What is the cure?

[Andrenekoi]

^I have to disagree here... Good marketing doesn't make good sales alone (most of what people call marketing isn't even marketing ), the best promotion can't sell something nobody wants/needs... But people not always wants quality, and quality is a pretty relative term.

What most of those products have in common, including peak Ayu, is that they identified a market share that wasn't being explored and focused on it (this is marketing ), Transformers and Twilight are very good examples because they really fits the "needs" of teenagers boys and girls of all age on this era. McDonalds pretty much created the concept of "fast food" with a bigger concern to hygiene than street foods and almost industrial production, what means you know what u r going to eat, it doesn't matter where u buy it.

What Ayu does right now doesn't match what teenagers "need" today as much as it did back in 2000... This makes here less "sellable" than she was...

[tinka69]

^well said ^-^

Pretty much what I wanted to say haha.

I sometimes wonder whether Avex's current marketing strategies are doing Ayu more harm than good?

[paper_doll]

^ lol yeah, I'd say Rock'n'Roll Circus is a bad example of Ayu still being able to put out good music. That album was bad, bad, bad.

[letter]

I think that after POWER of MUSIC, she had the chance to prove that she's capable of producing a great album. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a strictly pop record. It could be a mixture of classical and pop, or pop-rock. I wish she would look at this from a professional point of view, dismiss her perception of her fans' needs, and concentrate on her strongest points. She's lost her professionalism, because she's grown too fond of her co-workers. Her satisfaction with Party Queen is enough proof of that. Either her judgement is clouded, or her standards have gone down.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by letter

I think that after POWER of MUSIC, she had the chance to prove that she's capable of producing a great album. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a strictly pop record. It could be a mixture of classical and pop, or pop-rock. I wish she would look at this from a professional point of view, dismiss her perception of her fans' needs, and concentrate on her strongest points. She's lost her professionalism, because she's grown too fond of her co-workers. Her satisfaction with Party Queen is enough proof of that. Either her judgement is clouded, or her standards have gone down.

So, I guess this means people who actually consider Party queen to be among her strongest works just have poor taste...

[letter]

^I really don't feel like including "All of the above is my opinion only" in every single one of my posts.

[ayu_ready?]

but PQ's sound is really too-too cheap. not to bring the topic of covers again....

although I do have some provocative Kuu in my current ava

[Andrenekoi]

^Koda Kumi... such a creative e inventive pop act...

@letter Sorry, it's just that, it didn't look like a opinion, even if you put a "IMO" over there.

Her relases since Next Level all polarized her fan-base... She only released "love/hate" albums since her 10th anni, and this is very interesting IMO... It shows she is actually trying new stuff and aproaches instead of playing safe just for the sake of doing it.

[hidekirby]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

She only released "love/hate" albums since her 10th anni, and this is very interesting IMO... It shows she is actually trying new stuff and aproaches instead of playing safe just for the sake of doing it.

???
Apart from 2 songs on each album she's releasing the same stuff since 2003...
When she does try new things people complain (sexy little things, the next LOVE,ESM..).

I would LOVE her to experiment much but she doesn't. She is stagnating more than evolving and exploring IMO. Look at Party Queen, half of the songs are typical uninspired pop rock songs we've already heard on her previous albums. That's one of the reasons I was already bored with it when I received my parcel.
I feel that her job has become a mere routine, something she has to do because she likes it and that's all. She is not taking any real decision and let her staff do what they want. I don't feel any passion. You can see she still loves performing but that's it.

[ayu_ready?]

Originally Posted by hidekirby

I feel that her job has become a mere routine, something she has to do because she likes it and that's all. She is not taking any real decision and let her staff do what they want. I don't feel any passion. You can see she still loves performing but that's it.

me too, honestly

[letter]

I'd like to know why, though. Why this thing now, or that then. I remember in the naked talk interview she said something along the lines of feeling like being naked now, or more simple, like the way humans were born. Why is she experimenting? Is it because 1) she doesn't know what she wants, 2) is trying to find out what she wants/see what works, 3) is simply going with the flow, agreeing to do whatever comes to her mind at that moment without serious consideration, 4) knows exactly what she wants, hence we get this disordered (IMO) result. I'd like to think that after all those years, she knows what she wants, even if the final effect is experimental in nature.

[Andrenekoi]

She is experiementing because the only other option is to repeat herself to death...

[isthisLOL?]

Maybe she is just experimenting because she wants to be more than just another pop act? I would do exactly the same she is doing really, I'd let new influences flow into every single album. Try new things every time instead of repeating myself. And, the way I see it, that is just what Ayumi has been doing since NEXT LEVEL, where influences outside of the usual pop and rock got way heavier and therefore more people were disappointed - while some others loved it. She isn't releasing "safe" music anymore, she is releasing unique and diverse music. Unique and diverse music is polarizing no matter how good or bad it is.

It has nothing to do with not knowing who you are and what you want - neither is it some form of master plan or confusion. It's simply the natural next step in her evolution as an artist. Every artist goes through stages of experimentation - some sooner, some later. Some from the beginning, some only when they grow sick of what they have produced before.

[jewelbox]

I think she's currently more like "every other pop artist" than ever before

[isthisLOL?]

