I just want to come back in her, and address some recurring themes.

Not once did Ayu have the attitude "you wouldnt like it anyways." Ive read the original japanese of both entries, and what she is saying is anation started off rocky, in the planning stages, so it couldnt include many things she could before, so she didnt know what to do. So in the end she decided that anation this year will be just to have fun with the fans, more casuallly. Quite frankly i dont know where this myth came from, but....

Another thing, ive thought about it, and i think any artist who doesnt consider what their fans say and doesnt make changes based on those thoughts, doesnt deserve their fans. Saying "your opinion doesnt matter" is what your giving off in that situation.


Food for thought.

@Surreal: maybe. Just, my opinions after seeing the same things over and over again.

I think Ayu is a lot more headstrong than it just being "a part of her culture" thing. She's always taken matters into her own hands her entire life and followed what she wants to do.

Hey, that's fine. We wouldn't have Ayu if she wasnt that way.

But idk, I just don't think that telling her personally what you dont like is a very effective means of getting through to her...in any case, I think it's much better to send her TA messages, rather than say anything to her on twitter, cause I don't think she wants to have anything to do with negativity there.

but oh well. You guys are free to do what you like, and see her as you like lol

It will always be my opinion that, she really likes to live in Happy Magical Ayu Land though. Maybe that's a good thing :shrug

Let Ayu breathe for a moment...a-nation was in different circumstances from usual, she may have done something not ideal but she didn't have as many possiblities so she tried to have something casual and fun - her fans don't all think that way. OK.

But when an artist starts doing what her fans want and not what he/she wants is when that artist loses his/her artistry. Madonna doesn't do it, Björk doesn't, Michael Jackson didn't. You can listen to your fans and if they raise a valid point act according to it but in the end what's important is what the artist wants to do. It's art. It's not doing what fans like but doing what YOU like and hoping others will like it.

Yeah lol I don't really use Twitter to talk to her though, I'm a TA member, but I guess that Twitter has opened up new doors to people who couldn't talk to her personally at all. A good and a bad thing at the same time.

And I agree that you shouldn't just tell her what you don't like, in fact, try to tell her what you really like so who knows, she might do something similar again like that, I don't know.


a-nation this year is what it is already, let's just wait and see what else she's got prepared. I actually want to watch it to see how it ended up like lol I just can't figure ayu doing the whole show with urata still :P

I'm in love with you. :luv2

^Forget it, he is gay :P

Excuse me, I'm not in this discussion but I have a question... Why don't we already have costumes pics and so on?

They haven't showed up on Yahoo!Japan Auctions yet.

^Which is quite odd actually. It might correlate to how much people enjoyed the show or not.

I fundamentally agree with that, but you are leaving out one huge element. Those are all western artists and ideals. In Japan, an artists relationship with their fans is completely different just as the Japanese view towards ones job is often very different from western nations.

^Well... mostly when we are talking about idols, as far as I know... What isthisLOL said would easily fit Hikaru Utada for example, or post Best of Matsutoya Yumi, post Queen of Hip Pop Namie, etc. I don't see them releasing what might please their fans, instead, I see them doing whatever they feel like at the moment and taking the consequences of doing so... Being it for the good or for the bad.

Seiko Matsuda, on the other side, is one I can see mostly trying to please her public, and it's not a surprise that she seens to be at the same place since mid 90s as far as creativity goes...

^Yeah, I think its fine to not release things according to the fans, as long as you expect that there will be a backlash.

In Japan, even beyond idols, very, very few musicians are actually seen as "artists" in the traditional definition that we perceive that term in the west. Ayumi is not one of those musicians (to us she is) but most of the public does perceive her as a product more than anything else. Maikeru said this before, but as a product in Japan the costumer is considered God (even moreso than in many other countries I think) and it really is walking a dangerous line in Japan if that is disregarded. It is definitely a difference in culture. But, if she doesn't mind accepting the consequences, then that's fine. Had they at least advertised this, I don't think fans would have complained this much but they didn't and if I were a customer that had gone to the show I would probably be upset too.

On a little bit of a separate note, I can't believe anyone on her team looked at the plan for A-Nation and thought. "Wow, what a great idea!" The fact that this even came to fruition is somewhat surprising. But I guess not so much so since it seems Ayu does indeed have that much control on her career.

I think that maybe they though people would be please by it... I don't know, artists can be really naive sometimes about public reaction...

I agree it would be smarter to let people know there were going to be only duets, this is a marketing and communication basic fail.

Ayu reacted bad to the complains on Twitter, but I can understand that... in the end of the day, people used her name in order to bash Nao, and sometimes, being hugely criticized on a open space like Twitter can really be offensive... humiliating, even. Once a friend of mine gave me a amazing piece of advice: Always praise people in public, so everyone can see how this person did an amazing job. But criticize in particular, cuz when u do that with everyone watching, it will feel like an atack to the criticized one.

