I am aware that mic-noise can be kept to a minimum, sometimes completely be erased, by now, but my post was supposed to be more general, it's still valid for older concerts and live broadcasts that are of a few years of age(or when there's heavy noise for one song but none at all for another performed at the same mic in a live broadcast for example)

@Andrenekoi
I love you :luv2


...but you probably knew that already...xD

It will definitely be You Were.

The only reason she did Rule at CDTV was because she always does two songs on that show.

That is because everyone on that show was supposed to sing an old song. This show though isn't usually like that.(unless they do a special theme or something, which would be great!) I hear Arashi is doing a medley of their hits, so it might end up being something like that.

The reason I mention it is because the show is live. Every year it is aired live after Kohaku, but this is the only year that Ayu is doing a pre-recorded performance for it instead of performing live with the other artists. That's why I brought it up because it seems out of character compared to her previous years - just like not going to FNS too.


Yes, this is what I believe as well - the smoking. With Ayu being a rebel, I think its possible that she could have been smoking since she was very young and of course we do have that tabloid photo of her with a cigarette in her hand, so at the very least she is a casual smoker. But all the problems that I hear with her live voice such as constantly sounding out of breath and being unable to hold out notes is all a consequence of somebody who has been smoking too much. Her voice has also been getting consistently deeper which can also be a consequence of long term smoking. The ear can attribute to being off pitch, but not to the shortness of breath I don't think.

No, not at all. A pre-recorded performance means that she can do it over and over again as many times as they need to get it right. Obviously she can't do that in a live broadcast.

And about forcing opinions. I've never done that or at least don't feel that I have. I've always stated my opinion and explained my reasons and just because people don't agree with it does not mean I am forcing it on them. I say I think that Ayu's vocals in tv lives have been getting worse and explain why and that means I am forcing my opinions on you? Please give me a break, otherwise I feel like I can't post anything. That's like saying anyone who disagrees with me and logically explains their reasons for it is forcing their opinions on me - obviously not. It seems just that a lot of people here can't take criticism against Ayu, even when it is constructive. And noidea is right - I post plenty of positive things about Ayu, but people seem to conveniently overlook those. It's like I said, only a couple of people seem to actually constructively criticize her like I do, so those posts stand out more. Oh and also, anytime I post a :) it is not a snarky way at all, its because I actually mean it.

Thank you thank you very much ayumisrael. :) The day I say OMG THIS SUCKS!!!! People can jump on me then. :) Actually, if anything, it is those people that should get jumped on, but everyone seems to save it for me, haha.

Phew, lots to reply to!

She might be just a social smoker though (or became social after being casual).
She did post a few months ago that she and her friends went to dinner and she took from her trainer a cigarette but threw it after 1 take.

Oh! So that's what that thing with MW and SURREAL was last year? I see I see.... Even so, I hope she sneaks BALLAD in a performance for one of the shows for this holiday season somewhere, even though You were... is the main A-side.

I miss u^^

and... I'm ready for some non-Rule lives xD

Rule rules! >:O

You were... can kick Rule's fat ass any day of the week!

You would know about fat asses wouldn't you :innocent

Okay this is not the place for this, my love. :laugh

(failing attempt to get back on track) I wonder what Ayu is going to wear for her upcoming performances!?

Something that looks like a birthday cake, as usual for her winter performances xD

I kind of hope she wears something different...... Something elegant but not out of a fairy tale Disney princess story lol.

*lol* You're cute! ;) But honestly I should clear some harddrive space too, as I usually download full shows - there are so many artists to enjoy. Best artist seems like Johnnys Countdown. Nearly all of them are there :rubeyes

Is that their snobby way of saying they're the best and that's why they're all there and the other artists were just invited to look bad compared to them? :laugh

Ahhh those Johnny's boys are up to no good!

Agreed with all of this.

I'm excited for the upcoming lives!

