wow Kylie is a flop?

she was pretty huge in Russia in 00s. I even attended her concert back in 2008 :laugh



I've never seen this before! is there any full version??

A symphonic metal cover of M :luv2

^That is awesome. Love the instrumental. Although i'm not digging her voice. Too much pitch correction for me, almost sounds like a freaking vocaloid lol.

Man i need new music from Ayu. Also i miss the times when this place was buzzing with life..

Remember when Ayu ended Shibuya's career just by gracing its streets with her presence in an ill fitting pant suit
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4b/f0...2950058d04.png

Truly a place for criminal legends.

It's pretty normal that during tours this place would be a bit more quiet but after the last time it went down due to not paying for the domain on top of less things happening overall, it's just natural for it to be not quite as full of life. The TV drama and this remix campaign though has gotten a lot of older people back along with the baby announcement so that was a plus from these last few months.

lmao weren’t rumors floating around that the cops were trying to arrest her for this or something

I remember it being a HUGE deal at the time

^ I think in the end she was fined for not having a permit and causing distress in the streets.

Yeah, i know. Still though. I miss that. But when you think about it, a lot of the people who were around a few years ago, are now with families so, it makes sense. I still miss it, it used to be so much fun :(

yeah i think the police even raided avex's office about it lmao, or that might have been because of the drugs saga

Found from ONTD

On April 7, 2009, singer Ayumi Hamasaki (30) used the streets outside Shibuya '109' without permission for her book-release event, surrounding the Shibuya Station area in Tokyo.

At this event, the book "Ayu Diary of DEJIDEJI 2000-2009A" (Kodansha) was promoted. To commemorate the launch of the book in front of the "109" building, without notice, Hamasaki appeared in front of nearly 8,000 people and fans making a huge fuss.

Also, shortly before the book lanch event, Hamasaki visited TSUTAYA, HMV, Tower Records and other large CD stores in the area. In a surprise of this event, crazy energized fans were going to chase Hamasaki from shop to shop, which led to wild conditions in the streets.

According to Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Hamasaki did not get permission to use the roads in the area, and is now being investigated for violating the Road Traffic Law in the area. According to Japanese law, the penalty for this type of offenses are fines, and up to two years in prison.

Passages of buses and other modes of transport had to stop for a time. Fans tore down the stage and the sidewalk into the fence have been knocked down, and the scene was very chaotic.

As a result of this, Hamasaki was asked by reporters of the magazine "FRIDAY" in connection with the accusation. Sunday, she attended a event held in Tokyo, but was surprised by the prosecution against her. "I thought this issue was cleared in advance," while she smiles watching her staff. "In Shibuya? I should be allowed to move where I want, without having to submit an application specifically for this," she said, smiling.

No wonder she's said in the past that she hardly ever goes out in public

There is a big difference from going out in public and doing a book launch, the whole media was there covering the event. lol It was problematic back then, but her team knew what they were doing, the book got a lot of exposure because of the incident.

Btw, ONTD's source was AHS haha http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90295

iirc it wasn't really that much of a planned or announced schedule, Ayu just showed up with press in tow

It wasn't announced to the fans, but the media was there from the get go, and it was in Shibuya 109 Event Space with a proper set-up.

https://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000048477

Lady Gaga’s new video with Ariana is giving me major Real me vibes and I’m loving it. I just went back to watch Real me for the billionth time too lol.

Hi, I know it is not really the place but the comment on Kylie I read yesterday did not leave me restless. I think it is shameful, especially as a fan of ayu, to call an artist like Kylie a has been and taking away from someone who achieved so much over such a long-lasting career. I just don’t get why people need to take achievements away from artist and reduce them - it is one thing to like a musician or not but to not acknowledge the artistry of that person is just a no go. The woman has so many worldwide top 10 hits and albums with all her albums up to her latest archiving critical acclaim and praising her for sticking to a sound whilst stepping out of her comfort zone. Even the lead of her last stuioalbum, GOLDEN, was still a hit.

