[News] 2020 FNS Kayousai Natsu

[chocopockymaster]

In her defense she clearly feeds off a live audience a lot; her engagement levels are really high when she’s performing for people. I can imagine it’s weird AF to do this in a studio environment in a camera, and her energy levels here didn’t feel too dissimilar to Natsu no TROUBLE so I’m not particularly surprised.

[summerain]

Ayu is a 100% people person, I think the lack of audience always drags her down a little bit (but she was very good at Natsu no TROUBLE). But after rewatching it, I liked her energy during You & Me.

[maxikot]

I'm still impressed how nice it was. I was totally into the whole performance. The beginning of Dreamed a Dream was so cool and dynamic. We are all different people and I can say I felt her joy a lot Plus, she looks stunning.

[rikku1994]

I kept seeing comments about not having enough passion like wasn’t this a pre recorded footage with no audience though? It’ll be weird if she’s gonna act as if there’s an audience there as there is no audience to interact with. I’m just annoyed with the outfit, she looks thick on tv but when u see bts pics of her wearing it she looks slim.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by rikku1994

I kept seeing comments about not having enough passion like wasn’t this a pre recorded footage with no audience though? It’ll be weird if she’s gonna act as if there’s an audience there as there is no audience to interact with. I’m just annoyed with the outfit, she looks thick on tv but when u see bts pics of her wearing it she looks slim.

Personally, with "no passion" I did not mean that she should pretend to interact with an audience that clearly isn't there. I simply did not feel that she herself enjoyed singing at all. But to be honest that isn't just a recent problem but one for probably half of her career or even more. Her very first, mostly cringy performances aside, there was a short time I felt that she was singing (emphasis on singing) because the song was important to her and she was mainly singing for herself. At some point she started to perform for an audience rather than to sing. This gave us some great concerts, which had a great balance between performance and an actual concert, but overall it's hard for me to enjoy her TV performances and some of her more recent shows, too. Natsu no Trouble had the same problem for me. I simply do not feel she likes to sing and is only there to perform, which seems to bore her when she prerecords a performance. That's the impression I have.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I thought she sounded surprisingly good??

I guess I’m in the minority lol. She was consistent at least.

But I agree with the costume and hair and lack of audience being kind of awkward.
I wonder if she’s using the ponytail as a sort of face lift??? Lol

[hidekirby]

I also don't really understand the "bad vocals" comments... And I'm usually the one complaining for them.

Both performances are quite fine IMO. Of course the cute voice in the beginning of DaD is ruining it a bit but I think she felt it was a safer way to start the song. Then she gains confidence and she sounds more natural.

Still it's a great improvement from a couple of years ago.
She is not going off key, she is controlling her voice, not screaming everywhere and sounding flat...

Yes, it's not her most energetic performance but there is no audience and I'd rather have her sounding that fine than running around the stage and sounding bad. I feel she is behaving like that because she is more focused on delivering good vocals.

[Anna.L]

it was god
just that
i really hope she did the routine on the pv on the a nation

[truehappiness]

I think that was a YT channel cloaked as an official one, it was registered in the US and also that video is blocked currently due to an FNS copyright claim.

Cute parts in the beginning do feel more like vocal control rather than her trying to sound a certain way. I don't think she usually sounds like that and you heard a bit of it in talkin' 2 myself for Natsu no Trouble IIRC.

After the intro and for the rest of the song/You & Me, I think she sounded really good! No complaints really but the initial "high" vocals for the verses of Dreamed a Dream was unexpected.

[PinkShinigami]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Cute parts in the beginning do feel more like vocal control rather than her trying to sound a certain way. I don't think she usually sounds like that and you heard a bit of it in talkin' 2 myself for Natsu no Trouble IIRC.

I got it from Jpopsuki now, and I agree. I definitely think it's just voice control, because it's an easier way to sing. I don't mind it too much, though it tends to be a bit misplaced, like it was in this performance - but it's better than just bad singing, lol. And the rest of the performance, where she was able to sing with more power, was pretty good!

---

As for the music video, I thought it was great from about 2 minutes in, lol. The setup and everything was great and really fitting for the song, but it just missed some power? It seemed kind of odd and misplaced for me that all movement (or lack thereof) etc. up until 2 min was soooo heavy and slow. From 2 minutes in, it got the power it deserved, and so did it have all the way through the live performance. I wished it was like that all the way through the music video. Not necessarily dancing, but just some more movement to fit the pace of the song.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by PinkShinigami

I got it from Jpopsuki now, and I agree. I definitely think it's just voice control, because it's an easier way to sing.

Altering your natural tone colour is an easier way to sing? Sounds like an extra job to me. Britney Spears used to sing live from time to time during her early days and watching those videos it's very clear that she's struggling because she can't use her real voice and having to fake her iconic baby voice is a constant pressure.

[PinkShinigami]

Originally Posted by Chris85

Altering your natural tone colour is an easier way to sing? Sounds like an extra job to me. Britney Spears used to sing live from time to time during her early days and watching those videos it's very clear that she's struggling because she can't use her real voice and having to fake her iconic baby voice is a constant pressure.

