Do you remember your first impression of Ayu?

[vampireknightzero]

Hi guys, I'm wondering whether u all remember your first impression of Ayu?? Haha it can be positive, negative or neutral~

For me, my first impression of Ayu is that she's a very famous icon in Japan.. And I knew she had big eyes and blonde hair.. The first time I watched Ayu is either through Music Station when she sang A Song for XX and M. Also, I always relate SEASONS and M as her biggest hits during that time. Then, the first album I heard of hers is A BEST, and at that time I find that all her songs sound very similar to each other (but are very nice).. I'm not her fan all those while but merely feel that some songs of hers are really nice and that's all.. I've got a very neutral feeling for Ayu that time haha.

What about you guys? Do you remember your 1st impression of Ayu? I think there needs to be time for some recalling..haha

[kirei_ayumi]

When I came across her, I thought she was really pretty and must be a model or something..then I found that Divine Ayu site that had the cute wallpapers and I started using them, lol so I used to keep this pretty lil' asian chick on my desktop, not knowing she was a singer..then I first heard RAINBOW and thought that all her songs were gonna sound just like it haha XD but I was wrong because she has multiple styles that are interchangable the main song that kept me listening to ayu was Over...beautiful ballad it is...

[jimex289]

Never heard of her until maybe 2005. Someone mentioned her name and I googled her for some images. Didn't really think much of her. I just knew she was very very successful to the point where it got annoying. Then I had to listen to her to see what all the hype was about, and I found my answer.

[pommy48]

i thought she had gorgeous hair, i was watching glitter PV.

that's about it, i was attracted by her hair

but then she changed my life after i actually listened to her

[ownsarai]

The first time I heard Ayu was in 2000 through my friend who was way into Japanese music, he always played Ayu really loud on his laptop. So one day he let me watch some videos he had, I saw POWDER SNOW's CM and I was hooked. I thought she was small and pretty with a great voice, and so much emotion. I looked up translations of her music and the rest is history. ^^

[Chibi_Venus]

The first time I ever heard her was from Inuyasha ("Dearest"). She never "stood out" to me to make me think, "Whoa! Unique singer!"

When I realized she sang "no more words," "evolution," and "Free & Easy," I thought, "Hey, she's not bad..."

Then her English lyrics in her RAINBOW album stood out a little more to me.

My love for her gradually increased. I dunno, I feel like I never had a first impression of her.

[StarSUCKER]

Originally Posted by Chibi_Venus

The first time I ever heard her was from Inuyasha ("Dearest"). She never "stood out" to me to make me think, "Whoa! Unique singer!"

Me too. I downloaded some more songs out of curiosity. Eventually I heard evolution and that got me more interested. I believe I was hooked when I first heard Daybreak (album ver.), and really loved the rock-ish theme on "I am..." That was in about 2003. First Ayu CD I bought was early 2004, after Memorial address came out.

I will say, I didn't get crazy into Ayu until sometime last year. I've always liked her a lot, and I casually followed her releases when I thought of it, but she didn't become my favorite artist until not too long ago. My Last.fm plays jumped from 400-something to 3000-something really fast and have been continuing like that ever since.

[Lanz16]

The first time I see her, I thought that she was just an another lame singer or something.
When I heared her singing from her MY STORY album, she was such a great singer and lyricist!

My first impression to her is somewhat vague to remember as of now.

[keikeiaznqueen]

My first impression of her was when I listened to the RAINBOW album that I bought under the recommendation of my mum (not exactly a recommendation since Ayu was one of the two Japanese artists she knew (the other being Hikki) and I went and bought RAINBOW which was the newest album at the time, because I wanted to listen to Japanese music.)

The first song I listened to was WE WISH. And I loved it! I thought she had wonderful songs. But on the other hand, there are some Ayu songs that took ages to begin (I didn't know people put interludes in their albums.) Then, I bought A BALLADS and thought the A BALLADS version of M never begins. XD Same for the song RAINBOW. Guess I wasn't too patient. That was how I wore off Ayu until 2006.

[rusuke]

At the magical moment I was watching ayu performing "M" at MTV Asia Awards 2002 I said to myself that: "Kawaii. She really is something! The artist that I will admire for the rest of my life is finally born in the persona of ayumi hamasaki." It was like love at the first sight. And the history goes on...

[ArchangelLegend]

She was just pure eye candy to me at first.

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

omg
the first time i thought she was really cute and i loved her songs *-*

i found them pretty unique! same as her pvs!

*0*

[Fray88]

Ah, so many memories here.
At the first listening (the first song I listened to of her was fly high), I remember that I thought: "Oh God, nasal voice! I can't like her songs!"
I was in a Utada Hikaru moment, so that voice so different from Utada's gave me confusion about jmusic scenery.

But, then, a few years after, I listened to "Jewel"..... love at first listening!
The PV was so good that I immediately started to search for other songs and video, and I watched Momentum's PV (it was really touching). The first album I bought was "Secret", and suddenly I've become a fan girl, I listened to her songs everytime it was possibile, on the bus, at school, everywhere xD.

I first heard Dearest, and I loved the song. So I downloaded more. I also read her biography. I liked her story and felt really connected to it. So I listened to her more and looked up her lyrics.

So powerful voice, meaningful songs.

[NintendoHTF1242]

"DEAR LORD HER DAMN HIGH NOTES ARE TERRIBLE"

was my first reaction =P I've gotten used to her high notes now

[Purple Neko]

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

"DEAR LORD HER DAMN HIGH NOTES ARE TERRIBLE"

was my first reaction =P I've gotten used to her high notes now

Lawl that was mine as well. xD

[jimex289]

CDL 07-08 was my first live of hers...and that was a crappy TV version. I warmed up to her a little after seeing that. I was left speechless after watching Dome Tour 2001 though. That was really something. After that I started to really follow her.

[Jwiz]

I listened to some to some of her songs during 2003 but only got to really know her until 2007, when i was flipping through one chinese tabloid about ayu having STD. My first impression was that, "Hmm is she like koda kumi :X ?" and i nearly believed those negative stuffs the newspaper had mentioned. After that, i went to google about her and THEN, ayu became my #1 idol till now

Tabloids led me to ayu obsession, how ironic

[SolarAngel]

Yup, there was an announcement at my school assembly 7 years ago telling us to make nametags with our proper names. Apparently, they caught someone wearing a nametag spelling Ayumi Hamasaki which I thought was pretty cool. I only vaguely knew her as a Japanese pop singer. Didn't even know any of her songs back then.

[miskiq]

she was very popular singer in japan.so i thought she was very very diva-ish and i read a lot of negative things about ayu in the local paper.so i have this very negative impression on her actually.at that time i dont really know how she look like except that i've seen her album rainbow through the drama Bijo ka Yajuu .