Her Wikipedia-entry is insane, leaving just the latest snippet for You:

Minogue released a greatest hits compilation Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection on 28 June 2019, featuring "New York City" as the lead single.[222] The album reached number one in her native Australia and in the UK, becoming her seventh album to reach the top spot in the latter.[223][224] On 30 June, Minogue made her debut at the Glastonbury Festival, fourteen years after her breast cancer diagnosis forced her to cancel her 2005 headlining slot.[225] Performing in the Legends Slot, Minogue's set featured guest appearances from Nick Cave and Chris Martin. Her set received rave reviews from critics, with The Guardian declaring it a "solid-gold", "peerless" and "phenomenal".[226] It was a big hit with fans, with Minogue's performance being the most-watched set of the BBC coverage (earning three million viewers, ahead of the nearest competitor, The Killers who received 1.4 million) and reportedly breaking records for the most attended Glastonbury set in history.[227][228] Minogue also appeared in her own Christmas television special, Kylie's Secret Night, which aired on Channel 4 in December 2019.[229]

^Got good memories of watching Kylie's Glastonbury set on TV last year!

I'm sorry if I offend anyone but i'm really sick of this hate in the music-industry online. I think I'm very sensitive to this since I started listening to K-Pop. KPop as a whole is just a toxic place and should be avoided, and I would too if it wasn't for the quality of the music or peoples dreams woven into the whole scene.

But it really has to stop. Pop music (as popular, and lets face it, mainstream) was always a mirror of society as a whole to me. If something that is only there to entertain brings out such hate and stupidity in people, i can easily tell why all the wrong people are in leading positions.

As someone who is a fan of Ayumi Hamasaki (and I assume everyone here is), who is facing an all-time career low these past few years, things like this shouldn't be said at all - not even if its meant as a joke.

^ Unfortunately like you say - it kinda is how the pop game is. Everybody is always looking for the next "it" girl (or guy), and trying to solidifying their faves' holding on all the records and accolades. Far be it from anyone to give another artist credit for inspiring them, or paving the way, etc.

That said, Kylie Minogue never really took off in the US, and most people in the general public would be hard pressed to name 1-2 songs by her - despite her lengthy and globally successful career. And so, for some members of the forum, I could see that having influenced some comments.

I can kinda see that

I hope Real Me is one of the acapellas released next..the song is kinda surprisingly under remixed.

I have been on a weird nostalgia trail yesterday, and bumped into this video. I never really paid too much attention, but rewatching this yesterday, i sort of noticed how GACKT is just, well, GACKT, but Ayu's body language is kind of...over the top?...i dunno how to put it... flir....ty? lol Like she's trying a bit too hard? xD I don't think i've seen her like this during tv or own online appearances:D On Another note it's cool to hear them both speak about each other :)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4p9ou6

if you came to Australia and called Kylie a flop, you would possibly get lynched haha. She is the princess of pop to us and nothing will ever diminish what she has done for the Australian music industry. :love

I think ExodusUK joke was just taken a little to seriously, considering he lives in a country Kylie is top tier celebrity...

But Kylie isn't selling how she used to, neither is Ayu. This is the thing about being an older popstar... New material starts selling less, people end up holding the older material to a higher standart out of nostalgia, sales stop reflecting on how much impact the star have in the industry. And this isn't for no reason... The majoritity of the music market is moved by younger people who have a lot of resistance in consuming stuff made by people old enough to be their parents (or grandparents).

And that's fine. Kylie is a pop legend, Ayu is a pop legend and there's nothing wrong with joking a little about the current state of their careers.

Yeah, Kylie? A flop?:laugh
She isn't popular like she used to be but she does pretty well for an artist in her position. I actually think she is a great example of a respectful professional pop star. The only thing is that she never blew up here in usa. People might know Can't Get You Out of My Head but that's about it.

So flawless here in every way — we love to see it

Once again this year's birthday message to TA members has been updated (seemingly prior to COVID-19)

i'm watching A BEST 2 -WHITE- LIVE TRACK LIST and it includes my name's WOMEN from MY STORY TOUR and holy shit how different her voice is in here.. I think this might be my first time seeing this version and I'm use to watch AT08 if I feel like watching this live. there's only 3 years apart but the change is kinda huge imo

but since I found ayu in 2008, I actually like her 2008 voice better. this is kinda too pure and high-pitched to my ear in 2005 version, I like her voice more raspy and rough like she was after her 10th Anniversary.. I might also feel this way because I have seen her every tour after 2008 but never had that much interest of watching her tours pre-2008! I've seen some but not every one of them so maybe I'm just use to hear her more rough and prefer it for that reason

Both BLUE BIRD and M have over 4m plays on Spotify!

