[translation] The legend of Ayumi and her leadership of teenagers

[nmskalmn]

The legend of Ayumi and her leadership of teenagers

Japanese pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki’s first Asian tour has caused Taiwanese and Hong Kong fans great attentions. How does the nicknamed “Trend Leader” Ayumi Hamasaki attract teens as her followers? How does she post as Alice who led the Generation-X teenagers in the wonderland?

Xiao Mi, the 14-year-old teen that dressed in princess-look danced along with the crowd during Ayumi’s “A song For XX” at the concert venue. Her friend, Xiao Min also generously showed her “AH” logo tattoo on her left arm, and the souvenir badges on her clothes. “Ayumi Hamasaki is our dream!” The duo chorused. They are the 2 of the thousand-people-crowd that has queued for several hours, just because they wanted to get their number and catch a glimpse of the legendary Japanese female singer.

Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki has rocked the Hong Kong and Taiwan in merely 2 days, which truly marked her as the trend leader of the Asian teens. She just grabbed the “Asian’s most influential Artist” on the MTV Asia Awards that took place at Singapore on February, followed by the cover story on Times magazine, which featured an 8-page-article about her.

The Generation-X fanatics just love her multi-image-looks. They especially fond of her unique lyrics that was written by no one but herself which posed a clear difference with other singers who usually have professionals who write lyrics for them. She has been taking care of her song lyrics ever since her first single, plus her trendy-looking images has really caught the attention of many. This was the major reason of why the 4 of her Album sales has reached a frightening total of 9.52 million copies worldwide, and the championship of record sales for 2 years in Japan while being given the “Best Artist of the Year” on the 16th Japanese Golden Records Award.

Fashion Trend-bringing Pop Queen

Her amazingly fluent career letting herself becoming the fashion trend focus point of the Japanese youngsters. When she wears the leopard tight-outfit, they start wearing any cloths that has spots on it; when she starts to wear those silver accessories and paint her nails with a sense of art, they will simply do the same.

Her way of dressing has become the real pointers of every season, while her very own boutique that sells the dresses of her styles also appears. Her make-up, food, slimming commercials are covering the streets of Shinjuku and Shibuya. Even her lovely big eyes, firm noses and sexy lips have also become the best example of plastic surgeries. The long-term music review writer of “The Japan Times”, S.McClure revealed that you can hardly miss Ayumi Hamasaki’s related merchandise on Tokyo’s Shibuya and Shinjuku district.

The professionalism of Japan’s idol packaging is always a well-known issue by everyone but the public experienced even more of its power when we look at Ayumi’s successful career.

When she was just made her debut, she actually started off as an actress. Born from a single-parent family of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, Ayumi has already a model at the tender age of 7. She later joined Sun Music Productions Co. and became a second-line actress who sometimes starred in some B Movies. Due to her way-too-normal performance, her manager decided to gave her a makeover, a makeover that will change her destiny: From an actress to a singer.

She was sent to New York for some vocal and music training in New York on the year 1997, and that change her career completely. A magazine, “Japan Pop Classified” even said that her change from a B-class actress to now, which she is the Queen of the JPOP are simply much resemble of the well-known classic story “Cinderella”.

She was not only the trend leader in the eye of her fans; she was undisputedly the money maker of her current production company which can actually affect its running.

About her record sales, according to the Japanese Oricon Chart, Ayumi Hamasaki’s record sales on the year 2000 was about 40% of her production company’s total income while dominating about 14.8% of the Japanese Music Industry. When the rumor about the delay of her 4th album’s release, Avex Trax ’s share took a nosedive like hell.

Apart from her record sales, the merchandises that featured her appearance even contributed more in terms of economy. From mobile phones to even donuts’ television commercials has her starring in it. The cosmetics company, KOSE grabbed this damsel real hard and appointed her as the official model of their cosmetics commercial for 2 seasons in a row which resulting of an astonishing highest record, 500 thousand boxes of stocks sold out in merely 48 hours. One music chart analyzer even points out that Ayumi equals to Avex’s income.

The one who were behind all this: Max Matsuura

The biggest salute goes to him, Max Matsuura, one of Avex Trax’s leading producers, due to his specialty of sense and judgement of artists, he has successfully made TRF, Every Little Thing into famed big stars, and Ayumi was his career’s peak.

