I have watched the Countdown and I think I have the opposite opinion of everyone. I thought the vocals were rough in certain spots but overall it was decent. But I didn't really like the show. The first section being the lowest point for me. When she poured the water on her chest and when she was flashing her underwear was more cringe than any of the vocals. I will say though that the little mini countdown during Lady Dynamite was really cool. I loved the graphics and lights.
I was really excited for Together When... because I have been wanting that for quite some time now but I was slightly disappointed. Ayu looked beautiful and her dress was pretty and the vocal was stable. But she mostly just walked around for the performance. I was hoping for a bigger performance like Countdown 07-08. But I am still happy my wish was granted.
I think WATQ was actually my favorite moment. I thought the vocals were pretty good and all the A flags waving was cool.
In the end, I am kind of just happy to see Ayu again and have something new to experience from her since she isn't releasing anything anymore.
Also, I love Suzanne Vega too! It isn't Ayu's age that is the problem. The current state of her vocals is due to a variety of factors that I think we all are aware of by now. At this point she either has a good day or a bad day.

I don’t disagree. However it may be possible to work within her limits, such as lowering the key or changing melodic notes so she’s not reaching for the high ones. She sounded fine when not straining to reach the high notes. There are things she can do (which I believe she IS doing) to try to make it easier on herself and her voice.

In regards to tour schedule, it’s true that she’s only performing a few times a week. But in between shows she (at least in the past) reviews the footage and then uses that as basis for improving the next show, which means more rehearsals. I don’t know if she’s still doing that, but she still could be singing every day. Plus all the sound checks. So it’s definitely possible she’s running her voice to the point of hoarseness. But there could be other factors. At the end of the day, I’m thankful that she’s still doing shows. The hoarseness didn’t bother me so much this time, it was more the off key notes (which were expected but sound unpleasant nonetheless), which she may be able to work around by lowering, since she was good when not reaching for them.

The hoarseness and her unstable voice is exactly what shocked me.
I expect her to not be on-key and do shouting here and there, but that her voice is so coarse from the very beginning... she had a week off since the last date on December 23. I really don't understand what's the problem. Did she ruin her voice earlier in her career so much, that it's going hoarse without her doing much?
Except rehearsals of course, but every other singer does that as well.

I think she rehearsals as crazy all the time. Maybe because she posts photos only from the studio

What’s cringe worthy is some of the comments on here. When ayu is doing the best she can with her current situation. She’s more than half way deaf and yet some think that’s a small thing. She can’t hear to 100% capacity which means: she easily goes out of tone, screams most of the time which destroys her vocals for the night and adjusts her ear piece as the show progresses. I’m sorry if I sound a bit harsh but hearing loss isn’t something to take lightly.

^I don't think anyone really sees it as "small". Also, she doesn't shout all the notes anymore like she did and the best she could do vocally at this point would be something like PoM18. The problem isn't that she sometimes hits the wrong note (not for me at least...), key but her strained vocal chords. That doesn't have too much to do with deafness. She's been singing rather lightly for quite some time now, which is good but she still gets hoarse. As Aderianu said, she seems to rehearse like crazy and if she can't handle all that without ruining her chords, then she needs to change things.
I personally liked the CDL and it felt like her vocals kind of warmed up during the show but that should happen before the show. This was way better than the last two CDLs vocals wise, though. Her voice wasn't hoarse during nearly every song this year (she was sick before MIT tho iirc).

Not gonna make some huge technical analisis because everyone already did it and I agree in many points with y'all, so vocals problems aside I'm just going to write my personal opinion: I REALLY enjoyed this whole show, her energy, her sensuality, her emotion (didn't see fake crying this time when she teared up a little in NOW & 4EVA it felt pretty real) she delivered a great show and performance. Personally speaking, I enjoyed this CDL more than any other show since MIJ 16 (maybe PoM 18 could be an exception but has such a different style overall so is hard to compare) so that's it for me, great show and I really enjoyed it.

This conversation has been around since 2007/2008 (when her vocals were, in contrast to 2005/2006, far worse), and I think it is due to her hearing loss more than anything, but I do agree that rehearsing and touring so often cannot be good for her voice (and remaining hearing) either. I feel quite apathetic towards her tours now though, and have since about 2012. This CDL was fine visually, average for her vocally, but eh. She's different now from the artist she was when I started listening to her, it simply feels unfair to compare her now to what she was like 'then', particularly as I'm aware of her hearing issues....

...but when you start thinking about her show as a product to be consumed, and that there are potential factors that exacerbate certain issues, then certainly I feel people have the right to make comparisons with other touring artists and express their dissatisfaction. Larger shows with fewer dates would be more preferable, and would allow her more time to give to other aspects of her career (like...releasing singles to boost interest in attendance).

I really, REALLY LOVED W. It was so sexy and ironic at the same time. She was going full sexy and mocking that situation. Best part of the show for me.

Her schedule is not that busy and she released music before during busier times.

People like to complain we would get more music with less touring, but she most likely just doesnt feel like releasing something new and with no touring we probably would get nothing instead.

I was kind of surprised as I really enjoyed watching this CDL. Ayu really looked like she was having fun and I liked the setlist too (even when it wouldn't be anything I'd usually put together)

Her vocals actually seemed to improve later in the show? I think the problem is that when she has put in the effort with a vocal coach, her voice has been better even with her hearing. Mostly it seemed like she was hitting the right notes to me but she almost sounded hoarse from a cold or being at a loud party and shouting (which has been me over Christmas :laugh

I even kinda liked Timmy as a Caberet-esque MC character before 1LOVE. I actually think that MC character look could work well in the show for him instead of the current outfit?

