It's good to have people who are unsatisfied. Criticism always helps something or someone improve.
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Originally Posted by truehappiness
I think she's fine doing things the way she wants, really. If she's changing 'just to be different' or to forcefully shake things up, it'd go against her 'code' as an artist. From the very beginning, she's just done what she wanted and that's been enough. Even now, imo, though it's a bit less well received than say, her work in the early to mid 2000s.
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I think we've gotten great from her in the last few years, it's just difficult to gauge and compared considering that her past works were on a different level, or at least judged in a different way. I wonder if many of her tracks or covers that are so loved from 'back then; came out today, would they still be loved or would people sneer at them the way they do with almost everything they do nowadays?
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Well, it's because those tracks and covers were released back then, at a certain point in time, within a unique context, that they are loved. They don't exist in a vacuum. The J-pop of today has changed, progressed, and moved on precisely because Ayu released those songs back then.
Personally, I always compare any artist I'm listening to with the music being released during its time, so if Ayu cannot rise to the level of, say, Adele, Bjork, PJ Harvey, or Saori Yuki, then I wouldn't call her music in any way great.
I have always defended Ayu, throughout so many years, because I try as much as possible to locate some value in her releases. That's how much I respect her as an artist. But to have this kind of laziness shore up (A Summer, A Classical, the same concepts and ideas in much of her new releases, the lack of maturity and taste that an artist who has been around this long should possess), it borders on disrespect towards someone to whom her music has meant so much.
Frankly, I couldn't care less about how Ayu feels. I don't care about whether or not she feels comfortable, whether or not she's in love, whether or not she's fine with the way things are, whether or not her boyfriend is a publicity stunt. I only care about the results of her creative processes. Show me a damn good time!
This will sound terrible, and I really hope it isn't true, but I think Ayu has stopped growing as a person. If the evolution of her lyrics is anything to go by, it seems like she has become emotionally stunted. I think that's why her music is suffering.