[AAA] Gold Symphony - The 5th Triple A Thread

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

Could be. The last single couldn't break 20k, and it had a solid tie-in. I wonder if Urata and his drama did do some damage to them after all.

[Yoake]

That's surely one of the reasons but I also think that the state of the band has a role in it. After all they lost two members in a sort time. They seem to be focused more on their solo careers too. All that causes might have an impact on the group. I don't know what Japanese fans are saying about that however.

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

^ That is true. The loss of 2 members in such a short time does change the dynamics of the group. They avoided doing any television as a group as well this year. It reminds me of the awkward feeling surrounding E-girls leading up to the break up announcement.

The fans definitely showed up for the tours, but some have noticed something feels "off".

[Bigtop]

So, yeah.

Hate to say this, but...

Urata Naoya is leaving AAA.

https://avex.jp/en/aaa/news/detail.php?id=1080027

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

This really should have happened months ago. Not to sound harsh, but dragging it out was just in bad taste.

That said, I guess now we know why things were so awkward going into the dome tour, and why the group avoided the press. I'm curious to see how they move forward after this.

[Bigtop]

Yeah, I still have to wonder why he took that long - over eight months - from his hiatus to the eventual resignation from AAA...

What made him decide to leave AAA in the first place following the incident back in April?

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

A Korean agency wouldn't have played this game. He'd have been pushed out from the start of this fiasco, and the fandom be damned.

The incident definitely had an impact on the group, and I wonder if avex management finally just had to address the elephant in the room. BAD LOVE barely made the top 5, and sold under 20k. There's no way to spin those numbers by a key group on the label.

I also think it's suspect that this bomb was dropped AFTER those dome tour tickets were sold.

[Yoake]

mmh. Well, we don't know how his contract was written. There might be some clauses that would be negative for avex if they just fired him like this. So they could just take him away and pressure him into taking himself the decision to leave the band. You can't do everything you want when a job contract binds you.

[Mai82Go]

AAA will split up at the end of this year.

I haven't been following them much these last years, but it is not surprising. The members have Solo careers and their time was up - they've been going at it for 15 years and all of them are getting to old for this kind of group. I wish them all the best.

[thinkingoutloud89]

unfortunate and I don't think if that UN thing didn't happen, they would have gone on for some more but as you said...they did what they could and although still good, they aren't bringing anything new to the table for some time. I'm surprisingly okay with this.

[Corvina]

According to the official announcement it's a hiatus, not a disbandment:
https://avex.jp/aaa/news/detail.php?id=1080314

[lovethatkuu&ayu]

I'm kind of stunned in a way. This 15th anniversary BEST just seems so...final and basic. I guess with everything that happened, this was inevitable.

I wish they could have done this release properly and not have everything feel so awkward. I do agree that in many ways they "outgrew" the group and Urata and his drama may have been the push they all needed to move on.

[Yoake]

It has been some time now that I'm thinking that AAA is only here to gain money to help their solo careers. As the band's sales are no longer great that's not surprising to read this news.