-She is an amazing performer (and on my personal top 3)
-Her work as a good amount of depth for pop music (and i'm talking about lyrics here)
-She releases well produced non-generic pop music (even her generic music is generic compared to her own)

Her vocalic talent and the way she moves/ captivates you with her voice and how this works so well with the musical arrangement.

haha I'm going to quote identity too! Basically all of the above!

I can relate to Ayu's past.

Catchy melodies, her PV's are some of the best I've ever seen, she's beautiful, inspiring, stylish...did I mention beautiful? :P AND I love her vibrato as well. :D

Woah no need to get mad, Smile more :D
Haha its about the feeling and expression Ayu gives through her songs and how it touches her public
:)

To answer your question, if I didn't know what Ayu's lyrics meant, then I'd like her for her PVs (very creative) and her melodies (very catchy). But then I would only be interested in her the way I would be interested in any other artist with catchy music and great visuals. I'm sorry if it annoys you, but her lyrics are mainly the reason I am fascinated by Ayu; if it weren't for their depth, Ayu would just be the "Japanese Madonna": catchy tunes, amazing visuals, but no real depth to the lyrics. It's the introspective, philosophical nature of Ayu's lyrics that provide shading and striking contrast to the sometimes-poppy visuals and upbeat songs and depth to her more artistic, innovative PVs, a depth and contrast I have yet to see in any other artist. In other words, Ayu's artistry owes a lot to her lyrics.

Actually, I'm not Ayu-lyrics-fans. I just love her music and everything about her life. but not the lyric.

this^^

I think the main reason is her lyrics...but when I first saw Ayumi perform live, it was a TV live of Voyage where she forgot the lyrics, she seemed really friendly then...I think it's her personality that I like. ^^
But then talking musically her songs have very nice arrangements and compositions, such as Moments which imo is a masterpiece.

Her performances.. I liked her initially not because of her lyrics, but her performing ability. I like her facial expressions especially when she's on the stage singing. And this is done so due to Ayu putting in her emotions while singing. Some artists just sing, but they can sound really emotionless..but Ayu is different. That's why she caught my attention initially, and then after I find out more about her and realise she does composing and so on, my love for her music grew further.

I am really proud to be an Ayu fan! I think all of us here are! :)

at first i like her since i know she sang for inuyasha :)
im still a kid that time..
after i discovered jpop i started to fall in love with her..
everything!! ^^
actually i was a BoA fan before since kpop is very popular here (n more popular than jpop i think..) but idk ayu just make me love her so much!
but i still love BoA ~
well that's my story.. :D

Even now theres a lot of Ayu songs I've never looked up the translation to, so her lyrics are definately not the reason I like her.

RAINBOW onwards I've liked her for her voice. Pre-RAINBOW I liked her Electronic/Dance sound.
Overall I like her as a whole ... artwork, concerts, performances. It all just works to create a package (Lol, sounds like I see her as a thing :shakehead)

When you are singing you are transmitting emotions and feelings through your voice. You can feel identified by the emotion the artist is releasing. Many times i have heard japanese music i don't understand at all, but i feel immediately connected with it.

For some reason, when i heard Namie's Dr song i knew what she was talking about, and i don't speak japanese at all :laugh but yeah that's basically that

I like Ayu for many different reasons, not just because of her lyrics. The biggie....her persona. The way she's so beautiful, inside and out. Her personality.

When I first heard "Heaven", I knew not one single piece of Japanese, but Instantly fell in love with the song. I think it was the powerful music video, or maybe it was the way its sung. Once I knew the translation meaning I loved the song even more.

I honestly say I most love Ayumi for her lyrics, I guess that is a little cliche of the fans. But I really mean it in good terms. Her lyrics are so poetic, so unique. No other artist can express feelings like Ayumi has done in so many of her songs..

As for her as a person, I really love watching her documentaries cause she seems so lively and fun. Definitely somebody I would want to have as my friend. She seems so cool. Maybe that is merely just her face for the camera, I believe though its the way she acts all the time.

LOL I wish she would do a "BFF" show. I'd much rather see people competing to hang out with Ayumi then lame old Paris Hilton whose a well...... if you're from America you know exactly what she is. LOL!

Ayumi rocks that is all there is too it. :P!

While I do love her lyrics, the whole package of "Ayumi Hamasaki" gives so many great things.

* Her PVs are interesting to watch
* The melodies and arrangement of the songs are beautiful
* Her voice carries lots of emotion in most of the songs she sings...I wouldn't need a translation of Days, Sparkle, NEXT LEVEL to understand the feelings behind the songs :yes

I like her music the most!! Ayu always sings with emotions and she's really pretty.. Well, I like everything about Ayu!! LOADS!!

It was her voice and her music which made me like her even though her voice is suppost to be too high and blah, i only like artists which i like there voice, the lyrics have nothing to do with it but iv always liked her voice and her lyrics just are a bonus to her music for me giving them more special meanings

It's the emotions in her voice... I shall use the songs kendelle said to illustrate an example. Ayu sang NEXT LEVEL, Sparkle and Days all in the same album, yet her voice in each of these songs is so different, and each carries a different emotion, and it corresponds to the song's real Emotion as well.

She can be lalala-ing, but even that would have feelings too. It's just special... just like this.