[Article] Will she sing like before?

[Minttulatte]

That article was nice to read. I loved it. :> It's nice to know that they didn't say Ayu's an arsehole and should stop singing completely now. That sounded even optimistic, but that surgery on the skull sounds dangerous. I wouldn't never do that if I was Ayu. I would put my heart and soul into practicing and learn to sing with my remaining ear rather than go through some surgery that could cause horrible consequenses (Btw, my english sucks at times. ). But that text sounds so optimistic. I liked that.

I had noticed Ayu sounded different in CDL 2006-2007, but even more different in 2007-2008 as I watched it. But for somehow that didn't bother me at all. I don't know any singers who can actually sing perfectly on live performances, they always have some problems. Ayu isn't the only who with those. :> I believe Ayu can perform nicely with only one ear. It just needs more practicing.

And Koda Kumi can't be Queen of J-pop, because I think she don't have "abilities" to be like that. I also agree with others who say that people like watching Koda's dancing and sexinness rather than listening to her music (which is awesome, I tell you). I listen to Koda's music more than watch her sexy dancing and clothing. Music is more important than appearance, or that's what I think. I think Ayu will always be Queen of J-pop, because she just has more of capablities to be one.

[TITANIC]

is it her secret that she want tell us when she realese album secret???

she need more practice now

[KarenPang]

I don't think anyone can replace Ayumi's position & standing in the music business cos face it , it takes a lot of hard work for Ayumi to get to where she's today & she took 10 years of her life to do so .

Even the current crop of female artistes such as otsuka ai , Koda Kumi , Mika Nakashima , they have only been around for a few years or so & they definitely need more time in order to catch up to Ayumi & to replicate the impact that Ayumi has left for the past decade , it's not going to be easy .

I'm not saying it's impossible to do that but at the moment , I think it's not likely to happen anytime soon . Koda has become extremely popular the past few years but she's gonna take more than just dancing , great music beats to get to where Ayumi's at currently .

[criminal]

Wow, such an interesting article and some nice discussion. I love it.

Anyway, yeah, it was nice how Ayumi was portrayed in a really nice light in that piece.

QUESTION: The Music Station performance they're talking about.. is it the one for talkin' 2 myself? :O

[ayu-marco]

thx for sharing
i really appreciate ayu

[maaya]

THX you very much for this but i'm wondering is she will lose her right ear too? because my friend told me that in future she will lose her right ear too T^T

[freedreamer]

from a Singapore Paper..this article is really gd..

[alternarist]

Originally Posted by freedreamer

from a Singapore Paper..this article is really gd..

for once an article from our local tabloids is being praised lol.

[Cyria]

Thanks for the article! It's a pretty good look at what this could mean for Ayu.

[Diana]

Awwww.. Now I really feel sorry for her She is trying her best!!! And this part - 'Ayumi, if I could give you my left ear, I would do it in a heartbeat.' - was so sweeeeet... She has our full support!! Right guys?

[AyUta]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Judging from how you called hikki as "Utada", I guess you're relatively new to hikki's world . Hikki has a nickname of Heisei Songtress in the music industry. (side story: I dunno if this is true or not, but this is what I heard from my dad. When the emperor died in Japan, they would name the most important songtress during that era. Of course this is something I dunno if that's true or not.)

But what is true is that hikki is called 平成歌姬 (Heisei Songtress). This does imply that she's really important in the music industry. And to tell you the truth, she went to the top before ayu did (even tho ayu came out a few months earlier). She and ayu were the recent most important female singers in the music industry. I can proudly say that so far no one has beaten their records (I'm comparing the female artists that are still in this industry). Hikki still holds the most selling record in Japan (First Love, over 7.6 million copies sold according to oricon; not to mention Distance was the highest debut album in weekly chart; not to mention her first three studio albums + best albums were all no. 1 in yearly oricon album chart; CYKAS? no. 1 in yearly single chart; etc.)

Tho ayu never has a no. 1 album yearly (well... she always got no. 2 yearly beaten by Mai, Hikkii (2x), and CHEMISTRY), she does hold many records, such as most no. 1 singles in female; selling records in females; H as no. 1 yearly single in 2002; Duty, A BEST, I am..., RAINBOW all no. 2 yearly albums from 2000 - 2003; Ninhon Record Taisho Grand Pix Award 3 years in a row (only two people achieved this in history... the other person was Teresa Tang), etc.

So... providing the data (and actually I dun have time to include more), do you think hikki is lower than ayu, or vice versa? Not even Namie Amuro can compared with them IMO (well if she wasn't accidentally pregnant during her peak, I guess that would be another story). In Japanese music history, many female singers went to the top, then sank really quickly. Not many singers can survive at the top for more than five years or so. Also, how many female acts can actually beat the male acts and even boy bands during their prime era? Objectively speaking the recent female acts that could do that were Namie (probly for 2 years), Hikki, and Ayu. It seems like only male acts and boy bands sell records lately, but we can't deny the fact that female acts were pretty dominant a few years ago. I guess it's just a cycle... probly a few years later female acts will become dominant again. (wow I'm going too off topic now LOL).


PS: Ayu, and even Mai + MISIA were considered as 平成歌姬 as well, but I guess Japanese people use it on hikki the most often...

