Career low point?
 

Well, it seems that a lot of people have said at different points in Ayu's career, that it was at a low point.

I don't really think she has had one since her release of A Song for XX, but I like reading people's opinions. :D

So do you think Ayu has ever had a "low point" in her career? Like, some people say NEXT LEVEL is or RnRC is... etc. It can be in terms of songs, photoshoots, PVs, image, anything. And if you don't think so, state that too.

And if there is a thread like this already, I'm sorry. <3

If i have to choose, i would say that RAINBOW and Memorial Adress were both a little random for me...Appart from Because of you and Memorial Adress, i don't see any hit in those albums...and most of the singles were random

Lol does anyone love RAINBOW? It has some unique sounds for her. Like Free & Easy, and Dolls and Over were simply beautiful. Among the other songs. I guess she won't go down that path again

But I love all of ayus album and never hae I felt her being bad at any state in her career. She is constantly above everyone else to me. If there's a low point inside my opinions of her it would be ASFXX. My least fav album (although I love it)
So although its not really a low point, its lower than the rest. :) and her voice in that and later eras was a bit harsh and shrill.

well if you looked at from a general view... it's GUILTY. the whole not number one thing and i'm deaf and my best friend died thing would give that impression

Yeah, I dont think Ayu has had any defined career low point, but Im thinking Secret - NEXT LEVEL was pretty much the closest thing. Music-wise, it really did seem (to me atleast) that she was running out of ideas and very few memorable tracks were released during this time. Also, the fact that GUILTY did not reach number 1 may have convinced many that shes been losing popularity. It was NOT due to her slight change in image for me. I think many people embraced Ayu's new agressive, rock chic style. But I think RnRC was a step up since she focused more on her European fans and I finally felt that she began to look beyond her career in Japan, which is something she should have done a long time ago. And of course, popluarity and sales-wise, shes been going downhill ever since A BEST, but it wasnt a drastic change. Nevertheless, she's still one of the most popular Asian singers within Japan and the rest of the world.

Yeah! Very emotional downturn. But generally after GUILTY she went on to sell well and have a great anniversary. I don't really believe Ayu has ever had a low point in my opinion.

music wise i don't think she really had a low point because even my least favorite album of hers has songs that i love and think are some of her best. i think with photo shoots and her image, she looked off in a lot of them in 2009 (hit a low point with the magazine shoots from the S/S period). from the end of 2007-end of 2008 her voice hit a bunch of lows live (i think the worst was Dearest @ AT08, but most of the Together when... lives i thought were really bad). since then it has mostly been getting better (she still makes mistakes, yes, but most of the time i can hear improvements) and i'm proud of her.

@Koumori: yeah RAINBOW ranks in my #3. I adore it. Its sad that I heard that when it was released there were a lot of complaints about it

I don't hate RAINBOW, just i don't see any epic songs there(even if songs like HANABI, Free &Easy, Real Me, Heartplace are AMAZING)

Agree :D

RAINBOW's one of my favorites. Top 3 probably.

I don't think she's had a low point, per se. Sales have been trending down for most artists, Ayu included. She's always been #1 too, which has proved to be elusive for countless other artists.

Maybe one low point would have been more recently when her voice wasn't really good in live performances, I'll cite that one perf of evolution that was just ghastly, and pretty much all of the performances around that time were sub par, including CDL. She's still at a low point with her live singing voice in my opinion, but it's gotten way better than it was judging from the recent crossroad perf.

I think musically her low point was NEXT LEVEL. Not that it's bad music, but it's just not as good as the rest of her discography in my opinion. :yes

Most of this 'omg her new songs sucks' thing it's sales decrease related in my opinion.
Superficial people start to think you're not the best artist as they thought because you sell less than a million of copies like before.
Actually she haven't a low point yet, although her worst album is GUILTY imo. Rushed, and uninspired, GUILTY lacks of something. It pretend to be a really depressing album, but I don't feel those sad emotions. It's all messed up. I just feel an incomplete work. With less interludes and a couple of songs more, this album could rocks.

Please don't attack me ;_; that's just my personal opinion.

pre-avex. enough said.

Musically, her least-sophisticated album is probably NEXT LEVEL. But I think her overall low point is the GUILTY era, even though I love the results. A lot of personal misfortunes were going on in her life, and the single sales leading up to it were disappointing. I remember all the people that hoped this would be the new I am...-- she even had the same haircut. So many were expecting exploding sales and got talkin' 2 myself. It was pretty disappointing. Plus, she gained all that weight and looked like she was going downhill. It was when many of us had to except that she was never going to be a million seller again, that she would never recover the same popularity.

I'm convinced she is not going to be million seller anymore, but this is the life. New artists come, and they replace olds. Still, Ayu is a very famous and respected artist in Japan.

I can't judge, since I've only been a fan since SECRET. But I can say I personally didn't like the couple of months after NEXT LEVEL. More specifically after Rule/Sparkle, which I still loved. But then I didn't really like the album tracks and PV's on NEXT LEVEL. I also didn't love the singles leading up to Rock'n'Roll Circus, so I guess you could call that a "low point" for me.

But she completely and fully made up for it with Microphone and Don't Look Back, and I'm loving her 48th~49th~50th Single Anniversary thing so far, so I'm good now :D

2006, after (miss)understood. Weak singles, weak album. Fortunately concert tour was really impressive, but it still counts to (m)u. So, saying generally, Secret era.
And 2009 too, after NL release... I haven't felt her image and appearance, if I can express it in that way.

I'm seeing some good points about GUILTY, unlike majority.

RAINBOW is my 2nd/3rd favorite album, I'm sad it doesn't get love as it deserves to.

Carrer low point = GUILTY
I love RAINBOW so much