He met Ayumi in a coincidence, and he started to be interested of her lyrics because he thought that her lyrics are quite mature for a girl of her age. In his interview of a television program, he mentioned that the very first time he read her lyrics, the lyric’s contents itself didn’t seemed like it has been written from a 16-year-old girl, in fact, it looked like it was being written by a 32-year-old woman. Max was amazed and therefore he decided to let Ayumi advance on her lyric writing.


So there we have it: 3 months before her every albums, there must be one single released for every month, accompanied by the nationwide concert tour’s promotion, while using her very own special “AH” symbol to capture her fans, such well-planned sale strategy made her stardom rocket to the sky.

Why those rebellious youngsters act like as if they’re being possessed when confronting their idols? “The Japan Times” explained that during a teenager’s puberty stage, they particularly need a “common sign”, and the music industry right away provided such reflexive objectiveness to achieve this using idolism.

Not only this, Ayumi Hamasaki’s images reflected the craving of Generation-X towards the combination of reality and fantasy. “Time” reviewed Ayumi as a “Half human, half comical pop idol”. Big electrifying eyes, nearly childish-looking cute face, plus the vivid changing of various role-playing from butterfly, cat woman to the recent vampire girl image of her latest cosmetics commercial. She were as if has became Alice who lead her fans having a tour in the wonderland.

Her success also meaning that as an idol, personal elements must be expressed fully to the ground. It includes self-existing charm and the most important, the manager’s sale strategy.

Moreover, she got a slight coarse but high-pitched voice, her lyrics expressed the unstable moods of modern young teenagers, the tone which resembles much like the contents of a girl diary even hit on the fantasy hearts of those teens who absolutely don’t want to be controlled by anyone.

“Time” magazine points out that although there were also many successful artists, but are there any artists that fully know and utilize their talents like what she did? Yes, but very few.

Moreover, to stand a difference between her and other artists, her songs and her fashion often express a conflicting or inharmonic beauty. For instance, all of her song titles are English but you can’t even find one of them in the lyrics. This also applies to her fashion sense. Her remix album “Ayu-Mi-X IV” covers feature her in kimono but painted her face with sexy and artistic eyeshade, hence the traditional and modern fashion clashed to form a special kind of beauty.

Same rules also can be found on the current Taiwanese hot boy band, F4. “Meteor Garden” ‘s surreal-like synopsis has given these four studs perfect yet fantasy personalities, and this is their best bet of their future career advancements. Therefore “Times” points out again that a good artist should be able to manage his or her own “style” and “personality”. To be deeper, their real characteristics seem not so important anymore.


Searching acknowledgements and self guidance through idolism

The artists’ always-changing image plus their perfect personality has made their teenage fans tried hard to search for acknowledgments and self-guidance. Taiwan Central University’s Faculty of Philosophy, Assistant Professor Ning Ying Bing points out in “Aged Media Critics, Retarded Female Liberalism” (Directed Translation) “Nowadays Youngsters gained even more of the need and the symbolism to become as their very own self at mass media’s networks, and they used it to create a body that conflicts with the current education systems and their family members, and then they will use this conflict to gain independence.” He expressed that teenagers are using the culture of consumerism to counter the discipline that was forcedly cast on them by their parents and tutors, while reinforcing their own independence with such actions.

On the other hand, commercial systems that existed around the world also encourages those Generation-X teenagers advances into the road of becoming major consumers. Doctor D.Rushkoff, who has been studying on virtual and commercial culture also mentioned in his book, the “Who are controlling us?”: “The one unique feature about Generation-Xs is that they tend to being suspicious about mankind yet always confused and lack of goal of their life, although they have no fantasies about role acknowledgements, politics and wished no more affects by main stream pop gadgets. However they tend to chase after some kind of a belief and craving for their independency.” He also said that consumerism has summoned the Generation-X as the major group of the consumers but personalized items reinforced the independency crave and thus providing a rope for those who were searching for that kind of independency yet has lost themselves.

Therefore, such artists like Ayumi Hamasaki who stress for independence, rebellion and confliction with a combination of wildness and innocence naturally become the example for the youngsters to follow.

When Ayumi was interviewed by the “Times” magazine, she revealed that she has no dreams for her future because she is the dream herself. Although Ayumi’s multi-images and looks really given the Generation-X a hopeful dream world that pull them out of the grim reality, but the line between “reality” and “fantasy” in idol industry has gotten blurrier and blurrier. Will our teenagers unable to define between both of them when they need to face their real life in the near future?

Translated and modified by Isaac Hiew
From Sin Chew Jit Poh 2nd section,
dated 2002 May 21st (Tuesday)

Translated on June 19th 2002.