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When you became an Ayu fan, what was it like?
I've been an Ayu fan for way too long now. I dunno what it's like to be a new ayu fan now, or three years ago, or five, or seven... And I'm curious what it was like for all of you guys when you first became an Ayu fan. What was the overall community like? how easy/hard was it to find info on ayu? What confused you? What excited you?
I discovered ayu in spring 2000, just as the Trilogy was being released. We'd already seen the "vogue" and "Far away" covers and we were waiting with EXTREME anticipation to see what the "SEASONS" cover was going to look like - we knew it was intended as a trilogy, and we'd noticed that the "Far away" cover was the full photo from "vogue." We were wondering if "SEASONS" would maybe be the whole, un-ripped photo, or if it would show the photo sitting in the shallow water on the beach. It was really fun to guess - and then we were all very disappointed when the cover was just Ayu holding the photo & staring into space. XD!! When Duty came out, it took forever to find mp3s of the whole album. There were mp3 sites out there at the time, but torrents didn't exist yet and neither did file storage services like Megaupload. Alot of mp3s were hosted on free web hosts, so bandwidth was a serious issue for sites that had them. I could download maybe 2-3 mp3s from an album before their bandwidth would be gone for the day/week/month, lol. Nowadays thanks to torrents and MU, people get entire albums days before release, and listen to them entirety multiple times before the CD is even officially out. That was REALLY rare back in the day - getting an album via p2p programs like Napster took several days sometimes, even if they were available that early. A BEST.... oh man, what a fiasco. NO ONE had real rips of that album ANYWHERE, they were all just constructed from ayu's previous releases. It took me MONTHS - not kidding here, MONTHS - to find mp3s of all the re-recorded/re-mixed tracks. Speaking of remixes, ayu-mi-x II NSMM was really hard to find as separate mp3s, the only mp3 going around was one big long one. Mislabeled mp3s were also extremely common back in the day, as data on Ayu's albums and sound clips and such were basically nonexistant. You had to download separate mp3s one at a time rather than full albums, so I would like, download individual songs and sorta "construct" ayu's albums. LOVEppears, as you might imagine, was full of wrongness, lol... I had WHATEVER "version J", immature "JT Original CM Mix," and monochrome "original version" on there, for example, since I had no idea what versions of those songs were used on the album until I got it as a christmas gift. I also had from your letter "dub you crazy mix" and And then "Acoustic Orchestra version," and since they weren't labeled as such, I had no idea they weren't the originals. Okay, I've rambled WAY too much here. Time for your stories everyone! :) :) :) |
I have been a fan of her for 2-3 years now , which started during the Secret era . I was getting very bored with Eng music & my younger sister suggested to me to try jpop because she has been listening to it for a very long time , like about 8 years now
I was so lost initally . I didn't know who should I listen because Eng & Japanese music are so different if you know what I mean & I started initally with the more well known female solo artistes & naturally ayumi was the very 1st jpop artiste I listened to Secret was the 1st album I listened/bought of her . Song wise , it was About You (I heard Dearest before but I didn't know it was her back then lol) while for PV wise , it was BLUE BIRD I joined AHS last year on my 21st birthday & I have to say I didn't regret doing so & let alone decide to cross over to pursue/listen to jpop music full time . I'm sure in many ways or another , everyone has been inspired by her be it musically or not . I sure have & it looks like I'm not going anywhere for that matter :D |
I also became a fan in 2000, a friend of mine had a lot of her music and videos on his computer that his ex wife had acquired in China on her visit to see her family. A lot of things excited me back then about Ayu. I remember watching the CM's for poker face and A Song for xx and just thinking, she just so darn CUTE!
I had my friend burn me some of her music because at the time I couldn't afford to buy any of her goods. I pretty much wore that CD out. My ex got so tired of hearing Ayu everyday. xD I also remember seeing evolution for the first time, I thought Ayu was taking sort of a "diva/sexy" persona on at the time. I don't think it was until about 2003 or so when I really started looking up stuff on Ayu, doing graphics and so on. Mainly because I had my own computer at that time. One of my best friends gave me her copy of A Song for xx because she was just a casual Ayu listener and she knew how much I loved her. :) And whenever we went out to karaoke, I would make her sing Dearest for me. haha I'm sure she still hates me for it. She also tried Depend on you, but she always tried to get her voice pitch high like Ayu's but could never do it, so she would end up skipping the song. I still love Ayu as much as I did when I first discovered her. She's been pretty much a constant in my life. All of my friends know that I love her. |
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Later that same year though, the president of my high school Japanese club (basically the president, me, my friend, and her sister! That's it!) gave me the Seasons single since he got DUTY the album. I definitely liked it better hearing the original, but what really stuck out to me was the Acoustic Orchestra version of To Be. I overplayed that one. My single had a scratch on it near through the last few tracks though, and no cover, so I quickly grew tired of it. I saw various other Ayu things here and there after that, but what really made me a fan was the Endless Sorrow music video. Once I saw that, I HAD to have the single and the album I am... (I got the single once I found out that the album wouldn't have the original version). These became my first official Japanese CD purchases from CDJapan in the winter of 2002! :innocent |
The first time I saw/heard Ayu was in 2002. My friend showed me this music clip (it was Fly High PV) and we both got stuck. Reaaally stuck. Since that clip I started to dowload some of Ayus music that I keept listening too all the time. Naturally, it was Fly High and evolution that warmed my heart the most in the begining. Then it was like that for a bunch of years. I just listened without taking more intrerest in her, then just by listening to her music.
While I already got many many songs at my computer with her (but the same problem as Deli wrote about, I had no idea how the albums looked and all mp3 was kind of a mess), MY STORY was the first album I got after copied it from my friend who bought it. That copied CD is totally lost now since I listened to it soooo much, kind of obsessive. Lol. But I was pretty naive back then. I really didnt think farther then just to my local CD store, I thought I would never get an Ayu album if I didnt find it in the local CD store (my wish :P) or by ebay. But I was reaaaally scared of ebay for some reason. Lol. Didnt trust it at all. But around here I started to take more intrest in Ayu as a person too. I looked at YouTube ALOT. Many many PVs, some documentrarys etc etc. But here once again, I was pretty naive, I couldnt imagine that there was any forums about her. But I was really green in that area by then since I had never heard about forums almost. Lol. Anywho, in 2007 my friend showed me this ebay auction with Ayus A BEST 2 black and white in it. It was a preeorder auction kind of, cuz the albums itselves wasnt out on release yet. But we decided to buy on pair of each album fron the auction. Then our CD's came home we watched the DVDs nonstop. Like a spell or something. It was amazing really. Haha. XD After here I stared to reaaally obsesse about Ayu. Me and my friend also saw these concert tickets for AT07 in Hong Kong that we dreamed for so long to go to. It was kind of crazy. I wanted to talk about Ayu so much, my friends got a bit tired. :P So I googled after forums and found JPM right away. I was sooo happy to find a forum to talk Ayu in and get so much info about her too. And now I got tips abut this internet store called YesAsia and my ordening time (and less money time) got started! After some time I started to plan to go to Japan (since the Hong Kong trip didnt work out) for real. I started saving up money like crazy, made a very exact excell project where I wrote up everything that I bought! As a student you dont have much money in the beginning but I really saved up for this, is there a will, noone can stop you! ^__^ My parents got really supriced and cheered me on about this cuz I have never been that good with my economy like during that time. Then finally I took a plane to Tokyo in december and went to see Ayu on CDL07-08. After all this time, since my first discover of Ayu back in 2002, I was so happy to see her. I cried for like 7 songs. XD Here I also started to by everything, starting up my Ayu collection. Then in the spring 2008 I went to AHS and here I am now. At AHS I found not only more Ayu news and stuff but also friends that likes Ayu just as much as I! Now Im living in Tokyo and have already seen Ayu 3 more times since CDL and I will see her more times. I cant help it, but I love to be one of her fans! :heart And I tend to stay like this for so long I want to, cuz this makes me happy. ^__^ Sorry for not making it short. >.< Didnt know I had so much to write about really. XD |
The first time I listened to ayu was just for the release of Memorial Address... so at the end of 2003... sooo 6 years already?? OMG I didn't realise how long I've been an Ayu fan since now... I was 12 by the time (almost 13)!! but I always have the feeling I'm a newbie in a lot of things... how to say...As some of you, my feelings about Ayu's music hasn't changed at all since I first listened to her... they have increased!! ^^
I wasn't aware of how all worked in Japan and for Ayu until My Story and Fairyland release... I didn't know that Ayu was selling new songs as singles the whole 2004... I was only searching for pics and songs in programs like emule... and without order I had them all in my computer... I even thought that one Naturally remix was actually the original track... xDD So between My Story and Fairyland I became aware of this selling pattern of single-> albums, and found AyumiPrimenova with lyrics, so I could put each song in their respective album... by Fairyland release I already knew pretty much about Ayu's biography and I found a smaaall Catalan Forum (where I'm now one of the moderators) about Ayu and was then that I could follow Ayu's career fully, her TV appearances, magazines everything!! So (miss)understood album was the first time I was aware of an album release and the searching of mp3... It was a bit crazy before it... And not because the info wasn't there... it's only that I didn't know where to find it... When I came to AHS (not joined, only came here XD) was around between BLUE BIRD and 1LOVE/JEWEL when everybody was expecting for a single... And by this time all the downloading thing and search of scans and so was pretty similar as how it's nowadays... but before I got to AHS... I suppose all depended more of bittorrent and e-mule kind of programs... and now there's a lot of direct download... Si in terms of getting info I haven't suffered a lot... And was for Secret album when I started buying Ayu's album through YA ^^ So I was a fan (a lost one, but a fan after all) for MA release, and became fan with knowledge by Fairyland single XDDD (I think I've wrote tooo much XDD) |
I believe the first time for me was when around...gosh, I might get this messed up-but around the Memorial Address era (so 2003, yes?). Wow, that is a long time....
