[Tony G]

How is the AT08 DVD any indication of how good her voice was at that time? Everyone knows her vocals are edited to sound better.

Also, the article brings up the Kouhaku '09 performance, which I think was one of her best vocal performances of last year. She sang Rule there almost perfectly.

I like her mature voice too, which I think started to come out after she released M. But her vocals to me were fantastic until CDL 07-08 when the ear deafness news came out. I was talking about this in the other thread - I think she became completly deaf in that ear around that time. Because her vocals just went downhill so FAST. There's no way her vocals could have been affected that much in such a short time because her 2007 TV lives were of a pretty good standard.

So the CDL 07-08 TV live was pretty bad to me, possibly worse than 09-10. Her Mirrorcle World performances suffered too - clearly she was still not used to singing without having hearing in one ear. Then during the A COMPLETE lives her voice seemed to have improved - signs of training to get used to singing with a deaf ear. Plus she had practice singing Mirrorcle World during AT08 so it sounded a lot better in the later lives in 2008.

Days lives weren't bad.

Hardly any TV lives during NEXT LEVEL. The one live she did (Rule @ Music Station) wasn't bad.

AT09 edited, so we can't really tell from that how her vocals were. Didn't read many reports about them being shockingly bad.

You were... lives, not that great. Possibly because song is hard to sing. Shocking Evolution performance at Best Artist.

She improved with every You Were... live.

CDL 09-10 quite bad, no editing.

So her vocals have fluctuated over the last 2 years since the deaf ear became public. Is her hectic schedule affecting her voice? Yes, last year and this year is the most tour dates she's ever done, but there are a lot less TV lives. Can training fix her voice? I don't think so. She's been a singer for over 10 years. She knows how to use her voice, and I think she's adjusted to singing with a deaf ear. Is it always going to sound great? No. Is it going to sound like she did in the past? Probably never. Is a hiatus going to help? No. Of course if she sings less she will sound better at the start, but once she goes back into touring the same problems will arise, IF her voice sounds bad because of her hectic schedule.

Really, everyone here can only guess why her voice has gone downhill. To me, it's her ear. You can pinpoint it to the vocal decline from CDL 07-08. She can't hear herself properly anymore and therefore she's off-tune and off-key a lot. Telling someone who has sung all her life to get "vocal lessons".. is it really that simple?

And anyone who thinks that "she's always had problems with her ear" - having "problems" and being completly deaf are two very seperate things.