Ayumi's Live Performances
 

Erm... I'm not too familiar with when exactly Ayu started having ear problems, but I have noticed her voice has changed. I've always liked her voice whether she sang in a high or lower pitch. But lately her voice has not been sounding so great live. :/

For instance, when she sings deeper now it doesn't sound as good as it did on past performances. Now it sounds as if she's yelling instead of singing. Or sometimes she'll sound off key? On A BEST I liked the newer more "mature" versions of her songs. The 10th Anniversary version of 'You' and 'Depend on you' were... :no

Back in 05 when she covered a song called 'Tokyo' she made it look effortless and sounded fine. During that time did she still have some of her hearing in one ear? I've seen live performances where it sounds like its not so easy for her to sing in a lower pitch like talkin 2 myself. Can losing hearing in one ear affect your voice/singing that much?

Why is it sometimes a hit and miss nowadays? If she can't hit the same notes in certain older songs, then why does she sing them? Isn't that hurting her voice if she's trying to hit certain notes and she can't anymore due to her voice 'maturing'? I'm not downing her or anything, I'm just curious.

I don't understand the question, but I know her ear problem started in 2001

I used to loooove her voice, but I really can't even STAND listening to her live anymore. When she's not yelling or off key... Well, nowadays that's almost never anyways?

It's gotten to the point where I see AHS members say "THIS NEW LIVE SOUNDS SO GOOD" and I feel like their standards must have dropped SOOOO low to think anything she's done live nowadays sounds good, much less listenable... That might sound mean, but I don't mean it that way, I just can't see how people can seriously think it sounds good these days. x__x And she used to have like, maybe my favorite or second favorite voice in the world (and I've never thought she was as bad of a singer as a lot of other people do, I mean I've always REALLY loved her voice), so it's a really big deal for me to say that I don't even like her voice in some of her studio recordings these days.

And as for the reason her lives have been getting worse, I'd say it's probably just a combination of losing hearing in her ear + nonstop work over the past 11/12 years + (as GRACE would say) the fact that she forced her voice soooo high early in her career + she doesn't seem to want to go to a vocal coach...

I've read she's got ear issues since her birth actually (?) and that she already cancelled several dates of her Concert Tour back in 2000 because of her left ear (if anyone can confirm this). Yet in 2001 it got worse. So it's definitely not something new and I don't think it's the only reason for her current singing problems.

hmm,i think her ear started to have problem at around 2000.since her birth?i never heard of this before.because based on the interview (i remembered i posted this before .the interview is light and despair etc),she discovered her left ear is producing some weird sound and she's very uncomfortable with that sound.so i don't think the problem of her ear is started when she's small

For people who are unaware, ayu's hearing problem began at around 2001 (or even earlier). Ayu fell into a deep hole on the stage of Dome Tour 2001 and was brought to the hospital. It was due to some liquid in the ears not being balanced etc, causing the imbalance. and thus the fall. In subsequent years, she was still bothered by the problem, its just that she didnt show it. The most crucial piece of evidence to show that her hearing problem still affects her after 2001 was the wearing of ear pieces during live shows.

At 04 Jan 2008, 3 days after the release of GUILTY, ayu suddenly wrote on her blog that she completely loss the hearing on her left ear, and it cant be cured. Much to the shock of a lot of fans here. People thought that it was a joke.

But hey! She is still fine, giving her all in every performance, trying to satisfy her fans.

Because she is not a robot. If u ask a robot to sing high notes, it will probably have a success rate of 100%. There is something call human error.

I believe, the deciding factor for ayu to choose to perform a song is not whether she can reach the notes or not. It's probably she felt that it was more appropriate to sing that song instead of another.

ayu's voice became really LOW since AT2006. Just listen to Pride and it sounds like a man. But i think she still sounds good.

^i guess she means she misses the notes more than the past. i agree with you, her voice changes a lot since like... (m)u? thats the last album that i still can accept about her voice (album and live), the other are just... :no

I'm not expecting her to change her voice back, even though i'm not sure if she could do that or not. her voice has been changing rapidly since her debut so yah, just face the truth then.

We just had a long discussion about this that wound up in the trash can for being off topic. :) In short, yes, her ear problem will effect her voice, but I actually think the quality of her voice more likely changed due to other factors. She had been dealing with the problem with her ear since 2000 actually. But the type of problems that she has with her voice now I don't think can all be traced to an ear problem. (such as being out of breath and cutting off notes short)
Also an ear problem is not necessarily the death nell of your voice. Brian Wilson, the lead singer of the beach boys for example was also permanently deaf in one ear, yet always sang on pitch.

Hell maybe her hearing problem is affecting her confidence as a singer... Or maybe all the screaming she is doing since At06 is showing its consequence....

Still, imo she is not sounding that bad besides her evo performances on tv... the lastest cdls had some very good vocal performances too...

Newbies are probably unaware of this and decided to bring the topic up again.

I think, Ayu just need some rest. She's too tired I think. She sang so badly because she forced her voice to come out. Probably she thought that her voice is not so loud if she sing like normal.

she just needs to start working with a vocal coach on a constant basis and start taking care of her voice. she won't have anything left if she keeps abusing it the way she does.

The change in her voice has little to do with the ear problem, correct me if I'm wrong but the Dir en Grey vocalist is also partially deaf and their fans claim that his vocals remained the same.

She sings the old songs, because people would hardly imagine her concerts without the old hits such as evolution, Boys & Girls, AUDIENCE etc.

A bit off topic but also voice-related - has anyone seen Gackt singing konayuki?

Please don't consider this a flame post, but I really think her smoking may also have a big contribution to the poorer quality of her voice recently. I think she really should consider quitting if she doesn't want to lose her voice completely in the next 4-5 years. Also, maybe she should reduce the number of tour stops she does. But, meh, that's revenue. I agree a vocal coach would be helpful, though.

^
I don't think she should do less tour stops, some artists do nearly 200 shows a year. Ayu does ~30 for her tours, 2 for CDL and a few for a-nation

what a minute, i really have no idea about this: is Ayu smooking? i didn't know this, >.<

I think most of you miss this point.

When she started out (or maybe a couple years after she started out), people ocmplained that her voice was way too high pitched, though songs are ncie. She was asked to lower her pitch. So her voice pitch lowered after that.

Her pitch getting lowered a little than before (the above) was I believe natural? We all sound deeper growing old. You can do botox for your face, but you can't botox your voice. ^^

yepp,in fact i love her when her voice is deeper and of cos i've listen to many artist that when there're young the voice is very high picth and when they get older the voice becomes deeper,but i think it's natural and i've no prob with it.
but the thing is now,she ran out of the breath?i wonder why,i think she's fit enough form what she said in Bea's Up interview..:innocent
anyone could answer my question? is she smoking? :P

In fact, she might have quite smoking (if she smokes, not that I care LOL, I care most about songs. Ayu is the few whom I cared about as a person and not their songs on CDs only). people who quit smoking rebounce on their weight, rebouncebecause you become lighter when you smoke. :)

She was photographed with a cigarette in her hand in 2004. No one knows though the extent of her smoking. She is very open about being quite a drinker though and that can also be a factor.