Anyways, we moved from Japan to America at the end of 1998 (right after Ayu's debut, so if I stayed longer, I might have been an Ayu fan since the start!), and I am Japanese through mommy's side. So I think she wanted me to hear Japanese music to stay in touch with my Asian side, and found a website called "Music Fever" (Though I do not know if it is still up). Out of all of the artists, I listened to Ayu the most, and voila! I started from there! Though I am pretty sure she somewhat regrets it, because for me, all it was was "Ayu this!" or "Ayu that!" for YEARS (I think now, even to this day!). The first CD of hers I got was either Inspire or Forgiveness through my relatives in Japan, and my first albums (at the same time) were Rainbow and Duty at Christmas! Still a loyal Ayu fan, though, even if I am listening to other artists! |
I first listened to Ayu back in the spring of 2007.
I ordered A BEST 2 Black and White with the CDL DVD and I fell in love with her after a few times of listening to her songs. I was a huge Kumi fan before and I wanted to start getting more into J-Pop and since Ayu is so famous I wanted to start with her! And I didn't like her as much as Kumi even now not, but I love her and her music so much,too. Everytime I listen to her music or see her I am happier=) So I know her since A BEST 2 era! ♥ |
My friend advertised BLUE BIRD on her blog. She was all like "YOU MUST GET THIS SINGLE!" and all that. Of course I didn't buy it but I did listen to the single and thats when I became a casual listener. I wasn't a fan yet until I went to Hong Kong in the winter. It was after Secret was just released and I thought "eh...why not?" and bought the album. I got hooked onto the DVD and I would keep watching it every night. The album was meh...to me at first but it grew to become my favorite. After watching ayu OVER and OVER again, I became a fan.
I decided to search up on her. I did a LOT of research. Because of my research, I am proud to say that I wasn't a victim of the 'Butterfly - Ayumi Hamasaki' thing. The funny thing is that I heard of this forum while searching up Ayu but didn't actually click on the link until I was searching up Jolin Tsai. I didn't join AHS yet. I actually didn't want to join AHS. I thought everyone would be mean to me. Of course I sucked it up and joined anyways. I don't regret it. If it wasn't for this forum, I'd be completely lost on Ayu News and I wouldn't be introduced to new artists. Of course now I know that most of the members here are nice. I guess that's my story. XD |
I randomly found out about her on the internet early 2004 and I downloaded a few songs, Trauma and Dearest and some remixes, and decided to burn the songs on a CD.
then I forgot about her for a while. but 2 years later I found the CD with the songs, and I enjoyed them more than before, so I downloaded more songs and watched the AT05 concert and got hooked .. yeah |
Ayu didn't really interest me until my friend got me a copy of her (miss)understood album back in 2006. After listening to it a few times I was hooked.
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Interesting question! LOL
I became a fan of ayu in early 1999, God, i was only 12 that time. the very first song I listened to was Depend on you. Suddenly a feeling of surprise and excitement came on me. I was so stunned by the force of the song and then strenght of her lyrics. At that time my feelings, my law self confidence were much nearer to Ayu feelings and I could find in her music the courage to live my blank days. Then I started to download as much as I could but I could find so little mp3 s at that time that it was difficult to build a proper fandom shrine. That time there weren't many websites talking about her and most of them were japanese so i found pretty hard searchin some infos about her. I collected every picture i was able to find and every little interview was like a Bible to me. The very first album i've been able to purchase (and it was so difficult for a teenage Italian girl without CC and most of all without money) was A BEST. A japanese friend of mine gave me as a gift one copy, followed by I am. Listening them 10 times a day I believe I ruined those copies and i oughta buy 2 more copies for my collection later. My excitement touched the top in I am...-Rainbow era. I was totally addicted watching her PVs on my laptop times and times a day, trying to imitate her style as well. The first delusion I had was when I discovered Memorial Address should have been a mini album....during MA era my economy was much better and I couldn't wait to pre-order the new full album. Actually I still follow her here daily but i'm no more so addicted as that time. maybe I cannot find myself no more in her lyrics as I could years ago. |
Such a good idea for a thread!!
I love to read about everyone n_____n I learned about Ayu around April 2003. I had this downloading system (kind of like limewire, but older, I can't remember the name) on my computer when I lived with my father, the internet was REALLY slow. So on day after I watched Macross Plus (old anime movie) on TV, I decide to go on the internet and search for anime music. I downloaded a few songs and in those songs, there was Ayu's evolution I really liked it, so I tried downloading more and I also downloaded music videos. The first music video I downloaded was RAINBOW. I thought the concept was so cool, with two Ayu's, one running after the other. I loved it!! I didn't understand what she said, but I could really feel the emotion through the music and the way she sang. So I downloaded as many songs as I could find, and I listened to her very often. I burned some CDs so I could listen while in my room on my old stereo. On Summer of 2003, I traveled to Montreal with my mother and I found a small shop that sold Ayu CDs and DVDs (they were bootlegs but I didn't know!!) I bought A BALLAD and A MUSEUM Dvd. The time in between then and 2005, I don't remember well. I think I stopped listening to Ayu for a while, it was an off and on kind of thing. In 2005 (I think it was end of the summer), I traveled to Toronto and my boyfriend (now ex, haha!) showed me this shopping center called "Pacific Mall" where there is all things asian. I found Ayu CDs!! These ones were real! I bought MY STORY CD+DVD and I remember the feeling! It was such happiness! After that, as time went by, I found different websites to download more of Ayu's music that I never listened to before. I moved out of my town and didn't have a good job, so I couldn't buy anything online, I didn't really care though. I listened to Ayu off and on. I came back home around Feb 2007, and then I was lost and confused (long story) so I fell back into Ayu's music. This time it was more than ever! I was going through a lot in my life and I could related to a lot of Ayu's songs and music. When re-started working full-time in September 2007, I started shopping on eBay for Ayu stuff because I could not find anything in my city. And then I found AHS around Christmas 2008 and finally I made an account!! I was so happy to find this forum! And I learned so much since I joined here! There was so much stuff I didn't know about you. And even now I feel I don't know a lot. Ever since May 2008 though, I really started buying all of Ayu's CDs. I went back to the asian mall in Toronto and bought as many CDs as I could get my hands on. And this year, in October 2009, I traveled to Tokyo to see Ayu in concert for NEXT LEVEL AT09! I was so happy to see her for real, I cried a lot during the last show, especially at the end!! I've always loved Ayu very much, but since I was in Japan it has grown even more! I never thought I could love a singer so much!! I'm even thinking of getting an Ayu logo for a tattoo. I hope I can travel to Japan, and see her again next year n____n Love Ayu! <3 |
I am loving these stories.
