Ayu's social networks - Discussion #51

[Yoake]

What I love about Ayu is she is true with herself. She doesn’t act as the old society's image try to force on her. She assumes all the parts of her personality. Sometimes she is serious, sometimes she is shallow, sometimes she is furiously happy, sometimes she is making fun of herself (remember that duck rubber ring?) …All that faces are a part of herself. It’s not a shame to show that and to act as she want to act. The photos are just the representation of how she felt at that moment. Age and gender shouldn’t rule our life. She is a true inspiration for all women and minorities who are afraid to walk the head high and be themselves when they want. You want to ride a unicorn just because you find that fun? Don’t be afraid because you’re 45. Life is too short to care about people’s view who don’t dare to stick out the mold. Fulfill your wishes and you’ll end your life without regrets!

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by orbitalaspect

You can keep this up, but every single time somebody breaks one of your arbitrary limits on acceptable behavior, you guys literally bully and gang up on people. And the pattern is everywhere: Multiple people end up posting the exact same post, that they also think the person who posted is negative/a hater/judgmental/angry/abusive/cruel/racist/misogynist/fatphobic/was never a fan... and on and on and on....

This is so true, you get bullied here for expressing your opinion period. Whether is positive or negative , doesn’t matter they attack in packs like wolfs. I just complimented ayu and got attacked recently, like for real?? I have experienced it myself and some have tried to pm me with throw away accounts insulting me. It’s not just you who’s going through this.Guess what, I will continue to express my opinion, and so should you. I don’t like bullies and won’t be intimidated by them.

[Cahz-]

Originally Posted by melissalove

This is so true, you get bullied here for expressing your opinion period. they attack in packs like wolfs.

You just described perfectly Namie Amuro's thread. Don't you remember how Katsuyuki was bullied by a group of Namie stans for "expressing his opinion"?

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Cahz-

You just described perfectly Namie Amuro's thread. Don't you remember how Katsuyuki was bullied by a group of Namie stans for "expressing his opinion"?

Namie and Utada fans can't handle anything if it doesn't put their idol on a pedestal. As an Ayu fan expressing negative opinion about ayu is something that happens more than people being happy about something she does, so you learn to live with it.

[maxikot]

^ This.
But I don't think anybody gets bullied, this word is overused. Some people just take things too personally. And that essay on behaviour orbitalaspect wrote was more of a funny reading than something I can take seriously. To some extent, I feel Louass's opinion because in the past months I have felt more negativity compared to years back and I've been here for 12 years now.
I am all in to read constructive criticism and tend to ignore just opinions like "ugly/bad" and not respond to them although they can be annoying but hey, as sb said, it's a forum so express your views they way you like. And it is okay to react to sb's reaction as long as it's not calling people names.

And honestly, I think it's normal to expect the majority of text here to be positive about Ayu considering it's... forum for Ayumi's fans? So when suddenly there is more complaining it's normal that people who don't wish to read that will react. It's not a general music forum.

And to smuggle sth about social media I think she looked great in the recent picture, just those lips are murderous xD I want to know when we get to see this performance or whatever it was!

[Andrenekoi]

"I just wish Ayu just act like herself".

I love how people from celebrities fandom sometimes have delusions about being childhood friends with someone that don't even know they exist. :B

Ayu looks hot on her recent pics

[RealLight]

LMAO y'all are something else, keep going

[love in music]

Originally Posted by Yoake

What I love about Ayu is she is true with herself. She doesn’t act as the old society's image try to force on her. She assumes all the parts of her personality. Sometimes she is serious, sometimes she is shallow, sometimes she is furiously happy, sometimes she is making fun of herself (remember that duck rubber ring?) …All that faces are a part of herself. It’s not a shame to show that and to act as she want to act. The photos are just the representation of how she felt at that moment. Age and gender shouldn’t rule our life. She is a true inspiration for all women and minorities who are afraid to walk the head high and be themselves when they want. You want to ride a unicorn just because you find that fun? Don’t be afraid because you’re 45. Life is too short to care about people’s view who don’t dare to stick out the mold. Fulfill your wishes and you’ll end your life without regrets!

I agree completely!

