Is This True About A Best?
 

I heard a story that A Best was to mark the "end" of Ayu's career and that the reason she was crying on the cover was to reflect her emotions about how it was going to end, but because of how successful A Best was Avex renewed their contract with her and kept her and one of the mainstream artists for Avex Trax.

I can't remember where I heard this from, but I don't know if it's true or not, so I'm asking everyone else...I was a fan before the whole A Best, I started off with her LOVEppears, but I never read news about her and such.

uhm, gomen ne, but this should be in Enquiries i believe. :[]

but to answer your question... i remember hearing or reading or watching something about that too... so i think was true :)

considering how popular she was at that time (just right after her selling the 3 mil album Duty) i don't think they would want to let her go that easily..<_< So maybe it was a rumor "planned" by avex to make the album sell higher..

Well I thought I should just put it in the chat area since I don't know if it's true or not, but if it needs to be moved, I'm sure a mod will.

and I was hoping I wasn't the only one who heard it...I just never knew if it was true.

the cover's idea came from her attempting to gain some control of her ever growing career in those days, as she didn't personally think it was time to put out a best album, but the label wanted to do something, possibly to counter the release of hikki's second album. her cover was her protest against the album in it's entirety. or so the rumor goes... although i believe this was confirmed in her interview in 2003, around the time of the release of memorial address...

i think her career was supposed to end original with the release of her A single, but due to the enormous success of the single she continued on.

This is what I've heard, as well. I've never actually heard of A BEST as her supposed "closing" album. :shrug

yeah~~ she had the crying poster because the album was not her happiness.
She felt it were too early for A BEST, and that she was being controlled in her environment..
remember the super tv interview?~

I don't think she had any plan to stop in that time... but I'm not sure again. ahaha.
EDIT: considering A song for sold sooo many copies...
and it was only her debut album,
I don't think there were anyyy plans for her to stop at that time,
Since avex wanted to continue on with an artist who could carry the name, since globe and trf werent selling as much anymore... =\

Watch the NTV 2004 Special Interview. It's all explained in there. She didn't want a BEST to be released so soon, but the company made her. After that she thought about leaving avex. Both her cover and the fact she resung the songs were little protests against her company.

Quoted from the NTV interview: "I didn't think I'd really retire per se, not that specific. But I had already been thinking about separating from the company anyway at that point."

i thought the reason she was crying is because Avex rushed the album to compete with hikki's distance, you can notice the A BEST pics in the pv ourselves, basically....i think the pv is a message to avex, maybe how angry she is?

That's the story I heard as well, for A BEST being a protest against her company. I thought that it was very very bold of Ayu to do so, and I admire her for it~

Me neither!
I only heard that she was forced to do it to compete with Utada.

Didn't Avex force her to make A BEST? And isn't that also the reason they used A BEST pics in the ourselves PV?

I think so,in the ourselves PV,I think she was transmitting:**** you Avex!
That's why they ripped the covers of A Best.

You can see that ayu also had a minimal participation in the booklet shots.
Her pics in A BEST's booklet are all with her not showing her face to the camera.

ayu talks about this on the light and shadow documentary, how she dreamed to create A BEST her way. basically, it seems like A BEST was released beyond her will...

I heard this story before, but the end of her career was her single A, but because of the high sales... well the story continues the same way as yours xDD

The story behind A BEST was that se was forced to do it... as everyone is saying ^

Nah, the reason Ayu has a tear on the cover is to show that she didn't like the rivalry that Avex put her through with Hikki's Distance album. Or the rivalry in general. I understand too, because Avex wanted to see who would come out the winner and such, it was pretty sad. Neither Hikki nor Ayu wanted that.

Yeah, neither Ayu nor Hikki were competing... The Distance release date was announced way before A Best, and then Avex decided to put out a compilation album just to compete with Utada

I think the reason why there is a tear on the cover is that ayu felt as though she was being controlled by avex...

The reason that I've heard the most is that she was protesting the supposed "rivalry" perpetuated by the media between herself and Utada Hikaru, like some have mentioned. People wanted to make it out to be like a personal vendetta against the two, but that wasn't the truth at all.

