How would you respond...

[sabbakk]

I usually respond that Ayu's music is just very high-quality music. Ayu-as-a-product is one of the best products I have ever seen in the music industry. There are few musicians who, despite the lack of OMGWHATATALENT!!!, have influenced the music of their time as much as Ayu have.
What's more is that her music completely lacks the things I got tired from in Western music - aggressiveness, sexsexsex in lyrics and visual images, lack of honest and very personal emotions.
When people tell me that I can't appreciate her lyrics because my Japanese is beginner's level I answer that the fact that not many people in my country can speak French did not stop Joe Dassin and Patricia Kaas from being some of the most beloved foreign singers here. After all, it's the overall feeling of the music that makes us like/hate it, not the factual information we get from lyrics.