 is a Japanese recording artist, lyricist, model, and actress. Hamasaki has achieved popularity in Japan and Asia by enforcing her position as an artist and not trying to be forced as a product, which was a common factor within the Japanese music culture and Avaxx tracks.Through her entire career, she has written all her lyrical content, produced her own music and has sometimes co-composed her music, which is evident in her albums IAM, Rainbow and My Story. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at 14 in 1993 to pursue a career in singing and acting for her entertainment. In 1998, under the tutelage of Avaxx CEO Max Matsuura, Hamasaki released her debut single Poker Face and released her million-selling record A Song for 20. The album debuted at the top of the Oricon charts and remained there for four weeks, establishing her popularity in Japan.Her next five albums accomplished over 1 million shipments in Japan, with her third effort duty selling near 3 million units, becoming her best-selling studio album. A Best, her first compilation album, is her best-selling album, with more than 4 million copies sold in Japan. In 2009, after her album Next Level was released, album and single sales declined due to ongoing competition with new upcoming artists. Throughout her career, Hamasaki has had all her albums within the top five position in Japan and has five million-selling singles, including Boys and Girls, A, Seasons, M and H. Also called A U by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the Empress of J-Pop because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Hamasaki's constantly changing image and tight control over her artistry has helped her popularity extend across Asia, music and fashion trends she has started have spread regionally to China, Singapore and other countries across Southeast Asia. She has appeared in or lent her songs to many advertisements and television commercials. Though she originally supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, she later reconsidered and eventually opposed her status as an AVOX product. Hamasaki has sold over 50 million records, making her best-selling Japanese solo artist of all time.Hamasaki has several domestic record achievements for her singles, such as the most number one hits by a female artist, 38, the most consecutive number one hits by a solo artist, 25, and the most million sellers. From 1999 to 2010, Hamasaki had at least one single each year topping the charts.Hamasaki is the first female recording artist to have 10 studio albums since her debut to top the Oricon and the first artist to have a number one album for 13 consecutive years since her debut. Hamasaki's second remix album, Super Eurobeat presents A U RO Mix, is recognized as one of the best-selling remix albums of all time and remains her only album to be recognized in a worldwide accreditation, life and music career, childhood and early endeavors. Born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Hamasaki was raised as an only child by her mother and grandmother. Her father had left the family when she was three and never again came into contact with her. Hamasaki's mother worked to support the family, so Hamasaki was primarily taken care of by her grandmother.She described herself as a tomboy when she was a teenager and as a strange kid who liked to be alone. At age seven, Hamasaki began modeling for local institutions, such as banks, in order to supplement the family's income. She continued this career path by leaving her family at 14 and moving to Tokyo as a model under SOS, a talent agency.Her modeling career did not last long, SOS eventually deemed her too short for a model and transferred her to Sun Music, a musician's agency. Under the name of A-Ami, Hamasaki released her rap EP, Nothing From Nothing, on the Nippon Columbia label in 1995. She was dismissed from the label when the album failed to chart on the oricon.After this failure, Hamasaki took up acting and starred in B-movies such as Lattice Lattice, Skosego Nohi and television dramas such as Mysanen, which were poorly received by the public.Rom August 1995 to March 1996, Hamasaki also co-hosted the sound link magazine Hago No-Sama, after Skool King, for the Nintendo Saddle of You once a week with Shigeru Izumiya. Growing dissatisfied with her job, Hamasaki quit acting and moved in with her mother, who had recently moved to Tokyo. Hamasaki was initially a good student, earning good grades in junior high school. Eventually, she lost faith in the curriculum, thinking that the subjects taught were of no use to her. Her grades worsened as she refused to put her mind to her studies. While living in Tokyo, she attempted to further her studies at Horikoshi Gakuen, a high school for the arts, but dropped out in the first year. Hamasaki did not attend school or have a job, so she spent much of her time shopping at Shibuya Boutiques and dancing at Velfair, an avocs-owned disco club. At Velfair, she was introduced to her future producer, Max Matsuura, through a friend. After hearing Hamasaki sing karaoke, Matsuura offered her a recording deal, but Hamasaki suspected ulterior motives and turned the offer down.He persisted and succeeded in recruiting her for the avocs label in the following year.Hamasaki started vocal training, but skipped most of her classes after finding her instructors to be too rigid and the classes dulled.When she confessed this to Matsuura, he sent her to New York to train her vocals under another method. During her foreign sojourn, Hamasaki frequently corresponded with Matsuura and impressed him with her style of writing. On her return to Japan, he suggested that she try writing her own lyrics. 