Who's the best vocalist?

[Lady~Deviance]

I'm going to give credit to where credit is due and vote "Other". There are other Japanese female singers who have better trained and controlled vocals than these "well known" ladies. I am a devoted fan to some of the artists listed but I'm going to keep it real and put 'fandom' aside. There are MUCH better female vocalists in Japan.

(Misia "phenomenal vocals", ayaka, Thelma Aoyama, Crystal Kay, Beni, Superfly, Angela Aki, Miho Fukuhara "superb voice range", etc...)

[koumori]

Definitely Utada...her lives, are just note-perfect. Songs like Kremlin Dusk, and Devil Inside. Too extremely hard songs to pull off and she seems to do it effortlessly with no strain to her voice. I would of voted other, but decided to vote Utada out of those stated..otherwise I'd have said alan

安室奈美恵
浜崎あゆみ
倖田來未

Others: alan

[toniayu]

ayu

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by TITANIC

Ayu definately. her voice is being better day by day. other singers never improve their vocal esp hikki, her voice is just like that no improvment.
every single song has the same vocal.

[perfectodub]

MISIA (one of the greatest voice in the world)

[bondingo]

Namie and Mika are both great, but the best J-Pop vocalist is easily MISIA. Her voice is just...godly.

EDIT: ^ Yay, I'm not alone!

[Not Fade Away]

For those saying Namie can't sing - you obviously haven't heard some of the rare gems in her discography. If you can listen to I Will, Wishing on the Same Star, Rainbow Moon, Wagamama Wo Yurushite, and Shine More and tell me she can't sing then you need to get your hearing checked.

And she sounds fantastic live. You try dancing your butt off and then popping out some of the notes she has to and then you'll understand.

Comparing her to Britney Spears is just ridiculous. She could sing Britney Spears under the table.

In my own opinion, Utada is the best to me out of those listed. I don't really see how her music is boring . Heart Station wasn't the most exciting for me, so I'll give you that, but I even loved that album. Anyway it's not about the music - as was previously mentioned - but the vocals. Utada has an extremely powerful voice. Say what you want about her range, but her VOICE is powerful. In most of her concerts you can't hear her audience applaud or cheer because that's how overpowering her voice is. Also -despite what some have said - there IS maturity in her vocals. Go from Heart Station to 'Me Muero' on This is the One and then to Show Me Love (Not a Dream) on Singles Collection Vol 2 and you can hear it (and elsewhere).

I don't really see Ayu's vocal progression as maturity. Instead I see it as 'these are the only notes I can hit now days so let's see what I can do at this level' -- she was practically screaming all throughout 'Love Song' (not the entire album though). Though I still love her so i'm willing to look past, lol.

I am NOT a fan of Ayaka but I will say she has an amazing voice. Her vocals are very smooth and powerful. 'Why' is such an amazing song.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Not Fade Away

For those saying Namie can't sing - you obviously haven't heard some of the rare gems in her discography. If you can listen to I Will, Wishing on the Same Star, Rainbow Moon, Wagamama Wo Yurushite, and Shine More and tell me she can't sing then you need to get your hearing checked.

And she sounds fantastic live. You try dancing your butt off and then popping out some of the notes she has to and then you'll understand.

Comparing her to Britney Spears is just ridiculous. She could sing Britney Spears under the table.

In my own opinion, Utada is the best to me out of those listed. I don't really see how her music is boring . Heart Station wasn't the most exciting for me, so I'll give you that, but I even loved that album. Anyway it's not about the music - as was previously mentioned - but the vocals. Utada has an extremely powerful voice. Say what you want about her range, but her VOICE is powerful. In most of her concerts you can't hear her audience applaud or cheer because that's how overpowering her voice is. Also -despite what some have said - there IS maturity in her vocals. Go from Heart Station to 'Me Muero' on This is the One and then to Show Me Love (Not a Dream) on Singles Collection Vol 2 and you can hear it (and elsewhere).