However I definitely have heard that Ayu was just displeased about A BEST all around, as it was too soon. Whether or not that feeling of Ayu's was the reason behind the tear, I don't know, but it could explain why she didn't promote it so much.

Ayu made it pretty clear in that NTV interview that SHE didn't know if it was gonna be her last album or not (which is why she did so many photo shoots - she wasn't sure if she'd get the chance ever again).

I don't think avex really intended it to be her final release, but I think it very well COULD have been if she hadn't been selling as well as she was.

Max Matsuura did say on a radio interview in late 2000 that he thought that "Duty" was gonna be ayu's peak... alot of fans took that to mean that she could very well be retiring after A BEST, but someone here mentioned that avex could have been deliberately spreading rumors & dropping tiny "hints" of retirement to boost sales.

wow i didnt know about that! but there's A BALLAD and NEVER EVER pic too, are them involved with this case too?

yeah I just recommend to watch the 2004 interview to get the full story.
It even explains the tear, which I just recently watched.
It says that the tear was the "greatest act of defiance" or so.
That she wanted to make an a best album when she were ready, and on what terms.
But Avex did this to her. and rest is the history

i remember watching her one interview in 2004 and how she said it was to be her final album but before it's release, they decided not to let it be and use it to be the rival album to Utada's distance and let Ayu continue with her music career against her. *shrugs* and she hated that idea... but she continued anyways for her fans and b/c she loved it. *shrugs* got to watch it again... but i lost it. kuso!

I believe that's true, that "NEVER EVER" and "A BALLADS" were both released against Ayu's will/opinion/choice.

I didn't know A BALLADS was beyond her will as well, I thought it was just A BEST and NEVER EVER, which is why there was crying in A BEST, and the whole prisoner theme in the NEVER EVER promotional clip (I love how symbolic that clip may be),

^ I'm actually not quite sure if A BALLADS was against her will (I should've stated that in my post), but maybe it (the cover of A BALLADS in the "ourselves" PV) was symbolizing "regret" because of its low sales. :shrug

^A BALLADS cover wasn't in the ourselves PV, A BEST's cover was.

I always though, based off of the fact that the RAINBOW PV had the dual Ayu's and it was used to promote the album, that the A BALLADS cover represented self-forgiveness.

A BALLADS cover was in the ourselves PV alongside with the A BEST , NEVER EVER covers

you see -> http://eneabba.net/ayu/video/videocl...urselves52.jpg

NEVER EVER - http://eneabba.net/ayu/video/videocl...urselves23.jpg

^So maybe A BALLADS was released outside of her will o_o...? If NEVER EVER and A BEST where, and they're there, then A BALLDS must be too right? Where there any other singles/albums in ourselves?

I don't know about the whole release of A BALLADS against her will issue .

& I only managed to spot the covers of A BEST , NEVER EVER & A BALLADS in the ourselves PV .

NEVER EVER appeared 1st followed by A BALLADS assuming if you exclude the covers of A BEST in the video

^yeah it was such a pity NEVER EVER doesnt come out with a PV

i dont understand why they make a short clip for the song though

If I remember correctly, the cover of the first ayu-mi-x appeared in the "ourselves" PV as well. At least, that's what I thought and remembered. (I tried to get a shot of the video, but "ourselves" is, unfortunately, one of the lower quality PVs I have.)

EDIT (from ayu-vogue.net):

The ourselves PV really was a BOLD move on her part, I'm surprised avex let it be released.

And for NEVER EVER, I quite like the clip the way it is, it's LOADED with symbolism.

hmm the ourselves pv have a lot of ayu releases lol, i think it would be cool if ayu did a ballad for her 10th anni, and the pv is of her visiting a museum of all the music she did~

i would have loved for NEVER EVER to have a pv~ well at least they had a short clip....but i think talkin 2 myself is a sequel to NEVER EVER, the bars, military looking clothes, dirt on her face~

NEVER EVER did in a minute what a lot of full PVs can't do. Hearing she was forced to release it makes the whole prisoner angle make lots of sense, along with the dog.

