My Journey through Ayu's Music

[Earth_maiden]

Okay, I've been thinking about how my journey to Ayu started, and I realized there have been a lot of songs that have had some major significance for me. My idea was to make them into an "album" to show my journey through Ayu's music and why each track meant something special to me. So, here's my album/journey:

MY JOURNEY


You - Aggressive Mix
This is first song I ever, ever heard from Ayu, because I was trolling Limewire looking for Initial D songs, and this song was in the list from some user. So I downloaded it and listened to it for a few weeks until I got sick of it, and didn't really think about Ayu again for a year or so.

Hanabi
I heard this song in a kingdom hearts AMV (which wrongly titled the song "Rainbow", so I thought this song was the very famous Rainbow and I wasn't very impressed with it), so I downloaded it and it was one of my only 4 or 5 Ayu tracks.

No Way to Say
not sure why I downloaded this song, it was probably in the same user's account that I downloaded Hanabi from, so I downloaded it and listened to it a few times. It didn't leave much of an impression on me. But I would still include because now, every time I hear this song I remember the days when life was a little simpler, I was still in high school and the world didn't seem as scary as it does now.

Dearest
From downloading all the Inuyasha songs I could find on Limewire. I liked this song quite a lot, not as much as BoA's "Every Heart", but I still listened to it a lot.

No more words
Same as above, except this song I truly adored and still listen to often. It was possibly this song that really got me interested in hearing more from Ayu.

Rainbow
After realizing that the song Hanabi WASN'T the real Rainbow (after reading a random music blog, I think) I found the real song and downloaded it, and it was probably after this song that I really started to get hooked on Ayu.

STEP you
After one of my close friends went on a holiday to Malaysia, she came back with a whole bunch of random Japanese CDs, and she burned me a copy of the album "miss(understood)". I didn't listen to it for about a week or two, but when I put it in, I won't say I was immediately hooked, because the first track, Bold and Delicious, kind of scared me. But the next track I really enjoyed, and the more I listened to it, the more I found myself slowly becoming addicted.

fairyland
I was looking for some Ayu PVs to download on Limewire, so this was the first video I ever watched of Ayu's, and it's still probably my favourite PV ever. So the song is also special to me.

Startin'
It was around this time that the single Startin'/Born to be was released. I wasn't initially fond of the song but after watching the crazy PV a few times I began to really love this song.

Beautiful Fighters
And then Blue Bird/Beautiful Fighters was released, and even though I liked Blue Bird, I thought fairyland was a much better "summer" song, by comparision. But I loved the lyrics and PV that came along with Beautiful Fighters, so that's the song that hooked me.

Heartplace
Kind of random placement here, but it was around this time that I started going through Limewire and downloading all of Ayu's albums. I downloaded Rainbow first because I was sure it contained the track Rainbow, and I was disappointed to find it didn't. But after listening to the album Heartplace really stuck with me, the power of Ayu's vocals and the arrangement just struck a chord in me.

Real Me
Another case of going through the album, but this song it was more the PV that made me fall in love with the song. I just loved the dances and Ayu's head bling.

Voyage
I was watching the PV and was crying at the end of it, the two lovers reunited across time, and everyone including Ayu thought she was crazy but she wasn't, ahhh, I really loved this PV! Plus the sweetness of the music and the vocals made me love the song ever more.

fated
Then the glitter/fated single came out. Fated is my most played Ayu track ever, according to my lastfm stats anyway. I just really loved this song, even though apparently many people didn't. Oh well, I was happy with it!

Mirrorcle World
I, like most other Ayu fans, was estastic to hear Ayu had extended the awesome "Mirror" track and made it into a full single. I think this track was my ring tone for about 8 months or so.

GREEN
And of course, Green. The beauty and elegance of this song still hooks me every time I listen to it. Do I need to explain much more? XD

Sunrise ~ LOVE IS ALL
This song appeared at a time in my life that was terrible and depressing, so it was like a beacon of light, giving me the strength to get through each day and try to smile. It will never stop being a song that was a pillar of strength for me in my time of need. Which is why I see it fits to end my story of my journey through Ayu's music, with my head held high and a smile on my face, ready to face whatever may come my way.



So, that's the journey I have taken, shortened to 17 tracks to make my own little Ayu album. It probably wouldn't sell very well as a compilation album, but all these tracks have meant something personal to me, which is why I would include them in that exact order.


If anyone else had a story like this I would love to hear it!