There's another Ayunight at a club in Nichome tomorrow night.

9pm-5pm.

The head drag queen / organizer is retiring after 10 years so this might be the last one, at least for quite some time.

I knew i heard this song before...... HARUYO KOI <3 And the best figure skater on this planet.... Now just need to add that Ayu voice there...

this whole post is me

I couldn't hold myself when I saw this flyer on the bar lol

http://oi64.tinypic.com/142djc0.jpg

You have such nice hands o.O

Lolol oh my goodness.

I have rarely heard such a moving song in my all life... the emotions she puts on her voice are so raw and are embellished with beautiful arrangements... this song is a pure masterpiece

I'm still hating the original version, but the orchestrated one is pure gold. I just can't believe how the feeling of the song changes completely.

--

About the Ayu vs. Hikki comparisions, I think Utada is way more a musicist than anything. She spent a lot of time more than Ayu in studio to craft her sound and she's basically raised inside the music industry. She delivers a much more refined work than most pop artists (worldwide).

Ayu songs are far more "basic" than Hikki's, but she's above average. I like how she uses some word plays and how her arrangement could be very creative from time to time. "Party Queen" is an underrated album over here, but has some of her most creative melodies and arrangements (pay attention to "Shake it", "Return Road" and "a cup of tea")

I know Greatful days gets a lot of flack here, but I don't trust anyone who can seriously say any song on TROUBLE is better than it. Like, with wtf logic? lmao.

^ Oh, well. I'm definitely an anti-fan of "Greatful days" and do like every single song on "TROUBLE" better, even though "TROUBLE" doesn't amaze me that much, either :'D

I'd say every single song on TROUBLE is better than Greatful Days and Angel's song tbh :laugh

I'm part of the minority who really likes Greatful days and ANGEL'S SONG lol To me they're such fun pop songs. They aren't overly complex or unique, but sometimes I'm just in the mood for that--Beautiful Fighters too.

Though there are a few of her pop songs I'm not such a fan of: HONEY, Beautiful Day, and Thank U. I tend to skip over those 3 a lot.

That's fine, we don't trust you either :P

Just a little rambling right now but it's so... fascinating watching Concert Tour 2000 and seeing Ayu's humble beginnings with her concerts. It was nothing amazing and quite honestly a snooze fest watching it back (heck even the audience looked bored af lol) but she got better and better and then the MY STORY tour happened which is when she really amped up the theatrics. She became more than just a live performer. She became a SHOW performer, an actress, a story teller, had a vision for her tours and more all at once. Everything became an important detail from the stage to her costumes to her hand movements and it just continued on from there to the Ayu we know and expect now. Yes she can be overdramatic at times, but I feel like it's more than just a "tour" for Ayu. She's leaving it ALL on the stage.

I love Beautiful Day at any time, same for Thank U. HONEY though is a bit too saccharine sometimes and I think even Ayu herself can't handle it, lol. ANGEL'S SONG is one of my top songs of her career tbh... also it would be neat to hear the original rocky version if that ever comes out.

Beautiful Day is always amazing to me.

I enjoy Greatful Days, even though I rarely listen to it. ANGEL'S SONG is awful tho.

The version of HONEY on My Story Classical is everything. That's the only way I will listen to it.

Ive been wondering, so Ayu didnt need any hearing aid on her left ear? she can listen well using just her right ear?

^ I've wondered that too. I've also heard of people that have been able to get transplants, but I don't know much about that, and maybe it wouldn't work for her. I'd imagine she would do what she can to hear better at this point though.

Not so far ago I talked with a fan who was really upset that ayu attended Tokyo Rainbow Pride. My one question was how you not knowing that before? If you follow ayu even a little, you know how she supports gay.

^ :laugh

Shake It literally says "I love girls"

Was this person in a deep state of coma for the last 20 years and just woke up now? lol

Were they upset that she was at pride in general, or that they couldn’t get tickets?

Yeah, you have to be living under a rock to not realise she supports LBGT lol.

~

I revamped my lyrics website~ I also added my previous interview translations >> website

This fan never watched How beautiful you are PV.

