[Charts & Rankings] Official Oricon Thread ~50th Single L~

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

Yeah ikr, her most famous songs like Days, BLUE BIRD, SEASONS, Sunrise are all your standard J-Pop fare, which is why I don't think it's like she stopped making "amazing" music just because she doesn't have good tie-ins.

Btw, you're right that Ayu goes against the trend by releasing whatever she wants and all that, but if we've noticed, her recent singles have all been 'safe' songs...

- Days/GREEN
- Sunrise/Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~
- You were.../BALLAD
- MOON/blossom
- crossroad
- L

Almost all the songs in there are ballads/pop songs, so it's like yeah she's going on the safe route; maybe to ensure a #1 weekly for her streak, maybe to keep the public moderately interested in her, I dunno either lol.

Her "unique" stuff are mostly always album tracks or at most B-Sides... alterna, ourselves, Don't look back are the 3 songs off the top of my mind that are either B-Sides, not the main song in a maxi single or an album track. Even for Last angel on L, which could arguably be the "different" song, also isn't the main song on L. Heck it didn't have a PV.

Also, her last single with a rock song was... Mirrorcle World? But that's a 10th Anniversary special single, so if we disregard that, it would be talkin' 2 myself, which was like 3 years ago lol.

Nothing wrong with her going down the safe route, but I think everyone should at least understand why she's releasing singles in this way and genre lol

Well, I agree her post Next Level era singles are pretty much very safe (considering that on NL we had a lesbic PV, a rock track and a electro pop track, besides the bondage video), still, her album tracks with pvs weren't safe at all, and RnRC had some of her most risky videos on the same album... And the album tracks are showed on TV, so, it's not like only who bought the album listened to them

This era has Moon/Blossom as a very safe single, but I don't know If I would consider the other tracks all that safe, considering they lyrical themes and that they have little to no teen-appeal, something she always had on her summer and winter singles...

Ayu's marketing strategy right now seens to be close to Namie's, actually... a more commercial single, followed by an album with more creative tracks and tour as main promotion

[ストロボ・EdGE]

^Uhh.... ourselves was the lead A-side of &...

And also Rule was a rock song paired with an Sparkle, which is arguably very "unsafe", and that came out just last year in 09.

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by ストロボ・EdGE

^Uhh.... ourselves was the lead A-side of &...

And also Rule was a rock song paired with an Sparkle, which is arguably very "unsafe", and that came out just last year in 09.

oh **** I mixed & and H up ><" sorry about that and omg I forgot about Rule too! Ah I'm so sorry... well my previous post was invalid then; Ayu's a brave woman

[ストロボ・EdGE]

^No, I think your argument is very valid; I just wanted to point that out though.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

oh **** I mixed & and H up ><" sorry about that and omg I forgot about Rule too! Ah I'm so sorry... well my previous post was invalid then; Ayu's a brave woman

Never forget that!
Actually, she is just mixing her heavy stuff with comercial stuff, so, the message goes to her listeners without she being bashed to death and ignored by the public...
Japanese people hates their pop divas to have a brain

Originally Posted by kagami

I think nowadays people are more interested in listening to slick and catchy music, with some cool dance moves, more than anything else. Not just in Japan, but everywhere. That's what I've been noticing the past couple of years.

This is natural after big crisis... People were and are worried about it and when they get the chance to listen to some music or watch a movie, they wanna forget the problems and relax

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by ストロボ・EdGE

^No, I think your argument is very valid; I just wanted to point that out though.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Never forget that!
Actually, she is just mixing her heavy stuff with comercial stuff, so, the message goes to her listeners without she being bashed to death and ignored by the public...
Japanese people hates their pop divas to have a brain

that's true!

Anyway yeah but it's funny to me how her 48th-50th singles belong in the safe genre... pretty smart move to further ensure her #1 weekly; even if the lyrical content might be not so mainstream, the main genre of the singles are still the Japanese people's favorite lol...

Oh I just remembered that even if she released rock/non-conventional singles like Mirrorcle World & Rule/Sparkle (since they're the most recent ones); they're usually linked with a special event/tie-in... MW with 10th anniversary, R/S with the Dragonball movie which although sucked balls but Dragonball is still quite popular/well known in Japan I guess, so that kinda ensured that proper sales for these singles...