What kinds of websites were around when you became fans? Who remembers acrea for xx, ayuppears, hce's site, clubayu, or ayu_everfree? |
^I don't know these XD As I said AyumiPrimenova helped me a lot... I saw a lot of CD's and I couldn't understand why she had so many!! XDDD And there's a channel for teenagers here in Catalonia that broadcasted a lot of anime, and in their forum I found a thread about Ayu with the link to catalan forum about Ayu... After that AHS came, and it's like the best place for Ayu fans!!!
Neffiline, you're so lucky to had been in an Ayu's concert... with all the crisis, and me starting university, going to live to Barcelona in a students flat... means a lot of money... for my career I'll have to be living in Japan for a whole year!! I'm so happy but this will be in 2-3 years -_____- and don't know if I'll be able to se ayu before!! |
I am so embarassed to say this, but I first loved Ayu when I listened to Dearest, on you guessed it, Inuyasha. However I did not become a fan until I found youtube in the summer of 2006 and the only songs of hers that I listened to were Blue Bird, Carols, and Dearest other than that I was so scared to venture off into the unknown. Thankfully I did and I can say that this is the only artist who I have listened for over three years. For me that is a long time, so yeah. However before I was a member of AHS I remember watching the pv for Jewel and moments over and over again. And I remember the excitement I got when I heard part of me for the first time or when I listened to some of the tracks on secret. So i do kind of miss the nostaglia, that word is in Carols LOL I am soo weird sometimes, that I get when listening to those songs. However I have drove myself crazy with some of my first Ayu faves like bluebird (I can not even remember what it sounds like but I would probably go crazy if I heard it), voyage (I am soooooooo sick of that song I have probably listened to it 10 or 15 times in a year), dearest (I am beginning to love somewhat again), and I sometimes love to listen to carols.
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I just discovered her this year. ^^ Thanks to Youtube where I found a video of her. ♥ The song played in this video was Rainy Day and I listened to it over and over again. At the first listen I was thinking "What a beautiful voice this cute asian girl has". Then I tried to find more about her and discovered her huuuuuuuge discography. She has sooo many songs and I wanted to hear them ALL. XD
I`m very excited about the new single "You were.../BALLAD" and hope it will be much better than Sunrise/Sunset, because I didn`t really like them. v.v |
Back in the days, in the 2000s everyone who had interest in Japan at the time was a fan of Ayu. It started with my cousin saying Ayu is the best singer in the world by showing me a PV of Evolution. I liked it, but music didn't become important in my life until much later on. Then Dearest from Inuyasha appeared, it was my favorite ending. I thought her voice was still horrible thou. Haha.
A friend of time introduced me to more ayu again with Duty, Loveppears, and I am... albums. That didn't interested me at all, I told her she's crazy to be obsessing so much. Warped to 06, Summer. Bluebird = instant love. Her music helped me cope with real life issues. I just looked on Wiki and Primanova site for lyrics. Finding her music wasn't hard since it's the age of file sharing. Went on AHS around the end of 06 with secret on board. Just lurked around, mostly in the news thread for a while because I was only interested in new releases. The forum was more active, even with down times I guess. But my thanks goes to Masa, a shout out. "thank you very much for your translations." I swear, without him and AHS, I wouldn't be a fan today. Secret was like my fandom finally started. It erupted! At the time, Ayu was getting better and better, with a rich history. It was so much fun looking through her past with MU, My story, Memorial Address, Rainbow etc. And it was fun looking towards the future with A Best 2 heading on the way. My fandom slowed down considerably Ayu with the release of T2M... I literally had to force myself to listen to decision and it to like them... making me stop listening to music all together, but that changed with GUILTY. Since then, she hasn't disappoint me and my fandom is fairly stable. But I finally became a member of this site, due to the Anticipation of GREEN/days. *-*! Funny how now, there seems to be less and less ayu fans around. Like my cousin and friend stopped listening to ayu, well at least to the new releases. There's like no real ayu fans in my japanese classes either. The Japanese international students know about her, and buys her stuff, but aren't really fans either. They only say, "oh I liked her old songs and a few new songs so and so." Even my teachers don't like her. I find it weird because before, I was under the impression of she was liked by the majority of people who are into JPOP. |
This month, around a week ago, was my first ayu-versarry, I have known her since ~July 2008 though. I saw a list of the most expensive PVs of all time and when I noticed there was "some japanese girl" on it I looked the video up. It was fairyland, I liked it, but didn't love it, ripped it and put it on my iPod, overplayed it and forgot about it.
In november that year, I thought about her again, visited a website that let you watch all of her pvs and started from mirrorcle world. It was instant love, within the next minutes and hours I watched most PVs back to MY STORY era, I only liked around a third, downloaded all the songs, overplayed them, downloaded GUILTY album - FELL IN LOVE! It was the same month I registred in this forum^^ I remember we just got the two PVs for Days and GREEN and were all looking forward to PCDL very much...and that her fall was a giant shock! |
I was introduced to Ayumi through an old friend over four years ago ~ Now, I live in England .. and I had no contact with the J-Pop scene other than through anime and manga, so when I heard her for the first time, the first thought that came into my mind was "Wow, the music is so different .."
I was around twelve and I had never heard anything like it. I'd listened to foreign music before a lot; my step-dad had an old CD of Deep Forest which is an old band...if you could call it that, they're pretty unique. I was addicted because they were different. Although I liked various English bands, I was still more into that old CD. And as soon as I heard Ayumi, I was addicted. ~ That same old friend let me borrow her single CD only of Moments, where I promptly listened to it non-stop for the week she let me borrow it and I learnt all the words, recording it in 30 second pieces on my phone xD ~ I started to download her music slowly..everytime I got a new song, I'd be so excited to hear it ~ Knowing nothing of MP3 sites and the like, I depended on random song-sends from that old friend and some from Limewire..because of this, the songs I owned were very random. But when I listened to them I get so nostalgic..I know the words to each one and I remember the feeling of first getting into Ayu <3 Some of those are still alone, ourselves and Rainy Day ~ ~ Then, I started getting more into Ayumi as a person. I researched everything I could about her and started to introduce people to her music. I still had no concept of her albums or PV's or anything.. ~ I started to get her songs into albums and to watch her PV's and lives on youtube. I think this was where I became really obsessed, late 2007-2008. ~ I lost all her music earlier this year and I had to wait three months to get it back. Her last single didn't really stand out and I'm now more into other artists..however, I'm hoping this new single catches back that Ayu sparkle for me <3 |
I discovered Ayu at the end of 2006, I was in 7th grade, 13 years old. That time was when I started with my passion/obsession with Japanese culture, anime, manga and J-Music.
Well, back to Ayu :laugh I was an annoying fan of Inuyasha and from there I discovered Ayu (also discovered BoA, Do As Infinity and Namie) and Dearest was the 1st song I ever listened from her, and then no more words... they literary took my breath away :heart And then, I decided to download Ayu's latest album then, Secret. I had enough of the American mainstream music that I listened back then and I wanted to listen to something totally new to my ears. When I downloaded Secret, I was expecting that it'll be an album full with ballads (the titles like Until that day..., It was, 1 LOVE and Not yet gave me a melancholy feeling) and when I listened to Until that day..., Startin', 1 LOVE and the other non-ballad songs I was kinda weird out and something like "Woah... she did change since she did for Inuyasha... o.o" but after that I continued to listen to JEWEL, momentum, LABYRINTH and Secret and again my mind was blown away by her :heart Also, Beautiful Fighters and Born To Be... always made me happy and optimistic :laugh And then, at the beggining of 2007, I decided to download Ayu's A BALLADS, my love for Ayu was rising constantly and I kept annoying my parents with Ayu (my mom is still freaked out by Ayu's "Himitsu Owowowowowow~~~!!!" from Not yet :roflmao) and then fell in love with RAINBOW, M "HAL's Progress", A Song for XX (A BALLADS version), Voyage, Dolls, HANABI, TO BE and many others *daydreams* Forgot to mention the PVs :laugh the 1st I ever saw was Dearest, I was amazed by it back then :heart also by RAINBOW (it was my favorite, it still is), JEWEL, momentum, SEASONS (without vogue and Far away) and... that's it I think, I couldn't really find her PVs, avex was always deleting them on youtube. Oh, just remembered that I was confused that she didn't said the titles in the songs like most Western artists (except Beautiful Fighters) and didn't understand why some titles are capitalized and others with just small letters :laugh I remember that when I downloaded Secret I thought that it was a mistake and changed the titles to "normal" titles :laugh (like JEWEL to Jewel, momentum to Momentum etc :roflmao) ...and didn't understand the difference between A Song is born and a song is born x_x (as in what's the difference between the titles) |
Primenova was the only Ayu site I visited for a long time. Then I found zyrex, and one day I decided to start looking around for forums, and AHS was the first one to pop up! And voila! I joined, and I'm glad I did, I met quite a few great people here~
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I discovered ayu in 2006.