I kinda live for this haircut now. I didn't like it before, but when she rocked it again in 2017 I was living for it. she looks so chic here

I have to disagree. From the US and I could name at least Locomotion and Can't get you out of my head.

The flop comment, I agree, is very out of touch. Kylie Minogue was huge in the early 2000s even in the USA. She was very known in Japan from even the 80s. She even performed on Kohaku. She was on SmapxSmap. Locomotion and I Should be So Lucky were hits in Japan, etc etc etc.

Agreed it was very refreshing for JTB, where as it felt kinda momsy for FIVE lol

Kylie is huge in general but the time she was big was a pretty short one in the US, I think. The singles I can remember are Can't Get You Out of My Head and Love at First Sight that got pretty wide airplay but everything after is a bit of a blur and I'd only have seen them because of international pop forums.

The flop comment probably was mostly a bad attempt at humor more than anything just looking at the reactions of "Kylie is an icon/huge/a legend/etc.".

^probably, but it was bad phrased if it was and if it's the type of "sassy gay comment" I hate.
However, again, the USA is not the center of the world either. Only because she wasn't huge there doesn't make her less of an icon.
But Kylie specific wasn't my point at all, I was rather referring to the overall toxic situation in pop music. everyone who creates and reaches people deserves a little respect. Again, if you don't like a tune or a specific singer just ignore them and don't discredit them.

this is amazing! I don't know how to explain it clearly but her voice seems to be in a very healthy state here; it's not screechy, there is very little resistance(?), and it just sounds very smooth all the way.

I'm also surprised at how boisterous the audience members are! they typically quiet down when the artist starts singing but these definitely aren't :laugh (or are they cheering her on because she's crying at the beginning of the clip?)

This was at Japan Gold Disc Awards, it was the winning encore performance following the wins for Album of the year, artist of the year and song of the year for SEASONS so I guess the fans in attendance were pretty hyped lol

ah that makes more sense. I would definitely have joined in the screaming if I were there :laugh thanks for clarifying!

She sounded so good here. Unfortunately Dome Tour came and her vocal cords started bleeding again. You could hear how she had to literally "squeeze" out her high notes during the TV performances for Dearest which happened after Dome Tour

Would anyone be down for a Concert Recording Megathread? I have a few saved from AT12 and I'd love to hear recordings of songs that got cut from the final shows.

Wow that SEASONS clip got me emotional, the crowd was loving it!

I actually like some of Ayu's recent vocals and how they change the vibe of certain songs, but I don't think she's ever been able to rework SEASONS in a way that works with how her voice sounds now. It just needs to sound light, airy and youthful. Not that she sounds old now, but she's just singing with different experiences. Works great for something like ASFXX, but not SEASONS.

Definitely close to perfection!

I actually feel the opposite. I find SEASONS with her more current voice much more pleasant to my ears so to me it's a good change. Nice to see different opinions, though :)

I agree, but it's weird cause SEASONS is a reflecting song. There's so much potential in signing it from the perspective of maturity - the strength and meaning in the subject matter of the song can only grew as she gets older - but yeah, it has yet to sound quite "right" with her newer vocals.

ASFXX benefited a lot from the rearrangement that allowed for a deeper / heavier vocal. I don't think many songs have had changes as drastic done do their arrangements aside from very few concert staples.



Watching through SEASONS COMPLETE, the song remains rather airy but her voice in the time between the '07 and '15 performances changed a lot. Looking back at the a-nation '15 one she really looked amazing at that show.

I agree with the anation 15.. she looks gorgeous

Am I the only one who thinks Kalen's 世界の全て敵に感じて孤独さえ愛していた chorus sounds like Trust?

It was so weird to follow the drama around her time with Alvin, he would keep on doing odd and mean stuff, ugh.

At least we have this photo that always makes me laugh cause it looks like ayu is reaching to Alvin's pants lmfao

^LOL

She was serving looks in 2015

Honestly Kalen's music and voice remind me way more of Nami Tamaki's than Ayu's.

^That have been my thoughts exactly since her debut!

Can we give kudos to Ayu for one of her best intros ever?



it really feels like 2000 Ayu was thrust out of some sort of time machine in 2019

Musically it should be Ayu leaning since it's a lot of her composers/arrangers but Nami Tamaki's vibe seems more evident for sure.