I was expecting to be disappointed by the smaller scale shows but I even really liked the stage. The stairs were simple but effective. I also wonder if Ayu felt the need to fill the larger stages with more dancers before whereas now it felt like the right balance for me.

I couldn't disagree more with most of the members in this forum then right now. I really enjoyed and loved the show. Her energy was amazing! I don't know why but I feel that she now fully enjoys holding a concert. It's clearly that the fans attention is her source of strength. The venue was really nice and I kinda enjoy her concerts more with this layout, closer to the audience, with no middle runway. The visuals on the screens were really amazing and it felt that the concert has a nice flow, just like her concerts used to be, with some kind of storyline (AT 2005 and 2006 for example). Talking about the vocals, I really was surprised. I don't think it was terrible at all. Only the start of WARNING and then UNITE but everything else was lovely for me.

I laughed with her eating the snow by accident during Days. lol

Okay I have finished watching the CDL.


Positive thoughts :
- I was not bothered by her vocals at all, they were bad during some songs but like 2 or 3 out of the whole show so I don't mind.
- I liked the intro and the interludes.
- Overall the show was nice and energetic, I had fun especially during W, 1LOVE, We are the QUEENS are Dream ON. Ayu seemed to be enjoying herself.
- The outfits and props were cool.

Negative thoughts :
- I'm not into small venues, it makes the show feel underwhelming for me. That's not her fault since Yoyogi is under renovation but I hope halls do not become her default setting.
- I didn't like the setlist because :
- The show just feels too homogeneous, there are just too many energetic/upbeat songs that it just gets boring.
- She overperforms some songs these days, i absolutely love WARNING as a song but i just don't want to see it ever again lmao Love Song needs to die too and that performance of 1LOVE has now been used 4 different times, even though i enjoyed the new visuals a lot the choreography is the same so it needs to die.

To all who criticized her for her voice...
Her voice is hoarse since the end of 2015 - MADE IN TOKYO was the beginning of extreme low quality live voice and that was after her first pneumonia which wasn’t really cured.
At the end of 2016, she had a second pneumonia which wasn’t fully cured.
At the beginning of 2017 avex announced that she is almost completely deaf.
What Did you guys expect after all this?

She has proven her ability to sing well and not have a hoarse voice during MIJ, PoM18 and TV performances this year. That's what can be expected since she clearly can deliver it.

Not about what I expect from her but let me just add, it's simply irresponsible to not cure things such as pneumonia. It's not a surprise with her but she should cure things properly, both as a singer/performer and simply a human. It can backfire easily and if the pneumonia(s) is/are actual reasons for a 'permanent' kind of damage then it's an explanation but not an excuse, imo.

But that's just what I think and in the end she will do things the way she wants to. After all she is a 40 year old woman who can decide for herself. One doesn't have to agree with how she deals with different things, though.

Anyway, not gonna add much to that discussion. I said everything I wanted to say and I don't want to repeat stuff too much. Also, for me this was more of a general discussion since it did occur in this CDL (hoarseness) but not as much as in others. I generally enjoyed it a lot!

YES! Plus she had pneumonia twice and got back to stage while still not fully recovered. This women is insane. Love her <3

I wasn't really into this tour until watching the CDL and now I'm super excited to see it live in February! <3

I also think that lowering the key or using pre-recorded vocal for the notes she can't reach, or struggle to reach. I don't mind having the UNITE chorus in playback.

I agree with this.

Hajimemashite, new member here, although I do read posts from time to time

I went to her 12.23 show in Kyoto (my first time seeing her live actually, I'm finally making enough money on my own to afford a trip to Japan) and saw the new year show online yesterday. I honestly think she sounded better on her 2nd night in a row in Kyoto than on the CDL show which she had a week to rest for. I don't remember any shouting or going off-key, and there were some moments in the earlier songs such as How beautiful you are that she actually sounded like a 10yr younger version of herself, although her voice did get waxier during the encore songs at my show as well. I think one of the factors is that the CDL show was longer with a couple of additional songs to rehearse in the final days (rawrrr I missed Talking to myself), and this tour was full of dance songs which are more tiring to prepare and perform. It was also much later into the night at the CDL, and she sounded more worn during the final songs at CDL than the one that I saw live.

And honestly let's be realistic, her voice expired 10 years ago. She was never a vocal powerhouse, but she had a unique and inexplicably addicting voice. There was a lot of friction on her vocal cords to produce that voice, and the damage is done, that voice is long gone. She's also sth like 80% deaf now, so she doesn't get enough audio feedback when she's singing, which probably causes the shouting and going off key. I guess the realistic solution is just cut the hard songs and do less dance songs, cuz I'm pretty sure given how hard working she is, she's already doing the best she could to sing in her current physical condition.

For the ppl who have problems with how sexual the CDL show was... well the Kyoto show was even more sexual. She picked some fans on stage, made the girls sit on chairs while she sat on their laps and hugged them, and the way she threw her legs over theirs and her arms around their necks looked like a quick lap dance. The guys lied horizontally on stage while she bounce-danced on top of them. I guess this sounds bad in words, but I just laughed at the concert and said "lucky bastards". I'm actually OK with the water pouring and stripping part, even though it surprised me at the show (W was the opening song at Kyoto). She must have put in a lot of effort to get back in shape, so if she wants to show off her body, go ahead, she's not going to be sexy forever. And there's always Timmy on stage to set the lower bar anyway.

One last thing... I'm pretty bummed at how strict Japan is with the no photos/filming policy. I know it's the local laws and culture, but I just wanted sth to remember that moment by... I got scolded by the fans next to me. I don't blame them, but awww...

I'm off to see her tomorrow in Ibaraki. I'm excited to see the hall arena as I've seen her central stage and regular stages live before so this will be something different. I kind of hope I am on the second or third floor so I can take a few sneaky photos :laugh