Do you remember your first impression of Ayu?

[happiholic★]

Pretty much instant love.

[Ayumiko]

I became a fan of ayu without knowing what she looked like. I was searching for jpop music and accidentally found some of ayu's. I downloaded them to try out and I loved them all. Downloaded all the original songs and remixes that was available at that time (loveppears era)...love them all! but I still didn't know what she looks like...till I got curious one day and searched for info about her. When I first saw pics of her, I thought she was really beautiful and stylish! Loved her fashion and make-up. Found out that she wrote all the lyrics...which made me admire her even more. Since then, I've been a big fan of ayu.

[evolutionricky]

A friend of mine was printing pictures of her at school. I was later then introduced to the music videos "Real me" and "ＲＡＩＮＢＯＷ".

[emi♡]

I didn't know anything about her, but as soon as I heard her music, INSTA-HOOK.

[Minttulatte]

My first impression: "Lots of lalalala's in this song" when I was listening to Moments. When I was searching for more of her music I knew she wrote all the lyrics. I thought "wow that's a absolutely good thing" and when I heard A Song for xx the song I really loved it. But somehow I still had to listen to her for about three months before I actually said that I love her songs. And I still like her songs, not as much as before but she is very talented artist.

[C+R+E+AYUMI]

The very first song I listened to was Depen on you...
In my mind i was stunned, the lyrics and power of music hit me so hard!
I was in extasy, I found my feelings truely displayed in the song

[Meat Pao]

Back in 2003 I saw Ayu's A BALLADS cover and my first impression was: Lesbian!!! LOL! Oh well, I was after all only 8 years old then

[ayu-suits]

I really think she's cute in the 1st pic that I saw:

in pigtails + yellow outfit + pouty lips + chained nails (if you know that photoshoot)

then when I googled her, I found her 1999 pics and I thought she's a pornstar O_o

[labello]

The first time I saw her was on a anime fansite, a member had her Startin' cover as a avatar pic and I thought she looked absolutly gorgeous!!!
I searched for her but I didn't knew her name or anything since it wasn't written anywhere so I kind of forgot her.
A year later or so I heard Dearest and M and fell in love with her

[toxicterence]

I've heard & seen her in magazine everywhere since 2000,i just knew that she was a popular icon in Japan by then. I've heard rumours that she was a porn-star and went for multiple plastic surgeries due to her ultimate large eyes~i totally had no idea how her music will sound like by that time as I didn't "bump" into her songs at any given chance until i watched her "Angel's Song" PV for the first time back in 2004. I don't feel any big deal about her music by that time. I've known a net friend from HK who is very into Ayu, i was wondering what is so great about her music???He recommended me some of her songs. I gave a try to download them. The first Ayu's song i fell in love with was BLUEBIRD back in 2006. I found that her voice is really special & very anime-like. Sooner i download more of her recent songs during that era like HEAVEN, Carols, Startin' & etc and found out that I'm totally stuck with her songs! Finally i found this big-eyed *** girl is really "something"! She wrote her own lyrics for all of her songs!! I can admit that she totally changed my life. I'm glad that I'm having her music in my life!

[~*Cotton_Berry*~]

First song - Dearest --> EW (now i LOVE Dearest!!! <3)
Second song - SEASON --> Loved it, Ayu's so KOOL *buys CD* (Still LOVE SEASONS <333)

[Rainbow141]

Well, seeing as she was my first J-Pop artist, when I first saw her - when my friend was doing a portrait of her for art class, the same friend who turned me on to ayu and other J-pop - I was like, uhh, my friend is obsessed with Asians? I didn't know how big she was, and to me she was just some random Asian chick my friend liked.

I didn't get into Ayu's stuff right away, it took a few weeks before my friend finally persuaded me. I was kind of reluctant, seeing as how I know like, level 1 Japanese and nothing more....and seeing as I took Japanese a long time ago, anyhow.... It felt weird to listen to stuff I couldn't understand. But anyhow...

Before I really became a fan, my impression of Ayu was that she's just some diva Britney Spears/Madonna-type who commands attention, the kind of stereotypical pop sensation that really has no depth... I especially thought of her as an egotistical diva when I first read her quotes about she herself is a dream (when asked about her dreams, she said she herself is a dream and is living it)... I just thought, wow...ego much? But yeah... after a while, learning that she writes all her lyrics (well, used to) and that her songs all truly come from her heart, I softened up on her and later realized that though she may be the "J-pop empress", she's not as arrogant as the title should warrant.

[mcluva420]

idunno, the first songs i heard were HEAVEN and Dearest from watching the PVs, so I assumed she was a peaceful girl who has a weak quiet voice. haha. then I saw a random video of her with short hair on some award show event or something, and I thought she was a woman in her 40s

and then, I saw a screencap of Because of You PV, and I assumed that her style of music was C-Pop ish

[rusuke]

I said: "Finally, I saw my all-time favorite artist"

[yuki_unmei]

yeah..well...
I put off listening to her for a long time 'cause somehow i had a Britney Spears impression of her...
stupid me!! stupid me!!!

After a couple of songs, and watching light & shadow interview...it was total love~!

[Kazeyomi]

Her songs are great! Her voice is strange..but good too.

Lol it was my first impression of Ayu, when I listen to RAINBOW (my first Ayu album ever) in the 2002

[Lanz16]

I discovered her in an Anime magazine about 8 years ago (2001 or 2000) and it features her first album, ASFXX.

I call her "Britney Spears" of Japan long ago.
At first, "its just another lame artist from Japan"

And then she appeared on 2002 MTV Asia awards performing M and I didn't really like it at first.

2 1/2 years later, when my home was connected with Dial-up connection internet, I started to search her on Google and then Limewire.

Downloaded her songs from ASFXX and LOVEppears.
I love the beat and musical stylings, getting know her through Wiki, and the rest is history

[keikeiaznqueen]

By chance I bought Ayu's RAINBOW album at HMV one day without knowing who she was. I was around 11 back then and all I did was ask my mum what Jpop singers she knew. She said Ayumi Hamasaki, and I bought her latest album at the time. XD

I listened to RAINBOW, and WE WISH came up, and then I was instantly captivated. WE WISH is a good first song because it begins immediately and you're all, "Woah, very catchy." XD

Yeah, although frankly, I stopped listening to Ayu for a while because I kinda forgot about her, and it was Ayu's (miss) understood album that brought me back. I fell in love with (miss)understood the song, actually. It's really strange since it's not really an album favourite like STEP you or alterna, but I really loved (miss)understood, and that renewed my Ayu interest.

[mi|kshake]

I had read about her on forums whilst looking for other Jpop CDs to buy though at first I was put off when reading that her voice was quite high pitched and that she wasn't a great singer.

Then because I was in a ballady mood and I liked the cover I bought A Ballads. I remember listening to Rainbow and thinking I've definately made the right decision buying this CD. Rainbow was exactly the kind of song I was looking for.

mi|kshake~

[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.