Ayumi is going downhill...

[Daking]

It is probably true that she is on the downside of her career, but i think she is still releasing quality stuff maybe not up to the standards of 4 years ago but still good quality stuff.

[heyheyderek]

I disagree on most of your negative opinion..
except that you said Born To Be's pv was boring~
I really love the "yaya gaga"part in Bold & Delicious~~
I love this song so much~
Ayu has been always trying new things in the recent years~
And I really glad that she loves to try...
Otherwise,,her music will become boring..
and there's no point to do same things repeatedly..(like having the same music style all the time)
She should try more and explore more music styles..
Perhaps you don't get used to her new stuffs..
You've so many negative opinion abt ayu,,I really want to hear why do you love her?haa....

P.S. It's good that you gave out your opinion~^^

[HanabiChick]

I don't really see it as Ayu going downhill, because she's had good/bad songs and PVs since the beginning of her career. I see it as more of a creative slump - something most artists go through at some stage. It's very difficult for any type of artist to constantly produce brilliant works, or something that everybody likes - not humanly possible really, you'd have to be some sort of superhuman to be able to do that.

[AyUmIXx]

ehmm..if she's going to fall...why there are still lots of new fans growing up because of her new album (miss)understood.
i got lots of friends who begin to love her since (miss)understood which also the era where she wants to be herself..

as a matter or fact, a senior artist who doesn't sell that much anymore like in his/her old times, it doesn't mean that she's going to go down..

example, namie amuro..she was a trendsetter for the japanese teenage girls and she was so famous just like ayu in her old times..but look today..she's not going down..she still exists and do good even though not in her best like in previous years...

this also means an evolution.. look around there..lots of new artists..people are just going to get bored if you're only stucked on only one artist for several years..so it's just normal to have that kind of thing..

ayu has been working for about 8 years now..
it's a normal thing if she got less sells of her works than the days she began to sing..

even though, ayu is going to fall or downhill or whatever it is, she is still be remembered and respected by lots of people in the music industry..
so why don't we just accept that..and she doesn't care about it....

i think ayu is now like a respected Japanese diva, an important and influence person in the music industry throughout Japan...

[ayu_fan929]

This is all personal opinion. You may think she is going down, others might think she's going up, another bunch might feel she's staying consistent. What really matters is the Japanese public, and the thing that they didn't like was her past 2 singles (doesn't include BLUE BIRD) and to an extent, the album.

Anyways, I think that MY STORY was stronger overall than (m)u, largely in part of the stronger album tracks. (m)u had the amazing singles, but generally, imo, weaker album tracks. Her singles from 2004/2005 (-B&D/Pride) have been really good. Although I dislike B&D/Pride and Startin'/BTB... it's good that she does some stuff that I don't like, cos she can't satisfy everyone at the same time and she is human. Imo, she rebounded with BLUE BIRD.

The Yayagagadada part, it was part of the original song, so she either had to include it or left the beginning of the part empty.

The PVs, I think she gives input to the ideas to a certain extent, but she doesn't plan out the entire PV. That's why avex hires creative teams/director to do the job?

[alternarist]

i disagree with most of the things you said. its not that ayu is going downhill. its jus that you cannot accept what ayu is doing. ayu has to move on. she cant stick to singing evolution, UNITE! and SURREAL all the time. i feel that MY STORY is her best album as i skipped only 2 - 3 songs. since you have so much complaints about ayu's works. den what do you like about ayu? her nails?

[hallelujah_united]

I think Ayu's merely trying to forge out her own direction in music now, having tasted so much success in previous years. Some people may like this change, some may not, so maybe it isn't really fair to say whether she's going downhill or rebounding, because we all have tastes that vary so much.

In my opinion, music is one of the hardest things that one can put an opinion/judgement on.

[alterna♥]

I think 2006 has been a bad year for JPOP so far, I haven't really liked anything as much as last year. (miss)understand was good but none of Ayu's music after that has interested me

[AyUmIXx]

Originally Posted by alternarist

i disagree with most of the things you said. its not that ayu is going downhill. its jus that you cannot accept what ayu is doing. ayu has to move on. she cant stick to singing evolution, UNITE! and SURREAL all the time. i feel that MY STORY is her best album as i skipped only 2 - 3 songs. since you have so much complaints about ayu's works. den what do you like about ayu? her nails?

i agree with you, totally

i love her latest works rather than her old works..(but i love some her old works, of course)..because it's more true to her self.... and she enjoys in doing the new sound of her music..and she's also a happy person these days.

it's very funny to see ayu sings songs like the oldies..which are younger, energetic, teen spirit..or whatever the definitions are...

she's a matured woman now and she needs to make her music that fits to her image today..

[alternarist]

^ exactly! she cant be singing poker face now. -_-

[Jer Sieu]

^LMAO!!! hahahha... poker face again? lol

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by hallelujah_united

In my opinion, music is one of the hardest things that one can put an opinion/judgement on.

True true true!

Maybe to see things in a different light, just compare all her releases to Hooker Face. Then you'll see she can never go downhill now.

