namie's FUTURE vs ayu's NEXT LEVEL

[TeddyGrahams]

I will judge from their past albums.

Guilty ~> NL is much more smoother. The lyrics became easier to understand, she's speaking directly instead of being ambiguous. The direction in moods of the albums is definitely a plus. The difference in albums is really apparent although the structure of the albums is alike since Secret.

Play ~> P<F is such a huge disappointment. Both albums had nice dance beats and weird engrish. The only difference was P<F had more of an electric vibe, not that Play didn't have those. >.> Hint, look between Hide and Seek and Fast Car. @_@ I think the main change isn't music, it's more fashion oriented like from S&M bondage of Play to Cute skirts/hip fashion of P<F.

[nemesisyume]

I love namies style in PAST<FUTURE
all her songs in 2009 have been awesome + win + lamborghini + zonda.
but ayus style in NEXT LEVEL failed hard
sure I like it that ayu doesn't get stuck making RAINBOW 50 times
but I can barely listen to way too many songs from 2009.

[sanzo2011]

Namie ! i'm too dissapointed with NL ~~!

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

oh god, i'm in doubt. I trust Ayu maybe a lil more

[Yumsushi]

Ayumi by a landslide.
I don't really see a huge shift in Namie's style with this album, its like a mix of old and new which isn't bad at all but Ayu has always experimented with music and continues to surprise me.

[maze]

I enjoy more NEXT LEVEL.

namie's music bores me to death XD

[Kazeyomi]

I was really excited about PAST<FUTURE.
But after the first listen, it sounds MEH.

I mean, P<F has really catchy songs, more than NL. But isn't basically really new, fresh or OMGSOEXPERIMENTAL in my opinion. The only different and fresh (omg am I talkin' about a fruit? ) song from Namie's discography is Dr.
So P<F isn't so innovative for Namie. It's just a bunch of catchy songs putted together (and in a messy way).

So I voted for NEXT LEVEL.
I've always feel it as a stronger version of Loveppears.
I mean: electronic theme album but with less depressing lyrics. She seems said 'I look behind (Loveppears) and now I see myself grow up (NEXT LEVEL)'.
Sorry for my stupid engrish explanation ;__; but it's my personaly way to feel this album.

I'm fan of Ayu and Namie both, but only NEXT LEVEL seems the future for Ayu's career.
PAST < FUTURE it's only a nice album.

[GRACE]

I love Ayu much more then I could ever love Namie, but the direction Namie's going in is so much better then the direction Ayu's getting in.

Out of all of the divas, Namie is the only on I feel like is improving. Namie's changing the game, and changing her sound. Ayu's doing basically more of the same, even with this single, it's the standard winter ballad, and the soon-to-be-standard oriental ballad (Will->part of Me->Secret->GREEN->BALLAD). Namie's doing different things, Dr. is the most original song released this year.

So I had to vote for Namie, even though she's not my favorite, not anywhere close actually, and I love my Ayu a whole lot more. Namie's just doing it better right now.

[non3ko]

^I Agree. Especially after reading the interviews Namie just did. She's looking forward to a fresh start, not totally scrapping her past works.

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

some people are dumb or what? lol read the bloody thread before voting

[SunshineSlayer]

^ Yes, I agree with all of that.

[Andrenekoi]

I prefer my artists singing good material from other people than singing their own crappy stuff if something like this is going to happen...

Some people act like singing/dancing/acting in order to make a song more than just notes, but into something beautiful and emotional as something less important... Not every composer can put out a good performance (yeah Utada, I'm looking at you Even if u can really put lots of emotion on ur voice) and not every amazing performer is the best of the composers (people around here enjoy bashing humming 7/4? well, it's by Crea )

About Namie being a sell out...

Ayu was a dance artist, and after that, a rock artist, and she released evena gospel influenced song! If variety means "sell out", well, she jumped from a metal influenced album into a eletropop influenced album... she is a sell out^^

Utada was a r&b artist... and after that she released some eletronic music... and after that, more r&b... ooops... sell out :O

Mika Nakashima... from jazz to rock! Damn!

Koda... hmmm... r&b... hip hop... eletropop... cutesy songs... another sell out...

Maybe Japan is just the country of sell-out music acts!

