Ayu not feeling well....

[graylix]

Our lovely Ayu gets sick every year from overwork. I'd really
like her to rest...probably those management guys at Avex
trying to make as much money off of her again.

Get better soon Ayu...I have a cold/flu too, so I share your
misery! (and I am working through it too! hahahah!)

[ChineseWarrior]

i say we we kidnapp them avex dudes and hold them for a month so ayu can res

[fantaisie.sign]

She really does need a vacation, even if it's only for a month. But I can see the downside to taking a vacation. Think about what happened to people who took breaks because they were pregnant -- Namie for example. When she eventually returned, Ayu, Hikki, and Mai were the reigning Jpop performers. If Ayu does take a break and it turns out that it's over a year or so, another singer might take her place and rise in popularity. Besides that, Ayu needs her rest and energy to perform or else she'll become severly ill from exhaustion and possibly stress.

[ChineseWarrior]

i agree with you Chibinina4

[LiddoKun]

GANBATTEI AYU!!!
GET WELL!!!

[masa]

I'd like to inform you of two news about her physical condition, which I've got from Japanese fansites. My impression to hear the news is "Grave and painful".

1. She caught a cold on Dec 29 2002 and cancelled the reharsal of Kouhaku on Dec 30. At the night she held a live concert at the same hall as Countdown Live concert, but she could not sing well. And at the end of the concert, she apologized the audience in tears for not having been able to do it satisfactorily. And she sang "Dolls" without back music in token of apology.
2. On the early morning of Jan 1 2003 after she ended up all her tight schedule, some eager fans were still waiting for her at the exit of TV station. The car with her in it came out and they rushed around it. The car stopped and she appeared out from it, but she looked quite exhausted, almost like a patient in a hospital. She said to them in a weak voice, "Thank you very much. Please be always by my side. Please don't forsake me.", which surprised them very much, as she had never said such words to them. The two fans staying there reported as this and I think it was a true story.

[mimika]

she's just overworked herself....

does anyone has the kouhaku video?? i wanna listen to her singing...is that really so bad?? i hope not

[nmskalmn]

Thanks for the info masa.

I hope that Ayumi will take better care of herself in the future. We won't forsake her if she takes a break or does fewer lives.

[Grantith]

Thanks for the info Masa. That's really scary! She really needs a vacation. She can't push herself so far, it's not good for her.

[ChineseWarrior]

OMG! thats sad man! i mean that sucks! hehe thanks for the info masa

[Battle Angel]

I don't care what Ayu's schedule is like, she must take some time off to rest and get better.

[ayu_ready78]

Thx Masa for the info on Ayu's condition. It's such a painful thought to see Ayu this way and she does need a long vacation to recooperate. God bless Ayu that she will get better very soon.

[Love ~since 1999~]

Ayu needs a vacation, for sure!!!!!
Get well~~~~

[ChineseWarrior]

she needs a long one too!

[masa]

As you know, the year 2002 was the busiest and the hardest year for Ayumi. And I'm quite sure that her very tight working schedule throughout the year caused her illness at the end of the year. Then, what is the reasons why she is working so hard and hard? I've tried to think out some answers as below.

The reasons inside her
1. The sense of duty that she must support many staff of avex.
2. The anxiety that if she make her pace slow down, her popularity will go down.
3. The vague belief that she needs to work at a stretch with a little rest in order to create excellent works.

The reasons from outside
4. A lot of requests for work from various companies.
5. The intention of the management of avex.

Which do you think is the principal reason? Or, some other reasons occur to your minds?

[kazuni]

The sense of duty, as you say masa, is great within ayu. Since she is the real money-maker in her company (comparing to other artists she made the most profit) we've always suspected (i donno if it is really true) that the avex guys is pushing her limits over and over again through these years - they will not allow something like namie's pregnant incident to happen at all (not taht i am saying she's pregnant, but out of business for a while) - and definitely, they won't succeed in pushing if ayu herself doesn't have that much of dedication to her career - mostly because of her fans. It's nice to see an artist working at his/her best but not seeing an artist to be totally stressed. What I think is that a true ayumi fans would totally not mind if she would take a vacation at all, if they understand what she had went through these past years.

What I had in mind is that, she might be doing all these because of someone - or something. It might be a mental crisis (not that she went crasy or anything like that) that she went through, that made her pushing herself forward and did what she could possibly do - I mean, look at her past years - trying out different things, and this year with the release of the new album "rainbow" she recognizes the market for singing english songs and actually tried singing in english - i mean, it's definitely a hard breakthrough for an artist, especially after all these years for a singing artist in her career. It's also hard on herself - I am not really sure about her level of english is very good or not, but it's rare to see an artist that writes lyrics herself that actually writes in english (not that it's totally english but still)...

dang i have a class now i think i'll continue on this perhaps later ^^

[ChineseWarrior]

even if she does take a break her popularity wont go down she has many fans to support her