Or Shake it PV.

Or XOXO PV.

Or Green PV.

Or Sexy little things and Step you during AT10.

Or Shake it during AT12.

Or any of her post Timmy concerts.

Or Dolls during TA Tour.

Maybe he is not a fan? :B

I think Ayu's efforts to ensure consistent gay-following came quite a while after her peak. It wasn't part of her image right from the start of her career. In my perception female pop singers tend to focus on gays more prominently after the general public and thus a lot of former fans have left the party.

I'm not too familiar with US pop but isn't it the same with big stars like Britney, who have once become a teenage girls' idol and nowadays mainly rely on their gay fan-base?

This is exactly right. I might make an exception for Madonna though. As for Ayu it wasn't very obvious until the late 2000s or 2010s. When I was a new fan in the 2000s it was always a curiosity of mine if Ayu supported lgbt or not. In fact I was surprised to see other lgbt fans online because I thought Ayu's music didn't seem like something that would broadly appeal to that demographic. I think Ayu has one of the most diverse fan bases. She reaches everyone.

Ayu had been seen in Nichome a lot when paparazzi followed her around everywhere.

Didn’t she also reveal at tokyo pride that she used to hang at the gay bars before her career took off?

Y'all forget the fact she had an album and song called RAINBOW?

Even the A BALLADS covers hinted LGBT even if it had the dual meaning of self-acceptance. It's been more front-and-centre in recent years but it's always been there.

tenshi your site is coming along really well :D

anyone has Instagram (or many pictures) of Pei ? that new dancer guy is DELICIOUS!

https://www.instagram.com/syunpei__araki/
https://twitter.com/syunpei_dance

thank u
is the rumor about him & ayu together true?

hes like 19 year old? lol

never heard that rumour

Please don't give any ideas to cupid

I thought I did see some gossip on twitter between Japanese fans about ayu being with someone...

i saw on Arama Japan some people say there's a rumor they're dating and i was like WTH

It´s Arama.... they always say shit about Ayu

That is a bizarre rumor. I guess people probably thought that her being so protective over that dancer in particular with the shit on his social media that she really liked him or whatever but he was the only one with "problem" stuff on his Twitter/IG.

Rumour or not... does it really matter? I also have a huge age-gap with my significant other, so I don't mind if Ayu is romantically involved with Pei. He's cute. As long she's happy.

But I agree, it is a bit weird just to jump into conclusions.

During a-nation when she was doing the medley on the moving cart Pei wouldnt stop holding her by putting his hand on her lower back, which I found to be a really intimate gesture, especially for japanese people lol I know it was probably to keep her balance but still, he made it really obvious

the cart thing again...

I saw a screencap on twitter of today's King's Brunch, a tv program on TBS which I found interesting. They surveyed woman in their 10s - 60s on who they think is the "song princess."

http://i66.tinypic.com/2lw9emo.jpg

Ayu is:
#2 for women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s (namie amuro is #1)
#5 for girls in their 10s
#6 for women in their 50s
#10 for women in their 60s

Anyway I think it's pretty great that she's in the top 10 for each age group :)

(side note- this screencap was taken while the chart was unfinished, but it was later revealed that A is Kana Nishino, B is Hibari Misora, and C is Miwa Yoshida)

This is great! Even more considering she is 15 years past her peak!

The same ranking was made last year and she was 1# for 20 & 30. I think the retirement of Namie has something to do in this little change but anyway ...

Damn, Akina, get it!

^Yeah... Namie is in the center of the attention right now, it's natural she got 1st.

I was not expecting her to place so highly on the charts.:luv2
Especially with the younger groups.

Ariana Grande being 3 for girls in their 10s is cute lol

If only you get knew what her songs are really about lol.
I didn’t think that Ayu would rank so highly, but it’s pretty cool that she did.
I know her public image is thought to be a disaster but maybe this means that we only hear/read from 2ch and their dissenters.

It was super easy to spot Ayu too! I knew that she’d be the most blonde :P

He made what obvious?

What? lol You guys are really into novels, aren't you?

