^ It is her. The picture is from an Ayu x Aquascutum photoshoot from 2011.


Very weird choice of picture indeed lol

Thank you. I see. The link to your image doesn't work for me though.

That was back in like November too when it was 'leaked'... wonder exactly how it slipped by. Filming is set to start in April to May 2020 and will broadcast around the 2020 Olympics. I don't know if it's big or not but a few singers I know were in season 1, Charlie Zhou/Zhou Shen is really good.

唱给世界听 is the name of the show in Chinese and apparently the singers end up in some foreign destination by the end of the show. The first season they were in Sydney by the end.

Also it looks like articles say that they were only in the process of inviting the singers too back in November.

Larger photo

Oh sorry, it worked just fine when I posted yesterday. I tried to upload another picture in my original post.

So what's the concept of this show? If the filming is on April-May I doubt Ayu will take part because she has 12 TROUBLE tour shows during this period.

I think they are filming in Japan.

The concept is sort of like a new talent show type thing telling newer singers what they can improve on but in a foreign setting by mentors/veterans. Season 1 they were in Sydney so they sang in public and stuff there after initial evaluations. They also had some tourism segments where they went to significant places in Australia to learn about the area. We'll see when April rolls around I guess.

Ayu is the last person I'd invite to be a mentor for singers. Unless it's for the performing part or teaching how to be a celebrity, not the singing part.

HAHAHA
with her condition now I feel you gurl

The invited guests are not really mentors, they have their own hosts/singers for that but special guests did appear to give insights or whatever else. I wonder if she'll only be in an episode or two though if she is part of this one.

Sure, I’d agree she should probably not teach people how to sing properly, but even with her singing capabilities 99% of those people won’t achieve her level of success and she still has a lot to teach them and being a recording artist isn’t all about singing and I think JPOP in general proves that very well.

You are 100% correct. I don't think I've ever heard Perfume sing live for example, so sometimes it's really not about the singing.

I'd say that especially in Japan, singing isn't a requirement, mostly because of the way the industry is structured. In the idol world, bad singing could be considered charming... Ayu has a lot of experience from the business side of things, so it makes sense for her to be a mentor for someone wanting to make it in the entertainment industry.

maybe she can do a shouting workshop

^this really made me laugh lol

Ayu has a lot to teach about being an artist, a performer and an entertainer.

Thank you :) She can sing very well too. I know people are just fooling around here (hopefully) but she really can.

Technically speaking, she is far from great, but still above the average of J-Pop, even with the aftermath of her deafness process. In terms of interpretation (really SAYING what's being sung), she's among of the best and, again, has a lot to teach.

Absolutely. Imho she still sounds better than most of the other girls still performing. Utada is generally pleasant to listen to, but often times butchers her best songs, Koda's voice has been deteriorating as well and she is slowly getting to a point where even her studio versions sound broken. Ami Suzuki can barely sing and her voice isn't even pleasant on the ears. The list goes on and on. At this point I can only say that ayaka, Shimatani, Aimer, BoA and Onitsuka Chihiro have the vocals that I'd consider as amazing.

The problem with Ayu is that yelling/shouting IS NOT singing. Period. So any other artist who's actually singing, even if they mess up, automatically wins.
"While expanding our vocal range, we never want to yell or shout to obtain a desired pitch. Shouting will further damage our vocal cords and develop bad technique in singing. Do not press your voice as in shouting to obtain the desired pitch that might be too high for you".
She's been doing this for sooo long while singing songs that are way too high-pitched for her.

ayu's best skill, over anything else, has always been writing profound lyrics (especially her early works) which is the reason I checked out her entire catalogue in first place (definitely not her high potched/nasal voice back in the day) but I do think over time she developed a very pleasant speaking and singing voice.

she's no adele, but her singing skills are nothing to scoff at. I can immediately think of plenty of artists that sing worse than her live (and don't have any known problems with their ears).