1998-99, musical beginnings, a song for XX and love peers. Hamasaki made her debut under avocs at 19 on April 8, 1998 with the single poker face. It and the following four singles were not major hits, however each release was better than the last, thus gradually increasing her exposure and presence on the market. Hamasaki's debut album, a song four times times, 1999, was likewise unassuming the tracks, composed by Yasuhiko Hoshino, Akio Togashi, of Da Pump, and Mitsuru Igarashi, of every little thing, were cautious pop rock songs.Oeverer, Hamasaki's lyrics, introspective observations about her feelings and experiences that focused on loneliness and individualism, resonated with the Japanese public. The songs gained Hamasaki a growing following, and the release of the album was a success, it topped the oricon charts for five weeks and sold over a million copies.For her achievements, she earned a Japan Gold Disc Award for Best New Artist of the Year. With Aumi X, March 1999, the first of a series of remix albums, Hamasaki began moving beyond the pop rock of a song four times times and began to incorporate different styles including trance, dance and orchestra. Hamasaki began to experiment with different musical styles in her singles as well, releasing dance tunes and ballads as well as remixes on the singles which spanned reggae and house. The singles were milestones, Hamasaki earned her first number one single, Love, Destiny, and first million selling single, A, dot her second studio album, Love Pears, November 1999, not only topped the oricon charts, it sold nearly three million copies. The album also showcased a change in Hamasaki's lyrics. Though the lyrics of Love Pears still dealt with loneliness, many of them were written from a third-person perspective. In support of Love Pears, she held her first tour, Aumi Hamasaki Concert Tour 2000 A. A film for XX is the first video clip collection by Aumi Hamasaki, it was released on September 15, 1999, 2002, Duty, Compilation Releases, IAM and Rainbow. From April to June 2000, Hamasaki released The Trilogy, a series of singles consisting of Vogue, Far Away, and Seasons. The lyrics of these songs focused on hopelessness, a reflection of Hamasaki's disappointment that she had not expressed herself thoroughly in any of her previous lyrics and a sense of shame of her public image. Likewise, many of the songs she wrote for her subsequent studio album, Duty, September 2000, involved feelings of loneliness, chaos, confusion, and the burden of her responsibilities. She described her feelings after the writing as unnatural and nervous.The musical style was darker as well, in contrast with Love Pears, Duty was a rock-influenced album with only one dance song, Audience Dot. Duty resonated with fans, The Trilogy were hit singles, Seasons was a million-seller, and the album became Hamasaki's best-selling studio album. At the end of 2000, Hamasaki held her first New Year Countdown Concert at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium. In 2001, Avax forced Hamasaki to release her first compilation album, A Best, on March 28, putting the album in competition with Hikaru Yudada's second studio album, Distance. The competition between the two singers, which both claimed was merely a creation of their record companies and the media, was supposedly the reason for the success of the albums, both sold over five million copies. In support of Duty and A Best, Hamasaki held a tour of Japan's domes, making her one of few top-drawer Japanese artists to hold a concert at the Tokyo Dome. I AM. January 2002, marked several milestones for Hamasaki. Hamasaki increased her control over her music by composing all of the songs on the album under the pseudonym Kria, of which the 2000 single M was the first. Connected, November 2002, and A Song Is Born, December 2001, were the exceptions. I AM also showed evolution in Hamasaki's lyrical style, it was a retreat from the themes of loneliness and confusion of some of her earlier songs. Moved by the September 11 attacks, Hamasaki revised her vision of I AM, focusing on issues such as faith and world peace. A Song Is Born, in particular, was directly influenced by the events.The single, a duet with Keiko Yamada, was released as part of Avax's non-profit Song Nation project, which raised money for charity. She also dropped the planned cover and opted instead to be portrayed as a piece muse, explaining, I had a completely different idea for the cover at first. We'd already reserved the space, decided the hair and makeup and everything. But after the incident, as is typical of me, I suddenly changed my mind. I knew it wasn't the time for godiness, for elaborate sets and costumes. It sounds odd coming from me, but I realize what I say and how I look has a great impact. The outlook inspired by the September 11 attacks extended beyond I AM. In 2002, Hamasaki held her first concert outside Japan, at the MTV Asia Music Awards ceremony in Singapore.A move interpreted as the beginning of a campaign prompted by a sluggish Japanese market. At the ceremony, she received the award for her most influential Japanese singer in Asia.In support of I AM, Hamasaki held two tours, A-Ami Hamasaki Arena Tour 2002A and A-Ami Hamasaki Stadium Tour 2002A. In November 2002, as A-U, she released her first European single, Connected, a trance song from I AM composed by DJ Ferri Korsten. It was released in Germany on the Drizli label. Hamasaki continued to release singles, all of them remixes of previously released songs, in Germany on Drizli until 2005. In April 2002, Hamasaki released the single Free and Easy. In collaboration with the magazine Free And Easy, Hamasaki also released Hamasaki Republic, a photo book that was actually a special issue of Free And Easy, in conjunction with the single. H, Hamasaki's next single, became the best-selling single of 2002. Hamasaki released her last single of 2002, Voyage, on September 26. In lieu of a regular-length music video, the short film Tsuki Nishizumu, starring Hamasaki, was created for Voyage and was released at a select theater in Shibuya. Hamasaki's next studio album, Rainbow, December 2002, was her first to use English lyrics. After performing at the 2002 MTV Asia Music Awards, Hamasaki felt that by writing only Japanese lyrics, she was not able to bring her message to other countries. Realizing that English was a common global language, she included English lyrics in three songs.The album was stylistically diverse, Hamasaki included rock and trip-hop-influenced tracks as well as summary, up-tempo and grand Gothic songs and experimented with new techniques such as gospel choruses and the yells of an audience. The lyrics were also varied, themes in the album included freedom, the struggles of women, and a summer that ends in sadness. 