Has ayu lost her touch?

[PoetGirl]

phew.. who would read all this posts, man...

i just wanted to say that i agree with people who said she hasnt lost her touch,
in fact, she's one of the rare musicians i know that kept being them through years and
im so proud of her for not getting something totally different cuz i would feel she's lying and she just wants to sell,
whatever i listen being it next level or duty i have that 'ayu' feeling, she has that something being called x factor or whatever, but i believe ayu feel or that x factor doesnt fade, its just something you were born with,
to not go completely off topic, i wanted to say ONLY PROBLEM i have with ayu or better be called WISH or HOPE is a vocal coach. her singing is just bad. its truth that she never was famous for her great vocals but she's running out of breath now!
im just worried she would come to the point where she wont have any voice left.

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by emiko

@GRACE and...that discussion lol: i dont think she's completely insane...but she certainly does not live or think on the same plane as everyone else lol

she seems a little...like in a dream or something the way she goes through things sometimes.

I personally wouldn't think anything of someone saying she has lost her marbles...I would say, yeah she probably has lol

yeah, that's exactly what I mean. I feel like she' just doesn't think like everyone else

[taskinillusion]

Originally Posted by InoriNoUta

Precisely. I wonder if she'll start to rely more on herself again, and not on her staff. I mean the whole reason she took everything on herself in the beginning is because she had a very particular vision and idea of how to do things. Basically, she couldn't trust or know that the people around her were going to match up to what she wanted. Now, I feel like Ayu has reached a point where she trusts her staff enough or they're familiar with her after all these years so they know what to expect or aim for with their product. That seems to be making Ayu happy, hence why CREA hasn't made a peep since, what, 2003? The danger with that is the end result: similar themes, comfort zones, stagnation, etc.

The dramatic way to solve this is for Ayu to ditch her staff and do it all on her own again. Have every rein in hand and command each thing. The less dramatic way is for her to get more involved, little by little, with the creation process. She could sit down with her composers/arrangers and either be a "back seat" composer, giving suggestions, etc. I have no doubt Ayu picks the songs she likes NOW, but I don't know how involved she is with the actual creation process. I think that would be a key thing.

The thing is, she got so huge so fast that she simply CAN'T have the reins for EVERYTHING she's involved in. That's just insane! And here everyone is always saying how she needs to "take a break" and "rest", but then you guys want her to control every single aspect of everything she does now? That's impossible. She does way too much for her to have absolute control over EVERYTHING. This is why she relies on her staff so much these days. Maybe in the beginning, when she didn't have herself spread so thin, she could have the reins of her projects all to herself, but these days? No way! Sure it makes sense for her to start taking more control little by little, but we have to realize that means she's not going to be resting anytime soon. To stay on top, she has to keep moving. She's been doing this for a long time now, so she's not going to be a "fresh" as she was when everything she did was new.

[KPL]

Well everything needs a catalyst, and the recycling moments in CDL are the catalysts of this post.
I agree this CDL was not perfect. It was not as amazing as 08-09, but it does not show that ayu has lost her "touch".

Music-wise, I actually think she is always creative. Maybe judgeing the quality of her music is a highly subjective thing, but I do love her releases this year. The Rule/ Sparkle single was pretty strong with the songs, especially Sparkle, which was one of her most unique songs in these years. And I am very satisfied with the songs in NEXT LEVEL. Put the four interluds aside, I didnt find any single song from the album boring. NEXT LEVEL is refreshing, rollin' fills her very scarce library of electronic songs these year, most people had been wishing for such an oriental feeling song as GREEN before the release, LOVE 'n' HATE is special: its not ayu's "dark rock" or her typical "ballad"... And what's more, I find the lyrics in the album echoing in my hearts, which only happens in LOVEppears and Duty eras. I don't know why but I was glad for that. So I don't think the title of NEXT LEVEL album was a lie or braggart. It gave me surprise when it came out and I am still very much enjoying it.

And for the music after NEXT LEVEL. Well, the summer single was pretty decent in music. Finally we got a summer song that was not like fairyland-BLUE BIRD. And Sunrise was a pretty strong ballad for summer, which was also highly anticipated since HANABI, right? And the winter ballads have good quality. Although they are not totally diffrent from the previous ones, but they are unique in themselves.

But I agree that what goes wrong sometimes is her image. The cover of S/S was a tragedy, and I do think it negatively affected its sales seriously. Ayu and the photographer are able to make amazing things - - just look at the photo shots in the calendar, "some" of them are really beautiful! The responsibility goes, therefore, to the one who picked up that certain photo and made the decision to use it at the cover, whether the person was ayu or her team. I remember that in her early years she made the choice of producing her own images: she was combining the photos of herself to make the ayu-mi-x II covers. If now it is her team who choose the cover, I wanna kill them. If it is ayu herself, I have to say ayu don't play with yourself, that's not fun. Anyway, after the shocking photos of Rule/Sparkle, NEXT LEVEL album, S/S single and the VIVI in the summer, we finally got satisfaction from the winter stuff. Hope the photos in the future would be better.