Rules ass isn't fat
It's just...toned xD

Probably. They are there to take over the world. :mad IDK about the Johnnys Bands especially Arashi. I like them and all, but people always blame Ayu's waning popularity on overexposure and that Japan is sick of seeing her face. But that cannot really be true. I mean Arashi are EVERYWHERE in Japan, in Dramas, CM's, Concerts, the News...everywhere. And nobody seems to be sick of them. I call that overexposure.

^ lol I so agree with that! It seems like it's even worse than what it was back when Ayu was in her overexposed era. I guess the fan girls can't get sick of their faces :O lol

^ It's not just fan girls though, a lot of people of all ages watch Johnny's tv shows - especially SMAPXSMAP.

I think it has to do with how the people are perceived by the public which dictates whether people get tired of them or not or how quickly they get tired of them. Like in a recent poll, people said the number 1 reason they liked Arashi was because of their humanity. Whereas most female artists it was their looks or fashion or something along those lines - often things that are fleeting or people get sick of easily; not their actual personalities.

Well, we already know that she is wearing a pink fluffy dress at CDTV, so birthday cake is probably the correct assumption. :)

honestly with Days and GREEN she never sang GREEN live =/ she saved it for the countdown for us to hear it live

That's why ayu sounds like a bimbo on most of her interviews, right? Cuz they often focus the interview on fashion and stuff like that ~~'

^ Well yeah, they do usually ask about what she is wearing it seems more than anything else - or at least it seems that way from what I remember. At least in that poll though, for Ayu her lyrics were ranked first, but fashion and looks weren't far behind.

Yeah and I always get the impression ayu tries to keep her answer to these questions very short so they can focus on the music instead.

Actually, none of them had Looks/Fashion at #1, but I guess looks are important to Japanese audience when it comes to female singers (imo arashi aren't exactly what I'd call hot looking people, but that's arguable I guess, so it kinda makes sense that their "Looks" didn't make it into top 3 :P)

Kumi Koda:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. PVs

Ai Otsuka:
1. Lyrics
2. Vocals
3. Looks

Namie Amuro:
1. Live Performance
2. Fashion
3. Looks

YUI:
1. Vocals
2. Lyrics
3. Looks

Ayumi Hamasaki:
1. Lyrics
2. Looks
3. Fashion

Hikaru Utada:
1. Vocals
2. Songs
3. Lyrics

ayaka:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. Vocal technique

BoA:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. Live

Mika Nakashima:
1. Vocals
2. Looks
3. Lyrics

Well... there is those pool by oricon celebration Ayu's 10th anni, where her 5 most liked traits... and it was something like... lyrics, music, voice, and them, fashion if i'm not wrong...

but yeah, most of the time it seens that they don't care about them as artistis

yes yes very arguable :yes lol!

well ayu is usually on those fashion type polls from oricon or whatever so I definitely can see that as being something that people like about her. Though I doubt they are basing it on her concert tour outfits lol :P

It's still amazing that a lot of people voted for ayu's lyrics as the first thing they like in her. She didn't lose her touch.

I was really surprised that hikki's lyrics are just #3 the thing people like in her the most.

^ Utada's lyrics are weird, even in English. Easy breezy/Hotel lobby anyone???

But sometimes its awesome like Hikari/Passion/Colors/Sakura drops

I always take Ayu's looks & fashion for granted. I just love her lyrics, music, & charisma all which drove me to like her in the first place. And sadly it's not her voice :(

Ahhh, I didn't remember the specifics of everyones rankings, just that AYu's number 1 was lyrics - I just remembered seeing looks and fashion a lot for the female artists but stuff like personality and humanity for the men, which I find interesting. I'm trying to find the original article because there were probably more artists listed than that. And yeah, there are definitely much better looking boybands than Arashi. That is why people like them for their personality. You usually don't hear people say they like them 'cause they are hot!' or something. :)

Btw Sunshineslayer I wanted to ask you since I know you are well informed in shows.
In the Best Artist 2009 they also requsted people to vote for wishful collaborations.
Do you think they will do something about it? I mean there will be some kind of a highly voted collaboration or they will pretty much do nothing with that option they gave to fill?
(I can't recall if they requested such things to fill in the previous years or if they did anything besides showing popularity from the people who voted ages and genders).

