It's not really about the theatrics... Ayaka Hirahara has amazing concerts, and it's pretty much only her singing with a band... I still have to meet a trained vocalist that enjoy her live vocals, and I'm not very positive I ever will... even if her voice has TONS of emotions, what IMO make her worth watching live, she goes off key a lot and is always out of breath... Like the Boulevard of Broken Dreams live, technical wise, she sux there... but she gives so much soul to the song it ends being a nice live...

And she really lacks stage presence, even if she has tons of charisma... It's like... she is easily likeble, but if u aren't all that into her, she can't make u interested...

I don't wanna sound like a hater, she is my favorite musician, I follow her since COLORS era and HS is my favorite album from her, so, even if she is my favorite musician for for 8 years, her album I like the most is pretty recent (and it was Deep River before, and Exodus after, and then Ultra Blue, etc). But really, as a performer, she can't do much IMO... if it was about big concerts and effects, Utada United would have made it for me, but it didn't

@Picaflor 7/4 Yeah, IMO Ayu is a stronger performer than Hikki (even if Hikki has far better music), didn't want to bring her up here cuz this is my opinion about UTADA, not about other artists, and it doesn't really have anything to do with theatrics... Simple performances like the red dress part on At03-04, At06 ballads sung at the encore, Haru yo, koi on TV, You were at CDL... Those performances that has only Ayu, the band and the public IMO shows her power and how amazing as a live performer she is... the theatrics are just a bonus ;)

BTW.. bad performer + theatrics = bad show where u don't really notice anything else besides the glitter :)

this is mildly amusing. . .good voice! no bad voice! . . .boring lives! no exciting lives! is all i really see. . .*sighs* my friends got so bored of utada sooo fast when i showed some of her amazing songs with mvs and then a few live performances. . .i showed them ayu's endless sorrow (not trying to impress) and alterna and they loved it. so i showed the Concert Tour performance of And Then and they went sour. . .but then they were like. "i kinda like this song. very 80s" xD ill never understand people. well maybe i can make my own opinions on hikki's lives and ill bring a non-hikki but jrock/kpop loving fan with me and we'll see. ^____^ but i never paid attention to the faults in hikkis voice until i really read this. . .its been engrained in my mind (cuz so many hikki fans insist she has like the bestest voice) that shes flawless. . .now i hear. . .bleh lol. as long as she retains some sort of emotion for me im okay. otherwise its all bs.

(i know most of that post is irrelevant . . .im just chatty at the moment)

^I didn't find ur post irrelevant^^ (but mine is xD)

I still preffer utada's voice over ayumi's (ayumi would be 100000x better live if she fired peco and princess and did all her own backup vocals) imo ayumi has more dynamic music like connected, to sparkle, to startin', to memorial address. but its not really all hers. utada composes, produces, lyric writes, sings all vocals, programs, arranges, manages. Hell, I'm amazed she doesn't work under her own label. So even though I will admit her music can be tad boring at times, it is 100% her and you can't get more personal than that. I think utada is a bit more accomplised as an artist than ayumi. Not that I'm blaming ayumi for not doing anything cause it's hard as hell doing half the things utada does like composing and producing, but ayumi definitely has that extra creative help utada doesn't have. Utada doesn't have a board of writers and composers to help her out.

^Ayu only has the composers, not the writters, as she write her own lyrics... And as I said, IMO, as a musician, Utada is far more competent than Ayu... But also, Ayu is more competent than Utada when it's about going to the stage... I can see Ayu making a random show her own (actually, she pretty much did it on the lastest a-nations and on MTV Super Dry), but I can't see Utada doing so... It's not really about the voice (as voice is a very personal thing), it's about charisma, presence and acting...

I don't think there is any artist known for being an amazing musician (like, doing everything alone on studio) AND a powerhouse performer at the same time, cuz those are too very different talents...