It was kind of weird, but I was a huge fan of final fantasy. I watched a fanvideo, and the song on it was really good, but it didnt tell me what song it was, so i showed it to my friend hoping that she would know, but she didnt Me and my friend were searching for months to try and find out who the song was by, but then i had to stop looking cuz i had to go to hospital When i got back, my friend came over and was like "GUESS WHAT I FOUND!!" and she put a song on. It was the song we had been looking for, called "evolution" by ayumi hamasaki Later that day i went on the internet and listened to more of her songs and i thought that she was really good. Eventually i became a huge fan, and so did my friend. She used to give me most of the titles, but not anymore ^^ cuz i know them all hehe The first Ayumi album that i ever got was (miss) understood, for christmas, my dad looked at the history and noticed that there were ayumi hamasaki songs, so he got me it. I've been downloading them ever since, theyre cheaper to download because of the whole postage and packaging thing, but my dads on cdJAPAN now instead of YESASIA so he gets them from there. I became obsessed with her music since i got that album. I watched her lives and PV's on youtube and i thought this woman had talent. Now i really want to see her live, Mum says maybe later on, after my A level exams......if i pass. Now the rest of my friends are becoming known to her, (mainly because everytime they come over and im in my room theres an ayu track blasting away) and have started to kind of like her, theyre obbsessed with another band which is pretty cool XD My dad had to listen to her while taking me to apppoinments and is starting to like her also (i got a "shes got a nice voice" from him O.O) Problem with living in the UK is, if i talk to my friends about her when we're in town, other people look at me as if to say "WTF is she talking about?". mind you, if ayu DID decide to tour in the UK people would suddenly think they know all about her and go "Hey she's fairly recent isnt she?" Get that a lot at school with current "new" bands coming allong to fame |
I must admit, I haven't been a fan for that long, sadly... Only since 2006... But when I did become a fan, I was entirely new to J-pop and Japan itself... I was very confused...I didn't understand why I liked her music so much when I couldn't understand a word of it... But my friend and I slowly began to like Japan more and more, so we really became hardcore fans after about a month XD
At first, it was so very hard to look up pictures because I kept forgetting her name XD And when I did find pictures, it was very fun for me, because I'm really into drawing :) Later, I started to really appreciate her lyrics and really understand the feeling behind them... And now... I am 100% an Ayu fan :D Wow, I must seem pretty pathetic to all of you who have known her for much longer...But I'll continue to support her~~~ |
I'm quoting myself lol :roflmao
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It all started in the summer of 2007, I saw Ayu's glitter PV in Taiwan and I fell in love with her hair...I thought it looked like Sailor Moon
I went home and downloaded some of her songs~ I just adored them! So I went off to download all of her songs (I did plan to buy some the albums) But first...I didn't know that Avex deleted all of her videos, so I searched "Ayumi" in Youtube, I just got Ayumi Lee's Cutie Honey and for a while, I thought that was the Ayumi I was looking for XD The first Ayu forum I joined was Ayunite, then AHN...but it felt too boring there, so I came to AHS...but actually for Namie at first XD I heard there was a DVDrip of PLAY TOUR and I had to make an account to get it :roflmao But I stayed for Ayu :D I was really excited for all of her releases! I could listen to her on repeat for 3 weeks without getting tired. I can't remember a time when I was like really obsessed with her. Wait...I would considering downloading all of her videos, concerts, and PVs as obsessed when my internet was really slow...just had a MU window open every day XD I just always wanted to know what's the latest news about her, but I never paid attention to her TA diary and stuff like that.... |
Ahh... Ayu. Our dear Ayu. Very dear to me as she was my first J-pop artist, and has led me into loving Ami Suzuki, Hikki, Namie, Ai Otsuka, Mi, LIA, Aiko Kayo, SCANDAL, and Stereopony, among a few others. All in the course of.... a year, and.... wow. A year and a half, almost exactly. It's been quite a journey. I've been a music buff nearly my whole life, apart of a family very big on music. I grew up on generations of my mom's music, my sister's music, and now... I've found my own interesting tastes in the J-pop industry.
I first discovered Ayu through my best friend. I mentioned it maybe once before, but it all started in an art class we shared together. We had this art project which involved picking any one picture we wanted of someone, or something, and blowing it up with a grid system, and drawing it. Most of us did pics of ourselves, or friends, or iPods, but she was doing.... some Asian girl? It was bothering me quite a bit, I didn't know what she was up to, so I finally asked, and she was like, "Ayumi Hamasaki". Now, before this, I'd kinda known she was into Japanese music, but I didn't pay much mind to the names. I was like, "A-yume Hamazaki?" (for the longest time I couldn't say "amasaki" and I kept saying "ay-yume", not "eye-yume" xP so ignorant, or uncultured) It took me a few weeks of her saying, She's really good! You should listen! And a few brief listenings of the songs before I finally took it in my own hands to discover more about her. I first delved into Rainbow, and... I just loved it. The next school day, I came to our class together and just raved about her.... Sure, I don't always understand her songs entirely (I have to look at translations quite a bit), but.... they're so catchy, and beautiful... and so amazing. I was entranced. And from there my interests eventually branched out with the help of some download blogs. What was the overall community like? To be honest, I was so shocked to find out how tight-knit and intricate they are. I'd posted frequently at a couple other forums before AHS, but that was years ago, and it was about a TV show. I felt intimidated by how every one member contributed so much for each other, and always had something intelligent to put in... so at first I was hesitant to post. And when I did, I felt like an idiot. Here I was, a new member, and a newbie fan as well, posting with a bunch of senior members, and longtime fans. And with AHS, and with the severe popularity Ayu has, it wasn't too hard to find info on her. What confused you? What confused me... Well, her lyrics. Even translated, they're still so.... deep and well thought out. I must admit, in America it's hard these days to find really good quality lyrics that have deep meaning - what with all the pop stars and rappers and such (not that I don't like them, but Ayu's lyrics are so wonderful). I was just confused as to how she could have so many fans around the world, in Europe, all over Asia, American and Canada.... and is so beloved, and yet... I dunno. I'm just astounded by the massive, global fanbase Ayu has. What excited you? Everything about Ayu and J-pop. It was a whole new world of music for me. I've been into the Japanese culture ever since living on Oahu for a great many years. I took Japanese lessons, and was just surrounded by Japanese culture. As of a few years ago I've been into manga and anime, and I've been trying to teach myself more Japanese. So, getting into Japanese music isn't really that strange for a really white American girl like me. :laugh People think I'm insane sometimes for listening to music I can barely understand, but... her music holds a lot of memories for me. Not memories of the times I listened to her in this last year and a half, but... I just relate to so much of her music. And she reminds me of all the good parts in my life, somehow. Her music makes me feel good. People will never really understand why a girl like me would listen to Japanese music. |
Once upon a time.. lol ok I'll stop it :laugh
I was a random music lover, I mean I was listening to Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, P.O.D, Linkin Park, Nirvana and a lot of different western artists. But I never liked them so much. I mean, I was a Britney's fan but I listen to her just for catchy music and good looking. (Yep I was a little bit superficial :rolleyes). By the way during 2001 (o gosh I was only 14) I start to follow animes and manga. And obviously listening to anime openings. After that I listen rarely to western music, and then it comes 2002. It was December, and in a j-pop site I've seen 'Ayumi Hamasaki - RAINBOW'. I thought " Woow Ayumi.. what a cute name!" lol and then I searchin' for this album in a file sharing program that I can't remember. Then. I listen to it. I was speechless. I mean, the first time I was "omg she has sure a strange voice" :roflmao but her music.. I don't know but it was a love at first sight :D. So I started to search more about her and I've found 'Ayumiprimenova.com' ^^ I love that site. It was my first Ayu site ever. And then.. it's almost 7 years that I follow Ayu. During years I start to love her not just only as singer, but as a person. Especially for her inspiring and deep lyrics. I don't care if friends of mine said 'she's soo diva D: I dislike her' 'LOL LOOK AT HER FACE'S SO PLASTIC!', I still follow her as the first time. Lol I don't wanna be a 'fangirl', I respect her :yes waaa sorry guys >_< my english sucks, I hope to have written all clearly. |
I've been her fan for about 7 years. haha. But I remember when I first became her fan... I was too young to know how the computer was such a stealing machine so I decided to wait about 2 years. So thats when I got into these communities and could find out a lot more about her and became more of a informed fan -- everything was amazing.