2003-06, decline in sales, my story, miss, understood and secret. In 2003, Hamasaki released three singles, and, forgiveness, and no way to say. To celebrate the release of her 30th single, Forgiveness, Hamasaki held the A-Museum concert at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium. Her mini-album Memorial Address, December 2003, was her first album to be released in CD and DVD format in addition to the regular CD-only format, a decision that came from her increased interest in the direction of her music videos. Like her previous albums, Memorial Address topped the Oricon chart and sold over a million copies. Sales of Hamasaki's singles began to wane. Although all three of the album's singles topped the Oricon charts, and was Hamasaki's last single to sell over 500,000 copies. By the end of her arena tour 2003-2004 Hamasaki had grown dissatisfied with her position in Avux, she felt that the company was treating her as a product instead of a person. Along with her dissatisfaction over her last two studio albums, which she thought had been rushed, this led her to begin work on My Story, December 2004, early. In contrast with her previous albums, My Story had no set theme, nor did Hamasaki attempt to write something good or even something that would give people hope, rather, she simply wrote freely and honestly.As a result, the album contained mostly autobiographical lyrics about her emotions and reminiscences of her career. She approached the composition of the music with the same freedom as the lyrics, with the album's notable rock overtones expressing her liking for rock music. She was so pleased with the result that she declared My Story the first album she felt satisfied with My Story and its singles, moments, Inspire, and Carol's, all topped the weekly Oricon charts, moreover, with sales of over 1,100,000 units. My Story became Hamasaki's last million-selling studio album according to Oricon.From January to April 2005, Hamasaki held the nationwide My Story arena tour, her first album-based tour.Also in January, she began working with Lamoru Orchestra to create My Story Classical, a classical version of My Story, the album served as an alter ego of the mostly aggressive My Story. The orchestra also created a classical version of A Song Is Born, which was included on My Story Classical and which Hamasaki performed at the opening of the expo 2005. Miss, understood, January 2006, Hamasaki's seventh studio album, showed new musical directions.Wanting to sing a tune like those of the group Sweetbox, Hamasaki obtained the permission of Sweetbox composer Roberto Gio Rosen to use demo songs he had intended to use in Sweetbox's upcoming album. She edited the songs to fit her personal vision, rewriting the lyrics and rearranging some of the songs. The result was more musically diverse than the previous album, Miss, understood included ballads, funk, dance-pop, r&b, and rock songs.All of, Miss, understood singles reached the top of the oricon, bold and delicious became Hamasaki's 25th number one single, tying her with Seiko Matsuda for the record of most number one singles by a solo female artist. Though, Miss, understood also reached the top of the charts, oricon stated that it sold fewer than a million copies Hamasaki's first studio album to do so. In support of the album, Hamasaki held the, Miss, understood arena tour, which spanned three months with 30 concerts, from Sawatama on March 11, 2006, to Yoyogi on June 11, 2006. Hamasaki's first single of 2006, Stardun, became Hamasaki's 26th number one single, setting a new record for most number one singles held by a solo female artist. The subsequent studio album, Secret, was released in November 2006. Secrets was, appropriately, the theme of the album. The album also explored strong female figures, love and sadness. Songs depicted the artist's struggles and were written to encourage women. Although Secret was originally intended to be a mini-album, Hamasaki began brimming with things to say while producing the album and wrote five more songs.The album consisted mostly of rock songs and ballads, to complement these, Hamasaki experimented with new vocal techniques. The album also topped the oricon weekly charts, making Hamasaki the only artist to have eight consecutive number one studio albums. Her sales, however, continued to decline, according to both oricon and the RIAJ, Secret failed to sell a million copies. 2007-08, Compilation Releases and Guilty On February 28, 2007, Hamasaki released a best-to-a-pair of compilation albums containing songs from IAM2, Miss, Understood. The two versions, White and Black, debuted at the first and second positions on the oricon weekly charts, making Hamasaki the first female artist in 36 years to hold the top two positions on any oricon album chart. At the end of 2007, the pair became Japan's fifth and seventh best-selling albums of the year respectively. In support of a best-to-and-secret, Hamasaki held the four-month-long tour of Secret from March to the end of June. It was her first international tour, and aside from Japan, she performed in Taipei, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Her foreign fanbuss highly anticipated the concerts, and tickets for the Taipei and Hong Kong performances sold out in less than three hours. In July 2007, Hamasaki released her first single in over a year, Glitter Slash Faded. A short film, Distance Love, was used as the music video for Glitter and Faded. The film, shot in Hong Kong, see a starred Hong Kong actor Shan Yu as Hamasaki's romantic interest. Glitter Slash Faded and the following single Talkin' To Myself reached the top of their respective charts, continuing Hamasaki's streak of number one singles. In December, Hamasaki released her first digital-only single, Together Win, which topped the RIAJ's monthly download chart. Unlike its predecessors, the writing of Hamasaki's ninth studio album, Guilty, January 2008, was not an emotional experience for her, nor did it have a set theme. However, she said later that the album's tracks appeared to tell a story.Most of the songs were dark, the album had a notable rock tinge.T contained some upbeat dance tracks and ballads, though the latter also had rock overtones. Guilty peaked at the number two position on the weekly Oricon charts, making it Hamasaki's first studio album not to reach the top and ended Hamasaki's streak of eight consecutive number one albums. Guilty was later released as a digital album in 26 countries outside Japan, 19 of them Western nations. That, along with Hamasaki's decision to employ Western DJs such as the Young Punks, called Cut, Para One and Armand Van Helden for her 2008 remix albums Aumi X6, Gold and Aumi X6, Silver, has been interpreted as her first step into the global market. In April 2008, to commemorate her 10th anniversary in Avux, Hamasaki released the single Miracle World, it topped the Oricon, making Hamasaki the only female solo artist to have a number one single every year for 10 consecutive years. Hamasaki also held her second tour of Asia, Asia Tour 2008, 10th anniversary, to celebrate her 10th anniversary. From April until June, she toured Japan, holding 17 concerts. