Thoughts about Ladies Night PV?

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by norain

They have boobs and they're wearing skimpy skirts...definitely men.

You're right, they are women. I watched it on a slower mode and they indeed have boobs LOL

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

saying that ayu is representing "Hitler" on the video is almost as saying JPOP equals "ayu" or saying that japanese music sounds exactly like old traditional chinese music - stereotypes. The fact a lot of things might make you quickly think of Hitler, doesn't take the fact that ayu was representing nothing more than an army leader, be it Hitler or Mussolini or any other out there.
His ideals and attitudes were charismatic for the situation ppl in Germany were at that time but he was definitely not charismatic in terms of looks, which I believe was the only thing about charisma you could judge on ayu in that part video.

She could indeed be talking about how people blindly follow trends as you mentioned though and could actually be referring to nazis or whatever, however I don't think such theme fits the title "Ladies Night". We have to await for a translation though.

I think it's more like Ayu is representing women in general. Women can be pretty charismatic and can eventually manage to get their way somehow to the point of being a dominating person especially recently when there was the femminist movement.

However yes I do agree that she could have taken the concept from Mussolini, Mao or even Stalin - the last two portray the idea of Communism where everyone was the same. I just associated the idea to Hitler because of how the "people" looked like. They were all the same and had blonde features and even the bone structure looked typically German while Italians typically tend to have a more olive coloured skin and dark hair. Also those kind of features were Hitler's dream race of how everyone should be - well built, blonde and well.. look exactly like a German. Also the cloning/scientist concept led me to think of the Nazi idealogy. And the way she portrayed herself - the movement of her hands and the authority she pulled off made think of someone extremely charismatic. But I must say she does look better in terms of looks

Somehow yes I must say it pretty much doesn't fit the theme of Ladies Night but I've rarely seen Ayu following the rules anyhow so could be she wanted to make something striking by using different themes from various idealogies. Or maybe she was just being random =P

[Nu-NRG]

i see..
butterfly lady=walking proud
at the end where ayu is laying on bed=Moments(almost the same hair style)
clones=Real me+alterna+ourselves
faceless ayu=?
hitler ayu=CD live 2004-2005
wolf=ANGEL'S SONG

this pv is DISTURBING yet funny to watch haha
...the ending ...SCARY

[JimmyKoria]

Originally Posted by norain

They have boobs and they're wearing skimpy skirts...definitely men.

LOL and their butts are hanging out of their shorts. I also kind of noticed Hamasaki's knickers [they're blue]. She's been showing her undergarments more often in videos? Alterna she wore them throughout [I thought it was really cute though, I have friends who wear nighties as regular shirts].

[ImpactBreaker]

Demure_Dusk, now that you mention about everyone "looking alike", the same race, it does indeed make me think a little more of Hitler than any other of the leaders LOL I hope you don't mind me getting heated up on discussions it's just that I find productive for me to question and discuss about other opinions. Anything by ayu can be interpretted in several ways as she even mentioned on her own interpretation for the (miss)understood title, so it's really interesting to see what people have to talk about. A lot of the interpretations in this thread have been very cool to read.

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

Ack sorry double post x.x someone can delete this post please?

You can delete your own posts. Just hit the edit button and you'll see a delete option.

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

Demure_Dusk, now that you mention about everyone "looking alike", the same race, it does indeed make me think a little more of Hitler than any other of the leaders LOL I hope you don't mind me getting heated up on discussions it's just that I find productive for me to question and discuss about other opinions. Anything by ayu can be interpretted in several ways as she even mentioned on her own interpretation for the (miss)understood title, so it's really interesting to see what people have to talk about. A lot of the interpretations in these thread have been very cool to read.

Why I don't mind discussing myself In fact this is the part I enjoy most when a music video of Ayu comes out - coming here and trying to figure out what she is trying to convey through her music videos. I might be wrong of course but I wanted to explain why I arrived to my conclusions

And yes I've been enjoying the intepretations - especially the Victorian ones came out sounding really interesting and same goes to the maid and also the fact that at the end of the day, women are still vulnerable to men and depend on men to hide their insecurities.

It's always enjoyable to see how much you can discover and how many interpretations, hidden themes and images Ayu can manage to pull out in a simple music video.

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

You can delete your own posts. Just hit the edit button and you'll see a delete option.

Ack thanks. Sometimes I really have a short memory x.x

[Calico]

I just finally got to watch the PV. Ugh...I don't know what to think. It's definitely one of the better PVs of the year, and I rather like her girl power themes. =P However, like in rainy day, I have a hard time seeing some of the things other people see...like in the end, I don't see a man hovering over Ayu, just darkness and some blue. I watched it twice too. x.x

I wish I had an interpretation to offer, but most of the time I can't get my thoughts all together until I see the interpretations of others, and suddenly things start to make sense. However, I will say that I think the abandoned telephone at the end might be 1) after Ayu gets kidnapped/whatever by the guy while she was still on the phone or 2) That sometimes our lives are left "hanging" or abandoned for other pursuits. Personally I like this one more.

EDIT: I took the shot from the end and lightened it so I could see the guy. Wow he's creepy. o.o; I uploaded it so people can see him better...or actually see him, as was my case.