At the time... the song that first got me actually CRAZY about her... was probably... Evolution. It was the first song I heard from her and the one I remembered every lyric to. I Am... was the first whole album of hers that I listened of hers and the lyrics and the feeling of the album got me saying "this girl is my idol" She was very honest and blunt... very true. Not being that cutesy "Love... love love, my hubby, hubby love" crap. They were serious lyrics that made you reflect yourself. that's what made me love her. When I became fully active, Ayu was everywhere and always brought into discussion -- whether good or bad -- I would always defend her but she was definitely the ruler of her time. (still is now). Her voice was ridiculed and her voice was favored. The album that was being released at this time was My Story. People were complaining about INSPIRE and I remember listening to the song and watching the MV and not being able to find a single thing wrong with it. I knew then I would have to find more about her. Thats when I got into her as a person, about her past and what her future could hold. What she's done and what she's won. I was so proud of her though I barely knew her as a person and only through her music. So now... because of everything I know of her... because I know how strong she is... She's definitely my idol and has been for years. I listen to her to help get through hard times. I watch her when I want to smile. I listen to her when I need advice. I watch her when I want to dance and laugh. To this day... she's still my idol and she's also the only artist to make me cry during a performance. :) haha. But its definitely been a long time since then that I can't remember the actual feel of what it was like to listen to her very first song I heard of her... Did I hate it? Did I love it? Did I like it because it was different..? I don't know cause I can't remember. haha. Way too long and I was too young. |
I love reading everyone's stories. Makes me feel...warm and mushy inside. XD
Ayu was introduced to me back in 2006, I think? We had to sing 'rainy day', and my friend showed us a bootleg copy of (miss)understood. I thought the song was pretty boring (I love it now though!), and that she was probably some, B-list, not-so-popular artist, judging from the (m)u cover. Boy, was I wrong XD Anyway, I was surfing youtube one day, and watched this fanvideo with the song Criminal in the background. I loved it so much, so I randomly searched for an mp3 download at that time. I found it, and also a couple of other Ayu songs as well, like Trauma. AND THEN, I was on Crunchyroll, watching some jdrama, until I decided to randomly search her name in that site. At that time, I though CR was specifically for TV series only, so I wasn't expecting much. But THAT was when I stumbled upon her Memorial address performance from AT03-04, and it was instant love. I searched for the video and song to download but I couldn't find it anywhere. I found AHS but I didn't sign up because there weren't that much too look into. I did sign up one day though, and that was when I discovered that it had more hidden sections for members only, including dooowwnlooooads~ Hahaha. And the rest is history. I'm so glad for being an Ayu fan, because her music helps me transaction from purely rockrockrock dark songs to lighter, happier songs. Before that, I was only listening to Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, etc. Of course when I found her, I started off listening to her dark songs first, like criminal, Memorial address, but eventually I listened to her other songs as well, and thought they weren't that bad. Besides, I also discover that she's not really the superficial and plastic that her public image appears to show. From AHS downloads, you actually get to read her thoughts from her diary (Deli, you rock) and her backstage stuff. And oh yeah, she's the main reason I actually start to purchase originals instead of merely downloading and buying cheap bootlegs. It used to be hard to resist because that's the only options I used to have! D: And now, this not only applies to her, but also to other artists I love! (Still, majority is Ayu XD) |
I first started listening to Ayu in 2002. At the time most of what was available from p2p networks was stuff from asfxx and LOVEppears (and only a little bit of Duty, for some reason), so I thought maybe she was just another jpop artist in the vein of Every Little Thing and that sort of popular style. I didn't know much about jpop and got into it via anime.
I am... and RAINBOW should have been available around then, but I think songs from those albums just had enormous queues, and I had trouble downloading them (I used WinMX, so tons of Japanese users). I did hear "Dearest" because of Inuyasha. When I first heard other songs from I am..., they blew me away, because I'm a rocker at heart and they really sounded awesome to me. I bought I am... and RAINBOW from a shop downtown, but they were just well-made bootlegs. :( I didn't know at the time. My first legitimate Ayu album was Memorial address, and I remember seeing the pre-order on YesAsia and being so excited. I was a fan then, yes, but I didn't really go Hamacrazy (:dead2) until about a year ago, when I "caught up" on all the Ayu albums I'd managed not to notice for a while, such as (m)u. And really, what Ayu fan of any caliber wouldn't go crazy after hearing (m)u? Hearing her newer stuff led to re-appreciation of older stuff, and opened my eyes to her growth as an artist, and I couldn't stop listening. Now I'm a regular collector. :) Quote:
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I found Ayu by accident. Its only been a short 1 1/2 years since I became her fan. I got tired of listening to Western music so I went back to listening Asian Music. I didn't get hooked on Ayu's music until Fall of 2008. While I was browsing thru YesAsia catalog, they had a banner ad for Ayu's A Complete Singles album and she looked real hott on the cover. I was like hmm "damn she's hott and she got some nice eyes". lol. So when I was downloading some Theresa Teng songs on iTunes, I was like "what the heck" lemme type in "Ayumi Hamasaki" in search. And lord on behold, there was at least 3 pages of her songs came up. I was like ok, songs is only $0.99, lemme download a song from her. So I was like hmm "Dearest" what the heck? After listening to that song, I was like not bad sound pretty good even though I don't understand Japanese. I Googled her just for fun and to get more info on her and every pic I see of her is like damn she is beautiful. It was like love at first sight..lol. So in Winter of 2008, I decided to buy her A Complete Singles Album and after listening to the who album, I was damn I love her music. After that, it was nothing but Ayu most of the time on Youtube, Dailymotion, etc, bought NL album, PCDL and AT08 when it first came out, starting to collect her studio albums this past summer then start my account here on AHS in September. I'm pretty much now a Ayu-aholic. Currently I'm working on getting every studio album from her, need three more albums to get which hopefully be completed by next year. Her CD's are too damn expensive! But, its part of the hobbies I guessed. There you have it, "My how became a Ayu fan" short story...
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Wow, it's been a long time since the day I first found Ayumi. It was late 2002 during highschool and during a time that DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) was decently popular. I thought it was a dumb game at first, until a friend at school introduced it and raved about how good he was at it to the group. Considering my graduation class was only 136 students the school was small and word spreads around easily. I didn't quite take it as a challenge, but I heard and seen enough about the game to give it a try.
Well I practiced, abused, and mastered it, beat him at his own game, and then got bored of hearing the same songs. I then found a program off the internet where people can make their own music mixes and dance steps for their favorite songs to play in the game and I downloaded a huge mess of the popular ones, which just so happened to include a few of Ayumi's songs. I played the big mess of songs, deleted a bunch, and suddenly realized that the majority of the songs I loved the most were made by the same artist, the songs being Evolution, Naturally, and Surreal. Once I looked more into her I believe I forgot all about that game :-P. From that point on I started looking more into her and suddenly I turned this simple curiousity into pretty much the craziest fandom experience I have ever had lol. I watched the videos, listened to all of her music, uploaded songs to other sites that were focused on her, did a few essays on her for school, spread the word about her being "one of the best singers ever", yeah, I got pretty into it haha. I'm not the biggest fan as i used to be, but I still have to admit when times are grey her music is one of the few that hit the spot and make my day a little brighter. Still, how I got introduced to her is pretty wierd, and kind of embarassing O_o. I don't remember too many of the sites i looked at back then, but I know my resources to look into her consisted of ayumi.premanova, this streaming video/music site, masa's page with all of his articles (read everyone of them and loved her 10 fold more after hehe), a few other fan sites, and eventually landed on this one a little while later. |
"I'm not the first one to become a fan of Ayu, but I'm DEFINITELY NOT the last one to become a fan of Ayu": talkin' to myself, always.
