If it's it on cd, then I agree. There are some strong vocals in a lot of her newer songs, but live? Pls no. She sounds so terrible now live.

She does not. Just depends on the song.

^Agree, actually Arena Tour 15 and 16 were amazing imo.

I wouldn't say terrible, but bad? Yeah, definitely bad most of the time. If pitch correction wasn't invented, she'd be in a serious trouble, she would probably have to rerecord vocals for DVDs.

Yeah... 2015 was amazing, but for me 2016 sounds a bit off...
Both ARENAs weren't as bad as the CDLs (15-16 / 16-17) were...

I have a love and hate moment about her current voice.

She can perform certain songs with her current voice very well. On the other hand, some songs like M sounds awful with her current voice, especially at the beginning when she sings "Maria"...

I think M is one of the old songs that she should keep singing, for me her current voice suits this song very well.
One thing I don't like about her current voice is that in the past what you got on the cds will most likely sound almost the same on live, nowadays her voice on live doesn't match the studio versions of the songs (i.e FLOWER, Mad World, Summer love, Out of control etc)

I think her current voice for FLOWER is very good, but IMO, not M.

They are definitely bad. It's pretty telling nowadays one of the first post for her lives is her voice being okay/decent/listenable. Lol. When has this become a norm? She used to kill it so often.

I will stand by my statements of terrible, because I compared to her past and what she's capable of singing. I just feel like she's just shouting all the time now.

You...understand that for a live, there's only so much control the sound people have over the mixing of the various channels, right?

For me personally she usually sounds much better live irl that on the TV broadcast/DVD

Please fill me in on technicalities, but does this have something to do with her basically screaming the songs out loud during her live performances? With pitch correction, this scream-singing sounds fantastic (it makes her already strong voice sounds so much more powerful, e.g. do it again in CDL 11-12), but I don't think it's good in the long run. If this is true, then it's probably due to the fact that she can't really hear as well as before, so she had to scream-sing just in order to hear her own voice amidst what I suspect must be pretty loud music.

I can't stand the scream-singing. For some songs it works very well, but for others, like ballads, it's just... eh. I also feel like she enunciates her words strangely a lot of the time when she sings live now. Hard to explain, but maybe someone here will know what I'm talking about lol

Ayu always had a bad vocal technique, but back then she simply sung like most jpop singers do. Today she screams and screams and screams. It's no excuse that she performs in big arenas, a lot of people do. They still don't scream.
I don't care what exatly she does to stop screaming, but she should do something. Otherwise she ruins her voice/vocal cords completely.

some people really enjoy her current voice. they say it's deeper and not so high-pitched as it used to be.

I'm glad that I'm not alone thinking she screams sometimes and goes off-tune so obviously.

well, I guess it's all because of her Minniere disease.

I don't think there is any question that her vocals this past year have been pretty off and down right bad for a fairly significant portion of time.

But we also have to remember that this is nothing new AT ALL. Her voice has been declining since 2006 and was really bad in 07/08, because it seems her hearing got worse, but by 2010 it seems that she learned how to work around that and her vocals go better. Since then she has definitely had peaks and valleys with the quality of her voice. 14/15 I thought she sounded pretty great. And I do agree that overall her voice is much more powerful now and sounds great in particular on the newer ballads.

'16 though, I feel was overall a bad vocal year every TV live that we got was subpar imo. I saw her live at the end of November and I would have classified her vocals as okay -- she did do significantly better during the accoustic section. From there till the end of December they obviously got worse though. The CDL is definitely cringeworthy and it's not because of the mixing, editing etc. She has had plenty of tv broadcasts before that did not sound that bad. Sure better mixing can help you sound better, but it's not going to change the quality of your actual voice.

Every time I have heard her live she has been fine. I enjoyed it very much.
I think the main problem now a days is that there is so much mixing and computers involved with music that we don't really know anyones true voice till we hear them life and its just NOTHING like what we are used to (via radio, cd, tv broadcast) and it messes with our perception of their voice.

I've seen her twice in live and her vocals were amazing.
I really don't think her voice is always edited and autotuned. I've studied a bit of sound design and when you use too much filters on a voice, it's getting almost robotic (Cher for example... Or worse, Madonna when she tries to sing live). .
And sometimes, you just can't sing right. It happens.

