How Did You Discover J-Pop? + Your Favorite Artists Now?
 

Searched for this topic, didn't find it. Hope it wasn't already created.
So I discovered J-Pop through Simple and Clean by Utada I guess lol. That doesn't really count for J-Pop but Utada Hikaru did in fact get me into J-Pop.
The first song I heard from these artists are listed
[Copying off how stickyrice did his xD]
Ayumi Hamasaki - I had to buy a few songs off iTunes for a friend who gave me her iTunes card. She listed HEAVEN, JEWEL, and HOPE or PAIN. I bought HOPE or PAIN first and listened to it first, loved Ayu since.
Koda Kumi - A member who goes here (Bozu) was talking about JUICY in a chatbox in the Hikki Station forums. I looked it up because the lyrics made me Lol, the PV made me lol as well. I now love Kuu a lot as well <3
Namie Amuro - Looked up HIDE & SEEK after Bozu told me about it
Leah Dizon - I watched a mash up of her and Ayu to the remix of "independent [Cyber Nation Remix] and I was looking for the video the user used, and it happened to be Koi Shiyo
Hitomi Yaida - Found the song Over the Distance through the game Oueden (forgot how to spell it xD)
Ai Otsuka - Read reviews on Ai, looked up LOVE COOK. Listened to the first song, addicted ever since
and of course, Utada with Simple and Clean from Kingdom Hearts <3

if you wanna go see my favorite artists, just go here: http://www.last.fm/user/Beauty4123

i can't type them all out :laugh but i will say one artist: ARASHI :smitten

i found out about jpop from hearing utada's "simple and clean" on a kingdom hearts commercial on TV. then i had a gamepro magazine that had an article on utada hikaru, so that's how i knew who she was. then later on, i bought FFX-2 and found koda kumi's japanese version of "real emotion".

Ayumi Hamasaki - way back in 1999 with Depend on you from that video game the song was featured in (Thousand Arms) so I downloaded that and copied that one song onto a cd and I would always listen to it but I lost it and she still wasn't as popular so i forgot about her until I decided to play the game again in 2001/2002 . I looked her up and listened to her others songs, found out she's like the biggest thing to hit Japan and became a fan.

Koda Kumi - I was her fan when feel my mind was released since I loved Crazy 4 U. Ever since then she was just giving out hit after hit until the disastrous Black Cherry which I still find to be her weakest album for me, and now she's just there. I still like to follow her career though.

Namie Amuro - As I was searching up Ayumi, I saw Namie's name mentioned and I downloaded Never End, loved the song but then I just forgot about her. I started joining forums around 2005 and saw Queen of Hip-Pop was released. Downloaded that and I became obsessed with her and yea.

Utada Hikaru - Kingdom Hearts.

BoA - It was during my "anime is so cool" period and I was watching Inuyasha, heard Every Heart and again, downloaded some songs and just fell in love with her.

And the rest were just found through forums. "The official ______ thread" and then I would click it to see who it was and decided if I like the artist or not.

edit: I should mention that the artists above (aside from Ayumi and Namie) are not my favourite artists anymore lol Those places have been given out to melody. (even though she's done with singing), Mika Nakashima, Angela Aki, Hitomi Shimatani, ayaka and a few others.

the first person i ever listened to (and enjoyed) was utada hikaru, but she didn't get me into j-pop really. i didn't bother to look up anyone else when i found out who she was. i guess that was still 'discovering' it tho lol.

koda kumi - i heard koi no tsubomi and get up & move!! (and laughed hysterically at the engrish) on a playlist on some website, i liked them but i forgot about them and never looked into her other music. a while after my friend was introducing asian music to me and the first j-pop singer he showed me was kuu. i've loved her ever since. :yes

emi hinouchi - my friend showed me the video for goodie memories but i didn't really like it. a month or two afterwards i downloaded dramatiques and loved it.

miliyah kato - i was searching for music and downloaded her album diamond princess. i loved last summer but i didn't really like the rest of her music, however she grew on me.

ayumi hamasaki - i'm not sure how i found her, but i thought she was adorable. i decided to listen to some of her music and ended up finding blue bird and evolution. i liked blue bird but i thought evolution was awful. i avoided the rest of her music for a long time, but now i enjoy it for the most part.

