Is Ayu a Guilty Pleasure?

[dulceku]

she's not a guilty pleasure for me. But i want her only for me -w-

[Calico]

No way! Everyone knows that I listen to Japanese music in my school...I make it pretty well known. =P Most people either ignore it or just make fun of me..."Ching chang chung chong?" anyone?

Every great once in a while I get someone interested...but it usually doesn't go very far.

[[AHS]MortalSex]

^I´ve gotten some friends to listen to some ayu songs XDXD but they like her remixes more than the original ones cause they don´t like too much of the "ching-ching" XDXD

[Sweer]

Originally Posted by [AHS]MortalSex

^I´ve gotten some friends to listen to some ayu songs XDXD but they like her remixes more than the original ones cause they don´t like too much of the "ching-ching" XDXD

hahaah this seems like "ching-ching" is the asian version of "bling-bling"
XD

[Happii]

Well, Ayu's kinda a guilty pleasure for me. Actually I shouldn't feel like she's a guilty pleasure but here's why. I feel there's a lot of prejudice against her. Most people just think she's a talentless but megapopular popstar. They can't see how deep she really is. Remember those 'Ayu hate in Japan?!' threads? That's what I'm talking about.

[JesA]

my parents love Ayu...but i wish i could say the same with my friends...and everybody at school....im frikin sick of people saying stuff like,
"Chinese, Korean, Japanese whatever....their all the same" or,
"Ok heres a joke. if an asian, a japanese, and chinese person jump off a cliff, who lands first? ......NOBODY CARES" or,
"Thats the sl***yist w**re ive every seen!" or
"Japan is a terorist country. someone needs to burn everything....or they should all go kill themselves cuz their eyes are so ugly and weird and they fought against us in a war."

that whole war thing doesnt matter anymore...just cuz some Vietnamese guy killed yur great grandpa, doeswnt mean Japan is a bad country. its all in the past....his grandpa was gonna die anywayz. everyhbody at school knows i love Jpop....and yea they make fun of me. i try to resist it...but its hard. theres a girl at school who's second generation Korean. since ive been putting Ayu on my binder cover, thev been telling her that i love the people "like you". how prejiduce is that? people treat her like the person she is. shes popular. and i dont get that...i just dont...if shes respected so should BoA and Ayu.

so yes. Ayu is a guilty pleasure.

[Sweer]

Originally Posted by Sayonara_Ne

my parents love Ayu...but i wish i could say the same with my friends...and everybody at school....im frikin sick of people saying stuff like,
"Chinese, Korean, Japanese whatever....their all the same" or,
"Ok heres a joke. if an asian, a japanese, and chinese person jump off a cliff, who lands first? ......NOBODY CARES" or,
"Thats the sl***yist w**re ive every seen!" or
"Japan is a terorist country. someone needs to burn everything....or they should all go kill themselves cuz their eyes are so ugly and weird and they fought against us in a war."

that whole war thing doesnt matter anymore...just cuz some Vietnamese guy killed yur great grandpa, doeswnt mean Japan is a bad country. its all in the past....his grandpa was gonna die anywayz.

so yes. Ayu is a guilty pleasure.

yeah I see what you mean. I feel the same sometimes, when I just want to keep them from thinking or saying these kind of things by simply keeping it to myself.
and about that war theme. I know that very well as well (i.e. being blamed for the wrongdoings of your ancestors)... but I think this is going off topic now and maybe even against the board rules... sry

[lotusoka]

No, not guilty. I do get nervous when i play her in the car and I have others with me though.

[hana_sanctuary]

Yes a guilty pleasure since I listen almost exclusively to Jrock ((specifically Visual Kei))

soooooooooooo when people think of me they think Moi dix Mois and Dir en Grey. And then somehow Ayu getting mixed in there throws everyone off.

Case in point--- my wall. So most of the time I keep Ayu under wraps. Unless she's just released something fantastic, at which I can't shut up about her music.

