Ayumi Hamasaki

“The way I work, typically, I do everything at the very last minute.”

“I understand it's my role to realize people's dreams.”

“I always like whatever I did most recently. It's the closest to who I am at the moment.”

“I don't set goals. Like, that's what I want to be doing however many years from now. I do what I love to do at the moment. If I wake up tomorrow and decide I want to dance, that's what I'd do. Or design clothes.”

“In the beginning, I was searching for myself in my music. My music was for me. I didn't have the mental room to be conscious of the listener; I wrote to save myself.”

“I have trouble voicing my thoughts... I can't communicate very well that way.”

“The way I work, typically, I do everything at the very last minute. Even if I was given two months, I'd do it in the last three days.”

“I'd heard a lot of Asian people were rooting for me, but I had no idea. I was stunned. They were... impassioned, especially compared to Japan. I couldn't even have anticipated that kind of welcome.”

“It's hard to decide how to match words to music. It's not like it's twice the work. It's always difficult for me to explain to the composer what I'm looking for. I'm not a professional; I lack even basic knowledge about writing music.”

“It sounds odd coming from me, but I realize what I say and how I look has a great impact.”

“If I write when I'm low, it will be a dark song, but I don't care. I want to be honest with myself at all times.”

“It is necessary that I am viewed as a product. I am a product.”

“I do what I love to do at the moment. If I wake up tomorrow and decide I want to dance, that's what I'd do. Or design clothes. I think I'd throw myself into whatever I'm doing now. It's not about abandoning what I was doing before, or giving up. It's about knowing that if I die tomorrow, I lived the way I wanted to.”

“I don't think you should meet the people you most admire. I don't want reality to interfere with my image.”

“I read and watch movies. I can't go to the movie theater much anymore, though, because I get recognized. It's worse sometimes if I wear a costume and try not to get recognized. I watch most of my films on airplanes.”

“I understand it's my role to realize people's dreams. I'm O.K. with that so long as my songs are my own. No one can take my songs away from me.”

“I'm not a professional; I lack even basic knowledge about writing music.”

“Of course, my motto is still, 'Work is work, private is private.'”

“I don't have dreams. How can I say it? I myself am a dream.”

“If there are rules and regulations, I can't help it, I want to break them.”