[article] How long can Ayumi be QUEEN?

[Raleigh]

Excellent post, DA1SUK1DAY01691. Personally for me Ayumi is the diva who has managed to outshine the rest of the industry for her style and music. She has proved that promotion and all that shiny material that many artists are getting lately to get to the top isn't everything for an artist. Those things do not last in the long term and are only exciting in their era.

If Ayumi was simply promotion she would have lasted a couple of years before fading into being a regular artist but this was not the case. Kumi might get all the attention by avex and sell so well because of all the goodies her releases get and all the promotion avex is pumping into her but in the end I feel she's just an extremely charismatic artist trying to replace Ayumi, which for me is impossible. Sure she got a lot of awards and commercial tie-ins, like Ayu - but her music will never leave an impact as Ayu did. It's just the mainstream music of the moment, where avex has pumped all their money into flashy pvs and beautiful artwork to design their top sexy artist - but it doesn't make it eternal and symbolic in the way Ayumi's is. Kumi is just the ideal gorgeous and sexy babe that every woman wants to be - she can get any man by being sexy - but in the end, one cannot help but wonder - is she real? Ayumi is more human and philosophical, she speaks about many human feelings and emotions and thus touches people at a deeper level than most artists do.

Ayumi is a classic, symbolic image and a beautiful role-model which will take a long time to be forgotten.