How would you respond...

[rookies]

She's one of the first J-pop artists I got into, and before I listened to Japanese music, I had some idea of who she was and what she looked like, although not a very good and clear idea until I became a fan of her, lol.

But I would say I like her music a lot, and her music is really meaningful, with really good lyrics. ^^

[douggn]

I just say she's one of the biggest J-Pop artits in asia or say she's like a asian madonna but not the same type of music as each other, then Ill add about how she's the most remixed atrist and so on and so forth but only her beaty stuff is generally liked by people who don't normally listen to asian music, the rest is usally insults but that's because they go straight to the point that she's asian and the language etc which I hate when it goes like that

[TeddyGrahams]

I would say that Ayu is just perfect.

I love everything about her.
Her charisma, attitude, background, vocals, outlook in life, looks, fashion taste, sense of humor, determination, writing capabilities, composing capabilities, tours, tv lives, photoshoots, funny ta messages, diva allure, cuteness, sexiness, eyes, hair, personality, sublime messages in pv, her control over her image, her height, her poofy sunglasses, her nails, so hot at 30, child forever, her tattoo, makeup, endorsements, confidence, love for her fans + many more

[keikeiaznqueen]

I just say that Ayu is an amazing woman.

She may not be perfect in every way and she has her off days, but the way she is now and the way she carries herself, as well as her lyrics and the strength in her character... all of that has touched me and made me really love her. It's something that's special about her that I cannot find in other artists.

Her music has just been so important to me. This isn't something I can easily explain.

Lame but I'll quote from YOU:

People are not memories
that you can put into words.

[noidea]

Originally Posted by Picaflor 7/4

lmao at everyone for liking her lyrics. thats all you have to go by. she really doesn't do anything else besides write lyrics. lazy-ass what else is she doing, its not like she's touring 24/7/365. and the one time that she does compose music, everyone freaks out. "omg ayu just composed a new song! its her 5th overall!" I love ayu and everything, but theres not much you can go by besides her lyrics if your strictly talking about what she herself has done.

Because myn people think writing lyrics is what she does BEST, and many talk about her performances and songs here as well.

[jiarongisme]

"I love Ayu cuz she's awesome kthxbai"

[SolarAngel]

I say i like the lyrics and the instrumentation. Other than that, it's just affinity. There're countless other artistes out there, i'm sure there will be better lyrics, music, performance styles etc but it's just the connection you get.

[caf2795]

To anybody who knows me well, I'd say Ayu is the female J-Pop equivalent of Mike Patton, just less extreme and more emotional sincere. Mike Patton is my other favorite singer, the standard by which all after him have been compared, which includes Ayu. But Ayu surpasses even him in many ways.

I would also say that nobody, and I mean nobody has moved me as deeply as Ayu's singing has. I cannot overstate that. Whether it's her pop songs, rock songs, ballads or experimental material, her singing can, and often does, move me to tears. No matter how many times I hear the same songs.

Her singing has a quality and emotional sincerety like nobody else I have heard, and a stylistic diversity that has developed over the years that is analagous to Mike Patton's own gargantuan bag of vocal styles and dynamic tendancies. Ayu was born with the voice she has but has learned to sing in a variety of pitches and moods, often within the same song. I find that truly admirable and rare to find, especially in pop music.

Her singing is nothing if not dynamic. Well, that has not always been true. I love all of the album A Song For XX, but her singing is not very dynamic through the album though it is convincingly emotional. But it was the songs that followed that album that she began sing more dynamically within each song, more finesse in the lighter parts, for example. I appreciate ASFXX (the album) all the more because it shows how far she's developed as a singer since then.

