^ Well yeah, they do usually ask about what she is wearing it seems more than anything else - or at least it seems that way from what I remember. At least in that poll though, for Ayu her lyrics were ranked first, but fashion and looks weren't far behind.

Yeah and I always get the impression ayu tries to keep her answer to these questions very short so they can focus on the music instead.

Actually, none of them had Looks/Fashion at #1, but I guess looks are important to Japanese audience when it comes to female singers (imo arashi aren't exactly what I'd call hot looking people, but that's arguable I guess, so it kinda makes sense that their "Looks" didn't make it into top 3 :P)

Kumi Koda:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. PVs

Ai Otsuka:
1. Lyrics
2. Vocals
3. Looks

Namie Amuro:
1. Live Performance
2. Fashion
3. Looks

YUI:
1. Vocals
2. Lyrics
3. Looks

Ayumi Hamasaki:
1. Lyrics
2. Looks
3. Fashion

Hikaru Utada:
1. Vocals
2. Songs
3. Lyrics

ayaka:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. Vocal technique

BoA:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. Live

Mika Nakashima:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. Lyrics

Well... there is those pool by oricon celebration Ayu's 10th anni, where her 5 most liked traits... and it was something like... lyrics, music, voice, and them, fashion if i'm not wrong...

but yeah, most of the time it seens that they don't care about them as artistis

yes yes very arguable :yes lol!

well ayu is usually on those fashion type polls from oricon or whatever so I definitely can see that as being something that people like about her. Though I doubt they are basing it on her concert tour outfits lol :P

It's still amazing that a lot of people voted for ayu's lyrics as the first thing they like in her. She didn't lose her touch.

I was really surprised that hikki's lyrics are just #3 the thing people like in her the most.

^ Utada's lyrics are weird, even in English. Easy breezy/Hotel lobby anyone???

But sometimes its awesome like Hikari/Passion/Colors/Sakura drops

I always take Ayu's looks & fashion for granted. I just love her lyrics, music, & charisma all which drove me to like her in the first place. And sadly it's not her voice :(

Ahhh, I didn't remember the specifics of everyones rankings, just that AYu's number 1 was lyrics - I just remembered seeing looks and fashion a lot for the female artists but stuff like personality and humanity for the men, which I find interesting. I'm trying to find the original article because there were probably more artists listed than that. And yeah, there are definitely much better looking boybands than Arashi. That is why people like them for their personality. You usually don't hear people say they like them 'cause they are hot!' or something. :)

Btw Sunshineslayer I wanted to ask you since I know you are well informed in shows.
In the Best Artist 2009 they also requsted people to vote for wishful collaborations.
Do you think they will do something about it? I mean there will be some kind of a highly voted collaboration or they will pretty much do nothing with that option they gave to fill?
(I can't recall if they requested such things to fill in the previous years or if they did anything besides showing popularity from the people who voted ages and genders).

So five performances so far? Anyone think there will be anymore? Possibly? :) :D

I think in previous years they showed VTRs of such things. But a bunch of artists just did collaborations together on FNS so there are at least several people right now that are rehearsed and ready to go in terms of collaborations. Now whether it will actually be the collaborations people voted for is another thing I guess.

In addition to special collaborations, it also says there will be special hit medleys. So hopefully Ayu will do that. The only artist I know of so far that has that planned is Arashi.

I hope this show ends up being as great as it usually is because FNS this year was quite lackluster.

Ayu's voice gave me a headache when I first started listening to her :laugh

But she was so cute, I decided to stick around for a bit longer and soon discovered her amazing lyrics :)

Thank you. ^^

Usually FNS get more rating or kouhaku?
I mean which show is more popular?

I don't think anyone on JPM actually posted the link to the article, at least I haven't seen one. Well people seem to like DBSK for being "human" too, yet they also like the way they look. I hope you're getting what I am trying to say. Nevertheless imo Utada kinda got the 3 things that are the most important for their job in her top 3.

Tohoshinki:
1. Vocals
2. Humanity
3. Looks

Arashi:
1. Humanity
2. Live Performance
3. Musical atmosphere

as for the Best Artists 2009, I don't remember seeing any collabs since 2005, though I sometimes just skip through some of the performances.

Those are not from articles, but they're from the artist pages at barks.jp.

http://www.barks.jp/artist/?id=52004965
Left hand side under BEST 3.

Zoominayu mentions CDTV on 12/19 and a CDTV 12/31~1/1 COUNTDOWN Toshikoshi SP...

i said this before... but I think it's possible that ayu will sing BALLAD at Kouhaku. Kouhaku = NHK, BALLAD's tie-up = NHK drama.

And also, ayu is appearing on CDTV twice. She recorded 2 performances for it. A normal CDTV episode and then the CDTV Super Live, or whatever. She said so in her blog~

so it's CDTV x 2, MS x 2, Kouhaku, Best Artist

Oh, and I wanted to make a correction about the pink dress she wore, apparently the material was like...this, but I suppose my roommate could be wrong, I don't know how close he was haha...):

http://www.lemoir.com/pic/item/2081/...5-806128-m.jpg

^So she wore no dress but those fluffy panties? *_*

Wow, so many performances!

LOL if she really wore those pants I honestly don't know what to think. xD They do look somewhat comfy, but for a spa night alone at home or something.. :laugh And even then the white ones are the only ones I'd consider wearing.

i'm sorry, i meant the material is the same!! haha i need to specify that now haha!!

^ lol. Yeah I was thinking Ayu totally lost her mind if she performed You We're in those!

Ahh thanks.

So I wonder if she pre-recorded both performances or if it is just for the regular CDTV show on the 19th and she will perform live on the CDTV special? Or both are prerecorded it sounds like.

@ayumisrael: Kohaku is the biggest show of the year ratings wise. FNS is usually second I think.