^this review makes me sad

Mostly him then? Just what the masses want to hear! I really disliked Dream On so Im keeping my expectations for this collaboration very very low.

And here we go...

I'm going to sell all my Ayu stuff, I'm done with her!

I have to compliment Ayu's graciousness for letting a nobody who can't sing record/perform all these songs with her. What a sweet. <3

LOL. I'm more annoyed at her reusing Greatful days~glitter~BLUE BIRD than her using Naoya the entire time.

That, I seriously have no problem with. I think it'll be fun. Like others have pointed out, it's just for a-nation, which is short anyway, as opposed to a whole tour or something. We've had nine other a-nations that have been extremely similar, so I think we can live with one that defies the norm :P

Basically I see it as Ayu doing something pretty new and different for her, and I don't mind Naoya's voice, so why not? :) We won't know how good/bad it is until we see it anyway :laugh

Are you kidding me?
2 songs featuring Urata.
1 random cover
and Sunrise

Yep, this is the worst setlist !!!!!

And i read the review of ANother song, and i'm very dissapointed !!!

Thanks, this made my day.

I'm not really a fan of Dream on, but I don't hate it either. Im looking forward to her WOW WAR TONIGHT cover, I like that song and I love the covers she's done before.

I'm glad she didn't do the float, that's the same every year (I'm sure if i was there i'd love it though lol)

I think Dream On is pretty good as an opening, though I was really hoping for progress or Last Angel. & I'm pretty sure ayu will change her setlist as a-nation goes on =D. but I just don't get why Naoya should be there throughout ayu's performance. I hope yesterday would be his only time~ o.o I can see that ayu wants to help her little bro to become more popular, but I doubt if she is going to be successful. I just fail to see Naoya's talent/attractiveness.

lol.

btw I'm not excited for the setlist BUT I'm not disappointed too neither.
Maybe it's not her best setlist ever :shrug but it's different from what she have done before. And it's ok for me.
I'm looking forward ANother song though :D I don't care if there's Urata too lol (because I liked Dream On)

Im kinda surprised that shes not going to do Boys and Girls... it seems she does that every year.
I don't know how I feel about the set list.. it seems so blah... I guess because none of it is really new (but the song with that dude... still dont like him...)

I liked dream on but reading that report about ANother song make me change my idea of what the song will be. but I think their voice togheter aren't so bad, just ayu after do a collaboration with him, shoul change person XD
(asking myself when we will have pics of the costume ayu used for this a-nation >_<)

Naoya should just stick with AAA. They're popularity is ok these days. But then again there are rumors that Naoya's solo activities have split AAA a bit so he's maybe just getting ready to leave.

I really don't mind Naoya being around for the whole setlist if he's like just dancing during the other songs. But then that thing someone said about an unknown male voice; do you think ayu could have added a new male backing singer in addition to Peco and Princess??

I laughed so hard!:laugh

Nah, she usually makes a big deal about additions like that... or it's one of the things that people focus on, like when Nobuo Eguchi was replaced by the new drummer named Hamasaki~

Thank you! I'm excited to hear it =D
And welcome to AHS ^^

^ehhh?! Eroin was replaced?? By a Hamasaki?? Relation to ayu??

agreed!!

I haven't posted in a while..but REALLY...this setlist is the pits.

yeah seriously! I wasn't expecting much while going to read what songs she performed and expected to roll my eyes at the same setlist from last year but with progress added in but this seems really interesting. I can't wait to see it. :D

this is awesome 10th year already


I'm liking the setlist!

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned her missing driving float? That's a bigger crime than the setlist.

ah~ finally somebody with a review of ANother song.
this gives me hope. thanks for sharing!

Now i'm curious over the outfits!

Is it just me, or I'm really questioning about the Ayu-Urata partnership? I'm seeing quite some reviews here in this forum, and I do agree with the negative aspect.

Agreeing on the terms of others: :yes
Feeling on what the setlist looks like: :no

Check my other post about the song. People aren't too enthusiastic about it; Naoya really dominated the track. I don't really think this is a song that Ayu fans will like, although I found it pleasant myself.

