#Max Matsuura

[persimmonlions]

Ayumi Hamasaki revealed in her 2019 biography that she had dated Max Matsuura (her label & agency’s CEO) early in her career. The same guy who was responsible for “discovering” her and managing her career.

More recently Matsuura decided to promote a new star, Kalen Anzai, who portrayed Hamasaki in the drama M Aisubeki Hito ga Ite.

[appears]

Ayumi Hamasaki: YOU

When an artist debuts, sending their first single or album screaming out into the world, sometimes you can tell that the world of music and pop culture is about to change forever. As soon as Britney Spears released the song and iconic music video for "...Baby One More Time," most people sensed someone and something special was happening, a seismic shift re-writing the rules of the Billboard chart. But that's just not how the world of J-pop works, where labels don't debut artists fully formed after years of singing lessons, dance lessons, and performing experience. Instead, they send young women like Kumi Koda and Ayumi Hamasaki out into the world like awkward baby deer, forced to stumble and grow into their celebrity while the whole country witnesses and weighs in.

A good example of this is Ayumi's early singles and first album, which is markedly different from everything that came after. In the beginning, Ayumi was just another product to be mold and sold by Avex Trax, specifically, Max Matsuura, who discovered her in a dance club back in the 90s. They may have flown her to New York for vocal lessons and given her a trendy, expensive haircut, but she was just another vehicle through which to convey the Avex brand, complete with their in-house writers and arrangers, who had a signature style and sound that could have been grafted onto any number of beautiful, halfway-talented women willing to sacrifice a level of autonomy and artistic input for a paycheck and fame. Nobody could have predicted that Ayumi, with a solid, but unremarkable, debut single like "poker face," or the generic, sappy follow-up "YOU," was about to change both the label and Japanese pop culture forever.

"YOU" was released in June of 1998, two months after the release of "poker face." It was again written by Yasuhiko Hoshino, an Avex veteran who would go on to compose half of the tracks on her debut album, as well as contribute songs like "And Then," kanariya," "End of the World," and "girlish" on her next two (for those keeping track, he reunited with Ayumi at the back-end of her catalogue, appearing on FIVE, Love songs, and Love again). Of all of the songs that he worked on for Ayumi, I think this is one of the weakest; there is just something really simpering and limp about this track that even Ayumi's lyrics fail to enliven. It's not exactly a bad song, but it lacks real personality, and the pace is neither slow enough for serenity, nor fast enough for a sense of significant urgency.

Ayumi is still in safe-mode here, offering a vocal palate devoid of style that focuses on hitting all of the right notes at the right time, rather than injecting any character. That would come with, presumably, less nerves, and more say into the way that songs were developed. For now, she's listening carefully and obeying instructions like any first-year. This is in marked contrast to everything after LOVEppears. It's this lack of agency and hesitation that really defines her debut years, as it does for most artists. I don’t think anybody could foresee a "Free & Easy" or "NaNaNa" coming from the same artist singing "YOU." Ayumi's journey, like so many J-pop stars, was one of time, patience, and gradual growth and development, not the instant firecracker of singers like Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, or the numerous TikTok stars who are signed after already proving themselves via follower-count and virality to guarantee a hit.

This is not Ayumi's strongest moment, but it's a succinct explanation of her first year on a major label, marked by all of the uncertainty and fear that comes with that. If "YOU" was all you had to define the singer by, a single and sound extremely similar to other Avex outfits releasing music by the same writers and producers at the time, like TRINITY or EARTH, you couldn't predict how powerful, creative, and innovative Ayumi could become. In a world where major-label A&R departments are neglected in favor of catalog purchasing and Internet-celebrity recruitment, spotting and nurturing genuine superstars is a dying art -- and while I’m not discrediting the massive amount of luck that helps, the last two and a half decades of Ayumi’s career, and a follow-up like “YOU,” proves how amazing the pay off can be.

[mymanreedus]

[ayuvogue]

According to Billboard (and Avex President Max Matsuura’s Instagram) Avex USA has joined forces with Roc Nation by investing in S10 Entertainment to help Japanese acts break into the United States and vice versa.