I also think that Ayu re-recorded her vocals for the CDL 2015-2016 and that's why it took so long to come out on DVD. The best example is "Many Classic Moments". They couldn't edit her vocals that well. It would have sound robotic.
But that's a theory. I'm maybe wrong.

Oh, I don't like to even remember how bad her cutesy voice destroyed a super strong song like walk

I don't know, I think the only vocals that I saw live that I would put in the amazing category were AT 05, AT 06, and AT 10. Even when her vocals aren't amazing though, I still think her shows are great to go to and can be enjoyed even when her vocals are off, I just wish she would take better care of her voice.

About the screaming, she has always done that. It's just that it sounds so much better if you sing like that with high pitch. The problem is that Ayu tries to sing the same way now, but with lower voice, thus it sounds like she's screaming.

The only thing I can't stand is the cutesy voice she has used more recently. It doesn't sound genuine when she does that.

Same, that ruined A LOT of perfomances to me.

^every time i roll my eyes when i hear this. lol

^ Why?

I don't care for her cutesy voice either. She isn't a teenager anymore... she hasn't been for a VERY long time.

One of the problems I feel with Ayumi is that the things that made her great and connect with a lot of people back in the day are not the same things that people are concerned with now.

Her fan base fell in love with what she was saying. What she was doing.
Her fan base grew up.
She did not.

I completely disagree. She used not to scream/shout. It has nothing to do with low/high voice. The way of her singing definitely changed. I don't remember the exact year when she started screaming, but for sure it's been going on for not less than 6 years already.

It was around when GUILTY was released.

I really doubt that she re-recorded that song.It does sound robotic. They just edited it with more care, so it wasn't extremely robotic.
Auto-tune (known for awful pitch-correction artifacts) is not the only pitch-correction software. Melodyne for example treats voice much more gently, voice still sounds pretty natural. If a person was slightly off-key, it can fix your voice the way it's even hard to tell that something was fixed. I used that program and it does wonders.

Hmm i'm seriously curious on this whole screaming thing and her vocal technique or the lack of it. I'll have to give some TV lives for a friend of mine who's a vocalist in training to have a listen. She straight out told GACKT had folk influences on his voice not even knowing him at all. Which he did. So i think she might give some insight in this. To compare her older performances and very new ones.

And the vocal/screaming/off key/high pitch/edition discussion is back again :sleeping

It is kind of a broken record-type discussion though since nothing new is really discussed IMO. Always the same people saying the same things. I think a big issue is that she's probably touring a bit too much since she sounds fine early on in the tours/performances but then things get way off due to illness or overdoing it. With the tour being her longest ever this year, I'm a bit worried for her midway through and during the finale.

I'm wondering if her first date of the -Just the Beginning 20- tour will be on 8th of April, it's Saturday.

^too early. Usually it's ~2 months between announcement and first date

Maybe she'll divide the tour in two with a month of rest in between?

I just hope she'll be touring in September/October

I assume it will be a long spring leg with a break for a-nation then running up to her birthday or slightly beyond that afterward.

And immediately after that, plans for 20th anniversary CDL.

I really think this tour will be very long going all the way to replace CDL... I don't know. Would be nice for her to have some breaks during the tour.

I don't think I agree with the last bit. She changed a lot since the era when she was "in". And her lyrics still really talk to me, some songs may be more forgettable but I can relate to a loooooot of her recent lyrics. Breakdown, wake me up, the next love, now & 4eva (it's too late to check the typo) are incredibly deep and mature for me, and they're only examples!

I just don't think it's fair to think she didn't grow up. I have to agree that a lot of songs from her early days and incredible lyrics wise, but I don't think she's any less good today :)

I think Ayu has always been inconsistent vocally. But I always have found that interesting because I haven't really seen any other artist that can go from one extreme to the other.
Some performances are so powerful and moving and then another performance will be embarrassing and cringey with shouting or sometimes strange techniques/pronunciation.:shrug

I agree, and I even believe she tends to aproach several subjects with more complexity nowadays. In the past some lyrics felt like she was playing the victim sometimes.

Still no dates. This is frustrating. Why even announce anything if that site is going to sit with 'Coming soon' for weeks...

I can feel your pain, but it's not that bad yet comparing to other artists.
It was announced on Jan. 1st that Generations from Exile Tribe will go on world tour this year, but still no info either:)

We should be getting something soon... I mean she DOES have a lot of dates to perform so shes gotta get started at some point.

