[Amai Yume]

yeesh, this whole thing is getting a lot of steam. Basically Kumi apologized repeatedly and I'm not saying the Japanese public had no right to be angry and upset and I understand that the statement meant a little more in Japan than it would somewhere else but I think the backlash on her was too harsh. Really?! What else do people want from her to put this whole thing behind her? I was under the impression that things had cooled down but now I'm thinking maybe not.

Okkkk, this whole "deserves" thing may be getting out of hand. I'm seeing outrightly saying Kumi's single is crap and it sucks and having that opinion is fine but just stating it doesn't really take the argument anywhere. Some people like it and some people don't, we can just leave it that. Comparing it Ayu and Hikki and Namie singles isn't helping anything either. Hikki and Ayu's music styles are nothing like Kuu's.

Hikki's popularity also stemmed from the fact that she was like bringing a new sound into the J-pop market. And it's not like Kuu hasn't written any lyrics of her own. For her popularity, there are a lot of songs that got her noticed - real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba, Cutie Honey and of course Butterfly. I wouldn't say the Final Fantasy single put her on the map...it just got her into the public eye more with a hit song. And I wouldn't say her first albums sucked, that's just an opinion. I think secret was an amazing album filled with great songs from start to finish. Her singles did a little better, she had Cutie Honey as a success, her true ero-kakkoi image began and she had the extra PVs to promote the album.

Struggling...I mean everybody has had their struggles. Kuu's struggle to maintain an an image that she didn't create for herself and all of the people who said stuff about it; seeing her sister have such fame while she didn't. I think Kuu's were more a personal thing than a public disaster or something but she's turning away from ero-kakkoi image and if nothing, she's straying away from something that she isn't comfortable with and even if you don't like her or her music, you gotta give her credit for that.