Well, I can't claim to be a singer... or even to sound well when singing

But, when no one's listening... I know that doing that cutesy voice, it's often easier for me to somewhat reach the right notes (especially the low ones) than when not doing that voice. I feel that it's way more stable, even if it's not the way I would normally sing.

As far as I remember for ayu's live performances, I just remember her cutesy voice always sounding "good". I mean, you can think of it what you want, and sometimes, it doesn't fit (like talkin' 2 myself), but she always somewhat reaches the right notes with that voice, compared to her normal voice(s) which can sometimes be disastrous.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by PinkShinigami

I mean, you can think of it what you want, and sometimes, it doesn't fit (like talkin' 2 myself), but she always somewhat reaches the right notes with that voice, compared to her normal voice(s) which can sometimes be disastrous.

She uses cutesy voice for not difficult notes in the first place, so it's not surprising she hits them, but when she faces high notes (they're often in choruses and a lot of them are out of her range) she can't help screaming (and you can't scream in a cute way), because it's easier to reach them like that and probably because of her condition, but it cannot be considered singing.

[barisuta53]

Originally Posted by Chris85

Altering your natural tone colour is an easier way to sing? Sounds like an extra job to me. Britney Spears used to sing live from time to time during her early days and watching those videos it's very clear that she's struggling because she can't use her real voice and having to fake her iconic baby voice is a constant pressure.

There's no such thing as what you're saying. It's just what people say on the internet.

If you can sing in a particular way then it's part of your natural voice. Britney Spear's "baby voice" or "breathy voice" is as much a part of her natural voice as her deeper, more resonant tone. It's the same with Ayumi. The "cutesy voice" is part of her natural tone colour as much as the darker tones.

It's all in how the voice is used and supported as to whether it is sustainable and healthy not whether it's "natural" or not.

Look at a singer like Floor Jansen, she can sing in a dark operatic soprano, a low distorted growl, or a belt. They are all different tones to her voice and none of them are any more or less natural.

The problem with Ayumi's voice is that she has spent years singing without proper support. It has nothing to do with the placement of her voice, just the lack of support with that placement.

It's a pet peeve of mine when people on the Internet say there's such a thing as a natural or unnatural vocal tone because everybody's voice is capable of multiple tones.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by barisuta53

It's a pet peeve of mine when people on the Internet say there's such a thing as a natural or unnatural vocal tone because everybody's voice is capable of multiple tones.

Nobody's arguing that everybody's voice is capable of multiple tones, does it mean that speaking like a cartoon character is normal/natural? No. If you listen to voice over actors they often share stories how doing a certain voice puts a strain on their voice. If someone's not comfortable with a certain tone, they don't use it in a regular life, it's not natural to them.

Originally Posted by barisuta53

Look at a singer like Floor Jansen, she can sing in a dark operatic soprano, a low distorted growl, or a belt. They are all different tones to her voice and none of them are any more or less natural.

You're describing diffrent styles of singing. Does she alter her tone colour from show to show while she's staying in one style?

Originally Posted by barisuta53

Britney Spear's "baby voice" or "breathy voice" is as much a part of her natural voice as her deeper, more resonant tone.

Then why does she struggle to maintain the baby voice throughout the performance, switching to her lower voice she's clearly more comfortable with?

[AyuCanada]

She did fine. People seems to be ignoring that, she is in her 40's now (in addition to her unsual hearing condition). I don't expect her to run and jump without getting out of breath like she did 15-20 years ago (and even then she was relying on casual playback)

[truehappiness]

A few times she really did have to rely on the backing vocal but she did well. Way better than some other performances where she was not at her best vocally.

[tenshi no hane]

It was a fine performance to me, I guess? I think it was a good move to use a backing track. Made the backup vocalists kind of redundant, though. I still think the slick ponytail and shoulder pats look is unflattering on her, but hey, it's her body and it's nice to see her on TV again

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by tenshi no hane

I think it was a good move to use a backing track. Made the backup vocalists kind of redundant, though.

Watching the live stream when Timmy opened his mouth I tried to hear him but just couldn't.

Originally Posted by Deep snow

I understand that people expected much better of her vocally

I don't understand why. She's been having vocal problems for years (if not a decade), it's easy to predict what we will get. I expected cutesy voice, shouting and nice percentage of hitting the notes because it was pre-recorded - and that's what I got, even better than I expected in some parts. People who attend her concerts face way worse vocals.

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by Chris85

I don't understand why. She's been having vocal problems for years (if not a decade), it's easy to predict what we will get. I expected cutesy voice, shouting and nice percentage of hitting the notes because it was pre-recorded - and that's what I got. People who attend her concerts face way worse vocals.

this is what I've come to accept as well. all I'm saying is that it's become "normal" for some fans to expect the very best out of their idols. I've reined back my expectations of her long ago. after she had gone half-deaf and went on to shout in year-spanning concert after concert, I thought it surely would go downhill from there that's why to me, she seems to have managed to exert some control on her vocal condition and deliver what I think is a perfectly admirable performance