Do you love ayu's voice?

[zaqwanbadli]

Finally, a thread about Ayu's voice!

I think Ayu's voice is very unique; I feel there's a bit of everything put into one. She can sound squeaky, pitchy, full and low whenever it calls for.

And as for her vibrato, I LOVE it very much, especially during her RAINBOW era. It's so flowy, effortless yet pronounced.
Now I don't really like her overly fast, overly strained vibrato. It sounds so fake and desperate.
I wish she'd go back to her resonant vibrato.

Overall, she's still got it; I still love it, even after much abuse from yell-sing. That's hardly belting.

[tenshi no hane]

In studio recordings I always love her voice except on some Song for XX tracks. I like her A BEST voice the best even though it's kind of squeaky ^^;;

As for live, from Duty to My Story era is the best for me. She still has good performances now and then, but I don't really like her live voice in ballads anymore (I do love it on studio albums).

[Corvina]

I love her voice, yes, cause it is unique, you always can tell it's Ayu singing. It just have that "something" for me, can't explain it.
Sadly she can't sing that well anymore in her lives, sometimes she drives me crazy with her shouting, but I enjoy it nevertheless most of the time.

[hanabiwings]

I think she had a very delicate voice during the period following her debut. Until her first major concert tour, she had a very pure, unaffected way of singing. The tone is clear and light. You can see this on any of the earliest television appearances up to about December of 1999. After her first tour, her voice seemed to suffer some trauma from the physical demands and probably the way she was forcing high notes. During her concerts based on Duty (her first Countdown Live, for example), she appeared to recover a great deal of her range and could really hit the notes that she seemed to have trouble with during her first concert tour.

During the years where she was performing live on television a great deal (ayuREADY? anyone?), I thought she did an amazing job although she had some problems staying on pitch. Obviously, we later learned that she was carrying something of a sad secret: she had lost hearing in her left ear.

These days, I think that the combination of difficulty discerning pitch and the strain on her voice have limited her range a great deal. Her older songs are sung in a lower key now. I say these things not out of criticism but more because I have been listening to her since around her debut and feel that her record company and management treated her cruelly and demanded a workload from her that was inhuman and really did irreversible damage to a delicate if unpolished voice.

That said, I just listened to LOVE SONG from the end of last year and she still has the vocal quality I like a great deal. I have been listening ten years, and although I have not kept up with her latest works, Ayu--and her singing voice--has contributed something very special and definite to my life. I am grateful to her. She still tugs at my heartstrings when she stands on the stage and weaves a story with her voice. That's what counts.

[ownsarai]

I prefer her more deep, mature voice to the squeaky, high-pitched voice in her early days.
I absolutely am loving her voice on Love songs. Not too much 'supa-kawaii' voice, more emotional and raw.
I'd say from Secret - now is probably my favorite Ayu voice.
I do agree that a lot of her lives aren't the best...but Ayu has never been one of those singers you recommend to a friend for her super controlled live voice.

[Yukitora]

Originally Posted by tenshi no hane

In studio recordings I always love her voice except on some Song for XX tracks. I like her A BEST voice the best even though it's kind of squeaky ^^;;

As for live, from Duty to My Story era is the best for me. She still has good performances now and then, but I don't really like her live voice in ballads anymore (I do love it on studio albums).

YUP! Me too, A BEST vocals were her best (also, the my first exposure to her).
Then MY STORY, I love her voice in those pop-rock mid-tempto songs (LIAR, Hope or Pain, Happy Ending)

[Minttulatte]

Whenever I listen to Ayu's lives these days, I sigh in deep sadness because I remember how awesome her vocals were in my favorite years between 2001-2006. Whenever I watch a old concert I get all kinds of "OMFGAWESOME" kind of feelings like all the time which happens really rarely these days. These days she has her ups and downs. For me I really despised her vocals on CDL07-08 and AT08, then I loved them on PCDL08-09 and again hated on AT09. I haven't watched CDL09-10 yet (call me a bad fan I don't care x)) or the CDL10-11 but as I did watch Last angel and Duty performances as separated videos and I gotta say that I was impressed, and almost in tears because I absolutely worship Duty. It's a awesome song and her vocals sounded pretty good there so I'm really optimistic that CDL10-11 will be good no matter what others may say. :3

But it's true that ever since the end of 2007 I haven't been a big fan of her stronger vocals. It just sometimes doesn't sound as natural as it used to be. When I watched A museum a while ago, I was amazed by the way she sang forgiveness. That's what she used to sound like and it's sad that she doesn't. I really think her vocals were probably at their best between 2002-2006. And the HANABI performance on some Avex Pop Night 2002 was just something that made shivers go down my spine. Also lately Ayu did give me shivers again with her performance of Love song on that music show she sang M as well (I forgot what it was called).