The music is always so well composed and thought out. It also seems to have the ring of emotional sincerity, and I often consider the music to be Ayu's other voice. It's true that her songs tend to be formulaic but I'm okay with that because it works so well, and the music has evolved enough throughout her career to not wear out the formula. And there are songs like M, Free And Easy and Mirrorcle World that throw out the formula and went with something more innovative. Ayu may not compose the music herself most of the time, so she is mostly lucky that it is so well done. But I do think her music accurately reflects her own musical sensibilites, what music she wants to surround herself with. Therefore, I admire her for having such good taste in a variety of musical styles even if she didn't actually compose the music herself.

Ayu takes daring risks with some of her musical choices as much as she plays it safe with others, a balance I think that is perfect.

I love her live performances when she is not shackled with too much choreography, outfits, props and production. I love her most live when she is spontaneous and bringing the most out of her singing. Her spontaneity and emotionalism reminds me also of Mike Patton's live persona, but again, less extreme and more emotionally sincere.

Lyrics? I can only speak/understand a little Japanese so I can never understand what she is saying. I have read her lyrics and they are very interesting and poetic. But the thing that matters most to me is that she writes her own lyrics. That's all I really need to know: that she came up with that herself. I like Namie Amuro, but she hasn't written lyrics to a lot of, if any, of her own songs. It's not uncommon in pop for singers to not write their own lyrics, but Ayu fully stands behind the content of what she's singing about because she wrote the lyrics and that counts for a lot to me. And anyways, to me, the emotion of Ayu's singing speaks for the lyrics themselves.

Also, in recent years, Mike Patton has developed vocal techniques to express himself without lyrics. So, while there may not be anything to understand in terms of lyrics in how Mike sings sometimes, his "language" is easily understood by anybody who likes him. Same with Ayu. I don't have to understand what she's saying to like her singing, though I woud be disappointed if she wrote lyrics that were, say, unwholesome. I do not like the lyrical tone of Sparkle, for instance.

Well, it's a lot, but you asked. And if you're wondering who Mike Patton is, he's a very talented vocalist and composer whose annual activity over the last ten years is about as busy as Ayu's, but whose career is about twice as old as hers; his resume is very long. His music and singing is diverse and unpredictable. And he is a very good singer.

But Ayu is the BEST!

[vampireknightzero]

I would always say her lyrics are very reflective of life and reality. And Ayu has certain kind of power, i mean my eyes will be glued onto her whenever she performs cos she just have that charisma! Also, I would tell them how great a music composer she is

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

lol Oh well, I think that I'm very lucky to know ayu. There are heaps of singers and bands out there, but most of them are just rubbish, or they don't cover all the things that I would like from a singer/band. Ayu's music is really sincere, and I feel really related to her music and experiences. I'm sure that many fans feel the same way about her. Personally, ayu inspired me a lot, and I always wish that I could have met her and her music since she started.

And, I'm pretty sure that people do not like her because she is "AYUMI HAMASAKI", theres always something deeper.

Even if ayu ain't writing the best music lately, she will always be real to me, with all that makeup xD she is the realer human being that I've ever seen.

[ComatoseBunnySnatcher]

"I love Ayu so deal with it or GTFO!"

^ Like that

[Mari-chan]

Originally Posted by nemesisyume

I just say she makes good music and I like it.

That's exaclty what I wanted to say.
She makes good Music and I like it.

[Ayu-me]