I was really surprised by Ayu being famous between 10s old girls lol Probably because of their moms...

You ppl remember this Hey!³ episode?
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x596cot

I finally tried Ayu´s strange way to eat natto and it tastes AWESOME! You need to try it xD

I probably used the wrong phrasing, but somehow when her other dancers do it I don't notice it, but this time it was flagrant lol

Don't overthink it, it was just me expressing a random thought on how I can understand that there are rumors that she's dating him.

I just watched Concert Tour 2000 a few weeks ago, it was a bit funny hearing her singing the songs like they were supposed to be sung lol. Her way of singing has changed so much. I enjoyed the concerts, though - only problem was that there was soooo much time in between songs where she wasn't on stage.

I love both versions of Concert Tour 2000, they have some of my favorite performances though I don't think her voice sounds that strong in them. She has the higher pitch of the originals, but her voice sounded frail to me a lot, though I don't mind it. I love the double concert concept so when Just the beginning tour was announced I instantly thought of Concert 2000. Although doing three different setlists so close to each other might have been too much on her.

Just curious but what did he do to have some controversy, or so i heard?

^ Apparently he posted pictures of him smoking while japan's legal age for smoking is 20 so japanese fans got butthurt because of it

He posted pictures of smoking and drinking despite being 19. Ayu was 'responsible' for this kind of though because she advertised the IG and told TA to go invade it basically, lol.

^ I think that even if ayu didn't tell people to go check his instagram out, some fans would have stalked him anyway and exposed him regardless. This whole story was completely stupid... I actually feel sorry for ayu to have such judgmental fans who will tweet her mean comments regarding her choices or even things that are completely out of her control. It's like she gives so much to her fans with all the tours and music but she doesn't get any love in return.

Probably. The entire situation got blown up to such crazy proportions.

Random but intriguing question:

What happened to the price during "LOVE again" era that offered a fan the chance to participate in a new song vocally? I'm still clueless about it to this day.

The two fans were featured on The Show Must Go On as far as I know.

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121484

^ Ah, very good :) It's hard to tell if there are any background vocals at all, though. Just like some people in the other thread already mentioned.

Man that’s so stupid, that fans would get that butthurt over something like smoking. And he’s 19... Do japanese fans really have that much free time to criticize people over shit like that smh

Well, technically he broke the law.
It's not like her fans would get butthurt over nothing.

people should care about their lives and their lives only lol let the kid smoke if he likes it

Yeah, I was about to say that.
Her fans are probably just upset, that it sheds bad light on Ayu again without it having much to do with her, while it could have been easily prevented.

Oh my god, I just got ayu-mi-x 7 the limited box set as a present from a Japanese friend. We were meating for the asahi dream festival right now and she suddenly handed me a bag with the box set, saying I can have it since she knows how much I love Ayu. That is so so so sweet of her! ♡
Needed to share this with someone. lol

^ Nice! This boxset is in my top 5 favourites ayu items in my collection :love

^I always wanted to have it but didn't buy it when it was released, because I hadn't enough money. Since it's a present from a friend it's even more important to me now.

I don't like remixes, but this boxset is amazing. I want it and maybe one day I'll buy it used at amazon

^ a friend of me got it for 25€ a few weeks ago...

Naturally is such an underrated song. I especially love the Dolly remix of it.

I found one in BOOK OFF for 900yen. I was in shock lol

I agree, that song is great, especially Wippenberg remix :love

Naturally is one of my favourite songs on I am... . She should perform it once again. The last time she did was at PCDL right?

I used to not like many remixes but in recent years I got into them. Ayu really have some great remixes for her songs. In my mp3 Player I even added a Remix Version of Audience(not sure which one because) Í think it's better then the original.

