[tokyoxjapanxfan]

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.