Ayumi Hamasaki: liked Dearest from Inuyasha, adored glitter in Taiwan, loved Endless sorrow/M/SEASONS/rainy day from Limewire
Utada Hikaru: FOL from HYD
Namie: Baby Don't Cry from TV
alan: AENS from Myspace

it was 3 years ago+ when I gave jpop a listen because I was getting so bored with Eng music but it didn't became a full blown effect til Oct '07

somemore my younger sister played a part in influencing me to give it a shot since she listened to it even much earlier than me

the 1st jpop artiste I listened to is no doubt ayumi & you can see the whole list of jpop artistes I listen to via my profile page on AHS :D

Back in 2004 or 2005 I was trying to download Mariah Carey's Rainbow album for my girlfriend and accidentally downloaded Ayu's RAINBOW PV! After research, I found some of her amazing shows and PV's online and that was it... love at first sight

A few of my first Jpop albums
Ayumi Hamasaki - I am...
Utada Hikaru - DEEP RIVER
Namie Amuro - LOVE ENHANCED
Do As Infinity - Do The Best

i started listening to J-pop in 2003 (i was 13?) because i liked anime/video games at the time. i haven't watched anime in YEARS, but i still love j-music. i think instead of listing artists, i could just describe my tastes over time (yay nostalgia~)

well, i guess it started with both Utada Hikaru & Hamasaki Ayumi. i got into Ayu through Inu-Yasha with "Dearest" and Utada by "Simple & Clean", of course. i think throughout my whole j-pop life? (LOL IDK), those 2 are the ones that i'll stick with forever. i'll always appreciate these 2 ladies. (more so with Ayu. i love her so much! xD) i was also a fan of globe since "genesis of next" was for "Cyborg 009".

more in my earlier years, i was more into female j-pop acts. i couldn't stand guys at all back then. 2004 was the year i like honestly dedicated my life to knowing more & more j-pop acts. i was quite the fan of Koda Kumi when she released "real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba" & "Come With Me". she really wasn't that well known back then. LOL. i also liked other female artists like BoA, Nakashima Mika, Otsuka Ai, etc.

but i think the artists i listen now, came from stumbling upon them in 2005. that was when i started going into the male sector of j-pop / j-entertainment. LOL. L'Arc~en~Ciel was my first j-music band i really, really liked. hyde was a wonderful voice and i was a fan of tetsu as well. i also starting noticing Mr.Children, B'z, Remioromen, etc. but i also noticed...idk, Johnny's Entertainment too. xD i think i got into Amuro Namie around this time too. i remember not really liking her at first, but somehow did around this time.

so yeahhhh~ nowadays i just listen to Ayu, JE (more so KAT-TUN & KANJANI8), Laruku whenever they're active, OLIVIA, Namie, Hikki, etc. now i seem to branch out to music within the states & Japan.

i guess as of lately (meaning 2006 & on~ ish), some of the acts i like are GReeeeN, ayaka, Perfume / Nakata Yasutaka works, etc. :]

The first artist I discovered was YUI, and then Younha, then Mikuni Shimokawa, Hikki, KOTOKO, Riyu Kosaka and BeForU, then Ayu, Nana Mizuki, etc...
:) It mainly all started from watching anime :O

I was first introduced to j-pop by watching anime when I was like 6 years old. I always loved the theme songs/ending for the shows and it just grew from there.

Maki Goto: I bought a bootleg Morning Musume CD which contained some of her solo songs. I always liked her songs the best and found it weird how it sounded like only one person was singing :o I eventually found out she was a solo singer and H!P just didn't consist of Morning Musume..

Ami Suzuki: I first heard about her cause she was produced by Tetsuya Komuro who I was a fan of. I only first heard her music when she returned to the music industry with avex.

Namie Amuro: I downloaded this video called "YOU ARE THE ONE" which is a charity song made up of bands/singers produced by Tetsuya Komuro. I thought I was downloading a AMV for Final Fantasy 8 cause the description had "FF XIII" in it..
Also how I discovered other favorites like Tomomi Kahala, hitomi, and globe.

Ayumi Hamasaki: I used to really hate her and I'm not sure why. My cousin was really into Ayu and first introduced me to her. One day I decided to give her another chance and borrowed the UNITE! single from my cousin. From then on I loved her :heart

Koda Kumi: FF X-2

Utada Hikaru: Cousin who liked Ayu

JE bands: Heard about groups like SMAP and Kinki Kids through random j-pop communities. After I randomly downloaded songs from those two groups I did more research and learned about what Johnny's entertainment was. It took me a while to like their music lol.

ULFULS: I really wanted to try j-rock and this band was recommended to me, ever since then they are one of the few j-rock bands I like. I would also always see them in those lists tv shows make (like Music Station) and always wondered what their name was.

