Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [Namie Amuro] The 101st Thread

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- - [Namie Amuro] The 101st Thread - WE ♥ NAMIE FOREVER - (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124291)

Wow. We're here. The end. This year went by so fast. This time last year I spent all day watching her videos after reading her announcement. I was crying buckets. It's a bit funny, now, because even though it's officially over, I'm not crying. (At least not yet) Maybe I've moved on to acceptance :laugh

Ah, Namie. You're an inspiration and a legend. I'm so very happy that you're doing what you feel you need to do and I thank you for being such a big part of my life. You were my childhood. And you helped me through the Godawful teenage angsty years. My only regret of being your fan is that I never got to see you live. But that's okay. I own all your blu-rays. I can go back in time whenever I want to that way.

Thank you, Namie! We love you! And we'll miss you!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~angel*ayumi~ (Post 3286610)

This is insane o.o
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f294192328

I know everyone is in a craze right now and tickets were limited but who is gonna spend 100,000 yen on a fireworks ticket THAT WAS FREE IN THE FIRST PLACE @_@

edit, I can't believe it has 104 bids already and is up to 290,000

I am her fan since 2004 ... 14 looooong years! ... these are sad times ... :(

but i think we will have a comeback ... in 5 or maybe 10 years ... She is a true performer ... I do not think she will leave the stage forever ...

If anyone was curious about those weekly Saturday Final Space segments her facebook always mentions, I have them all uploaded! They're mostly just 2 minute montages of stuff we've already seen through this past year, nothing really new... although there is one longer episode that goes through the entire Final Space museum exhibit. You should watch that one if you weren't able to go! It also features the special Dr. animation that was found in the Tokyo Exhibit.

Spoiler:

And here's the scans from with magazine for anyone who hasn't seen it yet!

https://www.weibo.com/1655852940/Gx475dRxS

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepRiver (Post 3286614)

but i think we will have a comeback ... in 5 or maybe 10 years ... She is a true performer ... I do not think she will leave the stage forever ...

As much as I'd love for her to return, she seems completely adamant that this is the end for her forever. :weep :weep

In her final interview that was aired earlier this week, she was asked about the possibility of returning in the future and she stated "I will never be returning to the stage because my life as 'Namie Amuro, the singer' has been completed with my 25th anniversary". :weep :weep :weep

https://mdpr.jp/news/detail/1792074

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepRiver (Post 3286614)

but i think we will have a comeback ... in 5 or maybe 10 years ... She is a true performer ... I do not think she will leave the stage forever ...

Agree... I'm pretty sure she will be in some feats and stuffs in three or four years.

btw, I discovered Namie back in 2009 with CAN YOU CELEBRATE? and I hated it.. but then I heard her new single WILD and I fell in love.
She was the last one of the 4 Jpop queens I discovered, but the love was so big after the release of past<FUTURE that I couldn't help. Namie and Jolin along with Christina Aguilera are my greatest divas ever. I will always listen to her, watch some of her videos (I have all her shows and videos and I will not delete them.. never :no )... I love dancing and "performing" on my own and she is a huge inspiration. Even tho I'm a boy, I love wearing boots because of her haha
She will be missed and never forgotten. Much love to Amuro Namie-sama :dead2

Namie is taking over the iTunes Chart in Japan!

J-Pop Song Chart

#1 Hero
#9 Baby Don't Cry
#13 Just You & I
#14 Get Myself Back
#16 Love Story
#17 Don't Wanna Cry
#18 Can You Celebrate?
#19 Hope
#20 Sweet 19 Blues
#27 A Walk In the Park
#30 Say The Word
#35 NEVER END
#37 Body Feels Exit
#38 Chase the Chance
#39 Baby Don't Cry
#43 Try Me
#48 You're My Sunshine
#49 Mint
#55 All For You
#60 Grotesque ft. Ken Hirai
#69 Fight Together
#87 Girl Talk
#93 HIDE & SEEK
#98 Taiyou no Season
#99 Contrail
#102 Do Me More
#104 Get Myself Back
#111 Sweet 19 Blues
#114 Dreaming I Was Dreaming
#119 Dear Diary
#121 How To Be A Girl
#135 Wonder Woman
#136 ONLY YOU
#138 NEW LOOK
#141 REVOLUTION
#144 NEW LOOK
#158 Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!
#159 make it happen
#167 Chit Chat
#173 Love Story
#180 Brighter Day
#183 CAN YOU CELEBRATE? (Ballada)
#185 Respect the Power of Love

J-Pop Album Chart

#2 BEST FICTION
#9 Uncontrolled
#11 Ballada
#16 SWEET 19 BLUES
#18 Original Tracks Vol. 1
#19 LOVE ENHANCED - Single Collection
#23 PLAY
#31 _genic
#39 FEEL
#50 Past < Future
#51 Hero
#61 Queen of Hip-Pop
#71 STYLE

Wow... the end came so fast. I've been a fan since 2007/2008...at least she got a nice send off. It's better to go out with a bang than quietly fade out totally forgotten I guess. She definitely deserves time to relax and be with her family, she worked very hard the last year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by haraiso (Post 3286552)

Here's the performed songs for tonight!