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai were again the foreign stops after the domestic performances. On September 10, 2008, Hamasaki released A Complete, All Singles, a compilation album that includes the A-sides of all her singles along with previously unreleased footage from her A-Nation concerts which is the 8th best-selling album of 2008, 2009 and Ndash, 11 next level, Rock N Roll Circus and 5. Hamasaki's next two singles, Days Slash Green, December 2008 and Roll Slash Sparkle, February 2009, continued Hamasaki's streak of number one singles. Roll is used as the international theme song for the film Dragon Ball Evolution. The subsequent studio album, Next Level, was released on March 25, 2009 in several formats, CD, CD and DVD, 2 CD and DVD and a 2 gigabyte USB flash drive. Sonically, Next Level was mainly an electronic dance album. Next Level reached the top of the Oricon charts, making Hamasaki the only artist to have a number one album every year for 11 years in a row since her debut. However, the album was only certified double platinum, making it Hamasaki's lowest-selling studio album to that date. On August 12, 2009, Hamasaki released her 46th single, Sunrise Slash Sunset, Love Is All. Sunrise, Love Is All, one of the A-Sides, is being used as the opening theme song for the Japanese television drama Dandy Daddy. The single reached the top of the weekly charts, making it her 21st consecutive, 33rd total, number one single. Sunrise Slash Sunset is also her 44th single to enter the top 10, making Hamasaki the artist with the most top 10 singles ever. Hamasaki's third single of the year, You Were, Slash Ballad, was released on December 29, 2009. Hamasaki's 11th studio album Rock and Roll Circus was released on April 14, 2010. Though the album contained a few powerful and melodramatic gothic rock tracks, it was mainly pure and classic J-pop, with pop rock songs and ballads. The album topped the charts, making Hamasaki the first female solo artist in 20 years to have 10 number one original studio albums. Hamasaki also began expanding her online presence, setting up accounts on My Space, Ustream, and Twitter. In July, entertainment company Livespire announced that Hamasaki's 2009 Next Level Tour would be shown in 3D at Toho Cinema's nationwide beginning on August 28. On July 14, Hamasaki released her 48th single, Moon Slash Blossom. The single was released as the first of a three-part project to celebrate her yet unreleased 50th single. The two other singles in the project, her 49th and 50th singles respectively, Crossroad and L, were released within a week of each other, Crossroad on September 22 and L on September 29. Crossroad was composed by Tetsuya Komuro and its coupling was her cover version of Komuro's band Trademark Network's 1988 song Seven Days War, which was her first cover of a male song. The three singles all topped the Oricon, becoming Hamasaki's 23rd, 24th and 25th consecutive number one singles and setting a new record for the most consecutive number one singles by any female artist, solo or group, as well as by any solo artist.On December 22, Hamasaki released her 12th original studio album, Love Songs. On the same day, Neya Yurata of AAA released his debut solo single Dream On. The song, which featured Hamasaki, was written and produced by her as well, marking the first record she produced for another singer. Love Songs and Dream On both reached the top spots on their respective Oricon charts. Love Songs became Hamasaki's fourth consecutive and 17th total number one album. The album also marked Hamasaki's 13th consecutive year with a number one album, breaking her old record. In February 2011, it was announced that her arena tour of the year, Hotel Love Songs, would start in April. Shortly after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami hit, it was announced that the tour was rescheduled to start in late May and the tour was renamed to Power of Music. Deeply affected by the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami devastation, Hamasaki decided to collaborate with Fashion Magazine, Vivi, with the sale of charity shirts and the profits going to help the victims in the devastation. On April 20, 2011, Hamasaki simultaneously released four new remix albums, Aumi X7 colon house, Acoustic Orchestra, Trans 4 AURO mix 4 and a limited complete box set, which were also released internationally on iTunes. On that same day, Hamasaki also released 2010 Rock and Roll Circus Tour and A50 Singles, live selection which topped the weekly chart at number one and number two respectively. The simultaneous releases made Hamasaki the first artist ever to have four albums in Oricon's top 10 and also the first artist to hold two top positions in the Oricon DVD chart. Their original release date of March 30 was postponed due to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and was pushed back to April 20 instead. On April 21, 2011, it was announced that she would perform in a nation 10th anniversary for life charge and go. On May 4, it was announced that she broke another record the female artist with the highest DVD sales with 2,313,000. On August 31, Hamasaki released her second mini-album 5, her first since Memorial Address in 2003. This is her first album to have no singles released. 