The way I am sounded so nice! It was really cool of Ayu and her team to present the song this way with a cool a cappella version. And the song itself -- Ayu's ear for melody stays on point: I find this song's melody so pretty, natural, tinged with bittersweetness. I get some untitled ~for her~ / untitled for her... story two vibes. I hope the song gets some gorgeous production on the EP (haven't listened to the concert recording yet to get a feeling of the arrangement).

Long live queen of midtempo.

[BlackSilence]

@rainbow_smile , Chibi-chan :
Japanese DO have a bit of a problem though with that sort of stuff. None really says "Britney should retire, she's old, she's a thing of the past" or anything about her "scandals" that happened a while ago over and over again. People tend to forget and move on, but Japan doesn't seem to. I dunno. When it comes to bodies it's probably the same as in the west, but i've had friends who had to deal with this bullshit IRL in Japan, and they are NOT celebrities...I dunno.
Ayu has great figure she always did, and she's a famous lady, so why would she need to dress like a 60 year old if she's not? She's a modern woman that has money in her hands, a business lady who's representing herself and her "product", so i don't see why she can't look like she does.
One thing i don't get is, why i don't hear the same crap about GACKT. That man is in his 40s wearing t-shirts and saggy crotch skinny pants, posing half nude for instagram pics and doing nothing really significant but Japanese don't seem to mind it, at least not that i have heard of anything lol So i sort of don't get this whole thing for Ayu...

[Uknow!]

Originally Posted by artcika

@rainbow_smile , Chibi-chan :
Japanese DO have a bit of a problem though with that sort of stuff. None really says "Britney should retire, she's old, she's a thing of the past" or anything about her "scandals" that happened a while ago over and over again. People tend to forget and move on, but Japan doesn't seem to. I dunno. When it comes to bodies it's probably the same as in the west, but i've had friends who had to deal with this bullshit IRL in Japan, and they are NOT celebrities...I dunno.
Ayu has great figure she always did, and she's a famous lady, so why would she need to dress like a 60 year old if she's not? She's a modern woman that has money in her hands, a business lady who's representing herself and her "product", so i don't see why she can't look like she does.
One thing i don't get is, why i don't hear the same crap about GACKT. That man is in his 40s wearing t-shirts and saggy crotch skinny pants, posing half nude for instagram pics and doing nothing really significant but Japanese don't seem to mind it, at least not that i have heard of anything lol So i sort of don't get this whole thing for Ayu...

Well... It depends on the day and the article haha

http://minuskakugo.blogspot.com/2015...ing-weird.html
http://minuskakugo.blogspot.com/2017...k-to-fans.html

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Uknow!

Well... It depends on the day and the article haha

http://minuskakugo.blogspot.com/2015...ing-weird.html
http://minuskakugo.blogspot.com/2017...k-to-fans.html

I would just love to see what their stomachs look like. Once you are past certain age, depending on your job and lifestyle it gets harder and harder to keep your tummy in order!

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by artcika

@rainbow_smile , Chibi-chan :
Japanese DO have a bit of a problem though with that sort of stuff. None really says "Britney should retire, she's old, she's a thing of the past" or anything about her "scandals" that happened a while ago over and over again. People tend to forget and move on, but Japan doesn't seem to. I dunno. When it comes to bodies it's probably the same as in the west, but i've had friends who had to deal with this bullshit IRL in Japan, and they are NOT celebrities...I dunno.

It is more of a cultural thing in Japan than in the US I think. Of course people do it in the US too, but it's considered rude, bullying etc. People talk about people's weight to their faces over there and it is considered normal. It is pretty harsh actually. Also, it's not just weight. In Japan people will ask how old you are in their first conversation with you, whereas in the west asking someone's age is often considered rude, etc.

[KPL]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

It is more of a cultural thing in Japan than in the US I think. Of course people do it in the US too, but it's considered rude, bullying etc. People talk about people's weight to their faces over there and it is considered normal. It is pretty harsh actually. Also, it's not just weight. In Japan people will ask how old you are in their first conversation with you, whereas in the west asking someone's age is often considered rude, etc.

Totally agree, especially about age. Japanese TV programs always indicate people's ages next to their names in parentheses haha. Imagine doing that in the US

[AyuCanada]

Originally Posted by LUOYUXIANG

Totally agree, especially about age. Japanese TV programs always indicate people's ages next to their names in parentheses haha. Imagine doing that in the US

They actually do it quite often already. I just went on "People"s website and opened up the first celebrity article and there you have it : https://people.com/movies/nicole-kid...r-ailes-movie/

[rainbow_smile]

^ I saw those kinds of comments for as long as I stanned Britney (which was up until maybe, like, 3 years ago). Obviously they became less frequent when she didn't have as many activities, but people really mocked her when she did have appearances at events/shows and stuff. People did say that she's a thing of the past, that she looks old now, that she gained too much weight, that her smile doesn't look natural, that she doesn't dance as well as she used to. People also constantly judged her for lip syncing all the time.