Fun fact: that song I posted was actually arranged/composed none other than Yuta Nakano. In fact Nami actually has had quite a few songs composed by the HAL team (Yuta Nakano and ats in particular.) However, I find that their work with artists other than Ayu to have more of that stereotypical high-energy anime opening sound than their work with Ayu.

the notes are different, but the "flow" (idk the right term) is quite similar actually

Kazuyoshi Shimomura posted about Ayu again. Something about the Light and Shadow interview being criticized? Can anyone translate?https://www.instagram.com/p/CBNFU6nj...=16id825sgloo5

^He’s showing her admiration to Ayu again. Saying her influence on society and avex was astounding. Also, not getting hopes up, but he mentions something new is on the works.

Seems like he was watching it maybe for the first time.

And it does seem like they have a project together. Wonder what it'd be for... magazine? CD covers again? He shot a lot of what we got most recently like the covers for TROUBLE and the flowery/sleek black shoot for a magazine that was repurposed for a tour, then the A^3 cover.

In his Sparkle post, he mentioned that he was in charge of key visuals for the 10th/15th/20th Ayu anniversaries, which is odd to think about but true though for 20th he seemed to share it with Leslie. (he did Mirrorcle/Days, then the smudgy tour shoot, then the black/flowery thing for 20th anni.)

Love that he said that Ayu has big ang beautiful eyes like a Siamese Cat.
Nice words!

Yeah, I'm gonna need the people who called Kylie Minogue a flop to SIT DOWN. A flop is someone that never became successful. You CANNOT call Kylie, an international superstar, a flop. She had a couple of hits here in the States when I was in high school and that was actually what led to me discovering Kylie and I've been a fan of hers ever since! It's also very obvious that Ayu has gotten inspiration from Kylie and that's wonderful! We know Ayu gets inspiration from other artists like Madonna, etc, so no flops over here! :rainbow

Look at this fantastic Ayu imitation by this little girl!

^So cute!!! and she's really good, I also love that shye has her own Yocchan :luv2

I think that issue has already been discussed.

Yup

Seems like Ayu has set a trend
https://news.sky.com/story/iggy-azal...snt-sf-twitter

^It's a good trend to set.

I'm super excited that Ayu is actually doing stuff even while we're dealing with coronavirus. New goods released tomorrow, new commentary for concerts, the ayumix challenge... its renewed my devotion to her. :luv2

oh I remember Cameron Diaz also revealed the birth of a daughter right after ayu in the beginning of 2020

Kyle Jenner did it before tho

You're right! And I was adding my opinion to the discussion! That's like saying people can't come here and talk about how surprised they are that Ayu had a baby even though it happened months ago... :rolleyes Not everyone comes on AHS everyday.

Anyways...

Didn't Namie Amuro also keep her son very private? Utada as well, actually. Come to think of it, we don't see much about Kuu's son either, though she has posted some videos/photos of him just without showing his face.

^ But what baffles me most about Ayu, is that she did not give any hint or announcement about her pregnancy. It was like: oh btw, p.s. I am a mom now lol. She did not even say who the father is. Whuuuut.

At least with Namie or Kuu, they announced their pregnancy. And we know who fathered their children.
It is not important, but is is very interesting and Ayu's case is definetely unique.

^ That's true! And although we're dying from curiosity about these details, I also feel like "good for her!" to be able to keep what she wants private.

She probably choose to say nothing in order to avoid criticism and personal attacks.

Tabloids got a lot of photos and from what we saw when Pei first was introduced and people jumping on him for the "underage smoking" pictures, I think she decided to just not say anything since there was no way it was going to be without drama.

It's interesting that a lot of the women that rose to popularity around that time keep having all baby boys.:laugh
Utada, Koda Kumi, Namie, now Ayu all had boys.

ˆ Did she mention it was a boy tho? As I recall she refer to the baby as an "angel".

It’s almost seem like the child is non-existent.. Ayu didn’t even show his back view etc. But it’s ok, fans shld just respect her privacy. Although her child or partner draws great curiousity from fans. Hahah. The only thing we know is her Son has big eyes?? He sure looks like mama :):) Thats base on what Mika nouguchi has said)

I don't recall that she used "boy" on TA but the first news articles reported it was a boy: https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertain...mpression=true (use of kanji '男', but nothing official from Ayu herself that I'm aware of. it could be a false lead?)

