My Story: Ayumi Hamasaki

[Laura]

I think "Memorial address" is a good name for that section for people who already know it's her album when they visit. XD I mentioned I used to listen to her, but nothing really extensive so I completely missed that. I think it's probably fine to keep it though! I'd only worry if more people say the same thing. XD;;

I'm trash for wooden textures, so I love the layout a ton.

YES. I wanted to mention this but forgot!! I really love the wood texture too. It definitely gives it a classy feeling. :3 I think I might have to look into using wood textures on one of my sites sometime in the future~

[Megan]

Larissa, I love this! I am really inspired by this site because I've been thinking about making something to my favorite artist, Eddie Vedder. I really love the set up and how you add personal notes on basically every single page. I am really trying to work hard on making my pages more personal to me, and this has really inspired me to try my best with my artist tribute as well!

Just from your album reviews, which there are a lot of, I can tell you put a lot of time and dedication into this site! I am really happy for you that you were able to accomplish such a beautiful tribute to her! If only she can see it xD Congrats again Larissa!

[Larissa]

@Andrea: can I just. Frame this comment or something. Seriously, just. Thank you, omg. I'm gonna be an incoherent mess here, fair warning.

The wooden textures were actually a new addition when I remade the layout this year, as were the font picks, but a lot of the other stylistic choices were retained from the original design. Thank you 2008!Larissa.

About You is one of my favorite PVs as well, ahh. If only I'd started with that, ahaha! I'm so glad you liked the PV page (Agreed on the J-music PV system, lmao, sob. At least things have gotten better in recent years, thank you Youtube.)

I'm so so glad the "No more words" page came across well; it was one of the pages I wanted to include no matter what, and was one of the last I wrote. I think if I'd written it back in 2008 I would have had something very different to say, but I'm actually glad it turned out the way it did.

I'm also really glad you liked the album reviews!! (omg I love reading about why people love what I love too haha.) I'm relieved my worries were unfounded about my lack of vocabulary.

Ahhh just. Thank you so so so much for all the kind words, I honestly cannot tell you how much it means to me. You are the absolute best.

@Laura: I'm glad you like the wood texture too!! Wood textures go great with everything tbh. And I'll keep the title then, haha. Thank you for the feedback!

@Megan: I am super super glad to hear I inspired you! The key to personal sites: inject your opinions everywhere, haha. I really hope you make a site for your favorite artist, I'd love to read it! Thank you so so much for the kind words. It means a lot.

[Anise]

Wow, this is great! Congratulations on completing it!

First, I love the wood grain backgrounds. They're always a favorite of mine. Your layout looks great and I like the navigation between pages.

I love that you did album reviews because a lot of time when I'm not familiar with an artist (although I'm fairly familiar with Ayumi Hamasaki) because it helps me figure out where to start if I want to listen to their music.

[Chibi]

I just finished reading this... and I loved it! I am definitely loving your personal tributes more and more, Larissa.

I could feel that this tribute was special. Every page shows your love for Ayu. I especially enjoyed reading how you found Ayu and how you came to love her music so much. For me, it was the heart of the shrine and I almost felt as if I was in that moment when you first listened to Ayu with you! Definitely my favourite page.

Like everyone else, I also love the layout - the colours, the wooden texture, the images of Ayu - it feels so calming, as if I've just stepped into a secret place with you! Also, it feels like I'm in those woods where you first listened to Ayu, I thought it was a great touch!

It's very well done and it makes me want to listen to Ayu more! (I like her music but I never properly got into her albums and stuff, I only listened to some songs here and there - but thanks to this website, now I have recommendations for her songs!)

Great job!

[Lethe]

Firstly, congrats once more on finishing this site and finally releasing it! I know how intimidating it is to create something so immense for something you dearly love, and continuously pushing through the self-doubt to realize your vision is no small feat. What's even more admirable to me, however, is not just how long this site has been in the making, but that you have kept so much of what has piled up over the years: the physical notes, the content of those notes as you transferred them to the site, the layout, and, most of all, your memories and your feelings - of Ayu, of music, of Ayu's music, of yourself. I find it quite difficult to build on something I've started creating years ago rather than starting over from scratch; while I don't know how much editing was involved here, I think the site is all the more meaningful because it's been stitched together by efforts made across many years. My Story may have taken a long time to come into being, but that long time is reflected in the site itself, and without all those years of wanting to make this, I doubt the site would be as it is now.

