She initially started her singing career as a R&B / rap singer. I always forget it.

Same here! Justice for Close to you :love

gosh it was as if this song were written for her. fits so well, especially with her 2011–2012 vocals. when they announced the globe tribute cover back in 2015, I so hoped ayu would cover this song.

(that said, I really love the trf version of this song in the album.)

Wonderful photos.

Loved the show overall, but unite/evo/happening here just felt so out of place - ruined an otherwise perfect setlist. So happy and surprised though that she did two covers that she did on TV way back when.

Really? A bit surprising considering how long you've been a fan. She's done tv performances of both songs before - they were nice little easter eggs in this concert for fans that remember those old TV lives.

I lowkey expected Gackt during Itsuka no merry christmas

The segment from unite felt out of place for me too. The change was very abrupt.

And SAME about gackt appearing for itsuka no merry christmas :laugh

I think Happening Here / teens was a huge single for her which is why she's also kind of taken them as her own.

I imagine she stuck those upbeat tracks in as like a post-TA corner thing to get people pumped up and ready for CDL? Though now....

I really loved the show. The vocals were decent, and I loved the dresses. She brought back the Together When... dress which is one of my all time favorites.:xmas
The setlist was amazing except towards the end. I felt they were out of place and didn't belong in an xmas concert.
I also wanted Gackt to come walking out so bad for itsuka no merry christmas.:love

◆Today at 19:00, "ayumi hamasaki Special SHOWCASE 〜Xmas Eve 2020〜" will be on YouTube Premieres!

Songs excerpted from the online live "ayumi hamasaki Special SHOWCASE 〜Xmas Eve 2020〜", which was broadcast live on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2020, will be on YouTube Premieres!

01. Opening Bells
02. M
03. momentum
04. appears
05. Close to you

https://youtu.be/bjyQk4zxaKs

They dubbed the intro of M. In the show they originally used a newly recorded version but now it's the original track for that part.

Over 5k tuned in to watch the rerun, that was cool :)

Why do they make bad decisions

^Maybe I should have specified that I was talking about vocals for the "'MARIA' 愛すべき人がいて キズを負った全ての者達…" part in the beginning. The rest should be the same.

Oh, I noticed. The original had a bigger impact for me...

maybe it was to make it look less awkward—in the original broadcast, she wasn't holding her microphone to her hand during the intro, so she wasn't syncing with the thing she was supposed to lip-synch :laugh

^Probably!

Just realized she says "tawari" instead on "mawari" in the first verse of M lol

I really wish she would just post the full stream of it instead of excerpts. She probably doesn’t think it’s perfect, but fans do. I suspect that she might also be self conscious of her body in regards to the public, thus why we have excepts from the first and second set. I absolutely LOVED the pink dress (with the black leather jacket) she wore for the third set/encore. Perhaps she was moreso afraid of the public judging her appearance with being so far along. I wouldn’t worry if I were her, she should embrace her pregnancy body :)