If you were to reccommend ayu to a friend...

naxxo.licious™ · #1 3rd January 2008, 04:37 AM

If you were to reccommend ayu to a friend, which album would you reccommend him/her??
Even more difficult. Your friend has never heard any j-music song, so this album would be a total introduction to this world to him/her.
So, tell me which album would make any person a lover from ayu and jpop in general

**milky_way** · #2 3rd January 2008, 04:41 AM

I'd pick Memorial address. It has a little bit of everything, IMO.

**zoomzoom** · #3 3rd January 2008, 04:45 AM

That's really hard. I thought the same thing many times, like what would be the first performance to show, first pv, first song, etc.

I think I would go with MY STORY or Secret. Shows the range she is able to pull off.

***ImpactBreaker*** · #4 3rd January 2008, 04:47 AM

I wouldn''t introduce albums but specific songs instead. It really depends on the tastes of the friend. I'd avoid ultra happy/animeish kinds of a song for a start since they can be a bit scary for people who doesn't know JPOP. Best to try songs in which ayu has a clearer voice, and in which the arrangements doesn't drown the entire song. However, again it would all depend on the taste of the friend. Whenever I feel like getting my mom to enjoy an ayu song, I play Voyage, JEWEL and the likes. She loves them. As for a friend, I sent her alterna and the Above & Beyond remix of M, which she enjoyed but I lent her my RAINBOW album (the only ayu album I have) and she didn't even bother to listen to it at all. I usually don't bother to tell my friends my tastes in JPOP though.

Bad Wolf · #5 3rd January 2008, 04:55 AM

^ I agree on the specific songs bit. I'd probably make a playlist, mixing together all of Ayu's work with a few songs from each album just so they can see her range and growth as an artist. I might heavily feature her latest stuff, just to show what she's doing currently. I actually made an Ayu playlist today that I think works kinda/sorta okay for introducing people to Ayu:

A Song for XX
Fly high
SURREAL
I am...
M
Dearest
HANABI
ourselves
About You
(miss)understood
JEWEL
Born To Be...
talkin' 2 myself
Together When...
Marionette

The way it worked for me was I just shoved Ayu down some of my friends' throats XD. But her tearful performance of Memorial address also helped that.

rikku411 · #6 3rd January 2008, 04:59 AM

Wow, I definitely need more time to think of this, but if I chose a specific song, I'd choose JEWEL or fairlyand.... AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED BEFORE xD

I made my friends watch JEWEL & fairyland and they fell in love with the PVs and the songs, from there on it was easy hehe.

Larisa-chan · #7 3rd January 2008, 05:01 AM

Definitely would recommend specific songs rather than albums. If you absolutely NEED albums... I'd go with MY STORY, Secret and GUILTY.

Good songs to introduce people to Ayu include:
RAINBOW
Jewel
Endless Sorrow
Memorial Address
About You
Is This Love
It Was
Marionette
Guilty
Momentum
Talkin' 2 Myself
Naturally
Heartplace
(Miss)understood
TO BE

No_Doubt · #8 3rd January 2008, 05:02 AM

SIGNAL is good for a laugh.

amorphose · #9 3rd January 2008, 05:05 AM

If introduced a lot of my friends to JPop.
I usually start out with letting them hear Utada before Ayumi because Utada sounds more western, so it's not that big of a switch yet.
After I show them Utada I usually start out with MY STORY and Memorial address. Songs like Moments, Memorial address (take 2 version), Because of You, and About You tend to do really well with my friends. ayu-mi-x is a good place to start out too, maybe some (miss)understood.

Aggar · #10 3rd January 2008, 05:13 AM

I would recommend A Ballad and i have introduced some of the songs from that album to my friends. They really like it . . especially Hanabi . . I just ask 'em to listen Hanabi and they like it . . unfortunately they don't like her up-beat songs and they prefer her chill and ballad songs . .
they like Dearest acoustic piano version too . . .

**zoomzoom** · #11 3rd January 2008, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by No_Doubt

SIGNAL is good for a laugh.

The beginning of Hana is hilarious

So corny

I wouldn't play her older songs, it would come off as too screechy to people who are not used to her voice.

***ImpactBreaker*** · #12 3rd January 2008, 05:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by No_Doubt

SIGNAL is good for a laugh.

It so should be the introductory song for every person who doesn't know ayu. This way, it would help on ayu being something exclusive to us

octocoffee · #13 3rd January 2008, 05:20 AM

I'd go with the song approach first, then recommend an album, to find out which songs my friend liked best. Actually, I think I'd go with some of her PVs. Like, if my friend was a romantic and a lover of all things symbolic, I'd go with Together When... If they were into the weird and surreal, alterna or Ladies Night, etc.

naxxo.licious™ · #14 3rd January 2008, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by No_Doubt

SIGNAL is good for a laugh.

OMG hahaha. That would surely make them laugh and stay away from ayu lolz

Northerner · #15 3rd January 2008, 08:09 PM

Probably "I am...," since it's such a classic and has a good mix of styles. Otherwise, I second the recommendation to show the new potential fan a mix of PV's. I myself got into Ayu after watching the "ourselves" PV.

Sakura_Genki · #16 3rd January 2008, 08:15 PM

When I first introduced a friend of mine to Ayu I made her a mixed CD full of Ayu songs. I gave her a range of different songs to see what she prefered. Afterwards I brought her her first Ayu album, MY STORY, and she loved it.

Ani_C · #17 3rd January 2008, 08:33 PM

I Am..., (m)u, MY STORY, it's probably best to do the 'illegal' thing and burn a CD with a variety of all her songs to show that she's not just a one note happy-happy pop star (Which everyone thinks she is >.> )

**Yoake** · #18 3rd January 2008, 08:37 PM

All of them^^

I already recommended all of Ayu's album to my new friend in the university^^

naxxo.licious™ · #19 3rd January 2008, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sakura_Genki

When I first introduced a friend of mine to Ayu I made her a mixed CD full of Ayu songs. I gave her a range of different songs to see what she prefered. Afterwards I brought her her first Ayu album, MY STORY, and she loved it.

Hahaha that's just what i did. I agree with all of you, which say to show them one or a few songs, or show them her pv's. But what i want is to reccommend an album. Don't think of only separate songs. You can propose them, of course, but also propose an album

DestinyWishes · #20 3rd January 2008, 08:54 PM

I showed Ayu to one friend, didn't work on her, but she did like Talkin' 2 Myself, I swear she listens to too much MCR and Fall out Boy. But I showed her to another friend and she liked Jewel and Alterna.