[hanabiwings]

Having had some professional training myself, I have to agree with people who've raised the point that Ayu's singing isn't a healthy style for her voice's continued strength. It really makes me sad to hear her straining and "throwing" the notes out when her voice has become brittle from overwork (when they make her sing too mcuh at the end of the year, for instance.)

That said, I do think she has her own style of vibrato that is closer to the enka style of what is called "delayed vibrato." If you listen to enka performers like Nagayama Youko or Kim Yon-ja, you will hear very similar sounds coming from them. They waiver between notes. Their vibrato is seemingly out of control. I have to say that it was too much for my western ears at the beginning, but I've come to really like it. I'm not sayin that Ayu has the same amount of professional training (enka singers start out as apprentices and really work on the performance and singing because they aren't necessarily idols to anyone) but I think that her vibrato reminds me of a more enka-like sound. Not that this is necessarily what she is going for... I think that it's more suited to a Japanese ear, though. My friends in Japan don't have any problem listening to it and thinking that it sounds okay (even nice-sounding.)Some of my friends say that her new singing voice (with the vibrato) is a great improvement. Some say that they prefer the old Ayu much to the newer voice.

My opinion falls somewhere in the middle. I do think that she has some talent that she has created for herself. Though it may not be the 'proper' way, I think that she has created for herself a very Ayu-rashii way of singing.

If you listen and watch Hikawa Kiyoshi's performances, he uses the same techniques that Ayu does. It was interesting to watch them singing together on her show. He sings with the same rolling, swelled vibrato.