For the concerts, which are the catalyst, I have to say I do agree with most of you guys to some extent. She is recycling, which had not happened like this before. But if we look through the whole year of 2009, we see: the PCDL was pretty cool, almost everything WAS new, the GREEN/Will performance was highly creative and beautiful, and pink outfit for the old songs also gave her energy back. And in the corner was just unique. The only thing recycled in PCDL was just the silver belt during her dark rock songs. What starts to be serious was the AT 09 tour, including the a-nation. I agree the some of the concept and outfits are recycled, although I still find the show entertaining, especially the rollin' Sparkle NEXT LEVEL performance. Then we have the CDL, and I want to quote myself in another post:

About the recylcling, I have to say, ayu herself is different, and it is the way ayu performs that gives us a whole new performance.

However, I think sometimes the way of her performance years ago seemed to be better than the present ones. For example, the I am... in 2002 was epic because of the combinition of music, costume, theme, video, choreography, and POWER. You could really tell how much power there was in her eyes, as well as vocals, that could convey the message of that song. But in this CDL, ayu chooses not to be as "cold or strong" as she was in the 2002 stage. Instead, she is focusing in just singing, which is not a bad thing, but the performance has, as a result, less essence.

The same goes to the 1 LOVE performance. The AT07 performance was extremely sexy, because of costume, hair, make-up etc. This time, maybe the camera stays too far away from her, I cannot really see anything, just feel that the new performance in CDL is more fierce than sexy, due to her image of performance.

But there are certain songs only the present ayu can do well. When I heard the RED LINE in the end, I feel very moved. I know ayu could not do this in 2001 or 2005, when it was either her summit of career or the mature period. Having gone through all of these, the present ayu know how to convey the message in RED LINE, so she is doing that impressively, which I like.

So, if ayu choose to re-do her older classics, she should consider how she perform and convey the MESSAGE of the song in a good way, which gives her songs and tours life.

But I also think that it is just fine to do some thing not new for CDL. CDL is just a time for ayu to be with her fans and celebrate the entering into a new year. What tests her creativity is the Tour. Let's just wait for Tour 2010.



So in year 2009, her music was strong as usual. Image was too dramatic. And concerts are fine with the overall effect of AT09 (It's just fun). But SHE REALLY NEED A VOCAL COACH. BUT SHE WILL HAVE MORE TOURS IN 2010 SO I DONT REALLY KNOW HOW SHE WILL DO THAT!......

[KPL]

Originally Posted by PoetGirl

phew.. who would read all this posts, man...

i just wanted to say that i agree with people who said she hasnt lost her touch,
in fact, she's one of the rare musicians i know that kept being them through years and
im so proud of her for not getting something totally different cuz i would feel she's lying and she just wants to sell,
whatever i listen being it next level or duty i have that 'ayu' feeling, she has that something being called x factor or whatever, but i believe ayu feel or that x factor doesnt fade, its just something you were born with,
to not go completely off topic, i wanted to say ONLY PROBLEM i have with ayu or better be called WISH or HOPE is a vocal coach. her singing is just bad. its truth that she never was famous for her great vocals but she's running out of breath now!
im just worried she would come to the point where she wont have any voice left.

I agree with you completely. Lol I should have seen your post before I posting my super long essay....

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by taskinillusion

Maybe in the beginning, when she didn't have herself spread so thin, she could have the reins of her projects all to herself, but these days? No way!

Huh? In the past she was spread way more thin. Waaaaaaayyyyy more thin. How busy she is now does not come close to how busy she was in the start and middle of her career, yet apparently she had more direct control over things then.

I would like to see her take a break, but at the same time when she comes back I would like her to take a more direct role in her production again. She may be heading in that direction given what we saw with the Ballad PV and how she seemed to take a more active role there again.

[ayuinh.k?]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

I actually noticed that as well in the PV making ofs for Next Level. It did not seem to me like she was really enjoying what she was doing compared to her other PV making ofs.

she looked like she had no emotions during the making of next level & curtain call..although she was smiling and laughing at times, but she definitely looked bored & unexcited

i don't think she has lost her touch..but lately shes probably so tired from practicing/singing/concerts/planning that she doesn't have enough time to take care of herself..every year her schedule is
1. come out with an album,
2. prepare/perform arena/asia tour
3. prepare/perform at a-nation,
4. work on a summer & winter or rock single
5. prepare/perform for CDL

which in the end is super tiring

[Tom Punks]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Huh? In the past she was spread way more thin. Waaaaaaayyyyy more thin. How busy she is now does not come close to how busy she was in the start and middle of her career, yet apparently she had more direct control over things then.

Thank you. Despite how everyone seems to think Ayu is so busy nowadays, she was obviously MUCH busier back in the day. Of course she's still busy these days, but it's nowhere near how busy she was back then.

[czh_genesis]

she just need to be more creative

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by GRACE

Everyone realizes and understands this is her JOB right? Telling her to take a break would be like telling someone to take a break from their job for a year without pay, it's just not gonna happen. The lady just couldn't do it, she dropped a grand or more on shoes in one DAY in Hong Kong(or was it Shanghai?). If she was suddenly not having a constant source of income, she'd go bankrupt.