Originally Posted by jewelbox

I think she's currently more like "every other pop artist" than ever before

Erm...no. Party Queen has many influences that are quite rare in pop music and melodic progressions completely different from anything else in the business right now. Except maybe Lana del Rey, Björk and some Hikki tracks. Either you have a highly superficial view of her music disregarding the entire compositional level or you have no idea what you're talking about tbh.

[jewelbox]

Originally Posted by isthisLOL?

Erm...no. Party Queen has many influences that are quite rare in pop music and melodic progressions completely different from anything else in the business right now. Except maybe Lana del Rey, Björk and some Hikki tracks. Either you have a highly superficial view of her music disregarding the entire compositional level or you have no idea what you're talking about tbh.

I know what I'm talking about, sorry if it doesn't suit your taste.
Party Queen has unique influences? eh, rock pop songs like Shake it and NaNaNa are nothing unique. I've heard those kind of pop songs even from Britney Spears. And groups like B.A.P has also rock influenced pop music. Using some " dubstep" like in "Shake it" is also very very mainstream now.

Ayu does now what every other artist is doing. Nothing new, nothing unique about that. I wouldn't mind experimenting but the outcome wasn't even that good. I don't even say anything about the covers.

Only experimental tracks in that (IMO)cheap(IMO) album are the two musical inspired songs and that's it. Most of the album is pretty much the same thing she has done for a decade.

The cure is quality top notch pop music with her heart in it.

[isthisLOL?]

Originally Posted by jewelbox

I know what I'm talking about, sorry if it doesn't suit your taste.
Party Queen has unique influences? eh, rock pop songs like Shake it and NaNaNa are nothing unique. I've heard those kind of pop songs even from Britney Spears. And groups like B.A.P has also rock influenced pop music. Using some " dubstep" like in "Shake it" is also very very mainstream now.

You say you know what you're talking about and then make highly superficial statements to back your claims?(rock influenced pop music? Doesn't get less descriptive than that)
Let's just look at the very first track. There we already have influences from chiptune(rare in Pop), dubstep(becoming more popular), disco(rare nowadays), cutesy pop(typically J-Pop, but rarely in this context) and typical electropop(did I forget something?), topped off with a masterful arrangement that purposely employs an empty sound to support the irony of the track. Find me just one other song in the pop business on a top10 album with that genre mix. You probably won't be able to do that since...it's an unique genre mix and therefore hardly generic. The same can be said about every song on Party Queen but call, Letter(two songs that focus on the revelation in the lyrics moreso than any other track on the album) and Serenade in A-Minor. And we haven't even gotten to the compositional level!

If you dislike the album - that is completely fine. But talking ******** about how typical it is, how it's not experimental and nothing special? You've got to be kidding me. I can see how someone might get that idea from not paying much attention and listening to the album once or twice only. But when you consciously listen to it it's quite obviously far from ordinary.

[hidekirby]

Originally Posted by isthisLOL?

Let's just look at the very first track. There we already have influences from chiptune(rare in Pop), dubstep(becoming more popular), disco(rare nowadays), cutesy pop(typically J-Pop, but rarely in this context) and typical electropop(did I forget something?), topped off with a masterful arrangement that purposely employs an empty sound to support the irony of the track.

I personally don't find any "unique" influence there.
And the result is far from being unique too...
I won't say it's a masterful arrangement either. I'm quite sure this song was meant to be happy/cheerful in the first place and then they came up with that "drama/lonely queen" thematic and changed the whole look of the album 5 months after the song was created. They even added a sad acapella part to the live performance of the song so as to fit the new thematic better.
Face it, this song is just poorly arranged and yes, empty!

Back on topic:
To me there is no real cure as regards the sales. It will go downhill. As people said she is too old for this market. And I don't want her to do something "in" (RnB or else) for the sake of it. She stays true to herself (for now) and that's great.

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by isthisLOL?

Erm...no. Party Queen has many influences that are quite rare in pop music and melodic progressions completely different from anything else in the business right now. Except maybe Lana del Rey, Björk and some Hikki tracks. Either you have a highly superficial view of her music disregarding the entire compositional level or you have no idea what you're talking about tbh.

having interesting compositions can mean very little in pop music though... especially when you have unoriginal arrangements like these.

They completely come second, because no one wants to pay attention to them.

What is pop music about?

I can have a new, sophisticated, highly developed song. But if no one cares to listen to it, then it doesn't really make a difference. And pop music has always been all about the now.

There are other people in the industry that have better music than this, it's just that they aren't popular, so no one gives a ****.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by emi♡

having interesting compositions can mean very little in pop music though... especially when you have unoriginal arrangements like these.

They completely come second, because no one wants to pay attention to them.

What is pop music about?

I can have a new, sophisticated, highly developed song. But if no one cares to listen to it, then it doesn't really make a difference. And pop music has always been all about the now.

There are other people in the industry that have better music than this, it's just that they aren't popular, so no one gives a ****.

Still... the best generic pop composition can't save you once you are too new to be forgotten and too old to interesting... And this is exactly where Ayumi is. She is doing what is more "functional" right now, growing as an artist, cuz as we could notice several times from glitter, Together When..., Days, Sunrise, You were, Moon, ANother Song, How beautiful you are and You & Me, the generic well produced pop tracks that are all about the "now" aren't really selling that much either.