Err... I'm talking about seeing her Arena Tour IN PERSON this year. Avex does not 'fix' her arena tour vocals as they are happening.

How are her vocal cords damaged over the past four years???

This is one of 1st lives in a while where i didn't feel worried for ayu's vocals, she was a shaky a few times but overal a good job, not to pitchy nor is she screaming like in PoM performances/progress lives

Ayu isn't really big of a challenge, she can put so much emotion into her song but like most people here said, i never considered her a great singer, Namie is much superior vocally imo, especially when she's only performing a ballad and not a huge set list filled with dane routines. Same with Kuu and hikki of course, they're both great vocalists.

Hikki isn't that great at performing live...I guess because she doesn't do it that often. Ku is kind of consistent, but uses back vocals way too much. Namie is pretty much the same as Ku, but lacks even basic emotion and does it like a robot. Imo people like ayaka, Hitomi Shimatani or even BoA are way better vocalists.

Don't get me wrong, all the girls sound great when they're singing their own songs and while they're in their comfort zones. The question is would they sound as good singing each other's songs? I don't think the majority of dance songs that Ku and Namie do require much of a vocal skill?

they can, you can have autotune and reverb working on a mic live no problem, it's a standard thing~

ok ayu sounded terrible at fns... =/ it's weird to think people think otherwise lol i love her new deeper voice and forget the pitch problem but the sound of her voice was not pleasant whatsoever

I'm aware some people still really love her voice as it is now, and these lives, but I just can't.

I love her to death, and her new songs have been great, vocals and all, but listening to her on those TV lives is just painful. It's not so much "she sounds bad" as it is hearing her struggle (or at least, that's what it sounds like). It's no surprise to me that she does so few TV performances these days.

God, I am dreading Kouhaku. It's clear she is doing her the very best she can in those performances, trying to control her voice and get the song out, but it just seems like a battle. Although she was never known for her vocal prowess, she was always an effective singer, but something is cutting into that.

My heart is breaking because, what do you do as a singer when your voice is no longer reliable?

I think Ayu has always pulled SEASONS off pretty well with her old vocals.. But
I just watched the two TV lives and my conclusion is this: FNS SEASONS wasn't that bad, I've heard worse from her.. But Song 4 U was horrid, sorry Ayu.. I think it's sometimes really frustrating that her voice doesn't sound really good even with the new songs that should be much easier to sing for her new voice..

I love End roll as a song, so, I like that End roll live
and all these old SEASONS lives still sound much better than the recent FNS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ0NO3Wv1TE
Look at the commentaries & the like/don't like O_o

I hope it will be an electroshock for ayu & avex !

^ well that's an eye-opener for sure..

What the... ??? :tired :shakehead
Poor ayu :no :grumpy

Ayu and Avex should do something! please Ayu. Do something. I love your music~I dont really care about your personal life~I don't care with who you're dating. Please promote your albums properly~the albums deserved more.... :(

OMG, most of these comments are so rude and mean. I'm really surprised by such reaction. It's not one of her worst lives you know.
"she'd better stop singing" ; "unhappy woman"; "painful to watch"; "what's this? her voice has changed"; "shocking" ;"such voice doesn't qualify for singer"; "what's this? that's terrible, she can't sing at all!!"; "amateur at karaoke bar"

It feels as if there's some hatred and conspiracy against her...
Agreed!

It pains me to say this... But I agree with you. :(

Hikki is my favorite pop musician of all time... IMO she's so good her best studio albums destroy almost every one's whole career, and I'm counting Ayu on this.

But when she's live, girl can't sing for her life. Her vocal technique is so bad that almost anyone in the pop business can oversing her. Her breathing is all over the place, her range is ridiculous short, her vibrato and falseto are out of control, she can't hold long notes, she scream instead of belt (that horrid Kremlin Dusk live proves this), she is always of key and composes songs way out of her range. Being a Hikki fan for over 10 years, I can't think of 5 good live performances from her voice-wise. Her voice is gorgeous and she can put tons and tons of emotion on it... And those are the only good things she has as a singer.

I was shocked by those dislikes and comments, especially when those came from native Japanese. I am sure that this performance is not her worst. And I love this performance, her voice comes out naturally. WTH going on here? Am I having a nightmare?? :dead2:no

^^
Hikki herself consider herself like a musician instead of a singer ! She is talented & has a touching voice and makes great songs but I agree with you for her vocal in Live

She is rare now on TV ! So people have been easily subjugated

I know^^... She's also not very much into performing. Honestly, I don't care. I just wish she is well and producing good music! But it annoys me when people use her as a example of "great vocalist", cuz she just isn't.

About Ayu...

She has done FAR worst than this live... I believe the marriage-divorce-datingmarriedguy controverse is playing some role on this. The comments on youtube are pretty negative, but it's not like we can know how many of those people are just bored haters. Japan surprisingly has a lot of those.

Yeah hikki is far from skilled as a vocalist. I absolutely adore the woman and her music, she's one of the most talented songwriters in the business, but she can not sing well AND writes incredibly hard to sing songs.

Ayumi I consider above average for a mainstream Pop singer, she sings better live than many people in the business as she has superior control and a pretty good range(Britney, Madonna, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Koda, Namie, Hikki...all have bigger problems, most of them cover it up by having simple songs or using backtracks often) but she's far, far from being a great singer.
And this SEASONS performance really wasn't that bad, she had some trouble with the dynamics and intonation, that's it.