[SunshineSlayer]

^ lol exactly. Every Japanese artist is a freaking sell out! Even just having your song in a commercial labels the artist as a sell out in America - so yeah, Japan is just a bunch of copiers and sell outs. ;P

[Kingdom]

even though I dislike the direction that ayu went with when she did next level (she is redeeming herself now), namie's music has begun to all sound alike to me. I couldn't make it through p<f because all the songs start to sound like one big megamash of her just repeating the same words

ur my love love love copy that copy that ur my love love love.... the meaning of us.


well.. thats a bit exaggerated on my part. but for such a hyped up album... those are the only three songs i even like. well. i don't like copy that.

[Crystal_Ageha]

Sunshine, I think Ayumi didn't know what to do with her music career when she did the rap record. And I'll also give Namie the benefit of the doubt and say she didn't really know what she wanted to do when she had more dance influenced music at the start of her career.
But now she's changed from her "real" style back to a similar style, which just happens to be popular. And she changed to hip-hop (or hip-POP--WHATEVER--that's, in my opinion, just her way of trying to make everything better, because everybody knows that she was trying to be real Western hip-HOP) when it looked like hip-hop may get big, after Hikaru's burst. It's not a matter of variety, it's the fact that she decided to completely "reinvent" herself at the exact time after a certain style started to get attention. Yeah, that's technically variety, but it's also technically selling out. The way she experimented between songs on PAST<FUTURE itself is how you are supposed to do it (that's considering if, of course, that's really what you want to do, and not just a selling point).
You guys are bringing up other artists... Kumi has ALWAYS had this: a heavy beat mixed with pop, often making it into a hip-hop or techno influenced song. She's experimented, but that's always been the core. So, not a sellout. I DO believe Hikaru sold out with her last English album. But not because she went from electropop back to R&B, but because that album obviously wasn't who she really is. Just like how all these changing of styles isn't what Namie is. At least, that's not what she tells us. So if she's a person who loves to experiment with every album, incorporating each time major elements of what's mainstream...then that's fine. But she's said for years now that she was something completely different, so THAT'S why she's a sellout, not because she has variety, or even if she goes in a different direction (like Utada did, starting with Deep River). Well, I take it back... I guess she can either be a sellout or a flat out fake. Your pick. But it's definitely one of those.

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by Crystal_Ageha

I DO believe Hikaru sold out with her last English album. But not because she went from electropop back to R&B, but because that album obviously wasn't who she really is.

I know this isn't part of the discussion...but I don't think this is really cool.

I mean, hikki is a person, not only with an extensive knowledge of music, but also someone who has always loved R&B and the western scene. I mean, she even talked about Ace of Base when she was interviewing for her english album lol as an example of the feeling of what she was looking for. And the lyrics and such is something we've seen from her before, and we all know, well her fans I guess, know her quirky personality lol I think, in many ways, her english album is more "her" than some of her other works.


I agree with Andrenekoi anyway. The concept of "selling out" with your musical direction is a little...eh...hard to pinpoint.

I think it's a little bit more difficult with pop music anyway...I mean, it's such an all encompassing genre, when you really do think about it...a lot of other genres have certain staples that are always there, but there's a lot of freedom of movement in pop.

[SunshineSlayer]

^ lol. It just seems you are way to hard on her and I totally don't get the reasoning at all. But like I said, this is something I'll never understand from you, so we will just have to agree to disagree.

[Andrenekoi]

Well... in the end I find the concept of "selling out" completely ridiculous... People sometimes think that artists do photosintesis in order to live, and that the music/paiting/writing/whatever isn't really a job, but some bizarre way to give love or whatever to the world...

If Namie needs to sing bossa nova in order to sell, do that just cuz she wants more money and the final product is good, kudos for her!

[jbrat2219]

I probably shouldn't even be posting here since I haven't hear P<F yet, but that's not what this is about anyway. To be honest, I trust both with their music in the future. When I look at the whole picture of each artist, neither of them has ever failed me. With Ayu, she always found a way to experiment while keeping her music the same. Some criticize her for it, but if you really think about it, do ANY of her albums sound exactly the same? No. Key songs do (summer, winter, etc.) but her products and overall progress as an artist doesn't. Ayu has never disappointed me. I may not like some songs but I can't like everything.

With Namie, it seems like she just keeps growing and growing. If you listen to her music from the 90's and listen to her music now, it doesn't even sound like the same person. She's always keeping people on their toes. However, her music doesn't have any personality like Ayu's does. It's just great, fun, catchy music. In my opinion, I think that's why she's able to completely change her style so often, because there's never really any of "her" in it. But that doesn't discredit her as an artist.

In short, I look forward to both of their future music and I trust both of them not to let me down

[Marin_chan]

Namie