Ayu's recent vocal performances

[AfanforXX]

Ok, I know I'm popular around here for my Ayu hate, but I'm not hating right now, even if to some it might sound like it is.

Hasn't anyone else noticed how her vocal quality has gotten really bad lately? I mean, her live and her studio performances sound like they were done by 2 different people. This is especially apparent in the CAROLS performances, all the ones I've seen sound absolutely nothing like the studio, I mean, like it was 2 different people who did the song.

Another example, not necessarily the same case as the 2 people one, but of the bad singing is the SEASONS at HEY!3. It was like, really bad. Really really bad.


Anyways, I didn't mean to anger anyone, but does anyone else noticed this?

[tl1029530921]

i thought the carols performances r pretty good...

[Coelacanth]

IMO the only bad 'CAROLS' performance so far was at Musicstation. I thought the CDTV one was excellent though...

SEASONS was in fact, horrible... I don't know why she's even singing it, it seems like for some reason her career is at a changing point and she is trying to look and sound like her 'LOVEppears' and 'Duty' era... It is unprofessional though to always sing bad. A MUSEUM was HORRIBLE... I hope the Arena Tour is NOT...

Singing live isn't the easiest thing in the world... Ayu, half the time, is probably self-conscious about her voice. I don't think she ever said she had the best voice in the world, but I really think it needs to stop. She needs vocal lessons...

[ohsixthirty]

As much as it pains me to say this, I do agree with you for the most part. I've only heard the CDTV performance of CAROLS, but...her vocals were really bad, particularly during the first verse. It honestly bothered me that she sounded so bad. *sigh*

And you know, I don't expect perfection and I think it's kind of endearing whenever an artist sounds a little less polished live...but geez...

I'm going to download the Seasons performance and some others and see how they sound.

[ayuchanfan]

I think ayumi does that little anime voice to be a little lazy or put no effort in her live performances, and it really gets on my nerves.

And what the heck was she doing at Hey!X3, she wasn't trying in that performance, she was like using that anime voice to get off the song and it didn't sound the SEASONS i knew.

but oh well, we don't know what she is going through. maybe she is either trying very hard on that song or she wasn't in the mood for singing that day. But the CAROL performaces were great, this performances were like "eh..."

[kristen]

Originally Posted by Phantoma

...She needs vocal lessons...

haha i read somewhere that when ayu first signed up with Avex and went for vocal training she hated it and would skip her lessons.

and yeah, i think a lot of ayu's live performances arent top of the notch, with of course a few exceptions. But something you have to understand is in the studio, a LOT of vocal and musical editting is done.

[tl1029530921]

a-museum wasnt that bad. dome was spectacular tho^^

ppl have off days..i guess this is one fo em..O_o

and i was really happy when she hit that high note near the end of the pop jam performance

[ohsixthirty]

Originally Posted by tl1029530921

a-museum wasnt that bad.

Yeah, I agree, I didn't think A Museum was too bad. It could have been better of course, but I still thought it was nice.

Does anyone remember that little preview clip from A Nation a while back where it showed Ayu singing Greatful Days? That's another example of her vocals not being up to par at all.

But then again, at other times she gives very good live performances...so I just don't know.

[kristen]

Originally Posted by touchedstar

Does anyone remember that little preview clip from A Nation a while back where it showed Ayu singing Greatful Days? That's another example of her vocals not being up to par at all.

oo i remember that!

yeah the only good performance was her HANABI one, but even that one was kinda bad

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by AfanforXX

Hasn't anyone else noticed how her vocal quality has gotten really bad lately?

Well it's definitely a LOT better than some of her past live performances. I'm saying this because I'm sure her old countdown performances can't really be topped when it come to bad vocals. i heard a trauma sample and was like wtf!?!?

[Larisa-chan]

recent? most of the lives I've seen of her are pretty bad... I remember seeing a really really bad HANABI one. Her really really early lives (like songs from A Song for XX) sounded pretty much like they were off the CD. But that's not saying much because her vocals back then weren't very good when she recorded professionally either. But she was in tune o.o;;

I think her voice is completely shot. Singing so much, straining her vocals, perhaps not trained properly (or at all), smoking, her being partially deaf,... it could be a variety of things

[PSYCHEDELICOdust]

A Museum was really good for me, but that SEASONS performance. >_<;;;; Blah on that voice. And CAROLS studio even sounded a bit weird to me.

[~K+]

Her live singing fluctuates alot anyway. It keeps going up and down. I've never expected much of it, everyone seems to think Dome Tour is great, I think it's terrible.

Her most stable ones were her A song for XX-> LOVEppears TV Performances.

And well, yes. That Music Station CAROLS performance really did suck, didn't bother checking out her other recent ones.

[FancySN]

What can you expect? Ayu wasn't born to be a singer, and she still isn't. I don't think she's as memorable for her music as she is for her image.

[Echiko]

Well. Strangely, compared to others, I think her Music Station preformance was the best one out of the CAROLS preformances. ^^;; Because that one she put the most emotion and feelings into. I felt that one she tried. The Seasons preformance wasn't very great I admit. But she's not perfect I guess. It's not suprising. And yeah. Her vocals don't sound like the CD ones..But it makes things not boring...At least we know for sure she doesn't mouth it. o_o

I thought the CAROLS performances were ok (I haven't heard the Music Station one yet). Although I have to agree that sometimes, her voice just sounds really bad! I think it was Countdown 2002-2003 that sounded horrendously bad, it was painful to watch.
Hmm, I'm a little nervous to watch the new SEASON performance now, hahahaha. With Ayumi, though, it's more about her clothes than her singing. A Japanese teacher of mine once commented that in Japan, most of the singers who are popular don't sing well. People like them because everyone else likes them (it's a lemming-like society)

[silentscreamer]

yea ayumi never had a really good voice, and to be honest her live performances were never really GOOD good.

she strains her voice a lot [esp. at concerts near the end]

meh.

[ohsixthirty]

Hrm, you know, I don't think the recent Seasons performance was all that bad. And all the other CAROLS lives I have seen haven't been too bad either. Hrm.

well she never really intended to be a singer..

[TeamAyu]

The fact that she tries is enough for me. Her singing I personally think is really good most of the time... maybe because I like the fact it isn't CD quality... btw who really can sing that well most of the time... besides Chihiro Onitsuka hahaha but like many said she wasn't designed to become a singer but she tries and that's what matters I think. I compare her to a lot of singers and find her live singing way more enjoyable and bareable than a lot of other singers i.e. Mocchi from ELT her lives IMO SUCK. She sounds like she's dieing... oh gawd her Fundamental Love performances... anyways what I'm trying to say here anyways is that it doesn't really matter how perfect she is everytime because things happen and you can't perform perfect everytime.. not that Ayu was ever perfect... anyways I'm just grateful she performs live at all.