oh right! totally forgot it :) never watched that performance

I'm so bored with Seasons and Evolution
Though I don't get tired of M

If she were to perform evolution by herself + band I'd be all for it though. But I'm sure there'll be 30 people on stage lol

Funny thing is JUJU is singing her new cover song instead of maybe yasashisa de afureru you ni so I'm sure ayu could've worked a newer song in there

I think they do, as long as it is considered a big hit. Or at least have some say. For Arashi, there were certainly more iconic songs that could have been chosen (with the exception of A-RA-SHI of course) the other two were hits, but not ones that they are necessarily super known for.

So I suppose the argument could be made that Ayu could have gone for Voyage, Dearest, Appears etc - songs that were hits, but not the ones that she is most known for. Still though, 3 songs. I'm happy.

It's probably because the original song itself is iconic and would help to represent the 80s era on Music Station.

Oh, Surreal is definitely not in there. When she performed it for Heyx3s last episode or some kind of special a few years ago, the hosts commented afterwards that they thought she would have done a song that's more well known. lol.

Yeah tbh evolution doesn't really get mentioned by many people though.

M and Seasons are by far the most mentioned I think.

If you have them listen to choruses from various songs they generally know them. It's just they're not as memorable I guess.

Also almost everyone always says Maria instead of M lol.

Yay for 3 songs! About the choices, there's no surprise at all.

There will be short versions almost for sure but maybe we could get MIJ evolution ^^

There's that video of a comedian playing several pop girls and the chosen song was evolution (not only while playing Ayu, but all of them), so I guess the song is iconic enough. I believe A Song for XX is notorious too.

A song for XX is iconic af but maybe is not considerate "a hit" since it wasn't a single or something, I'm not sure tho, Dearest instead of SEASONS would have been something fresh and a totally throwback to I Am... :rolleyes

No huge surprises for a hit based show but happy M is in there.

You don't compare special episode centered on 1 single artist to a regular TV show.

you like listening to her sing the same songs over and over again? great. many fans don't and would prefer to see something else.

^ 1) It seems that Japanese fans prefer her to sing the same songs over and over instead of new stuff or underperformed old songs (someone pointed out that at TA tour 2015 some fans didn't even recognize/know Present when she sung it)
2) This Music Station's aim is not to please fans, its aim is to appeal to the general public who only remember the same old stuff from her peak, even your regular Music Station's aim is not to please fans, its purpose it to show the general public what's new and which new CD to buy.

I don't get the purpose of your comment. A tv program is a tv program. And at a regular show as MS Ayu won't sing several songs as she can do it in a special show.

Evolution is a big hit. I've seen several people break that one out at karaoke. A Song For Xx though is really more of a fan favorite and I don't feel that many people in the general public recognize it.

Not surprised with song choice but happy that she's still doing TV lives. Hope that she continues to do regular lives on Music Station with new releases and not just singing old songs on Special Editions.

Interesting how nobody mentions songs like Too Late or monochrome which were part of her best selling single.

We discussed here how many songs she usually gets to perform on a TV show among other artists. This time she will sing more than usual. So bringing up SONGS is ...:no

THIS so much. I don't know why people don't get that.

^ Exactly. The casual viewer is only going to care about seeing hit songs. I mean, for me as well, unless I'm a big fan of the artist, I usually only pay attention if it's a song that I know from them. Otherwise, I just sit there bored until it's Ayumi's turn.

That would be awesome :luv2 :luv2 :luv2

Probably because ASFXX is her first album and it was released before she became popular so some of her fans are not familiar with non-singles songs.


In some cases like Ayu best selling does not equal to most popular. A clear example of this is AKB48 whose most famous and recognised song is Heavy Rotation and it sold much less than all her later singles...

These 3 songs are way better than Bold & Delicious...

Except that //ABEST didn't specify that he was only talking about music show with several artists and he didn't contest my answer as you did. So your comment was a bit incongruous. To be honest when I read your comment earlier I thought that you nitpicked but apparently it was just a misunderstanding. We didn't understand //ABEST's comment in the same way ;)

The song selection makes complete sense.
It may not be exciting or interesting for us long time fans but to the general audience in Japan, that is what they will look forward to and enjoy the most.
The theme of the event is nostalgia for the most part. Many classic acts all in one place, performing their most known and culturally recognized songs.
I would guess that Ayu had very limited freedom on the song selection.

