Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - View Single Post - Ayu's "worsening" voice?
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Old 15th February 2010, 03:52 AM
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truehappiness truehappiness is offline
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If she has sung well in 2002-2006, then what's so wrong in admitting that and think, "She can sing".?
Because her singing voice is just average. Yes, she can sing. But so can like 50% of the residents in Taiwan.

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In particular, the raspy and choppy tone of her voice is hardly because of "technique" because God how can there be a singing technique that makes your voice suck?
I think the raspy/choppy thing is something that SunshineSlayer has drilled into your head. I've only seen her and maybe a few other people complain about that. But anyway, it seems like she's just running out of breath for whatever reason and things end up getting not so pretty in the end. Her breathing control definitely needs to be worked on in the coming weeks for AT10, and we should be able to hear it in the first concert since quite a few AHS members are going. So it's not really the singing technique that's making her voice sound bad, but that she's not breathing correctly while using such a technique. I mean put yourself in her shoes and try singing in the same manner and I think you might understand just what is going on.

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You might think so, but looking at the disgusting photos that Kazuyoshi Shimomura shot for a period of time, I can safely say that no one really tells Ayu off for the **** she does. I mean, if you're her staff and you feel her singing sucks, would you go and tell her, "Hey Ayu your singing sucks. Spare us."? It's insensitive and kind of stupid cos you'll obviously lose your job.
She depends on her staff (I think) to tell her when things are going wrong, so if something is up with her voice, Kome seems to be the one who is behind it. She's always talking about how he's the one who keeps her voice in tip-top shape, after all. Sure, I think Ayu in 2001-2002 would've bitten your head off if you mouthed off to her, but as a friend/as a comrade reaching for the same goal, she'd probably take your criticism into consideration. I mean she did realize the less than stellar nature of her evolution performance, so I suppose she's able to realize her own faults without being "blind."

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It's insensitive and kind of stupid cos you'll obviously lose your job.
Of course. Her staff wouldn't say it like that because they aren't five years old. I'd expect them to say that her vocals don't seem to be okay and if something's wrong since things don't sound too good or something as opposed to: "Oh, Ayu, by the way, you sucked tonight" like some jealous snobby fan of some other artist trying to get under her skin.

I'm not saying she's perfect or anything, but I think that some people really don't give Ayu enough credit (or perhaps they are giving the Ayu of the past too much credit) and they continue to compare to things done 4 years ago as opposed to simply being concerned with what's happening now. Her vocals at CDL09-10 weren't that great, but according to people who actually saw her at the two shows [12/30 and 12/31] she was perfect on the 30th and on the 31st, she'd had problems with Because of You and I am... and that's it. It's just... strange.

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But her giving her all in her performances =/= her vocals have gone worse.
Yes, but she is trying as hard as she can. I don't think anyone can expect more from her because she's already giving her all and yeah, her voice isn't quite "up there", but what can we do about it? Just sitting around complaining about it isn't going to help. I have faith that she's doing all that she can to fix whatever went wrong with her vocals that night/for all of December/whatever and I think as fans, that's all we can do. Just believe that she's working as hard as she says she is to put on a perfect show. It's just that it seems like she puts so much into the lives and people just love talking smack about all of her efforts.

Somehow, I feel like this is going to end up like one of those "Wait, we aren't allowed to have opinions? threads, but I guess for me, things have always been like this with Ayu. She's never been strong/consistent vocally, so I have never felt that when CDL or a tour came around that things were out of the ordinary. From my experience as an Ayu fan, her performance (usually bad) always seem to be blown out of proportion when they're compared to how past Ayu was. It's a little depressing when some fans are ashamed to say that they like something from Ayu because they're afraid to be jumped on by people who aren't so in love with whatever she's doing. It's looking like one of Ayu's biggest obstacles as an artist is herself and she basically has to outdo herself with everything she does to satisfy some fans and I don't think that's possible after 11 years. Can't people just be satisfied/happy with the way things are?*

*even if some things could be better, but she's working on it! Look at Kazuyoshi -> ND CHOW!

(I think I'm gonna stop here. Haha.)

Last edited by truehappiness; 15th February 2010 at 04:27 AM.
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