She shared a picture of some baby shoes on TA: https://i.imgur.com/4nHaId4.png

I did not want to shut you up sorry, but I felt like your comment spiraled back in the discussion (as exactly that has been said and some others responded to that) so it did not add anything and just to let you know that there was an answer to that.

Is this even legal?

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d446074382

^ Is it handwriting on CD? XD and cover will be just a cut from magazine page

^
^ lol

Can we appreciate how good the Vogue (groove coverage remix) is? Better than the original song itself.

I still have my bootleg Ayu Trance 2 and RAINBOW somewhere, the first way I every heard about Ayu back in high school....... :lmao

Selling that for 10 bucks, gotta admire the confidence xD

I've been trying to replace my bootleg concerts but I still haven't found a legit copy of CDL02-03 that sells by itself. I don't want doubles of everything else. Is this just a pipe dream?

I bought it (and CDL04-05) on ebay before I knew about the Japanese presses. I was young and naive.

It´s hard to get it alone. I think it´s cheaper to get the whole Box at Book-off and sell the old 3 DVD Box. I did that xD

Considering the work of mailing in the form for 02-03, I think if people did resell their box, they'd just do all four at the same time rather than individually. You are most likely better off selling the old box you have after you get the 4DVDs or swap out for better condition ones when you do get it.

I was very lucky to find an authentic copy on its own from Taobao (China's leading e-commerce site). :yes

I found one on Mercari and YAJ :) https://buyee.jp/mercari/item/m20390578357 https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/h480873089 they don't seem to pop up very often and when they do the auction time is really short, maybe a couple of days max.

A few years ago I thought I snapped up a bargain for it for a couple of hundred yen but when it arrived I realised it was one of the other DVDs :eviltongu

We moved house so I have somewhere that I can actually take out and display my Ayu stuff again and when I started unpacking I realised I have a lot of doubles of things I forgot I owned :tired Time to update and actually note down what I own!! Not really looking forward to it LOL

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eau32qhW...png&name=smallhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eau34jmX...png&name=small

omg...the accuracy

Ooo thanks! I bought everything on ebay back then and my first Ayu purchase was the AT06 DVD, which was really cheap but it was the OS press. So I just assumed they were all pretty cheap and mass bought a bunch of concerts to feed my new Ayu addiction. Pretty sure my A museum and AT03-04 are bootlegs too, urgh. :eviltongu

Lmaooo yeah that’s so on point.

The allure of K-music wasn't really as huge around that time, so I feel like people who would have formed the communities around Japanese music just ended up attaching to the Korean stuff since it's so much more accessible but Japan's come a long way since then. Still got a ways to go though with a lot of things but at least it isn't as locked down as it was like 5-10 years ago.

I felt that.

That meme is amazing hahahaha

This article is mentioning that this Trump's press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, looks like Ayu lol I can see the resemblance lol She's giving me "Super Ayu" by Leslie vibes.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/96...76220503e6e000

The article is kinda of fun tho. Here are a few comments people said on the internet:

"When I look at her I can only see an Ayu that speaks fluent english"
"She definetly screams 'Areeeeena!'"

LOL

^I saw it on Twitter lol she really has Ayu Summer Best era vibes :dead2

I am screaming at what google translate made of the headline "Ayumi Hamasaki of the United States sells her soul to President Trump"

I don't see the resemblance at all?
https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress...1&h=383&crop=1

Did she lipsync this? Also I think this is the performance that caused many screenshots to be taken by anti fans as Ayu's makeup/facial expressions were a bit pained. A lot of the Japanese comments seem to find the performance funny..

I always suspect whether she's lipsyncing or not whenever she has headset mic on. :D

OMG Yesss lol Same makeup

https://blog-imgs-53.fc2.com/t/a/n/t...est_label1.jpg

Found this on twitter LOL
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZRc7s7U...jpg&name=small

I guess it's because of the hairstyle and eye makeup but honestly I don't see it either...

She kind of is more of a Paris Hilton/Nicole Ritchie blend though if she did look like anyone.

Headset mic was always an indicator of possibly lipping things partially until she actually flubs words. I think for that Moments she was trying to be very serious and 'poised' which resulted in some of the weird facial expressions. Has she really lipsynched for Kouhaku? I recall it is pretty rare for acts to not actually sing and if they did it was -really- obvious they were using a track of sorts.

Wow, brand new Stadium Tour DVD starting from 1 yen??

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/d431199816