Ayumi's Live Performances

[Delirium-Zer0]

Smoking isn't a very big deal to the Japanese, so if ayu's a social smoker no one will really comment on it so that's probably the deal there.

Anyway, there have been plenty of very talented musicians and singers throughout history who have been partly or occasionally deaf. Ayu's voice changing has nothing to do with her ear. She's aging, smokes socially, and is not a talented singer to begin with and doen't seem to have the first clue on preventative voice & throat maintenence. Add it all up and you get a deeper, scratchier voice.

And I reiterate this again - her tv lives have never been good. Ever.

[gallowsCalibrator]

I agree that her lives haven't been doing very well, but there have been some that were really good to me... Like, I really liked Evolution from the 2007 Tour of Secret, and I also really liked Mirrorcle World from the 10th Anniversary Tour... There are more, but those are just the ones off the top of my head XD

[hsienko]

I was fine with her "new" deeper voice in like talkin 2 myself and Mirrorcle world, I thought "okay she's trying something new and it doesn't sound bad." But with You were it sounds like she's forcing her voice to be powerful during the chorus, and that kind of shows her range is completely gone.

I think its from her drinking/smoking. Because you can't really say that it's from overuse, because she's been singing constantly since like 2000. Voice changing with age is more of a gradual thing. Her voice suddenly changed after Asia tour 2007.

So yeah, I think a vocal coach or something could help her at least fine tune her voice.

[non3ko]

Thanks for those of you who responded honestly and without bias. If anyone was offended, then maybe this topic just needs to be locked to not further offend anyone as I was unaware there was a previous discussion surrounding this subject.

I've learned quite a few things from your responses such as Ayu:

probably smokes
drinks socially
is not a robot
honestly needs some sort of break

All of the varying opinions really made me think about how I judge Ayu so harshly. Now I feel horrible. :/ Maybe this is just her new singing style. I guess I should be happy she's still at least trying to give her all. Heck that she's even still singing. I don't know what I'd do if she stopped singing.
*knock on wood.

[love in music]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

And I reiterate this again - her tv lives have never been good. Ever.

[SunshineSlayer]

^ Yeah, I often agree with Delirium's points, but just can never, ever agree with that assertion that her tv lives were never good. She's had several that I really love.

[waterballoon]

lol though I think it's only natural for singers to have their off-form days when it comes to lives. for example, some of Kuu's lives I find to be unbearable, and I honestly thought Tohoshinki's performance of Bolero in their TSC tour was like their worst ever... but that's only natural.

Still if you look at Ayu, it's not that she has her off-form days... it has come to a stage where she's almost always sounding not-so-good in her lives. I would never ever use a live/performance from a DVD to judge her current vocals, because they obviously are edited to some extent.

Taking a look at the recent You were... performances, I have to say she has resorted to shouting to gain a "strength" in singing, instead of using her diaphragm. I don't know if it's because she doesn't know how to use her diaphragm when singing, or is it because she has lost her stamina and breath support through smoking.

While alcohol can damage vocals to a certain extent, I don't see it as a severe problem when 1) I know of other good singers who love drinking as well, 2) the "scorched" feeling in the throat after downing alcohol should heal after a while, unless you sing right after you drink.

If anything, I think the top 2 reasons for her worsening vocals are exhaustion and smoking. Asking Ayu to rest is like asking the sun to rise from the west, so I'd rule that out. The least she could do for herself as a singer is to quit smoking, which I hope she is doing.

And I remembered my memory of Ayu lives and this is a "timeline" of her vocals that I've come up with:

Debut - 2000/2001: Nasal vocals, with a lack of diaphragm support

2001-2002: Kinda a bad year if you ask me, especially with AT 02 which I hated so much, probably due to her not getting used to using her diaphragm to sing instead of her throat.

2003-2005/2006: Easily her best era in terms of vocal. Fantastic use of diaphragm and in those few years, I felt her voice was deep and rich, and she had good control over her own voice.

2007 - now: We can hear her voice just getting worse, with an overuse of vibrato, lack of breath support, and yelling to get strength in singing rather than diaphragm support, though I must say it sucked the most in 2007 to the beginning of 2008.

It seemed like she either found a vocal coach or miraculously got better with her "new" vocals, cos her lives after Mirrorcle World (Days) were better than her GUILTY era and Mirrorcle World lives.

Recently, she had a lot of shouting songs (Rule, identity, You were...) so... hmm not doing her any good if she's gonna used to shouting instead of singing~

Also, in BALLAD, her voice sounds very scratchy and husky... not sure if that's a consequence of smoking/drinking or a new evolution of her voice. ^^

[Not~Yet]

^-I agree with your timeline, that's how I think too. But, I don't know if I've gotten used to her "bad" vocals or what but it doesn't usually bother me as much as it seems to bother others here.

I'm pretty confident from her message after the already infamous evolution performance that she knows she has to improve her vocals/breath support a lot and she'll do something about it. She has always been a judicious lady and a perfectionist, I trust she'll do something. At some point she has to, and from her post I got a very strong vibe that she might start now.

Btw identity thanks for posting that Haruyo koi video, it's one of the most beautiful lives ever for me.

[Chritopher]

For some unknown reason nobody mentions one more problem Ayumi has always had: her passages (or note transitions - dunno how to say correctly) were always TOO sharp. I mean when notes change (for example, A-RI-GA-TOU tte in Together When...) she kinda breaks the words, like she's making effort to hit every new note (her voice sounds like it's cracking), her singing isn't smooth at all and that's a real bad point for professional singer. I don't know why she's doing so, if it's strictly forbidden by vocal couches and considered to sound bad and amateur. I think it's because it's just easier that way, at least it's easier for me but I forbid myself to sing like that :-) I hope you got what I mean :-) I think her recent You were lives are relatively good comparing to for ex. Step you. She may be shouting sometimes BUT she manages to hit most of the notes!! She HAS to improve anyway, she's number 1 singer and should be more responsible.

[yamadashun]

i agree with the smoking and drinking speculation. both of them do huge damages to throat.

what's more, she sings too many live concerts these years. not that she should stop her concert tour, but i think she always yells in the concert and that contributes much to her husky voice.

the most obvious song she has husky voice IMO is curtain call. i was shock her voice has been so bad even a studio recording song couldn't fix much of that.

[Luvia]

i believe you all forgot one more thing that she fell sick, i mean the normal flu and cough when she was doing her concerts and lives liked when around 2000 - 2002. she was still adjusting to the hectic schedules.. and she fell sick. that's why in her lives during that period of time was that bad. imagine this: when u are singing, and then u suddenly feel your throat is so itchy and you wanted to cough but you can't because you are doing a live show? get the point?