I love your layout so much: the serene elegance in all of it, the small decorative details, the wood pattern - but especially the forest theme and the colours. I associate sepia tones with memories and nostalgia; in conjunction with the site title, that's such a great setting for all the things you go on to convey. I love that songs of hers run throughout the site as navigation links; it really captures your love and care for the subject matter. <3

Let me preface the following with this: I hope that for future projects, you won't doubt your own abilities with regard to music anymore! It's amazing that you've started learning music theory, and if technical aspects are something you'd enjoy talking about, that's great! But I don't think those things, along with music vocabulary, are essential in conveying how much you love a musical piece, or essential in making a fansite about music. Your love for music shows in so many different sites of yours, even those not primarily dedicated to music, so you've got nothing to feel inadequate about! "What's going on" in a song is different for each person, and if you enjoy it, you enjoy it, even without technical knowledge.

Something that really stands out to me in both "My Story" and "Memorial Address" is the passage of time. I've mentioned it above already, but it's really interesting to see how any one page isn't just about your feelings at one point in your life - it's across a period of time. It's obvious how many years you've spent with Ayu and her songs, and to see you being introduced to new elements, how your opinions change over time or how you piece things together as you revisit songs and albums is very enjoyable (first album bought, first PV, first concert, discovering your fondness for remixes, relistening to certain songs and albums in the context of Ayu's entire career, comparing albums to preceding and subsequent albums, and so on). I really like that several of the lyrics and images you included on the pages aren't so much your favourites, but cornerstones of your experience - on the PV page in particular! Or the fact that you group thematically/visually similar PVs and songs in various places to familiarize the reader with them - that's really something that shows how deeply you've plunged into all of it over the years.

All in all, the "My Story" part of the site is a great - and personal! - introduction to Ayu: not just as a snapshot of her person, but as an overview of her career and her accomplishments over the years. As a music noob, I think it's also a lovely introduction to the world of music itself, and the many elements that make up a singer's output. (I also didn't know what PVs stood for despite having seen it so many times, or that singles are released before albums in Japan). It conveys so much more to me than the usual informative article on sites like Wikipedia!

ALSO I LOVE THE ALBUM COVER PAGE SO MUCH and it's so neat that it doesn't just show off your favourite covers, but emphasizes what you say about Ayu's changing image. It's a very specialized gallery and visual introduction.

OKAY SO. THE ALBUM SECTION. Since I don't really know Ayu and don't even listen to J-Pop, I didn't know whether this section was something that'd be enjoyable to read! I've sometimes googled album reviews of various things before, and most of the time, I didn't think they were that enjoyable - specifically because they were so heavy on the technical details mentioned above. It often felt as though they were written for fellow music enthusiasts, and not at all for the casual listener. Which is fine, but then they can't serve so well as introductions.

What you do, however, is so so so so enjoyable. I love seeing which tracks are your favourite, because it means I can start there (aside from what is pointed out in the "My Story" section) with listening. But it's amazing that the album reviews aren't just about whether the albums are "good" or "bad" and how much you like them - these album reviews are incredibly informative. They tell me about a specific period in Ayu's life and career, and sometimes also provide context about events that transpired in a particular year (the two reaction albums "I am..." and "FIVE"). They tell me about what was experimented with in a particular album, or how an album came to be. It's very convincing from the first page, because I doubt that people would, just by listening, know many of these things: that the first album was made just to collect various songs, rather than being conceptualized as a whole; that an album was made while Ayu was going through a difficult time, and other snippets like that. Again, I very much enjoy that it's not strictly chronological in the sense that you don't hesitate to include ex-post musings about the albums, and judge them in comparison with all other albums you've listened to.

Honestly, I think "GUILTY" and "Party Queen" were some of the most interesting pages to read (and the content seems very similar). They're not just about the music or the career, they talk about Ayu's life and how those experiences inevitably made their way into the albums. "Party Queen" in particular is striking because it shows your... evolution as a fan, I think? That you listened to it and didn't like it, then eventually learned about the events behind it, and how your opinions on it, however slightly, may change over time.

ok so I have no idea how to wrap up this wall of text BUT YEAH. THIS IS SO AMAZING. YOU'RE SO AMAZING. I LOVE YOU AND ALL YOUR FANSITES. I LOVE YOUR PERSONAL SITES A LOT. YOU'RE SO COOL AND THIS IS SO COOL AND THANKS SO MUCH FOR SHARING WITH US!!

Your Ayu fanlistings are super lovely too!! And they totally distracted me when I first visited the site hahaha. ALL THE LINKS, ALL THE PRETTY LAYOUTS.