She sounds really stressed out in her new TA post. I wish she would put the mini-album on hold, collect herself (she's been working non-stop her entire career for God's sake), spend some time with her husband, and come out with a brand new full length album whenever she's ready. She seems like she's ready to burn out. If you can't take the heat, get out the kitchen.

I've always thought that in the latter half of her career, she's started to surround herself with "yesmen" or people that are simply unwilling to provide any criticism to her so they can keep their jobs, they're intimidated by her.. or whatever the case may be. She also seems like she is too good of friends with her staff. This is not good. She needs to separate her work and her friends. At the same time, I know it's not particularly easy to go out and make friends when you're Ayumi Hamasaki. I know she views Nao as a friend in the industry, and that's fine. (The following is an opinion). However, he is a mediocre singer and a mediocre performer with little stage presence and no star power, moreso when he's next to Ayumi Hamasaki.

Also growing tired of all the hokey sentimental "we're all under the sky" stuff she seems to always be going on about nowadays. C'mon Ayu, just focus on making good art. I think that Ayu has a very strong work ethic, but I disagree that she is a perfectionist. She's released some songs in the past five years that could've been more polished/worked on more imo. Some songs shouldn't have even made her albums. God knows I'll always love Ayu and her music will always hold a special place in my heart, so I hope no one continues to tell me WHEN and HOW I should criticize her. It's tough love man, some fans get really passionate and are going to call it as they see it.

Last year, it took about a day or two for them to get released so... maybe we'll see them pretty soon?

^ I hope so! I'm really interested to see how all this went down, even if it's only in photos.

I think some fans just say she is "less artistic" or "non-perfectionist" simply because they don't like her actual works... I don't think her idea to put Nao everywhere at a-nation is superb, but it's a new thing, it's good.

I like Ayu because she has the power to reinvent herself. Even when she does something that she did before, it's an "ayu-thing" not a "generic jpop-thing". Sometimes she didn't choose the easy way (releasing some music that could appeal to teenagers, for example), but she proved she's able to keep her career doing what she likes and, at the same time, being one of the most proeminent singers of the decade on Japan...

Fans always expect the next release will be phenomenal and outstanding, but sometimes the average releases/decisions paves the way to grow.

^thats a nice post~ :)

I don't see why she needs to separate her work and her friends. I think her core staff has remained pretty much the same almost her entire career anyway, so I don't know if that yesmen comment is really valid...and she's always said she highly values the people around her that tell her when she's wrong. Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

@Andrenekoi totally agree with you. You're last sentence especially should be put in headlines lol

So what about the people who are going to a-nation? Are we allowed to freak out? :P

^NO. Gosh.

If you do...make sure Ayu doesn't see so she can go to sleep tonight.

Hahaha :P

I actually wonder if she'll go along with the same setlist and stuff. I know she said she will, but if she does I'm sure people will still send her messages. Oh well~ If she's going to do stuff people don't want her to do, she has to deal with the consequences and learn to not let them bother her I guess.

Wow, there are so many people that are unhappy about a-nation this year. I can understand that many people are upset by the fact that naoya was present during ayu's whole set, and even sang in ayu's solo songs, but I don't think it is such a bad thing. Like many others have said, she has done something different this year, and I appreciate her for that. I personally really like naoya, and think that he has a wonderful voice and is a great performer. So I am really looking forward to seeing them on stage together. But I definitely understand people being upset thinking that they were going to one thing, but it ending up being very different from what was expected.

For me the set list is good, but it’s not the best. It’s kind of hard to really judge it since one of the songs hasn’t been released yet, and I really don’t know how well ayu will sound in the cover song, but I think she’ll do a good job!

Dream ON: I like the studio version, and love seeing it performed live. It’s just not a song I listen to very often.
Medley: To be honest I’m not really a fan of any of these songs, and almost never listen to them.
ANother Song: Can’t wait to hear what it sounds like!
WOW WAR TONIGHT: I like the version AAA did, and think it will sound really good with ayu singing it.
Sunrise: One of my favorite summer songs from ayu. I actually think that naoya would sound great singing in this song!! I really hope we’ll get to see it!
July 1st: Also one of my favorite ayu summer songs.

