What is the cure?

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by tokyoxjapanxfan

She needs to pull a Ray of Light.

Come back down to earth, Ayu.

Release thought provoking magic again. With good acting. :-[

Well... ROL was released on a moment Madonna was going to stop caring about being on the center of pop music and conform herserlf to be a old act with a somewhat underground following... To a point she used a unknown producer to release a album that went on the opposite direction of mainstream music trends and didn't even toured that album.

Considering what Ayu is doing for the last few years, I would say she is doing the same thing since Rock'n'Roll Circus, as even if she is touring, she is going against the trends...

[ayu_ready?]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Well... ROL was released on a moment Madonna was going to stop caring about being on the center of pop music and conform herserlf to be a old act with a somewhat underground following... To a point she used a unknown producer to release a album that went on the opposite direction of mainstream music trends and didn't even toured that album.

Considering what Ayu is doing for the last few years, I would say she is doing the same thing since Rock'n'Roll Circus, as even if she is touring, she is going against the trends...

I don't think she's doing the same thing and she and M are in a bit of different situation considering these releases

also, to me, ROL is the best M album ever ever

fire the heck out of Max Masato Matsuura. now. he's like the old & lazy boss *****

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by ayu_ready?

I don't think she's doing the same thing and she and M are in a bit of different situation considering these releases

also, to me, ROL is the best M album ever ever

fire the heck out of Max Masato Matsuura. now. he's like the old & lazy boss *****

Madonna was at her rock bottom when she released ROL, it wasn't like the world was eating her releases and her albums were selling loads... Actually, her sales at that time were considered a failure and she was seemed as a has-been on the music industry. She had a couple of hits (Take a Bow, Secret) and released a thematic compilation (Something to Remember), but not even those were enough to push her sales. Between Vogue (that was her last huge song) and Frozen (that was the song who brough her people back), it took her 7 years, a hit movie (Evita), 2 failed albums (Erotica and Bedtime Story), one compilation and one Soundtrack.

Remembering that both Something to Remember and Bedtime Story were attempts to bring her back to the top, both following the trends of the 90s music big names like Celine, Whitney and Mariah (adult contemporary, soft rock ballads, r&b ballads), and both failed. On Ray of Light she was pretty much doing what she felt like doing, and it was probably her most risky album since Erotica, as there was no way to forsee how people would react to it.

On the same way, Ayu is at her rock bottom, she is not following the trends other than FIVE (no electropop, no hip-hip + eletronic music, no r&b ballads... what is what Namie and Kana Nishino are doing mostly) and she is trying new things to her discography... Will people like it? The main problem of trying different stuff is not knowing if it will work until it does.

Also, good for you that you find ROL to be her best album... A lot of people do (I myself prefer Erotica, but ROL still is a top3), but it's not the fact that you like it that makes it a good album... On the same way you hate it, a lot of people loves Ayu's recent discography... She released 3 full albums that are either on the very top or on the very bottom of the people favorites, what means that even if this is not directally reflecting on sales, she is experiementing enough to polarize people, what doesn't come with a certain amount of creativity (and I'm even including RnRC on this, one of her albums I dislike the most).

Also, again, it's not like her releases are being ignored... Nor like she hit her bottom for a decade now, she is pretty new to it actually... So new, it's to recent for people to actually re-discover her, and every long-therm music act goes through this... People love you, people forget you, people re-discover you, people forget you again. IMO the best thing she can do is keep doing whatever she feels like and evolving her artistry, even if it means some miss-steps... In the end of the day, it's not like the major public will love anything she will do for some years...