like i said in another thread, the music direction keeps changing from time to time. We can say people in jpn like foreign music style at this moment (I dun think R&B is that hit.. if so I think groups like SOULHEAD should be popularity somehow..). Kuu's music surely has R&B ingredients, but her hits ain't R&B at all, such as real Emotion (dance?), Cutie Honey (kinda jazz), SHAKE IT (the pv... wow), and Butterfly (another jazz liked jpop). It's just at this moment sexy image is a big hit in Japan at this moment. And to be honest kuu looks better and better lately. She isn't that fortunate until now. Back then she has been called a **** for several years. I bet it's hard for her to struggle to this stage. i feel happy for her, and she looks sexy yet elegant now
no one really knows what type of music is the hit until you see which artist(s) is popular at that moment. Let's say in mid 2004 - mid 2005, Rock music was really popular (orenji renji). BUT we say rock is a hit because orenji is a hit. With the fall of OR's popularity, we say rock ain't that popular as well. So I will say it's the artists stirs up the heat of some types of music, not the vice versa.
That's why ayu's doing a wrong thing. Personally I think B&D is a good song, but it's not something the audience want from ayu. they rather want something that is between rock and pop from ayu (look at her hits between Duty and RAINBOW, most of them are poppy with some rocky styles). That's why STEP you was ayu's biggest hit. The only "out of the blue" from ayu this year was HEAVEN. It's something similar to her old stuff, and I have no idea why it suffered in the beginning.
oh one more point I wanna discuss. Popular groups such as B'z, Mr. Children, etc. they went through this stage as well I believe. Remember back then when hikki and ayu covered half of the music industry back then? Not many people would discuss the older groups. However, with a few hits they're still here. Ayu is going through this stage at this moment. I dun think ayu can cover half of the sky again, but at least a great hit will make her statue shinier. So right now... she should go back to her old music style. That's where people like her the most. (of course... it must be something she likes as well.)