I've been reading mixi thread for netabare of A-nation, and I have to say that this is the WORST I have ever seen Ayu fans complain about something. Of course, I wrote that they complained and were shocked at Power of Music first day, but now many of them have resorted to sending messages and emails through TA and Twitter. Many people who went to A-nation said that they felt a feeling that it was too much "disappointment." There's no floating boat, no Uchiwa for Ayu (Yet?), and every single song was a collaboration.

I can understand and accept that she can sing one or two collab songs with Naoya, specifically when it's called for (i.e. the songs they recorded together.) But there is NO NEED for him to sing in all the fricken songs. His name is not Hamasaki Ayumi, and the performance slot is not named "Ayu and Friends." It's "Hamasaki Ayumi."

I can really understand the fans feeling VERY disappointed at this event, because she didn't even sing ONE song alone. I can confirm, again, that every. single. song. was a collaboration. No thank you... I wouldn't pay for that. Ayu tickets and goods are so expensive already, and why would a fan just sit back and say "Oh Ayu does it so it's okay" when they are paying so much money. A fan is not someone who nods and says yes to Ayu, and Ayu should also not be an artist who says "Well I'm doing it this way and if you don't accept it I don't care" kind of attitude. She should listen to her fans when they say "Please sing at least one song on your own."

And the fact that other artists have all their goods ready and Ayu's uchiwa and pouch are not even ready for sale. It's not even the goods themselves, it's the principle. All the other artists, no matter how busy they were, had the opportunity to create their items for A-nation and have it ready on time. Look at Koda Kumi. I don't like her, and I'm not her fan, but she had EVERY item ready and she's arguably been much busier that Ayu promoting her new singles on TV and promotional events, etc. I know they don't create the items themselves, but they have to approve them and make sure their perfect. If it's the case that her management team cannot get them out on time, then they should be fired because they're not doing the job. But like she said before, she likes to take responsibility for everything she does, so she must take responsibility this time as well.

It's not that I don't like Ayu. It's that I can't accept what she's doing in this event, because it feels wrong, cheap, and thrown together at last minute. Even though we know that's not the case, reading all reports and diaries about the event points to that being the impression. I don't care about Ayu and Family, all her brothers and sisters, ultimately I care just about Ayu. And no matter how many times she uses him in a concert, or gets the same spotlight as Ayu, it's not going to change the fact that many people don't like him or don't care for him, or feel indifferent to his presence and would prefer just Ayu, like they thought they were getting when buying the ticket.

To sum it up in one sentence from mixi, "When I heard Urata start singing SUNRISE, 'mujaki ni warau...', it was over for me. I had enough." LOL.

*End long rant.* Sorry it's Ayu bashing. But we have to take the good with the bad.

Ayu has always been an "Ayu and Friends" artist...well "always"...I dont think she was back in her heyday, but she certainly has been for at least the last 4-5 years.

That's just how she rolls.

This all does suck, but idk, for some reason, it's not that surprising to me.

I think she just has other stuff on her mind, and it's not really THAT big a deal for her the way it is for other artists to really, go out and impress and be awesome....

sorta...

I agree with so many things.

Urata needs to get his own career, and ayu needs to learn how to feature people in her works properly :shrug

A mini with no singles, and now she's turned all her fans at a-nation off after the performance.

I think this mini is gonna flop hard, and I hope it does if it isn't good. Ayu is ayu at the end of the day, I love her doing new things, featuring new people and all, but she needs to know that she still Ayumi Hamasaki, and that sadly she has duties towards her fans, they really deserved her to sing at least one or two songs by herself, ballads or whatever.

Urata singing Sunrise... Oh god, I don't even want to think about it. It must've been really painful.



EDIT: I must also add that, she did something very similar for her CDL 02-03 with TRF or whatever their name is. They appeared and sang some of their own classics with ayu, and also some ayu songs such as Boys & Girls I think?? I bet some fans were pissed then too. But she did sing many songs by herself in that concert, I just don't understand why this time she had to have the guy all the way through, I have nothing against him, I don't even know him, but being in there, waiting for him to go away though he never did, would've really pissed me off.

