[TA news] AYU will give her performance at NHK "SONGS"!

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by primavera♥

Umm...I don't understand all of the surprise if this is true. If it isn't that'd be awesome, but if it is, it would make sense. I can understand being upset, but you should still be able to understand why.

People aren't having ayu on TV or watching ayu to see the new music that no one cares about because she's not popular anymore. A lot of them may not even know some of the other summer songs that well that weren't bigger hits.

Ayu isn't "in" right now so why would anyone even let her sing a bunch of new songs/songs her fanbase would know.

She'll instead sing songs that people recognize and like already like Seasons so they would enjoy the performance more. Even Movin' On Without You was pretty popular so that would make sense as well. And then a new song for promotional purposes still. There aren't many better choices if you're an irrelevant old lady to many people.

Exactly.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

lol at people being surprised that this is the setlist.

It is surprising they at least let her sing Step by step. The setlist is not her own only decision.
I wanna see it.

...what do you mean, "let"? ...

[~angel*ayumi~]

Originally Posted by primavera♥

Umm...I don't understand all of the surprise if this is true. If it isn't that'd be awesome, but if it is, it would make sense. I can understand being upset, but you should still be able to understand why.

People aren't having ayu on TV or watching ayu to see the new music that no one cares about because she's not popular anymore. A lot of them may not even know some of the other summer songs that well that weren't bigger hits.

Ayu isn't "in" right now so why would anyone even let her sing a bunch of new songs/songs her fanbase would know.

She'll instead sing songs that people recognize and like already like Seasons so they would enjoy the performance more. Even Movin' On Without You was pretty popular so that would make sense as well. And then a new song for promotional purposes still. There aren't many better choices if you're an irrelevant old lady to many people.

This!
And I guess she choose Step by Step because of the Tie-in (if it is true setlist anyways^^)

[Coelacanth]

I'm just not sure how these old crusty ass songs are supposed to build hype for an upcoming album release with brand new songs. All this promotion for what? So A BEST can continue to slay on Rekochoku? Big deal.

I feel like her willingness to cling to her golden era like this really goes against everything she was conveying in "Don't look back."

[jbrat2219]

I've seen how general fans/non fans react to ayu singing a bunch of new songs instead of the classics (like when I play her concert DVDs), they get so frustrated because they don't know the new music and complain that she should just sing her older songs. Then when a classic pops up, they say, "oh, I know this one!" And they sing along. I think ayu is playing it right this time, even if fans don't like it.

[Delirium-Zer0]

I think one thing Ayu fans have always had a hard time with is that not everything she's gonna do is gonna be for them. Many, many releases and appearances are going to be for the general public instead. It would make no sense for ayu to sell to people who are already buying.

I have plenty of music artists where I loved their older material and their newer stuff just didn't do it for me, so when they sang an older song that I actually knew on TV or in concert, it made me much more excited... then they'd do a new song, once I was pulled in, and it made me more interested in the newer stuff than if they just primarily performed new stuff at the event I'm watching.

The fact is, Ayu's work right now is in no way groundbreaking or exciting, it's just pretty damn good. That's enough for us, but it's not enough to grab people who've lost interest. To get them back, it's better to say "Hey, remember how good my stuff was before? I'm still doing stuff like that!" which is what this'll do.

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by Pieces_of_SEVEN

...what do you mean, "let"? ...

Let means that that she probably doesn't have a full say in everything she would perform. It's not even her own tour.

[mizuki-7]

I found some informations on Baidu ... A chinese fan was elected to go there and the STAFFS told them to say nothing about the content of this mini live lol but this person confirm that there are 5 songs performed & three sets of clothes including two from the AT 2015 ! According to him Ayu's singing was great and he or she was really moved =)
The show would broadcasted 8th August !!

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by Chris85

Mixi users don't want to spoil the set-list, so they don't give it away. 2ch is not a reliable source, but here's their version anyway:
M
Seasons
Evolution
Moving on without you
Step by step

They mention at least two other versions, maybe all of them are fake, I hope we can get confirmed one soon. It seems that the show will air on 8/8.