I'm watching live stream here:
http://mov3.co/en/main2

hmm...the video freeze but I can hear the sound...
ahh its working now...hopefully not error again..

I didn't mean to say it's not famous/popular, but in my experience it's rarely brought up amongst the general population in comparison to SEASONS and M.

Thank you for the stream link.:yes:heart

Some artists are performing on various locations! Wonder where Ayu will perform.

I think I might end up missing Ayu and Utada. It's already past 5am.:no

Now THE YELLOW MONKEY on Mst....
Utada has performed?

Not yet I think.

Arashi! NOW!

It seems that they will call Ayu's performance "Special medley" too. I have a feeling Ayu won't be in the studio for the interview.
They're lip syncing. Yawn.

Utada now and I think Ayu is next.

Can't wait for both ^^
EDIT:
I would so much like to understand the interview, it has a really nice feeling.

Ayu is stunning!

OMG. I'm glad I was wrong, she's here:love
It was very interesting. Some facts like she hasn't sung for six years at all, listened to lots of music. didn't have friends in London at first and now she has them there. She is greatful that people still remember her song Automatic even though it's really old.

Utada is fabulous :O

http://i.imgur.com/qY5uvb6l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7FQ63oal.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cVYhaKNl.jpg

She looks so pretty. But that was quite an unappealing performance IMO

I loved that it was a wedding theme lmao

Ayu's the best troll of all

:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao

I enjoyed it, and as for TV live performance was really good ;) I loved that she used CDM evolution. Definitely she didn't do evolution that well for quite a time on TV.

It was pretty good, I enjoyed it.

I laughed due to the wedding theme.

https://scontent-gru2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...2c&oe=587FB318
https://scontent-gru2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ba&oe=586E77D3

That hair is very 1999 Ayu.

Talk part:
https://twitter.com/ayu_tube/status/777840603644121088
M:
https://twitter.com/ayu_tube/status/777842799123181570

she did amazing on Evolution..her vocal is so powerful..love the arrangement..and the she sang the "wow yeah" part is different...I LOVE IT!

M and season is kinda shaky..but Evolution is AMAZING!

Online Download Ayu part: http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showth...97#post3215797

Utada online: https://matching-c0c95.firebaseapp.c...ki/perfs#utada

Her face looks like it's getting longer for some reason. Or her nose flatter? I can't pinpoint it. Anyways, M didn't sound bad.

Ooh she is giving me late 90's Ayu vibe here!

i wonder how many different colours of that a-nation 16 outfit she has LOL

I love "M" but her singing was pretty terrible. The dress was gorgeous though.

"Seasons" and "Evolution" were better. But I kind of wish she'd done acapella versions of them. Keeping it simple and pretty.

She looks so good here!

I love SEASONS but the way she has adapted it for her new voice and style of singing completely tarnishes the song. I don't mind that she would choose to sing this same song over and over; it's that she sings this song with THIS voice that makes it truly unfortunate. I appreacite the double effect of mono no aware however.

今日の声がよい音が鳴ると、明日もきっとよい音も鳴るぞ
そんな声が続いてく
そう思っていたあのころ

Thank you so much! Utada wins easily. Can't wait for SONGS special with her.

I enjoy this performance although M is quite bad but SEASONS and evolution is pretty good. evolution is very " Cirque de minuit" and I love it.

I think Ayu realized this stage is not for her only, She controlled her vocal more in evolution. It's not as energetic as in her tour but yes, this is the performance in public and she needs to do that.

p/s: um, she has a new dancer who is very handsome. He is behind Ayu at the end of evolution and Yochan is cute also :D

I really blown away by Evolution performance..after watched it in HD its even better..I think this is one of her best Evolution performance...the "wow yeah" part is so powerful

the make up, hairstyle, costume everything is so fresh!!! I love it...

Ayu looks so young as well...

she looks great in all the pics and that hair totally gives a vibe of her early days.

Also yeah she had a few notes off but i though she did really well in this!!

M was not that bad imo, but I enjoyed evolution the most. And she looks so pretty! :)

I uploaded it on my facebook page in FULL HD!

https://www.facebook.com/24854211883...5221524268835/

THANKS FOR THE CONVENIENCE!!