Yes, I think so! I wonder what are the chances of her singing it at TROUBLE tour :x

I have a small playlist of my favorite remixes:

Step you x the young punx!
Ladies Night ~another night~
blossom (clockwork yellow remix)
daybreak (HALs mix) <- this is considered a remix right?
naturally (dolly remix)
key (nicely nice waterfowl mix)
hanabi (electrical bossa mix)
connected (ambient mix)
dearest (depth nostalgic mix)
far away (ocean view mix)
moments (flying humanoid mix)
everlasting dream (rainbow dew drop mix)
real me (ram rider mix)
will (wall 5 remix)

she has soooo many and I def haven't heard them all but these are my top picks.

So I listened to MY STORY today, and totally forgot that HOPE or PAIN existed. I don't know why, but I seemed to have conflated it with HAPPY ENDING (probably because they both start with a H, are capitalized, and are next to one another in the tracklist). I'm glad it does exist, however, it's a great track! I miss distinct A and B sides/album only tracks.

^ I always confuse the songs too... when one of them plays I have to stop and think for a few seconds haha

Love that song.

My favorite is AUDIENCE - Dub's Floor remix Transport 004

I love HOPE or PAIN so much. One of the best tracks on My Story. I never confuse it with other songs. It always stood out to me. But that does happen to me sometimes with other songs.:tipsy

I've been watching JTB Chapters 1 & 3 (although I've not quite finished chapter 3 yet). I forgotten how good the setlists were!

I enjoyed the performances and staging for Ourselves. I love Ourselves but have never felt the song worked live before but this new arrangement sounds great! It was a pleasant surprise to see her perform Virgin Road too. I think this was one of my favourite performances from Chapter 1.

Watching Chapter 3, I am seeing her performance style becoming more overdramatic but hopefully she tones it down a little for the Trouble tour.

Is Terminal the last Ayu song that get remixed?
Girl needs to release a new remix album soon. I guess we have enough of the classical mix

^ I think so. I've been wanting a new remix album for the longest time. She has so many great songs that would sound amazing remixed.

I found PoM 2018 to be okay, maybe A Song for XX and ever free were overdramatic but the rest was normal imo.

That's funny, because when I read the experiences of attending PoM 2018, it sounds like she was more crying and overdramatic... and sometimes sung as well.

I haven't seen it myself yet, so I really don't have an opinion of my own and a real contribution to the conversation.

But yeah, I like to read how one could just go all overboard about Ayu overdramatics, and you are here like, 'it was okay' haha. Such a big difference!

I agree, those were the only two songs in my opinion that she was a bit dramatic, and I think it worked in those cases anyway. The only other one I can think of is BRILLANTE, but it wasn't really being over-dramatic. I just remember the part where she pretend stabbed herself, and I just took that as part of the performance for the song. She sang normally for the other ballads, and the upbeat songs were energized, which is to be expected.

I thought Liar is the most underrated song from her, but it was the first song that really attracted me the most in the beginning

Liar IS her most underrated song. in fact, I absolutely love the 1-2-3 punch Liar, HOPE or PAIN and HAPPY ENDING. it's one of my favorite album segments from her

I think you might be referring to the live review of Chibi-Chan. She attended the very first dates of the tour and was very disappointed and complained a lot about Ayu fake-crying and being overdramatic. But then Chibi-Chan got to attend the 21st July show (which I attended as well) and she said that this show was very different and that Ayu eased the overdrama to focus on singing properly this time :laugh
So in fact it is ayu herself who changed her behaviour throughout the tour lol

I think the very final show (the day after that) was a little bit more dramatic because Ayu knows she's being filmed for the DVD so she wants to deliver for those who didn't attend the show. :)

How long do you think until the next actual album?

^ 2019 if we are lucky.

No idea really. She could announce she's recording towards the end of the TROUBLE tour perhaps.

To tell the truth, I think TROUBLE was the last and next years ayu will focus only on tours and then retire after completely loss her hearing.

But on other hand it's kinda weird for ayu to make a tour after only 5 new songs, so there is high posibility that she will release something until the end of the tour. That's if to be more optimistic

I don't think this is her very last release, if the day she has to retire comes, i think she will record a final farewell album, well at least I hope so...

Today a bunch of tabloïds are saying that Ayu will announced her retirement or hiatus the day of her 40th anniversary just like Namie last year... Probably rumors in order to selling papers... lol