What's this deal going about now? Is this now becoming a debate?

You wish.

@Bigtop - nah the person who suggested she should retire is well known for comments like that...

Can we please stop throwing the "Ayu was never a good singer" excuse around?

Cos while I agree with that, it's not like she sucked in singing in her 11 years as a singer. 2003-2006 was easily her golden era in singing, where it had the right combination of breath support and diaphragm usage, coupled with a good tone quality.

Granted she has her good moments since talkin' 2 myself (Rule @ Kouhaku '09 for example), but really, she's a singer? I mean "Ayu was never a good singer" imo is just an excuse to defend her from what she's SUPPOSED to do - sing. God forbid Ayu thinks that way cos we'll never see a change if that's so.

And I thought it was a fact that her voice has gone for the worse over the years. Debut - 2000 basically much wasn't that good as well since she was using her nasal voice, but please don't put down her good quality vocals from 2003-2006, and please don't close an eye to her falling vocals now.

I believe she can sing, because I have heard it from my own ears. And if she can do it back then in 2003-2006, why can't she do it now (besides the fact that her left ear has lost its function)? It's all about receiving the right vocal training for her case, and kicking away the old and bad habits that MAY have contributed to her falling vocals, for example eating spicy food, drinking and smoking.

I'm not requesting for her to be pitch perfect like Ken Hirai, but she's a singer after all. I mean even Koda Kumi and Tohoshinki who are regarded as good vocalists have their bad moments too, what more from Ayu?

I just find it tiring that people are using the "she was never a good singer" thing as an excuse. Cos it's not gonna work. Ayu's vocals have fallen in quality over the past few years. Get. Over. It.

-Sorry if I'm coming across as being rude, I didn't mean that.-

lol I could see ayu touring at like 70 years old :roflmao
I know everyone thinks she needs a break, but I highly doubt she will take one. She just keeps going and going and going. Workaholics anonymous?

@Crystal_Ageha: i love your post :D
Indeed, she's been using nose-voice and now screaming..
and i'm sure her throat muscles are damaged..

I don't get this gaining weight thing. Even she gains 2-3 kg, she's not fat..

I pretty much agree, I don't think Ayu is a bad singer, sure her voice did get worse over the last few years, but prior to that I loved the way she sang (I still do xD). And no you weren't rude ^^

They have fallen in quality over the last few years, yes, but she's not a "natural" at singing like many/most acts are. Her best years were great for her, but it's not an excuse to say that she was never an above average singer, because that's pretty much the truth. The fact that she isn't an amazing singer though isn't the reason why her vocals are shaky now. Something else did that and made things worse. I guess most people are just trying to point out that her vocals were never superb, but over the years after debuting, they got better (for Ayu), and then at some point they dipped again before getting better for a short while and then dropping sharply in quality again. And here we are now.

yes, Ayu has to figure a way somehow, techniques or methods which will help her in the long run

the reason she was first wasn't just because they "put" her there. and the fact that exile was second makes their statement unimportant. exile, who are bigger than ayu currently, were still in a rather undesirable time slot. i mean, even amuro turns down kouhaku, it's obviously not as important as it used to be.

she has other obligations. i understand that she's gone last other times and still gone to do her countdown live, but obviously she needed to/wanted to prepare more with more time than she might have usually had.

her voice has always gone in and out. for example, 2002 is my least favorite time for ayu's voice. i think almost all of her lives are horrid, vocally. while 2004-2006 are my favorite times.

i also find it rather unfair that the article is comparing her voice from 1999 (release of B&G) to her current voice. while i was also shocked at her bad performance, comparing a decade old song's recording voice to the current one isn't fair.

i'm not saying her voice great right now, i have ears. and i'm also in agreement that it was shocking that she'd forget the lyrics. but people have been making fun of her voice since her debut. people have always known she has a rather..."not that amazing" voice, especially with the amount of fame that she has.

Yeah, so did EXILE. They had to host an all night CDTV SPECIAL, I think.

Yeah I understand that... like I've mentioned, 1998-2000 wasn't very good; she improved along the way and changed her singing style, but slid really badly recently. And yeah I suppose it's due to many factors, like fatigue, drinking and other daily habits.

And I really don't think she was a bad singer to start with... I love the tone of her voice... it's really warm and soothing. Like I'm listening to HEAVEN now and I really love the tone of her voice. ^^

Singing isn't always about hitting the right notes or being able to hold a note for 16 counts, it sometimes is about the tone, and the emotions. Ayu has a nice tone (well at least she used to, even now though it's not as good it's still nice) and always hits the bull's eyes when it comes to emotions, so now it's the technicalities... she had a certain mastery of it back then, I guess it's finding them back now again~ :)

I'm not even gonna bother defending or attacking ayu.

She was placed first to perform on Kouhaku because she was going to her COUNTDOWN LIVE right after. Come on, its plainly obvious. They aren't going to put her on at 11pm peak time when she's supposed to be in the middle of a concert.