Before that, I could hardly imagine how come a guy or a girl is so crazy for an artist/singer and could not understand the definition of so-called a "fan" of xxx, and I feel a bit sick when I see those "fans" screamin' to their favorite artist/singer and I would say:"C'mon...". And now I wonder I've become one of those, from my standard, amazing ahhh... Not only Ayu awakes me back to world of music, but also makes me growing day by day into Jpop now w/ YUI, Ai Otsuka and BoA. Long time ago, occasionally I've watched few Ayu's PVs like M, V/F/S trilogy, Dearest, Endless Sorrow, INSPIRE, is this LOVE, and heard "Avex Trax" everytime at the end of Ayu's single or album release CMs. And I love "Voyage" (not knowing, or just neglect, the name of song at that time) even I own that JDrama "Little Chef" DVD. And I think her voice is kind of different/special every time when her CM clips come up, but I've not much interested to find out more at that time (which always makes me regret not to listen to her songs earlier and TOTALLY MISS the fun to follow her every single and album releases, and her few arrivals and Tour of Secret locally held in HK). Not until last year when I started to listen Kpop (Lee Hyo Li) in Baidu (a Chinese based forum), and one day I'm curious to know the Jpop counterpart of Lee Hyo Li. First one I think of is Ayu. So just like a kinder-garden kid, starting recap of all her PVs, and watched My Story Tour and then I was totally obsessed just like most of you. At the same time I've watched her CNN interview, read the Times interview, documentary of "Light & Shadows 21 and 25", and eventually I found ayumi.primenova and AHS and read masa's translation..., the more I know the person Ayu, the more I like her. It's easy to buy back Ayu's collection at my place nowadays, just a matter of time and money, and easily get loads of info over the net. I feel a bit sad, or confuse in your words, when I hear the salesman in the CD outlet, talkin' to his colleague, sayin': "hmmm, you see, Ayumi is gettin' old now and her records doesn't sale good" when I visited the shop during the first week of Sunrise/Sunset release, planning to buy it myself. Excitement: for me, as such a newbie fan of Ayu, I know I still have many targets to achieve: collect Ayu's discography as much as I could, attending Ayu's concert, either in HK or go to Japan, following to her every upcoming single release (especially I'm much lookin' forward to what would her 50th single be look/sound like). I also could not image how seriously i would burst into tears if I have a chance to see Ayu in concert, in person, or sign an autograph for me. |
I've kinda been a fan for 3½ years now and the first song I heard was Because of you. |
lots of love and obsession :yes
im not gonna do a long post :P I'm a fan for almost a year now. i think i fell in love with momentum and JEWEL. i went on imeem to listen to a whole bunch of songs and downloaded em all, coz all of them were awesome. and then, i went on crunchyroll to watch all her videos and liked them too :) |
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I posted a lot also in Ayunite! It was cool until 2007 |
AYUppears.... ah... I was the 88,888th visitor back in 2000, and the graphic that crea/hitomi-x made for me was still there right up until geocities closed a few weeks ago. *sob sob!*
ClubAYU, me & Censations were running that together in the site's later days. It tickles me that you remember those two, as they're probably the nearest & dearest to my heart :) |
I first heard Ayu in 2004/2005 when my friend gave me a mix CD that had "evolution" on it. I don't remember liking it, but my friend told me that was the first J-Pop song I made him listen to, hah.
The first time I really got into Ayu was in September of 2006, and I was searching for something when I came across the "Because of You" video. I immediately fell in love with it, and I immediately searched the internet for more of her songs. I remember being confused about a-nation (I thought for a while it just meant "ayu nation" ahaha), and then I remember being excited because of her new mini album and single (of course, that didn't happen, and Secret was released instead). The first Ayu album I bought was "Secret", and I remember having to ask my Dad for money to order it lol. I ended up getting "(miss)understood" and "Memorial Address" for Christmas that year as well. The first Ayu single I bought was "glitter/fated", and I remember being so excited because 1) I was finally buying an Ayu single, and 2) there was going to be a movie with the songs in it! During 2008 was when I really started to collect Ayu's albums / singles / DVDs. It was her 10th anniversary, and I remember telling myself I'd buy all of Ayu's albums (studio albums) and singles... I did buy all of her studio albums, but I didn't get all of her singles. And Ayu was the real reason I went to Japan last year and this year. She only had so many dates for AT08, and my friend and I were trying our hardest to go. Thankfully, she added more dates, so I told my parents, "I want to go to Japan for my graduation trip!" I ended up buying my concert ticket before my plane ticket, aha. Even though I wish I could see her more, I feel so lucky to have seen her three times. Ahh... I think that was a good time for me to become a fan (last part of 2006). Best of CDL was in progress, she was announcing her first tour of Asia, she had her first real English interview... good times :) |
Aw man, I'm so jealous of everyone who's gotten to see her live!!! You're so lucky! <3 <3 <3
One day I'll see her though! ONE DAY! XD |
I thought you had already seen her live, Deli! XD
I believe that every Ayu fan can see her live :) You just gotta put forth a lot of hard work and determination!!! |
....and you have to pay alot of money, which I have never had. XD But my mom says that once I graduate college (which I shoulda done years ago, but i messed up), she'll send me to Japan. I'm gonna try & make that trip during one of Ayu's tours. :)
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Nice thread Deli! :)
WHEN YOU BECAME AN AYU FAN? I became a fan of Ayu since 2004 and supported her music by buying her CDs in July of 2007. I was a freshman in high school when I discovered her unique style of music. Before that happen, I saw a review about her first album(ASfXX) in a now-obsolete anime magazine in my country about 8 years ago. (I still have it until now) And then I watched her performance in 2002 MTV Asian Awards performing M but I don't like her at first. In 2004, thanks to the power of Limewire and the dial-up internet I had before, I managed to download Ayu's songs there but I got only few. The first song I've listened to is A Song for XX. And I was amazed on what the song lyrics was. I mean, I've never seen an artist who uses honesty to her music in my whole life and writes all of her songs in an album. During that time, the pre-release of MY STORY, I got really hooked on the song HONEY and it was the first Ayu song that I gone addicted before B&D. The first live performance I watched is B&D. But I can't remember the station where she performed. >_<" I started to save money in high school to buy her CDs but "man! they're all expensive! $30 for a CD, that's insane!!!" I said to myself when I look on Yesasia for it. Its equivalent for 1500+ pesos, its really huge amount here in my country. And the worst of all, I don't have credit card to buy one in that website. I kept searching for a store with a reasonable payment method but it was no use. 2007 is such a wonderful to me when I finally discovered an online store that solves my huge problem on buying CDs online, it was CDJ. Cash payment is kinda risky at first since I'll send it in a mail. Thankfully, there's a Registered Mail kind of sending method. After weeks of waiting, I finally got my very first Ayu CD, "glitter/fated" (CD+DVD). And the rest is history. :) WHAT WAS IT LIKE? It is very privileged to become a fan of an artist who uses God given talent and she was very dedicated to her fans and to the people around her. I mean, I was amazed by this woman's strength despite of worst times she's been through. From over-work on her DOME TOUR and then got hospitalized for a while, losing her hearing in left ear, fall-down on the stairs due to fatigue and losing a dearest friend. I got a lot of respect from her because of that: being a strong person. That's one of the qualities that I like about her. |
Been an Ayu fan for 5 years. Saw her in a vid. A concert.
I don't know which artist is my favorite before this. I just like them but know nothing about them. After knowing Ayu, everything change. I became so obsessed to Ayu. I've waste a lot of my time on searching everything about Ayu. But because of her too, I know many things that goes on around the world and not just her. |
I first discovered Ayu in March 2003. (I was 14!)