5 topped the Oricon charts for two consecutive weeks, her first to do so since, miss, understood. The lead song, Progress, was used as a theme song for the video game, Tales of Zillia. The album also features collaborations with singers Juno and Naya Urata from AAA. This album managed to be certified gold by RIAJ, making Hamasaki's first album not to be certified platinum. Complete clip box 1998-2011 consisting all her music videos from her first single, HOKER FACE till her latest mini-album, 5, was released on January 1, 2012. How beautiful you are will be the theme song for a drama Seigo Karinibun May-No-Koi, and also Hamasaki's second digital single, 55th single overall, which is released fully on February 8. Hamasaki described the song as a mid-tempo ballad and a feeling of gratitude towards someone. 2012 and Ndash, 13, 15th anniversary, Love Again and Compilation releases. In 2012, the International 3D Society announced the winners of its 2012 3D Creative Arts Awards with Hamasaki receiving an award for Electronic Broadcast Media, Television, Live Event for her A3D AMI Hamasaki Arena Tour 2009A, Next Level, Tour. On March 21, Hamasaki released her 13th studio album, Party Queen. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon Charts, becoming her second studio album to do so after 2007's Guilty. On August 6, 2012, Hamasaki released her sixth compilation album A Summer Best. It included two new songs which were digitally released for the promotion of the album, the TRF cover, Happening Here, and You and Me. In September 2012, it was announced that, to commemorate Hamasaki's 15th anniversary in the music industry on April 8, 2013, she would be releasing new material for five consecutive months starting on the 8th day of November, 2012, until the 8th of March, 2013. The first releases were two mini-albums, Love and Again, which were put on sale on the 8th of November and December, respectively. The third release for the 8th of January was her compilation album A Classical, which included classical arrangements of previously released songs. The fourth release was Hamasaki's 14th studio album, Love Again, which compiled the songs included in the two previous mini-albums. And finally the fifth was the DVD slash Blu-ray of her Arena Tour 2012, Hotel Love Songs, released in March. In April 2013, Hamasaki began her 15th anniversary tour, A Best Live, which lasted for four months until the end of July. Its setlist was chosen by fans through online voting, and was later released as her first live album CD on September 18. The DVD and Blu-ray versions were released on October 30, 2013. On December 25, 2013, Hamasaki released Feel the Love slash Merry Go Round, her first physical single in three years. Feel the Love was composed by Tetsuya Komuro and produced by DJ Hello Kitty, while Merry Go Round was produced by M-Flow's Taku Takahashi and features rapper Verbal. Both songs are heavily influenced by Western dance-pop music. In January 2014, it was announced that a new song entitled Prey was chosen to be the theme song for the anime film Osamu Tezuka's Buta 2 Oari Nakitabi, which premiered on February 8, 2014 in Japan. The song was released digitally on January 27, 2014. Another new song, entitled Hello New Me, was presented as theme song for a new season of Fuji TV drama Zocusego Karinibun May no Koi which started broadcasting in April, 2014. The song was released digitally on May 14, 2014. From May 30 to July 6, 2014, Hamasaki held her premium showcase, Feel the Love tour, on which she offered 11 concerts at three locations, Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. On this tour Hamasaki abandoned for the first time the traditional format of her previous concerts and presented a uninterrupted, shorter show, on which she also debuted as an aerial acrobat. Hamasaki's 15th studio album, entitled Colors, was released on July 2, 2014. The album featured internationally renowned producers, such as Redun, Rodney Jerkins, Armin van Koz and Fede L.E. Grand, making the first time in Hamasaki's career in which primarily Western producers were appointed to produce one of her studio albums. Colors peaked at number five on its first week on the Oricon charts, becoming Hamasaki's first studio album to debut out of the top three. However, it also marked a new record for her, as with this achievement she became the second artist in Japan's history after Yumi Matsutoya to have 47 of her albums within the top 10 of the charts. In September 2014, Hamasaki released two recut singles from Colors, Terminal and XOXO on the Plug Air platform. The single was released under machine shop records for the American release. On October 18, 2014, Hamasaki performed as the closing act in the A Nation premium concert held at the Marina Bay Sands Mastercard Theatres in Singapore. This was the second time performing in Singapore after her MTV Asia Awards performance 12 years ago. On November 2, 2014, Hamasaki announced through her official Facebook page that she had started recording new material composed by Tetsuya Komuro, Kunio Tagou and Tetsuya Yucumai for a winter ballad trilogy single. On November 6, 2014, the title of the single was revealed to Be Zutto, slash last minute slash walk, and its release date was set for December 24, 2014. On November 10, 2014, it was announced that Hamasaki would be collaborating in a tribute cover album for Hikaru Yudada, entitled Yudada Hikaru no Yuda, to be released on December 9, 2014. For the album she contributed with a cover of Yudada's 1998 single Movin' On Without You, which was arranged by the Redone production team. The winter ballad trilogy single, Zutto, slash last minute slash walk, was released on December 24, 2014, and peaked at number five on the Oricon charts. With this achievement, Hamasaki became the first solo artist in Japan's history to have 50 singles within the top 10 of the Oricon charts. As for artists in general, Hamasaki became the third artist with more top 10 singles since Oricon's foundation in 1968 being surpassed by groups Morning Musume and SMAP, with 57 and 53 top 10 singles respectively in December 2014 Hamasaki announced that she would be not attending the New Year show Kako Yuta Gasson for the first time in 15 years. She explained her decision stating that she wanted to lower her responsibilities and things she felt pressured to do, in order to focus on the projects she had for her career, mainly regarding her plans to expand her influence throughout Asia. On February 15, 2015, Hamasaki made a surprise guest appearance during Singaporean singer JJ Lin's concert in Taipei, Taiwan. They performed