When did I become an Ayu fan?
I became a fan in 2004. I was already into Japanese music but I didn't have much access to the internet and my Jpop collection was limited to Dragon Ball Z OSTs, Sailor Moon OSTs and some various other anime OPs, EDs and some random ZARD and Hironobu Kageyama songs. I played these songs to death!! I never really liked English music much apart from the Spice Girls, but that had been almost 5 years earlier and I'd never found an artist I liked as much as them apart from Gorillaz, who weren't even a "real" band! I was pretty dissatisfied with the Western music scene as a whole.
In my art class, I talked to this old (and slightly creepy) guy but he had a friend who was really into trance music. He started talking about Ayu one day, saying she was the best artists in Japan and she did awesome trance albums etc. He lent me his JP editions of RAINBOW and Ayu Trance 2 (amongst some Denki Groove and others). I listened to Ayu Trance 2 first but completely fell in love with RAINBOW.
What was it like to be a fan?
I couldn't believe how awesome it was to have an artist who did
good remixes. Even today, Western music remixes are so boring and lazy, I find it so depressing to hear such crappy remixes on our dance music channels....blaargh.
But anyway, I thought her voice was so cute, the Engrish in the RAINBOW album was cute, the photoshoot was AMAZING. I never connected with the lyrics and didn't even bother to look up translations...just Ayu's voice and the music itself is what's held me. I always felt happy when I listened to her no matter what mood I'd been in.
At school I googled pictures and printed them and put them into a folder but I was really conscious of school download limits so I got maybe 1-2 other mp3s but fell for the "Butterfly" trap xDD I also was sent some of Hikki's songs mislabelled as Ayu's through people I met on Yahoo! chat. Geocities and Angelfire sites were how I got most of my Jpop music in those days. I also had some Gackt songs and more ZARD songs too.
First purchase
One day in Chinatown I found a copy of No Way To Say. It cost about $28 but it was the cheapest one they had. Moments was $32, Dearest was $35 and ASFXX was over $50. I found out later they were China Presses but at the time they were authentic to me
Ayu and me online
In 2005 I discovered AHS and joined. I got better internet access and downloaded most of Ayu's discography. I was a wonderful time because there was so much new stuff to listen to. I didn't get to see many PVs because of my slow internet but the ones I saw were epic. I finally saw the RAINBOW PV and cried. Then I saw the PV for Endless Sorrow and cried more. I felt really connected to Ayu then and listened to her 24/7. I stayed up overnight with people here waiting for the B&D PV to air on TV and for leaks from MY STORY. I slowly bought a couple of her singles from Chinatown and tried to import some from Japan but the cost was way too high. When I went to Melbourne I got a bootleg copy of (m)u, just happy to have the album and some of her newer stuff I was missing, and a TW copy of Secret.
In 2006 I lost internet access and my connection to the Jpop world kinda died
I stopped listening to music almost completely and naturally Ayu disappeared. I did miss the community here though as nobody I knew liked Japanese music at all
When I got my laptop I came back here immediately and enjoyed Jpop once again. I got into Mika Nakashima a bit and some other (mostly female) artists but none as much as I did with Ayu.
Ayu and me today
I still love Ayu but at the moment I rarely have the feeling I used to. I was excited about NL and S/S but S/S was a massive disappointment and NL wasn't quite up to what I was expecting...I have so much hope when I hear songs like Yw/B and D/G but I don't think that excitement of the early days will ever come back. Back then, there was so much exciting stuff happening constantly! Releases can be so slow that I spoil myself before they come out. lol
Being a new fan is the best experience. You have so much material to listen to and it takes forever for you to become bored. If I ever get amnesia I guess I'll bet that experience again?