OMG!Read what's under the NEVER EVER,A Ballads an ayu-mi-x!The golden signs!

what does it say? 1999 Mary? @_@..poor eyesight

1999 Mars-The release year and month for ayu-mi-x!

I think March is Mars in french!

Me neither too!!!
I just heard about her protest to the company!

wow!!! So much meaning in this PV!!!

And what about 'marionette', 'together then', 'alterna' and may be 'real me' PVs? Ayu shown like doll, like marionette of Avex. I think she strat to talk about it after A BEST.

Isn't it 1999 Mar.?

Marionette's use of marionettes reflected the song and it's lyrics, Together When...'s also used the marionette to covey the parting theme in the song.

alterna looks incredibly like a protest PV, but I believe she denied it was one, right? alterna could be argued that it's one, and she's lying saying it's not, but the only blatant protests she's made where NEVER EVER's clip, the A BEST photoshoot, and the ourselves PV as far as I know. Although, I also read that the initial PV for Endless sorrow didn't include Ayumi, if that's true, could that be considered a protest as well?

^ Endless sorrow - yes I heard that the original PV didn't included ayumi .

Eventually the one that you see included her , well at the end of the video ie.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...lesssorrow.gif
made a GIF of the parts that ayu was in Endless Sorrow~

^i odnt like her outfit in ES.. but the storyline is great!

Frankly, I would not be surprised either way. AVEX is a bussiness and when it comes to money, some people will do whatever, despite the emotions of others, to get their hands on it. AVEX probably believed AYU was a rare treasure, in the sense that she has an undeniable presence and they took her for what she was worth. Now that she is having difficulity selling she is pushed back and somewhat rejected. So AVEX has to find someone else to take her place. Like I stated in a previous post, the same situation is happening with Koda Kumi or Namie Amuro ( or I think so, I do not keep with their music to often), except their sex appeal is used to sell records. Sorry, if I confused any one, yet as fans we need to understand that the record label controls an artist. Bold & Delicious anyone? Which in turn implies that AYU is a music machine to these people she makes the music and sings and graces her prescence on a magazine cover and then the recording label decides when the singles/albums/etc will be sold. Her personal stylist, hair stylist, and makeup artist decide what she will wear, or she may be given a choice, and how her makeup and hair will be done. The photographer pretty much dictates how he/she wants the photograph to look, and we as fans are expected to do our dutiful role and buy her merchandise. Now, the issue with this theory, is that sometimes people reliate. For example, Koda Kumi's remark was an issue because she upset an entire country that has a small population, which is in desperate need of a baby boom and not only that but some people are not to tolerant of individuls who are different from the social norm; which was an accident on her part yet according to AVEX she needed to be punished. Mainly because that is what the public wanted, in order to make money the recording label goes by the public's desires. However this means that as fans, we need to be more understanding of our roles which is to support the artist, even when an issue seems awkard; yet a part of supporting someone is offering constructive critism. And at times that might mean accepting what she has to offer us and not the recording label. In other words maybe AVEX wants her to crank out singles because fans constantly want to hear a new AYU song. Which is understandable on our part because we want a piece of her.
However, on the flip side, maybe we are reading too much into the situation? Maybe AYU does not feel like a machine, though I think that is highly unlikely? Maybe AVEX is not the bad guy. what if AYU has made a few wrong moves in her career?
I am sorry for the long meaningless rant, but this situation is curious.

^Actually, from what I've read, Ayu has a lot more creative freedom than you seem to think she does. From how she talked about the I am... covers, it seems like she even had control over what her cover arts where to look like and her costumes. It's also safe to assume that the base ideas for her PVs come from her head and are perfected and built upon by the directors. I also read that the Sweetbox-composition covers came from her listening to a Sweetbox Best album and wanting to do a Sweetbox-like song.

She'd have to have some control if she was able to craft hidden protests(or rather overt ones, like ourselves). If it was avex behind them, that wouldn't happen.