[AyuGAME]

never..
i feel proud of it..
even many of my friend that become like her too because i show how unique she was

[The_Swede]

For me Ayu is not a guilty pleasure...
I'm proud that I like her, and when someone asks me something about, for example, what kind of music I like I say Japanese music, or Rock/pop. It doesn't matter if I say ayumi, or any other j-pop artist, because here where I live most people don't know any japanese artist...

Sometimes some people make fun of me, or even laugh when I tell them, but I don't care about them.. I rather feel pity for them, not listening to anything other than american music.

[happytoadstool]

Ayu is a guilty pleasure of mine, actually. My friends know that I'm into Japanese music and movies and anime, but they only know that I am a die-hard BoA fan. But for some reason, I don't tell too many ppl that I actually have more mp3s of Ayu than BoA. I tell ppl that Ayu makes better songs but I don't really show them how much I like her. And also, Ayu has a bad reputation among my friends (bad voice, not too pretty, way too popular than she deserves, etc.), but I try to sway their opinions toward the better :p But I don't go all out and say "I love her music and videos". I only do that with BoA (all my classmates know that i have a huge crush on BoA )

No.

I'm very open about my so-called "obsession".

[Uemarasan]

Hi everyone,

Very interesting answers all. I guess the idea of a "guilty pleasure" still kind of depends on you and your interests. I can understand hardcore J-rockers thinking of her as a guilty pleasure of sorts.

But like I said I personally don't believe in the idea of a guilty pleasure, simply because I try to be open as possible to all sorts of music. I'd listen as much to Ayu as I would to Beethoven, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Spice Girls, Lindsay Lohan, Hello! Project, Malice Mizer, and old cartoon theme songs. Gummi Bears! Yeah, I'm schizoid

[Madgirlslovesong]

I'm not ashamed to be a J-Pop/Ayu fan. It's just annoying sometimes when other people don't get it and make fun of the music. Just because you can't understand the words, doesn't mean there isn't a great meaning to them.

I've heard jokes like "Oh are you listening to the chipmunks again?" Go figure. People are weird.

[Uemarasan]

By the way, another definition of a guilty pleasure is something that is generally considered "in bad taste" and which you like. Some typical "guilty pleasures" are romance novels and reality TV. In my opinion, though, I don't think those things in "bad taste".

And I will never ever think of Ayu as something "in bad taste"

[ohsixthirty]

Originally Posted by Syphex

I dread the question "What kind of music do you like?" or "whats your favorite band?" Since, well, I don't listen to any sort of american music and I don't really feel like hearing any sorts of misconceptions; add to the fact that I am very, very self-conscious. So yes, she is a guilty pleasure for me.

same here!!!! i always feel so weird when someone asks that and i stumble and all...its just so awkward i feel, and then i get embarrassed. haha. so all my friends know definitely that i listen to ayu, but people i know not as well...yeah its sort of a guilty pleasure in a way. lol.

Originally Posted by lotusoka

No, not guilty. I do get nervous when i play her in the car and I have others with me though.

haha, me too. i always feel self conscious about it. although once i played it and found out someone else actually liked ayu too.

[marionette]

Ayu isn't a guilty pleasure for me.

When I was in upper level (school) a few years older boy sent me some of her music. Japanese music and language was new to me then, but well, after listening to Evolution, Surreal and M (and Siam Shade's Setsunasa Yori mo Tooku e!) a few times I realized how good it was.

Now I've listened to her music for over 2 years and I really don't care what others think about it. I actually have some friends who adore Ayumi as much as I do. :)

My sister actually played Ayu's music at her school and we were both very suprised when all the girls on her class said: "Wow, I like this song. Who is she?" (and the song that was played was M, of course)

At the moment Japan and japanese things (music, anime, styles) are quite popular in my country. I still want to remind everybody, that I don't study japanese and listen to Ayumi Hamasaki because it's "in".

[Melodie]

Chocolate is a guilty pleasure.
I'm very open about my interests.

[Sirea]

Well I think that other people think it SHOULD be a guilty pleasure for me, because they might think I'm weird or don't understand my appreciation for her. In reality though, not only am I proud to be a fan of someone with some real talent, self-respect and influence all in one, but it's also very comforting knowing that one huge interest of mine is so different from those around me... it's something that sets me apart. :3