I remember the first time I listened to Ayu; it was even before I really got to know anime and manga! I found the song Dearest on a website, and then I listened to it and I just found it... beautiful. I've grown up in a home with both rock and pop music around me, with all the music trends people had in my area, but my true idol was someone not many my age listened to; Céline Dion. Even when I was too young to understand the english properly, I listened to her music just because of her incredible voice and the emotion I found in her music.
And when Ayu became my new true idol, it was for the same reason; not because Ayu had a ground-breaking voice (Though it's definitely special) but her voice, music, lyrics, the way she sang, the melody; it all created something beautiful to my ears. Her songs are so many and varied; I just listen to EnergizE whenever I wanna dance and/or exercise, I listen to rainy day on a... rainy day (lol) and I listen to songs like Days, Heartplace, HOPE or PAIN?, liar, GAME, criminal etc. when I'm in an angst-mood. When I'm in a 'fierce' mood I listen to LOVE 'n' HATE, GAME, 1 LOVE, Startin', Rule and many others. When I want some warm colours to paint my day with, I listen to GREEN, BLUE BIRD, fairyland, UNITE! etc. When I'm angry/sad it's A Song for XX, alterna etc and I could give so many more examples if I only had enough strength, memory and time to write it down! Everytime I hear a new Ayu-song, no matter how bland it may be, I find special points in it that I see as beautiful and touching, something I can relate to or something I want to feel/experience.
To me, it's just that Ayumi has no like; she is creative, original, charismatic, warm and so mysterious and teasing that I just want to unwrap every layer of her! And now I sound like a crazy fangirl... (:but I am: )... Ayumi is just special, and I can always find new strength in her strength, always find new inspiration in her music, and not only that, Ayu's music has been with me for 4 years now (at least!) and these years have been among the most memorable and hardest of my life for so many reasons. So why shouldn't I kiss her plastic face on my Ayumi Hamasaki 2009 Calendar every night? (And her face on every page too... )
And yes, I'm totally in love with her. I'm even gonna buy her an engagement ring

[chloeM]

i'd say

she's pretty and she has great voice (especially her vibrato~)

[y_nathz]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I usually say "'Cuz she's freaking EPIC." XD

nice one ^^

[Chef+Vanny]

my friends often ask me in the past why i like ayu
and now they stopped asking me because they know already
I always give the same reply...
"Ayu is dumb in a very cute way" rmb on how she reacts when she forgot her lyrics for trauma,voyage etc etc
then i would show them my "Ayu cookie time' folder=a folder where I keep ayu's funniest moment

of course I would tell them listen to her music and find the lyric and understand what she's singing about

[*Petit*]

I love her voice. No one else even comes close when expressing emotion through her singing. It doesen't matter if I understand the lyrics or not, her best songs speaks for themselves by the cheracter of her voice supported beautiful and almost equally emotional arrangements.

caf2795 I totally agree with your post, allthough I don't know this Mike. Apart from the comparison to him I would've written the same things, maybe not in such precise way.

[Rurutia]

I just say I like the music better...but for ayu its her lyrics, her personality and her amazing music!!!!!! and her own compositions

[Melodie]

Whenever I tell a new person that I listen to Japanese (or French, Chinese...) music they look at me wide-eyed with a funny smile on their face, almost as if they were to laugh. Then come the questions, why? Do you understand Japanese? It just sounds good, right?

Well, not exactly.
At first I didn't understand Japanese, now I do most of it, but it doesn't change my feelings about the music. I don't like it any better than I did before when I could only make out a few phrases.

I dislike it when people assume that I'm ignorant to the point I'd just listen to a song without wondering what on earth it is about.
I admit, the Japanese language is beautiful, but my judgement cannot be clear if I don't know the meaning. In fact, I can't imagine anything being meaningful to me if I don't understand it.

The bottom line is, I'm not the type of person who will desperately try to convince someone that my favourite singer's music is great. Sure, I'll tell them why I admire Ayu; for her strength, courage, honesty, creativity and so on. But some people don't care. Changing people's beliefs/tastes may be en effort in vain, and if they don't like it/don't get it, then it's their loss.

[CHE.R.RY]

Erm I face this question pretty often...I am Caucasian and Hispanic (an American), and really have no connection to Asian cultures. I've been questioned as to why I am so taken with Ayu and all I can really say is that I am drawn to Ayu's unique and distinct style. I love her catchy melodies and her aggressive and emotional songs. I love her odd, strained way of singing. I love her lyrics...Her music has a tendency to fill me with a sense of excitement...sometimes even warmth. I guess that's the only way I can really articulate it. She just has something special that I can't seem to find in Western music.