In late 1990s, Ayumi Hamasaki became one of Japan’s biggest pop stars. She set style trends and was famous for constantly changing her appearance. But, maybe, she was doing something else constantly.
Gamers might know Hamasaki as her songs have been used in games like Tales of Xillia and Onimusha: Dawn Of Dreams. One of her tunes was used in the Hollywood movie, ahem, Dragonball Evolution.
Hamasaki’s slick fashion, concerts, and music videos are a key part of her success in Japan — and beyond. Of course, her catchy music has also been instrumental. While in recent years, she hasn’t recaptured her past glory, Hamasaki is still one of the biggest selling musical artists in Japan. To date, she has sold over 50 million albums.
On Japanese netforum 2ch, a series of images show just how much Hamasaki has apparently been influenced by — or allegedly borrowed from — other performers. Longtime fans will probably be aware of most of these. Maybe not! These comparisons have appeared online before.
But here, let’s have a look. Keep in mind, some of these could merely be kwinky-dinks! Though, the Ayumi Hamasaki pics are dated after. That being said, the comparisons certainly are interesting.
And, of course, many artists steal. It’s a matter of doing it well, I guess. Fifty million records ain’t half bad!
渉嫌抄襲：浜崎あゆみがジャケ写をパクった!? [華流 チャイナ日和]
日本人のパクリが凄まじすぎると話題 [2ch]
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2 responses to “Former Japanese Pop Queen Sure Looks Familiar…”
Its actually quite common in Asia. A lot of western songs, movies, ads, trends gets copied by asian celebrities. Most of it is decisions by management in studios to literally “rebrand” a look for an asian audience…
I love Ayumi. I’ve fallen out of touch with her latest stuff, but everything Voyage and earlier I adore. Good, cheesy fun. Her remix albums were all great too! 🙂
Evolution is one of my favourite Ayu songs. Just out of interest I thought I’d check out Madonna’s Rain clip. Not that similar at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15kWlTrpt5k (Madonna) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIzJLOJzLGc (Ayu)
There is obviously a pattern of Ayu being inspired by various artists’ appearances (or at least for the purposes of film clips) but Ayu has pretty much changed her appearance week in and week out for the last how ever many years – even the similarities above are only a drop in the bucket overall.