[elepop]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

Some people smoke cigarettes once in a blue moon. That's probably the case of ayu. Anyway, does it really matter if she smokes or not? It's her body and she does whatever she wants to it.

Mika Nakashima's vocals sound like that because she's a very shy person, not because of cigarettes. It's noticeable how she gets nervous when she sings, how she doesn't interact much in stages and how she can be rather clumsy on live shows. That's typical of someone who's anxyous. That's not because of cigarettes. For cigarettes to cause restriction of lung capacity and damage to the larynx, it needs years and years of regular smoking. Being nakashima that young, and I assume she isn't really a heavy smoker, you can't really blame the cigarettes for her vocals sounding the way they do. Maybe in 30 years or so we can make such assumptions but it's not like someone smokes 1 cigarette today and they will already have severe vocal impairment. (I honestly don't see any other problem in her vocals, they sound clean and nice. She does have signs of anxiety when singing sometimes though. And her last song, her voice is a little hoarse but well, I don't think it was smoking)

I was more talking about the CD version, than on live shows... I never heard her sing in TV performances. =/