And it's hard to not release standard J-Pop songs in Japan anyway... I think Koda Kumi is a good example; where when she released Gossip Candy, the sales were much less than Suki de x3 which was a 3 A-side ballad single.

Japan eats singles...

[Ranma Matsuri]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Japanese people hates their pop divas to have a brain

The USA is pretty guilty of that as well. Or rather, they love to assume that all pop stars are brainless puppets so it gives them something to rant about on TMZ.com .

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Ranma Matsuri

The USA is pretty guilty of that as well. Or rather, they love to assume that all pop stars are brainless puppets so it gives them something to rant about on TMZ.com .

Well, at least in USA their sales might improve if their are vocal about some controversial subject... While it will pretty much just drop in Japan xD

There are puppet popstars in every pop market of the world... Japan just seen to be proud of having it... Even here on AHS there are people who sometimes seens to believe that Ayu is just doing whatever Avex makes her do....

I find it funny cuz everytime I read about here career, they always says that being in charge of everything is what makes her different from your everyday idol, while her own fans treat her like a brainless doll that sometimes might have insightful ideas for deep lyrics

[Luvia]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Well, at least in USA their sales might improve if their are vocal about some controversial subject... While it will pretty much just drop in Japan xD

There are puppet popstars in every pop market of the world... Japan just seen to be proud of having it... Even here on AHS there are people who sometimes seens to believe that Ayu is just doing whatever Avex makes her do....

I find it funny cuz everytime I read about here career, they always says that being in charge of everything is what makes her different from your everyday idol, while her own fans treat her like a brainless doll that sometimes might have insightful ideas for deep lyrics

well, i'm not into western music at all, but it really turns me off when their songs are about controversial subject like... ok, whatever..

i quite agree with you about how some ayu fans treating her as that.
But seriously, how do we know which of the things Ayu had done are being arranged by avex or decided by Ayu herself. Shouldn't we just see it as it was Ayu who took charge in whatever she wants to do and release?

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Luvia

well, i'm not into western music at all, but it really turns me off when their songs are about controversial subject like... ok, whatever..

i quite agree with you about how some ayu fans treating her as that.
But seriously, how do we know which of the things Ayu had done are being arranged by avex or decided by Ayu herself. Shouldn't we just see it as it was Ayu who took charge in whatever she wants to do and release?

From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jpop#Avex_group), with font in japanese

Spoiler:

Ayumi Hamasaki won Grand Prix awards for three consecutive years—the first time in Japan Record Award history—between 2001 and 2003.[104] Although Hamasaki became very famous, Tom Yoda, then-chairman of her record company Avex Group, argued that her tactics were risky, because Avex disregarded the modern portfolio theory.[105] This concern disappeared when the company's other singers (such as Ai Otsuka, Kumi Koda, and Exile) also reached a certain level of popularity in the mid-2000s under Yoda's management policy.[105]

Max Matsura already said Ayu should be credited as a producer cuz she have creative control of everything she releases... So, her music, her image and her performances: her decisions... Considering we never had another A Best incident, I would say they aren't really forcing her through releases dates she feels unconfortable with...
All of her singles that aren't generic winter ballads, generic summer songs and cutesy up-beat pop are pretty much risky... considering she usually only has 1 of each kind on her albums, even if it's Avex controlling her (what I doubt), it's very little control...

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

I don't think Ayumi is as involved in every aspect of her career as she was before. In fact, she herself said that she had delegated tasks to people she could trust, and then we got the work of art that is S/S ~love is all~ and some people got fired. We have no idea what it is she is still controlling and what she has delegated and what Avex determines.

There is a reason that people think that Avex controls much of what she does. Weren't Next Level and TRICK released just in time to add to Avex's sales before their annual stockholders meeting or something along these lines? How much promotion did Next Level get? And even back when Ayumi was in full control of her career, Avex still forced her to release A Best.

At the end of the day, this is all speculation but most of all, I don't see how one would consider an artist that is controlled by their records label as a drone as you seem to be implying; isn't that how the music industry works in general? I don't think there is any correlation between the two.

Being in control of everything doesn't mean doing everything yourself (doing everything yourself is stupid, by the way, nobody has enough knowlegment to produce every single aspect of a pop culture fenomenom)... If she has a staff made of people she trusts and still aproves what is going to be used and how is it going to be used, she still is controlling it.... About NEXT LEVEL being released to add sales to Avex`s before they stockholders meeting is pure speculation... And considering the tour was already announced when the release date of the album was announced, I doubt it was the case (cuz u need an album to start a tour that will promote an album ). You can watch the making offs, you can read Vivi's article about the Naked Talk thing... you will still find Ayu *****ing around people to make sure she likes what is being released...