Gotta say I love your post and not being afraid to be honest. Just want you to know I'm behind you before the backlash starts. Lol.

the only thing is I want to see あゆ holding Tohoshinki's towel... ;)

she's right, its not ok if he was singing ayu songs @_@ I mean wtf, I dont know what she was thinking... people are fans of ayu solo artist.

Well maybe she will get rid of Nao for the next a-nation shows :laugh

I mean she will sing with him the 2 collabs and the others perform alone!

I really believe that with ayu it's impossible to even guess what's next :shrug

Now, even more lol



EDIT: Ayu just posted a new TA message, from what I can understand, she's explaining why they've taken certain decisions for this a-nation (hm hm we all know what decisions lol), and I'm guessing she'll stick with it, I'm sure we'll be seeing Urataxayu again.

Hotel Love Songs scrapped, two suspect duets, mini-album and now this setlist...this is such a testing time for ayu fans

Holy crap I can't believe Urata sings all the other songs too...what the hell..

Whoa, people up in here are being so dramatic, as usual.
Sure, I'd rather see just Ayu but it's also interesting as this is something totally new... and it's just a summer festival after all. It's no big deal.

Yeah but if this follow typical Ayu trends, Countdown live will probably become some sort of Ayu and friends concert.

lol omg I can totally see her CDLs turning into that, they will start looking like a-nations

I just don't know if I can handle this level of disappointment. I think I'll go cry now.

I hope no one sends her super glue or something....

I would at least watch it before crying over such a thing :P

Not to me really, though I was really disappointed when Sunrise/Sunset came out, I think that's when I stopped caring so much.

Really? I love that single so much. It made me appreciate summer songs more lol
Sunrise even took the place of July 1st as my favorite summer song haha

It was the covers that did it for a lot of people, I think some of the more vulnerable AHS members might have slipped into depression they were that bad.

Yeah they were terribe (even though the cd only wasn't as bad) but yeah.

I'm glad that it never happened again.

Well, hopefully the whole nao thing will be over after a-nation!

She might take him for Dream on or ANother song performances but I don't think she will use him like she does now in a-nation again.

lol the covers and the pvs, I guess the covers were what triggered it, but altogether was sooo... bad.

But I do like the songs.

Oh yeah, also the live performances for when S/S was released were sooo bad, that also ruined it for me.




Going back on topic, I'm actually glad that I didn't go to Japan to see ayu this year, because it is not something I could do every single year, last year was the first time and only that I've seen ayu, I enjoyed it so much, even though she can't sing like before, her energy and passion won me over.

With my friend we have been thinking about going to Japan again, and we will, but I think that I might just be ticking a-nation off my list LOL

Sunrise as a song is super. It's one of the best out of the Summer songs. Seriously, it really has that "independent" feel to it. (Btw, I never liked July 1st a whole lot. I mean I liked it but sometimes it's annoying and a chore to listen to at times). But I hate how Sunrise gets so much B.S. just because of the way it was portrayed. Sometimes I feel like some people dislike it just because it's the single to "dislike" lol.

I think the "Ayu and Friends" also plays a factor on that single hahaha

@israel: oh dont worry about me...I've been dead inside since 2007.

I agree with everything you said besides singing because it seems to get better and better (ignoring CDL), people are also impressed from her vocals in PoL too!

Well independent is not one of my favorites but which one has its favs and it's all good haha, yeah I agree, the only thing I didn't like about the single is the covers so it didn't strike me that bad =P

haha, well with albums like Rock'n'Roll Circus and Love songs (and an awesome tour like AT10) it's hard for me to understand but like I said, every person and what he likes and doesn't like, it's all good. ^^

HAHAHA LOL I'm with you in that :D
AYUMI HAMASAKI + TVXQ TOWEL = EPIC WIN

Back to the main topic. :D
That setlist is definitely disappointing. And seriously? I like Urata, and Dream ON is good, but I am not happy. He doesn't need to stay for the whole setlist and sing Ayu's songs, one or two collaboration songs was
enough. The finale is Ayumi Hamasaki, not Ayumi Hamasaki and Urata Naoya.

