Change in the way Ayu pronounces certain phonetics when singing live
 

Has anyone noticed that recently Ayu's been pronouncing certain Japanese phonetics really weird? Like she would sing "za" instead of "ta" and "tu" instead of "ru". I think it's very noticeable towards the end of this performance when she sings "Kee zoe lee." Isn't it supposed to be "Kee toe lee"?

i hadnt but i noticed one of her eyes blinks before the other

She aspirates her t's more in concert. "hitori" (the word you're thinking of) ends up sounding more like "hitsori" because of the extra air coming out over her tongue & between her teeth. Comes with projecting the voice more (i.e. yelling a bit) - pushing out all that volume means pushing out more air.

And the "r" sound in japanese is a flap of the tongue against the palette of the mouth - something like the "t" sound in "water" or "butter" in standard American English - so sometimes if she holds the tongue in that place for too long it'll sound like a "t" or a "d" instead.

It's not very weird at all actually, considering how these sounds are articulated in the mouth normally.

idk to me, she always pronounced things weird compared to other artists lol

like she was always trying so hard to be articulate and match the syllables to different notes.

But what you're talking about, idk.

I've been told in an acoustics class that sometimes singers are told not to pronounce the phoneme as it "normally should be".

Ive heard this many times in her studio version songs.
Surreal has this. Sounds like she says "ni shitere" or something
Im like, that is NOT "shiteru".

I've always loved the arigatowo~ :laugh

I think she does that often in lives :)
And it's not even Kee toe lee, should be Hee toe lee.

By the way, I'm not really fond of how she pronounces "You", like in Feel the love, she was like, "YUUUUUUU and Me, YUUUUUU and Me"

It's just the way how she pushes the air out in an effort to sound strong.
Like when she screams the words out.
I've been noticing this since 2006 live performances.

Will not ever unsee

:freak

She's been pronouncing "Maria" as "muh-ree-uh" lately and it makes me sad.

oh my i noticed that too. I find the old "ma-ria-a" classic and better. same with how she sing Teddy Bear before.

Bringing out the schwa I see.

But I understand your pain. Schwa is as basic as some careers.

But it was "mariya" really, I think I preffer real Maria