Opinions on Ayu's music and voice

[ayumin]

Her throat is really awful.
Since she always care about her throat,
Her vibrato is not stabilized.

[LX DAI]

Originally posted by tetsuo69
only true fans like me and some will stay ^_^ and wont complain

This was brought to me before, but I said it in a different way but uh...

So I'm not a true fan, all the people who have posted about what they think that doesn't agree with you is a true fan?

If you are trying to send a rift in arguements like I do, this can easily become one.

I do realize something. When you are going to college and listening to an mp3 player with Ayumi on it and it's playing UNITE!. That hurts my ears. Alot. Her EEEEEEEE's are so loud that people next to me, in front of me, and behind me can hear it. (I ride on a bus). I refuse to turn down my music since I dunno... I can tolerate lots of noise and a varity of pitches of noise. Anyway, then I compared her EEEEEEE's to Poker Face and aiya. Probably why I don't have it on my mp3 disc. Then I took the same sound of EEEEEEEE's compared them with Rainbow and a lot of improvement. Then took a live perfomance and compared the two. (I chose Rainbow becuase it's my favorite song)

Now I know live and recorded are to sound different, some may say better others may say worse, however they should be somewhat similar. So I'm listening to her live and then I play back the mp3 and I'd say they sound pretty much similar, if not better because she sung that song very well.

If you want to say that's a later performance or mor recent one then this fits in with the topic. Granted her newer songs aren't as noticably great as Evolution where lot's of people enjoyed that and recongnized it more over memorial address, but she has improved a lot a lot on her voice talents.

I'm not fully saying she has a great grasp on pitches and what not but a good deal of improvement and hopefully she is picking up what she's doing wrong here.

She has a small range of pitches to her voice, people were commenting on how it's too high, and she can sing low and everything, but to actually get a firm grasp of a low pitch singing voice and to use it properly takes a lot of effort and perhaps even inner talaent. (maybe she lacks it maybe she hasn't discovered it yet?) but to get to the point of a good low voice mixed in with a good nuetral voice and perhaps a good higher pitch takes a great deal of effort. To get low is basically the same to get a high pitch. You are moving from nuetral pitch, down to a lower one which can be equalavent to moving from a nuetral pitch to a higher. I think there are more higher pitch notes than lower but only like opera singers and (that I know of who has the world record) Mariah Carey can sing between each pitch and able to jump from low to high so quickly.

Maybe a good break for some time for her personal life could help and then another voice rehersal/training can shien up some new things for her. Most singers now and days are much like Ayumi Hamasaki all across the world. They get a great background music going, a catchy chorus or tune and bam, they keep pumping them out but they lack the ability to change their pitches. (Christina Aguelera*sp* is an exception, her voice is actually very strong, she just didn't do anything with it)

To have a Japanese pop star sing higher and lower pitch vocals fluently and noticably well is actually something to recongnize as a fine artist. How many Japanese singers do people know of, if any, that had a great singing voice and could control as well as people want Ayumi to(unless I am just presuming that is what peopl want of her)?

Now one last note, japanese language uses the "EEEEE'S" a a lot in their spoken language. Probably a good reason why their words can ryhme. And if you raise the pitch to their words, perhaps you will get the same sounding EEEE's as Ayumi does. I mean, how else can you raise the pitch of those words without it sounding too high yet you want to give it a strong momentum?

[hiro]

We're not talking about Ayu's range here. Heck, i dont care if her range is only 2 octaves. I only care about her singing mostly within her comfort zone. She just sounds like she's straiing too much to make her voice sound high-pitched. It's already taken a toll on her voice. Better stop before she completely looses it. Maybe with the current trend shifting into more mature sounding singers, Ayu might consider a revision in her singing style.

[LX DAI]

maybe with some codiene my foot and body will feel better

i agree with hiro! she needs to sound more like Memorial Address voice and Rainbow and and... im tired

[chibi_sunny]

I don't really mind her voice now, though i think that she's definitely improved from A Song for XX. The only thing i cant tolerate is when Ayu sings in English. It's absolutely horrible. The only one which is somewhat okay is Real Me and Step You. She did once mention that most Japanese singers try to use English in their songs but she herself is not gonna do that. Ayu should just stick with that.