And no Love songs? That album had a ton of album tracks that NEED to be heard live, and... goodness me.

Not happy at all. But it's just a-nation, at least I can focus on my other favorite avex artists. :) And it's only the first day, Ayu! Don't let me down! What I said was already said by other posters already LOL I just wanted to express my disappointment.

Why is SDN suddenly promoting AKB's Kachuusha all over the place....they're too talented to be stuck promoting AKB's leftovers.

OT, sad to see ASFXX leave the setlist. It was becoming a staple for me.

At least the goods are the best yet :laugh
I even want to purchase the Jumbo towel and t-shirt and I never purchased a-nation goods.

Right now the only think I care about is her voice lol I'm really hoping she's taking care of it, and yeah :) It's good that people are noticing some improvements!

damn, if Ayu want to have fun and sing with Nao, let they go to karaoke and sing ayu's songs there. no need to do it during a-nation

LOL! Love this comment!:D

(Sorry... That's how I feel about this)

I get this vibe a lot too from fans. The single as a whole wasn't spectacular, but I hate that it seems people let that overshadow the song itself; which is, as you said, super :luv2

im glad that sunrise is on the setlist ^^

Can Ustareth posts be shown here now?

I absolutely despise when people use this as a response.

The thing is, we WANT to watch it and WANT to enjoy it, but when it's filled with disappointment, it sucks. :no

I don't care what Ayu's "reasoning" for all this stuff is, I still don't like it. :innocent

From her TA post it almost seems like she had to do something like this, or not perform at all? I found what she said pretty confusing tbh

She seems a bit pissed, LOL.
Seems all artists have a shorter time frame than normal, cause the whole concert is shorter. They asked themselves if they can do a-nation this year, because of everything that happened.
But it was Ayu's idea to do it she did yesterday. Or at least that is how I understand it, cause she wants to enjoy this "short summer" with everybody.
And that is my answer.
Take it or ignore it, it's your problem!
LOL

I'm still looking forward to it, though :D

Aww I wish she would have sang other songs too, its like almost the same every year XO

i like her response from her TA.
i understand the point whereby things are cut down..and that lots of props are minimised. :)

What I got from it is that she feels that, with the limited time or something, she won't be able to produce something that can satisfy fans as a true "ayu show", so her decision is to just heck it all and enjoy herself, doing things which she can never do during AT/CDL (like featuring Naoya all over the place). Basically, her whole message had a "whatever I do, people will dislike it anyway, so whatever, I'll just do it my way" tone, and I guess she was probably irritated by the vast amount of criticisms coming in through TA and Twitter lol.

Oh well, whatever she wants to do is fine with me. I may not approve of a whole list of ayuxNao songs, but I'm interested to hear it nonetheless. Besides, it's a-nation. She did such an awesome job with PoM I felt totally glad that Hotel Love Songs (whatever it was) was postponed, IMO she's entitled to have fun now when she can.

Yeah, I'm not sure why... It seems she's not happy with the decisions that her staff made...? I mean, 2011 has been quite gloomy for Ayu this year - and up to this point, we have five new songs coming up but no singles in 2011...

She should Alterna to the setlist as a response to the criticism..

A fan asked here if she is not willing to take criticism and she answered no, and that she is believing in what she decided to do.
So she probably won't change anything or at least not the main part.

They make the saved ice look so pretty. XDD

My Japanese is a little rusty but I think that last part is "whatever you believe, decide for yourself." I could be wrong though. I'm probably wrong LOL xD;

LOL that's the Ayu I love regardless of whether I am ok with what she's doing or not. She should keep doing the stuff she wants to at least while she still has her following.

Yeah, might be a bit too roughly translated, I'm still learning after all, but I think that is what she meant.
Maybe someone else can say a word about it?
Ok, could be that she is only refering to that question if she's blocking critics and that the fan decides if he/she wants to believe that.
But it would fit to her personality and to the TA post earlier.