But don't get me wrong. There is still some things that I like about her voice these days even though it's not as good as it used to be, and it's called emotions. I love her emotional singing. Always. Ever since the day I heard A Song for xx in 2006 which was the first song that made me really love her songs. I really love it how she manages to express her feelings with her voice. It's awesome, and just right. So I won't complain that much.

About her vibrato. I don't know what to think about it anymore. I'm not sure if she's trying too much or something but it's crazy at times. She's obsessed with it. x) But I have never really hated it or loved it. But one thing is sure, I have learned to sing with vibrato from Ayu when I was obsessed with her songs. Vibrato is okay I guess.

And now I'm going to sleep before I write something stupid in a crappy english (It's 1:50AM in Finland now) so please forgive me for a hard to understand post or something like that ->

[primavera♥]

ive come to love it dearly...theres just times, especially when listening to older albums, that i have to turn the volume down lol. it can be piercing...

[lumieregrl]

Yes, I love Ayu's voice. Yes, it is flawed, but that's part of why I love listening to her. She sings with everything she's got, whether it comes out nice or not. XD

[shizukanaotoko]

I've always loved Ayu's voice! I think she's a good singer with quite a bit of versatility so when I first read that Time Asia article about her I was incensed as she is the most well-rounded of the J-pop divas. There are times when I don't agree with her choice of vocal style but she has excelled in cutesy pop numbers, heartfelt ballads, powerful rock songs and more recently passionate enka-like performances throughout her career which makes her absolutely amazing. I wish people would acknowledge her spectacular talent more instead of dismissing her as some mediocre talent.

[yamashita.san]

Yes! I love ayu`s voice! Her voice is exclusive and the most beautiful for me!

[Miidoriness]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER VOICE!!! At least she doesn't lip-sync or change her voice by using tech. I know a lot of people said she can't sing... well, they can't hear well then. Her voice is soft and she puts emotion into her every songs so that's why I love her!!!

[RyRyMini]

Depends. Most of the time I like it, but I don't like when she just straight up yells in concerts. I'm also not a big fan of her cute voice, whether speaking or singing in songs like HONEY or Sexy little things.

I also think her voice sounds horrible in Love song, though I'm one of the only ones. It's just a mess.

[ayuayu798]

I think her voice is something that people either love or hate. For me,I don't mind her voice, but I don't think of her as someone who has a talented voice.Her type of voice isn't bad,but I've definately heard better.

[zellyx]

yes. Love her voice. It may not be perfect, but it's exceptionally raw and emotional, which is so hard to find! LOVE her 05-06 CDL vocals. Especially Because of You. Amazing.
I do like the vocals on Love Songs, but I prefer her GUILTY vocals... so cutting and mature! Deep and powerful.

[GREENsora]

I love her voice (except for the ASFXX era), it's so soothing for me. When I'm feeling down or just not myself, I'll start listening to Ayu songs to help me relax and feel better

[y_nathz]

I love her voice for how she delivers her emotions (yes this is important), tbh her voice didn't made me go wow like alan's wailing or onichii's deep voice lol but it just feels right to listen
and I prefer her lower voice than the ~trying so hard to be cute~ one

[2Hurt]

I used to really love Ayu's voice, but now not so much anymore, I can't enjoy non-edited lives anymore But I can still enjoy studio songs~

[Mai82Go]

I love Ayus voice. Maybe the first few songs I ever heard from Ayu were a little hard to digest because I had to get used to it. When I first got into J-Pop I listened to Dearest from Ayu and Final Distance from Hikaru Utada. I remember thinking, I want to know more music from that singer Ayumi Hamasaki. While I liked the Utada song, Dearest was so special - Ayu not as good a singer as Hikaru touched my emotions much more with her sweet singing. From then on I knew for me it's going to be Ayu that I'll follow as a fan. Love songs just reaffirmed that. She's far from perfect, but I just love her voice. I could listen to it forever. A lot of female singers voices make me cringe. Ayu never did. She is special and so is her voice. I think it has a healing effect. It touches my heart and makes me feel good when I'm sad. That's the power of Ayus voice to me.

[Bubbly]

I just recently listened to CAROLS again and I realized that I'm glad her voice is deeper now. She sounds good in CAROLS but it's a bit too high pitched for my personal taste, at least for how it sounds when she uses it.