a duet version of Hamasaki's 2000 single Seasons, and announced that JJ Lin would be producing a song for Hamasaki's next studio album, A1. The album was released on April 8, 2015, including singles Zutto, Last Minute, Walk, Yuta's cover Movin' On Without You, and JJ Lin produced song The Gift, for which a promotional music video was also made. Between April and July 2015, Hamasaki embarked on her arena tour 2015 A Cirque Dominuet tour throughout Japan, which was planned as an expanded version of her previous countdown live concerts held in late 2014. The tour consisted of a 34 song set list show with a duration of three hours and 45 minutes, her longest concert held to date. At the final show of the aforementioned tour, Hamasaki announced that she would start another tour in September, this time exclusively for members of her official fan club, Team Ayu. The IDTA Limited live tour, Hamasaki's first fan club exclusive tour in 12 years after 2003, began on September 29, 2015 and included a total of 16 concerts at seven venues. In April 2015, a new song entitled Step by Step began to be broadcast as the theme song of NHK TV drama Bihou Tadanshi, and was subsequently released as a digital single on July 1. On August 5, 2015, Hamasaki released her sixth extended play, entitled Sihothurks. The mini-album featured six new songs, including drama theme song Step by Step, and Sayonara, a new song featuring Taiwanese boyband SBE Zile. Sayonara became number one on digital downloads charts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, according to KK Box, Asia's largest digital distribution site. In addition, Hamasaki participated as one of the headliners of the A-Nation Stadium FES 2015 held on August 30 at the Ajinomoto Stadium, where she also performed a cover of Globe's hit ballad song Departures, joined by Tetsuya Komuro and Neya Yurata on stage. She also recorded a cover of Globe's many classic moments, which was included in the group's tribute album released on December 16, 2015. On December 23, 2015, Hamasaki released a winter-themed concept album entitled Winter Diary, A7 Classical, which included songs from her previous two albums A1 and Sihothirks remixed with classical arrangements, and also new song Winter Diary, which was produced by Tetsuya Komuro. Hamasaki promoted the album by starting an INST-Agram account that would be active for only a month until the end of January 2016. She shared pictures of the music video shooting of Winter Diary recorded in Taiwan, and also the preparations for her 2015 to 2016 countdown live concerts. 2016, Made in Japan On her last INST-Agram post, Hamasaki confirmed that she has been working on her 17th studio album for 2016. A 15th anniversary edition of Hamasaki's 2001 greatest hits album A Best was released on March 28, 2016. In May 2016, Hamasaki started her nationwide tour arena tour 2016 A, Made in Japan, which will be an expanded version of her 2015 to 2016 countdown live Made in Tokyo. On May 11, Hamasaki made a surprise release of her 17th studio album, entitled Made in Japan, through music streaming website Awa, where it reached one million legal streams after five days of release. The album is set to be released on physical formats on June 29, 2016. With the album peaking at number two on the weekly Oricon chart, Hamasaki became the solo artist with the most top ten albums, 50. Image and Artistry Time magazine has noted that Hamasaki lacked talents such as the dance moves of Namie Amuro, the supermodel Allure of Hitomi, and the vocal pyrotechnics of Hikaru Yudada. Her own fans even considered her high-pitched voice Screechy.Oever, her music is sometimes considered one of the major forces in shaping Japan's current music trends. This has been attributed to her constantly changing image as well as herself penned lyrics though critics credit clever marketing strategies.Masaki is also noted for the visual aspects of her artistry. She is considered a fashion trend setter, with her influence extending beyond Japan. The Guardian says that Hamasaki has married accessible, mainstream hits with over the top costumes and high concept videos. The widespread influence of her music and her constantly changing image has meant that Hamasaki has often been compared to Madonna. Hamasaki's lyrics and image have gained a following predominantly among the generation X of Asia, mainly because of the conflicting or inharmonious beauty of her fashion and lyrics. Hamasaki's fashions combine eastern and western elements, and her songs, unlike those of many of her contemporaries, mostly all have English titles but contained no English lyrics until Rainbow.Music critic Tetsu Masaki believed that the juxtaposition of her fashionable appearance and her personal lyrics was one of her most important selling points. The popularity of her music extends beyond Japan. She has a sizable following across Asia and is one of the few Japanese singers whose albums have sold over 10,000 copies in Singapore. In 2002, however, Hamasaki's domestic sales began declining due to a sluggish Japanese market and increasing piracy in Japan.As a result, she began moving toward the Asian market in 2002, performing at the 2002 MTV Asia Awards in Singapore, at South Korea's Asia Song Festival, and at a concert in Beijing to celebrate Sino-Japanese relations. With her popularity declining, due in part to the rising popularity of other singers, she made a foray into the Asian market, starting with her first tour of Asia in 2007. Musical style 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 didn't understand what it was to write songs. But over time I began to see many things, my influence, the responsibilities that gave me. Source equals Hamasaki on the new lyrical directions in IAM. Hamasaki's lyrics, all her own, have resonated among her fans, who praise them as being honest and heartfelt and expressing determination, in two surveys conducted by Oricon, respondents voted Hamasaki's lyrics as their favorite aspect of her artistry.Steve McClure of The Japan Times noted that Hamasaki has developed a reputation as a thoughtful, introspective lyricist, Barry Walters of The Village Voice comments that Hamasaki's lyrics pack unlikely insights.having trouble. Voicing her thoughts, Hamasaki uses her lyrics as an outlet, she draws inspiration from