And I totally agree the general public mostly seen her as a product... Sometimes I see some publications here and there refering to her (directly or indirectly) as an artist, but most of the time, that's not the case (her releases are largely ignored by Rolling Stones Japan, for example). Still, I believe her fanbase and some of her casual listeners, people who are mostly touched by her work see her as an artist, and that she herself see her more as an artist than as an Idol... something that can be clearly seen on her works, videos and overall posture after the A Best incidents.

is there no picture of an outfit from ayu from the a-nation???

What exactly is the main issue here? That Ayu's show isn't up to par? Considering all the crap that Japan has gone through this year, in addition to Ayu's already hectic schedule (and sacrifice of her personal life), shouldn't her fans be grateful that she's providing a set list at all? And did I actually hear somebody complain about her only singing six songs? I've noticed that that's a pretty good number in comparison to other artists.

People are always fussing that she's always doing the same things over and over again, and I remember people always begging for collaborations with other artists, and now that she's finally providing a unique show, fans are furious. What exactly do you want from her?

Some of you say that she should consider herself as a product, and go in a direction that will please her fans; however, notice how no matter what she does, there is always a section of her fan base who will complain about her current career move. She can't please everybody, so wouldn't the best option for her be to please herself and hope that the fans who claim to only wish for her happiness continue to support her?

it's so complicated X_X lol

But basically, I think, in the end, she needs to keep her Japanese fans satisfied first. And if Japan sees her as a pop product...then...well...

And we can disagree all we want...but we're only a few thousand at best...probably not even a few hundred...and then we don't even live there. I think it's safe to say that, internet backlash is not the main problem.

idk...it's been quite a while that she's been around...I think we're in for some interesting next few years.

And one of the five editions: only urata naoya is on the cover in a bunny suit.

Still, some of her most praised works are those who didn't follow what her fans were expecting... Songs like Surreal, M, evolution, endless sorrow, independent, July 1st, Memorial Address, Grateful Days, Moments, STEP you... all unnusual songs by jpop standarts, stuff she couldn't do at the first place if her main focus was to please her fans... If that was the case, she would most likelly re-release Seasons/Boys & Girls/A Song for xx/Trauma-like songs non stop every year...

And how far would she get if she did that?

^well I meant that, then they aren't going to like certain things from her...

but idk. tbh I really don't know what her Japanese fans want from her exactly. They obviously aren't crazy thrilled about what has been going on...but even that's kinda hard to prove exactly...

And, back to the post, even though they weren't expecting those songs...were they not pleased when they came out? I'm not sure...cause I wasn't around then to analyze all the reactions...

I think she's in a very odd place...and Im really not sure exactly who is telling her what, or what anyone really wants for her.

I guess it doesn't really matter anyway. People are either gonna love it, or not, and she can't really do anything about it...and it's not like she's crazy, insane AKB48 popular or something...how much is any of this really gonna hurt her?

Or at least, the worst that will happen is that she gets dropped or something and stops making music...but we all know that'll never happen.

^Well, IMO Ayu biggest problem, the thing that hurted her the most, are a mix of her age + her superexposition during most of her career... She is "old" and her career is "old"... unfornutelly, that's nothing she can really do about it, as she can't get younger or make her career younger... Also, IMO, having a low-profile 10th anni and keeping a little distance from TV was a genious decision... If Ayu appears on TV once on the whole year right now, there will be people saying "this b**** is everywhere, everytime!", even if she is not for some years now

In order to be insanelly popular, u need to appeal to teenagers, something she can reach with one or another release, but never again with the same power of a 15 years old girl that's trendy now... Even Namie's new peak is nothing compared to her fame in the 90s... Considering Ayu is appealing more to adults than teengers now, her fame level is suberb...

Still... Ayu is overselling most of the girls who peaked after her, she is selling out concerts, and even if she didn't have a smash hit since... Blue Bird, maybe, all of her albums had at least one strong song... not M level strong, but strong anyway...

About the A-nation "fiasco" (cuz it still is in time to be a success), if Bold & Delicious, kissing a chinese guy on the lips and having 2 gay videos didn't kill her, she is safe with a poorly received A-nation...

i read through the past pages of people typing novels, whining like babies because they suddenly hate ayu again, the rest of you foaming at the mouth to protect ayu's honor, etc, etc.

and the above quote was the only thing that made me really lol.


ps. it's just a-nation, not the end of the world. you either like it or you don't, a majority of you won't be going to see the show anyway so stop acting like it's ruining your world. I'm still excited to see what gets recorded, personally. :heart