[News] CDTV reveals cover for 'M(A)DE IN JAPAN'

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

I talked to a lot of Japanese people about Ayu since at one point or another you're always being asked when you started learning Japanese and why and if you like Japanese pop culture. So I have to "confess" that I'm actually an Ayu fan. They dislike her for a million reasons, but Ayu being anything that comes close to a "party queen" is none of them. No one ever mentioned rumours about her getting drunk, taking drugs, that she had an abortion or whatever. The only thing that come up again and again is her looking fake, having surgery, being a stuck up diva etc. So basically it always comes down to Ayu being unrelateable compared to before and that they lost touch with her around (miss)understood era. And everyone always says things like "back then she was great, but now...".
Furthermore, even though I can't stand this "natural" Ayu thing anymore, I think she does it for one reason: she had a VERY long period of years in which she looked fake as hell in mostly every photo of hers, starting around (miss)understood era. Japanese people only know her as the girl next door or as the fake diva, they aren't able to recognise her face anymore. For example I had the picture with the blue tone she posted as teaser with lyric snippets as background pic at my mobile phone and showed it around. No one believed me it was her. Nowadays she tries very hard to leave her diva image behind her and to be more relateable again, even though I'm not sure if her current tactic works.

How do people feel about Namie? In terms of relatability? Is she judged by the same factors?

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

How do people feel about Namie? In terms of relatability? Is she judged by the same factors?

I haven't talked that much about Namie, but when she came up people were like "she's popular!" and that's basically it, they weren't really interested in her, but I don't think they judge her at all. I mostly talk to Japanese people who are 20 to 30 years old, so maybe they're too old to be a typical Namie fan. Furthermore from the way they talked about her I had the feeling that Namie is just a popstar to them who had a few hits in the 90's and has a second peak right now. They may like a few songs but Namie isn't anything more than some kind of idol to them. Whereas Ayu was an artist to them, with the emphasis on was. And I think that's the point. There isn't much to judge about an idol who's whole image is supposed to be superficial and everyone knows that and therefore people do not expect Namie to do anything else than releasing catchy pop tunes, a kitschy ballad now and then and to look pretty. Ayu on the other hand was known for her deep lyrics and more mature style compared to other women her age in the music business back then. Her image change from the mature pop queen with deep lyrics to the more superficial pop diva and an exposed private life is what made her lose touche with the public imo.