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Ayumi at the Crossroads: “A Song for XX” and its Perpetual Resonance

November 2, 2009 | Vee | Comments (2)

Ayumi didn’t need our sympathy in 2003, and she never has. The body of her work, even down to the most saccharine love song, paints a picture of melancholy independence, a world in which even the happiness is underscored by struggle. But isn’t that life? “A Song for XX” is the ultimate, singular example of Ayumi’s strengths as a performer and as a wordsmith. It is a bit of self-indulgent confession, accusation, and resignation that envelops you, accepts you, grows in and around you.

Vee takes an in-depth look at an “A Song for XX” and how it epitomizes the virtues of Ayu’s musical career.

Boats Against The Current, Borne Back Ceaselessly Into The Past: Ayumi Hamasaki and The Price of Fame

October 26, 2009 | Anna | Comments (5)

Taking in her world with a frown, anxiety and confusion sweeping her features, she still pursues escape from fame, but only into a kind of fantastical, otherworldly realm, the only kind a woman like Hamasaki can live in after experiencing the type of fame she has endured. Performing freely to the open plains without a soul to hear, she preserves the music that has become her passion, but disconnects from all those pesky people who make it so hard to enjoy. For Hamasaki, there was no longer the possibility of the real world as we know it.

Anna takes an in-depth look at Hamasaki Ayumi’s music videos and how they reflect her evolving relationship to fame over the years.

The Koha Roundtable

September 22, 2009 | Ray Mescallado, murr, wendy and Vee | Comments (3)

The news of Kusumi Koharu’s graduation from Morning Musume raised quite a stir in our corner of the J-blogosphere, as coverage here and at Intl Wota can attest. Always open to experiment, I decided to run an ad hoc roundtable to discuss what happened to Koha and what it means for Hello! Project’s future. DH’s regular contributor Vee was of course ready to join in; bloggers / wotachatters Murr and Wendy also threw their hats in the ring. (Unfortunately, illness kept Wendy from doing the last round of questions.)

The roundtable started Sunday night and a major new development – Tsunku making explicit that he ordered Koha’s graduation – occurred while e-mails were flying.

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