Ayu: Anything Goes [XXV]

[Chibi-Chan]

I honestly don't know why people always say her lyrics would be poetic. Her lyrics aren't poetic at all, especially not when you read them in Japanese. The strenght of her lyrics isn't that they are poetic and in Japan her lyrics never were considered poetic. For good reasons. She is no Bashô. lol
What got peoples attention back then was how raw and honest her lyrics were and how she dealt with feelings like loss and loneliness.
Don't get me wrong, she has a talent to write wonderful lyrics, but her strong point isn't poetry.

[mizuki-7]

Maybe the word poetic is too strong but she sometimes use metaphorics formula that can be viewed as poetic and I'm not pretending she is a poete but to me there is some poetry in the way she express herself in her lyrics.

[TeamAyu2004]

I don't know, i think shes pretty poetic. Poetry is so subjective.
I know her lyrics were better known for the rawness that she did. It had never been done before, or at least not the way she did it.

[Party_King]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

I honestly don't know why people always say her lyrics would be poetic. Her lyrics aren't poetic at all, especially not when you read them in Japanese. The strenght of her lyrics isn't that they are poetic and in Japan her lyrics never were considered poetic. For good reasons. She is no Bashô. lol
What got peoples attention back then was how raw and honest her lyrics were and how she dealt with feelings like loss and loneliness.
Don't get me wrong, she has a talent to write wonderful lyrics, but her strong point isn't poetry.

But if somebody considered her lyrics as poetic for himself it’s still right.
I see a lot of philosophy in her lyrics. For example the closing line in M:
„Beginnings come easily while endings always have a reason.“
So everyone could see other aspects of her lyric art as the main point.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by Party_King

But if somebody considered her lyrics as poetic for himself it’s still right.
I see a lot of philosophy in her lyrics. For example the closing line in M:
„Beginnings come easily while endings always have a reason.“
So everyone could see other aspects of her lyric art as the main point.

Of course you can think of her lyrics as poetic if you want, but that implies that she would actually produce poetry, what she clearly does not, since there are still rules what makes poetry actually poetry. Especially Japanese poetry has a very clear set of rules.
Her lyrics are clearly her strong point, but not because they are as poetic as people try to make it look and I don't really get why everyone tries to make it look as if they are poetic. Her lyrics aren't any less interesting when not comparing them to poetry.
To be honest I feel the English translations often sound waaaay more poetic than the actual Japanese original. Maybe this is why everyone compares her lyrics to poetry and thinls of them as poetic, because Western poetry works different than Japanese poetry and when translating most people try to adjust their translations to the customs of the language they are translating into.
She has a lot of interesting thoughts and motives in her lyrics. I just don't think it works to analyse an English translation of lyrics written by a Japanese woman who herself probably never had the intention to write poetry and then to interpret her lyrics in the same way we would have done it in school and call them poetic.
I agree that a lot of the English translations sound kinda poetic, I just don't see any of it in the Japanese originals, simply because her motives and writing style are totally different from what Japanese poetry looks like usually.
In case someone here read her original Japanese lyrics and still thinks they are poetic, I would honestly be interested in an analyses!

[Party_King]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Spoiler:

Of course you can think of her lyrics as poetic if you want, but that implies that she would actually produce poetry, what she clearly does not, since there are still rules what makes poetry actually poetry. Especially Japanese poetry has a very clear set of rules.
Her lyrics are clearly her strong point, but not because they are as poetic as people try to make it look and I don't really get why everyone tries to make it look as if they are poetic. Her lyrics aren't any less interesting when not comparing them to poetry.
To be honest I feel the English translations often sound waaaay more poetic than the actual Japanese original. Maybe this is why everyone compares her lyrics to poetry and thinls of them as poetic, because Western poetry works different than Japanese poetry and when translating most people try to adjust their translations to the customs of the language they are translating into.
She has a lot of interesting thoughts and motives in her lyrics. I just don't think it works to analyse an English translation of lyrics written by a Japanese woman who herself probably never had the intention to write poetry and then to interpret her lyrics in the same way we would have done it in school and call them poetic.
I agree that a lot of the English translations sound kinda poetic, I just don't see any of it in the Japanese originals, simply because her motives and writing style are totally different from what Japanese poetry looks like usually.
In case someone here read her original Japanese lyrics and still thinks they are poetic, I would honestly be interested in an analyses!

I can‘t read or understand japanese. So it really could be that the english translations sound way more poetic. Also I don‘t know much about japanese poetry. So I can‘t check this for myself... As i wrote before I think her lyrics contains a lot philosophy and metaphors.

[chocopockymaster]

Okay but where is the Ellen Von Unworth bunny ear photo shoot? I NEED IT

[Aderianu]

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

Okay but where is the Ellen Von Unworth bunny ear photo shoot? I NEED IT

maybe they save it for the easter

[URANUS]

I was checking out this wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tists_in_Japan

And Ayu is the BEST selling female artist in Japan history. Does anyone think she will keep this record FOREVER? The only person I can see breaking her record is Utada Hikaru, who is 14 million behind her. That's equivalent to 28 Utada albums selling 500k.