^I think you might have just described Lady Gaga in your last sentence.....0_o

^^ ur right. . .about that last thing. . .(for the most part)

it always amazed me that hikki did everything. but then i looked at her past. and her learning of piano and guitar and such at young age and makes me go. well then she might as well compose her songs and etc lol. . .as for ayu. when i looked at her past i was like oh. why on earth did she compose her songs? XD either way i just admire hikkis work. but live is not up to par. . .i think she can be like MJ . ..even after retiring she can compose songs for people and such.

^Well... I'm a Gaga fan... and if u ask me, if u take the glitter out of her performance, she goes from very good to ok... IMO she is at her best when u give her a piano and put her to play with her own music, she is amazing when she is just singing and playing piano, but when doing so, she is being more a musician than a performer...

If u put Hikki on a stage playing her instruments, having fun with her own music and singing without the needing of making a huge concert (like... Music Lovers, or even her USA tour), u r having the best of her too, but this doesn't make her an amazing performer, but an amazing musician ^^

I can agree with you on the first part of your post. Utada is a better musician and Ayumi is a better performer. I still prefer Utada's live VOICE over Ayumi's, but when you add all the other factors in, Ayu is more of a stage person.

I totally don't understand your last sentence in the first paragraph though. You think an artist should act on stage? I would totally lose respect for an artist that had to act during their performances. That means the emotion is fake. (By acting, I'm assuming you're not including choreography, of course.) So, yeah, Utada definitely isn't acting. And she is slightly low in the charisma department. xD She was awkward and cute though and I loved hearing her talk.

I totally disagree on the stage presence thing though. I think Ayu has been losing her stage presence since the beginning of 2009. I felt NO stage presence at PCDL, AT09, and barely any at Future Classics. It made me so sad cause she used to have killer stage presence.

Utada on the other hand, I think she started out without stage presence (Bohemian Summer) and has exponentially gained it. It was amazing in Budokan and UU06. It was OVERWHELMING at In The Flesh during performances. Her stage presence was so much at ITF, that it was hard to believe she was the same awkward woman talking during the MCs.

p.s.
I'm happy there's finally a convo in this thread. xD

I don't really believe it's possible for anyone to get intensilly naturally moved over the same song after performing it 50 times on the year... Singers need to smile when performing happy songs even if they aren't happy, and need to cry when performing sad songs, even if it's the best day of their lives... It's a performance after all^^

BTW, after being an amateur stage actor for 3 years I can say that you don't really fake ur emotions while acting, u actually feel them... at least good actors do... The emotion is not natural, but it is real... It's the same as asking Hikki to be happy for real while singing Traveling and them sad for real while singing First Love on the same night, that just don't happen

This is acting... feeling and conveing an emotion for an audience even if u r not really on the same mood of ur performance^^

About Ayu's stage presence... IMO she wasn't at her best on PCDL, but I have no complains about A-nation, At09 or the last CDL... It was all there, like it always is^^ If u disliked the shows overall, it's easy not really feeling the performer, even if he/her has TONS of stage presence

Really? Cause last time I checked, a singer's job is to sing and sing well, not put on some drama show for the audience. That's what soap operas are for. Having a good stage presence is a plus plus plus....but it's not a necessity. Some singers like Koda Kumi can pull off a great vocal performance and a great show at the same time. Good for them and hence their high popularity. Mika Nakashima puts on an old lady, i'm-tired faced for every single live I've seen of her and her voice is just as great, her performance just as moving. Regardless, this discussion is kinda pointless. Hikki had great energy and was fun to see.

^Ok, ur reply was random xD But nice to know u think a singer can sing anything without showing any emotion... ^^

^^ Normally, I would more than agree with the 'singers are supposed to be singers, that's it' argument - like how I often get irritated whenever people complain about a singer not dancing, hah - but this is an exception.
Singing is an art form. And as with any other artist - be it a musician in general, a painter, an actor, etc. - a singer's job is to execute the art, music, in the most beautiful, creative way as possible. But why..? It's because art is one of those things that is useful only because of the way it makes people feel whenever they hear/see/feel the piece of art.
Art does not cure diseases. It doesn't teach people. It won't provide shelter. It can't feed you. When you get down to it, it's not technically needed, as you can easily survive without viewing a sculpture or listening to an orchestra. It's not needed to live. And for that reason, an artist's job, then, is to provoke emotion.

