Thoughts on 1 LOVE PV

[Kodayumi]

^^yes yes!! I saw the spaghetti and other good food, isit how u spell spaghetti? o.O

[sora2522]

Originally Posted by soysaucestar

Also, the police were not KILLED in the end. They were caught and also auctioned off--you can see a tall masked figure standing on the stage with money and the chains when the police (Ayu + others) were flailing around.

i think he/she (forgot who posted it...sorry!) was saying like, after the auction was over and they didn't get sold...maybe that's what they do to the 'items' after they dun sell... *suspension*

[Delirium-Zer0]

Ayu seems to consistently choose Clowns as a way of representing Avex in her PVs (and concerts and songs). Perhaps because clowns are entertaining, but can be scary since you never know what their REAL facial expression is under all the makeup. They play charades with both their artists and their audience.

In the case of this PV it does seem to have the same "rebelling against avex" attitude that alterna did. The clown is sort of a ringleader that is basically prostituting out (hence the pole-dancing; ayu feels like she's being prostituted out) all these artists that all fit into certain archetypes, that way they're marketable to certain niche groups. Avex has mostly archetypal and manufactured artists & groups, so I pretty much agree with ayu's assessment of the situation.

Ayu plays both the musician being sold to the public and the police because she's trying to police avex's treatment of their artists through such muckraking as this PV and alterna's PV.

Several famous artists in the US and elsewhere have vocalized their thoughts on how their record labels treat them badly. Very rarely do you hear about artists being particularly happy with their labels. Good examples stateside are Hanson's "Strong Enough To Break" movie and Tori Amos' "Piece by Piece" autobiography, and there are several places I've seen online with write-ups from former producers & musicians about the reality of a record contract. Ayu is, after being in entertainment so long, no stranger to unfair treatment from bigwigs. They have the money & funding for artists to promote themselves though, so aspiring stars go there.

I always interpreted "WONDERLAND" to say that everything seems bright, shiny, and fun for awhile, but after awhile the creepy clown laughter comes in and the misery that can be a music career rears its ugly head. It's not what she thought it would be when she was approached about being a star.

That's my input, anyway.

[immel]

I love you Deli.

Great input, I didn't think of the clown -> avex connection too much when I watched the PV. I loved it from the start and now you just added another few levels of depth to it. Thankies <3.

The question is if it's Ayu who came up with the clown idea from the start, or if some director gave it to her and she's kept it alive. Directors are supposed to know what sells, bashing any given record label sells, lol.

Your theory for WONDERLAND is an excellent idea, too. I wonder if Ayumi was involved in creating it, at all, though. It's hard to know if she just picked it after hearing the composition and had someone arrange it, or however it went. She might also have given specific instructions about that it should be that way.

[Axel_Grease]

Yay~ I finally watched it. Well, she was sexy. xD The beast guy was really cool. The eater gross. It was nice how Ayu pushed the clown away when he tried to grab her, wasn't expecting that. And the flower ring-camera thingy was cool. When someone said it reminded them of a Lumix CM, they were right. xD

Originally Posted by soysaucestar

FYI, CeS just told me that the "censored" thing the Otaku was holding was a MECHA figurine (from Evangelion, Gundam, et. al.). They had to blur out the figurine because they did not want to pay royalties for the respective anime/manga. Apparently the Otaku wasn't really acting and brought his own figurines to show off to everyone....o_O....

Yeah, I guessed right, it was some Gundam thingy..

Her pole dancing was pretty good since she doesn't do it professionally. And she looked like she couldn't walk after pole dancing in the making-of. Poor Ayu. ;_;

And I saw her tattoo in the PV on my second watch. But~ It was just a black blur that flashed by so fast~ ;_;

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by immel

Your theory for WONDERLAND is an excellent idea, too. I wonder if Ayumi was involved in creating it, at all, though. It's hard to know if she just picked it after hearing the composition and had someone arrange it, or however it went. She might also have given specific instructions about that it should be that way.

Booklet says that she ("CREA") both wrote & arranged that one.

And awwww, i feel... loved. XD

[immel]

That gives the theory a whole lot more ground. I didn't know it was co-composed.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by immel

That gives the theory a whole lot more ground. I didn't know it was co-composed.

It's not co-composed - Ayumi composed and arranged that track all herself. It's the only one that she has ever arranged.

[immel]

Oops, I failed when I read Deli's post, somehow I thought she said something like "both CREA and someone~", no clue why.

Thanks for correcting me Sunshine .

[Mad_Cactuar]

Genius, brilliant, work of art. I love the ending.

Originally Posted by Delirium Zer0

Ayu seems to consistently choose Clowns as a way of representing Avex in her PVs (and concerts and songs). Perhaps because clowns are entertaining, but can be scary since you never know what their REAL facial expression is under all the makeup. They play charades with both their artists and their audience.