Originally Posted by maxikot

^ This.
But I don't think anybody gets bullied, this word is overused. Some people just take things too personally. And that essay on behaviour orbitalaspect wrote was more of a funny reading than something I can take seriously. To some extent, I feel Louass's opinion because in the past months I have felt more negativity compared to years back and I've been here for 12 years now.
I am all in to read constructive criticism and tend to ignore just opinions like "ugly/bad" and not respond to them although they can be annoying but hey, as sb said, it's a forum so express your views they way you like. And it is okay to react to sb's reaction as long as it's not calling people names.

And honestly, I think it's normal to expect the majority of text here to be positive about Ayu considering it's... forum for Ayumi's fans? So when suddenly there is more complaining it's normal that people who don't wish to read that will react. It's not a general music forum.

And to smuggle sth about social media I think she looked great in the recent picture, just those lips are murderous xD I want to know when we get to see this performance or whatever it was!

Yes exactly, I agree with your whole post It's quite strange how some people act like it's abnormal to want to read positive views on an artist you're a fan of and to expect fans to respect the artist . It doesn't mean a person is a stan or only wants to read the positive stuff either. People can share their views good or bad, it's a forum and would be boring without different opinions, but it's when some are obviously trying so hard to make fun of an artist is when it becomes immature. I also suspect that they're subtly trying to get some sort of reaction from some fans just so they can attempt to put them down and say things like "sorry I don't kiss her feet 24/7 like you" when in reality that fan has their own positive and negative opinions about ayu as well.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

Namie and Utada fans can't handle anything if it doesn't put their idol on a pedestal. As an Ayu fan expressing negative opinion about ayu is something that happens more than people being happy about something she does, so you learn to live with it.

To be honest you can't always handle different opinion about Ayu yourself. You attacked my posts a number of times and I saw you attacking other people who simply expressed their opinion and happened to dislike some things.
I don't know why people have to be rude and mean as if different opinion insults them personally. I'm not sure if you realize this, but such behavior hurts a lot and then you think twice whether to express your opinion at all. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but let's try to respect each other.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Chris85

To be honest you can't always handle different opinion about Ayu yourself. You attacked my posts a number of times and I saw you attacking other people who simply expressed their opinion and happened to dislike some things.
I don't know why people have to be rude and mean as if different opinion insults them personally. I'm not sure if you realize this, but such behavior hurts a lot and then you think twice whether to express your opinion at all. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but let's try to respect each other.

I think the majority of hurt comes from the fact that we are writing posts, if we were actually talking you’d know that most of the time I am not too serious about things I say, although I am well aware my posts at times seem as If I was attacking/being mean to others. I try not to take what people say here to heart as the majority of us here are strangers and we don’t know each other at all, so we don’t really take the personal aspect into consideration when we write shit.

Again I think people tend to be overly sensitive, but I simply cannot avoid replying to something like “her boobs look huge omg she must have had something done to them”. They are literally asking for it...

[indigochild]

THE DAMN ESSAYS IN HERE I'M DYING!!!

She's been dressing quite appropriate for her age imo nor do I think she's "trying too hard" or "trying too look sexy". Maybe because I'm just used to American standards of dressing (JLo, Madonna, heck even Christie Brinkley and she's in her 60s) Ayu in comparison is tame af! This idea that wanting to look, be and act sexy is only meant for 20 year olds is just... dumb. You bet your ass I'm going to be THAT BITCH in the retirement home flaunting my way to the dining area lol My god even Kelly Ripa was criticized for wearing a bikini at the beach and that she shouldn't "at her age". That woman has an amazing body. FLAUNT IT. Ayu has the body. She has the appeal. She looks youthful. She likes dressing up. And on the opposite, if she wants to dress down... DRESS DOWN. Wear baggy clothes. It's not a big deal lol Y'all need to lighten tf up.

[Chibi-Chan]

^nobody was saying Ayu should dress according to her age or that she would dress too provocatively or stuff like that. That wasn't what was said at all. There is a difference between just wearing a sexy outfit and chosing a sexy outfit to prove a point while trying too hard to look sexy by posing too much.
I don't know, Ayu was doing sexy in the past way better, simply by just wearing stuff. Lately it appears a little too much as if she's trying to prove a point or whatever. At least for me.
It's like people who drink much but don't talk about it vs. people who drink much and have to tell everyone about how many drinks they already had. It's a little emberassing.

