Looking back on old critiques of Ayu in English publications on Japanese culture...

[truehappiness]

http://archive.metropolis.co.jp/bigi...injapaninc.htm

Basically, all the writers who are Westerners-but-report for Japanese publications seemed (and still do) to think that Ayu was not the creative force behind her success nor that she was very great even when she was in her heyday. It's kind of sad really that almost every writer was like this...

"Fans remain increasingly voracious. Still there's no accounting for taste."

Sounds like most of these people judged her before they even really listened to her music imo and were essentially saying that she had fans for all the wrong reasons because she's not a 'real artist' and that those who did like her lacked any good sense of taste. (this is around 2000 or so btw)

I am also speaking about TheJapanTimes which has almost always held the "Ayu is plastic, Utada/anyone else is fantastic" stance. I don't get it, really.

[Livey~]

"Born in Fukuoka, Hamasaki - don't be tempted to use a "z," or she'll complain"

Enough to see they're haters!

[truehappiness]

I found that a lot of these journalists had already made up their mind about Ayu at some point and it really showed in their work. Anything that could potentially be taken as positive would also have a negative spin to it or include a -BUT- afterward as though to cover themselves just in case it looked as though they had even the slightest interest.

[Surreal17]

Who cares what they say..we know what ayu can do, we love ayu..although it's a bit sad,they don't give her even the slightest chance
And those title comparations (Vogue,NEVER EVER) are really unnecessary..as if Ayu's Vogue has any similarity with Madonna's.

[mizuki-7]

Ayu is a cute girl there are no way she can be talented ... yes that's what these articles say ... they just have not tried to find out who she really is ... It's true that her singing skills are not the best but her main points since the begining are her lyrics, her charisma and the emotions she puts in her singing ! She didn't became famous just because she was cute but because of her meaningful lyrics if it's not a tallent I don't know what is it ? I think people see her back then like a sort of Britney Spears of Japan that's all ... We can do nothing about this but it's not that important it's not new the people does not look beyond appearances...

[emi♡]

How could they not make random judgemenst about her.

She was like a huge idol-y person. People say stupid shit about people on top all the time.

I think a lot of people at this forum also fail to realise that Ayu's sort of Jpop is not what is considered high class, or meaningful. It's just pop music.

Just like people here talk crap about Riri or Katy Perry, or Taylor Swift.

Like, go to Jpopsuki, and see the popular people praising things like Greeeen or Tokyo Jihen, etc. I mean. I guess I just expect people to talk shit.

Of course they don't actually listen to the music, because it's not actually about the music.


And about Hikki. I'm sorry, but there is no way that popular opinion will ever favor Ayu over her. There just isn't.

[Didz-19]

Originally Posted by Surreal17

Who cares what they say..we know what ayu can do, we love ayu..although it's a bit sad,they don't give her even the slightest chance
And those title comparations (Vogue,NEVER EVER) are really unnecessary..as if Ayu's Vogue has any similarity with Madonna's.

So, this means that Lady Gaga stealing song from Ayumi (Poker Face)? How unoriginal Lady Gaga is!! LOL!

[Andrenekoi]

Cultural Shock.

Western reviewrs of japanese pop culture tend to prefer western sounding japanese music over easter sounding japanese music... Utada's sound is VERY western-friendly, while Ayumi pretty much relies on japanese aesthetics (and YES, the japanese take on western sounds still is japanese).

[truehappiness]

It's just baffling imo. I absolutely hate the obvious bias that they have towards J-Pop... it's always so Utada-or-Nakata-centric I can never take them seriously.

[Andrenekoi]

Yeah, they hate pretty much everything that couldn't play on american radio if translated.

And it's biased, xenophonic, imperialistic, racist and just plain stupid.

But oh well... those people always says Namie is the avant gard japanese pop star, while she is pretty much recording J-Lo refused tracks after Past<Future

[truehappiness]

And honestly, it's not just Ayu. They just lump almost anything J-Pop into this weird "everything is idols with cutesy frills and pink and shit" thing when that's only a small subsection of the entire J-Pop world.

[channy]

We certainly don't have any possibility to prove who's the actual songwriter behind Ayu's lyrics.

I'm very confident a lot of J-Pop singers do get their name stated for being the writter of all lyrics for the sake of image care. Fans possibly want to get that feeling, a singer is translating his/her deepest thoughts and emotions into his/her songs, so that listeners would be able to identify with them.

But...