[ayurules]

Thnak god this song have a great PV, it will not like this song if it wasnt for the pv~ starting to like the song more after watching it~

I enjoy ayu's dark pv than those boring one~ haha~

[ExodusUK]

To me, the PV representer Ayu's career. At the start with her pulling the Toy along represents that Ayu has the mind of the child and is looking for something to follow (like the toy is following Ayu). The key she holds is her career and behind each door is different kinda direction & sound. I thought the room with the ladie & the butterflies was actually kinda some geshia and represented a Japanese steorotype meaning of how the west see Japan. The room with the women painting the models black, represented a more urban direction & career like Namie perhaps. The room with the maid whipping away represented a sexy route, using her sexuality to progress further. I'm not sure about what the whole leadership part was, to me it shows Ayu the leader of the Jpop scene and the hardcore Ayu fans in Japan mimicking Ayu's style & look. With them listening to every word she says.
The scene with the faceless Ayu to me represented a Ayu that a man created & controls and the real Ayu didn't recognise and gets squashed by the lift which represents man control over women. As does the end scene which suggests rape. I think the story behind it is that ladies/women have control but they only have so much control unfortunally.

[SunshineSlayer]

Ok, I have no idea wtf that PV was about. lol. But this is one of the reasons I love Ayu, she takes a truly messed up song like Trauma and sets it to extremely poppy music and performs it like it is the happiest song in the world, when in reality it is a very sad song and then she takes a pop song like Ladies Night and gives it one of the most weird/disturbing PVs she can think of. I was certain this video was going to be in a club or something - if it had been any other artist, it would have been.

[JimmyKoria]

I don't think it works the same :[

[weix2]

Originally Posted by ExodusUK

To me, the PV representer Ayu's career. At the start with her pulling the Toy along represents that Ayu has the mind of the child and is looking for something to follow (like the toy is following Ayu). The key she holds is her career and behind each door is different kinda direction & sound. I thought the room with the ladie & the butterflies was actually kinda some geshia and represented a Japanese steorotype meaning of how the west see Japan. The room with the women painting the models black, represented a more urban direction & career like Namie perhaps. The room with the maid whipping away represented a sexy route, using her sexuality to progress further. I'm not sure about what the whole leadership part was, to me it shows Ayu the leader of the Jpop scene and the hardcore Ayu fans in Japan mimicking Ayu's style & look. With them listening to every word she says.
The scene with the faceless Ayu to me represented a Ayu that a man created & controls and the real Ayu didn't recognise and gets squashed by the lift which represents man control over women. As does the end scene which suggests rape. I think the story behind it is that ladies/women have control but they only have so much control unfortunally.

that's a great analysis. something near to what i thought it would be, on the issue of though women are rising to dominate the world [working industry perhaps] but in the end, the men are those that are of more superior [more male presidents than females?]

maybe she being hitler, is trying to say that, she's the one that's leading this jpop world and that the role of leading is taken by females and not males. maybe in her world, she can be what she wants and igore what the whole world outside is all about [which explains those weird stuff throughout the whole pv] there's much more to be said but i shall just rest on this one issue.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

I never knew being an "army leader" automatically turns it into a synonym for "Hitler"

Also, everyone is saying that the uniform=Germany, but in actuality, that uniform looks much more Soviet. However, with her very fervant speech giving in that scene, it is reminiscent of Hitler. And Hitler was in fact extremely charismatic. He may not of looked good, but his passion, presence, way of speaking, and movements made him so. The way Ayu is acting in that scene, combined with the morse code and the planes seem like reason enough to assume that Ayu was purposefully acting "Hitleresque" in that scene to portray the idea about uniformity that has been brought up before in this thread.

Also, did anyone notice that in the scene with the maid, the bear, and the person being whipped that the person is lying on a hospital bed with their feet in the stirrups - ie childbirth. I can't figure out if the person is a guy, girl, or even Ayumi herself in the bed.

Also, something else to go along with the possible theories - at the begining, military Ayu is sending a morse code message followed up by blue Ayu picking up a phone. Maybe blue Ayu is receiving some kind of message/command from military Ayu?

BTW, This has been an extremely strong year for Ayu in terms of PV quality - I wouldn't say that any PV this year has been subpar in terms of production quality. I was thinking that Rainy Day and Ladies' Night would end up looking cheaper like the ones from the My Story album tracks (Humming 7/4 ETC.) did, but they ended up being very well made.

[gogirlanime]

totally awesome!! It's her best PV this year! The outfits and ideas are brilliant! I loved the quick movements and Ayu as a general, two thumbs up!

After reading these comments, I really don't think I want to watch this one.

[truehappiness]

Then don't xD I'd wonder why though.. :\ lol

[SunshineSlayer]

I think that the reason none of the "soldiers" have ears, is because no matter what she says to them, they will follow no matter what.

[qwerty]

Additional thoughts:

When she looks at her faceless self, she runs into the elevator, only to be caved in. I think what's running through her head when she looks at faceless self is, "This is what I'm going to be if I choose a future." The whole caving in thing probably symbolizes society's look down upon view on Ayu if she doesn't choose a future. She didn't choose one, as shown by running into the elevator. Perhaps she's thinking, "If I choose a future, then this is what's going to happen to me. I'm going to have no personality; society is going to look down upon me; I'm going to be murdered/raped."

:/ This is possibly the most ambiguous and perplexing music video that Ayumi has made. It absolutely tops "Alterna" in creativity. I'm not surprised some U.S. artists haven't been this creative.

[ChildOfXX]

Stop talking about Hitler guys...

It's obvious she's emulating Eva Chacon.

Anyway. Scared the ***** out of me.
Loved it.

[Mad_Cactuar]

I say she made stuff like this since her fans liked Alterna's weirdness. So we have ourselves to blame. xD