Famous people I'd like to meet - Final Part

[4ever*ayu]

its the best article/review/comment about ayu i have ever read !
so sincere!

[truehappiness]

I find that a lot of fans compare her to people who were born into musical families, or they had talent to begin with and dreamt of becoming singers.. however, no one remembers that she's like, one of the few solo artists who was snatched up and pretty much worked from 'scratch' in terms of vocals and etc. It's rather incredible that someone who was pretty much 'destined for failure' could churn out such lyrics and become one of the biggest solo artist's in Japan's recent history.

[zyoeru]

^ Yeah.
If you think about it. Kumi and Hikki have an advantage, they both had parents who were in the music industry whereas Ayu didn't have any of that.

[asmAyumi1992]

It's her luck to be a star. We still love her even though she's not so talented (I mean untalented)

[y_nathz]

lol i almost cried reading this..
great article ^^

[dreamland2.0]

A great article. It makes me think about why I have grown to love Ayu so much. Thank you for writing out us fans feelings. I'm sure Ayu would be very touched if she ever reads this!!

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

nicee thanks for this!!

[Yumsushi]

A good read, thanks for sharing. But, this line "All that remained was a half-deaf, musically talentless, tiny person in T-shirt & jeans.", I feel is a little harsh. I understand what you are trying to say but Ayu is not musically talentless but musically UNTRAINED. She herself said, if I recall correctly, that she has no understanding of the basic concepts or methods of writing music but neverthless she had enough creativity/talent to write those CREA songs. Then again, she did have some voice lessons so I guess she does have some musical training, just not in song writing.
Errm, am I totally off topic here?

[noidea]

I love your article

[truehappiness]

Perhaps it's there to underscore how vulnerable Ayu looks/is at times?

I mean, she's not exactly a pro at any instruments, though she probably wrote her CREA tracks with a loottt of trial and error haha. I imagine she can't play much of the piano or guitar, but she can at least.. play a tiny bit better than the average person who knows next to nothing about music, you know?

[rakeru]

nicely done and very inspirational. was it ever published?

[Enfluerage]

LOL, I actually just came back from a trip, so I was so happy to see so many nice comments. As I mentioned earlier, I'll be happy for anyone to use anything I wrote (but note that I had referenced quotes etc from various interviews and translations).

The one thing that surprised me the most was that most people actually totally understood, or at least sort of understood what I wrote. But just to clarify something:

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

A good read, thanks for sharing. But, this line "All that remained was a half-deaf, musically talentless, tiny person in T-shirt & jeans.", I feel is a little harsh.

To reply to the above quote:

The first thing to note is the idea that "success" is generally a combination of wisdom, diligence and fortune. Of course, you could replace the word "wisdom" with things like "intelligence" or "talent" and replace the word "diligence" with "hard work" or "dedication".

For example, say getting a good mark at school can be attributed to:
"Wisdom" - How naturally intelligent the person is.
"Diligence" - How much the person studies / pays attention in class.
"Fortune" - If the person has a good teacher, or has parents to pay for external tuition, books, laptops etc.

In the case for musical success, one could argue the following combination of:
Musical talent (ie: natural ability to sing, play music, vocal skills etc)
Dedication to musical career
Say if the person was born into a musical family (eg: Hikaru Utada)

Thus the article I wrote:

1) Emphasises how "successful" Hamasaki Ayumi is. Not only just my personal opinion, but that she literally is the best-selling solo artist of all time in Japan. Her additional record of 11 years of having at least one number 1 single AND at least number 1 one album is beyond amazing... Furthermore, her works are also critically acclaimed (especially her concerts) - after all, they are of exceptional quality.

2) Describes how when Hamasaki Ayumi first met Max Matsuura, he suggested that she should go for vocal lessons. I also remember after she released her first album, reviewers wrote about her poor voice and poor singing skill - and that she'd never survive past her first album.... Note that "A Song For XX" was released AFTER she had gone through extensive vocal training both in Japan and New York....
And compare "A Song For XX" with "Guilty" or "Next Level" and you'll see how much she has continued to progressed since.

3) Mentions that Hamasak Ayumi wasn't particularly fortunate. People think she became half-deaf in 2008 - but she actually talked about it before much earlier (around 2001). Her family wasn't exactly rich and her father walked out on the family. Japan is different from Western countries (divorce rates in the 80's was like non-existent). Also, her grandmother (who greatly encouraged her) also passed away just before her debut...

And thus to conclude:

If Hamasaki Ayumi is exceedingly successful in the music industry, AND is not particularly musically talented AND was not particularly fortunate....

What does this say about how dedicated she is?

If you really understand this line of thought - that statement I wrote is actually is the nicest compliment possible for a singer. One can't control how talented or fortunate one is. This is why being dedicated is the most admirable quality of the three.

- I think the quote below represented exactly what I was thinking:

Originally Posted by truehappiness

no one remembers that she's like, one of the few solo artists who was snatched up and pretty much worked from 'scratch' in terms of vocals and etc. It's rather incredible that someone who was pretty much 'destined for failure' could churn out such lyrics and become one of the biggest solo artist's in Japan's recent history.

Just replace the last line with "become THE biggest solo artist, in THE HISTORY of Japan".

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

it's awesome!
i really wanna cry now~
hikz~

[Not~Yet]

Oh wow this was a very nice and well-written article. I agree with you about everything else but the "completely musically untalented" part, even though you already explained it above.

Yes, she works incredibly hard and is very dedicated. She is very dedicated to bring the greatest and most pleasurable musical experiment that reflects everything she wants to convey. Looking at her success she obviously delievers that. And to do that she needs at least some talent. If she completely doesn't have something, it's not possible for her to become the top name in the industry that is based on having that, even if she had other great sides. Like, for example a person without the sense to taste wouldn't probably become the number 1 food critic in the world. I just think that there are so many "segments" to being "musically talented". It does not mean just being able to play instruments well or writing masterpieces in a heartbeat (well, I think her CREA compositions are almost all masterpieces even if she had problems while writing them).

Even the fact alone that she can overall (she of course has her not-so-good-moments) sing without going absolutely off-key or out of breath is enough for me to say that she is not totally musically untalented, so it makes me think that maybe musical talent isn't really measurable but it's more of an opinion. But I think the fact how she, like you said, is the highest-selling music artist in Japan shows that many people think she is, beside other things also, musically talented.

Sorry for such a long blabber.. xD And since I pretty much came to the conclusion that since even musical tastes can be very different, having musical talent probably comes down to opinions. So, this is my opinion and you have your opinion.