Do you think Ayu is too westernized?

[erika_ayu]

lol MAYBE ALIL too westernized but whatever it is, as long as she feels comfortable with it, then i support her!!
i remember an interview or something where she mentioned that she is glad that she dyed her hair back to blonde again because she feels it suits her the best.
as long as AYU is who she is, WE LOVE HER right??

[haikudasai]

Originally Posted by panda87

plus, she doesn't [suck up] to the westerners like Utada and BoA who let 'em degrade them by taking over their talents. i don't mean to offend anyone, but some artists try too hard while Ayu seems to respect her roots and at the same time, she treats internationalism very wisely with guarded interest.

Not sure I follow along with this statement.

Utada clearly did not 'suck up' because she flopped hard. Her album was no where near what was being listened to by the English music audience. She could have taken the "Blow My Whistle" direction and didn't. It would have been a bit more successful than Exodus.

BoA is just BoA. Britney of Asia. She was manufactured and found a nook that suits her, I guess. I love her but I don't take any of her moves seriously.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't see anything about other artists in the question "Do you think Ayumi is too Westernized?" Maybe people just reaching out to negate some other artists to push their favorite higher up on a pedestal, who knows.

Regarding Ayumi being Westernized: She names several American artists/groups as her influence/liking. Models herself strikingly similar to Madonna. Her image and production, I believe, is more that of a Western society but I think her moral stand points and ideals are of Japanese society. She hasn't lived in nor experienced a true culture shock of living in the so-called West. Her stunt in NYC was far too short to brush off a lifestyle.

So I think that she shows signs of both international views and the Japanese views.

Either way, doesn't phase me. She's a singer and occassionally has a song I really like.

[panda87]

^ understand that i've put "suck up" in brackets b/c, after all, i couldn't find a better term for it at the time, leaving it open for anyone to replace it with their better term XP
but either way, Ayu doesn't seem to desire that westernization/globalization as much as other artists make it obviously appear. like i said before, she has a protected interest in it and she probably doesn't think she needs to extend that interest anymore than she already has as she maybe knows who she is in the entertainment industry and prefers herself to be that way--which she knows is best for her. I've started to listen to Ayu and other artists around the same time and no one artist has stuck with me since besides Ayu b/c there's this kind of respect I have for her for the fact that she never gave me that "omg, you're tryin too hard to be westernized" corny feel that turned me off. her song titles may be mostly in english, but she seemed very much the epitome of Japanese contemporary music, not conforming like most other artists. that cheesy aura never came off from her to me. so i really can't convince myself that she's "too" westernized b/c she never was, especially musically.

[Yoo Bin]

Originally Posted by panda87

plus, she doesn't [suck up] to the westerners like Utada and BoA who let 'em degrade them by taking over their talents. i don't mean to offend anyone, but some artists try too hard while Ayu seems to respect her roots and at the same time, she treats internationalism very wisely with guarded interest.

That's false and a bit biased.

IMO, Utada and BoA always had that American look especially Utada. She's was born and raised in the US. She's a customed to the American style. BoA's look wasn't that far apart from the American style to begin with. Just because they both are trying to break into a new musical market doesn't mean they are degrading themselves. Yes, some artists try too hard to look westernized but it's something that's interesting to them and I don't think you have right to say they don't respect the roots. Ayumi wears big name designer clothes and shoes, who caters to mostly the westerners, all the time. Heck, I don't Ayumi even shops that much in Japan anymore. She's outta Japan more than she's in Japan these days. And Ayumi has done some naughty things that Americans or other western countries normally do. Does that make her disrespectiful to Japan or degrading?

Originally Posted by haikudasai

Utada clearly did not 'suck up' because she flopped hard. Her album was no where near what was being listened to by the English music audience. She could have taken the "Blow My Whistle" direction and didn't. It would have been a bit more successful than Exodus.

