What was happening when you became a fan?

[YUKARI]

It was between Free & easy and H. I remember feeling late, I seriously regretted that I missed her A BEST era lol now it seems like I've been her fan since almost the beginning of her career.

[polka-dot-jewel]

I became a fan in September 2006... so BLUE BIRD had just come out, and Secret was to come out two months later.

I had found "Because of You" on YouTube, and well... I instantly fell in love <3

[Bad Wolf]

I think it was in 2002? I can't remember really -- I know that "evolution" was the song that got me listening to Ayu, so I'm actually wondering if it was closer to 2000/2001 when I started listening to her.

Anyway, it's been a good 10+ years lol.

[[H]]

When Thousand Arms was released in 1999 was the first time I hear Ayu's song. Man, her voice was screechy, but it got stuck in my head. I started replaying the intro over and over again just to hear that song.

Then the dorama "Long Vacation" started airing in 2000 and i got stuck with a japanese syndrome. Found Hikki's "First Love" cassette next to a girl in an animal print ("Duty album"). I bought them both and was so happy with Hikki's album and started singing to First Love. However, this haunting voice kept bugging my head as if I've heard it before. 2 months later, I forgot about First Love and found myself singing to SURREAL.

in 2001, I bought both "Distance" and "A BEST" cassettes (they still don't have the CDs here) and then I discovered that it was ayumi hamasaki who sang the song on Thousand Arms and became a fan ever since.

[batman]

First came across Ayumi Hamasaki in a bootleg VCD of ArenaTour2002, and was quite impressed with her outfit in I-am (a weird title for a song, i thought). And her voice, which I didn't like initially. Thats some time 2003. Forgot which CD i bought first. I believe it's A-Best, or Memorial Address (PVs in VCD, not DVD yet), starting from 2004.

[KarenPang]

I became a fan of ayumi in late 2005 , around the time when I chanced upon BLUE BIRD's PV on MTV Asia's Asian Takeaway back time when they still had it in the show lineup

Ah those were the days

[maururu-roa]

I've known about her since 2002 but it wasn't until a few years ago that I became a fan.

There was a recently released new single that everyone was talking about and I decided to check it out - it was "Blue Bird"!

[pride123]

I became a fan in December 2002... so RAINBOW had just come out.

[chikocchi]

Well my first Ayu song would be "Dearest" from Inuyasha
And that was spring 2007 that I was watching that
So I guess when I first discovered Ayu A BEST 2 was being promoted
Then I didn't listen to anything else by her until Rule / Sparkle and then I listened to her first two albums but my computer crashed badly so she was put on hold
Then You were... / BALLAD was coming out and I liked that
But R'n'R Circus turned me into a stan

[HEAVEN~Destiny~]

I started exploring Ayu's discography at around 2010, when Rock n Roll Circus came out.

But I didn't become hardcore Ayu fan until the start of the 50th single project. It all started when MOON/blossom was released Then crossroad, then L. Then Love songs. Those were the days...

I still remember when I got a nervous breakdown when Ayu's crossroad was competing with Kuu's "Suki De, Suki De, Suki De." It was such a tight race, and i would refresh AHS and Oricon every hour to see if Ayu got the #1.

[Bigtop]

Well, I became a fan of Ayu in late November/early December of 2006, and around that time Secret was about being released, but I wasn't really paying attention to the promos (the song that I loved early on - "JEWEL"; I also used to watch "1 LOVE" music video as well) mainly because I was way too new to Ayu at that time...

[Chiharo]

Secret was being released, I think. I used to dislike her before I actually became a fan, though. Have no idea why!

[pepper]

Memorial address just realesed and GAME/INSPIRE single was very close I remember I didn't had internet and my bestie had, and I was beging him to download a single after I saw a cm!! I was like a crazy racoon like GIMME GIMME GIMME I NEED THIS AWESOME ROCK SONG I HEARD IN CM!!! And I also discovered Moments back then, just right before MY STORY so MY STORY was first album that I downloaded in complete xD

but tbh I became "a fan" maybe a little before Memorial adress... maybe it was after RAINBOW... Cause I didn't know the schedule of her realeses and I just downloaded everything I found on Kazaa and fan websites. It was stuff from ASfxx to RAINBOW and then Memorial adress singles (forgiveness)

but first songs Ive discovered was RAINBOW/Connected on some Manga Magazine audio-cd. But tbh I wasn't a fan after listening to them. I just thought they were OK. Then I downloaded (I was looking for japanese music in general, and I was downloading by names I had on this audio-cd list) NEVER EVER / Daybreak and then evolution and I was like WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH I NEED EVERYTHING SHE REALESED. I even loved Trust back then