A BEST 2 anyone? :innocent

Maybe it was Avex's move I'm not sure, but who ever made it was dumb :tipsy

I had no idea she didn't want to release NEVER EVER. When did she say this?

I don't think we actually know that..

People just assume so because it was in ourselves' PV [but A is the single people supposed that she was against releasing or was supposed to be similar to A BEST in terms of a career move..]~

I thought she talked about how she was pushed to release a new single, resulting in NEVER EVER in the NTV report? (Too lazy to look through it)

I believe that what she meant was that she was unhappy about they way her persona and career was being handled, like she was just starting to realize that she, herself, was merchandise. So she was thinking of leaving Avex.

But after that Avex probably was like "nooooooo we'll do anything", I mean she was like Avex herself so yea

Speaking of the NTV interview.. has anyone seen the ones done before 2004?

Tasking & I are working on subtitling the 2000 one... I think that's the only other one there's been besides the 2004 one. It's about time for another one. :P

thank you, Delirium-zer0!! lookin foward to that! :D

as for creative freedom, i agree with GRACE, from a lot of interviews you can see how much ayu does. many artist would leave these decisions to the staff, but she herself decides which costumes, make up, CD cover shots.... are used. she has the last word in everything. also, she loved GEO's composition and picked the songs herself. she loves bold and delicious ;) just look at the NTV documentaries!

yet i still don't get why avex wanted A best.
you release "best" compilations if
1) sales are declining
2) artist takes a longer "time out" / vacation
3) the artist ends the carreer

but both reasons do not apply to ayu! she was at the top of her carreer... so why treat her so bad? from the 2004 interview she said she talked with matsuura about this, and he did understand how shes feeling (quote was something like: "do you feel like you are trapped inside a small room and there's no way out?" ayu said: "yes, exactly!") yet he didn't help her?

plus at that time max said she should also compose her songs herself. thinking how much more she was doing at that time, i think this is a way to totally destroy an artist with too much pressure.

avex is lucky ayu didn't leave them at that time. everybody would be grateful to have a contract with her.

rantrantrant....

I assumed it was so she'd have something in competition with Hikki's Ditance, there wasn't enough time inbetween Duty and A BEST for another studio album to sell so well, so they decided on a best album maybe?

I didn't know Max told her to compose songs o_o... I only read that she started composing on M because none of the melodies her composers where making fit what she wanted for the song.

that's what I read about too , GRACE

I also never heard about the whole Max told her to compose songs bit too

I've seen alterna many times and is it related to her career?
And I wonder if Ayu still has those hatred towards AVEX...

^ Avex is pressuring her i guess D:
poor ayu, always get controlled by Avex ;/

ayu thought she could compose a tune occasionally. For example - like with "M" - when the proposed melodies don't fit her expectations/wishes/likes/whatever. As it is now. But it seems she was expected to compose. She was even crying while composing "NEVER EVER" and "Endless sorrow"...

it's not just her , every artiste's like that if he/she is under a major record label

I believe she claims it isn't, but I really think it is.

Oh, I didn't know that o_o... Avex was really hard on her in those days, I wonder if she's still in that position...

Eeeh? When was that? I don't remember reading anywhere that Ayu was "expected" to compose anything..

^I can't remember where I got that from. lol Thought it was TIME Asia interview, but I guess it's not, because I couldn't find anything on it. I read so many different things, maybe I mixed something up? xD
And I didn't write that she was expected, but that it seems like it... So maybe I got it from an analysis?

^ you must be referring that she said no one expected anything from her so when max asked her to write her own lyrics sheshe tried it. Yes this is from the TIME interview.

She also mentioned it during ALL NIGHT NIPPON after ASFXX was released.

No, I know where you got it from! xD I forgot the name of the article/interview, but Ayu was saying how Max said something along the lines of, "I thought you, who wrote lyrics, could also compose :/" and then she was saying how she was crying making the melodies to the songs you mentioned~

^ then why did you act all surprised?.

Yep, that talk is revealing.