If you had a friend that wanted to listen to ayu...
 

Which song would you choose for them to listen to as their first song if they haven't heard any of ayu's music? Just curious...

I think that more of her new music is more appealing to the general listener of today, then it also depends on your friends preference in music in general.

Then there's the fact that a good song is a good song, even if it doesn't sound good to everyone :). Of her newer ones we got alterna.

My suggestions:
Ladies Night - I think most people would be able to like this song
Alterna - a more rockish song
GAME - rockish again
INSPIRE - if he/she is into pop this one is quite revitalising compared to many other songs, imo.

I feel bad for leaving out many other songs that'd be great as an introduction aswell but then there's her older songs also:
evolution - it's just... I don't know, to me it's completely unique, rock-pop-ish.
A Song for XX - he really need to listen to the full song if you pick this one.

It's hard, because by my experiance not all too many that hear Ayumi for the first time like her voice very much. Also I picked mainly up-beat songs, it's generally easier to get into those than ballads if your friend isn't a great fan of ballads. If he/she is you could pick HEAVEN or M.

uhh... there's so many other you could pick aswell. If you gave me more information on what kind of music your friend likes it'd help.

Evolution: A lot of people became interested in Ayu after hearing this song, and its a good way to start things off.
Bu like immel said, it does have to do with each person's style, but Evolution, in my opinion, sort of rounds up everything.
I am currently trying to get my friend to listen to more J-Pop, specifically Ayu, but I gave her a wide range of songs to begin with. But Evolution seems like something she would like.

I think it's better if you just play them one of your fave songs rather than one you think they'll like. Sometimes I'll play stuff in my car that I think my sis or whoever is travelling with me will like and most times they don't. There are loads of songs I think my sis will (or should!) like but she doesn't.

Although if you were to choose 1 song, and I've no idea of your friend's taste, I'd go with Step You. I was showing my friend the (miss)understood DVD having no clue what she'd like but didn't think Step You would be one of her faves (didn't think she was a poppy person). But she totally loves it and even had it has her ringtone (which was really cool!)

mi|kshake~

Definitely M
It's the song that makes me an ayu fan :D
Furthermore, I introduced my friend to ayumi hamasaki through "M" too. Now, he's an ayu fan too. :P

evolution
M
endless sorrow

i tried getting some of my friends to listen to ayu but everyone hates her :(

anything from I AM

It would have to depend on what kind of music they listened to already....

Yes it depends a lot on the music your friend listens. If he likes rock, you should try alterna, game, because of you... or if he is more pop, M or evolution or something like that.
I dont recommend ASFXX because that song is very good, but only if you know the story of Ayu and the lyrics of the song.. it's the same with teddy bear, memorial address, etc..

A Song for XX "030213 Session take #2".

I think you should ask them what they like first. Upbeat or ballads, then choose from the best of Ayu's repetoire. :3

:yes - that'd be a great pick.

My friend likes pretty much anything, it won't be too much of a problem to pick a song.

I could almost swear there was a thread almost exact to this one made a few months ago.
Anywho, I'd pick 'ever free'. Not because it was my first song, but it is also my favorite Ayu song. It shines her glory in just a few words.

It depends on their taste but I would propably choose Moments or Because of You. :yes

Yes, like many people have said, it depends on what kind of music your friend listens to. Whatever the taste, I'm sure there is an ayu song that fits it.

umm.. I think maybe a song from the I am album. One of my best friends said to me one day, "I wanna hear the music you listen to" I let her borrow my I am CD and a do as infinity CD. I'm not sure what she thought of dai, but I know she liked ayu much better. She asked me to burn her a copy of the CD since she wouldn't be able to buy any. Now she loves ayu! (I gave her copies of all ayu Cds i own... hehe.)

hope your friend enjoys ayu!

Ladies Night
Startin'
Evolution
Heaven

Those sngs started my sister Tara (whos 32) loving ayu to death. Trauma was my first ayui song but Evolution was the first video i watched.

