Quote:
Originally Posted by Next_Level29
ayu was a hidden jem for me. I first listened to j-pop in 2008. I was in an emotional crisis and watched some "nonsense videos" that were just stupid snippets from shows and were overlayed with J-Pop music. I downloaded 4 of them, Utada Hikarus >>wait and see<<, Ayaka Hiraharas >>voyagers<<, Aoyama Thelmas >>soba ni iru ne<< and Ayus >>heaven<<.
I liked the songs but had no idea who these artists were.
Some day, I googled "Japans best artist" and, of course, Ayu was in it. so I looked into my mp3 player and saw that I have been listening to some song of hers. I listened to quite an amount of songs and fell in love to end roll, blue bird or mirrocle world.
Her next level album was about to be released and it was my first release. NEXT LEVEL (the song) helped me through a lot of personal crisis. Since then, I have never let go from her. Her opening performance during the cdl 09-10 with I am is still legendary for me.
I enyoed her road to 50th single, her mini albums and full length albums. Sixxxxx had a huge impact on me, 3 song winter single and a one as well. I shared so much with ayu.
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Awesome! Just curious where you are from? The fact that you would just happen to come across something with Jpop in it was, at least back when I got into Ayu, entirely unthinkable, but of course that may depend on where you're based.
Quote:
Originally Posted by voltron
My Ayu story also starts with KaZaA!
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Haha, awesome! I'm sure all the piracy back then we had to do just to discover our favourite artists ultimately paid back aplenty - I also bought quite a few Ayu things back then, with what little budget my student self had.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sim'
Forward to september 2004: I was assigned a project in high school (for english class, which is my 3rd language) to present a music style and an artist from the world, so I rushed to japanese music (obviously, duh!), typed Jpop in Wikipedia (there wasn't Youtube yet at that moment), and chose Ayu because of her impressive achievements. I remember CAROLS was about to be released, the official website was playing a snippet from the MV and I think it was just love at first sight. The scene on the merry-go-round alone was enough to convince me to stan that woman, CAROLS is still to this day my top1 ballad... xD Then came MY STORY and I remember all the excitement when she was dropping walking proud and Humming 7/4... Ayu's still my #1 artist since 18 years, no one could ever come near that spot, that alone is an achievement...
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Super cool! What is your second language? (I assume French is your first.) What a time to get into Ayu, huh? I can so much remember the excitement when new things would drop and then rushing to Yesasia to order them, haha. Great times. And yes, 19 years down the line for me, if I was asked who my favourite artist is I would definitely still say Ayu!
Quote:
Originally Posted by _dandy_
after I started paying attention, I realized the named artist was always the same - although she looked quite different in every video, so had I just casually glanced at the videos rather than looking for the name, it would've taken a long time for me to realize this was all the same person - someone by the name of "Ayumi Hamasaki". Never heard of her.
Once I saw the name, I started googling...found her discography...downloaded a lot of MP3s...and was so impressed that over time, not only had I purchased *all* of her full-length albums, but also all EPs and some remix albums...then moved onto *all* of her yearly concert tours and live countdowns. So that little bit of streaming resulted in me buying essentially her entire catalog.
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Haha, such an awesome story too!
Again, all those little tasters - KaZaA, streaming - must have lined Avex' pockets quite a bit!