I remember that I had this acoustic POWDER SNOW ver. on my A Song for xx album folder and I never knew that there is original version. I thought that the one I got is original. After I discovered my mistake, I really liked POWDER SNOW

[chocopockymaster]

The first Ayu song I heard was SEASONS at some point in 2002, and I can remember the first time I heard it I thought "omg that heaux, she totally ripped off so-and-so" (in retrospect, the song my twelve-year old self was comparing SEASONS to was not at all similar, and in fact the inferior of the two, because SEASONS is flawless)

...and then at some point later on, I was on CDJapan and saw that they had a blurb about RAINBOW coming out on December 18th. Which is my birthday. I decided in that moment that if she was releasing an album on my birthday, I couldn't NOT listen to it...so I did a little more digging around, and fell completely in love with her.

Who knows where I'd be if not for the strange reasoning skills I had as a 12-year old? lol

[unhidragtor]

Secret was about to be released~

[Corybobory]

In around the year 2000-2001, wanted to hear some Japanese music so I downloaded (on NAPSTER!) one of the songs that came up then I searched for 'Japanese pop' - it was Powder Snow (or PS II?). I didn't really like it, and forgot about it. Then sometime probably 2002ish I became friends with one of the Japanese exchange students and told her I wanted to hear some Japanese music - so we swapped CDs. She gave me Ayu's A BEST, and a CD by Kuraki Mai. I was a fan after that, and joined this forum a year or so after

[Klauser_Bateson]

I became a fan late 2003-early 2004 around the Memorial address/MY STORY era. I was watching Inuyasha on Adult Swim and Dearest got me interested in her music. However, Naturally was the song that made me a fan.

Late 2003-early 2004 was also special for me because not only did I become a fan of Ayu, this was when I completely stopped listening to rap/hip-hop music (and American music in general) and started listening to J-Pop regularly (though I've slowly gotten back into American music recently). I remember people I talked to on anime message boards sending me random songs, and then searching for it on my own.

I feel nostalgic now. :p

[Andrenekoi]

During 2000... 2001... I started getting interested in anime, manga and animesongs.
When I was 11 I made friends with 2 otaku sisters and they slowly started to brainwash me into jpop. :B During 2002 they burned me some CDs with random jpop tracks from big acts of that time... Hikki, Ayu, BoA, some 90s Namie tracks, ELT, etc. I completly felt in love with Hikki and BoA, and really liked the Namie tracks... I found Ayu stuff to be ok, but not really interesting.

During 2003 I asked them to burn Hikki's discrography to me (easy, just 3 albums at the time) and I started to dig deeper on jpop, reading about the singers and stuff. This time I discovered Ayu was the anti-Utada and all the "perfect princess" girl vibe she gave me turned me off... Also, her singing on A song for xx (the track a site recommended) sounded like a dying cat, so, meh.

I started downloading her stuff from times to times on Kazaa, together with stuff I liked better like Hikki, Hitomi Shimatani and BoA... When I went for her videos, some stuff was pretty amazing, like Rainbow (her first video I loved) or Because of You... Some just plain sucked (Seasons video, or her changing outfits during Dearest)... But I didn't really see much depth on her... and then I read about her themes being deep, the website citing endless sorrow song and pv... The song didn't make much for me (damn ~gone with the wind version~ from hell), but once I saw the video and listened to that version, she got me again.

Those friends of mine downloaded AT03-04 and I got curious to watch it... It was during a time I was really interested on watching concerts thanks to finally discovering Madonna's Drowned World Tour... And I got REALLY impressed by her as a performer! This time, at least as a performer, I was a fan! Too bad her music sucked :B I kept following her for her live performances while liking a song here and there... AT05 made it pretty clear to me she was one of the best performers I would ever see (funny now I dislike this concert), and after liking most of (miss)understood singles, I couldn't really stop listening to the album once it was released. There was the time I became a fan of Ayu the musician. Now I like most of her music releases.^^

[FoObY]

It was 2002 I believe.

I stumbled onto some of the remixes from ayu-ro mix, and I listened to some of those tracks to death.

Through the online DDR/StepMania community, I was introduced to songs like evolution, Naturally, and Connected, and I gradually grew to appreciate her songs. ayu trance 2 truly made me a fan.

RAINBOW kind of disappointed me after all that epicness, but from Memorial address and on I pretty much loved (still love) everything she does.

[Corki]

It was in 2003, when Connected was released in germany. I saw the PV on tv and really liked the song. So I googled her, found out who she is, listened to more songs and became a fan.