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And Now, Ayaya? And Now Ayaya
For a long time I've wanted to write this article but I stopped myself. Why would I write such a useless thing? And time would eventually prove me wrong; why burn myself!?
Well, for the same reason I can't keep my mouth shut even (and specially) when told to, I must write this and try to seed in all you some doubt. About Ayaya.
I really don't know that much about her to write something about her life (neither do i want to). But I have to say it, there's a mystery, there's something... There has to be! Thing is: something is different to her.
And this is from the beginning, though my focus is on her recent change of style.
Okay, what is Ayaya, or Matsuura Aya, for Hello! Project? Girls who got into Morning Musume, graduated from it or never could be in it compose this thing. That is the basic. The objective? Children or teenagers. It's up to the group, of course.
Of course it is now so big that we have girl(s) for every taste. Miki Fujimoto for pop (pretty like a momusu solo), Natsumi Abe for a more mature pop, Maki Goto for a dance and some rock, Kaori Iida for a Mediterranean mood... We even have enka in it! Yuuko Nakazawa?
But, wait! Who from that list has never been in Morning Musume? None. Those are basically the most famous girls in Hello!Project with a solid (yet?) solo career.
And Ayaya? Err... Nops, no momusu candy for her. Try again next time.
Yes, I mean, no. She has never been part of that group. But does have a function in all that balance, at least she used to.
She represented the AIDORU (or idol). She was created (I do think Tsunku has this evil girl-creating machine) and modeled to be the perfect mirror for the 70's and 80's idols. I have listened to some of their songs and I do see some remembrance.
If you still think her songs are something Fujimoto sings or even Nacchi... Try again. Her face, her way to look and, mainly, her way to dress and shoot pictures. It's tottally different. At the same time it does remember those old idols. And because she's an AIDORU her public is pretty mixed. She does have idol song for children, teens and the nostalgic (for the latter, try Sougen no Hito).
With time and even before it passed, Ayaya became one of the most popular solo singers (I did meet her before Morning Musume). The first and second albums did get a good place in the charts and they were released in January, a moth full of popular people releasing albums.
But poor Ayaya wasn't that good with her third one. I do remember people commenting it was because Tsunku scheduled her right with Fujimoto's, Nacchi's, Gocchin's, BoA's and whole bunch of people. I don't know if half of those releases were true, I did forget it. But I do remember the second one being for sale at the same dday as Utada's comeback single Colors and BoA's second album Valenti. So, nope. I do not buy that.
And now we get into my main point. Neither did Tsunku.
So 2004 was a huge year for Matsuura Aya. A month or so after the third album her single "Kiseki no Kaori Dance" was out. I don't remember dates but it was really soon. So soon people found it kind of strange.
Well, after "Last Night", I found this a little thing. I hated the song but I have to admit. This was Ayaya's normal tune. Pretty retro and full of dance... So it passed. I don't know whether it was successful or not. Thing is she soon released another single; I can't remember the exact title but the main track was Hyacinth. I loved the song, so smooth and cute... A ballad. But not those nostalgic or melancholic ballads like before. Or even an idol thing. A simple ballad.
I have reasons to believe it went well. After some months another ballad was out. "Seishun Sensei". It talked about life, becoming a better person, growing up. No... It wasn't idol-ish either. But I told myself. Tsunku changed a bit with Hyacinth and released this one for Ayaya's graduation, perhaps.
But here came Watarasebashi. I have to say it was something melancholic or even nostalgic... Written by Ryoko Moriyama, by the way. But... No... This was definitely not Ayaya.
So I asked myself: What's up in Tsunku's head?
But I never linked it to 3rd album flaw.
Now I heard what is probably her next single. And I couldn't stop myself: something is wrooooong! Ayaya is not releasing in January? Ayaya is not singing retro!? She's not the... idol anymore?
So I leave these questions with some of my wonderings: Maybe Tsunku noticed she was getting to old to be an idol or even she asked him for this more matured style... Or... Perhaps... Tsunku is just giving her a break, passing the ball to Natsumi Abe... But with her absence, why didn't he give the role back to Ayaya? This "mature" theory can be solidified with the fact that she did help Tsunku host Pop Jam special in Kobe. She narrated things and it was definitely not AIDORU like.
Of course we will probably never know, but we can never stop asking, can "I"?
Anita, 2005.02.18
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