The partnership with S10, which is a joint operation with Jay Z’s Roc Nation, will give Avex’s Japanese talent “access to best-in-class management teams in the U.S., as they look to develop and break Japanese acts globally, while also providing a unique route into the Asian market for S10 and Roc Nation’s stars,” according to a joint statement.

This comes several years after Avex announced its touring partnership with AEG. To temper expectations on this Ayu fansite, newer Avex acts like XG will likely benefit from this the most directly.

[jogallice]

Sélection mangas du mois de juin 2023 : harcèlement scolaire, impuissance, gestion du deuil, un récit entre Mad Max et Top Chef, et une aventure fantastique.

See on Scoop.it - JamesO

Recommandations de la rédaction de Franceinfo : Le château solitaire dans le miroir de Mizuki Tsujimura (scénario) et Taketomi Tomo (dessin), Le son des morts de Daruma Matsuura, Jumbo Max de Tsutomu Takahashi, Crazy Food Truck de Rokurô Ogaki et Villageois LVL 999 de Koneko Hoshitsuki (scénario) et Kenichi Iwamoto (dessin).

JamesO's insight:

Via l’agence JamesO Média❗️N.D.L.R. : article de presse (temps de lecture : 7 minutes) publié par Franceinfo (Radio France) le dimanche 11/06/23.

  🧍‍♀️ Du 1er au dernier jour de l’année 🏄‍♀️

🧍 Du lundi au dimanche 🏄

🧍‍♂️ Jours fériés compris 🏄‍♂️

  #culture #BD #mangas

  🎤 JamesO.InfO 🎙

��� Annécien & Quotidien 🎧

  🅱️ Le fil beige de JamesO.InfO

La culture, le divertissement et les loisirs.

[doushiyou-ka]

Matsuura Masato’s twitter (10/23/2018):

Nishijima is yet again too great. I had no idea but it seems that he went on a day trip to Hokkaido last Sunday.  I heard that aside from clothes and foods, he also gave out portable DVD [player] and popular DVDs for entertainment.  In hopes to regain the smile of those people in the disaster area as soon as possible,  it was through the form of entertainment which he could give his support.

[kmexk]

Cumpliendo con su palabra, el presidente de avex trax, Masato 'Max' Matsuura, acudió a la presentación de Koda Kumi en Kanagawa para desearle un feliz cumpleaños. Matsuura dijo que pasó un grato momento con Kuu, quien siempre parece estar llena de poder y risas.

[aramajapan]

Stars Attend the Pre-Fall 2019 Valentino and Dior Shows in Tokyo

This has been a busy week for fashion in Tokyo. Two fashion powerhouses, Valentino and Dior, showed their new Pre-Fall 2019 collections in the city. On November 27, Valentino held its first ever fashion show in Toyko, debuting its Pre-Fall 2019 collection for men and women. The collection was a mixture of Western and Japanese […]

Read more on aramajapan.com

[walking-sons-of-the-dead-anarchy]

[hantuyangsepertiburung714]

OHHHHHHHHHHHH

I GOT HER ANGEL SSR!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY ANGEL SET IS NOW

COMPLETE

[persimmonlions]

i’m sorry you want to stan which companies now? avex with ceo max “drunk misogynistic rants on livestream” matsuura? johnny’s “we’ve been grooming idols and blacklisting them when they left since before you were born” entertainment?????

[misakolove]

@maxmatsuuratwit (+ Instagram)

Just a little drunk! #aaa #Unochan#avex #maxmatsuura #avex #maxmatsuura

[vengerbergmerigold]

Women, and breathtaking ones.

Are more words needed?

[ayuvogue]

Ayumi Hamasaki appears in a brief new video on Max Matsuura’s channel with mutual friend Mika “John” Noguchi

[lol-5]

[TRANS] Max Matsuura’s twitter & Instagram update:

Commemorative picture at TGC ! #lol#tgc #masatomatsuura #avex

[doushiyou-ka]

Masato Matsuura’s twitter (05/03/2018):

With NISSY & LEADER, the GW is a little more cheerful. #aaa #nissy #uratanaoya #masatomatsuura #avex

[*GW = Golden Week*]

Urata Naoya’s twitter (05/02/2018):

#AAA #maxmatsuura #Nissy #un #TheBestTime