As for her Japan noticing her 'voice is bad these days' look at some older lives. God-awful. ayu is like anyone else: she has good days, she has bad days. She's not a machine, she won't be 100% every time. Also its 2 articles written by God knows who. And as for the little comments they've included, I don't see any source. Who's to say that these people aren't just major ayu haters and aren't just bashing for instead of someone else? Also, ayu just released a single. This is prime time for all the haters to jump right in with all the little comments because she's outsold someone else they like.

To be honest I'm not that worried. From past deputes it seems like ayu has more sense than to buy into what the press are saying. She isn't singing for haters and we've all seen that she isn't singing for fame. She sings for her fans and for herself. As she has said she wants to find a place where she belongs and now she has. A few silly articles (who where probably written by anti-fans and published around the time of a release shock horror) isn't going to change that

Her live voice is kinda embarrassing. I'd love to show friends some Ayu lives but her voice is just horrible sometimes tbh.

Since everyone else is....

I too preferred her "newer" more mature voice. However, with the exception of Rule at Kouhaku, she's been awful these last few months. During Sunrise/Sunset she was atleast able to get through the songs and sing louder than the backing-track. It's evident in most, if not all, the TV-lives of You were... that she's having real difficulty in being able to do so anymore.

While I'm not saying retire etc, I really, really hope it improves, because it's quite sad that it seems to be deteriorating as bad as it is.

She sounded great at Kouhaku. Towards the middle and end of CDL she sounded bad but the beginning was fine. It's true that her live performances in 2009 were poorer than before but it seems that the media likes to single Ayu out for a lot of crap recently. I can think of a number of other top earners in Jpop who either had crappy performances of late or lip-synched their way through. Must be trendy to dig up dirt on Ayu these days.

THIS! (you got what's on my mind after reading the criticism)

I know that she's a hard working woman for her fans but she really NEEDS break.

And I felt the changes of her vocals during early 2008-2009, especially the failed evolution performance and the middle part of her recent CDL.

Too bad for her but she needs to consider things like this.

woww.. finally Japanese medias talk about Ayu's vocal!
and what i wonder if they're deaf or not?
i mean they said Ayu's vocal at Kouhaku is bad? omg..
i thought that her vocal was so amazing there! *am i deaf?*

anyway, the only reason that i could think of that Ayu's vocal getting worse because of her half-deaf condition that she's been struggling right now and the reason of why she sounded like she was shouting because she couldn't hear her own voice that well, that's why she thought that her voice is in such low volume where in fact, it's so loud to us.. maybe Ayu has not still used to with that situation since she's always been working for the last 2 years since her deafness occured to her. she is lacked of vocal training, that is what she really needs right now~

but for me, Ayu still can sing pretty well though and she sounds the way much much better from her first debut, i just can't stand her early day's vocal, it's just too high, too pitchy, it's like no ascending and descending..(if that makes sense LOL), she could just went the way upppp and downnn without putting the emotions on the songs... well, as of now, i also can't consider her as the best singer though since for me, best singer should be able to improvise her vocal more and put out the emotions more, not just to sing exactly like the CD during the Live, even though Ayu has been singing extra chorus with Peco and Princess in some songs during the tour, but still for me it's not enough... but, what i like and love about Ayu? it's because of her spirit, her stage performance, her hard working, her lyrics and her fashion, her vocal is just a plus and i'm kind of envy her for being able to sing like this (with vibrato and etc) since she was a tone-deaf before, ..so i still envy her hardwork more than anything even though she sounds so bad lately..i'm not going to complain since she has another talent to back her up..

oh yea, sometimes, i just don't understand the standards to be called as a good singer in Japan, not that i want to bash , but really, some artists can still sell very well even though their live vocals are not that great or even bad... since Ayu is also not considered a best singer (if compared to Hikki, Koda Kumi, Ayaka, and etc), why they even bother to dig about her bad vocal out and saying that it's the end of Ayu's career where there are still some other Japanese artists who sound not so good as well, but still many ppl love them.. i'm so confused sometimes..and also, it's weird enough, artists with the real talents are not that recognized by their talents because some certain factors~

now i want to ask those medias back, do they really know the reason of why Ayu sounds so bad lately?I'm very sure that the medias know so well about Ayu's half-deafness news which has been spreaded all over the news last 2 years, and they should relate that with her vocal being bad, rather than accusing her for having bad vocal without reason~

but that's just my two cents, all in all, i hope that she can be better this year and she can take a rest her vocal (if she really can and willing to realize about it), if she still do overwork herself, nothing i can do accept to keep on supporting her no matter what..

oh this has finally come...yeah she is just pushing through each year, i know singing is her life but if she really don't take some time off and get some vocal lessons, it would be worse if no one wants to listen to her sing ...
GANBATTE AYU!! we are rooting for u no matter what

ayu ganbatte ne~~~~~~~

i prefer her recent voice....
her voice when she was on peak was terrible imo....
tooo pitchy n high-pitched....

but i'm agree that ayu needs a break....

MY God, I'm obliged to agree. It's too clear, too apparent to ignore.