I first listened to her back in 2004 when I was wondering what was topping the charts in Japan. It was the song Moments. I thought it was pretty decent but boring. Then later I listened to her new single Inspire, and I was slayed by that song. That was the first time she made an impression on me, and that's when my portal to J-Pop was opened.
When My Story was released, that's when I really got into her. I discovered Carols and I could not stop listening to it. Eventually though it was the first song Moments that I fell in love with the most, the melody just took a while to captivate me. But when it did, she instantly became one of my faves. Moments is still my favorite song by her.
After My Story came the best era of all time by a female artist, the (miss)understood era. That was just SO amazing, all the songs, all the videos, everything. Pure brilliance.
It was then that I checked out her whole discography and started following her for real. And while she hasn't been able to maintain the quality of those years, she will always have a special place in my heart.