I'd say the only reason why negative comments about her aren't as prevalent these days is simply because she's irrelevant. Don't celebrities like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus get hate comments all the time? I've seen negative comments about Halsey too.

AHS members are sometimes just as judgemental about ayu as japanese netizens, and a lot of AHSers aren't from Japan

[BlackSilence]

I guess i just never payed that much attention to stuff like that. And the fact that it gets brought up every time Ayu does something, just makes it far worse. though i dunno, i mean sure i've seen the crap on western part of the world, but it usually is buried by the positive stuff. Maybe the negative stuff around here just gets dragged out more than the comments of support by the Japanese folks online?

I suppose i just don't quite get it because i don't quite care about that stuff myself (looks and etc. of a celeb) unless it's something REALLY drastically different and out of the ordinary for the character of that person that they usually are in public.

I just don't understand why Japan takes certain things as the worst case, when it comes to celebrities. a lot of the stuff is rather tame and bland compared to what we sometimes see in the west. It's just kinda silly to me. I dunno....

[DonkeyKongRemix]

Maybe it's not appropriate to say this, but I've really thought Ayu's fuller figure has been very pretty on her.

There were some pictures of her around that time where she looked like total hottie. <3

[oaristos]

Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia

Maybe it's not appropriate to say this, but I've really thought Ayu's fuller figure has been very pretty on her.

Same here! She looks healthy, happy, and extremely gorgeous.

Also, I only now had a chance to watch the LINE LIVE and her voice was so good there!

[Aga-chan]

^I came across an old TV performance of, I think, SURREAL on youtube and though there were comments saying that they wished she would go back to that weight again, I actually thought, knowing how she looks now, she was too thin.
She admitted to not eating properly in the past, so I take her fuller self over not taking proper care of herself.

There is a misconception that thin means healthy, but there're a lot of thin people who don't live a healthy life and are thin because of a good metabolism or genes or something.

[love in music]

Originally Posted by oaristos

Same here! She looks healthy, happy, and extremely gorgeous.

Agreed, she looks great to me even when "bloated". She may not wear the most flattering outfits but her body is still gorgeous when fuller in my opinion. All the times that fans or antis called her fat are seriously pathetic to me. I don't think she has ever been overweight in her life. She goes up and down probably 15 lbs at the most but probably even less, it's just more noticeable because she is short and petite. Like people have said, who knows what meds she's on at the moment or maybe she just likes to eat an extra burger or chocolate now and then and her metabolism is slowing down as she ages? The woman is human.

[Evan Odinson]

I wouldn't mind at all if its just a mini album but hey, there's also the possibility that she pulls off a Team Rocket and goes "Here comes TROUBLE, and make it double!" and announce another release soon

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by Evan Odinson

I wouldn't mind at all if its just a mini album but hey, there's also the possibility that she pulls off a Team Rocket and goes "Here comes TROUBLE, and make it double!" and announce another release soon

ikr? When it was announced I was totally foreseeing a full-length called DOUBLE TROUBLE haha

[rainbow_smile]

While I do think dating scandals are a bigger deal in Japan, on the other hand Taylor Swift was shamed for having too many boyfriends the same way ayu was shamed for having too many husbands haha

I personally notice that, at least for myself, I notice negative comments much more when I stan someone. And also in ayu's case, her fandom is much smaller these days, that's why negative comments are not buried

[plainity]

OH MY GOD I AM IN LOVE WITH THE SUNGLASSES IG VID TEASER!!!!!!!!!!!

i absolutely live for rock songs and i am so glad ayu isnt jumping on bandwagons and is releasing a song like this in 2018 when the rock scene is endangered.

anyway i am still very excited for the release! im not very used to japanese releases because ive been into kpop where everything has a formula so ayus weird ig teasers and messy spotify marketing is truly like a breath of fresh air to me

u got my attention and support ayuuuu

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by plainity

OH MY GOD I AM IN LOVE WITH THE SUNGLASSES IG VID TEASER!!!!!!!!!!!

i absolutely live for rock songs and i am so glad ayu isnt jumping on bandwagons and is releasing a song like this in 2018 when the rock scene is endangered.

anyway i am still very excited for the release! im not very used to japanese releases because ive been into kpop where everything has a formula so ayus weird ig teasers and messy spotify marketing is truly like a breath of fresh air to me

u got my attention and support ayuuuu

I'm loving the LINE LIVE performance. I'm actually super thrilled that THAT is what came out of her sessions with Tim back on the other IG video. And you can tell in these videos that Ayu has reconnected to something she hasn't felt in years. It's different from the MADE IN JAPAN/Winter diary/sixxxxxx/A ONE/Colours works.

These definitely sound like Ayu songs. I just wonder if their full cuts will be noticeably different from what she's done in the last several years. (I at least think there is something different here.)