After reading a lot of her interviews, it seems as though a lot of that Ayu was 'forced' because she felt like she had something to prove or that she needed to display that she was a glamorous perfect queen up until like 2008 or 2009 which coincidentally is when people think she probably changed the most.

You didn't get me... She ALREADY is adapting to the current market... Actually, she started adapting to it at the first singnals it would be the major trend. Who, besides Katy Perry, Ariana Grande or anyone with a huge children following is doing over the top, complex videos? The more simple stuff she is doing since 2009, and that dominated her videography since 2010 or 2011 is basically the actuall state of things in pop music. You will have tons and tons of videos that have only one location, 1 or 2 outfits and that looked way cheaper than what those artists can afford.

This is actually both a response for everything being over the top during the 2000 AND the global economic crisis, that makes closer to more down to earth aesthetics.

All of those videos are from big popstars on their places of origin, or at least, new stars backed by huge labels, and all of them have some of the stuff people are complaing about here... not many scenarios, not many outfits, they are highly choreography focused when there's a choreography, the special effects looks cheap, they look like something someone begining their career would release, some look amateurish and poorly executed, nothing actually happens on many of them and on the past 4 years Ayu have at least one video that reminds of one of those:

lol you really put quite a bit of effort into this.

Spoiler tags please. There was really no reason to link to that many videos at once.

THIS. :yes

I think WARNING throws any "she's trying to follow the simplistic trends of the decade" theory out the window lol. That PV may not exactly be intricately made but it's definitely loud and bombastic and absolutely still following the trends people like Gaga set in the late 2000s, not what's current and in right now.

Her PVs nowadays don't feel stylistically different at all. They just seem cheaper, or simpler, or more rushed than before.

Sorry, I know it's offtopic, but could you please edit your post and replace all the videos with links or at least put them into spoiler tag? Having so many videos on one page makes my browser and laptop run really slowly. I'm not sure if the spoiler tag is going to work though, I think even though it's hidden the browser still loads all the content inside? I'd really appreciate if you could put the links there instead ^^

I personally don't have any expectations for her anymore PV wise. I found the PV boring and pointless more than anything. One can have a PV that is just one shot with one or 2 outfits and have it be effective, case in point Sweet scar or Last minute. No one is saying everything has to be a big budget production, but really I think with the money they paid all those extras or the cost of her body suit, a more interesting idea could have been presented, not something that has already been done more times than necessary.

But at least TImmy wasn't in it! :)

And that's exactly the trend...

I was bored waiting for my ride... :P But it wasn't much effort, I didn't need to search any video that I didn't already know

I will try the spoiler tag, if it still keep being problematic, let me know and I put links instead! =)

i really don't mind the video. But then again i thought i will enjoy the song much more when i heard the previews, but somehow the more i listen to it the more it sounds like Lady Dynamite to me and the video is reminiscing more and more of the video of that one. It's definitely an all rigth video. But frankly neither the song nor the video leaves a very big and deep impression on me. For some reason i can't imagine the pv looking like something else. lol As for that body suit, it's not even a new piece she's got designed. It's one of her stage costumes that she used in that tv "Asahi 55th anniversary DREAM FESTIVAL" in 2013, so it's actually 2 years old lol

Thank you so much, it really helped ^^

I don't think she's following any trend... She's just releasing simpler, cheaper music videos. I don't need to come up with a reason to accept this fact.

haha yes. it's avex trend tho, not the jpop market trend;)

I can't disagree that stylistic simplicity is on trend these days, but I don't think Ayu's doing stylistically simple PVs. They are simpler now, but because of a lower budget and less time being put into them, not because of a style choice. WARNING is not stylistically simple at all, even though it's much less grand scale than something like Microphone or Because of You before it. It is obviously still trying to follow the trends of the mid-late 2000s and early 2010s, but only falling short because of budget cuts.

XOXO was cheap and so was Lelio. They were both simple as well. Are they trendy? Not at all.

Koda Kumi's WALK OF MY LIFE cover is stylistic simplicity. It doesn't look cheap, it's purposely simple and clean.

@Andrenekoi which Ayu video reminded you of Chandelier?

I don't think any did, but she released several videos on the last 4 years where the focus is heavily on the choreography, without different outfits or scenarios, like Angel or Melody... And she also released videos based on raw performance, like Last Minute now.

Personally, Ayu was never a great PV artist. I think only four PVs are top quality: Endless Sorrow, Because of You, Alterna, and Heaven. The rest range from pretty to serviceable to awful. In some cases, watching the PV actually ruins the song.

Well, to be honest, Jpop in general does not have a great PV culture. The great ones (Hikki's run with Kiriya Kazuaki, for instance) seem to be more the exception than the rule. This is probably because PVs are first and foremost promotional materials. Then again, I think most music videos anywhere rarely rise to the occasion. It seems like Bjork is probably the only artist who can consistently put out great stuff.

Song was good. I could have shot a better PV though. It was disappointing and very generic.

Hey Nick,

Just wanted to send a thank you your way for all the hard work you put into your site. It was one of the few Ayu sites I'd check regularly, and I always looked forward to updates back in the day. I also wanted to say we are in the same boat. I haven't bought an Ayu product in ages, and I do believe that has to do with the quality of what she's releasing these days. I'd say 2010-2011 is when I cooled towards her. I still check what she's doing and listen to what she puts out, but I haven't invested much passion toward the music in a while. Hopefully, something will click in the future.

Personally, this PV is a missed opportunity. A lot of potential that gives way to, uh, cheapness instead of effective simplicity.

i was kinda disappointed with the pv..the song is so cool and fun and i love when ayu makes her entrance but watching the whole video felt like watching an unending orgy O.o