[immel]

Originally Posted by isaac hiew

At this concert performance that has a total track list of 13 songs;

Was it not 19 songs? (sorry if this was already mentioned, I only skimmed some of the earlier posts)

During the interval MC of the concert, Ayu stated that, “I do not feel nervous because of upcoming live performances” her current displayed confidence were of a total contrast during her debut era, on those days, during the concerts with other artists, she was “I spent all my energy just by standing in front of the stage, I was shaking uncontrollably.”

The teeny pop girl Ayu has really grown up, becoming the pop queen Ayu, it went so fast, but obviously the years have given her experiance. That experiance has only made her more confident in herself and in how she want to entertain her fans. I get the feeling we still have many years of Ayu to look forward to .

Before my debut, I did take part in velfarre’s events. I was thinking, “Can I really do it? Does everyone know me?” TRF did their performance on that day too. Before the start of the show, I actually decided to send my regards to them after I look at the schedule time, but I was so foolish that I mistakenly crossed into their resting room in the first place! I was like, “Oh god!” and thought that I mustn’t be noticed so “Zoom!”, I scoot away!(laughs). I was so nervous!

Haha, lil shy Ayu ... I like how human she is, despite how goddessly-perfect she sometimes is put forth.

This is the way I express my respects. Not only TRF, Miss KEIKO, and Miss Namie Amuro too… it’s impossible not to respect them. Their histories will be continued, and I can’t achieve their success within my life. And it is not a thing that you can eventually exceed, because that’s my idea.”

I love this part, I love love love it... haha, and I love Ayu . What she says is so true, but it is also very true that neither Namie or KEIKO could ever achieve the success that Ayu has had. Their histories and their kinds of success are so different, at least that is my way of seeing it .

Recently Ayu finally released her latest single “BLUE BIRD” and it’s her 40th single! Plus the songs in her albums, Ayu has presented more than 100 songs to her fans around the globe, while creating yet another record in J-Pop history.

Tsk, couldn't they have mentioned more than 150 original songs? .

“Although I do not sing for sake of breaking records, but honestly I do feel happy from the perspective of ratings given by those music critics. But these things aren’t just belongs to me, that is a praise to everyone who is associated with ‘Ayumi Hamasaki’.”

Healthy view , I love her way of thinking.

“Previously, I totally have no idea that I have the ability to release 40 singles, or imagine what I look like right now. I has never given a thought that I can walked this far, simply because I’m not an ambitious type of person.

Not ambitious? Don't even try telling me you're not ambitious, not after the proof you've given us of how a hard worker you are throughout the years. Especially for your live performances... Ayu, don't ever try to tell me you're not ambitious .

Some people do plan their lives clearly and really did carry out their plans with strong will, but I think I’m the one with the “not too OK” attitude (laughs). Not only sometimes I will skip certain vocal training classes, I would suddenly feel my tummy hurts if I go (laughs).

Not good, you would do better in some of your lives if you practiced or warmed up your voice more . The difference between the two Yoyogi performances I was to was quite noticeable, vocally I mean, I don't know if that had to do with how much she was warming up before the performances or if she just had a bad day.

I think nobody starts to be very busy since the moment of their debut? It’s not like you will become busy as soon as you build up the order of your career. Sometimes you will feel free suddenly and you will sometime feel so high… you will naturally get used to it as long as your workload increases slowly. However, things aren’t suppose to be like that in reality. You must put everything in effect as soon as you have the idea of that particular thing… as if like it’s been sucked up by the tornado. I’m like this.

That last bolded part reminded me a bit of myself actually, haha... I think so at least, in a way. I really like the way she thinks and express herself.

I have no time to think of anything and yet the next job keeps on coming, I have not time to think about sleeping or hunger either, because I spend away all of my energy just by doing my job properly as “Ayumi Hamasaki”. Although I have a good set of memory, but at certain times (during concert performances) my memories would as if derailed, thus memorizing doing certain things. I did squeeze such a lot of strength (to perform well in concert)… but that shouldn’t be considered as a “kakkoi” thing.

At the bolded part, do you think she means when she forgets her lyrics?

She sound quite mature, talking about herself in that way, not being too bold but yet she is very confident in herself, when she mentions that she has a good memory.