In the case of this PV it does seem to have the same "rebelling against avex" attitude that alterna did. The clown is sort of a ringleader that is basically prostituting out (hence the pole-dancing; ayu feels like she's being prostituted out) all these artists that all fit into certain archetypes, that way they're marketable to certain niche groups. Avex has mostly archetypal and manufactured artists & groups, so I pretty much agree with ayu's assessment of the situation.

Ayu plays both the musician being sold to the public and the police because she's trying to police avex's treatment of their artists through such muckraking as this PV and alterna's PV.

Several famous artists in the US and elsewhere have vocalized their thoughts on how their record labels treat them badly. Very rarely do you hear about artists being particularly happy with their labels. Good examples stateside are Hanson's "Strong Enough To Break" movie and Tori Amos' "Piece by Piece" autobiography, and there are several places I've seen online with write-ups from former producers & musicians about the reality of a record contract. Ayu is, after being in entertainment so long, no stranger to unfair treatment from bigwigs. They have the money & funding for artists to promote themselves though, so aspiring stars go there.

I always interpreted "WONDERLAND" to say that everything seems bright, shiny, and fun for awhile, but after awhile the creepy clown laughter comes in and the misery that can be a music career rears its ugly head. It's not what she thought it would be when she was approached about being a star.

That's my input, anyway.

Sometimes I wonder if Ayu is really that deep. I doubt she hates Avex that much now, she's a lot happier from the Makings and her 2006 interviews, if that indicates anything.

[truehappiness]

Well, I wonder if the clown is something else other than avex :O

Maybe like, society? AHA. No.

Society's the wealthy people though! D:

[immel]

In that case the people throwing money at her like a prostitute... would be us.

Ew.

[Mad_Cactuar]

I thought it symbolized how some people (the clown) took advantage of other people with specialties by appealing to the crowd with these freaks.

Originally Posted by immel

In that case the people throwing money at her like a prostitute... would be us.

Ew.

It's Ayu, so it's worth it.

[bluegie]

I got my cd today so finally I can watch 1 LOVE and momentum.. 1 LOVE is easier to understand. Yet again I didn't think deeply about clown = avex and auction = selling artists etc... I just know she did really well on the pole dancing . Not too ****ty, yet it's so pretty.

I just dun understand the last shot... the mask on the floor.. what does that indicate?

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by immel

In that case the people throwing money at her like a prostitute... would be us.

Ew.

I think that a high percentage of us would do that anyway.

You'd probably be one of them. :p


I guess the mask might indicate a failed-mission?
I wonder if anyone actually got the MUSICIAN-Ayu..

I always thought that the Musician Ayu was like some sort of 'spy' made by police Ayu for some reason.

[HiruNoKaze]

I thought she was doing her standard two-Ayu form again. Dancing Ayu would be the muse-Ayu (the inner Ayu who conveys emotion directly to the viewer), who here represents a whole group of people. Here the muse actually interacts a little with the environment, but there still aren't repercussions. For example, she went and pushed bossclown around and no problem, threw money back at people and no problem, danced around a whole lot but nothing really happened to her. On the other hand, the police Ayu is a specific character who is set in the story.

lol sorry if I'm annoying people by mentioning my "muse" interpretation everytime she has two Ayu's, but I really think all of the PVs featuring two Ayus share this characteristic.

When did this all start...I think it was fly high. Remember the NTV interviews? Or maybe the Hamasaki Ayumi DVD interview. She was talking about two Ayus even then. She spoke of the "two Ayus" quite seriously, which led me to believe that this is an artistic device she's using. Quite poetic and a powerful technique, I think. I guess it's her little thing that she likes to do.

[g~sus~]

Originally Posted by asongforXX

I hope her dance isn't too sl*tty...

i think it is...

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by bluegie

I just dun understand the last shot... the mask on the floor.. what does that indicate?

I think that indicated that the Ayu in the mask was indeed the police that's being auctioned. It's to reinforce what we thought happened, because they didn't exactly show how the Ayu-spy got caught.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Hiru: I think you're probably right about that. I mean, Ayu does the two-ayu thing ALOT. If any one thing in this PV is very deliberate and thought-out, the 2 ayus are. But what does each side represent? From what I can tell it's usually "artistic" ayu (your "muse") and "business" ayu who's working & trying to get something accomplished; the very serious- and structurally-minded one. (In the Fly high PV we see off-shot edited in as the audience-side ayu is looking over the set with the other staff, for example).

[Chibi_Venus]

I'm just trying to read the clown and other people's mouths while the music is going. lol Aren't the people in her PVs usually American? It makes me wonder if they're all American and if they're either talking in English, Japanese, or just moving their mouth for show.

Anyway, I actually don't mind the pole dancing. I like how the way she dances isn't the "I'm so horny for you/Look at me, I'm such a w****" kind of pole dance. It's more of the show type thing - just... regular pole dancing. ... Wow, is there such a thing? lol Sure, it's called "Ayu style pole dancing" lol.