There's a blogger that mentioned this set of songs for the most part in a cryptic way along with a review.

01.英字 No13 <- 13th letter of alphabet, M
02.劇団ｘｘ <- Gekidan XX, Gekidan Shiki, Four Seasons Troupe, SEASONS
03.20thシングル < - 20th single, evolution
04.ヒッキー <-- Hikki, Movin' on without you
05.一歩 <- ippo, one step, Step by step


http://ameblo.jp/zzz100siki/entry-12054626773.html

Not too surprised I guess, but it would have been nice for one more newer song. She performed two of the songs twice in order to get them right.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

I guess that's that then. :/

[~kashifaita~]

HAHA these reactions.

I'm more surprised that she didn't do SURREAL~evolution~SURREAL, but then again the tracklist is just speculation xD. I personally think it's a nice setlist and a real crowd pleaser. Idk, honestly if I was in that audience, I'd be hyped with M, evolution and Movin' on, and sing along to SEASONS; long time fan or not. I think SbS had a good reception so it makes sense she chose that out of the six new songs. Yeah sure, maybe one new song would've been nice, but the inclusion of SbS alone would help people realize she's still releasing new things. If she sang all new songs, the crowd would be too...stale and quiet.

Besides, although her TV performances are rare, but it's not like she's completely stopping them (at least like Namie). She'll have more performances in future, so I'm not going to rage about this haha.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

^Yeah, I'm looking forward to that next performance of M, evolution, BLUE BIRD, and SEASONS!

[Coelacanth]

I feel there's a difference between an artist simply trying to maintain mainstream appeal and an artist who panders to the general public's narrow palate. For an artist with over 200 original songs, choosing to sing her three signature songs--SEASONS, M, evolution and a friggin' Utada Hikaru cover seems like pandering.

The public's perception of her has changed drastically and she's gotta play it extra safe, I get that. But just how long is she going to continue to so transparently placate the public's (and I guess former fans') delicate sensibilities? Reading the lyrics to "Sorrows," you'd think the woman skinned and killed a litter of kittens or something. Does she think her true fans really want her to wallow in self-pity for her percieved missteps? I certainly don't. I just want her to move forward.

[attractive nausea]

^ Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe she didn't even get to choose which songs she was gonna perform?

[stepYOU1234]

The setlist is unfortunately not massively surprising. I think the TA live will be more for fans. As a TV live, she is trying to reach casual listeners who remember her classics. M always strikes me as wintery though. Blue Bird or Fairyland would have worked I guess.

[melissalove]

Very disappointed with the setlist. But I knew ayu will pull something like this. Enough with the classics God, as if singing the same old songs will help. We finally get some tv live and it's just Recycled songs from almost every gosh darn concert.

[AyuGAME]

I did have hope that she will sing her new songs...but well..I'm happy to see her on brand new tv variety...Looking forward to the performance...

[Coelacanth]

Originally Posted by attractive nausea

^ Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe she didn't even get to choose which songs she was gonna perform?

If you're willing to make such an assumption... then are you willing to speculate about the following:

What aspects of her career does she have control over? How much of Ayu is HER or a marketing/creative team?

I don't want to enter this territory. At the end of the day, Ayu has to take the flak for every decision either she or her team makes. She knows this.

[ayumint]

evolution, M, and SEASONS are big hit but urgggg....
This is oppotunity to promote Sixxxxx after released on 05 Aug,2015 as well (also after big drop from first day as it will be aired on 08 Aug ) but urggg...she probably wants to keep promoting A BEST on recochoku instead of Sixxxxxx

i'm crying for Summer diary, sayonara and another 3 "S", it's not your turn to be known by public T^T*
by the way, i'm so happy to see her on TV performance again

[chocopockymaster]

^ a TV performance of Sayonara without SpeXial would have been disastrous, though. No thanks