[primavera♥]

@orbitalaspect

Spoiler:

Not sure as to why you decided to fulfill this role as victim of bullying over posts that were also mild and more so referenced comments that were in Chibi-chan's elaborated agreement to your most (which brought up new and more controversial statements). Also it's ironic that you say you want a conversation when it you took another opportunity to claim people were bullying you and were triggered and upset instead of creating dialogue. This post by love in music doesn't come off that way at all. But I guess you made it that way. Also ironically since you don't want people to view your posts that way. There are points to respond to in that post for anyone, but you write it off as someone being upset and bullying. As far as Louass post, for me it is different from love in music but also not bullying. An opportunity to further that conversation if you felt like it, and if not, move on.

Originally Posted by love in music

Yeah honestly, I think as fans we should accept this is her. She likes dressing up and she likes fancy things. She may be relatable and down to earth in some ways but she's also superficial in others. She may be uncool in some ways but she's a badass woman in other ways. It's just who she is/has been for a long time now. I used to want her to be a certain way but realized that's super controlling and immature and had to check myself and think some fans should too..

Just like everyone else on the planet, ayu is not perfect, but she's an amazing person and should be shown more love and less hate/judgment, especially by her fans.

If you agree or disagree with what she is saying here, there are various points to elaborate on. It's an argument that tries to go against the thought process that we should put ayu in a box of whatever we think being "herself" is (something explicitly pushed forward by chibi-chan more than in this thread). Often that box does relate to biases based on age, gender, and ethnicity, but they weren't going there in this comment. So here we could discuss our assumptions about ayu, what she likes, what she wants to promote, what actually goes into picking her outfits and our biases about that, etc. She's arguing that if there was a lesser sense of needing to put ayu in the box of who we think she is, we might have less judgmental comments assuming that she is trying too hard to not be herself. Tbh, as I said earlier, a lot of these statements relate more to chibi-chans post. Which isn't a problem because neither of your posts were directly quoted, making it a more open response. Also you discussed how you weren't trying to put ayu in a box or call her names, but Chibi-chan did, and then you went on to do that about ayu fans who you assume have less depth based on their positions.

Originally Posted by love in music

I can't believe how personally you are taking things and I also can't believe I took the time to read all of that.

It's funny because I wasn't even angry at you? I'm not angry at anyone here, just want some more positivity in the ayu fandom and want others to accept her for who she is instead of wishing she was some other way but I'm not demanding it or trying to force people to and I'm certainly not bullying anyone lol, people can and will do/say what they want

And this is what I was thinking reading your original response, orbitalaspect. No one is trying to force ayu fans to do anything and the same people posting have very much so posted their own negative views before. If you feel like that positivity just isnt deserved for those reasons, then just say so. But people can challenge your assumptions and/or biases and even question motives. Im all down for discussing problematic defense of any artist and it's great to post about it, but I think it was misguided here.

@Chibi-chan

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

I would like to see her making a normal face, smiling like she would with no camera around. She's posing way too much for my taste in her pics. They look more like a fashion shot.
I really like to follow Britney on social media, for example. Because Britney shares a lot of videos/pics that aren't perfect, on which she looks normal or sometimes she's just making a goofy face and kidding around.
I don't need to see Ayu in her 12625361626162627 "sexy" outfit posing like a fashion model. Not to mention that lately it looks as if she's trying waaaaay too hard for my taste, as if she's trying to prove something, so that her pics are a little emberrassing to look at for me.
I don't need to see a perfect pic of sexy Ayu trying to look as hot as possible, that's boring. I want to see an Ayu who isn't afraid to show her real face without duck face and 27 different filters.

@Chibi-chan. Your taste, yes. Your taste almost always ends in you making negative assumptions about ayu's personality or intentions. Like we all have things we'd like to see, but not everyone goes as far as to say that someone isn't being their true self or that they're trying too hard to be something they're not just because we don't like it or think they're not good at it. Now ayu has to lose her fear of showing her real face to over a million people on social media to truly be herself? Even artists that post "ultra-natural" photos can do so with an intention to promote something. It just seems like a lot of assumptions are always being made about ayu, some more problematic than others(based on other posts), and some that deal with biases related to aspects of social identity as well. I think it really would create a different experience as a fan (not necessarily better or worse, but different) to at least look at some of those assumptions and where they are coming from. I usually don't respond to many of your posts because I don't have time to write lengthy responses on here often and even today this isn't very much, but I'm happy to engage in dialogue about this topic even if outside this thread and in another.

