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I swear, I just love this stuff -- who's the next "Queen" or "Icon", how good are each one's sales...OOH! I just love it. I would really love to total up Ayu's TOTAL SALES number (including DVDs, singles and albums) as well as Hikaru's and Mika's and then compare them to see which one of the three has sold the most STUFF so far! ^__^ As far as the three contenders mentioned in the article, the most practical successor to Ayu is Kuu. Unfortunately, I am not approving of her newest style (that which continues to lack more and more clothing, and the sex-based theme she has going on), but the Japanese public seems to be eating it up. I'm not a big fan of Ami Suzuki, quite frankly. Ai-chan...I always thought she might have the potential to become the next ICON (despite how biased against her I used to be) -- but she has to WANT it enough to be able to beat Kuu. I think the reason Kuu is the "next in line" is because of the three, she wants to be the next icon the MOST. I mean, she commented in an interview of hers once that she was making music that wasn't necessarily completely what matches her personal style, but then she went on to say that it was okay as long as she gives her fans what they want. I get the feeling that she'll do whatever it takes to become the next icon -- whether it means a raunchier style and set of lyrics, or a cutsie look that she seems to be going for with Koi no Tsubomi (>_< I can't ever get it right) -- it seems to me that it doesn't really matter to her as long as it gets her iconship and she can include songs that fit her personality a bit more in her albums every now and then. Ai, however, doesn't really seem to have a focal point with her style. She's kind of all over the place, trying different things (which I like), but she doesn't have the blatant motivation that Kuu does to become Icon. If she were to pursue it, she would have to really hone her craft; become more involved in her career (though I don't know much about her, I don't know if she writes her own songs or composes them, but I think that if she doesn't do those things, then she would have to start), become a bit more focused and less -everywhere!-, and really, above all, she has to WANT the iconship. Despite what people think about Hamasaki Ayumi, I believe that her career was more than just spun out of the air. She carefully planned and crafted her career so she was involved in so many ways and so she could reach out to the Japanese people. With clever business tactics and Ayu's creative sense of personal style and identity, she became the Icon. The girls will have to take a similar approach to achieve Ayu's level of Iconship.
WHEW! ^_____^
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