Being it good, being it bad, still is her fault... Or people around here should just stop praising her for everything they like and bashing Avex for everything they dislike... If Avex is controlling everything, let's praise Avex for her lyrics, concerts and good music too

[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

There are puppet popstars in every pop market of the world... Japan just seen to be proud of having it... Even here on AHS there are people who sometimes seens to believe that Ayu is just doing whatever Avex makes her do....

I find it funny cuz everytime I read about here career, they always says that being in charge of everything is what makes her different from your everyday idol, while her own fans treat her like a brainless doll that sometimes might have insightful ideas for deep lyrics

I don't think Ayumi is as involved in every aspect of her career as she was before. In fact, she herself said that she had delegated tasks to people she could trust, and then we got the work of art that is S/S ~love is all~ and some people got fired. We have no idea what it is she is still controlling and what she has delegated and what Avex determines.

There is a reason that people think that Avex controls much of what she does. Weren't Next Level and TRICK released just in time to add to Avex's sales before their annual stockholders meeting or something along these lines? How much promotion did Next Level get? And even back when Ayumi was in full control of her career, Avex still forced her to release A Best.

At the end of the day, this is all speculation but most of all, I don't see how one would consider an artist that is controlled by their records label as a drone as you seem to be implying; isn't that how the music industry works in general? I don't think there is any correlation between the two.

[rakeru]

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

I don't think Ayumi is as involved in every aspect of her career as she was before. In fact, she herself said that she had delegated tasks to people she could trust, and then we got the work of art that is S/S ~love is all~ and some people got fired. We have no idea what it is she is still controlling and what she has delegated and what Avex determines.

Where did you hear that someone got fired over S/S? I don't remember hearing about it, but that doesn't really mean anything. I feel like that would be a drastic step-- has she lost so much control over her image that she doesn't approve an image before it gets shopped and produced? I highly doubt it; she may delegate tasks to trusted advisors, but that's a rather major aspect of her career.

[Ranma Matsuri]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Well, at least in USA their sales might improve if their are vocal about some controversial subject... While it will pretty much just drop in Japan xD

There are puppet popstars in every pop market of the world... Japan just seen to be proud of having it... Even here on AHS there are people who sometimes seens to believe that Ayu is just doing whatever Avex makes her do....

I find it funny cuz everytime I read about here career, they always says that being in charge of everything is what makes her different from your everyday idol, while her own fans treat her like a brainless doll that sometimes might have insightful ideas for deep lyrics

lol This sounds VERY familiar, this is also a common occurrence in the fandom of a certain westerner pop diva that I love. The fans are always raving over the control she has but whenever something goes awry or they dislike something, the blame automatically goes to her label and they'll try their darn hardest to argue that she's dumb as a rock and "didn't realize what was happening" though all signs point the other way. It pisses me off but it's hilarious at the same time how people contradict themselves seamlessly to fit their own POV.

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

This is natural after big crisis... People were and are worried about it and when they get the chance to listen to some music or watch a movie, they wanna forget the problems and relax

That is probly true. Although back between 1997 - 2003 or so, the economy in Asia was pretty bad, but lots of genius acts came out during that era...

But I agree that ayu's playing safe on her singles for these two years. Then she makes bold stuff in her albums (I guess the album streak is gone so she doesn't need to worry anymore). Then again, she's only making half of the albums in danger zone.

[TITANIC]

seems like 2nd week will sell less tha what M/B did.

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

hope not...i took a look to youwere/BALLAD sales..omygosh they were surprising! Anyway i'm satisfied of how the sales went

[Nackar_91]

Actually, Japan is still quite different from the US in that ballads are still the predominant form of popular music. While an artist like Lady Gaga can be popular with just dance beats, almost all of the famous artists in Japan (popartists) have had their biggest hits in ballads.

While the Japanese love the dance-style in Western artists (they eat up Lady Gaga and Kesha) they don't seem to want it in their own...

[ayumisrael]

4th Day
Position: #6
Sales: Later
Total Sales: Later

[Lanz16]

L keeps fighting back for top 5!

[bluegie]

yes it's back to no. 6