^^ As a big Namie stand I love everything from front to back and there is no track that has not at least 250 spins in my library. But I would also say, as I stated, that her music after 2012 isn't as inspired and in that manner I would agree with you.
I'm not sure about the whole lost her way thing tho. if I remember correctly, during RtPoL promotions, her mother was killed. also GENIUS 2000 was her album after her maternity leave and the sales already indicated that her fame faded with break the rules crash landing That has mostly to do with avex pushing the album in a short time-frame (hence Himawari and think of me were recorded with her being very sick). "Put Em Up" was already produced for break the rules with a feature of one of the TLC girls, but was scrapped and pushed to Style. Her breaking away from TK and more into the DA sound was already her own drive.
In the Interview for LS2006 she said all her friends told her to just "retire" as she would not see a comeback from all that, but after SUITE CHIC she just tried the R&B sound she liked (and I personally feel like was already in her sound-DNA from S19B onwards). QoHP was a moderate success again and then PLAY hit with Baby Don't Cry and then it was topped by BEST FICTION - mostly due to extrem quality sound, already rising fame, excessive promotion, her being a fashion icon again and the fact that the sound she rooted for with SUITE CHIC/STYLE finally found ground in Japan - only seeing her breaking away from that after BF.
Namie is an extremely thought-out artist. She very rarely composed or wrote lyrics, yes, but she was always involved in her own image and was very peculiar about it, pushing for both quality and innovation. She proved to have a very keen eye/ear for that, always stayed true to herself and presented herself, even with her "scandal" from the best possible angle resulting in her becoming an icon of J-Pop.
One may not like a particular era of her music, and that is fully okay as it comes to taste - but you can find extremely well ade music throughout all of it when you look at it more objectively and in context of the music-market she catered to.
Even know, after 16 years, I'm still proud to say I'm a Namie fan and always will be.
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Originally Posted by Ashen Twilight
Agreed! THINGS I COLLECTED is ok, but it does drag on too long and the way Namie sings in that song does not do her any favors. I HAVE NEVER SEEN has an epic quality to it that not a lot of her ballads have. They all tend to be fairly simple. I WILL, Finally, and Dreaming I was dreaming all hold a warm
place in my heart too.
Also, GENIUS 2000 and break the rules aren’t BAD, but compared to her other full albums these two just fall a bit short for me.
How does everyone feel about STYLE and Queen of Hip-Pop? I feel like these two albums, particularly STYLE. I think QoHP has some of her worst tracks on it (I Love You, I Wanna Show You My Love, Ups & Downs, and My Darling), but also some of her strongest (ALARAM, No, Queen of Hip-Pop). Very much a mixed bag.
STYLE holds up very well for me honestly. I am still mad Did U didn’t make the final cut. One of my favorite songs in general!
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OMG I LOVE YOU and Ups & Downs are two of my fav songs from that era. I agree about the other two.
as for Style, it probably has the best singles for me and great bsides too. I also love all the albums tracks, but as a whole, it feels it lacks her own DNA - or rather it feels scrapped together and less like a full body of work.