I never realized how ahead Ayu is compared to MOST singers in Japan. Those golden years of hers really put her way ahead of everyone.

[rainbow_smile]

^ didn't AKB48 surpass her? Or was it only in terms of single sales? Or did you mean female soloists?

[Zeke.]

I actually think the English translations do a disservice to how poetic the original Japanese lyrics truly can be. They often are so dry and “textbook” that they lose a lot of the broad nuances the Japanese terms themselves have embedded within them. Idk, I just feel that Japanese itself can be a pretty poetic language and sound more “elevated” and proper in its patterns of speech than modern day English, albeit to Japanese it might not sound this way because it’s just “normal” for them. But in the literal sense, it’s poetic.

[Evan Odinson]

Originally Posted by rainbow_smile

^ didn't AKB48 surpass her? Or was it only in terms of single sales? Or did you mean female soloists?

Well technically, but Ayu is still the best selling SOLO artist, AKB48 are a female group so it counts as "female artist" but even so, it took a group of over 130 girls to break Ayu's record, that's how powerful she is

[pedronekoi]

I don't think from now on there will be a solo artist that can break her record.

[Gustavopc]

Unless they do something regardings streams I think it's not possible either. Physical music releases have been seeling less and less all over the years so I can't see why or how this could change and someone top ayu's gigantic numbers.

[Evan Odinson]

Ayu is nominated once again to "The Most Beautiful Asia Faces of 2018", to vote for her just open the Instagram link below and like her picture!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtxkFhSF...GG9Z7Vaer3Y-Rs

[TeamAyu2004]

^ thats nice after all this time. Epically with a culture that loves the youth.

[pedronekoi]

What even is this award? lol

[Sandy]

I always found Ayu's song "Moments" to be one of her most poetic ones for me. I myself write "poetry" but I never call it poetry because I know people would throw knives at me and yell "YOU ARE NOT FOLLOWING THESE AND THESE RULES, YOU ARE NOT DOING EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO FIT INTO THIS LITTLE BOX CALLED POETRY ACCORDING TO ME" so I call them songs without melodies. Sounds better anyway And there is a difference between writing poetically and writing poetry. Ayu writes poetically in my opinion, at least from time to time, not always. She doesn't follow any rules and that's why I like her as much as I do <3

[sitara]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

I honestly don't know why people always say her lyrics would be poetic. Her lyrics aren't poetic at all, especially not when you read them in Japanese. The strenght of her lyrics isn't that they are poetic and in Japan her lyrics never were considered poetic. For good reasons. She is no Bashô. lol
What got peoples attention back then was how raw and honest her lyrics were and how she dealt with feelings like loss and loneliness.
Don't get me wrong, she has a talent to write wonderful lyrics, but her strong point isn't poetry.

you are of course entitled to your opinion, so we agree to disagree. but i find your comment curiously harsh? i can read and understand japanese and i wouldn't cosign that "in Japan her lyrics never were considered poetic". just because her writings don't follow any rules that YOU consider important for whatever reason; doesn't mean it is not poetry or art anymore.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by sitara

you are of course entitled to your opinion, so we agree to disagree. but i find your comment curiously harsh? i can read and understand japanese and i wouldn't cosign that "in Japan her lyrics never were considered poetic". just because her writings don't follow any rules that YOU consider important for whatever reason; doesn't mean it is not poetry or art anymore.

Poetry follows ruels. No matter which language we're talking about. I did not make those. Especially Japanese poetry is very codified and there is not a single song in Ayu's discography that would come close to being a waka, haiku, tanka, shi or whatever. This has nothing to do with what I personally find esthetically pleasing. Her lyrics simply aren't poetry nor art.
I honestly don't understand why her international fanbase always argues her lyrics would be poetry or art and why everyone seems so offended when you say they are not. Using a metaphor here and there doesn't turn a text into poetry.
You don't do Ayu any favours by pretending her lyrics would be poetry, on the contrary, it actually takes everything away from her lyrics that makes them great in the first place.
I never said her lyrics would be trivial or not beautiful or not interesting. Her lyrics are interesting and beautiful in their own right, BECAUSE she never tried to be a poet but simply wrote as honest as possible and in her own words about her experiences.
She has a talent for writing lyrics which really get to you and to talk about different things from a lot of perspectives. I enjoy reading her lyrics a lot and there are only a handful of artists I would say this about. Most artist's lyrics are very trivial to be honest, not so her's. At least not for me.
But me loving her lyrics, enjoying reading them and finding her perpectives refreshing and interesting doesn't make them poetry - and I don't see why a text would have to be poetry in order to be a great one.