I don't really see Ayu's vocal progression as maturity. Instead I see it as 'these are the only notes I can hit now days so let's see what I can do at this level' -- she was practically screaming all throughout 'Love Song' (not the entire album though). Though I still love her so i'm willing to look past, lol.

I am NOT a fan of Ayaka but I will say she has an amazing voice. Her vocals are very smooth and powerful. 'Why' is such an amazing song.

Nops, u can't hear the audience applaud or cheer both because japanese people remain silent while the performer sings for showing respect, and because its a common practice to remove those sounds from the DVD edit so u can better listen to the music... It has nothing to do with Hikki's voice being powerfull...

BTW, if her voice was that powerful, there were no need for her to sing with the microphone almost inside her mouth...as much as a love her, and her voice, as she is my favorite musician ever, she is most likelly the one with the less power of those on the list...

[Not Fade Away]

^Are you even kidding me? Then why are they so loud during Ayu's performances? And I never heard the audience edited out during hers.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard that 'out of respect' bs -- fans are fans everywhere, of course they're going to be excited for their favorite performer so shouting/applause will be inevitable anywhere. I believed that at first too until I saw enough performances by Japanese artists where that wasn't the case.

I don't even know about the microphone 'almost inside her mouth' bit because I don't pay that close attention to notice whether it is or not. Even if it is though, that really means nothing. I've heard artists that were amped up to the max with backing vocals and surround sounds and still sounded weak when they were performing live. Utada rarely uses backing vocals and when she does her voice soars over them (IE: Devil Inside).

Anyway, I've been listening to more of Ayaka's music and I have to say, she is really impressive. Her voice transitions between notes so smoothly (as weird as that might sound). I've listened to Alan, and I think she was just a miss with me. I can certainly see where people would appreciate her vocals, because they 'do' have a pretty quality, they're just not my cup of tea.

I also really love YUI's vocals, even though she doesn't have the biggest range ever. Her voice sounds really youthful for being 25ish (I could be wrong).

[RayJason]

I voted Ayu, but I think that namie amuro (even though her voice gets autotuned and edited like **** on some tracks) and Utada Hikaru (simple and clean /hikari FTW) deserve the 1st place too.

Originally Posted by Not Fade Away

For those saying Namie can't sing - you obviously haven't heard some of the rare gems in her discography. If you can listen to I Will, Wishing on the Same Star, Rainbow Moon, Wagamama Wo Yurushite, and Shine More and tell me she can't sing then you need to get your hearing checked.

And she sounds fantastic live. You try dancing your butt off and then popping out some of the notes she has to and then you'll understand.

This is were I strongly have to disagree. She puts too much emphasis on the dances rather than singing.

[Andrenekoi]

@Not Fade Away

They sound loud during Ayu lives cuz Ayu's style of concert focus a lot on audience interaction, while Utada's doesn't focus on it at all...

Still, even in Ayu concerts, for most of her career, the audience only cheered when they were demanded to (her staple songs like Boys & Girls, evolution, Trauma, etc.). You will never see people screaming while she sings ballads or mid tempos, and those kind of music are 90% of Utada's discography...

On the same way it works with Ayu, when Hikki ask some reaction from the audience, u can hear them... When they aren't asked to, they keep there watching her sing...

About back up vocals... Utada doesn't use them, but use pre-recorded backing vocals of her own, that have the exactly same effect of backing up vocals: Making your voice sounding stronger. And about she singing louder than her backtrack, this is a very strange comment, cuz the sound of the main vocalist's microphone is always louder than the backup singers and backtracks... everyone sings louder than their backup singers and backtracks unless they want to be oversang, something very common on heavy coreographed performances...

Still, the fact that even some singers I dislike are able to sing with as much power as Utada without having to almost swallow their microphones is symptomatic...

[Not Fade Away]

@RayJason: She definitely puts more emphasis on dancing, I completely agree, but people have been saying she just sounds completely horrible live, which is untrue. IMO, she still sounds good live. I'm not saying she's incredible let's all give a standing ovation, but to say she sucks is just crazy.