Hm...well I'm not exactly sure. I remember the first time my friend asked me if she could listen to the music I listened to and I think I gave her A BEST and I am... -- I thought that the two albums gave a really good sense of what Ayu's career was all about -- A BEST, a feel of her past, and I am... a feel of her present. She really liked them both and asked me to give me as much Ayu I could...XD I copied all of Ayu's albums for her (at that time that was up to MY STORY) and I've been supplying her with Ayu's new material ever since. Her favorite song, however, was STEP you! I was a bit surprised, but whenever I'm playing (miss)understood in my car, she always makes me play STEP you. XD It's so cute.

M
STEP you
HEAVEN

Those are 3 of the songs I used to introduce Ayu to my best friend and he fell in love with her. I've been making CDs for him for like... a year now. xD

I have three main songs I would play

Rainbow
Memorial Address~Take 2 Ver.~
End Of The World

ourselves (why is there no mention of this?)
INSPIRE (Arena Tour 2005 ver.<--this one just has much fuller instrumentation and deeper vocals.)
Ladies Night (Another Night)

For someone that is new to japanese in general I would not choose a slow ballad. There is usually little good standalone instrumentation for the listener to enjoy, and someone who is new to a language doesn't care much for the quality of the vocals (i.e. HEAVEN)

Nice. I will remember the way you put it, I think the same but was unable to write it down in words :).

ourselves is a good example, it's one of the more unique Ayu songs (together with many other) and is also a song I think people would find easy to like, though I belive the intro of it might sound weird when hearing it for the first time.

Haha, it looks like almost everyone in this thread think you should introduce your friend to different songs, the only ones that seem to reappear is M or evolution.

Ditto.

moments - that's how i got many of my friends into Ayu!!! and it was also the fist Ayu song i loved!!!!

Step you - this song is soo damn catchy i loved it the very first time i heard it

^ Yeh I forgot Moments. :yes

I'll say STEP you for upbeat song and Moments for slow song.

And I actually have a friend that wants to listen to ayu. He listened to Bold & Delicious and he loved it. =)

Inspire
Is this LOVE?
Heaven.

Step U is a gd choice, anyone who luvs pop shd luv this song.... for ballads, i wld go with heaven, its my fav and voyage too

It depends. one of my friends hates all the ayu songs I like, and likes all the ayu songs I hate.. I dislike poker face and Boys & girls and she loves them, and I love dearest and she hates it^^ (also my cousin liked is this LOVE? and I hated it) You won't recommend songs that you dont like so I just suggest if anyone really wants to get into Ayu let them borrow the CDs and pick which songs they like themselves.

^well, it's like that... Not everyone's taste are the same

I wonder why no one choose Fairyland... Indeed I did get bored of Fairyland quickly, but I introduced everyone I know with Fairyland first, followed by STEP you lastly dearest... My friends USUALLY say STEP you is weird where as Fairyland is nice and dearest is good...

I would make them hear my favorite song, "ourselves", and also "ladies night" because it's so retro-catchy.

it depends on my friends' liking.

Ballad: CAROLS. (practically all my friends like it) or HEAVEN.
Pop: STEP you. (its addictive! the 1 2 3 4 you and me!)
Rock: alterna.

Rainbow, Surreal, M, Daybreak and STEP you. The perfect "make-you-into-a-fan" combo.

Bold & Delicious
STEP you
evolution

They're all quite popular with the friends.

I think that A Song for XX is good choice for a first song, most Ayu songs are ballads so it would be "bad" to make listen some rockish songs, there are not so much.

it really depends on what they're into...but for my friends, i'm going to say m (above and beyond remix).

Heaven- Its really a nice song, with good singing. I introduced to my web friend who ever heard of Ayu before once, and he is totally into the song.

Game/ About You- really upbeat and rockish. Strong dynamic which hooks people easily (or at least i think)

M- coz it top most of the "Ultimate songs poll" in AHS!!!

Step U- another one which top a lot of our polls

Startin- its a song used in a popular game, so easy to introduce, ya?