Sorry mods, if this is off topic please move it. I felt that these points are related to how ayu is on social media and how we respond to that as fans, but it may not be perfect for this thread.

Anyway, about these outfits, ayu certainly is constantly trying new things. But I would like to know what her favorite styles of dress are if she has some. She goes through so much. I do associate her personal style and even social media style as something separate from her live and tour styles. Personally, I can't say if more or less goes into the styling now, because I think measures of effort depend on how much one likes it. In the past, where more effort is assumed, ayu has so many styles I just truly don't like. She really is just always changing.

[truehappiness]

With the black outfit at least it seems like she's just wearing something she likes from her friend's brand (Bloomin'), something she has started doing a lot more lately with Japanese brands compared to not too long ago.

[voltron]

THE DRAMA.

As I think has been said a million times before, especially when dealing with online communication, a lot of it comes down to delivery. People make criticisms about Ayu all that time that are mature, thought-out and explained and they do not get backlash. But there are people who only ever complain, or do so in such a dramatic, over-the-top manner that of course people are going to clap back. It's like the difference of saying "This song sounds like a a re-hash of something she's already done, and done better" vs. saying "God, she's so fucking out of touch, when is she going to stop making recycled garbage?" One of those is going to be received better than the other - take some responsibility for your own words.

That aside, I don't love her outfits in those IG pics, but they are completely non-offensive. The worst thing is the overdrawn lip, which I think looks gross on anybody (and that's my personal opinion of it). It's unfortunate that I think she wears a lot of really fun and cool clothing personally on her IG, in more casual settings, but I feel like she often misses the mark when she's doing promo and appearing on TV. I wish those looks reflected that part of her style more, whether it is casual or dressy.

[truehappiness]

I saw someone comment that the person that did Ayu's hair/makeup for this had something that alluded to MUSIC FAIR on their IG but I'm not sure who the staffer is. I wonder if it's for real.

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I saw someone comment that the person that did Ayu's hair/makeup for this had something that alluded to MUSIC FAIR on their IG but I'm not sure who the staffer is. I wonder if it's for real.

Well whoever it was, rocked it. I LOVE this hair on her and those earrings, beautiful. It’s 2002 all over again for me. Cherry on top would be a music fair performance.

[hud]

this thread...

Originally Posted by melissalove

Well whoever it was, rocked it. I LOVE this hair on her and those earrings, beautiful. It’s 2002 all over again for me. Cherry on top would be a music fair performance.

agree 100%!

[koumori]

Originally Posted by primavera

Sorry mods, if this is off topic please move it. I felt that these points are related to how ayu is on social media and how we respond to that as fans, but it may not be perfect for this thread.

It is about her social media, and so far people are debating okay.
As long as people keep it clean and don't insult each other/make personal assumptions, we're good. If I missed someone doing that then please report the posts in question.

Originally Posted by snowo

this thread...

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by voltron

THE DRAMA.

As I think has been said a million times before, especially when dealing with online communication, a lot of it comes down to delivery. People make criticisms about Ayu all that time that are mature, thought-out and explained and they do not get backlash. But there are people who only ever complain, or do so in such a dramatic, over-the-top manner that of course people are going to clap back. It's like the difference of saying "This song sounds like a a re-hash of something she's already done, and done better" vs. saying "God, she's so fucking out of touch, when is she going to stop making recycled garbage?" One of those is going to be received better than the other - take some responsibility for your own words.

That aside, I don't love her outfits in those IG pics, but they are completely non-offensive. The worst thing is the overdrawn lip, which I think looks gross on anybody (and that's my personal opinion of it). It's unfortunate that I think she wears a lot of really fun and cool clothing personally on her IG, in more casual settings, but I feel like she often misses the mark when she's doing promo and appearing on TV. I wish those looks reflected that part of her style more, whether it is casual or dressy.

People also tend to jump to the most extreme conclusions about her character over pretty much nothing, what is also very annoying.