To do this fully, a singer can't just stand up on stage and sing. They must throw emotion into their voices, at the very least. Some choose to put their all into the lyrics to better convey what they want you to feel. Others choose to dance, if they're having troubles showing the emotion through vocals or lyrics alone; they may also choose to throw extravagant shows to add to the effects. And although it isn't absolutely necessary, to fully introduce just what emotions there are that you want to share, as a singer, you should actually be feeling that emotion, to some extent. This means, indeed, you should be smiling in that carefree, happy song. You must try to feel and show your own pain and vulnerability in the depressing numbers. Realise what it is you're trying to say, and then your audience will really be able to relate; otherwise, the audience will probably feel a bit distant from you. Which, in that case, you're not completely doing your job as an artist, are you?

You make a very good point Crystal_Ageha and thanks for the polite response. I never said that Utada had no emotion in her singing though. I was commenting on her stage presence, or in this case, a so called lack-of. However, I can see how to some, emotion and stage presence are interchangeable. Anyway, I didn't need to see her smile or cry to feel her emotion. It was in the singing. It was in the crowd. I'm not going to go back and reflecting because of some free-lance wannabe's review in some little known publication. I'm not going back and saying....oh yeah...come to think of it....she was a robot and i didnt feel moved after all.....because that's not what it felt like. She didn't jump around or pump her fist and shout "HEY! HEY! HEY!" the whole time or point per mic at the crowd when she ran out of breath. She didn't break down in tears or have to over-zealously show the crowd that she was moved. Those would have made the show that much more exciting but she didn't need that. Nobody wanted to see that. That's what a performer does. That's what a pop star is. She's never been that pop star type though she's been labeled that. I love to watch someone with stage presence but to me vocals are more important. That's why I love to remind people that Koda Kumi displays some of the best vocals in the business. Some people are so focused on her image that they forget that...hey, she's got an awesome voice too. She is pretty much the only Jpop singer I can think of who has both qualities; voice and presence. That's awesome but other's shouldn't be condemned for a lack of either. Utada lacks the stage presence and I can agree to an extent. Others lack the voice but put on a great show such as Perfume (who actually have....no voice basically). I guess...no matter how we debate it's all going to end back at an opinion. Oh well....that's how the world works....but I totally understand your point and I'm not saying you're wrong. You are right for a lot of people. As for what I've said, it's still what I believe in. I will still side with it. But it's still an opinion and I won't try to force it anymore.

I'm not a Hikki fan and I actually find her boring, This discussion is rather fan and rare it's not bashing but it's really just discussing a topic.

I think it's more of your preference, I agree with Crystal_Ageha though you need to put up an act so that you can express your music more.

On the other hand I really think Hikki have little stage presence.

@DEEP RIVER I never said Utada sings without emotion too, she puts tons of emotion on her voice, IMO, this is her best live characteristic

And I don't think Koda has an amazing voice, actually, I hardly would say she is even a good singer...

I hope she'll announce sth very soon... I miss you, Hikki :heart

i agree exactly with Crystal Ageha. . .

like i think a song cannot just be sung. . .like my middle school band teacher (who was always a role model to me said) "playing an instrument is not making music. playing with sincere emotion is making music" since, ive felt that way about singers as theyre kinda in the music category. and art in general all needs emotion ^__^

Yes, please announce something, anything @____@

^Seriously x_x Love Utada but this girl's has some laziness issues. I hope she doesnt stick with her plan of retiring at 28....I'll feel more sad than when I got rejected by both UCLA and UCSD.