I had just gotten the internet for the first time that previous fall, and I was already really into anime and the like. I spent most of my time doing anime related stuff and downloading anime songs. Well, one of my fave rotation sites for anime songs also posted some occasional J-pop. I wanted to stay away from J-pop because it seemed way too...daunting. Too big. I was happy with "anime music". Well one day I really wanted something new to listen to and the person had uploaded "M". I recognized Ayu's name but had never listened to her before. So I downloaded it. Rest is history! Back then I really didn't know how to go about finding things. I mostly just google searched specific tracks and requested songs at various rotation sites. MP3s were hard for me to find in that day. A BALLADS was just coming out but I ignored that one. & was the first new release I paid attention to. Until I joined AHS later that year i got ALL my info from Primenova. It's crazy how far my fandom has come. I'm still pretty obsessed with Ayu. I saw her live twice this year wihle I was abroad, and the latter one was single-handedly one of the greatest experiences of my life. She smiled and waved at me during evolution, my favorite song in the whole world. It was like my entire fandom and the past six years of listening to music was validated. It was pretty fackin' awesome. |
hmm...i thought i had posted in this thread but i guess i forgot.
anyway, i had been an ayu fan since 2001, i was only 15 years old... She's more then my idol, ayu actually saved my life ---------------------------------- Back then in 2001, i was being isolated at school, my friends are all in other classes and hardly talk to me, even our recess priod is different. I was put into a class with repeat students and it was horrible.... The boys can't stand me, they found me an eyesore. i wasn't a pretty girl back then, had a horrible haircut, i'm wearing those big and baggy uniforms.They kept bullying me, erasing my completed homework, burning my textbooks, throwing rubbish on my desk, hiding my stuff are consider NOTHING. I had been kicked down from the stairs, and the most serious incident that made me so sad was trying to push me off the barrier from the 4th level, almost killing me. I have no one to talk too, the teachers are useless, they are scared of them and my form teacher even walked up to them when they are selling pirated VCD DURING CLASS, and BUY from them. I don't dare to go to the principal either, coz i was too worried that the prinicipal will take the teachers' side. My parent are out of the question, my dad grow up in an environment where he was taught that the teachers are always right. He will believe the teacher over me. My mind was so lost and angry. i had even planned to commit suide, by jumping down after school, i want those bullies to remember my death and be haunt by guilt forever. I had cut my finger and wrote a letter in blood and stuck it under my pillow for my parent to find it when i passed away. Just a few days before the day i plan to jump down, i went to a mall with my sis, we walked past a vendor selling pirated cds, and i saw Ayu's A Best. A best was just release back then, and there were plenty of advertisement in singapore about how ayu's lyrics had gave those japanese strength and change their lives. Out of curiousity, i bought her album and.... the first track, a song for xx... totally wake me up. I realise i wasn't alone in the world afterall, Ayu's lyrics is exactly what i was feeling. It's scary, like someone whom you don't know, understands you and shares the same feeling. i feel so warm after reading the lyrics, and i cried so much....It was then i realise my life is more then that. My parent had been always by my side and i would be very cruel to leave them, and my sister too, she's only 12. how can i do this to them? i should be the one controling my life, not those bullies, if they are going to bully me at school and no one can help me, FINE! i won't go to school. I end up skipping school for 3 days, going to the library and read. I only go to school for 2 days and we are studying different courses. NO ONE find out that i didn't go to school, till i got my results, coz i got a low grade and was demoted to a lower class. but i don't care, at least i'm still alive. i was reborn in 2001, my thoughts and feelings are no longer the same, because of ayu. as years passed, ayu's lyrics are just like my chicken soup. I started to buy her albums and concerts since then, it's quite easy to find ayu's stuff in singapore actually. When i started earning more money in 2005, i started buying some concert goodies from a local store. My first ayu's single is [STEP you/is this LOVE?] coz i love [My name's WOMEN] song so much that i want to watch the pv, not to mention that the STEP you pv preview i saw on an entertainment show looks good. The next year, my dad bought a computer for my sis for her schoolwork so i discover AYUNITE, then AHS. My first download live was Fairyland and i seriously love it!!!! I started online purchases after (m)u, when i got my first debit card! It was heaven, having my cds in hands before it reach the local shore and all those AYUPANS~~~ OMG~~~ i can't find them in singapore. There was a time when i was haunting in ebay and YAJ for cheap ayupans and second hand singles. i went overboard and got like 45+ ayupans within the first year.... In 2007 i started to buy her tour merchadies through middleman service and my collection had grow soooo much. My dream....is to thank ayu for saving my life...i had live on another 8 years because of ayu and to see her live in concert, be it taiwan/hongkong or JAPAN!!!!! |
^OMG! You make me cry with your true story! I did really cry! Seriously! It's good to see you alive :)
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@ lacus: That sounds so sad. I'm glad things are better now, and that Ayu helped you overcome that part in your life.
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Wow these stories are so nice!! made me teary eyed... :)
I actually don't really remember very much about my own experience though... I started out liking anime and all that then just listening to J-pop and I really liked Hikki this was about the latter part of 2007 and I remember thinking that Ayu was Hikki's rival and not wanting to listen to her!! :laugh I do remember seeing the Duty cover and thinking Ayu was a skank or something... :( and I saw some videos on veoh I think I don't really remember what my first one was :shrug I do remember seeing Step you @ cdl 05-06 though. And I guess I kind of decided to download her whole discography one day off of JPS because I was obsessed with discographies in general!! lol and then I started listening from the beginning of her stuff but I didn't like any of it!! :laugh and I liked the remixes but they were of all her singles which I didn't like at the time. And so I gave up on that and decided to download her latest album GUILTY and I immediately right from Mirror I loved it so much!!! Then I went to the Pacific Mall again (yes the same one as Neffline!! which is so cool!! hehe it's my favourite mall ever!! It takes me like hours do get there on the bus from my school!! lol) anyways I wanted to buy a CD and Ayu's GUILTY was there and it was first press too, though I didn't know what first press was at the time... and that was when I started becoming a big fan!! I remember listening to RAINBOW in the summer of 2008 and really liking it! And then I was trying to decide if I should order A Complete but then I did like 2 weeks before the release date and it was probably the best thingthat I've ever bought because I immediately fell in love with all her singles!! I watched all her videos on that 10th anniversary video project avex had where they streamed all her videos! it was great!! I remember visiting AHS for some things and finally joined a year ago and I remember being all excited for green/days and going on this site during school and seeing the covers and everything! Quite exciting! so I'm almost reaching 2 years with Ayu!! wooo time flies by!! She will forever be my favourite artist! |
@Genie
Wow, I was amazed how Ayu touched your life by the lyrics. Honestly, Im proud of your strength to move on your pains through it. As I read your post, I got teary eyed. I know how it feels to be being bullied and rejected in school. A Song for XX is a mirror of a person's life in struggle. |
These are pretty neat.
I first heard about Ayu back around 2002 when RAINBOW was first released. I remember at this forum i used to frequent all the people there had like Ayu avatars and sigs and where going on and on about how awesome she was. So i googled her and found pictures of her. I didnt really like her look with the blonde hair and everything but I did like the pictures from the RAINBOW booklet. I never heard any music by her though. And then afterwards the hype dyed down and I forgot all about her. Then Inuyasha came out in the US like 2004, sure I heard Dearest like everyone else, but for a long time I really hated that song with a passion. Then in 2006, whenever I first discovered wikipedia (lol), I started wiki-ing like crazy. So somehow I remember Ayu so I typed in "ayu" and I read the entire page on her and everything and I was like "wow" and then I saw the cover for the RAINBOW album and decided to download it because I loved the cover so much (I did the same thing for Kuu, got into the music because of the cool artwork). So technically the first song I really heard was "everlasting dream." Afterwards I was like "ok i heard the album, it's out of my system, that's the end of that," but it wasn't because Free & Easy and HANABI kept getting stuck in my head so oneday I just decided to get all her music till that point (BLUE BIRD single was the latest thing since Secret was about to be released like 2-3 weeks later), I had such a hard time finding her albums and remixes (at that time I was still using Emule and Winmx) and then somehow I discovered torrents and got everything that way (I didn't know about the forums with everythign for download yet) and yeah I've been hooked ever since and it changed my life completely just like everyone else. I think what really got me was her lyrics and music it was nothing like I'd heard before and her lyrics were exactly what I was feeling. Whatever I first became a fan I had a really hard time find fansites because the majority of them were deadlinks. The first one I found was Divineayu and then eneabba through a yahoo image search and then I found ayuunite (RIP) and AHS through that site. I was a lurker here till like last month. |
@ Lacus: Wow thats a touching story, glad you overcome your struggles. Now I know why your Ayu's collection is so much. My jaw dropped when I saw your post in the Ayu's Collection section.