So five performances so far? Anyone think there will be anymore? Possibly? :) :D

I think in previous years they showed VTRs of such things. But a bunch of artists just did collaborations together on FNS so there are at least several people right now that are rehearsed and ready to go in terms of collaborations. Now whether it will actually be the collaborations people voted for is another thing I guess.

In addition to special collaborations, it also says there will be special hit medleys. So hopefully Ayu will do that. The only artist I know of so far that has that planned is Arashi.

I hope this show ends up being as great as it usually is because FNS this year was quite lackluster.

Ayu's voice gave me a headache when I first started listening to her :laugh

But she was so cute, I decided to stick around for a bit longer and soon discovered her amazing lyrics :)

Thank you. ^^

Usually FNS get more rating or kouhaku?
I mean which show is more popular?

I don't think anyone on JPM actually posted the link to the article, at least I haven't seen one. Well people seem to like DBSK for being "human" too, yet they also like the way they look. I hope you're getting what I am trying to say. Nevertheless imo Utada kinda got the 3 things that are the most important for their job in her top 3.

Tohoshinki:
1. Vocals
2. Humanity
3. Looks

Arashi:
1. Humanity
2. Live Performance
3. Musical atmosphere

as for the Best Artists 2009, I don't remember seeing any collabs since 2005, though I sometimes just skip through some of the performances.

Those are not from articles, but they're from the artist pages at barks.jp.

http://www.barks.jp/artist/?id=52004965
Left hand side under BEST 3.

Zoominayu mentions CDTV on 12/19 and a CDTV 12/31~1/1 COUNTDOWN Toshikoshi SP...

i said this before... but I think it's possible that ayu will sing BALLAD at Kouhaku. Kouhaku = NHK, BALLAD's tie-up = NHK drama.

And also, ayu is appearing on CDTV twice. She recorded 2 performances for it. A normal CDTV episode and then the CDTV Super Live, or whatever. She said so in her blog~

so it's CDTV x 2, MS x 2, Kouhaku, Best Artist

Oh, and I wanted to make a correction about the pink dress she wore, apparently the material was like...this, but I suppose my roommate could be wrong, I don't know how close he was haha...):

http://www.lemoir.com/pic/item/2081/...5-806128-m.jpg

^So she wore no dress but those fluffy panties? *_*

Wow, so many performances!

LOL if she really wore those pants I honestly don't know what to think. xD They do look somewhat comfy, but for a spa night alone at home or something.. :laugh And even then the white ones are the only ones I'd consider wearing.

i'm sorry, i meant the material is the same!! haha i need to specify that now haha!!

^ lol. Yeah I was thinking Ayu totally lost her mind if she performed You We're in those!

Ahh thanks.

So I wonder if she pre-recorded both performances or if it is just for the regular CDTV show on the 19th and she will perform live on the CDTV special? Or both are prerecorded it sounds like.

@ayumisrael: Kohaku is the biggest show of the year ratings wise. FNS is usually second I think.

Haha, lol! Great misunderstanding. Well at least that stuff looks warm! ;)

tokyoxjapanxfan: Oh, right! Lol I'm so relieved :rofl Though, a whole costume from that material makes me suspicious.... But well let's cross our fingers it's a nice outfit and we'll see :laugh

tokyoxjapanxfan: ayu's hair color on the CDTV Super Live was blonde? :S

She recolored her hair recently from the dark to a much lighter color, so I believe so...

I guess Rule will probably be for the CDTV SP, and You were... will be for the regular CDTV? What a strange way to do things.

So there will be 2 CDTVs as well besides the 2 Music Stations? XD
(and it's 6 different shows all together?)

2 CDTVs, 2 MSes, BEST ARTIST, and Kouhaku.

I expect her to be on MUSIC JAPAN or HEY!HEY!HEY though at some point too.

