I've always heard of Ayumi Hamasaki as a Japanese Madonna, like she's been the greatest star from Japan for a decade or whatever, but I've never really been into her music. Actually I just listened to a song randomly on Youtube. If memory serves the PV was about her falling in love with her bodyguard but in the end they couldn't be together. I didn't enjoy the music at all so I didn't search further. However, since I see she has so many fans from everywhere, I think I should probably give her a shot and see if I become a fan too. So what songs do you recommend to an alan fan like me?

I don't think I'd have been an Ayu fan if I started with glitter / fated lol.

I don't really know your favorite types of music, if you prefer ballads or up-tempos, but overall what makes Ayu famous and the 'Japanese Madonna' is the quality of her lyrics : she is very sincere and her lyrics are strong, and the fact she has such a long career behind her...

I think that recommending songs to you is useless and pointless as we don't share the same musical tastes, but if you precise the type of songs you really prefer maybe someone can help you easier.

What drew me into Ayu first were her earlier works. You started with glitter which is a really simple pop song...nothing much to it.

I suggest you reading the lyrics as you listen.
I'm not really sure what kind of genre you like, so I'll just my favorites
I'm also not sure about the genre cause I'm just listing them as I think about them lol

Rock: kiss o' kill, Memorial address, count down, until that Day...
Memorial address is really touching if you watch the Arena Tour 2003-2004 performance of it. The song is about her dad who left her when she was really little, so you can feel her emotions as she performs.

Ballad: Moments, HEAVEN (composed by alan's producer, Kazuhito!), Endless sorrow (really love the PV for this!), Dearest (if you ever watched the anime Inuyasha, then this was one of the ending songs), untitled~for her~ (also a touching song that Ayu wrote for her friend who died)

Faster paced song: I am..., SURREAL (also composed by Kazuhito), evolution, Heartplace, HANABI~episode II~, A Song for XX (it's rock, but the album version doesn't sound like it. l suggest watching the a-nation '08 performance cause she just killed it lol), M (many have said Diamond sounds similar to it)

Pop: STEP you

Asian styled songs: theme of a-nation '03, GREEN (arranged by the same person who did alan's Sakura Modern, so it might sound similar), Will

Ok hope that will get you started...I would link the specific performances, but I'm on my itouch right now, so also sorry for typos!

I recommend M most importantly! For pop songs, Fairyland and Inspire are good quality. Heaven and Endless Sorrow are her greatest ballads. A very underrated favorite of mine is Naturally, it's just an album track but it's one of her best songs to me, it's very strong - and I don't like much of her music that isn't on her trance remix albums/singles.

In my opinion, any of her music past 2007 really isn't good because her voice is really different from her earlier works.

It also depends on what kind of vocal style you prefer. Her 1st album (A Song for XX) has really squeaky vocals. The albums LOVEappears, Duty, A BEST and I am are kinda nasal too, but sound pretty good imo. RAINBOW is in-between. Memorial address and beyond has lower and less nasal vocals.

Her best albums are also a nice place to start: A BEST and A BEST II (Black & White).

^ Yeah, the A BEST 2 gathers all her most notable tracks.

To list my favorites : vogue (by Kazuhito Kikuchi !), GREEN, crossroad, ourselves, Moments... GAME is also a great rock song.

(Someone should ask alan which is her favorite Ayu song on tweeter haha)

Thanks everyone for taking part in this thread, it's very nice of you guys.

You should try her 1st mini-album "Memorial address", it's amazing, specially "No Way to Say"

But you know you shouldn't force yourself to like an artist, there'll always be people who can't bear Ayu's voice, music, etc... It'd just be a pity not to give her a try though, because Ayu really is a great artist.

instead of getting stuck on others opinions about the songs you should try them yourself.

for example the ayu youtube channel is a great way to get to know many of her popular songs
https://www.youtube.com/user/ayu

since you can sort them as top rated / most viewed you can easily see what people have been interested in lately. most of the clips are around ~2 minute versions so these are great previews, if you get interested in some songs check out the single or album.

as an example I'll use Moments since many seem to like it, it was a great balance between her ''new'' and ''old'' voice.



I think what people love about ayus voice is that it's strong even if it's very feminine and cute.
Her voice would fit anything from enka to electropop and you can really hear many different styles popping through all over her discog.

the next example is trance, many often get stuck in the idea that ayu is 99% ballads or generic cheesy pop, which isn't true, I highly recommend her trance albums if you are into remixes and/or trance.




The bonus part about ayu getting so many fans is her style, many have loved her big eyes from the first second they saw her and others like her always changing hairstyle, She used to be one of the hip n cool stars. what I like is that she seems very honest about her feelings and isn't hiding all her feelings just because she is a celebrity, she is always very friendly and a pretty good role model overall.

then there is the last part of this ayu bible endless text pile of mine: the huge live shows.
having a basic stage with one outfit is not something you see often from ayu (this year she has been doing something like that tho). Many ayu fans get so spoiled with the incredible huge shows that they (+ me) often get bored with normal lives.

This time my example will be a short mix with clips from the 2010 Tour




thats all from me, hope someone reads that.

I Support to Nemesisyume, in the album "My Story" and "(Miss) Understood", her voice is the best balance between new and old ayu. I don´t have some else to say, each user give great options for know her better.

Albums with great Lyrics: Duty, I Am, Rainbow, My Story, Memorial Address, Love Songs

Albums with Great Melodies: A song for XX, LOVEppears, NEXT LEVEL.

Rock n Roll Circus and GUILTY are a good opcion for watch ayu´s rock side.

PD: Woa! many people here Like "Moments" a lot! Feels like heaven!

Try the album My Story and Memorial Address. Some songs from Rainbow are quite good as well like HANABI, independent and Voyage.

Quote :

PD: Woa! many people here Like "Moments" a lot!

I don't like it, I LOVE it. There's something I can't describe in this song, a kind of "sad but happy" feeling. One of Ayu's greatest ballads I think.

(888th post btw. haha)

Pinguu wrote:

Quote :

PD: Woa! many people here Like "Moments" a lot!

I don't like it, I LOVE it. There's something I can't describe in this song, a kind of "sad but happy" feeling. One of Ayu's greatest ballads I think.

(888th post btw. haha)

you, pommy and me Moments!!

We can make a fangroup!

^ I don't think there's an Ayu fan that doesn't like Moments though XD

I would recommend listening to: Duty, Memorial Address, I Am and (miss)understood. They're all very different stylistically, and would give you a good idea about how she's evolved through the years as well.

Pinguu wrote:

^ I don't think there's an Ayu fan that doesn't like Moments though XD

My first Ayu (and asian) song was Fly High or something like that, I stumbled upon it randomly on the Internet years and years ago, and was like 'well this is ****' hahaha.

And then I heard Moments years later and fell in love with her. Its strange, because although Moments is the reason I listened to Ayumi It's not one of my favourites.

Anyway, just going down memory lane right now lol...