Hope she will give us some dates soon!

I really want her to perform Sweet Scar and/or Shape of love.

^ me too!!! Sooo much

^ No.

Why even bother announcing anything. This is like the time they took too long to announce the Premium Showcase and I ended up missing it and attending Koda Kumi's concert T_T

I'd love a from your letter performance.:heart

Shape of love, from your letter, As if..., And Then :heart and she might perform the CDL version for kanariya again, but I wish she used the Johnathan Peter's remix instead

very well said. Listen to an Adele concert - quite and loud parts are all on the same level. there are a few artist that break away from that, but most pop songs are mixed that way. Our ears got used to it and we can't shake it off, when we listen to live-music.

The meaning of love

This song needs to be preformed.

She sang it during the encore on a few early dates of AT2010. Nothing monumental about those performances though lol /ihatethatsongsomuch

TBH I'd like to hear Letter and Out of control this year~ I wouldn't mind still alone and Liar, but chances are pigs will fly before that happens.

One thing that i wish she did on the songs is low the key, like M on POM, change the arrangement and this is how it goes

I hope she keeps Ourselves piano version for the tour, it could be something new

And PLEASE perform Gloria

Please no Letter or Out of Control for me; I deleted those from my collection and yesterday added the dreadful call to the bin too. I might be studying abroad this next year and to be forced to sit through them live would be such a waste.

I would love this!

I'd love Letter tbh but I'm still waiting for Shape of Love, Sweet Scar and Pray.

I'd like it if she sang Kanariya again, but in a different way. Mostly focusing more on the vocals than the acrobatics/performance.

Hoping for HANABI ~episode II~ and no more words <3

Call and Letter are among the better tracks on PQ. Call through Tell Me Why is the only part of that album I can consistently listen to, actually (I like a bunch of the other songs, depending on mood). Call and Letter have a bit of a similar feel to Last Links (but manage it much better, as Last Links is not my favorite) -- they're a very organic sound for Ayu, very singer-songwriter-y.

But I will fight you for Out of Control. :luv2 That song is amazing, especially the CdM performance of it.

It seems odd that she has not announced the concert dates as her concerts usually begin in April and May

I absolutely love them. Great songs.

I've been hoping for ourselves for years now. I really hope she'll perform it...

Also ~please~ keep ANGEL'S SONG. I'm so bummed I missed it haha.

And I love Last Links. Lol.

But yes, the others are very singer-songwriter. And opposed to Last Links, they are kind of cheery aren't they? They've always reminded me of Michelle Branch's style and I've said that before but I always disliked that style and her music.

I hope she can preform

Criminal
like a doll

and properly she doesn't remember she has a song called still alone...

I think this tour is going to go into next year actually, which would explain the lack of dates still.

I think that's the case too. I sense it might start in June/July

I hope not, I want to go next year and I want the super mega anniversary tour show xD

Seems that way to me too...It's already too late for it to start in April. Regardless I just need the dates announced T_T

i would love to see next level again. its been a while and the song is amazing.

Wouldn't it be called tour 2017-2018 in this case?

I really think she'll replace CDL with this long tour.

I wish she'd stop CDL and just stretch this one.

It's so much hassle for her to plan CDL when it's just 3 days.

I have the same feeling...

We should start a list of obscure ayu songs that she's never performed:

criminal
like a doll
It Was
Sweet Scar
still alone
NO FUTURE
GUILTY
Liar
call
close to you
Sky High

Last Links/meaning of Love (she did these at random AT10 concerts, right?)
Return Road (come on Ayu, it's been nearly 7 years, just give us ONE performance on DVD!!)

Am I missing any?

It could be because its her 20th ~anny~

I gave some Ayu's live performances to a friend who's a trained vocalist (been doing that for 10 years now) to listen, the MA one from 2002(?) in that red dress and ASFXX from a couple of years ago, because i cannot hear her shouting a lot while singing like at all, and while my friend said her technique at times is unrecognizable and that she also has this folk feeling in her singing that's so common amongst asian artists, there's no shouting whatsoever. Why it might feel like she is, is probably, according to her, because it kind of feels like while continuing the note she changes register, which makes it sound like shouting to an untrained ear hears in between the runs . She also said that Ayu's voice is more on the head register or caught somewhere in between her nose and throat in the earlier video, rather than coming from the chest, but she definitely has the support that most somewhat trained artists do in her way of singing. Apparently, to her, she sounds much better in the newer live clip than the older one. She clearly wasn't impressed, but couldn't say anything bad about her way of singing either. Sooooo, that being said, Ayu might have "a note or two off" moments but she's got the skills to support the voice while singing and she obviously does that. How my friend said "She is definitely not going with a bare voice, there is support in it clearly noticeable to someone who knows how it all works".