But judging from her tone in her diary showing how sad she is to lose the dark colour, I think she just used some temporary dye and the colour wore off, not that she recoloured it.

Anyway, can't wait to see these performances!!

Whoa, Ayu's going to be a busy bee this winter. I think now that she's going to be on all these shows better explains why she pushed back the release date.

^ She's usually on more shows than this at this time of the year so the release date really shouldn't have anything to do with that. Last year in December she did 7 performances. Together When had 9 performances all in December. Actually each year of her career most of her performances are in December cause of all the music shows. I think this year might be her lightest so far actually. (or at least on par with Jewel)

the you were + rule combo was for the super live. then, for a normal CDTV episode she recorded something else, but i don't know what it is. normal CDTV lives dont have a live audience, so no one was present :)

I can't wait how Ayu will look for her Music Station appearance... I wish if it was sort of more from the Jewel era...

Haha, if Ayu wore those puffy short things, I wouldn't know what to think either XD

That just shows you how much I know about her schedule xD; I've been a fan for years but mostly with her music, I rarely watched her TV performances lol.

^ One of my main things has been collecting her tv performances. :) So yeah, December has always been her crazy month. During her peak time it was truly insane. If you include November too she did at least like 15+ performances of No Way to Say and Appears probably had around that many too.

OUCH! That's too many! I'm glad she's chilled off that a bit. Even if it's most likely a result of her declining popularity.

Not really, there are artists that never were popular as her and aren't popular as her now but still go to all of those shows or more (or generally do more TV promotion than her as of late).

I think it's just a decision of ayu/avex.
Maybe she isn't into the whole fast paced scheduled media promotion anymore. She might go back to it at some point maybe and might not.

^ Yeah, I agree with you on that one. If Ayumi wanted to be on TV more, she could be. (not just music shows either, but other shows that could get her out there more to the general public as well) but for whatever reason she chooses not to be.

1 hour and 15 minutes to go for Music Station on Asahi. Can't wait to see if it's any good

just another 1 hour! i wonder if she going to sing You were..?

hope somebody will upload them tonite :yes :yes

she'll sing it, it's been confirmed. Ill try to take pics

really? great many thanx to you! ^ ^ how i wish that i have the Animax channel at my home,if not i can watch it too *sigh*

in the preview, they showed Ayu with some kind of yellow-ish thing (I saw it briefly, cos I wasn't watching tv when I heard You were...). it's almost starting ^^

Watching MSta right now. Her hair is still brown (darker) and a bit shorter, she is wearing a cute white dress and has something that seems like a flower in her hair (also white).

I know this awful, but this gives an idea:
http://i47.tinypic.com/5dngbq.jpg

woaaaa~ sounds cute :luv2 :luv2 ok,patiently waiting for the vid :thud

thanx Rody! she looks younger! i'm dying to watch she's singing You were.. :thud nwey,hope she perform it well,

She's talking now, guess she'll be up next :) she looks very pretty. I'll try to screencap too :P

So it's not a flower after all xD well she is on standby and performing right now! Her hair is deffo shorter. The vocals during the first verse are nice. The band is also there with her.

edit: She was really into it xD I won't judge her vocals until I hear/see the HD version, but with all the glitches and noise she did well.

she's gonna sing now [IMG]\[/IMG]

The performance was GOOD. her voice sounded great, and they used fire at the end.. At the end though, her voice was hard to control or something. But.. it's a good performance:
http://i49.tinypic.com/316kunb.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/2i0rzut.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/9vch3q.jpg

pics by a camera, so.. yea.. bad quality :p sorry

I made some LQ caps too
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...nu/ms-01-1.jpg http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ianu/ms-02.jpg http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ianu/ms-03.jpg http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ianu/ms-04.jpg http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ianu/ms-05.jpg

I also thought her vocals seemed very stable and good, but of course I can't say for sure because of the low quality. :)

Some screencaps:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/421...cstationyw.png

yay MS! Can't wait
 

:love I love her hairstyle on MS. Hopefully she'll continue to wear it like that.

thanx guys, it's really good job!