She got better and better during the performance. evolution does feel so different with her holding slightly longer to each word at the end. the Wow Yeahs were very very strong and on point :D

AND she looks really tan. her face..looks tight lolol.

She needs to stop singing SEASONS. It's a great song that just doesn't suit her current style of singing. It's such a delicate song and she's tearing it apart with this deeper tone of hers that just makes it painful for me to hear.

M was ok... Evolution was also ok vocal-wise, but what's with that strange organ sample that came from nowhere before the last chorus? So random.

I hope she finally breaks out of this self parody at some point of time and starts owning the new music she's been making - which has actually been pretty good.

I thought she did pretty good in the performanch tbh :shrug

WOW it all felt like I went back to 2001. The simple costumes, her hair cut (hair color too), the singing style. She did really well in M and evolution. SEASONS was decent. TBH it's not just the way she sings it, the live arrangement does not do justice to the studio mix.

WOW!! She was pretty good! <3 M was a little shaky but that's normal and SEASONS was AMAZING! Her voice sounded so awesome! And evolution is the cherry on top.

I don't love the hair but it's very 2001esque. And she's really loving that dress silhouette, right? hahah Show those abs, baby.

I only watched M so far and I think she sounded pretty good. Her hair and outfit are also very pretty, I'm excited to watch the full performance later today!

awesome performance..
all performances are perfect ..specially evolution!

Firstly, she looked very pretty.

M was good, shaky voice but still enjoyable. For SEASONS:

For evolution... vocals were ok but I'd rather her not perfom it again if she keeps rearraging it or cutting in half, I love it to death and it's a damn mess that she keeps doing these modifications.

I think she was amazing! This year Live TV performances have been much better than last year (and the year before too). I am really proud of her, and she looks amazing.

Mmm... As for me, the modification is what I like about it.

I think it was a good performance, but I'm not blown away ir something. Also I think it's funny that she implemented "Ode an die Freude" in evolution, I honestly don't know why it's so popular in Japan. xD

M was little off-key every now and then + La-laaaai part of the SEASONS was kinda bad but overally it was awesome performance :yes her voice on evolution was so strong!

she looked amazing

She is awesome really. The performance is very good considering her vocal nowadays. Maybe it's her best live recently. Steady and on-pitch.

I loved it! Her vocals were so good and she looked so pretty!

Well yeah. If I have to sum it up, it turns out I am not liking anything about her performance. I disliked her outfits, especially the evolution one. Her vocals, yeah... really not good at all. I even muted SEASONS. Plus what in the world? Why did she put that weird 'bridge' in the middle of evolution and have her dancers act like Lindsey Stirlings? And just because I still admire her and want to say something nice, I'd say that it is at least good she is on television again. I hope the majority liked it.

Actually all the solo parts were live and chorus parts were lip synched and/or with a backing track. That's pretty standard for them.

Ayu's performance overall was very good. Some shaky moments, especially on M but Evolution was defintiely one of the best she's done in a while. I'm in agreement that her tv performances this year (actually, starting with SONGS last year) have been much better than the last couple of years.

Both Ayu and Hikki had so much control over their voices (for their standarts)
Are both of my jpop queens finally having those postponed singing classes? Is this a dream?

<3

I loved the arrangements for evolution! :heart I just watched the whole things and I'm so happy she delivered such good performances.

I hate to say this but Ayu's performance cannot be compared with Hikki's in this instance. One was restrained and quietly powerful, the other one was ... well we've all seen the other one.

Also interesting how for a show with such ~mainstream appeal~ meant for the public who are clearly all idiots and only interested in ~MEGA~ hits, one chooses to perform something off her new album, and the other, songs that are over 10 years old

I frankly don't get why people want to compare the two at all. They both have individual vocals, that sound nothing alike.

:rolleyes Sakura Nagashi is well-known, it was released almost 4 years ago, it did quite well in charts and was part of Evangelion's last movie ost. It's not a brand new song for japanese people.

^You mean, just like about 80% of Ayu's discography?

She bought all the same outfit in the world with different colour, nobody else can have the same outfit but only her.

LOL

^
^
Sakura Nagashi was certified platinum for downloads, when was the last time Ayu got one of that for her new songs?
80% of Ayu discography were hits? Maybe in 2010, not in 2016.

