Other than Ayu with Yoshiki who goes viral, some pic of Ayu with Naoto are back again.

I'm going to have to watch a HD version of the performances somewhere 'cause I don't really remember thinking much about her outfit at all.

Scrolling through Twitter I think my favourite comment was on the pic with Yoshiki where someone said "Who is the witch to the right?" lol.

She's always had a bit of a disconnect between her street style and her stage style but it is even more evident with how little she appears on TV nowadays. I think she treats each performance like a special occasion (it's almost always some several hour long MS special lately) so she feels she doesn't want to wear something that she'd wear outside normally. Like, when was the last time she didn't wear some sort of flowy dress on TV?

It is kind of a horrible way to go about things but if that's what she wants to do, that's just how things will be. However, I think since her Instagram was the feature when she was interviewed, people should at least have seen or noticed that her style doesn't match up with the "Ayu on stage" and that it's a bit more rough around the edges without the frills or cleavage all the time.

I did think it was odd that she wore that outfit from the ViVi shoot which fit her current style when she came out and then changed to the princess dress. If anything, that's a sign that while she would appear in her street style but then would never perform in it.

Japan iTunes Top Albums

10 Ayumi Hamasaki - A Complete - All Singles (+8)

At least some boost!

because A COMPLETE ~ALL SINGLES~ actually have a discount on iTunes until April 6th...
it's ¥900 instead of ¥2700

from NEWS of her official site

Whenever I see Ayu albums enter top 10 positions I get excited and then it always turns out to be because of some kind of discount.:laugh
It looks like Ayu is getting harder to defend as her weaknesses keep getting highlighted lately.:no
But I don't think it is good to dwell on one bad performance. We shouldn't count Ayu out because she could deliver an amazing vocal performance months from now because that is how she is. Always inconsistent. Going from good to bad, bad to good. It's just got to be her hearing. It must be worse than she lets on. I think it has become more than clear over the past few years that Ayu can't control her singing. That seems to be the best explanation. She can speak fine but when she needs to sing varying intricate notes, she just can't be accurate enough. She just can't help it. So she just tries her best.

Oof that performance. The positive was I liked the new arrangement of Ourselves.

Negative is obviously the vocals. They have not really improved since CDL. She really isn't going to have much of a voice left after this tour. :(

I also thought the emoting in this was over the top (I know she does this a lot), but now it feels more like it's done in order to cover up and to try to distract from and pull people's attention away from the vocals.

Yeah, that was unfortunate timing. X gave an awesome performance and just highlighted a vocalist who is much older, but nailed very tough to sing songs 30 years later.

Yeah, I agree. Aside from the performance aspects that were bad here, the interview and her interactions with Yoshiki were ..... odd. I mean, she has always been a bit of an oddball in the interview portions, but she seemed kind of dazed or something there. I don't know.


Sorry to say it but, she has been around long enough and should be professional enough to know the difference. Like I said, I really feel that she DOES know the difference, but does it intentionally to distract from the vocal parts that she knows she is going to struggle with.

So in some ways she is playing it smart I guess? To an extent at least. It's not smart when you end up getting panned for two things instead of one: the vocals and the overacting.

Exactly. I remember when she performed Boys & Girls in 2009 at Music Fair and she only sang the first lines of each verse like she always does in concerts. The funny thing is it was a TV studio with no audience so she was aiming the mic towards nobody. Who was suppossed to sing back? LOL For me, it was embarrasing to watch.

OMG! I think this was an awkward situation... :shakehead
never heared about this...
Does someone have a video of this live?

Edit: I've found it myself... this is hilarious :roflmao

Jfc does she even review her performances anymore? She really needs to do something to salvage what's left of her voice, whether it be a new coach or someone in her inner circle sitting her down and giving her a reality check instead of just fawning over her every performance which I fear is what's happening atm. What a sorry state of affairs.

I've got the impression that that's what's been happening for several years now. People probably aren't being direct about what the problems are, or maybe she is unwilling to listen. Don't know which it is.

Her voice did get better though in '14/15, and her vocal coach was in America, right? So basically, she needs to move back to America for the sake of her voice. lol

She ever was great vocal wise after getting lessons in New York/America :yes

Maybe this could be a little (just a very little) excuse for the performance on friday?

I absolutely LOVED both performances - it was new to see ayu perform "ourselves" in a dress, though. :laugh but she looked gorgeous, as always! :heart

I rewatched the performances to see if I could see where the disappointment in her vocals is coming from...and I just don't see what's evoking such a reaction. Maybe it's what we're contrasting this performance with? If someone is comparing her vocals maybe with contemporaries like Adele or Beyoncé, I could understand the embarrassment, but ayu has never been a strong vocalist (not even in her prime, honestly). If we're comparing this performance with those that were posted a few pages back from 2000 and 2003...is that really fair? It's been almost 2 decades since those performances. Are we really expecting her to sound the same?

Now, if we're comparing her vocals to recent live releases...I think it's important to remember that her vocals are heavily edited when she releases a concert DVD. You can truly hear the autotune, unlike this Music Station performance. This was her raw, natural voice.

I don't mean to sound like I'm attempting to invalidate the general opinion (because trust me, I'm far from an ayu-stan). I'm just curious as to what was expected and why? What are we comparing this performance with that's giving rise to such disappointment among the fandom? Honest question that I'd like to hear opinions on.

Also, when it comes to ayu's appearance and the way she presents herself...I for one don't really think twice about whether she's trying hard to look like a 20-year old and whatnot, and I guess it's because as ayu stopped caring over the years, I did too. Also, I stopped hoping for her to revert back to the ayumi hamasaki that was deep and hands-on when it came to her artistry long ago. It's been a while since this latter phase of her career began, and I've kinda been able to accept it much more easily than other people, and I think that's due in part to becoming a fan later in her career (just before her 10th anniversary).

ayu looks uncomfortable, nervious and sad the entire show (+ interview)
like trying to control herself for something
why japanese women on tv acts like they are handcuffed in front of a judge or a police officer.

the ourselves part was the best although the arrangement sounds like a cheap unnoficial karaoke file

Yeah, this so much. It was kind of odd.

same :(

Hmmn, let's see. I never expect her to sing good in recent years. She changed her technique (?) after 2008 or so (when she started singing each words out separately, especially at the end of each sentence). I didn't like it, but at least there's no dramatic outburst like now (or rather, she was not that over reacting). And I don't really watch her tour dvd anymore, so I can't even compare her vocal in recent tours with tv lives. I actually compare what she could do back in old tv lives (from 1999 - maybe 2010) with what she has been doing in recent years. I can accept her shaky vocal, as I know that about her ear condition, and her cord has been constantly damaged. In fact, I wasn't totally shivered by her vocal last night. More likely it was the package (vocal + dress + over reacting) that gave me a shock.