Spoiler:

Pretty cool she got to do the live collabs and that each featured artist did a cover. I would've loved to see genkai lovers with Show-Ya and Ups and Downs with Nao'Ymt though. I really hope we get to see it!

I have been a fan since 2003, I still haven't really accepted that it's all over lol.
Like others said, this year has gone by in a flash. She will always be my number one and always be my favorite.
I am starting to listen to her music again, it sounds silly but once she announced her retirement, it was hard for me to listen to her music. Made me so sad lol.
Namie was the one I listened to through all my rough times in life, through all my downfalls of health and life. I genuinely looked up to her and loved her cool and independent persona. It was inspiring for me, when I am quite the opposite in real life lol
Even though this is the end for her as a singer, I hope we will continue to hear her presence from behind the scenes of future artists.
I wish I could say my feelings better, but it's very hard for me to write what the past 15 years have meant for me.
I just want to say, I am proud of her and all of her accomplishments. I hope that she finds peace and happiness in the next stage of her life.

I've been a Namie fan for almost 14 years . I remembered being so and was still blown away by Hide & Seek PV

When I 1st started listening to Japanese music , I only assumed videos were made for singles , took me a while to realise videos are also made for album tracks too x)

Namie definitely will be missed by so many , it's evident how much Japan has gone all out for her in putting up so many numerous signs , billboards all over the country showing their appreciation to her

That doesn't need to be done but yet fans did that wholeheartedly as their support for Namie is genuine

===

This's interesting , ex SMAP member Kusanagi Tsuyoshi will be hosting a WE ♥ NAMIE FINAL Encore LIVE programme that Abema TV will stream tonight 9pm - midnight

https://natalie.mu/music/news/299928
https://twitter.com/AbemaTV/status/1041129818182434816

Kusangai's favourite Namie song is Baby Don't Cry and he wrote on his Twitter he wants to rewatch Namie's performance of it during WE ♥ NAMIE FINAL Encore LIVE programme , heh

https://twitter.com/ksngtysofficial/...46869383016450

Kyodo News wrote on yesterday's show:
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...-hometown.html

Her wikipedia article already says "Namie Amuro is a retired Japanese self-producing recording artist" and ouch that stings :dead2

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladyluthien (Post 3286625)

I am starting to listen to her music again, it sounds silly but once she announced her retirement, it was hard for me to listen to her music. Made me so sad lol.

I get what you mean. I still haven't watched Finally Tour yet, even though I was so excited to get it, I keep putting it off. Same with some of her recent interviews and shows, I guess I'm taking my time because after this there won't be anything new.

I became a fan around 2009 after seeing the Do Me More PV. I was just thinking yesterday that if it hadn't been for that song/PV, I might have never discovered Ayu and then Kuu, or a lot of the other J-Pop (and Mandarin-Pop) artists I love. Before that I was listening to a few anime songs or K-pop, so if it hadn't been for Namie, who knows if/when those paths would have intersected.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepRiver (Post 3286614)

I don't think so. She did a very Japanese thing. Hu,ble and proud at the same moment but she left for good. She did not go on a hiatus and I don't think people would welcome her back.

I think you can feel that it will be a forever goodbye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepRiver (Post 3286614)

That doesn't usually happen in Japan. When artists specifically use the word, intai (retirement), they usually stay that way.

Anyway, I first heard Namie in 1994/1995 because I was living overseas on one of the military bases there. But I was a child and didn't speak much Japanese so I didn't actually become a fan until the 2000s. It's been over 14 years since then and I have seen her live many times. Even though she is retiring, it still hasn't quite hit me yet. Although, I agree with the decision; she hasn't seemed to enjoy herself on stage in several years now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer (Post 3286650)

she hasn't seemed to enjoy herself on stage in several years now.

I have the feeling that she wanted to retire after her 20th Anniversary but then the typhoon came and she added another 5 years because she wanted to retire that way (anniversary concert in her home and then a year full of things)

Japan Today - Pop singer Amuro gives final performance in Okinawan hometown

Quote:

Japanese pop singer Namie Amuro, who has a broad fan base across Asia, delivered her final stage performance in the city of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture on Saturday night, drawing thousands of fans from across the country.