Didnt like her attitude here. Even if you want to do what you want, fans buy your albums and they provide you the money. Of course not every fans hate the a-nation setlist (i loved Dream ON and is interesting how Urata will do, so i am quite satisfied), but anyway, if lot of fans critizise Ayu should think about what she is doing wrong

Yeah but it's her music and it's her performance. There are plenty of fans who have decided not to spend their hard earned money on Ayu anymore, that's why she's not selling millions. Should she change her music to become more popular? Because every time she's criticized by a lot of fans she must be wrong?

I get what your saying that Ayu has a certain responsibility to her fans but she doesn't owe us everything. If we don't like it we don't have to buy it. If we don't enjoy it we don't have to go to the event. It's just ONE summer performance, let her have it. She's given us the same formula of a-nation performances for YEARS. If she wants to do something different, let her do it, you can hate it and the move on. I seriously don't see why everyone's making a big deal out of this. :shrug And for the record, I'm not happy about the setlist either and I think Naoya singing along with her the whole set is disaster on top of disaster but I will survive LOL.

I wonder how much outrage there would have been if she announced that this would be an "Ayu and Friends" performance ahead of time?

I think it'd be kind of nice if all of a-nation took this approach this year--like, mixed its artists together in unexpected collaborations. It's also be nice if she performed one classic song solo, though.

Yeah, I actually would love the idea for whole a-nation this year, not just Ayu's performances. Seeing it is also the 10th Anniversary, isn't it?
Avex artists coming together and singing their own songs with one of the other artists. Could have been nice.

I don't like EVERYTHING she does, but whats the problem if she does an a-nation with collab!?

We must be happy, she is doing something DIFFERENT!

The twitter post was meant to respond to accusations that she blocks people who criticize her, not about anation itself. She said she didnt block anyone, and their opinion is their own and she accepts it.

I love this idea!

People aren't obligated to buy what they don't like. I am sure that if she had a huge drop in sales she'd give some though to what she is doing.

Now it spilled some light on the shadow! Thanks ayu!

I love that woman, I don't care if she uses Naoya for this a-nation anymore XD

Now I also understand why all of the artists' setlists are majorly "bad".

Nice idea, but avex will not copy Danger Crue records with their 'Jack in the box' event.

...Not all people would agree with you though :laugh

When I wrote it I knew that I share my own opinion and not everyone's, it's always like this. ^_^

Actually, I think that would have gone down a lot better if they had said something...

I never really understood why a-nation wasn't more collaborating...I mean, it is all avex artists gathering together...Last year was kind of neat. If there's ever going to be a time for people to get together, uh, here it is lol

Maybe no one has time.

Words out of my mouth. People are pathetic for thinking ayu owes them anything. If I was ayu I would have cut back on so much activities to spend time with my husband, but she is still selfless as ever.

Any single word in reviews about how Ayu looked? What did she wear?

It's just a summer festival people. Let her have fun for once and not repeat the same setlist of all the others years. She's doing something different, and even if you don't like it, you should notice it's something DIFFERENT.

THERE'S NO BOYS & GIRLS after all xD

I'd like collaborative a-nation, but Ayu and Naoya isn't that. If she worked with 3 or 4 other artists, they all sang each others songs, sung together and stuff, it would be awesome. But, still singing some of their own works, and doing it solo. That big collab last year was cute and fun. :)

I typed out a rant about Ayu's reasoning, but I don't care any more and it was too incoherent. All I will say is I don't agree with her, and I think her reaction to the criticism is childish.

I'd rather no a-nation to one where the artists are all compromising their performances and feel they're delivering lesser quality performances. Tbh, this a-nation with the title and Ayu's collabs feels like a rather large advertising campaign for AAA.

Except thats not quite true. When you buy a product from the store, and something isnt to your satisfaction, lets take shampoo for example, we are able to take it back for a full refund. Unfortunately to say, Ayus music albums, concert tickets and all items which bear the A mark are PRODUCTS. We are not buying the PERSON.