I know I wanted M performed but the vocals weren't great. Evolution actually really worked though. I prefer the A Nation dress in black. And Ayu looks amazing. She looks like she did when Evolution was released!!

Okay......so why not perform one of those other songs instead of SEASONS/M/Evolution?

I mean, look. If you want to play the "crowdpleasing" argument, then be consistent and recognise that Sakura Nagashi has got nothing in terms of public awareness compared to First Love or Can You Keep a Secret or Hikari.

If you want to play the "it sold xxxxx therefore its popular" card, then it's equally reasonable for a fan to want Ayu to perform something else apart from Seasons, M, and Evolution.

ALL I am saying is:
1. She still makes good new music - why not have the confidence to perform it?
2. Her current voice makes songs like SEASONS sound like shit (my opinion, obvs) - why not perform another one of her hits? It's not like I'm hoping she'd perform Ever Free -_-

I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation as a fan.

M was shaky vocally, SEASONS and evolution were better.
Overall quite nice.
But I do think evolution doesn't fit in a music show, was a bit awkward to watch. Also all that dancers again and that breakdown with Ode to Joy...wonder why.

And btw. don't know, how she manages it, but even with those high heels she still looks short in that dress, lol.

^
^
Do not compare Ayumi with other female artists if she doesn't fulfill your expectations as a fan. This post you just wrote is different from the first, here you are actually saying what you expect, why, etc. But the first post you wrote was conflictive. That's all.

Hikki has sounded really bad while being restrained and quiet before. Even because this is the rote she usually takes while performing ballads.

I just said they both are singing better than their history as live singers makes me expect, this isn't even comparing both to each other. ;)

I was positively surprised with SEASONS. I liked the way she sang it, she sounded confident, not fragile.
I like fragile too, I just find it very interesting that her voice and singing technique has changed so much during the years.

There's nothing to do with confidence. Performances are not only used to help artists promote their releases, but they are mostly used by TV channels to drag viewers (and that's exactly the point in special episodes where singers only perform their biggest hits). In the end, it's all about how any people are watching the show and how much money the channel is making. "FLOWER" on Music Station was an exception.

Ayu doesn't sell that much nowadays, so people are not interested in watching performances of unknown songs, therefore the channel is not going to allow her to sing whichever song she wants. That's why she mostly appears on TV on special occasions because there's the opportunity for her to sing her same old songs. I'm sorry but, as a fan, you should have accepted long ago that Ayu is not going to be promoted/promote herself as she used to back in 2009.

Loved the performances and so glad she didn't only get a 2:30 part

The performance was really good!! It's undeniable that she sounded shaky during M chorus but SEASONS and evolution were amazing. I hadn't enjoyed a performance of evolution in years but I love this one and specially the classical music before the bridge.

Please stop complaining about Ayu always singing the same songs. These specials are made for artists to perform their hits and songs that are popular for all audiences. If you wanna watch other stuff you have her concerts (Arena, CDL, TA, a-nation) where she always changes the setlist. Seiko Matsuda has released more than 50 albums and she always performs Akai Sweet Pea or Anata ni Aitakute on TV and the first one is 33 years old...

Anyone has the talk parts as download link?

I think Ayu And Hikki both did well and delivered really authentic performances. I also think it is useless to compare them because they both had success in the same decade.

Decent performance, nice costume. That's all.

I wasn't able to see Ayu or Utada because of the time difference sadly.:(
But I was able to watch most of the beginning of the show. I was happy when they showed Seiko Matsuda performing Akai Sweet Pea. I also remember them showing Glay a little bit.:heart
After seeing both Ayu and Utada perform, I think they both were awesome.:inlove
I think Ayu was mostly consistent vocally, a few dips here and there but I think she did well. I think it will have a positive impact on her career and image.:yes
She looked great too. The white dress is my favorite.
If I had to criticize something, it would be the evolution portion. I thought the violin thing was awkward as well as the random classical music breakdown/interlude. The dancers weren't really needed either, it would have been nice if Ayu was the one star of the show. The kanariya make up was also strange to me. Why was it used? Ayu always wants to ignore everything kanariya related but randomly it appears now? Not a bad thing but has me wondering.
I wish Utada could have been there in person so they could be reunited.:heart
http://i67.tinypic.com/2zzq6v8.jpg
http://i64.tinypic.com/105eekj.jpg