Bonnie Pink: A local music show (YTV hit list for y'all canadians ;)) did a special on j-pop and her video for Private Laughter played. It was the end of the program and that was the only video I was able to see :weep I don't really follow her music anymore but she was one of my first favorite j-pop singers.

I first discovered j-pop (without knowing until much later lol) in 2002 when I got Kingdom Hearts for Christmas :P I loved Simple & Clean and used to reset the PS2 just so I could watch the intro again :P It was a year and a half later that I bought Final Fantasy X-2 and found Sweetbox's version of real Emotion and 1000 Words. It was around that time that I'd also gotten my first computer so I went online and found the Japanese version of real Emotion and feel in love with it. I then started listening to Koda Kumi songs before I found other artists. :P

In the order I discovered them:
KODA KUMI - Ku was the first singer I'd heard sing in Japanese. After I found real Emotion and 1000 no Kotoba I found the COME WITH ME single. I then found an amazing website that had uploaded all her albums up to feel my mind so I downloaded them and became a Kumi fan. I didn't really know much about Kumi until I joined So Into Koda in 2005 and thats when I started to find out about other J-Pop artists.

BoA - Being a Ku I obviously found the meaning of peace. I loved the song and though this I found BoA. At first I didn't like her cuz she was too Western styled but after a while I warmed up to her (thank you QUINCY lol) I listened to more of her songs and started to like her a lot and now I love her (ironic considering she's trying to be mainstream Western style to fit into the American music market lol)

UTADA HIKARU - Utada was technically the first J-Pop artist I heard but that was Simple and Clean so it doesn't count :P When I found J-Pop I then found Hikari and other Utada songs and started to like them a lot.

KOTANI KINYA - After I joined my first forum I started talking to people on MSN and one of them was a guy who liked the anime Gravitation. He showed it to me and I heard the song Spicy Marmalade. I loved it and so hunted down the Gravitation soundtrack and most of the songs were by Kinya :P I then found his albums and loved them too but now he's been gone for about 2 years :(

AYUMI HAMASAKI - I remember this vividly!! I was a fan of a girl on Soundclick called Sou-Hime and she had covered INSPIRE on her music page. So I listened to it and liked it so I found the original version and liked that but I didn't look for more ayu stuff cuz I had kinda been brain-washed by some ayu-haters into thinking she was a total plastic barbie diva. But just after Halloween in 2005 (when Ku announced her 12 singles release :P) SIK was talking about Bold & Delicious. So out of curiosity I looked it up and found AHS so I joined :P Then the forum was all buzzed with the release of (miss)understood coming up and the CDL05-06. So I downloaded it and LOVED EVERY SECOND!!! I found a torrent on JPS with all of ayu's songs so I downloaded like 12GB worth of ayu (including singles, albums, remix albums, remix singles, EVERYTHING!) and I was a devout ayu fan by the end of the week :P

KAT-TUN - It was though AHS that I found Johnny's and KAT-TUN. At the time I found them Jin was still in America so I though it was just a 5 member group until I read up on them. But I loved their songs (GOLD in particular) and so I started listening to them :P

TRF - having liked teens on the Startin' / Born To Be... single I looked up TRF and found that I liked them. This was about Halloween. I found their Lif-e-motions album and heard the other singers cover their songs. This is were I found my favoritest ever J-Pop band: AAA

AAA - After I heard CRAZY GONNA CRAZY -meets AAA- on TRF's Lif-e-motions album I looked up AAA. I loved them from the first second I saw them. They were exactly my style of music :P I really liked the songs like "Q", BLOOD on FIRE and Saikyou Babe (not to mention I am totally in love with Nissy :P). My first AAA release was CHEWING GUM in 2006 then Black & White right after (btw Black & White is the only J-Pop single I own :P) Ever since I have loved AAA :P

NEWS - Because I liked KAT-TUN I decided to check out other JE bands but most of them were all too sugar pop for me to like :headache But then I checked out NEWS. At first I totally hated them because their first album touch really turned me off them. But when pacific was about to be released I looked them up again and totally loved their newer songs like Sayaendo and the b-sides Boom! Boom! POWER and Akai Hana. Finally weeeek came along and just blew my mind :P

Since then I've found lots of other artists the ones I really like being:
Namie Amuro
Hey!Say!JUMP
Gackt
Daichi Miura
TETRA-FANG
UVERworld
Shota Shimizu
w-inds.
TOHOSHINKI
Naifu

And if you read all that good on you lol

Those stories are very interesting! I especially liked the "Mariah Carey Rainbow --> Ayumi RAINBOW" one xD

For me: (I'll spoiler the standard ones)



Shibasaki Kou: One of my favorite Japanese movies is "Chakushin Ari" (One Missed Call) and she plays the main part. Also, I loved the song that plays at the end of that movie (Ikutsuka no sora) so when I found out that's also Kou.. I loved her xD but I'm not a fan.

yeah I have no diversity in my Japanese music lol I mainly listen to Kuu nowadays and hikki.