her own, and occasionally her friends, experiences and emotions and tries to put them honestly into words.She has stated that honesty is essential to her lyrics, saying, 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. This meant that she did not use English lyrics until her album Rainbow, as she felt that she could best express herself in Japanese.As with her musical style, the themes of her lyrics have varied. Her debut album A Song Four Times Times dealt mostly with themes of loneliness and confusion, as did her second album Love Peers. Duty likewise expressed feelings of disappointment and confusion. Hamasaki began to take on a more global outlook with her following albums IAM and Rainbow, branching out to wider themes such as faith and peace.Music critic Tetsu Misaki noted a large change in her lyrics style between her debut album A Song Four Times Times, 1999, which mostly dealt with personal problems, and her following albums Love Peers and Duty. Misaki believed Hamasaki had begun thinking about her influence on society more, and began writing songs with important messages she wanted to express to her listeners. This was signaled by her not using first-person pronouns as much, and instead using the words and more often.As Hamasaki matured, her lyrics began to express more confidence, themes in her later albums included Love and the Struggles of Women.If guilty, Hamasaki began to compose her lyrics not only as an exposition of her personal feelings but as encouragement for her listeners, an outlook she applied in next level as well. In songs such as Talking to Myself and Miracle World, Hamasaki deals with the awareness and fighting spirit of surviving in a high-risk age to encourage listeners, enroll in, from next level, Hamasaki writes, the age is rolling around slash at the speed of heading toward the end slash beyond the border slash disappointment and hope fight with each other. In addition to personal experiences and feelings, Hamasaki bases lyrics on sources such as historical events. The Life of Joan of Arc was the inspiration for Free and Easy, while a story told to her by her friend about a saint named Mary served as the basis for him, the September 11 attacks inspired a song is born. In addition to writing her own lyrics, Hamasaki has also involved herself in other aspects of production such as artistic direction. Though Max Matsuura is officially credited as the producer of her records, he said of Hamasaki, Auu is a very meticulous worker behind the scenes. A lot of the work she does by herself is more in the producer's arena. I think really we should say produced by Auu H.M. Asaki. Until her single M, however, Hamasaki left the task of composing to her staff, as she has explained, I'm not a professional, I lack even basic knowledge about writing music. However, she started to compose her own melodies after her staff had failed to compose a tune for M that appealed to her.Wanting to produce works faithful to her visions, Hamasaki took control of most aspects of her artistry I.A.M. is representative of this stage in Hamasaki's career, she directed the production of its songs, videos and artwork. She began to compose less after I.A.M. whereas nearly all of I.A.M. was her work, only nine of Rainbow's 15 tracks were composed by her. She was even less involved in the composition of subsequent albums, composing two tracks on Memorial Address, three on My Story, and one on, Miss, Understood, Since Secret, none of the songs on her studio albums have listed her as a composer. With later albums, Hamasaki also began to delegate to her staff tasks she had once handled herself. Hamasaki cites Madonna, Soul Musician's Babyface and Envogue, and rock bands Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple as her influences and states that she admires Michelle Branch, Kid Rock, Joan Osburn, Seiko Matsuda, Rimi Izawa, and Keiko Yamada, has diverse influences have led to the variety of her own music. Hamasaki began commissioning remixes of her songs early in her career, and this practice also influenced the diversity of her music.Found on many of her records, these remixes span different genres of electronic dance music including Eurobeat, House, and Trance, as well as acoustic genres such as classical and traditional Chinese music. She has employed western as well as Japanese musicians, among those she has worked with are above and beyond, the Lamoru Orchestra of France, and traditional Chinese music ensemble Princess China Music Orchestra. Hamasaki has released more than a hundred original songs, through them, she has covered a wide range of musical styles, such as dance, metal, randbee, progressive rock, pop, and classical. She uses different instruments and techniques including piano, orchestra, gospel choirs, guitars, traditional Japanese strings, music boxes, and effects such as yells, claps, and scratching. Hamasaki is often involved in the artistic direction of her music videos. They are often artistic productions through which Hamasaki tries to convey the meaning or feeling of their respective songs.The themes of the videos are varied, she has made sad and fragile or emotional videos, momentum, endless sorrow, refreshing summer videos, bluebird, fairyland, surreal or scary videos, one love, marionette, and humorous videos, evolution, angels song, beautiful fighters.Additionally, many of the videos contain short storylines, some of which use symbolism to convey their respective messages.The video of voyage depicts Hamasaki as a woman in a mental hospital whose previous incarnation was a woman in feudal Japan who was sacrificed to the moon, the video of endless sorrow features a young boy living in a society where speaking is forbidden by law. In the video for Free and Easy, Hamasaki portrayed a 21st century Joan of Arc to convey her message freedom cannot be easily obtained, there is a price to pay for it and to express her opposition to her marrying at the time, the video for ourselves featured masked people destroying effigies of Hamasaki's past such as photographs and album covers to symbolize destruction and rebirth. Additionally, the videos of Fairyland, My Name's Women, Jewel, Green and Virgin Road are among the top 20 or so most expensive music videos, making Hamasaki the only non-American artist to hold such a