It just feels weird that she’s not performing B&G or Audience..

Wow wow. I'm so lazy about visiting forums, but when news reached me of fan outcry over in my darker corners of the web I decided to stop by.

I'd be pretty disappointed too if she sang all her songs with someone else, with no solo. It's a pretty surprising decision, even if Avex wanted to heavily promote Naoya, but I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted this just as much as they did. I think the only real mistake here wasn't that she didn't sing any solos, but rather that this was not advertised, so people who paid felt cheated. She never did official collaborations until recently, so if she wants to do something like this once and a while, I don't see what the big deal is if she advertises it.

Goodness knows she's pandered enough to the fans and her company over the years to just indulge herself artistically once a while.

I don't care about the setlist, I can't judge until I see the video, I just want this kakigori she sells, yummy! :heart

Sorry, put I can't see any points in your post that I could agree with.
She hasn't said that she's not interested in working anymore. She isn't stressed because of her work, she is stressed because of her fans.

I mean, you would be quite sad too, if half of your supporters say that everytyhing you do nowadays is ****, oh, and by the way, you have wrong persons to work with. Wouldn't that let you down a bit?

And just say to me, who you would like to stand next to ayu? Who is as superior as her, that all the other artist in the World are worthy to work with her? I'm sure, that some of the fans say that no one is. Because I think, to some, ayu is like a Goddes of some sort. I think that is really insane thought [I'm not saying that you are like that, but I think there are people like that somewhere...]

And it's okay that people don't agree. But...I just think that you make some excuses in your post. Like to say that it's not good that she is friends with her staff, or that she is stressed because of her work. At least I don't see that. But I'm not gonna say that you have to believe me.

I like Nao [With ayu and with AAA] and I'm really sad that he gets all the hate [and Ayu gets all this hate because she chose Nao], as his supporter, even without ayu, I dunno, but I feel that some people might think that I'm someway hypocritical because I support him..suddenly, it just feels bad to be a fan of AAA as well...

Really get over with it, would you? It is just 2 duets and one a-nation show. Why all this massive anger is coming out? I don't like it...

^couldn't agree more!

Unlike everyone else, I do agree with some of what you say (bolded). It's why I don't have expectations anymore - and it made Love Songs so much better.

People will say "all she's known is music" so she can't take break and have somewhere to channel her feelings, but other singers manage to do it. They take breaks and find other outlets for their emotions. I never used to advocate her taking a break - especially after adoring Love Songs - but looking back over her work since the 10th Anniversary, I can see why people have been saying she needs one.

The way she acted over this, saying she needed to do this a-nation for "fun", it makes it sounds like the rest of her work is tedious. Her not having time to make a worthy a-nation, her really strange reactions to the (non-rude) criticism, and her general "you'd dislike whatever I made attitude" makes it sound like she's aware something hasn't been up to scratch. I really don't know anymore, but then again, I've not known for a long time, and I stopped caring to a certain extent too.

I wonder if someone really though she would reply the criticism as "Oh, yeah... now I see it, u r totally right! Let's change it!" or something like that...o___O I also wonder if someone would reply to those criticism on the way they to think Ayu should...

No artist or creator takes criticism or negative comments to their work lightly... and most of the time, the only thing u will get after this, is a defensive pissed person... They may even listen to the negative comments, the best of them mostly do (remembering that "listening" is not equal to "agreeing"), what doesn't mean they will be less pissed.

On the day she thinks she is above failing and surround herself with people who are not able to criticize her work, if that really happens some day, you will see how bad things can get and how much an artist stagnates when they are sure they don't need improvement...

It's true that Ayu isn't my favorite musician anymore and my tastes have evolved a bit, and I'm not gonna stop anyone from taking that into consideration when assessing my opinion. So, whatever.

