This is an article that's been a long time in the making. The roots of Pink Wota itself can be traced back to the LJ Community ayu_me, which I created in order to share Ayumi songs and media with my friends who were just beginning to dip their toes into the J-Pop scene. To this day, Ayumi is the only artist several of them will listen to, of the dozens I blather about here and on my personal journal.



It happened very recently - I was posting about my plans for Metrocon's Anime Idol competition on the forums for said convention, and mentioned my desire to perform an Ayumi Hamasaki song. The only direct response I got? "Oh, man, I hate Ayumi Hamasaki."

What? On what grounds? Where does this so-often unfounded hatred come from? As far as I know she did not murder this forum-goer's family, and judging from the profile her "Ayu Hater" scarcely been out of kindergarten when Ayumi was selling 5 million records a year.

Hating Ayumi seems to be a trend in the J-Rock world, I find. But I'm not going to put myself through the trauma of doing the research it would take to prove that. I can understand disliking someone who is considered to be the "face of modern Japanese pop music" if you're only into Visual Kei or the hardest of the black metal J-Rock. She's an antithesis. It's like saying "I hate Britney Spears"...or it used to be, before Britney Spears became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Okay, fine, it's like saying "I hate (insert popular band/singer here)". It just screams "I'm not mainstream! I don't like what the rest of you corporate sheep like!"

I try not to pay the haters much mind. Because nine times out of ten they're just trying to inflate their own sense of identity, and know nothing about Ayumi's music, her history, her personal investment in her music. I was a teenager during the grunge era, I know all about hating things in order to inflate your sense of identity. What you didn't like was so much more important than what you did like. Music became like politics, in a way. To extend the metaphor even further, "pop" became like a disease, and if you were seen around it or associating with it, there was no curing you. Well, I was never really one to listen, and even though I loved Soundgarden I still loved The Beatles more (how "pop" can you get? They just DID IT RIGHT). Though I loved Pearl Jam (and still do), I kept my Madonna albums. Alice in Chains were great, but I could still dance better to TLC. Sorry, purists.

Boy, you should've seen the room clear when I mentioned that I wouldn't be covering J-Rock or Visual Kei at my Anime South Panel ("I'm sorry", I explained, "I just don't know anything about it"). This must be where a lot of the Ayumi hate comes from, same as hate of anything within the same sphere of fandom. How can you possibly be "better" at liking the same things? Good luck with that. I'm not about to make a post decrying X-Japan or L'arc~en~Ciel, because I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THEIR MUSIC. I'm sure I'd be able to get into a few of their songs. I know this because it's always my curse (or blessing, however you look at it) in music. I don't judge an artist based on what he/she/they stand for or what they represent. I like the music or I don't like the music. And, believe it or not, I haven't had time to listen to every band on the planet yet. I'm still catching up with a lot of bands from 50 years ago, for crimony's sake. I still have to listen to the latest C-ute album.

I can understand Ayumi haters who know of her music, know of her history and her style. When they say things like "I just don't like her type of music" or "I think she's over-rated" or "I don't like the style change she's gone through in recent years", that's cool. That's not actually hating, that's having an objective opinion. Such as: I greatly prefer the Namie Amuro of today to the Namie Amuro of 1998. Not a dismissal of everything Namie is, and it also begs for a dialogue. Why? When do I think a new image began to take hold? How does the new style of music hold up against the old? It's fans face to face with fans, then. Thus, anyone who comes forward with a literate opinion that weighs on the "nay" side of Ayumi doesn't bother me. It's just how easily people (across the internet, which, admittedly, is not known for its literacy) blurt out an "I hate Ayumi" statement without even considering that they're speaking directly to a fan.

Take my argument against Takahashi Ai, for instance (PLEASE). It was a rant that I hoped would be disproven, because I really don't like to have any "least favorite" members within my favorite idol group. Thank goodness, in the time between Mikan and Resonant Blue, I've come to find a little spark of love for Takahashi. Whether this will foster, I don't know. But it makes me feel more comfortable with Morning Musume again. "I love everyone! \:D/" - you know the feeling.

In our little blogosphere, fellow fans draw rifle sight on statements like mine against Takahashi Ai. But phrases like "I hate Ayumi Hamasaki" are just greeted with a laugh, a shake of the head, and a pat on the back. Because it's almost an accepted thing, to hate her.

But I still have to get all squinty-eyed and ask "....WHY?!" Hate is such a tremendously strong word. If you can provide me with any concrete news items (not rumors!) proving that she has been failing to live up to her idol status, if you can show me how, as a dedicated fan, I've been blind-folded to a greater conspiracy, if you can manage to strip me completely of my love for an idol who has not only provided me with hope but has also shaped my life, be my guest (then I'll punch you in the face, because I can't afford to lose a hero). You're not likely to be able to.

She's not running for office. It's no longer 2000. This is not a sport and, even if it were, Ayumi has already peaked. You win nothing for your hate.

"It's not that I really hate her, it's just that I heard one song of hers and it wasn't my style."

Yes, and Panic at the Disco's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out and Pretty. Odd. are COMPLETELY the same style. Give an artist a little credit for being an artist. And stop using the word "hate", it makes you sound 12 years old.

Ayumi is terminally a performer, terminally a singer. So much that diagnosed tinnitus in 2000 did not stop her from singing and performing, even after she went deaf in one ear seven years later. Her lyrics are multi-faceted and have depth. She takes up the mantle of composer when she knows exactly how she wants her own song to sound. She is not a product of the machine, it just happens that the machine took a very strong shine to her, and she still has the money and the fanbase to keep that going. She has a great personality behind that "photoshopped" image you see so often. You don't even need to know Japanese to see or hear the woman behind the music. I've always believed that her concert performances transcend language barriers, and her PV tend to be multi-cultural anyway.

Education first. Then opinions.

See me? I'm not going to say anything negative about J-Rock here, even though I could make gross generalizations. Because I don't know anything about J-Rock.

I had to write this, even though it might not hold any water or make any difference. Does anyone else run across this with their favorite artists? The whole "______ killed my puppy!!!"-like response at the slightest mention? I've seen it happen with Hikki, but that seems to be the leftovers of the great Ayumi vs. Hikki debate of 2000, which is just an eyeroll now.

So, you'll all excuse me for getting defensive when Ayumi's talent or worth as an idol is brought into anything but purely objective argument. I've seen too much of it, I've put up with too much of it without ever saying anything.

Peace.