Ayu has had the same Anation format for forever. And that format is to sing ALONE. If ayu had said before anation that it was going to be different, then thats fine. You can choose not to buy the tickets if you wish. However, changing your format drastically without announcing it first leaves the consumer of the product in a bad situation. The consuner can take it well,but most repeat consumers would like relatively the same format with different variables, those being the songs and costumes, etc. If the consumer has already been to the Ehime live and they were not satisfied with this drastic change, what can they do? They cannot receive their money back, even though the product they were expecting was not what they were sold.

And we cannot say, if you were an AYU fan, you wouldnt say that. I am an APPLE fan, but when my computer did not come with the programs i expected, i didnt simply say "ohh well, im an apple fan so i just should accept it." Thats insane. And its the same with the Ayumi Hamasaki brand.

I love her attitude about this so much. :heart

A lot of fans were criticizing Power of Music but now they ate their own words and can't stop raving about it.

I don't like the setlist, I probably won't enjoy it at all and I wish she'd done something different but what's done is done.

If you think she should change how she do things, you're stupid.

Just to note, the a-nation title comes from WEIDER which is a sponsor, and the AAA song was likely titled with that slogan in mind.

I don't think it's childish really, she's being firm in her decision. There's really no time to do anything at this point anyway.

Nobody said people should accept, just that is not Ayu's function or duty to do what her fans want her to, but what SHE wants to...

If u dislike it, don't watch it...

And using your own thoughts... watching the first date of a tour because u like an artist is the same as buying a product u know nothing about cuz u like the brand... On both situations you have a big chance of getting a bad surprise...

I'm not really all into the decision of doing duets for all the songs, but really? It's just a concert... nobody will die because of it, and as hard as is it for some people to notice, there's more in life than Ayu's career...

I'd call it stubborn.

I should explain rather than just accusing. I dislike this, "people will hate it anyway" mentality that she used as her justification for doing this new type of set list. Rather than basing her reasons on solid facts and situations Ayu appears to have based it on an idea that has no groundings outside what she perceives to happen. Yes, there was a risk of people not liking something she could put together so quickly, but doing something AYU found fun for her surely seems like more of a risk? I don't quite understand WHY. It seems like a bit of self gratification...?

Of course, if I had liked this new set list, I wouldn't be saying this. However, her reactions to such heavy criticism is not what I expected, whether I like it or not. Power of Music had reasons for the change - a theme, an idea, a concept - a message she wanted to portray. Something to stand her ground on in the face of criticism. Not simply "well you'd hate what I was going to do before anyway, so I'll just do this 'cause whatever really". It seems like an excuse for covering up a risky decision that hasn't paid off...

...or that Avex asked her to promote Naoya and she won't outright say it beyond hints of annoyance at management. At least, that is the impression I got from the "they said this or nothing" comment posted a while back. Or maybe Ayu wanted to help? Idk. This is all so dodgey, and not just the bad (imo) choice of songs and Ayu attitude drama. :/

Wow, great setlist. I didn't expect something like this, seems like a good idea to do things differently this year. I want to hear ANother Song. And *lol* at the reactions on AHS. This is so funny.

lol Ayu's always been in her own world doing her own thing.


Maybe this is like, one of those times where, knowing too much information, and being too close to her, is actually a bad thing for some people.

Wow, you didn't read ANYTHING I wrote did you. You buy a product from a brand because you are familiar with the format and quality of the brand, even if it's first buy to buy a particular product, or whatever number of times you bought it. Ayu has never done this kind of concert before, and since it's radically different from the format and quality that everyone has been accustomed to and were expecting, without so much as an announcement before, then it leaves a bad taste. If Apple announced "we're gonna radically change the iPhone this time" before time, people have the choice to buy or or not buy it. But if Apple doesn't say anything before hand, and when people expect the iPhone to be almost the same as previous iPhones with different version ups and whatever, and are met with a radically different iPhone that they didn't know was coming, that's bad business and it leaves a poor taste, and a lot of upset customers.