Ayu's not re-inventing herself nearly enough. I just listened to progress and the whole sound and structure of the song is all too familiar. The more songs she releases, the more her discography becomes diluted. I remember a time when songs like fairyland, No way to say, GAME were considered novelty. As time goes on, I feel like these songs begin to lose their worth because she creates so many that sound too much like them. Her composers/arrangers are not evolving her sound at all. Her lyrics are barely evolving (save a few songs, Lady Dynamite/rollin'). Her latest album (although one of my favorites post-(miss)understood) has a handful of songs that sound like MIDI instrumentals. (And please, don't tell me all electronic music sounds like MIDI, because it doesn't) I think it's her most primitive/dated-sounding album after ASFXX, and it came out LAST YEAR.

Well, I don't consider myself a fan of J-pop generally but I know there are other artists that are on Ayu's level of talent and super-stardom that I'd rather her work with. Nao and JUNO are involved in very generic teeny-bopper pop music. (which is fine, I like this kind of pop music. I enjoy some AAA songs, even). But to me, it's like if Stevie Nicks were to sing with Ashlee Simpson, not only is Ashlee not talented, she's barely relevant. I'm definitely suspicious that Avex is purposely trying to promote these new artists through Ayu. Us fans might be under the false impression that Ayu has a lot of control over the direction of her career. In reality, I think she has a lot less. The primary reason why TK was so involved in Love songs is because he owes Avex a **** ton of money.

Honestly, she sounds like a rookie to the show business industry in that TA post. Has she not been exposed to such criticism before in her long career? It seems like Twitter has made her more aware, more sensitive, more defensive. I don't think it's good PR for an artist to directly respond to criticisms of their art/creative decisions (unless it involves offending a marginalized group or something of that nature), however cruel and unwarranted those comments may be. I think Ayu, of all people, should know better and that's why I think she really may be on her way to a breakdown if she doesn't sort things out. Right before Mariah Carey had her breakdown in 2001, she was always saying "F the haterz, I do wat I wantz!" It's essentially what Ayu is saying here, and it's scary. She could have just left lyrics to one of her "empowering" songs (alterna, Microphone, decision), or even better, wrote a new song about it.

^ I agree with you so much (well, except that I loved Love Songs haha). Especially over Avex promoting through Ayu.

Going into conspiracy levels here, but before Love Songs, TK was working with AAA. It's just coincidence but it's odd.

This is totally off topic now, there needs to be a thread in chat like... "you opinion on Ayu's career right now" or something. This isn't even that relevant to a-nation now, a-nation just sparked the discussion of these issues.

Haha, I loved Love songs too! It was weird though, some of the songs had beautiful orchestral instrumentation and arrangements (sending mail, November, do it again, Thank U) but were watered down with what I felt were really dated synth + programming. I know they were probably purposely going for that 90's retro "TK-sound", but it wasn't quite to my liking. Otherwise, I think it's one of her strongest albums.

/yeahhhh oops, really off-topic.

[Note: I'm not targeting all these comments to you only]
Really, I just can't understand where you get all of this. Did ayu say that "you did wrong because you hate Nao!" No. Did she say that she isn't excited about her current work? No. Did she say that she doesn't like to be critized, and everyone must stop that. No.

She said that she accepts fans opinions, even if they are negative. But the way they say it, and the place where they say it has to change. Also, calling her friend, who is working with her [basically] a ****, just because it's your personal opinion that you don't like him is just really rude and childish. If you wanna say that you don't like him, you can say it more nicely, especially when we are talking about actual person, and ayu's close friend here.
Wouldn't you go to the defensive side, if your friend would be as hated as Hitler, just because you are doing a duet?
It is very clear to me that many of ayu's fans don't have a skill called constructive critic. Or at least not those who wrote the insulting messages, and comments in Twitter. And really, you wanna give critic in Twitter? Brilliant! You can barely write two full sentences with that thing! And everyone can see too. Nice, I like that.

Just accept, that you are really really upset with the current decisions ayu has made. You can say your opinions. But it's her decision to choose what she does. I don't wanna see a day, when she is happily agreeing with everything the upset fans say.
Althought I can see, that some of you want it desperately, you can't control her career.

I must say, this is the stupidest thing I have seen in ayu fandom to this day. Just...really pathetic.