Why I think Ayumi's sales have fallen...

I will say this... I'm excited for Rock'n'Roll Circus. I truly love Ayumi, whether she sells Million or sells Gold. But while listening to Rock'n'Roll Circus, I stumbled on what I think is the reason that Ayumi's sales have fallen.

We all know that high sales are not impossible. Namie Amuro did it in 2008 with BEST FICTION, and again with PAST<FUTURE in December. But we can truly see why Namie is back in the limelight: her songs are not Americanized.

Remember back when every track on an Ayu album could easily be a Million-seller, even without ANY other tracks on the album? How many of you were around when Ayumi fans wouldn't shut up and stop singing "Real me" or "Duty" everywhere?

Now, it seems like we clap our hands and scream for a new Ayumi album only to be disappointed. We did it with GUILTY. We did it a lot with NEXT LEVEL. We're going to do it again with Rock'n'Roll Circus. A lot of people are really excited for this album—some of the trademark Ayu has come back. Unfortunately, the new songs are just as bad as the ones on NEXT LEVEL.

Where did the 30-45 second intros go? What happened to the beautiful intros like the ones in Over, GAME, and evolution? Look back at songs like Whatever, Dearest, A Song is born, and UNITE!... They were long... over 5 minutes, and when it was over it felt like it wasn't long enough!

Remember when it didn't feel like half the album tracks were interludes? "I am..." had two interludes on it, "Loveppears" had two... Duty had one. Remember tasking, taskinillusion, taskinst, taskinlude...?

The album tracks are now made up of Americanized versions of what would be great Ayu songs. I realized this when I heard Last Links, meaning of Love, count down, Lady Dynamite, RED LINE, and all the interludes on Rock'n'Roll Circus. All of them are missing the intros, the broad production, and the length to be true Ayu classics.

It seemed like she got tired of writing stories and began writing songs... Every Ayu song was a story 8 years ago.

So, my theory here is that Ayumi's albums are no longer selling well because her songs are too Americanized nowadays. I think the best evidence of this are her singles:

Her most recent Americanized sounding singles are: Startin'/Born To Be..., talkin' 2 myself, Rule/Sparkle, and Sunrise/Sunset... they are also her lowest selling singles of the last few years. They have little or no intro, no real length or broad body of production, or have boring lyrics.

Her highest selling singles are: Blue Bird, Glitter/Fated, Mirrorcle World, and Days/GREEN. The only song without a long intro was Blue Bird, the only song around 4 minutes was Blue Bird, and all of the tracks had massive production that didn't sound flat or spaced out. There were REAL investments into these singles and the PVs that came with them.

Her albums show it too:

2006's Secret had mostly 4 minute songs. More short, no intro tracks, and more interludes than (miss)understood. It sold over 300,000 copies less than (miss)understood. That's one whole Platinum certification lower.

2008's GUILTY became Ayumi's first album to not reach #1. It was plagued by 4 interludes, lots of songs without or with really short intros, and too simple lyrics. The only true success for Ayu with GUILTY was Mirrorcle World. It sold over 100,000 copies less than Secret, but was not too bad of a drop.

2009's NEXT LEVEL has to be Ayu's least Ayumi work. I think the fact that only 2 threads were made for it in the Ayu Music News forum shows how bad this one ultimately was. Only three songs had Ayu trademarks: GREEN, Days, and rollin'. All of those had good intros, were of good length, and had broad production. NEXT LEVEL debuted with sales of 250,000 copies... Ayumi's worst debut sales EVER for an album. And only sold 350,000 copies... that's barely 1 Platinum certification. Even though it has 2X platinum.

2010's Rock'n'Roll Circus will be bad too. All songs except the horrid Last Links, meaning of Love, Lady Dynamite, You were..., have good intros. But none of them, except the single songs have good length. "count down" is a close exception. Almost every song feels hollow. Like they are all missing half of the instruments. And I never, in my entire life, thought I would hear as poor production on an Ayu track as Last Links, meaning of Love, and RED LINE. I thought "curtain call" was bad... Those songs sound cheesy, cookie-cutter, and cheap. The lyrics are plain and boring... there's no life to them. I'm glad to hear something done differently with the interludes, but did she hire a five year old to do THE introduction? montage sounds like any other ripoff of Beethoven. Jump!

I'm sorry if I sound very cruel, but this is poor. She is the highest selling female artist in Japan. She has more #1 singles than anybody. She hasn't NOT had a #1 since 2002. And in the last two years, I'm concerned that she would have lost that #1 streak had Avex not carefully planned the releases of her singles. She lost the album streak, and we all cried... because there is no reason why an Ayumi album should be anything but #1... unless she's not being Ayumi Hamasaki.

We just saw the aftermath of not being true to who you are as an artist. BoA's Identity TANKED... it tanked so bad that she was immediately moved back to the Korea market.

I hope that Ayu will not let her music continue spiraling out of control like this. It makes me upset to see this because I know that her hearing is only worsening. I know that any album or single could be her last at this point. I just want her to go out like she came in... I want to see the philosophy behind "I am..." and "Duty" and "RAINBOW" and "MY STORY" come back.

I know her sales have been amazing in Asia, but she is the Empress of J-Pop... not some United Nations Ambassador.

Please share your thoughts though.

ごめんなさい　ＦＯＲ　ＲＡＮＴＩＮＧ!

Please share your thoughts.