Actually no, I'm not new to Hikki. It's just that I sometimes have this problem with calling her Utada at times xDDD Sorry for the confusion! But yes, I see your point. But I'm not trying to say that Hikki is lower than her, because she's not. They are both the same IMO. I love you guys! xD
But sorry for the confusion on that part too! xD I have a tendency to explain things in a weird way, I'm known for that here at home.


By the way...also...
I HAD NO IDEA HIKKI HAD A NICKNAME OF Heisei Songtress?? O.O Now that's what I'm new to now! xD

[AyUta]

Originally Posted by Halla

thx for the news.

Koda Kumi will never be the queen of j-pop, neither will Ai Otsuka. IMO They've released so many albums already withouth reaching "the top". most likely the next Queen will be some new artist rather than someone who's been around in the industry for years ...

I personally think Ayu is more of the Queen material than Hikki. Ayu is just more prominent figure in the japanese entertainment scene, she does more TV & magazine media, releases more music , tours more and does the Kouhaku Uta gassen every year.

Hikki declines kouhaku & distances herself from the typical j-pop scene. I'm not saying it's a bad thing necessarily, but I feel if you are "the queen of j-pop" you should really embrace the whole j-pop scene ...

I wonder why Hikki doesn't want to do that stuff really?
Anyone have an answer to that? It's kind of bizarre.

[AyUta]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

I always saw ayu and hikki exatly on the same level, they are both huge artists.

What let you think that ayu would stop her career before hikki does? They started almost around the same era, I wish they'll both stop around the same era as well, it will be awesome ^-^.

I don't think someone will ever take ayu's or hikki's place, it always seemed to me like they go hand in hand sitting in the 2 thrones of the j-music, no artist had such influences like ayu and hikki.
I really wouldn't be surprised if ayu has all of hikki's discography and hikki has ayu's.

That'd be so cool if I found out they had each others FULL discography!
It would be cute!

[CHE.R.RY]

Thanx so much for this! I learned a lot from it and it just makes me respect Ayu even more. I'm sure that with lots of practice (and Ayu is a VERY hard-working woman) that she can pull off singing in tune with only one ear. Ayu just needs to try and I'm sure she'll pull herself together. Other than that (I know it's been said time and time again) I really hope Ayu just focuses on resting for a bit...she pushes herself too hard and it scares me everytime that I read 'use what's left of the hearing in my right ear to sing to my limits, until the very end'...I don't want Ayu to make herself go deaf just to make everyone happy. Well anyways, the best of luck to Ayu and I will always be rooting for her ^^;

Oh and that mini timeline thing was really interesting. Honestly I never knew Ayu was having hearing problems up until now.

[CHE.R.RY]

Originally Posted by AyUta

I wonder why Hikki doesn't want to do that stuff really?
Anyone have an answer to that? It's kind of bizarre.

Utada isn't really one to get out there and always compete. She releases stuff at her own rate and doesn't worry about when it should be released (for example to deliberately compete with other fellow artists). She's a really humble person if you think about it
And maybe even considerate towards other artists but who knows?

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by Halla

thx for the news.

Koda Kumi will never be the queen of j-pop, neither will Ai Otsuka. IMO They've released so many albums already withouth reaching "the top". most likely the next Queen will be some new artist rather than someone who's been around in the industry for years ...

I personally think Ayu is more of the Queen material than Hikki. Ayu is just more prominent figure in the japanese entertainment scene, she does more TV & magazine media, releases more music , tours more and does the Kouhaku Uta gassen every year.

Hikki declines kouhaku & distances herself from the typical j-pop scene. I'm not saying it's a bad thing necessarily, but I feel if you are "the queen of j-pop" you should really embrace the whole j-pop scene ...

Exactly Halla. i share a simillar opinion. ayu has "presence", something Hikki unfortunately doesn't.
I think koda kumi has reached her plateau. She doesn't have much more to add to her career, so I don't really see her popularity rising to a point of being considerdd a queen in the next years.
About ai otsuka, that sort of always made me laugh. I was always aware ai otsuka wasn't queen material, but it was hilarious to see some fanboys defending her so fiercely, mentioning how she'd completely surpassd ayu and be the new queen; a joke obviously I knew sakuranbo was sort of one of those 1 hit wonders that pops up in japanese people's interest but then fades out quickly. I knew ai would be stuck on her sugary-cutesy pop and annoying random mosquito screaming loud rock (yeah, Happy Days sucks), enough to make her famous, but also enough to stuck her on a position that will nerver make her rise to be anything more than that.

[minna]

first....
T_T she's 29!!!! not 30!!!


thnks for the article
I'm sure that she will practice and she can do it
she believes and we believe in her

[Bad Wolf]

What a very interesting article! I actually started to cry... again... (there is no hope for me).

[CHE.R.RY]

Originally Posted by minna

first....
T_T she's 29!!!! not 30!!!

Sometimes the media just like to round to the nearest tenth xD! I mean it's close enough and as of this year (even though it's not even close to her b-day) she'll be turning 30.

[Kikaru]

Yeah, the timeline fits with the performances. I guess once there was something really wrong, her ear deteriorated really fast. (I think A-nation 07) is when things really began to go loopy.

I think with enough training she can work around it. She'll probably just have to get use to it, but it might take a while.

And I agree with Impactbreaker and Halla about Koda Kumi and Otsuka Ai, especially Otsuka Ai. For Ai she did release some great songs, but with her "girl-next-door" image and the forever now quasi-cute songs, I don't see her past her peak of popularity two years ago.