I know this thread is a bit old, but I'll reply anyway.
This is for people who wonder how to fall in love with an artist's whole discography;
You can love all of Namie's albums if you have A LOT of patience and time. This goes with every artist. Just take one album at a time, I've read you like PLAY a lot, so if there are any songs you still don't like on that album, listen to them again and again and try to find something good about them. If you still cannot seem to like all of the songs from the said album (which I think shouldn't be a problem, because all the songs on PLAY are awesome and likeable), move on to another album, preferably newer, PAST < FUTURE. Listen to it the same way you listened to PLAY, but if you don't like a song for first couple of listens, don't give up on it just yet! I can guarantee you'll be more fond of it after listening to it MORE. I know it sounds incredibly annoying to repeatedly listen to the song you hate, but at the end you will be so happy for finding out how actually awesome that song is. I believe everyone can do this with any song they dislike. I think if you already like a few songs by her, you can ADORE her whole discography too, and that's really amazing, if you want that to happen. And it's not for the sake of "loving all of her songs and being no.1 fan of her because she's popular" or something, it's because of the great enjoyment you'll discover in every and each of her songs. I'm not lying, I love ALL of Amuro's songs to date. Even ones with SUPER MONEKY'S. And it took me a lot of time for that to happen. I didn't force myself in any way, I just started from her newer albums - to her older albums. I was able to love all of songs by listening to a certain album lots of times. They just naturally grow on you. And honestly, Amuro has such amazing music and I'm glad I've discovered it and didn't give up on her.
I remember I had the hardest time trying to get into GENIUS 2000, and even if I still consider it her worst album, it is incredibly amazing! I love all of the songs now (and I remember thinking "gosh, I'll never like this ******", boy I was wrong). I also ADORE SWEET 19 BLUES and consider it among her best albums ever, and guess what? I used to LOATHE and despise the kind of genre this album is full of! It is just amazing when you can actually think more open mindedly and fall in love with something you hated.
The same goes for Ayu, I like all of her songs because of the chances I gave all her songs. I simply choose to try to like more Ayu and Namie's songs because in general they seem to have amazing songs. And why not discover and like more?
If you've only liked Namie's hip-pop stuff, and tried her older albums and think they are junk and you'll never be able to love them, think again.
Just go from PAST < FUTURE to PLAY, Queen of Hip-Pop, STYLE, break the rules, GENIUS 2000, Concentration 20, SWEET 19 BLUES and then maybe the more older stuff. Just listen to the albums more than once, for God's sake! It will be worth it, I promise!
I was speaking kind of generally for people who think can't get into certain albums or songs at all.