Anyways, the point of my entire thing is I understand why people are complaining about the concert, especially the ticket holders. If the tickets were 99cents, then I would be like "Ok, well..." but we all know that A-nation tickets are so expensive! Can you imagine paying so much money for something, and be VERY disappointed in the end? I want people to understand this, because I hate the tunnel vision that is always apparent on this board, even myself included sometimes. This time, A-nation was very much promoted under false advertisement. It said "Hamasaki Ayumi." Not, as I said before, "Hamasaki Ayumi and Friends." It's as simple as that.

Ayu herself has already stated that the name "Hamasaki Ayumi" is a business and product. If a company doesn't listen to the customers and patrons of their business, what else does a business have left? What kind of music and concerts that the business side of Hamasaki Ayumi creates is not connected to the feelings we have with the personal side of Hamasaki Ayumi, because we must separate our personal feelings for the artist from the goods that we are buying. If something is bad, or disappointing, then you must call a spade a spade. If someone says "I am very disappointed with this concert," it doesn't translate to someone saying "I hate Ayu." And I think that's the reasonings many people on this board resort to in the end. That statement ACTUALLY translates to "I paid money for this concert ticket, and I am not satisfied with the product that I have received."

And what many of you guys don't seem to understand, but I'm gonna give the benefit of the doubt that you do, in Japan, your customer is God. You MUST please them, because that's your duty to do that. They are paying their hard earned money for your service and your entertainment, so you must produce entertainment that is entertaining for your customers, to fulfill your duty for them paying you. If you do not produce this, and you do not at least listen to what your customers want, then you are not an entertainer, and you might as well stop entertaining. Ayu saying "I think you will understand why I did this" is not a good enough reason for someone to not be upset or disappointed. It doesn't matter if we understand or don't understand, what matters is if we are entertained. It sounds harsh and cold to say it like this, but it's the truth. And that's why I hate when people bash on the people who have gone to the performance and don't like it. "You shouldn't have gone." "You shouldn't go see it." "If you don't like it, don't watch it." What a stupid and childish response to have. In the end we are all Ayu fans, and we enjoy the format and content and quality we are used to having, and we want to continue to enjoy said format and content in the fashion that we are accustomed to. Why should we simply look away and turn our eyes if something is disappointing in our opinion? If she is what we have invested a lot of time and money in, should we not continue that patronage and offer feedback and criticism to her? Edit: If you were a business, wouldn't you want to know when your most loyal customers are unsatisfied? That would mean you are doing something that doesn't work, and you need to fix it. Saying you shouldn't watch something is counterproductive to this logic.

And I don't think Ayu herself would even want to build a world where no one offers their opinion and criticism about her work, because there would be no need to grow or evolve. In the end, this criticism will help her build a product that will satisfy everyone's entertainment levels, including her own, in her own way. But I think Ayu, above everyone else, already understand herself that she has built a product, and she needs to entertain her loyal fans, because that is the job that she chose for herself.

Why is that so hard for people to understand and accept? Why do I even have to write rants and essays about this? I thought this was general common sense.

Edit: And I want to also say before someone says something, I am all for her doing collaborations and whatever. But tell us when the entire set or concert will be only collaborations with one person. Give that person the credit he also deserves as well. What I'm saying is this should have been advertised in advance, and if it doesn't meet with the expectations of your customers, do something about it. Don't be stubborn and sit there and make up excuses. Take the responsibility, which I know she will do. At least, that's what she's been singing about all these years.

^ I really like your comparison to Apple. It works well because Ayu has the same principle.

A certain standard you expect, a formula you know that is part of the norm. Both Ayu and Apple are allow to change - but they can't be sprung upon customers/listeners.

It also works in reverse - you can argue that you're really paying for the Apple brand when you buy a product, not the content. Likewise, people can argue that going to see Ayu at a-nation is paying for Ayu the person, not whatever she sings or how she does it.

I guess it all comes down to which you prefer - the fact that it IS Ayu or the fact that it's irrelevant when you don't like the content - the set list in this context.