What if everything of Ayu's discography has been written by a ghostwriter? Wouldn't change my opinion on "her" music at all. She's a staged personality, in my opinion, and no one is ever going to experience the real person behind the mass-compatible image that had been carefully created around the brand, even if there are attempts to pretend realness. It's not unusual in the business to achieve the trust of consumers which eventually leads to some sort of "emotional bond" which then secures the products' success.

However, it is hard to say what's illusion and what's not, like Ayu said herself, she's a mere dream of people. I wouldn't generally say it's been exclusively Max and pals who elaborated the product but it's not unlikely to be the case, either.

I agree, though. Even if critics may do have a point there, it doesn't equal an approval for the general bashing of successful products/individuals. Certain people might feel unimportant, building up the lust for demolishing someone or something to compensate emotional stress and a lack of recognition. Just assumptions...

[truehappiness]

I think that's a possibility too, but you can see much of her lyrical themes in her blog entries. In this case, who is to say anything that Ayu puts out is her own? Or if any artist really writes their own tracks or lyrics if they are unable to play an instrument?

[NintendoHTF1242]

lol @ people trying to defend Ayu but talking shit about other artists stop yourselves bye

Anyway, why are people so caught up in these hate articles? Ayu is still at the top regardless of what they write. Their hateful words aren't stopping Ayu from making more money.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

lol @ people trying to defend Ayu but talking shit about other artists stop yourselves bye

Anyway, why are people so caught up in these hate articles? Ayu is still at the top regardless of what they write. Their hateful words aren't stopping Ayu from making more money.

I'm not defending Ayu, I'm defending every japanese star bashed by western critics because they don't follow a western-centric aesthetic. Some artists I love fits this, like Ayu. Some artists I hate fits this, like AKB48, Seiko Matsuda, Hitomi Shimatani, Mika Nakashima...

On the same way, my favorite japanese musician does release western friendly music: Hikki.

[Coelacanth]

I think it has to do more with the perceived discrepancies between Ayu's image and her music. Fans tend to see beyond just her persona, while the general public sees only that: the shit that's on the surface.

Originally Posted by channy

We certainly don't have any possibility to prove who's the actual songwriter behind Ayu's lyrics.

I'm very confident a lot of J-Pop singers do get their name stated for being the writter of all lyrics for the sake of image care. Fans possibly want to get that feeling, a singer is translating his/her deepest thoughts and emotions into his/her songs, so that listeners would be able to identify with them.

But...

What if everything of Ayu's discography has been written by a ghostwriter? Wouldn't change my opinion on "her" music at all. She's a staged personality, in my opinion, and no one is ever going to experience the real person behind the mass-compatible image that had been carefully created around the brand, even if there are attempts to pretend realness. It's not unusual in the business to achieve the trust of consumers which eventually leads to some sort of "emotional bond" which then secures the products' success.

However, it is hard to say what's illusion and what's not, like Ayu said herself, she's a mere dream of people. I wouldn't generally say it's been exclusively Max and pals who elaborated the product but it's not unlikely to be the case, either.

I agree, though. Even if critics may do have a point there, it doesn't equal an approval for the general bashing of successful products/individuals. Certain people might feel unimportant, building up the lust for demolishing someone or something to compensate emotional stress and a lack of recognition. Just assumptions...

Any recording artist on a major label (could even be an indie label), regardless of genre, has some kind of marketing strategy attached to them. Shit is never completely arbitrary.

Why is it that only a particular kind of "pop" artist (especially if female and/or minority status, typically exhibiting a larger-than-life persona, sonically lean towards dance/bubblegum/synthesized styles) is ever questioned about their integrity and authenticity?

What about the many acts throughout the era of popular music who achieved success by pandering to the counterculture? i.e. The Clash, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, 2Pac, Eminem. Who's to say they are any less manufactured?

[tbarnes10]

Meh, reviewers never like anything that's popular jpop or otherwise.

Very rarely does "super popular" and "very good reviews" go together, Hikki's just happens to be an exception to the rule.

[marty]

Originally Posted by emi♡

I think a lot of people at this forum also fail to realise that Ayu's sort of Jpop is not what is considered high class, or meaningful. It's just pop music.
Just like people here talk crap about Riri or Katy Perry, or Taylor Swift.

My poor little baby. Nobody understands this as much as Taylor fan. She's either very loved or very hated, being the "pop version of country". (I'm not even beginning with the relatioships stuff, 'cause it's such a huge bullshit, what does it even have to do with music, again? Bha.)

Anyway, that's why I always say usually only fans can really judge a singer. It's so difficult to grasp improvements, concepts and faults of someone you're just not interested to. While fans, even if sometimes blind, usually spend a huge amount of time analizing and trying to really get the work and message behind a song. Doing this is so much difficult when you're not liking someone.