I discovered Kuu with Real Emotion/ 1000 No Kotoba too because my mum had bought FFX-2 for me on the day it came out, and sometime after I was looking to download the Jade from Sweetbox versions of the songs and stumbled across Kuu's versions, and watched the Japanese video of 1000 no Kotoba from the game, and loving it. I can't even remember what seemed to attract me to listen to her music or even if I did listen to her straight after that but, the next thing I remember is listening to her releases from 2004-2005 such as Crazy 4 you and her secret album, and that's when I officially started listening to her music and became a fan.
I think it was a little time after those releases (2005-2006) that I did. I actually started off listening to her stuff from that time (2003-2005) and they became my favourite songs, until I found and listened to her stuff from 'Best Second Session' (Have fond memories of listening to them constantly like I did Secret) and then eventually onto Black Cherry, where I remembered I actually starting checking then for her new releases and discovered 'BUT' as her new release. (I think it was just released, start of 2007, when I began to look her new releases and become a fan even more). BUT became my all time fav Kuu song of that time and I have been hooked ever since. I remember joining the 'Taisetsu Na Kumi E' afterwards and once FREAKY came out that then became my all time favorite song along with BUT hahaha. I also remember being really excited about the releases of 'Ai No Uta' and 'LAST ANGEL' on the forum.
I owe Kumi a lot because over that time she was the one artist that got me into Japanese music (A time where I wasn't listening to J-POP or K-POP seems so foreign to me now xD), and because of her image and her personality and from listening to her songs she really opened me up from the shy recluse girl that I was into someone who became much more confident and open-minded. She taught me that sexy and confidence was good, whereas before I did not care for 'sexy' at all, since at that age I'll admit I didn't have a great view on it, But through Kuu's inspiration I actually learnt what real sexy was.
So yeah... since then and still now Kuu has always been my #1 favorite of all time. Because she has given me more than just good music but affected me personally with her music and her personality as well, in ways I thought wasn't possible just from listening to a music artist. It's why I love kuu so much, because I found not only her music seems to gel with my heart so well but I found her personality so relatable to me as well. I suppose a lot of people say that about their idols but you know, sometimes it's true.
They become more than just a music artist. Kuu will always be my #1, for what she has shown and given me.
Once Kuu got me into JPOP, I discovered Ayu awhile later, and fell in love with her too, hahaha.
(Sorry for the essay, lots of nice nostalgia flowing back there.
) I think I'm going to go listen to her discog now, hahaha.