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I found Ayumi when she was in her MY STORY era and the first song I ever heard was NEVER EVER followed by seasons. At first I thought her voice was very high and unusual. I didn't know how to feel about her music but then I just kept the song on repeat and I slowly got addicted to those song. Then I saw her PV for boys & girls and just kept finding out more about her. I browsed more about her and found other songs from Ayu and found that I liked each of them. What really got me addicted was her performances and how she carried out herself. Her music is powerful and has helped me get through boring times, tough times, every night and day. I was in eight grade and now I'm a freshman in college. Viva la Ayu!~
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I discovered Ayu right around the same time I first became interested in Japanese music (other than the songs I had listened to from various anime that made their way to the US). More specifically, it actually began with an interest in Utada Hikaru; I had heard her "Simple and Clean" off of the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack, and after hunting for more of her music I decided to look for other Japanese singers as well. The US mainstream market was becoming so tiresome, and the music was starting to lack feeling to me.
The first song I ever heard of Ayu's was "Evolution". I found it on some Sailor Moon fansite ages ago, and was excited to find a new Japanese artist. The artist had put a little blurb about who Hamasaki Ayumi was at the top, and named her the biggest sensation in Japan. So, I listened to it. I promptly disliked it and shut any doorways of interest to her. I later heard "Dearest" that was used for Inu-Yasha, and still didn't like her music. I thought she was over-hyped and couldn't understand what on earth people enjoyed about her voice or her music. In the summer of 2006, I was in Japan and did a homestay in Kyushu for a week. My host mother discovered I liked Utada Hikaru and recorded the 2006-06-16 Music Station for me. When I returned to the States I sat down and watched the entire show to find more new artists to listen to. That was the first time I ever saw Hamasaki Ayumi perform, and my jaw dropped. I don't know what it was exactly but she just seemed to sparkle and glow with passion as she sing. "Blue Bird" was an upbeat song, less emotional then some of her other hits, but I could still see how she poured everything into her performance. Plus, I liked the song and found it catchy. I listened to it for about a month, deciding that was the only song of hers I enjoyed, but after that I listened to more of her music from the Secret album and I really fell in love. It was neither US music nor Utada Hikaru music, but something entirely unto itself. After that, I asked for various albums for Christmas and birthday presents, and overtime I watched performances of hers online and was just mesmerized by what she could do. Now I'm just an addict. She's one of only three artists I've ever wanted to see perform live (the others being the Spice Girls and Tohoshinki--saw the Spice Girls!). To this day, I do not like the songs "Evolution" or "Dearest" no matter how much I listen to them, though they're not repulsive as I once thought of them. |
@ lacus = *cried* really great story. and you still alive! thank god (and ayu)!!
yeah, my story was just a bit like that actually, but i don't really much care with my friends' bullies...^^ so, keep strong dear...^^ |
I can kinda relate to your story in a few ways lacus. |
Wow Lacus...I don't what to say. I thought of suicide but I never actually planned it out. It's great that you're alive.
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Quote:
While most of the active members now are new fans, mostly are from 2005 onwards, so i don't want to feel like they have to ctach up or anything. Quote:
Till now, whenever i feel lost or sad, ayu's songs are just like my chicken soup. After my dad passed away 2 months ago, i can't stop crying EVERYTIME i heard [Who...], [Memorial Address]. Out of all artists, i find ayu's lyrics closer and like a human who really understand you. No one's lyrics and emotion can ever beat ayu. |
I was sure I responded to this but.....oh well :)
Spoiler:
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I became a fan around mid/late 2002.
I was bored one day, and was looking at stupid fan made music videos of Final Fantasy (my favorite video game series of all time, btw :P). One of the music videos had this absolutely amazing song, I was playing the video again and again and, little did I know, they actually credited the artist of the song at the end of the video. It was Ayumi Hamasaki - Fly high :) So, I looked her up and came across songs such as A Song for XX, evolution, Endless sorrow, Boys & Girls, Depend on you, M, Far away, SEASONS. Every song by Ayu I discovered the more I thought I just came across an artist who's special. At the time, RAINBOW was coming out in a bit and I decided to buy it, I couldn't stop listening to it, it was, and still is my favourite Ayu album. I then bought "I am..." and after listening to that masterpiece I decided Ayu was my favourite artist, So I began to buy all the albums she had out, remix albums and a few of her DVD's. From that point I never turned away from Ayumi :P How did it feel? Well, pretty amazing. I found an artist who wrote amazing songs, there wasn't one thing I disliked about her and everybody I knew had to endure me talking about her constantly and had to put up with her amazing music everyday. I'm also grateful I discovered Ayu. She was the first Japanese artist I discovered and after Ayu came a ton of other Japanese artists I found and in turn, came a severe decrease in my interest for western artists. I'm very happy I became a fan of Ayumi Hamasaki, she was, is and will be my all time favorite. |
lucas ~~~ you a singaporean? O_o I neve rknew these things happened in singapore... I had many friends from other countries in my class, and we were all friends with them, even had one who went to hong kong already, but visited us durin gher holidays there wearing her old school uniform and sneaked into our class, pretending to be a student XD We even lied to our teacher that she's a new student and our new teacher believed LOL.
I knew but never knew.. O_O I guess............ you need to be in a class with good results from studies to avoid these things.. My friend was in a repeat class, she said that they gave up.. whereas she had not, so she was the top of their class lol. differences formed while we are all same. (>_<) I am not sure if I should state my reply here, so long winded.... XD but can be shortened wahahahaha. Very very nice to hear you all talk about your first ayu meeting. I was crying to her youtube videos (she has her own channel now) while reading this topic. (>_<) |
I think it was in early 2001 when I was visiting a mp3 rotation website because I wanted to download some anime music. Two of the songs that the owner had uploaded were 'M' and 'Far away' and if I remember correctly then the layout featured a picture of Ayu but I'm not sure.
Anyways, I downloaded 'M' and 'Far away' as the owner had recommended them. Listening to these songs, I became intrigued. The vocals weren’t the best and I didn’t understand a word but yet these songs sounded so sincere, so powerful and so emotional that they somehow touched my heart. Yes, this sounds so incredibly cheesy but somehow I knew that I’ve found what I was (unconsciously) looking for in music. Due to my restricted internet access, I was not able to listen to many songs of Ayu till 2004 but the first CD that I bought, was the Connected Remix Single on the release day (7th April 2003). I still remember that day as I was so excited and I couldn’t find the single under new releases and had to ask the store owner to help me find it ^^; On the 10th May 2009 I saw her finally live for the first time and I hope that I can see her again for her 2010 Tour :) |
I become a fan with Secret, and in total it was so exciting to get her new stuff! LOL like it was a constant flow of new stuff that just slowly pieced together how awesome I thought she was
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My relationship with Ayumi Hamasaki was a tumultuous one...
I first found out about Ayumi through Utada Hikaru. Like many J-Pop fans, I discovered Utada through the "Kingdom Hearts" franchise. However, it wasn't until 2007 when I actually started looking her up. This is an OCD habit of mine, but when I discover a new artist, I usually have to start at the very beginning of their discography. Otherwise, I feel I don't really understand where an artist is from and going to in their career, music-wise. So anyway, this was before I knew what file-hosting sites were, so I randomly typed in "Utada Hikaru" on the eSnips website, and listened to my very first J-pop song: "Kiss & Cry". To this day, I still love that song. Where does Ayumi come into this? Well, I was reading more about Utada on Wikipedia, and discovered the name of her so-called "rival": Ayumi Hamasaki (Wikipedia and related articles was also how I discovered Ami Suzuki and other J-pop stars). Further "research" on forum sites (I didn't even know what a forum really was then) and the typical Ayumi pics that pop up on Google Images prompted me to think that Ayumi Hamasaki was nothing more than a plastic, Asian barbie doll. Now, I know better. I read about her music anyway, and couldn't find an mp3 of "poker face" for some reason, so I tried her next single "YOU". What I found turned out to be my first Ayumi song: "You "Aggressive mix"". That song...turned me into a raving Ayu maniac. I'm serious. I thought that's how all her music sounded, all hyper and pumped up like a DDR game. However, when I heard the real version, I liked that one more. The more I discovered her music though, the more I liked her, and to this day I prefer her more experimental and pop music. It was like a whole new realm of music had opened up for me (and really, it truly had). Why, if I didn't discover Ayumi, I probably wouldn't have discovered any of my favorite artists. Although I don't listen to her regularly as I once did, I have a deep respect for Hamasaki and will remain a fan. Then, I met Yasutaka Nakata... |
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