Huh? So if she would have made it, that would have made her a suck up? Sorry but I'm not following you. Exodus failed due to poor promotioning. The only single that got decent promotion was Devil Inside and even then it was just the remixes I believe. No one knew about Blow My Whistle which had a movie tie-in. Despite the movie getting big success, her song wasn't even played in the movie and the soundtrack wasn't even popular (only one song was big off of the soundtrack I think). Plus Exodus did have BMW-type of songs and people raved how horrible those tracks were.

[emi♡]

^what's the "American look", might I ask?

and what naughty things do Americans or people from other western countries normally do?



Man this thread is full of people saying things they have no business saying.

The best post in this thread was by Corybobory.

Originally Posted by Corybobory

I think what people term 'western' does not belong to just western culture- someone above mentioned 'global culture'. I think the styles shown by pop stars around the world have many similarities, and 'the west' is not the source of many of them anymore. English is no longer a purely 'western', as is it a first language of many people in countries from Singapore to Nigeria to India. And the current fashions are influenced from celebrity and styles from many places all over the world, not sourced exclusively from America or Europe or wherever, so I'd argue they are as much a part of Japanese culture as anywhere else. To me Ayu is pretty Japanese... not at all 'western', which I would argue is a term that cant really be used anymore these days.

and I think we should all take some time to consider the fact that this is the new world we live in, and some people are just going to have to square with the one day.

[Yoo Bin]

^Why ask me those questions when you in the states like me? =/

[emi♡]

Because America is full of people from all over the globe. There is no single American look anymore. Not even in fashion. All the highest fashion comes from Italy, England, and France.

And besides, I don't think we do things that are that bad at all. People live their lives the way they live them, and no one else can say anything, because no one else knows anything about other people's circumstances or reasons, or anything.

The questions were a bit rhetorical. There was nothing you could have said that would make me agree with you...so I'm sorry to have singled out your post.

It wasn't just yours though, this thread is overflowing with bad posts.

[Yoo Bin]

Originally Posted by emiko

Because America is full of people from all over the globe. There is no single American look anymore. Not even in fashion. All the highest fashion comes from Italy, England, and France.

And besides, I don't think we do things that are that bad at all. People live their lives the way they live them, and no one else can say anything, because no one else knows anything about other people's circumstances or reasons, or anything.

The questions were a bit rhetorical. There was nothing you could have said that would make me agree with you...so I'm sorry to have singled out your post.

It wasn't just yours though, this thread is overflowing with bad posts.

IIRC, all the highest fashions are selling biggest in America.

When I said naughty things that Americans do in videos, I was talking about pole dancing, wearing just bra (I can't think of the name of those special-type of bras. lol) w/ just jeans or something like that, posing topless, dancing exortically, tattooing the body (I might be wrong on that but I read that it's kinda Taboo to get tattoes in Japan.), and so on.

LOL. You are fine about the question. After reading my statements in my previous post, I could've made it sound a little less stereotypical.

[panda87]

Yoo Bin, i'm speaking of Ayumi for what she does musically and as a performer. So wait--are we referring to her fashion taste as well? It's ok to like import designers more than our own. But speaking of musically, I've never felt Ayumi lean so heavily towards globalization/internationalism as other artists. And don't get me wrong when i list Utada or BoA as if whoever i list ultimately makes me false in my statements and bias. Sorry--must i list the whole dayum list which i feel i don't have to? Many artists' style are heavily westernized, and must i explain what westernized means? it's what all non-caucasians have referred it to before the terms globalization and internationalism. it's what was referred to as the assimilation towards the Caucasian's customs.

i must repeat, im only referring to Ayu musically b/c, indeed, she is a performing artist. fashion is another story. nothing in fashion is considered all westernized. everyone possesses fashion.

[douggn]

Ayu can pull off being blond so well and she may see it like a tade mark thing to have her hair blond and it also makes her stand out more or she may just hate her natural hair colour, she wouldn't be the first too

[haikudasai]

Had a lot to say but some people are just going to continue having a warped mindset that the, so-called, West is a negative thing.