Kuu actually...I think is underrated...she has a unique sound that...you don't really find with other artists...not even Namie's "Hip-Pop" sound. And she has a diverse repertoire.

And she's nice :P

2 years from now, maybe more, i found ayu pic on google cuz i was searchin' for japan. and than japanese music, so i at first i saw her picture and thought she's pretty, and then download some songs, i think naturally was one of my first songs i heard from ayu.
then i got interested more in jpop, and discovered ikimonogakari, JYONGRI, yuna ito, namie,miliyah kato, seamo, ai otsuka,.. i listened to many, but im a fan of just a few nowadays, i never got addicted on hikki and kuu. hikki is nice and sometimes i listen to her, but i dont like kuu's voice, so yeah..
today i listen mostly alan, ayu, namie, miliyah, satomi takasugi, aoyama thelma... and more cpop then jpop

I remember that. Love Bonnie Pink now :P Do you remember what year that was?

I have been into J-pop for a long time. Don't really remember what got me into it...

I don't remember how I got into most of my favorites, I guess just feeding my obsession for music and J-pop.

Ayu I listened to Dearest on Inuyasha
Ami Suzuki I heard she was Ayu's rival and gave her a try, I didn't liked her at first

I can't remember more :)

If I remember correctly it was near the start of 2004. Private Laughter was released Jan 2004 so they must of played her most recent video. ugh I really wish I was able to see more of it ;/

Back when I was 10 I remember downloading some songs and burning them to a CD. I used to play all the time, but then lost the CD. I forgot about J-Pop/Japanese music until I started chating with a friend a few years later.

We had been talking about metal bands, which turned into a what other music do you listen kind of thing. Introduced me to Dir en Grey, MUCC and SCISSOR. I bought a Moi dix Mois CD at the local fair. Also got into the Final Fantasy soundtracks.

Sometime around there I stumbled onto Hikki and Ayu.

Loved them both since.

Later got into YUI and BoA and I have been recently listening to Namie Amuro.

That's pretty much as far as my Japanese pop goes but I listen to Japanese artists in other genres such as Tujiko Noriko and such.

Well, first time I get in contact with J-Pop I didn't even know it was J-Pop... :D
Back in 2003 my sister bought FFX2 and she told me that one character is modelled on a J-Pop singer and that she sang the japanese version of two songs. Well, I didn't like the character too much and just one song, I wasn't really interested in.
In 2004 and 2005 I`ve read so much about a singer named Ayumi Hamasaki in germans biggest Manga/Anime community and in a german manga magazine called Daisuki. They attract my attention so much at Ayu that I bought her Rainbow album without even heard one single song of Ayu before! XD
I picked Rainbow just because of the great cover, lol.
I fell in love with Rainbow and it`s still my favourite album of her, but I wasn't a great fan of her because in some songs her voice was so high pitched and I `didn't like that.
After that I got more information about her, but I haven't much money, so I didn't buy anything more from her.
Some time later I've heard some songs of BoA in the internet and I bought Best of Soul to get a better impression of her from the same (expensive) german online store like I used for Ayu's Rainbow.
I liked a lot of songs and decided to follow her career.

I don't exactly how I got into Kuu, but I think I've read about her in the Manga/Anime community, too. Then I discovered YesAsia trough my sister who bought there some game soundtracks and I was so stroke dead with all those japanese and asian music stuff!
I stumpled over Koda Kumi again (and BoA, too) and my boyfriend at that time searched some PVs at YouTube and showed me BUT from Kumi and I fell instantly in love with her!
I decided to buy BUT CD+ DVD along with Black Cherry CD+2DVD and BoA's complete clips and never regret it, since then I`m a die-hard Kumi fan!
It was summer 2007 and since then I love japanese music and follow more than one artist properly (buying CDs, DVDs, etc.).

I discovered the rest in forums (AHS, Honey Flash) and the internet after that.