Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - Opinions on Party Queen covers?

Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/index.php)

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- - Opinions on Party Queen covers? (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112849)

Or maybe she wanted to make it like Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor?
She wants to make people get on their feet and enjoy the party / fun while at the same time she's telling all her dark thoughts, sadness, loneliness.. Her most Vulnerable feelings???

Quote:

Originally Posted by aloopy (Post 2824653)

Where do you guys see the sadness in these pictures? All I see is Ayu getting half naked, holding a shoe and having the biggest smile on her face.

Yes, this. :) I get people saying that they don't want the meaning to be too obvious. I'm the same way, I hate being hit over the head with a mallet with supposed metaphors. BUT, not being able to see the concept at all is an even bigger problem. There is a middle ground between being too obvious and being far too obtuse and unfortunately these covers don't find it at all.

brb, laughing for days at ayu_ready?'s post.

I only can see DAT ASS!!♥
xDD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yumi(e) (Post 2825086)

I only can see DAT ASS!!♥
xDD

That's pretty much what makes the CD+2DVD the best cover of her career for me. :innocent

I heard the hookers in our city are just parodying the life of prostitutes and secretly work as cashiers at Walmart :mgagged

^
lmao :laugh

btw if the real meaning of that cover is just to show us Ayu ass.. well I don't mind it :innocent at least it's something different than what she done before lol.

arghhhh!!!

WTF! for me this is too much!!! what is shes thinking!!?????

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer (Post 2825069)

All of this!

Ayu always had a subtle way of telling us things through her music, her lyrics and her photos, but "Party Queen" is different, because I simply can't see the sadness and the loneliness Ayu talks about in her tweets.

I just saw the covers in a bigger resolution and for me she looks perfectly happy and sexy (trashy and cheap for some people!) on these pictures. I compared her smile to other smiles in other photoshootings and there is no difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sugarbasil (Post 2824719)

I think a big part of the controversy and uproar stems from the fact that Ayu had created her image without sexuality being a prominent feature. A lot of people value(d) that aspect of her, and this is such a sharp deriviation from her past image. There's no denying that people change and no one can deny her that right to evolve, but her manner of expression and desires have changed. That doesn't mean her fans' values have changed, though. And that's not immature, that's not selfish: that just means Ayu has evolved differently from some of her fans.

When Linkin Park first emerged I really respected them because they didn't cuss in their songs. They said that it didn't make the words any more powerful and were therefore unnecessary. I respected their values and even valued them myself. Then they started cussing in their third album and I felt distanced. Sure, it was their right to change their values and do something different that fit their current feelings, but I thought they had proved their original case that music didn't need swearing. It's just a differnce of opinions now - their feelings changed, mine didn't.

So what I'm trying to say is that while some people might be annoyed at others being upset over her new sexuality, I think they have to also understand that these people are probably just expressing their displeasure with the change in their favorite singer's values and/or methodology. That's an assumption and generalization, and someone's going to say, "well, then just move on, stop whining, and don't come back." And that's like saying, "hey, if you hate how your best friend has changed, just drop him and move the **** on. Never talk to him again."

That went off on a tangent...

I'm sorry, I just don't understand this perspective. She's taken pictures just as sexually suggestive in the past. Even before her singing career, she was modeling almost naked and there's even a picture of her eating creamy white yogurt and it's literally like slathered all over her mouth. She never directly sings about sexuality in her songs, ever. So... what exactly is the issue?

She's never pushed any kind of message in her songs saying "Don't be a trashy smut, you gotta be classy." In fact, quite the opposite I'd say... 1 LOVE, Bold & Delicious, identity, my name's WOMEN, Real me, Sparkle, Lady Dynamite... these are all empowerment songs. One of her values is not anti-sex. I'm sorry if people were mislead...

Sugarbasil didn't say Ayu was anti-sex or that sexuality was NEVER a part of her image at all. She said it was never a prominent feature, as in, she's not like Kuu where a large part of her career is based on sex.

I don't recall any past pictures of her that were "just as sexually suggestive" as this cover, not even those ViVi (or whatever magazine) pics where she was topless which were, at the very least, much classier. I don't claim to remember/have seen every picture of Ayu that was ever taken though, so if you'd like to link AHS to some super sexually suggestive pictures of Ayu, please do. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer (Post 2825069)

SHe is that party girl who wants all the attention because she is so alone in life.
In public those people are always happy and always smiling. They always look their best. (Ayu)
But inside they are alone and scared and just two steps from ending it all. The covers are sad and haunting really. I think this is most likely the closest we have ever gotten to how she truly feels about herself. (with the pictures and the twitters!)

Fetish Academy 4, look it up everybody. Practically the same outfits and sets Sparkle had.

If this is really worse than an actual porn parody to people...I can't xD

Quote:

Originally Posted by isthisLOL? (Post 2825226)

Fetish Academy 4, look it up everybody. Practically the same outfits and sets Sparkle had.

If this is really worse than an actual porn parody to people...I can't xD

Shimoko must have loved that film.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midori-chan (Post 2825200)

I don't think the key is in her smile. I feel that she was probably trying to say that we aren't supposed to believe that she's happy on the Party Queen covers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by truehappiness (Post 2825231)

Shimoko must have loved that film.

I was always under the impression Shimoko was gay, why would he take from straight porn? Sounds more like Ayu's decision to me...xD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Punks (Post 2825219)

True, sugarbasil didn't say that. As people have said before though, and I agree - Ayu's image was always indeed quite sexual, not always in the in-your-face, blatant, "trashy" kind of way. The cutesy, innocent stuff she does once in a while, whether it's intentional or not, is certainly helping people to indulge in their particular fetishes and fantasies.

How exactly is this STEP you / is this LOVE? booklet shoot any less "trashy" than the Party Queen cover? IMO, the only difference is that she has more clothes on in these. The amount of skin revealed has nothing to do with how "sexy" something is. That line of thought is for people who have an unsophisticated sexual imagination (with all due respect).

http://i42.tinypic.com/j8nqbm.jpg

I'm sure you guys have seen the Sparkle PV too! I mean, I'm done talking about it. I realize most of the criticism regarding the covers is just the fact that they were poorly executed and tacky anyway. I'm just referring to those who act like it's the end of the world because Ayu chooses to be sexy.

*I must note that the STEP you photoshoot was Shimoko's first work with Ayu.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer (Post 2825069)

brb, laughing for days at ayu_ready?'s post.

oh thank you :)
I've been asked to put it down, though, had to delete :(
too sad :laugh

I don't like STEP you as much as I don't like PQ covers

@Coelacanth: Yeah, Sparkle was a nightmare for me. :tired

I don't think STEP you's covers are really trashy in the way that Party Queen's CD+2039502DVD cover is. They're not exactly the least tacky covers ever, and she does look sexy, but that's about it. None of it screams porn like the PQ cover does.

I guess the difference to me is, Party Queen's cover looks like an album someone like Tila Tequila would put out--someone who has absolutely no talent and has to rely on being sexy and provocative to sell. While STEP you's covers look like something BoA or Namie or Kuu could do, and no one would bat an eyelash.

@th: You can kind of tell from the picture where she's like standing on the bike, making that face that she later came to make in every picture with Shimoko. :'(

Yeah, the covers are pretty tacky and ridiculous but whatever, covers don't make an album good or bad. At least we can count on the music being as bland and boring as ever.

I love them. She looks like an expensive hooker.