[Mag/Article] Ayu in America's Shojo Beat May Issue
 

Oki I got my shojobeat for May and it features Ayu so here is the article. Once I get a hold of a digital Cameria I'll post a photo since it does have photos of her


Hamasaki Time A J-Pop Royal's Humble Roots
By Benj Vardigan

Quote:

With a dozen albums under her belt and remixes of her songs popping up around the globe, J-pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki is a legend at age 28. But to hear the tales of Hamasaki's teen years, her reign as the "Empress of J-Pop" would seem an improbable fate. Hamasaki, now considered by some to be the Japanese equivalent of Madonna, came to showbiz fitfully-she flunked art and entertainment school entrance exams, acted in a handful of forgettable B-movies, tried her hand at rapping and skipped out on vocal training classes that were too rigid for her rebellious nature. Hamasaki dropped out of high school at 15 and dabbled in the entertainment business for several years, with no great successes. Her future producer, Masato Matsuura , discovered Hamasaki's vocal talent at a Tokyo karaoke bar and convinced her to go to New York City to train. In New York, Hamasaki blossomed as a musician and songwriter. Success did not come overnight - Hamasaki spent a few lean years beforescoring her #1 single, "Love~ Destiny," in 1999. Since then she's produced a torrent of unstoppable hits, notching a record 27 #1 singles (including 15 in a row) on the Japanese Oricon charts, and has become Japan's top selling solo female musician. Hamasaki has a knack for inciting unique fashion trends: A few years back, for example, she appeared wearing aviator sunglasses and spawned a legion of fashionistas sporting the clunky shades. Cosmetic giant Kose featured Hamasaki in one of their television ads, and within two days the company sold a record half-million lipsticks. Hamasaki ("Ayu," to her adoring fans) went on to develop Ayupan, a popular line of figurines that showcase outfits from Hamasaki's tour and album covers. Hamasaki's catchy pop tracks are unique in their exploration of loneliness and self-doubt, and though she's one of the most successful pop musicians in Japan's history, Hamasaki no longer accepts any industry awards. Her vulnerability feels gunuine from one who started out as most of us did, with a lot of ideas but no sure sign of what the future would hold. An interviewer once asked if she though her image would endure, and Hamasaki replied, "Not Really." But all signs indicate that this J-Pop empress wont be disappearing any time soon.

And below on the side there are pictures of A Best 2 White and Black and say:

Quote:

Hamasaki's fan base in the US is growing - for stateside fans who missed out on her rise to fame. shes just released two greatest hit cd's (A Best 2 -White- and A Best 2 -Black-), featuring songs that span her illustrious career.

And below that is a photo of Secret which says:

Quote:

When Ayumi Hamasaki Secret debuted at the top of the Japanese charts last year, it was her record setting eigth-straight #1 album

There is also a full photo of her in Hong Kong for a movie premier

If this is posted anywhere give me credit since this did take a while to type out.
If you live in the US or Canada you can buy this issue of Shojobeat in the third week of April which is when it should be out.


Edit:
Here are the pics of the magazine with a webcam


The cover the magazine
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/5981/shojoak1.th.png
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/2...ojo2va2.th.png

The inside
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/8...ojo3rq2.th.png

Ah, my company actually gets early copies of Shojo Beat (since we publish English versions of Japanese comics & shows) and I saw this article.
I've edited the thread title as you didn't include the tags.

omg this is awesome .. i want to get this magazine

I'm going to the mall friday. XD

Arigatou for the article!! ^_^

Thanks for taking the time to type this! I'll be at the book store on Thursday, might have to pick up a copy. ^^

thks for the article.. =D
waiting for the scans..

i like how positive the article sounded! thanks for posting!!

FINALLY! For Years it's been NOTHING but "Mika Mika Mika! Ai Ai Ai Ai! Do As infinity! Nana Kitade Nana Kitade!!!!!" Finally their getting into the new jpop scene. I need to get this issue~!!!

I think it is referring to the fact that "Love~Destiny" was her first #1.

where can I get a copy of this? Im from Canada

thank you

thanks

Thanks for the info...

YAY! I was always wondering when they would mention AYU in an anime magazine!

I just bought ANIME INSIDER the other day because it had the TOP 10 ORICON ALBUM for a certain week I think and Ayu's Secret was #10!

cool, thanks for the article!

Im guessing a bookstore. Like here Borders, Walenbooks and such. So just go a book store and should be in the magazine area.


And for the edit thank you I wanst sure on the tags.


And Im going to try and take a pic of the magazine in a minute so look for that ^^

that's coolll......

thanx for the article. waiting for the scans

Domou arigatou for the article, jpopfan!!
it's a very great news
_____________________________

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3...gthesunhn9.jpg
set created by CREAtivITO
THE GREATEST TOUR
ayumi hamasaki ASIA TOUR 2007 A ~Tour of Secret~
HUGE SUCCESS at TAIWAN!!!!!!
NEXT STOP IS HONGKONG ON APRIL 7th!!!
LET'S SUPPORT AYU!!!