Hmm it's depending on which music the person likes to listen to^^

A friend of mine likes Rock Music-so I showed him Step you and Alterna and he liked them^^

I got my friend to like ayu with Beautiful Fighters

STEP you is definitely a good choice for a beginner's song, because it's really addictive and easy to catch.

Also, some of my friends thought CAROLS sounded really good for a ballad, so that song has converted quite a few too.

guys you are only allowed to choose one song.

hard choice, but STEP you

Memorial address, because that's the first song I heard. And maybe also M, Voyage and Alterna.

to know that actually requires reading the thread though!!! *gasp*

M and Evolution

Just feed em the common stuff like the album I Am... heheh or just let em hear Evolution most ppl love that hahah

Probably some of her more recent music, not because it's better than her older music, but because the production on her older music is a bit dated (since it's old-ish). Usually people really like her rocks songs at first, especially Because of you, GAME, and is this LOVE?

At first, I was going to say "evolution" since that got me into Ayu's music.

But, I think "Ladies Night" is a better choice, since most of 'em like rap and Ayu sings fast at the beginning also, I find it a fun song :]

earlier ayu songs will be better, like A Song for XX, songs in LOVEppears, Duty...

just give him or her A BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would suggest either Dearest or Hanabi. Those are 2 beautiful songs. The lyrics are strong and true. Ayu opens up to us about her life. And I have to say, watching both PV`s made me cry really hard. Ayu just broke down and started crying. I`d definetly chose those songs.

I have some friends who enjoy her music and some that has heard & liked her but then stopped liking her due to it becoming mainstream to like JPop, and some friends who just sigh if I mention her. All of them know how much I like her and they respect it unless they're really close friends :D.

Depends on the style of music my friend favors but I would actually just send them one of my favourite Ayu songs first. If they like it, then i'll send more. =) Most of my friends don't even care about Ayu. Whenever I talk about her, they just ignore and think I'm like rambling some useless crap!

For me,,
I'll choose Bold n Delicious
Bcoz, i did that before and all my friends always remember that song bcoz of the 'Freaky voices!!' Haha

well i agree with an earlier post in saying to reconmend some of her newer songs... not because its nicer, i think her older songs are nicer, but because its closer to who she is right now...

my pick would be heaven...

Even when my favorite Ayumi song is "HEAVEN", I would go with... "STEP you", it's a great song and you can like it with only one listen, when there are others who take time to grow roots inside you :D

STEP you and Real Me are great songs too. I would reccomend them too.

i didnt really like step you on my first listen, but it did grow on me though... :P

is this LOVE?

by the way, what am I saying. There's more: Step YOU, HEAVEN, rainy day, Memorial Address, UNITE!, Who..., humming7/4.... tihhihihi

I would probably choose alterna as a song to introduce people to Ayu. But it would really depend on what that person liked. XD

Pop: Ladies Night :shrug (I guess. Ooh! But probably ~another night~!)
Rock: Because of You
Ballad: M :D

I'm not sure, actually. This is a little tough.

I would let them listen to her music that they aremore into..like my friend loves heavy metal and rock...so i let her listen to ayu's more rockish songs..now she likes her haha..but only rockish stuff *and her wierd vids*

OMG. I love that song and I thought my friend would love it.. but she HATED it.. she was like "OMG, WHATS WITH HER VOCALS IN THE END?! EW! WHY IS SHE WHINING AND SCREECHING.." ... >.> .. but I still got her into Ayu.. her favorite song is Because of You

[is this love?], it seems like a rock song. I think every young people like rock, so, I'll choose this song for my friend who first time to listen to AYU's song, and I bet he'll like AYU! That's what I hope!:)

Actually this has happened, I gave her RAINBOW, she fell in love with it...I also fell in love with RAINBOW, and then I gave her REAL ME, she FELL IN LOVE WITH IT quickly, as I did too...after that...and the entire discography of ayumi and like 30 music videos...we stopped talking...college sucks huh?