no more words

one day it will end

There will eventually come a time when Ayumi Hamasaki stops recording music.

It could be next week; it could be next year. It could be ten years from now. But one day, it’s inevitable.

The reality of a favorite musician ending their career has happened to me before, with a few favorite indie bands, but with Ayu it’s different. Ayu is my favorite, after all. What will I do without the promise of another single, another album? Another yearly tour, another annual new year’s concert? What will it be like without any new Ayu music?

Things that begin
always have an end.
If you can live on,
think always of that.

hajimari ga aru mono ni wa
itsu no hi ka owari mo aru koto
iki to shi ikeru mono nara
sono subete ni

no more words

Such a reality is one I wondered about in 2008, when news broke that Ayu had lost all hearing in her left ear. At the time, she wrote a blog entry stating that she would continue singing until she was no longer physically able, but I couldn’t help but wonder: was this the end for Ayu? Would she no longer be able to sing, or perform in concert? I had only recently become a fan — was this the end?

Time, of course, has proven otherwise — she hasn’t let it slow her down in the least, and one only has to look at the swift pace of her releases over the years since that announcement to see how much she’s accomplished. Yet even though she’s achieved so much, there will still come a time when she stops singing, whether by choice or otherwise.

And when that day comes, I won’t let myself be sad.

Ayu and her music have been an incredible source of inspiration to me over the past decade, and even though she may stop singing one day, I will always have her music to listen to. I will always be able to put on MY STORY or Memorial address and remember that spring I first discovered her.

So I won’t spend any time worrying about when that day might come. Instead, I’ll enjoy every moment there is.

I leave this song here
Instead of saying good-bye
I hope you will walk on without giving up
Till the time we can meet again

sayonara no kawari ni
kono uta wo koko e oite yuku yo
mata aeru toki made
akiramenaide aruite ite ne

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