Do you think Ayu is improving on some songs?

auss246 · #1 25th June 2010, 12:12 PM

I think the title sounds a bit vague, but I couldn't think of anything else! I just watched Ayu singing A Song For XX at both a'nation 08 and 09.. I think with her deepening voice, that song is so much better now than it was before (even though she did sound good years ago!). Does anyone else feel this way? Feel free to contribute other songs that you think, given her dramatic vocal changes, have only improved since?
Sorry if this has already been discussed before!

AngelSenshi · #2 25th June 2010, 12:37 PM

I really really love when she reinvents some of the songs, just like the way she did with A Song For XX.

I also think that now she has sooo much more control over the actual end product of a song than she did back during the making of that album so I also think that sometimes when she reinvents a song, she's making it more and more to her vision of the real expression the song has.

When Ayu made the change of the word 'people' to 'you' for A BALLADS I really felt like in doing so she was being more and more honest with her actual feelings. That maybe when she was young it wouldn't have been fair to put that sort of 'blame' on a person but as time went on she changed it so as to be more honest. I loved that.

When it came to the performance of it with all the martial arts I think then she was beginning to unleash the real feelings more and more. Then with the setting of a-nation 08 she really started to come out with it now that her voice started to match her intense feelings more and more.

I love it when she re-invents some of these songs. This doesn't mean I have no love for the originals, but some of the songs as they're re-invented increases my love for them.

Spartayu · #3 25th June 2010, 12:39 PM

Yeap, I agree with you. I just don't know why, as the time goes by, we tend to get used to her changes etc. And yes, her voice is much better now, unlike those in her past, flattening her voice like some cute young girls. Now we see her as a mature and strong woman instead. I noticed this change from since her Guilty album.

JackieRos · #4 25th June 2010, 05:13 PM

not really I tend to like her past releases better

2Hurt · #5 25th June 2010, 05:29 PM

Hm I think she's not doing better on her older songs now actually, sometimes even doing worse. I like the earlier lives of her older songs much better

Ranma Matsuri · #6 25th June 2010, 07:58 PM

Hmm, I'd say yes.

A prime example of her vocals improving on past recordings is the I am.. performance from A Future Classics~ I wasn't that keen on the song before mostly because her vocals on the album was just kinda yikes but that performance completely owned the original and changed my opinion of the song entirely. Her deeper vocals with the control she's developed over the years gave so much more power and life into the song and the performance just blew me away. I had a hard time believing it was the same song. So thanks to that performance, I now have a new appreciation for the original recording and it's one of my favorite songs by her. ^^

primavera♥ · #7 25th June 2010, 08:17 PM

yeah. i notice. even when people say her vocals were good during the I am. . .era, RAINBOW era, etc. they still can sound so screeechy and weird at times. the deepening of her voice is beautiful in giving the songs a different feel. like ASFXX. when i hear her sing it now. its not like shes a crying confused young girl, but a woman who has grown stronger from her past and can sing the song with that strength and that sadness.

i love hearing renditions of her old songs in her current voice. like SEASONS at ms or whichever show. i found it lovely. theres like a tone in ayus voice thats there and can only come out on occasion. but its pretty and i wish i heard it more often. i dont feel like explaining it though

edit: oohhh A BEST initiate ^__^

Ranma Matsuri · #8 25th June 2010, 08:43 PM

^Congratulations. ^^

I kinda hope I never stop being a POWDER SNOW initiate (love that song sfm) but it'll happen eventually.

#9 25th June 2010, 09:57 PM

It depends on the song.

A Song for XX, definitely. But, songs like SURREAL and evolution, no. But her deeper voice works better with some songs. Basically the entire ASFXX album... I think her newer voice sounds better.

AyUta · #10 25th June 2010, 11:04 PM

^ Exactly.

auss246 · #11 26th June 2010, 04:25 AM

I agree about Evolution, it sounds like she's getting breathless, and she hardly finishes the notes.. but that's only one exception, I still love the song and I commend her for still trying to sing it.. I'm assuming it's a fan-favourite, otherwise she wouldn't keep singing it at every live? It's either a fan-favourite or an Ayu-favourite

love in music · #12 26th June 2010, 05:09 AM

Definitely those A song for XX songs, especially A Song for XX

I'm also one of the few fans who likes SEASONS sung in her current voice too.

ownsarai · #13 26th June 2010, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xLitax

It depends on the song.

A Song for XX, definitely. But, songs like SURREAL and evolution, no. But her deeper voice works better with some songs. Basically the entire ASFXX album... I think her newer voice sounds better.

I completely agree here.
As for I am... I liked the performance at CDL, but I prefer the album version with her voice the way it was at that time.
Her deeper voice definitely works on ASFXX...I LOVE it~

CHE.R.RY · #14 26th June 2010, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xLitax

It depends on the song.

A Song for XX, definitely. But, songs like SURREAL and evolution, no. But her deeper voice works better with some songs. Basically the entire ASFXX album... I think her newer voice sounds better.

I'm gonna have to agree here. I was pleasantly surprised how well she rocked songs like SIGNAL, POWDER SNOW, hana, and For My Dear in the Premium Countdown 08-09. She reinvented them so well and made them 10x better

.

gallowsCalibrator · #15 28th June 2010, 12:22 AM

I reli think her newer, deeper, more mature voice made me love the ASFXX and older songs better <3 The squeaky voice Ayu used back then made me less willing to want to listen to those songs, but when I hear her perform them live now, with her mature and deeper voice, I fall in love with the songs

evolution was great back then, and I also loved it in AT07 <3 That's one of the songs that I love either way, but songs like ASFXX I absolutely LOVELOVELOVE her voice now. AT08.....gorgeous. One of my favorites

I love her control over her voice now, and I love how much it's matured from when she was in her early twenties <3
I'm so happy that Ayu has improved so much and has sung these songs from a long tome ago. I think Ayu herself must be proud, too, at how far she has come

asmAyumi1992 · #16 28th June 2010, 10:05 AM

Absolutely!! After S/S, her voice reli drowning.. But MOON and blossom changed my mind again

Dinex_Taiwan · #17 28th June 2010, 12:53 PM

As for me, I don't like the voice in the earlier age or now. I prefer her voice in 2005-2006 period. At that time she not only knows how to sing lively, but she is also able to use some techniques to sing a song beautifully. Though her voice now is capable of expressing power in rock, sometimes it's too deep to be listened in some songs like BLUE BIRD. So my DVD collections are often aimed in this period.