What I mean't was that, for being exhausted from dancing and then singing, her singing is pretty good.

@Andrenekoi: I heard people cheering all during Microphone, in several spots of Moon, in most of Memorial Address (after each time she held that long note that leads out from the chorus), in Because of You, in Lady Dynamite, etc etc during Rock 'N' Roll Circus tour, and that's just THAT tour.

I actually think Utada's focuses on audience interaction about the same (but that's because she does more MC than most JPop artists) -- if it weren't for her MCs, I would agree on that point.

And that's what I meant by backing vocals for Utada -- her own, I just didn't specify or whatever, so sorry. A lot of artists get drowned out by their backing vocals (whether it's their own pre-recorded voice, or actual people) it definitely happens to Namie a lot on her more dance-oriented songs - like you mentioned with choreographed songs. But I've also heard Ayu get drowned out on songs too and she doesn't even dance.

What I'm saying is that Utada's backing vocals are more like just a whisper in the background that you occasionally notice when she's not singing because her live voice is just that dominant. Case in point being Sakura Drops or Devil Inside - again.

I really don't understand this 'swallows the microphone' comment, I guess I'm going to have to go watch her lives again because I really just have no idea what you're talking about.

My three favorite artists are Utada, Namie and Ayu.

And I usually categorize their concerts as follows:

Utada: Powerhouse Voice x More Intimate Concerts
Namie: Amazing Dancing x Nightclub-Vibe Concerts
Ayu: Phenomenal Theatrics x Going to see a Broadway Show Type of Concert

That's always been my opinion but it's just that - my opinion.

Just like yours is that she's not a powerhouse singer, so cool.

There's not going to be a compromise or anything, so I'll just leave it at that.

EDT: Sorry, I'm not trying to come off sounding like an a*hole, I'm just having a very stressful day. Plus I know that when it comes to opinions, people are very set in stone, and I am definitely one of those people (with the exception of modern social issues lol).

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Not Fade Away

I really don't understand this 'swallows the microphone' comment, I guess I'm going to have to go watch her lives again because I really just have no idea what you're talking about.

Utada always sings almost touching the microphone to her lips... Nothing wrong with that, but is shows lack of power on her voice... A potent voice can manage to sound fine with no need of the microphone being so close...

Anyway, I'm not saying she is a horrible vocalist... But just as Ayu and Namie (who happen to be my favorite jpop starts too), she is average... not the best over there, not the worst... totally capable of holding her own on most songs on her good days and having some really amazing performances here and there to call her own.

I myself classify the 3 women this way:

Ayumi Hamasaki: Amazing stage presence and crowd control, the best in jpop

Namie Amuro: (since Play Tour) skilled singer-dancer

Hikaru Utada: Music focused concerts, with amazing arrangments and interpretations

[koumori]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Utada always sings almost touching the microphone to her lips... Nothing wrong with that, but is shows lack of power on her voice... A potent voice can manage to sound fine with no need of the microphone being so close...

Actually, it all depends on a singer's style of singing. It actually doesn't matter how close you are to the microphone with the make of microphone they use in big concerts; usually they can pick up the same sound if they stand a little back or right close to it. So there's no particular singing-related reason Utada would have for standing close to the microphone; it's probably what she's used to.

That said, when a singer stands close to the microphone it gives a more personal, intense look rather than them standing casually away from it. With Utada favouring more personal performances, this would make sense.

So, her distance to the microphone does not show her lack of power in her voice. It's more how she prefers to look as she performs.

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

Hikki, no competition.

[Delicious n Bold]

Angela Aki
she sounds amazing live.

[DevilHunter_04]

Ayumi Hamasaki.

[mizuki-7]

Definitely Nana Mizuki she is underrated beacause she is a seiyu/singer but I have never seen an other singer succeed a three hours live without lip synch and hit all notes perfectly even better than on studio, furthermore she dance and had a great stage presence !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gegdIiX8L50

However I know there are many other fantastic singer =)

[Sandy]

Ayu is the Queen ^^