The fact is, whether she releases music or not, she's ALWAYS going to tour. From a business standpoint, artist make their money TOURING, not releasing albums. When they release CDs, the label makes most of the money off it. I think saying she should take a break is fruitless, cause it'll never happen from that standpoint alone. And from another, despite sounding horrible, look at her face and how much fun she's having. I can't see her wanting to give that up despite sounding like a strangled cat

I looked it up, apparently it wasn't a grand she dropped on shoes, it was supposedly 64k on shoes. She's got an expensive habit

[ストロボ・EdGE]

I love how now even her sanity is being questioned.

I'm gonna take a break from the drama and every other half-page long post now ( ). I guess everyone feels very strongly about this.

[Bad Wolf]

Meh, the discussion isn't as bad as it was when GUILTY came out lol.

[ストロボ・EdGE]

Originally Posted by InoriNoUta

Meh, the discussion isn't as bad as it was when GUILTY came out lol.

It's just... too much (lol)!

What happened when Guilty came out? I assumed that was well received since, like someone else said earlier, Guilty is basically Duty II while still not being generic, had beautiful lyrics and was full of raw emotion (except for Glitter, lol). The singles covered everything: happy pop, sad ballads, a rock song. It's hard to see faults in it when it seems its what (mostly) everyone want(s/ed).

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Huh? In the past she was spread way more thin. Waaaaaaayyyyy more thin. How busy she is now does not come close to how busy she was in the start and middle of her career, yet apparently she had more direct control over things then.

Originally Posted by Tom Punks

Thank you. Despite how everyone seems to think Ayu is so busy nowadays, she was obviously MUCH busier back in the day. Of course she's still busy these days, but it's nowhere near how busy she was back then.

Thanks for pointing out that! I dun really think she needs to take a break in order to create new stuff. Her schedule back in 2001 - 2003 were MUCH busier than now!

2001 - 6 singles + ayu-mi-x III (resang AO part) + A BEST promotion + Dome Tour + preparing for I am...
2002 - Promoting I am... + Arena Tour + Stadium Tour + 3 singles (well she didn't promote much for Daybreak) + RAINBOW
2003 - A BALLADS + Arena Tour + A Museum + 3 singles + Memorial address..

Let's say this year.. She did release Rule/Sparkle and NEXT LEVEL, but she only appeared on TV once (Music station). Then she had AT as usual, then S/S single, then You were.../BALLAD in the end.

My point is... as she was that busy back in the old days, I didn't see her recycling her stuff at all. I know sometimes bringing back similar outfit/stage is kinda nostalgic (that's why I loved Best of CDL). However, repeating the nostalgic feeling again and again isn't a good sign. I'm not saying she should squeeze her brain to give us something so innovative... BUT... can she at least recycling something else (let's say A MUSEUM style) than MY STORY tour style? She has been using the similar stage/effect/outfit from that style for too long. It's just like how we complained she had been in glamorous diva style for too long during Secret --> A COMPLETE eras.

[SunshineSlayer]

^ That's not even taking into account other factors like Ayu Ready every week in 2002-2003. She also appeared on a ton more magazines, music shows, radio shows, regular tv shows etc etc. 01-03 was her most hectic time, but she was also crazy busy in 98-00. And was certainly more busy in 04 and 05 than she has been from 06 onwards. And so no, I've never bought the too busy excuse nowadays especially when it comes to her control over her image - when she seemingly had the most control over her image and direct involvement with her products was at the same time that she was the most busy in her career.

[nanakopy87]

she didn't recycle her outfits and performances before AT05 because she's still considered new (2 concerts 1 yr) so,she had 10 different types of performances before AT05.
and in 2009,she has 10years concert(still 1 year 1CDL+AT) means she'll has 20 concerts.i don't think she can be that creative to have 20 different types of performances for all her songs.and she did recycle that I am screen but still ppl is commenting about this matter.she's using the same style(sleeping on the floor singing Because of you) and people still comment about it.

[SunshineSlayer]

^ The point is, she has been using the same kind of touring formula since 2005. It sounds like you are saying that its not possible for her to come up with a new format in 4 years which is severely underestimating her talent. If she's doing it this way because that's the way she likes it, then that is fine but then it also needs to be accepted that people are going to get tired of it.

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by GRACE

I looked it up, apparently it wasn't a grand she dropped on shoes, it was supposedly 64k on shoes. She's got an expensive habit

lol she spends at least a grand on one pair of shoes~

Her patent Boutin pumps run $800+...

And then she's always buying them in multiple colors! She's funny~

lol @ "drama". We have this discussion at least once every year. Nothing new, although now we have more "evidence" ;P

[nanakopy87]

no.i dont mean i'm underestimate her talent or what but sometimes her point of view isn't the same with us.i'm begin to confuse why is it so many people said she's using the same concept but i can see at least she did something different everytime?i don't feel she's recycling anything except for the recent PCDL08-09 and CDL09-10.
i guess i've been blind-folded recently. >.<

[AyUmIXx]

Let's pray that Ayu will hear our rants so she can start to think of greater concepts for her upcoming new releases..