“Right now, whenever the concert just finished, I would just have a quick shower and straightaway reconfirm and check on my performances via the VTR at the backstage… if there’s unsatisfactory parts, I will discuss with my crew members together on ways of overcome the problems on the spot. It’s alright if it’s just accidents or freak surprises, but you can never neglect the existence of the errors.

Ah, how funny she mentions it, because a friend and me once had a discussion about what we think she does immediately after the concert, hehe, actually that discussion was held while we were waiting outside the Yoyogi Stadium in order to see Ayus car pass by, which we never did anyway, haha, we might have done, but we were never sure.

For the perfect concert performance tomorrow, I would want to understand the cause of the errors occurred today by 100%. I totally cannot bear to worry about it, yet ignore it and again repeat the same mistakes. Same for today, everyone gave their best shot, and it made me tearful and moved me because we were able to make our audiences happy. But from a practical and constructive point of view, I rather sport better stage performances to respond to my fans…naturally I do have mindsets of these.”

Haha... and you try to tell me you're not ambitious? tss... don't try to fool me Ayu .

Even if she said was true, she always gathered all she have and gave it all for each and every of the live concerts.

Her live performances are just... out of the box, yes.

Ayumi Hamasaki would always relentlessly search for the word “perfect” without a second thought.

Without a second thought? Amazing woman. Not ambitious at all .

“Why do I make concerts… this is a hard question indeed. One of the reasons would be communicating with my fans nationwide, but the ultimate reason was because there were some messages that only I can convey, or that I should convey, hence why I make concerts. Because those messages were very difficult to send through magazines or television, so it still has to be done via some ways…right.

And concerts just HAPPEN to be what provides the largest profit .

But definitely it’s not some phrases like “Recently I’m like bla bla bla” during the performances interval MC. It was some messages that only can be sent via the entire concert. That’s why we can finish the content structure, complete the layouts, set the costumes…, it’s not like we do this just for having a fun crowd around.

I've always had the feeling that there's more to her performances than just randomness, the songs are picked for a reason, they are put in the order they are for a reason, the costumes are made for a reason and so is the choreography and so on.

So I think that I don’t really have to say something like “This is _____”, but I do hope that everyone to be able to experience it themselves. Whether it’s something straightforward such as nice visual effects, Ayu being cute, or feeling happy to be able to attend the concert… anything will do, it’s entirely up to the audience for their perception of the concert stage and the chosen track list.

I like that, giving the fans freedom to interpret however they want is just a nice thing.

But then, we do have a meaning or theme behind all these track listing, content structuring and every other part of the concerts. I can clearly say that, if the audience wishes to uncover the hidden meaning behind the scenes, it’s not impossible.”

Like I said... !

[From now on I will still work hard without regret, just like what I have been doing all these years]

Something more that adds to my hope that there's still many more years of Ayu to come.

“No matter how you consider and plan about your future, you can fulfill them all in practice, right? This is the thing that I felt the most after all these years. Really, always some unpredictable things will happen around (laughs).

I wonder what the next unpredictable thing will be.

[Whenever there’s an important decision, I always felt that I have decided the choice before I choose the option.]

Maybe it's just me, but to me it seems hard to choose an option without knowing the choices at first .

I’m terrified of making choices. I can’t think of the possible results if I make a random choice, I also won’t know if I can continue to uphold my choice, and worrying that I might make the wrong move.

Yet you, Ayu, seem to make the craziest of choices all the time, daringly swinging from one style to another, trying out this and then trying out that, loosing fans and gaining fans... Ayu, even if you are afraid of making choices you sure know how to make the crazy ones, and that's part of why I love you.

With this idea, you won’t hesitate on what you should do, and you can’t do anything about it should you fail in the end. So to sum up, it’s always the best to think what you should do right now…”

It's good that Ayu live 'here and now' instead of worrying about the future all too much, I think that might be why she seem to enjoy herself so much at any given moment. Well, we don't see all too much about her, but whenever we see her she sure seem to have fun .

And biggest thanks to you who read this article XD

It was a great honour to be allowed and able to do so, thank you from the bottom of my heart Isaac!

Originally Posted by Dustie

As people said before me, some parts are a bit hard to understand, but overall it's fine.

I agree, but then it should also be taken into consideration that this article was translated from Japanese to Chinese to English!