[Translation] Ayumi on Cawaii! 2006 Sept Issue

[SunshineSlayer]

I actually believe Ayu when she says she isn't ambitious. I've never thought of her as an ambitious person actually. How she got into the industry is a prime example - she was spotted singing karoake, she wasn't actively looking for a record deal and even turned down Max's offer at first. It took somebody else to finally get her ass in gear and stop loitering around Shibuya all day and Roppongi all night. She has said in the past that left on her own, she couldn't have done anything by herself - she's said this in interviews and the entire song To Be is about it.
Once she did agree, it just started a snowball effect that kept building and building and she was brought along for the ride - that's always how it has appeared to me. Along the way as she got more popular, she gained more and more control over the direction of her career and she is a perfectionist, but that is not the same as being ambitious. As she herself stated in the article, she lives in the now - thinking about things far down the road and making plans far in advance do not seem like things that she does. This would explain why her releases seemingly come out of nowhere and often times seem to be done at the last minute - because they actually are done at the last minute. I think Ayu possibly procrastinates a lot, but then when it comes time to do the work, she zeros in and works hard and gets it done in a short period of time, thus the whole "You must put everything in effect as soon as you have the idea of that particular thing… as if like it’s been sucked up by the tornado. I’m like this." line in the article.

Anyways, just my little analysis of why Ayumi is indeed not a very ambitious person.

Originally Posted by isaac hiew

About the second question, it actually meant that it's sounded too simple if you would describe and label ayumi as "always the no.1". Her songs aren't being popular just because it's melody and tune and rock elements.

Actually, I think the "1st in every generation" line is probably meant to say "One in every generation." Meaning that an artist like Ayu comes along only once every generation - she's a rarity. But the writer is saying that even that phrase is not enough to describe how good of an artist Ayu is.