^ I think, in general, Avex has gotten lazy with editing and it's more prominent in audio now than it was for the past few years.

For Namie, specifically, I agree that the tours sometimes sound a bit mechanical. I don't think it's so much autotune (though some is obviously present in DVD releases) as it is that she relies heavily on a backing track. Sometimes this drowns her out a bit.

With Kouhaku, I thought she sounded good (not bad, not great). She definitely has more control over her vocals than she used to when she was younger, likely from touring so much. It's hard to compare since she doesn't do TV appearances anymore, but they were not usually her strength to begin with - so by her own past comparisons, I think this was really good. But TV is a beast of its own when it comes to mixing and managing sound, and it's understandable that it wouldn't be as on-point as during a tour.

I agree and had the very same impression.

I don't feel it is autotuned; what it is though is a strong backing track with her singing over her own voice which makes it sound much more "full" live. This is the case in the choruses for just about every live performance she has done from around the mid-2000s onward.

I agree and was about to mention the backing track. It doesn't have the same
sound effect as it would have if there was a live band.

I finally watched the NHK interview - thank you for posting Spiral- and it was nice to see this side of Namie. With celebrities, they each have an image and the public will form judgements based off them. This is especially true in Namie's case. (people always perceived her as "cold") But from watching this interview she is more relatable to me, for example how she aways doubted herself and her reasons of not doing a MC. I've always had the same thoughts about MCs, how it seems so hard to have to come up with different things to talk about all the time. I always wondered how singers did that. It's just nice to know Namie's personality is closer to mine than I would imagine.

Also, Ken's cover of WMWM sounded exactly as I had imagined it would :P Need to see it in full.

Yep. When you're using a backing track that has been pre-mixed, it can be trickier to balance vocals With it rather than having all the instruments separate on the day, at the actual venue etc. there is a sweet spot in the mix and the more control you have over individual channel inputs the more you can adjust things to balance how you want them to be. Plus there is also a difference in terms of acoustics in broadcasting a direct input channel signal back out to monitor speakers and amps, say at a tour, versus broadcasting over a network or uplink to then be re-broadcast on tv. It'll also sound slightly different based on the receiver's ears/speakers/headphones.

Lol in any case, I thought she sounded fine in the broadcast, but her dvds have been hit and miss when it comes to the backing vocals swallowing her live ones, and that sometimes does sound like they've been pitch corrected, though I'm sure they've all been polished anyway. Plus there have been times when I thought Ayu was 100% pitch corrected in the part of the song until I watched the CDL live broadcast and it turns out she really was just that squeaky/high pitched

She's so cute at the end of the performance, she's so shy omg

Re Kouhaku ratings:

Namie's appearance did NOT help the ratings. In fact, the 68th Kouhaku was the third-worst rated Kouhaku in viewership ratings (Kanto/Tokyo), with the 'critical' second half recording 39.4% (2004, at 39.3%, and 2015, at 39.2%, were worse; first half was 35.8%).

I don't understand why, even with Namie's final apperance, the Kouhaku ratings actually went down. :no

Regarding to Kouhaku, why do some artists have the performance like Namie? The artist is filmed in the other place, they should have appeared in the state as the others. Can someone explain?

Namie isn't the 1st artiste to perform at a different place . Maybe because NHK Hall couldn't accommodate so many people at once ?

A few years ago when ARASHI didn't host Kouhaku , they performed at Tokyo Disneysea together with Mickey Mouse & co.

Even this year's Kouhaku , Perfume didn't performed at NHK Hall , they performed on a rooftop somewhere around Shibuya

That said I haven't watch the entire Kouhaku yet but I wouldn't lie that all the while I always prefer watching Johnny's Countdown as it's a lot more fun

4 1/2 hours for a music show can be really tiring to sit and watch though . Maybe this's why MUSIC STATION's Tamamori don't want to host it despite him being offered to do so multiple times

Namie will feature in Jolin new DVD/BD, here Namie part from trailer. Jan 30 release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuxnWqKq1rw&t=2m29s

^ Oh cool! But... such an weird shooting and edition! I'm kinda shocked! Looks so amateur. No shade to Jolin but I'm surprised!

I think it's up to the artist and their creative team. For Perfume, they did the live on a rooftop in Shibuya to recreate their PV for "TOKYO GIRL". For Namie, as some people have supposed, it can be because she didn't want to burst in tears by the audience's emotion.

Kouhaku is such an old TV Show format that I'm surprised it still happens every single year! I don't quite like the majestic atmosphere it has.

The reason the ratings keep going down is the format and just overall look and feel of the show has not changed whatsoever and imo also because a lot of the current musical acts are underwhelming compared to say the heyday of jpop in the 80s and 90s.

I also think, in general, this type of show doesn't appeal to younger viewers as much as in the past. I'm not sure all the Enka acts are really relevant to a younger generation, and even some of the bigger names on the show might be considered "legacy" acts by the general youth (even if they are still actively making music).

I'm not sure there's a lot of appetite for an all Japanese music cast anymore. If you look back to the early 2000's, almost all of the big music/variety shows have ended, leaving us with only a handful left. Even things like A+Nation have significantly decreased in length and impact.

I also think that very few young people are probably at home watching TV on NYE.

what exactly? the trailer is cut different to the music. So the music does not match the actual picture you see here.

More about the quality of the shooting and the edition. The edition is not very edge and don't make the performance look exciting to watch. And the Red saturation is super high!

In the age of the internet and streaming everyhwere, why in the world would a celebrity help ratings?

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=2...000043-dal-ent

Namie actually had the highest viewer rating of the entire night at 48.4%
So people basically only tuned in when she was about to perform lol

^nah thats ot true, the ratings were around 40% and you still have to think - thats a huge number! Nearly 40% turned in to watch the same program.

As expected, Namie was the bright spot, but still, the Kouhaku TV viewership ratings struggle is a real problem...