Close to you was performed on a TV show. Could have been ayuready, it was a long time ago.

I believe call was also performed during the early dates of HLS during the encore, but my memory might be a bit foggy.

You are missing Story and tracks from A Song for XX, Bye-bye darling etc. quite a few actually.

I think her off keys are mostly due to her ears than her technique.

First of all, thanks, that's interesting! But we weren't complaining about her shouting in 2002 or 2010, but during the last 2 or 3 years and especially LAST year.
I mean, we already knew that she wasn't shouting in 2002. Not to mention that her voice sounds totally different nowadays than 15 years ago.

The second leg of the tour can always be renamed.

"...ASFXX from a couple of years ago", I think they probably mean the AT15/ABL one, which would be with her new voice but I'm not 100% sure.

It was HEYx3. The same episode where she sang Shiroi Koibitotachi with CHEMISTRY.

All hail the crazy, curly, big blonde wig. :love

For me a couple of years ago means something like 4 to 7 years or something and not 2 years. 2 simply can't count as "a couple of years".

And why is that? I personally interpret "a couple" as "approximately 2, maybe a bit more", and the dictionary definition is "two or a few"

Also, thank you very much artcika! It was very interesting to see the opinion of a professional!

For me, I just really want to she songs from A Song For xx performed. Usually I don't have any strong wish for any of those songs even though I love the album. I guess because it is 20 years I want to see those songs revisited. It also has been quite a while since a song was performed from that time that isn't the title track and not included in a medley.
It would be nice if each album had it's place in the show. Maybe arrange the setlist from 1998 till present day songs, in order of release.:yes

I would love to hear Trust, Hana or As if...

and thats what i meant, that she may have an off key moment but she has the skills to use her voice right.

I gave her the old stuff because i love that performance first of all and second because i wanted her to get an idea how her voice sounded back then, years ago to what it is now. But i think the fact that she heard no shouting in the Cirque de Minuit tour final (ASFXX performance), means she's probably never really shouted. I personally never really took any of her singing as "shouting". The only problem i ever had with her voice is when she started her career, cuz that pitched tone hurts my ears and that horrible fake vibrato she used to do in 2008-2010. Apart from being off key every now and then, i always thought she sounded OK at worst.

And um, to someone else who takes "a couple" as 4-7 years....um....LOL a COUPLE means A COUPLE, 2 people are called "a couple", it's not that difficult lol

I also want Fated to be performed, the one from CDL 11-12 (The hotel love songs one, I'm not sure about the years anymore lol) was pretty cool, the vocals were great but the whole dance show with those beds and Maro totally ruins it for me, I want her alone on stage singing her heart out, I usually don't care/complain about the huge amount of dancers on stage, but on ballads are SO unnecesary.

and send the list, and ask her to do "Songs I hate Tour 2020" to her on Facebook. :P

These days, live, I cannot listen to her. Back in the day, I could get by telling myself she had a unique voice. These days I can't. Even my hardcore Japan-freak fans cringe at her current lives. I've been listening to a lot of old soul music these days, too. So when I go back to Ayu it's just like, ugh.

So you basically showed 2 performances with edited, pitch-corrected vocals? I don't think one can properly judge her vocals in this case.
Why didn't you show unedited ASFXX performance from last year's Music Station for example?

has ayu performed shape of love?

no

Please not. Wanna go for CDL this Year.

AT CDM and The music station performance are pretty much the same to me... except that the TV one doesn't have the smooth DVD sound remastered but the way she sings is the the same.

^but isnt it just a term for more than 1 year..? ehy the whole discussion.. :-D :-D

I always felt "a couple" referred to more than merely two as well. Like I would interpret it as four or so. I know that's not really correct but in cases where someone would say something like "grab me a couple of those" and I'd say "ok like how many" and they'd say "two" it felt weird. Lol. If you use the term a couple to me it signifies that you don't have a set amount in mind, otherwise why don't you just say two?