You were at Music Station :

Nobuo Eguchi still isn't the drummer...

I have this sinking feeling that perhaps he was the staff member that was fired.

Vocals are not perfect, but not too bad. I think these short versions never do the songs justice though, but it's always shortened for most tv shows. There is one thing I don't like though. Why can't Ayu stand straight? She looks like she will fall over at any second. She did that a lot in early performances (1998 and 1999) too, and I thought she got over it, but here she is doing it again. But maybe it has to do with breathing or so and I just don't get it.

Who was fired? And why? When did Ayu say that she did fire somebody? *curious*

THAT
PERFORMANCE
IS
AWESOME D;AJSKLDJSA
People are going to be on her case about her voice but idgaf I love emotional ayu struggling to hit notes live :heart She looked gorgeous too

yea, i didn't know bot this?? OMG!! is it true? when did Ayu say it? but why? i think he's great and i like him as Ayu's drummer...

thanx for the Youtube link,i didn't expect that i could watch it this nite,just after the show! awesome! :yes

Nice performance^^ It's true that she was at parts struggling and I think I heard her going off-key for a really short time in the chorus, but this is better than what she did in AT09.

She talked in her diary that she together with TRF dancers (etsu and chiharu) they had do to a selection...

I don't know if this affected the band... maybe it's not that he was fired... maybe he couldn't keep working for Ayu for personal reasons..


nice performance... vocals weren't perfect but not the worst... her emocion was 100%!!! hope she'll improve her vocals for this song!! I want BALLAD to be performed *-*! please Ayu!!! XD

Maybe it's her best performance on TV since... 2006? Even if her voice wasn't at its best...

I like her performance!
I think she was struggling on her vocals on the opening but the rest is really good but not perfect though.

Im looking forward on other performance now! :D

These kind of ballads seem to suit her vocals these days I think. The verse at the beginning was really nice, then it kinda got a bit iffy in the chorus parts but because this is a "shouty" kind of song, she can just shout through it.

Overall though I thought the performance was enjoyable and I really liked her dress. It was pretty without being like in your face glamorous.

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone! :laugh

I thought she sounded okay, the performance as a whole was great though lol.

lol. Yup, you are in the twilight zone today. :)

^ Well since our little chat about her vocals last time, I never would suspect you would use the word "enjoyable" with this performance LMAO.

^ Oh I can still find a performance enjoyable even if there are vocal problems. Her vocals definitely were not perfect in this, but they are about what I expected.

Yeah, they were kind of what I expected too. Okay, maybe I have one foot out of the twilight zone now. :laugh

I agree with others, the performance was really enjoyable!! Her vocals were definitely really good except perhaps a bit in the chorus with the high notes. She looked gorgeous as well!! I hope the other performances will be like this :yes

nicely done, imo. i love how animated she gets when singing ballads!

I agree with the majority here, the performance (now in HD) was enjoyable, her vocals were good and she didn't over do the yelling :)

i thought the performance was decent vocally. i think if we should start seeing a vocal coach weekly, her voice would improve. she needs to get out of the habit of shouting and learn to belt properly. (this is not a knock on ayu. she needs to retrain herself vocally, especially since partial deafness.) one would hope than instead of putting more pressure on her voice and ruining it further, that she would start taking the steps to perfect/preserve it.

How beautiful she looked! Awesome performance as well, though it could have been better. The stage was soooo pretty :luv2.

I can't stop watching this performance :luv2

love her dress, her hair and her vocals, surprisingly <3

I love You were...!!!!!

i love the performance..Ayu looks so beautiful! even though she kind of howling ..but still love it..her vibration awesome!!!!!!!!

The music station performance is good, I love it!

oh i also read about that,and i thought the audition is for another new dancer.ermm..maybe he has a personal reason...

agree with you guys,and now can't wait for Best Artist performance,just another 2 days :luv2 what song she would sing there?