Amuro -- a megastar in Japan's pop music scene since the 1990s as a singer, dancer and fashion icon -- chose her home prefecture for her farewell performance before she retires on Sunday. She announced last September she will quit showbiz.

"To everyone who came to the venue, thank you very very much," the 40-year-old diva told fans at the end of her performance. She performed eight songs.

Wearing boots, her signature style, Amuro performed with artists including singer Ken Hirai. The lineup also included Okinawan bands Begin and Mongol800, and Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai, with whom Amuro has collaborated.

Amuro charmed the roaring crowd of about 3,500 people with her dance moves. "Make noise! Okinawa!" she shouted at one point.

At the end of the concert, she and the other artists thanked the audience and she left the stage with a smile. Fans chanted her first name "Namie," but she did not return to the stage for an encore.

Terumi Toda, 35, a resident of Yamaguchi city, said when Amuro appeared onstage, "I couldn't stop my tears as I had mixed emotions of happiness and sadness."

"My prime was spent together with Amuro-san. I want to say to her thank you for making everybody happy," Toda said.

Before the event began, more than 1,000 people gathered at a park adjacent to the venue, hoping to hear Amuro's voice from outside.

From Noda, Chiba Prefecture, 15-year-old Minami Tanaka and her mother Hiroko, 45, arrived in Okinawa a day before to find the best spot. "I would be able to come to terms (with her retirement) if I could hear her even for a while," Tanaka said.

In Naha, the capital of Okinawa, banners and posters showing photos of Amuro and expressing gratitude to the star were put up at the city hall, a bank and newspaper office. Fans from across the country posed in front of a big vertical poster that read "Okinawa (heart mark) Amuro."

"I wanted to be as close as possible" to Amuro, said Junichi Shiba, 27, a resident of Joso in Ibaraki Prefecture. "When I was sick and having a tough time, I was uplifted by her songs."

Jasmine Chin, 40, had come all the way from Taiwan, and because she did not have a ticket to the concert, said she just wanted to be near the sold-out venue for Amuro's final performance.

Amuro stunned her fans last year on her birthday, Sept 20, by announcing her retirement from showbiz in a year's time. The announcement on her website was made just days after her 25th anniversary as a performer.

Debuting on Sept. 16, 1992, as a member of all-girl group Super Monkey's, Amuro later turned solo and went onto become a J-pop music legend. She dominated the music charts with a string of megahits such as "Can You Celebrate?," "Chase the Chance" and "Sweet 19 Blues."

She won numerous music awards, including the prestigious Japan Record Award two years in a row. Amuro also sang "Never End" at a welcome reception for leaders of the then Group of Eight nations at their 2000 summit in Okinawa, and her song "Hero" was the NHK theme song for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Amuro created the "Amuraa" phenomenon in the mid-1990s in which young girls and women copied her signature look of miniskirt and high-heeled platform boots with dyed brown hair, thin-arched eyebrows and a deep tan.

At age 20 -- at the peak of her career -- Amuro made the surprise announcement that she was pregnant and married. In 1997, she married a member of the Japanese pop group TRF and gave birth to a son in May 1998. She made a comeback on NHK's year-end music show that December after taking a yearlong maternity and child care leave.

https://japantoday.com/category/ente...metown-okinawa

===

Asadesu , Mezamashi TV & ZIP! TV tomorrow morning will broadcast footages from yesterday's WE ♡ NAMIE HANABI SHOW Zen Yasai ~I ♡ OKINAWA / I ♡ MUSIC~

https://twitter.com/asadesu0600/stat...55893080240128
https://twitter.com/cx_mezamashi/sta...53243626708992
https://twitter.com/cx_mezamashi/sta...57277972520960
https://twitter.com/ZIP_TV/status/1041280724748263425

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepRiver (Post 3286614)

i wish she could keep her update via social media after 916, instead of going into a cave for retirement.

I'll record the BEST 50 MUSIC VIDEO special later, but if you're interested in the results:

Spoiler:

And the Tokyo Tower has now been lit up in "blush pink" to commemorate Namie's retirement! :)

https://twitter.com/dippienyc/status...03715007754241
https://twitter.com/xnydna/status/1041303432953384961
https://twitter.com/towerup_tw/statu...05517585424384

And here we have the conclusion of the fireworks show!

https://twitter.com/hana_amr__/statu...02617618407424

Show Tracklist + Footage during "Do It For Love"

https://twitter.com/hana_amr__/statu...05521502924801

I'm so sad that I can't leave my bed :(( please come back Namie!