I’m chocked lol Her tone was flawless like the BEST since more than a decade I’m not even exaggerating I missed it. It’s how she should always sound it’s so gentle and emotional. She sounded Just like her past self (strange to say that lol). I hope she will be able to maintain this level in the future...

She also sang it during PoM11, unless you were solely referring to the original version.

^ kind of forgot about that lol. But yes, original version.

I mean, would you rather that or have her not be able to hit the notes? lol

ok
I REALLY LOVE THE TONE ON THE TRILOGY
and.....why the backupsingers
when the base is on her voice?

vogue and far away i thought its gonna be cringe
but WOW i'm surprised

Far away is such a huuuge surprise! I hope she realized how good it was and start performing it more often!
I had tears in my eyes and needed to stop before SEASONS haha :D

Live with a backtrack. I hope this becomes standard for her now; works much better for her.

if you watch the performance, it's clear that it was live.

she has become SO BAD at lip-syncing the past couple of years that whenever she does it, the camera would avoid zooming in on her face as much as possible (just compare with the faraway angles of e.g. kanariya in Just the beginning -20- CDL, identity in Promised Land CDL). in this performance, the camera doesn't shy away from zooming in at all.

I think in recent years it's just been really loud heavy backing tracks for songs she would have normally fully lipped in the past, she even does it with songs that she sings fully nowadays too during choruses and stuff. Typically too with songs that she does use it heavily for there is a lot going on so there isn't as much reason to zoom in imo.

that makes sense, I should've phrased it more clearly. what I meant is that when she does lip-sync in recent years, the camera appears to purposefully avoid showing her 'singing'.

by the way I'm watching the a-nation performance as we speak and I've just reached SEASONS. I got the audio rip yesterday but I just got the video now and I have a lot of feelings about this trilogy. bullet points review incoming.

EDIT

• OH MY GOD
• the original arrangement. YES.
• the FANS choreography in vogue. ETHEREAL.
• the lighting and screen effects are on point, as well
• her DRESS. my god I have only love for this quirky dress.
• she's singing in her STUDIO VOICE and it sounds so airy and beautiful. keep it up Empress :luv2
• my tears welled up several times.
• I almost forgot how regal Far away is. such a dramatic song.
• her dance with Risato, for a multitude of reasons, made me legit cry.
• SEASONS in the original arrangement AND original key. she nailed this.
• the 'Fin'. end me.

even July 1st made me cry. she did so well. wow.

LEGENDARY.

I’m on Far away right now and think I might cry, honestly

...and then she ruined it at the end with that stupid fake crying god DAMN IT

Her vocals here were so good. I was really surprised. She already sounded really good during her FNS performance so I was keen to hear what she sounded like here. I was definitely surprised. Obviously not a fan of the fake crying lmao but whatever it's a given at this point. I actually like that she lowered the key, cause that way she could sing comfortably and prettily instead of screaming through it.

The delicacy of her vocals on vogue... simply wow.

Yeah, I will watch. I don't necessarily think it was lip-synced, it's not impossible that they used pre-recorded footage consisting of several takes, nobody would find out anyway, so why not. Overall this set sounds suspicious AF, because Ayu normally doesn't do this good live.

I haven’t been able to watch in full yet, but wow
Her outfits are beautiful! And she looks stunning too, she looks more natural and has this light atmosphere (?) around her, I love it!
I’ve only listened to the trilogy and she sounds AMAZING during Seasons (ToT)
I hope I’m able to watch in full soon!

She sounded like this at FNS. Also, this years CDL was not bad.

She had the exact same kind of vocal going on in Dreamed a Dream for FNS and this. She went slightly 'cutesy' but it was clearly vocally controlled. It was live like much of the other performances broadcast from Japan with comments from mu-mo Live showing for many artists if they chose to focus on them.

I think she was very much focused on her voice compared to Natsu no Trouble, maybe doing some work on her vocals in the time since then?

I find it laughable to suggest that ayu was lip syncing or secretly doing multiple takes as if she hasn’t been performing live for two decades.