That explained Ayumi perfectly--I couldn't believe you were talking about her!!
I really don't know that much about that singer, other than a few songs she released. But if that's really how she is... Ayu is definitely the ___ of Japan. :O
Lyrics are certainly more appreciated in Japan - or maybe the Eastern world in general - compared to the US. In the US, to be famous, it's strictly about knowing somebody or having a crap load of money; to remain famous, you have to sell yourself out and go with the flow, not giving yourself hardly any room to be unique. But in Japan, as you can see with Ayumi, people get chances. Many get second chances (again, as is the case with Ayumi). And people can become and remain popular for various reasons, being lyrics (Ayu), image (Kuu), incredible fanbase (Namie), anime or video games (Nami Tamaki), side jobs as a producer or whatever in the industry (Zeebra), past experience (AI), collaborations (VERBAL)...and dozens of other reasons, including real talent or, yes, who you may know in the business. I also believe that age does play a huge factor in both the Eastern and Western world. We see "old" singers every day steadily lose popularity to seventeen year old rising stars who don't have nearly as much experience, and often not as much talent; those who become huge rarely are first known past early twenties.
In Ayu's case, I really believe that she got lucky. She was extremely fortunate to be picked up and given a second chance by a head of the overall biggest record label in Japan. At the time, her voice wasn't that good at all, she didn't have that great of an image, and nobody yet knew about her talent for writing. Ayumi deserves her success, but she was lucky to have gotten such a boost so quickly.
In the case of the other singer..... From what I've heard of her music, she's always been pretty non-mainstream, or at least different than what you'd normally hear on the radio. And her image is pretty plain. Nothing about her stands out at first glance (besides maybe her hair, hah), though she is a good singer and deserves more recognition. Her age didn't help, either, as I said before. She may have had a better chance in other countries, but considering she's an American artist, I'm kinda surprised she's known at all.