Ayu's peak vocals?

[Sim']

IMO, she sounded the best between 2002 and 2006, but her vocal peak was definitely (for me at least) during her A BALLADS - Memorial address days in 2003 : crystal-clear voice and perfectly controlled vibrato. Watch the Haru yo koi cover and you'll understand.

Everything before 2002 is too high-pitched/nasal for me, and something just went wrong when she came back from her "break"/eye infection to promote Secret (it was all fine until BLUE BIRD, but then her first JEWEL TV promos were, for me, the start of a long vocal downhill until now... just my opinion)

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by Sim'

Watch the Haru yo koi cover and you'll understand.

Yes, it was one of her best performances ever. However during the same show she sang another song, A Song is Born I think?, and it was terrible, because it was out of her range. A lot of her songs are too high for her, she's doing so much better when she can sing within her comfortable range.

Originally Posted by Sim'

but then her first JEWEL TV promos were, for me, the start of a long vocal downhill until now... just my opinion)

I agree. Her Jewel performaces were either hit or miss. I think her Kouhaku performance made the news because of how bad it was. Off-key performances started happening, like Fated (that's when her hearing problems got worse, right?). There were still some good ones, especially Together When... + No way to say (2007.12.23 HAPPY Xmas SHOW!!!), but yeah, it went downhill. The infamous Countdown Live 2007-2008 happened...