Scans by iloveayu.com

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Ayumi Hamasaki Graphics of the Beauty

There is a woman who believes in her own language, walking on without losing her way. When she stands on stage, that small body in the distance cloaked with a large aura manages to bewitch hundreds of thousands of people. An extraordinary songstress, Hamasaki Ayumi redefines the idea of beauty. With her elegance and beauty, she is just like a dancing winter swan.

The secret to having boundless beauty: Trust your instincts, make your own decisions

It’s been 12 years since her debut. When it comes to fashion and beauty, she’s been relying on her own style all this while. On top of that, the single to be released this autumn will be her 50th. A female solo artist with total sales above 20 million copies, only she fits the description. And this issue, we have this extraordinary pop princess, Hamasaki Ayumi gracing our cover.

This shoot was done during precious time taken from her unimaginably hectic schedule, squeezed between PV shootings, recordings, TV show performances… ayu has been sporting a girly and natural look this year, but for this shoot, we requested something edgy and beautiful from her. It’s been quite a long time since she’s bunned up her hair for a magazine shoot.

“I didn’t know what to do at first. Because I haven’t been catching up with the latest trends in fashion and make-up, I didn’t know if I could pull it off.”

But when the shooting started, she adopted a completely different expression from her usual smile, showing us classic beauty. With her hair bunned up, the emphasis was on those large jewel-like eyes, lighted up further by the brown gradient of her eyeshadow. Her lips were done in sexy nude pink, but balanced with her face, it gave a pure look. With this ayu, we talked about what she thinks of beauty.

“For me, make-up is essential for building up self-confidence. Once she has make-up on, a girl’s behaviour and actions change. Even her voice and expressions of her eyes change. I myself have been saved by make-up.”

“Recently, I’ve been into skincare.” In addition to that, even her diet seems to have changed drastically this year.

“Starting from this summer, I had these strange skin rashes, that’s why I’ve totally changed my diet, lifestyle and skincare regime. Now, I’m eating all organic.”

Cutting out all junk food, she’s into microbiotics now. As a result, the rashes and skin problems went away. Trusting in her own instincts, trying out new things, succeeding. That is Hamasaki Ayumi’s recipe for beauty.

The impact of the Komuro sound ayu grew up with

To commemorate the 50th single, 2 singles were released within 2 weeks continuously. And supplying the music for these singles is Mr Komuro Tetsuya, who is working solo with ayu for the first time. We talk about the large impact he had on her life.

“I was the generation that grew up with the TK sound, and there were many times when his music supported me and gave me strength. So when I received his music to work on, it felt really surreal. I couldn’t believe that I could write lyrics for and sing these songs, to be able to participate in creating the sound which I grew up listening to.”

The completion of a circle. Next, she talked about the ideas behind the newly-released songs.

“49th’s [crossroad] is about the adult that I am now, looking back nostalgically at the person I was in the past. 50th single [L]’s [Virgin Road] goes forward into the future, when I have become a full adult with my own family. Though they are separated into 2 singles, they were made at the same time, when I was feeling the same thing.”

[crossroad]’s B-side is a cover of another of Komuro-san’s works, which ayu herself requested to sing. That song is [SEVEN DAYS WAR].

“When I was a student, I requested for this song to be played on radio. And when it came on, I got the entire household to keep quiet so I could make a recording on my cassette tape recorder. That was how much I loved the song. Even though I was still young, I remember having goosebumps whenever I heard the song or read the lyrics.”

This autumn, ayu will celebrate the release of her 50th single since debut with “7 Days Final” tour at Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

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