Thanks for clearing up what you meant panda. :]

The world is connected now, more so than ever. There is absolutely no way that cultures and viewpoints aren't going to shift and mold into similarities throughout.

[Corybobory]

Thanks emiko It really suprises me how people think all of these styles and ideas are sourced from America. It's really ethnocentric I think. Boa and Utada and Ayu do not seem American in the slightest to me. Blonde and English are not American. The styles you see that they have are Japanese. Japan is not just kimonos and samurais, and anything 'modern' is not 'western'.

I love the word ethnocentric by the way. I'm happy I got to use it.

[AyUmIXx]

because American music has been influencing the whole world, so it's very normal to see some Asian artists who're influenced by the American music culture~
there's nothing wrong with that..
and i love to see Ayu like that... but more importantly, she always has her own trademarks... she always has her own trademarks~ she's the trendetter~

[mcluva420]

not really, i wish she can acutally perform in the "west" though

[*Petit*]

I agree with you cory. all western countries contribute to the global entertainment and the exchange of ideas and information is so rapid these days it's quite acurate to call it a panwestern culture with local varieties rather than separate cultures with some global influences. Of course, a number of mainly american, french, english, german and japanese companies are dominating, but most of all these have lately turned global than country based in terms of what they offer and how. Even mcdo has a very different range of products depending on which country you visit.

Originally Posted by Yoo Bin

IIRC, all the highest fashions are selling biggest in America.

This is definetly not ture, in fact Japan has a higher piece of luxury goods retail consumption than the US even with 50% of the population

Sure, american music has influenced the world pop music scene, but so has bands originating in england and rest of europe. Now, even the mainstream focus is shifting slightly to japan and asia. It'll be exciting to see how it devellops next.

[Kikaru]

I agree with Emiko. America is not a homogeneous country. It never was. And not all of America is like LA or New York City, and its music scenes are far from just hip-hop and RnB. To characterize the west by these traits is no better than people thinking Asia is just full of studious people who gets good grades on Math.

We live in a globalize world.

[zahwanzafran]

I don't think that Ayu is too westernized.

Being blonde might be strange at first sight, but Ayu is able to pull it off. I once read a thread from other Ayu-unrelated site with the caption "Does being blond looks good on Asian?" and someone posts that "Ayumi Hamasaki could be blonde forever!" out of nowhere.

I also think that perhaps Ayu wants to cover her past by dyeing her hair blonde. Maybe she felt "naked" when she had black hair -- it reminds her of the past. By being blonde, it's like being a new person; being the Ayu all Ayu could be . . .

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by zahwanzafran

I don't think that Ayu is too westernized.

Being blonde might be strange at first sight, but Ayu is able to pull it off. I once read a thread from other Ayu-unrelated site with the caption "Does being blond looks good on Asian?" and someone posts that "Ayumi Hamasaki could be blonde forever!" out of nowhere.

I also think that perhaps Ayu wants to cover her past by dyeing her hair blonde. Maybe she felt "naked" when she had black hair -- it reminds her of the past. By being blonde, it's like being a new person; being the Ayu all Ayu could be . . .

That person speaks the truth! Lol

[z4520ft]

ayu looks gorgeous with blonde so what's the problem? beside being blonde is not a state of westernized.i also likes how she use english title for her songs because it's easier to remember (she has too many of them so japanese title may make it hard)

[KPL]

ayu's "being westernized" gives her more possibility,,,such as the blonde geisha in the part of Me pv.!

Originally Posted by jbrat2219

I would love to see Ayu wear a kimono all the time and perform the way she does now! All her dancers would look like samurais and the stage would be set up like ancient Japan all the time. I think that would be funny xD;....

I'd also like to see ayu with something like "Sometimes Samurai" in the Kylie X2008 Show~~