[ohsixthirty]

we all have opinions. you think ayu is going downhill. someone else thinks she's at her peak. its all opinions.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by touchedstar

we all have opinions. you think ayu is going downhill. someone else thinks she's at her peak. its all opinions.

Even the forum is just an archive of opinions...

Look at Namie Amuro. After her retirement, her popularity was going downhill. Her record company put less restraint on her, less control of her work and finally was able to do the songs she wanted to. She re-invented her image and sound as is gaining more fans and popularity (her recent single debuted at no. 2)

I think with Ayu it will be the same. I think Avex is letting go of Ayu and giving more control to her to make the songs she wants. (since Avex's main focus now is Koda Kumi) All she needs is to find a sound that could bring more fans in. (since rock is gaining popularity I think she might head into that direction). Some people might not like her at this very moment, but she is just testing to see what songs people like & what songs she likes to make.

[Holly]

the music industry is a fickle industry, i'm just glad she never stops experimenting different genres of music.... so i won't b surprised if she made some boo hoo songs.... cuz she;s tryin to capture the audience attention and find the right direction of songs she would take on...

[kameraguy]

I agree that Ayu can't make the same style songs over and over, so she has to evolve. Who knows if this is the new direction for her, but if she remains the same, maybe she will never know how much better she can be?

It reminds me of Tetsuya Komuro in a way. So many hits one after another....but at some point he started to go really crazy with experimental music especially with Globe. As much as I was a Globe fan from the beginning, it was hard for me to listen to the newer works. They were just way out there, but really the thing was they were just "different" than what i was expecting and used to.

Maybe Ayu is in the same position. She is obviously successful....so maybe she feels this is the time to really pursue other ideas and see where it leads her. As much as I love Ayu, I agree there are some recent songs that can really polarize her existing fans....but also she seems to gain new fans who never had never heard her earlier stuff. Either way, I hope this is a learning process once again for her to lead to even better songs.

Whatever she does, i'm sure all her fans can still agree its exciting to know she is still making music. Can you imagine the day she stops?

Songs aside, my personal problem of late is her music video directors. IMHO B&D and Pride were ok, but they looked rushed. However, Rainy Day was also simple, but a gorgeous video. The production values were obviously higher which is more consistent to the majority of her PVs.

I enjoy all her videos, but I was really dissapointed with the Born to Be PV. I really love that song, but that PV just hurt my eyes! :p Too bad as she looked so beautiful when i could actually see her

[freedreamer]

I think she is going thru her 'experimenting' period now after having gain so much before...I think if she experimented last time, today's Ayu would be pretty worst of...(no offence)...

And STEP you and tis PV is indeed a very gd PV...better than leopard-skin, singing on a mountain in some nightwear, in a wedding gown looking around the church...i think it was STEP you which showed her change...look at the different styles, i think it was conveying the message that, "I have so many styles and im gonna show them now"...

There are definitely ups and downs in this industry, u cant expect Ayu to go all strong all the way (she is strong all the way for me thou; ignore PVs)...

[[taskin.ayu]]

Not all the PVs you mentioned were bad, you missed all the good ones! alterna had the best PV of 2006 in my opinion. XD You are a bit negative too, those PVs weren't TERRIBLE. (except for maybe Beautiful Fighters)

However, I must agree the music quality has inded gotten low since MY STORY. Songs in MY STORY had a certain quality that (miss)understood did not have. (even though (miss)understood is my favourite album) Perhaps the ugly artwork contributed? XDDD She did quite well last year actually, all the songs were excellent, only this year have I been disapointed. I like the music this year, but the Pvs have been a bit lousy. I guess that doesn't really matter though. =p

Even though I like the rate of her releases, I think she needs a break to gain some inspiration for better songs. Ayu REALLY needs to do something amazing to redeem her popularity. I hope she does something soon, or wait a while and do something like '&'.

EDIT:
Actually I saw spacelion's comment and I COULD NOT agree more. spacelion has hit the nail on the head hard. XD She probably is experimenting as she had tried new directors, composers etc. (such as Geo) Even though I don't like the current music as MUCH as a love past music, (I like her new music, don't get me wrong) I know that Ayu will come out stronger. :3

[AyUmIXx]

Originally Posted by spacelion

Look at Namie Amuro. After her retirement, her popularity was going downhill. Her record company put less restraint on her, less control of her work and finally was able to do the songs she wanted to. She re-invented her image and sound as is gaining more fans and popularity (her recent single debuted at no. 2)

I think with Ayu it will be the same. I think Avex is letting go of Ayu and giving more control to her to make the songs she wants. (since Avex's main focus now is Koda Kumi) All she needs is to find a sound that could bring more fans in. (since rock is gaining popularity I think she might head into that direction). Some people might not like her at this very moment, but she is just testing to see what songs people like & what songs she likes to make.

o yeah...i totally agree with this entry too....
i just can't imagine ayu sings songs like evolution, UNITE!, boys & girls these days...