Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsuyuki012
I just don't believe this whole thing with her loving to perform, maybe she liked it but if she really loved singing and dancing her dream wouldn't be to retire (yet with a bang) and she definitely wouldn't retire at such young age. Her dream would be to do it as long as she could and that's not the case as we know. Maybe she liked it, but I wouldn't say it's love.
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I think perhaps you have a romanticized view of music stars. Not everyone can be like Ayu, performing until they physically can't do it anymore for the sake of the soul and art. For a Japanese female, Namie has had a very long career. Japan is ageist towards female pop stars. Usually careers only last 5 or 10 years if they are fortunate. So in a Japanese point of view, Namie is retiring at a significant age.
And the dream isn't to retire. It was to do what she had a passion for and be successful. That interview showed that she did in fact want to excel at being a pop star and be as successful as she can. She did all these things. I think she wanted her retirement to be a grand celebration of her long career and so if that meant waiting 5 extra years she wasn't going to let that change her vision. She isn't just saying, I'm bored with this so bye. She didn't have to release the Finally album and remake her hits and begin a huge farewell tour. She easily could have released a greatest hits collection and one new song and said goodbye. But she is putting in a lot of extra work that she doesn't have to do. I think perhaps that is an indicator that she does care. Retiring before old age doesn't delegitimize her career or sincerity. It's quite normal actually. You have to look at the whole picture. Namie is a very nuanced person.