distinction. Hamasaki is also involved in the production and artistic direction of her live performances, they, like her videos, are often lavish productions and use a variety of props, extravagant costumes and choreographed dances. She has used large video screens, fireworks, simulated raindrops, trick-stage floors, and suspended devices. Public Image Hamasaki's influence goes beyond music, she is often considered a fashion icon and trend-setter a status attributed to her tight control over her image. Besides her frequent appearances in fashion magazines, such as Vivi, Popteen and Kawi, Hamasaki has often been lauded for her trendy choices in apparels and accessories, Oricon has repeatedly named her the most fashionable female artist.Many aspects of Japan's fashions including clothing, hair, nails and accessories have in. Some way been influenced by her dot is with her music. Trends Hamasaki started have spread to Asian countries as Taiwan, China and Singapore.On the trends Hamasaki has started is Heimke, a look inspired by the fashions of 18th century French aristocracy, she has also heavily influenced the Kaggle subculture. Hamasaki's constantly changing image is apparent not only in her fashion photo shoots and commercial endorsements but also in her record covers, an element she considers essential in conveying her message.She has portrayed herself as a vine-clad piece muse or Greek goddess, on her album I AM, as a 21st century Joan of Arc, for her single Free and Easy, and as a funky Lolita.Though Hamasaki has portrayed herself in earlier releases as a girl next door, she has adopted a more sexualized image since the release of Love Peers.The covers for records including Love Peers, I AM, Rainbow, and Party Queen feature Hamasaki in states of partial nudity, for which she has generated controversy. Hamasaki also garnered criticism after she modeled bra for lingerie manufacturer Waco Al, though most of the criticism alleged that Hamasaki was only trying to play catch up with Kumi Kota, who gained popularity for her overtly sexual image. Hamasaki has accepted offers by numerous brands to endorse their products. Throughout her career under Avux, she has promoted products that ranged from electronics, to costel phones and Panasonic, to various snack foods.Among the products she has advertised on television are the Honda Kria Scooter, Kose Cosmetics, Mr. Donut Donuts, and Boss Coffee, as well as serving as background music for television advertisements, some of Hamasaki's songs have been used as themes for video games, television shows and motion pictures, such as Animusha, Don of Dreams, Ayanu Yasha, Shinobi, Heart Under Blade and Tales of Zilia. Although Hamasaki initially supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, saying that it was necessary that she is viewed as a product she eventually opposed Avux's decision to market her as a product rather than a person. Other Activities MTRLG Hamasaki launched her own fashion brand, MTRLG, Material Girl, in 2001, the clothes were sold at MTRLG boutiques and at Mice's asterisk-clusive stores. Ehupan In 2002, Hamasaki created Ehupan, a cartoon version of herself that appeared in a line of merchandise, mainly figurines, and in a 2003 cartoon. For her 2007 tourer Tour of Secret, Hamasaki collaborated with Sanrio to create a line of merchandise, a ami Hamasaki X Hello Kitty Slash, that features Ehupan and Hello Kitty together. The merchandise included cell phone straps and Lumix cameras decorated with a picture of Hello Kitty behind Hamasaki's Eh logo, the former product was a result of a collaboration with Sanrio and Japanese fashion brand Ash and Diamonds, the latter a collaboration with Sanrio and Panasonic. Ehureti She briefly hosted her own television show, Ehureti. October 2002, on Fuji Television. The talk show, aired on Saturday nights from 11.30 to midnight, often featured her performing songs with guests, among whom were Godo Maki, Puffy, and Akina Nakamori. To promote the program, and her album Rainbow, Hamasaki opened a restaurant, Rainbow House, Onchnin Beach, it was occasionally used in episodes of Ehureti. After less than two years, the last episode aired in March 2004. Philanthropy In March 2011, Hamasaki donated 30 million yen to relief efforts for the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. She also collaborated with fashion magazine Vivi to sell charity T-shirts. Personal life Relationships On January 1, 2011, Hamasaki announced her upcoming marriage to Austrian actor and model Manuel Swartz, whom Hamasaki met in August 2010 on the set of her music video for Virgin Road. On January 2, her office announced that she and Swartz had gotten married in the United States the day before. However, on January 16, 2012, Hamasaki announced on her website that she would be divorcing Swartz. The reason for the divorce was that, initially, Hamasaki wanted to move in with Swartz in United States but due to the earthquake and tsunami that hit her home country on March, 2011, she began to have a strong desire not to leave Japan. On December 13, 2013, it was announced on her official Team Auu site that she had become engaged to an American medical student 10 years her junior, whom she had been with since the spring of that year, adding as my partner is an ordinary student, I would be very happy if you could watch over us quietly. On March 3, 2014, the singer announced on her fan club site Team Auu that she was officially married. According to her agency, the couple already finished their marriage procedure in the United States near the end of February. On the third, Hamasaki's mother, as a deputy, submitted the marriage registration to Japan. On September 11, 2016, Hamasaki announced that she and her husband were separated. On September 30, 2016, she announced that her divorce had been finalized. Health In a January 8, 2008, entry on her Team Auu blog, Hamasaki announced that an inoperable condition, possibly tinnitus or Meniere's disease, had caused complete deafness in her left ear.She disclosed that she had been diagnosed with the condition in 2006 and that the problem dated back to 2000.Despite the setback, Hamasaki stated that she wished to continue singing, and that she would not give up on her fans and that as a professional, she wanted to deliver the best performance for everyone.