"few lean years" is a bit too much... she released poker face in April 1998, and LOVE ~Destiny~ in April 1999, so it took her a single year to hit #1.

Thanks for this :)
Twas' an interesting read ^^

Great ^^ thank you so much

Yay!!! Thanks Jackie!! :D

excellent article!

i like that trivia about kose lipstick!

Oh cool.
I've wanted Shojobeat to publish an article on Ayu, and here it is.

Thanks for sharing the article!

Thnks a lot!!!
Will search for it ^^

Oo! I guess I'll have to beg my sister to get Shojobeat! :laugh That's interesting to know that Ayu's in it! ^_^

Thanks a lot for the article. It's nice to see articles about her in such magazines XD

what? is this a US released magazine? i've never heard of it.

^Yeah. It's a manga magazine published by Viz and aimed at teenage girls. It features stories like "Absolute Boyfriend" and "Nana". XD

Welcome mannie ^^




Yeah its a magazine published in America and Canada I believe. It has a lot on Japanese culture and musicians like said on the first page. But they mostly focus on Mika Nakashima, Hyde, Nana Kitade, but every now and then they willl have something on Janne Da Arc, and High and Mighty Color, and once had a visual kei timeline. (eventhough some of the info was wrong...)

Sorry I havent posted the photo yet. I've been working on projects. When I get home today I'll try and post it

thanks for the translations!!

tnx for the article

haha, well i went out and bought it today...just to see the ayumi article and check the magazine out...but apparently i got the wrong month! i bought april, and i see now you're talking about may. oops.

^ I almost did the same thing today. It had that stupid plastic wrap on it, so you can't peek inside. jpopfan must have a subscription to have the May issue already.

that's interesting...

btw, they also sell shoujo beat in hot topic XD

also, does your mag have some date or something? otherwise, i'll wait (though it'll be weird that i'm a guy buying a girl manga mag...i'll get my sister with me >D)

I have this issue! :D
I had read in last months issue that there would be an article about Ayu in it.
I don't know why, but it sort of makes me angry...because now all these people who JUST discovered her from SB are going to be acting like they've liked her for years, when really they haven't.
I don't know, I just get angry easily at stupid things lol xD

I think that they were referring to how her first album, NOTHING FROM NOTHING (which doesnt really count lol) was basically ignored, and that was in 95', I think? :)

I sooo agree with you i hate that!!!!



For the replies on page two yes i subcribe and i got the issues a month early. In the SB calender i have this May issue will come out on the 17th.


And i coudnt get a hold of the digicam so here are some with a webcam. Sorry they are so small but i will hopefully have better pictures soon. I'll put them in the first post to check it out ^^

^I found that issue in a store yesterday. I was gonna get it, but its was only one page and the picture wasn't that great so I wasn't gonna pay 5+ bucks for it (I got anime insider instead)

yeah, exactly! i hate when they do that. :(

yeah it sadly is only one page..I was hoping it would be more. Only time I've seen them have something on an artist is the one with nana kitade was on it. Or its on Nana Kitade, or Hyde.

^I have an issue from Apr...? Feb probably where they did an article on visual kei, that was cool. ^^

yeah the timeline was cool but it made me mad how they said Malice Mizer was headed by Gackt when it never was....

Yeah i believe it was the february issue where it had all those artist ^^

Ayu in America's Shojo Beat May Issue
 

I don't know if this has been posted yet.. and I'm sorry if it has been:no

There's a page article of Ayu in this month's Shojo Beat magazine (I wish it were more) that is on stands now. I haven't bought it yet, but I saw it in my last month's issue preview (for this month's mag) and thought you all should know.

I don't understand why she wasn't mentioned when the magazine first came out, like 2 years ago:tired I don't know,.. when J-Pop comes to my mind, it's always Ayu:luv2

http://shojobeat.com/inthemagazine/23.php

ooh wow! i wanna get it! haha~ thanks for the info :) i wonder what kinda pics go along with it? if any..lol

thanks for the article!

it's been mentioned before...but there was no link. only someone who said they had the issue said that they saw the article.
still no scans XP
oh well, yay for nana =D

good exposure for her

Its been in stores for weeks now xD
Shojo Beat is kinds wrong sometimes...
Princess?
No.
How about QUEEN.

There is a full article scan on AHN.. ^^

the full article was typed out in the other thread here on ahs too.

it was??? O.O; i never saw it...

its in the first post in that thread... :thud

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57637

in all honesty though, i think maybe the post was originally made with just the info and later the full article was added in.

...that was NOT there before!! O.O;

oh well, shall read it nonetheless >D

great...thanks for sharing

oh cool~ all positiveness

nice..gd that it is facts

Scan: :)
http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/...hm_410e8ed.png
Credits: KuroNeko@ahn