[Dreamland]

I know her voice is ehhh in some songs other songs its just like wow I wish she would sing like this more often but its hard for me to really get into her because her voice is very nasal and almost whiny

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by hiro

Heck, i dont care if her range is only 2 octaves. I only care about her singing mostly within her comfort zone.

yup, thats enough for any artiste..

[Ayane]

I definitely like the changes in her voice. The best thing about her voice is that she sings with emotion and can adjust her voice according to the type of song. Example, in 'Replace' her voice sounds happy and energetic while in 'HEAVEN' she sounds very solemn.

[RAISKA]

2001 ROCKS 4eva!

It's my fav period of Ayu's career, because, everything I think was great-the music, and the voice. Everything was balanced.

The voice has improved, for me it has become much more better than it was, but somehow, Ayu doesn't use it in correct way. She's...umm, well, listen to "fairyland", for example. The voice she's using here-she's trying to sing high up, `cause her real voice now is so mature, deep, and with vibrations. And she plays "high" voice, that's a pity!

The last SINGLE I REALLY FALLED IN LOVE WITH was "Moments"...then, I don't like her "like rock" music, I hate it! The harmony and beaut has gone, I think..only rock beats-music is the same all the time!

[tinka69]

I think her voice was the best during the Duty era. It may have been higher pitched, but her recent voice has really put me off her music. Too low, too forced.

[CHE.R.RY]

Originally Posted by tinka69

I think her voice was the best during the Duty era. It may have been higher pitched, but her recent voice has really put me off her music. Too low, too forced.

LOL I thought it was the worst in that era xD

[ayu-fan]

the worst is A Song for XX era. i can say she can't sing at all, so many off keys and high pitched annoying voice. i think that's because of her lyrics so the album can achieved success.

i love her vocal now, btw. but i hate her horrible vibrato sometimes. >.<

[Alison]

My Story/(miss) Understood is the best for me, her voice is gorgeous.
I like all her music though, so meh.

[Zeke.]

^ I totally agree. I always loved Ayu's live voice - deep and sexy, but recently all of her songs she has sung with a deep voice and it's getting old...

[CHE.R.RY]

Originally Posted by ayu-fan

the worst is A Song for XX era. i can say she can't sing at all, so many off keys and high pitched annoying voice. i think that's because of her lyrics so the album can achieved success.
but i hate her horrible vibrato sometimes. >.<

I honestly can't tell which is worse...Duty or A Song for XX
Both were pretty terrible in my opinion. But her vibrato can be a little repulsive at times I agree. I'm used to it by now but there are times when I feel like I could do without it.

[Zeke.]

I really don't get what is so terrible about the vibrato. I mean, I think it sounds very refined and professional

[CHE.R.RY]

^ It's just different from what we're used to hearing. So it sounds kind of strange.

[ayu_ready?]

I enjoyed some of them, some I didn't
at least she had good album concepts and some greaaat PVs comparing to what we have now you know...

actually, everything is very simple - in NTV 2004 Ayu explained that at the time of RAINBOW everything seemed to her perfect, she even was scared of that and talked a lot with Max of it
I think it explains 'sugary' thing

[Suteisi]

At this point, it's normal for people to like and dislike certain things. We're all different, so we won't all agree on the same thing. Just being respectful will make a big difference.

And also, you have to think that it's her job. What will you do if you don't like your job anymore? Change it! She's changed the way she sings probably because she wanted to do something different, and/or didn't like how it was before.

There are some songs I dislike. I don't understand why you are still listening to them if they annoy you? Just remove them from you mp3/iPod. That's the end of it.

[lfe.]

Originally Posted by Neffiline

At this point, it's normal for people to like and dislike certain things. We're all different, so we won't all agree on the same thing. Just being respectful will make a big difference.

And also, you have to think that it's her job. What will you do if you don't like your job anymore? Change it! She's changed the way she sings probably because she wanted to do something different, and/or didn't like how it was before.

There are some songs I dislike. I don't understand why you are still listening to them if they annoy you? Just remove them from you mp3/iPod. That's the end of it.

well said. much time has passed, and it is time for change. cant be always doing the same thing because people will grow tired of it, especially ayu would.