The title idol suggests a maintained image and reputation..something Ayu does not have.

I am late to the Hikki vs Ayu thing but I will give my 2 cents on it. I am a die hard fan of both for years but what made me stop buying Ayu stuff was when she divorced her 1st husband and she pulled alll sort of tricks in the media like the Americans do. It felt like she was using the Kardashians type of PR. I hated it. It is one of the things I lothe about american celebrities and admire in Japanese culture. Also she was and still is lost on her music. She tried to do those glittery happy summer songs maybe to get new fans or whatever and I could not stand it. I havent listened to ayus songs for years until out of curiosity I listened to MIJ which is not all that great but comparing to her previous work it looks good. She needs a break and a long one. As much as I hate Hikki longs breaks I much prefer her PR strategy than ayu and it saddens me to witness Ayu's downfall. She is so talented but so full of herself that it blinds her :(. Anyway I am loving Fantome. It isn't Utada's best album but it does the job xD

I feel like ayu has to be "full of herself" at this point because she feels nobody else really is. If she doesn't prop herself up the way she does, she won't find that anyplace else.

Haha it was a joke. I know Namie is a idol to (but she writes lyrics and is involved in both, writing and composition. She is just not fond enough of her skills in that area)

Aye is an idol. The term idol is not coined the same way as in the japanese industry and simply refers to being that are skilled in one or two areas, but are, overall, just simple people that could be exchanged. They usually have a bigger appeal and so on though. Yet you can't deny, that her voice wasn't anything special and still isn't. As much as I lover her, she was always more a performer than singer.

^If she composes and writes lyrics but never releases them, as far as her career and public image is concerned, is like she does neither. I wouldn't be surprised to know she actually aproves everything she releases (actually, I would be surprised if she didn't), but I don't think she goes as far as changing lyrics and arrangments for example. Even because a huge part of her current discography is in English and as far as we know she doesn't really know the language.

And I don't get people complaining Ayu praising her releases, what do you guys expect? "Hey, this is shit, but buy it anyway, plz? <3" :P Not that I think her current releases are shit, anyway, Party Queen still among my favorite albums and both Colours and A ONE are perfectly crafted pop albums, even if overly safe.

I don't know about Namie composing music, but I do know she's done some of the lyrics in her discography (or at least contributed.) But you're right. If she doesn't release them, how can they be of concerned to us?

---------------------------
And Namie is under her own private sub-label, Dimension Point, that Avex created so she wouldn't leave their label after they butted heads a couple years back about her lives. Also, she's stated in an interview for _genic (I'll find the link later) that she chooses the songs herself and decides whether to sing them in English or not. Right now she likes doing songs in English because it 'sounds cool.' (though I doubt she actually knows it. At least, not as fluently as Ayu and definitely not as fluently as Utada xD) But she does have control over her career now--maybe not in the beginning--but I think, when it comes to releasing her music, she is the one behind the drivers wheel. Everything else I assume she relies or considers heavily on her teams opinions and such, but when it comes to the music itself nowadays it's all Namie. Well, unless she's doing a promotion like Hero or the soon-to-be-released Dear Diary/Fighter for that Death Note Live Action movie/mini-series/I don't remember what it was. I bet those are chosen by others, but for her albums/singles I'm 95%-100% sure it's her.

...I'd keep going but this is Utada's thread and I've hardly even mentioned her in this post. So I'm just going to stop here. I just wanted to spread the Namie love, that's all. :D

^Namie wrote I WILL for example, and it is still rumourd that she is the writer Jussme on SUITE CHIC.

Whatever, how is Utada doing?

The problem of being a Utada fan is that there's very little to discuss about her once she is done with the current release xD

Will she tour this album?

Do you mean Namie composed I WILL or just wrote the lyrics? (And I've never heard about the Jussme rumor. That's cool.)

------

And about her touring. I wish she would but with a kid and a family now and so many more potatoes to find, who knows? I don't think she's said anything official on that yet.

I'm sure I'm in the minority but I'm really not that impressed with Fantome. I like a few songs but mostly I just can't get into it. I've listened to it at least 4 times through and I'm just not feeling it. :(

oh my gawd how dare you come into this thread and say that.

I'm totally messing with you, it's cool. :P if you don't feel it, you don't feel it. :shrug no biggie. At least you gave it a try rather than just sampling some songs and just throwing it away. (I wish we had a more casual shrug emoji cause that one makes it look like I'm so concerned about this.)

:roflmao You guys are hilarious!

^^Namie wrote the lyrics to I WILL and Say the word
------------------------------------------------------------

Utah said in an interview she does not want to tour this album, at least this year, because of her family. It does not surprise me, she rarely does concerts. i can see another one in like 3-5 years.

^Actually, she said she would like to hold concerts but she can't because her baby is really young. But she's thinking about doing a live showcase or something like it.

Forum problems! I miss the thud emoji so much but it never works for me anymore! :thud <-- didn't work yet again. T_T

I really like Michi and Sakuranagashi but the rest just doesn't do much for me. I feel that for me, her hiatus was quite lengthy and I pretty much forgot about her since the second single collection came out. Call me spoiled but I like my artists to release things at least annually.

Don't get me wrong I still love Hikki and her music in general, I'm just not actively into her at this moment. Do other people go through this with other artists?

^annually? in america you what 3 years....wich is usually a good thing

edit: not exactly to you, so don't be offended, but I really can#t stand people that need new output like all the time and forget about the old stuff. I could live off for years from like 4 albums. But there really are popped who are like "oh I totally forgot about that song because I only listen to recent stuff."

thinkingoutloud you keep calling her Utah and it makes me die laughing every time

:roflmao

I'm personally a fan of that too. I rather wait a couple of years and get some really good music rather than just rushed sounding computerized junk. I.e: since I'm a fan of the pop stars (Namie, Ayu, Koda Kumi) nowadays I usually hear more repeating beats and catchphrases rather than actual music. I think that's one of the main things I love about Fantome. It's r.e.a.l. m.u.s.i.c.

I like Fantome but I dont love it, is not her best album for sure. Im addicted to Michi though.

I love your signature Miduhyo, Utada is so random.