Japanese Media Addresses Ayu's Voice

[maikaru]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

@truehappiness: Yeah, I miss that sweet but powerful tone. That's why I think even her early vocals like 98-01 get an unnecessary bad reputation. (only on western forums though; people in Japan seemed to really love that vocal era) They were often very sweet and had a raw emotional quality to them. In fact I've always felt one of her best performances ever came in 1999 w/ her Itsuka no Merry Christmas cover. I haven't heard her sound so soft and sweet like that in such a long time.

Japanese people really love the voice of A Song for XX and LOVEppears...
I really love LOVEppears voice, but A Song for XX voice is a bit too much...
I also really love Itsuka no Merry Christmas performance!!

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Have you actually watched it? I really don't see how it's "bad." That song has been covered about a million times and her rendition of it was the best one I've heard.

I'm pretty sure I did, I remember I disliked it, but can't really remember the performance...

I will watch it again... *found it on youtube*
Well, she is singing better than most of her lives from that era... she usually sings her best at covers (maybe she is more concentrated in order to give a proper and respectful performance of the song^^)

Still, I wouldn't call it amazing or one of her best... the emotional factor is there, and the performance has tons of it... But if there is anything I never found she lost over the years, and that is pretty consistent IMO is the emotion on her voice while singing

[AyumiBest]

I hope Ayu will finally realize that she needs a break!

[njanjayrp]

I remember not liking the Itsuka no Merry Christmas performance, however the Haruyo, koi one was amazing. I liked her A Song for XX voice, but the LOVEppears one was better, still imo, there was something to her 2003 voice that I loved, the forgiveness and HANABI ~episode II~ performances had something incredible about them. They were powerful and she was fully able to control her voice back at the time. Somehow it all went downhill the moment Peco and Princess joined...

[Max_ZZZ]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Honestly, it's because Ayu's story is a very inspirational Cinderella story. Ayu was never good at much growing up, and struggled to find her place in the world. She was found by Max and from there, history was made. Having had no particular ambition to become a singer up until she was offered the chance to do so by max, and having such success is rather AMAZING imo. (This is if you were saying it was harsh because people were saying, "IF SHE COULD DO IT SO CAN I! HAHAHA.")

ya... honestly, that was always my thought on ayu and i thought everyone else shared it too LOL? i guess not, but ya. she had no music background, before she wasn't... as good looking as she is now, she voice was in the same melting pot as every other japanese singer (how he singled her out amazes me lol), and she had no idea how to make music. then she wrote, modeled, and even PRODUCED herself into an icon, that's pretty sick! LOL

and

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

Somehow it all went downhill the moment Peco and Princess joined...

LMAO

[me0wie]

i'm just watching CDL0910. 5 songs into it, imo, i dun think her vocals were bad here... i think the music drowns her most of the time... and she's trying too hard to sing louder than the music. recording like not so good also... more than often, music is tooo loud. correct me if i'm wrong...

i like her deeper voice. but i also like how she (somehow) manage to hit more high notes previously. i think her voice just evolved, and some songs are just not as suitable to be sung with her "new" voice. and it's a good thing she changed, cos her fans grew and changed these 10 years too. we can't expect her to be the same and be still listening to the squeaky voice after 10 years. some ppl can accept the change, some ppl can't.

too much recycled stuff in the recent concerts. once is amazing, twice is ok, thrice is simple... tacky..

[A-TeensFan]

I think the performance of Rule at Kouhaku was great!

[truehappiness]

Looking back at the first article, it seems like it was just a repost of some web-tabloid reporter's page on Techinsight. If you look at some of MAKI's reports on that site, they're like... gossip columns about celebrities and their issues like affairs and addictions to alcohol. (http://japan.techinsight.jp/?s=MAKI&x=0&y=0) Hardly "media coverage" really...

Though the J-CAST article seemed a little alarming, they used sources like Yahoo!Answers Japan (the American version of which we all kind of know to be a little fishy/crazy at times) and surfing YouTube to refer to performances she'd been terrible in. It doesn't seem like the article was created to do much other than bash Ayu. Whoever wrote it must really not like her that much...

[emi♡]

^honestly...I was wondering why no one was saying anything about the credibility of the articles lol

[nemesisyume]

Originally Posted by emiko

^honestly...I was wondering why no one was saying anything about the credibility of the articles lol

nobody cared - people have just been waiting for someone to bring it up
without them having to say it all and then getting banned in 3..2..1 etc.

it's like when something sucks I can't say it here or people will hate me
even more, I just go to last.fm.

one of the reasons why I've been avoiding this thread is bcos
I was sure that 40% of the posts would be ''omg ure a hater becose u
dun liek areyome hamasukis live vocals''.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by emiko

^honestly...I was wondering why no one was saying anything about the credibility of the articles lol

There are users who did bring it up.

Originally Posted by Raiu-Ayu

As for her Japan noticing her 'voice is bad these days' look at some older lives. God-awful. ayu is like anyone else: she has good days, she has bad days. She's not a machine, she won't be 100% every time. Also its 2 articles written by God knows who. And as for the little comments they've included, I don't see any source. Who's to say that these people aren't just major ayu haters and aren't just bashing for instead of someone else? Also, ayu just released a single. This is prime time for all the haters to jump right in with all the little comments because she's outsold someone else they like.

Though, I suppose it ended up as a less troublesome way of starting an "Ayu's vocals are utter crap in 2009/2010!" thread.

Originally Posted by nemesisyume

nobody cared - people have just been waiting for someone to bring it up without them having to say it all and then getting banned in 3..2..1 etc. it's like when something sucks I can't say it here or people will hate me even more, I just go to last.fm.

I don't think you quite understand the way it comes across in some of the posts you make when you don't like something...

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by nemesisyume

nobody cared - people have just been waiting for someone to bring it up
without them having to say it all and then getting banned in 3..2..1 etc.

it's like when something sucks I can't say it here or people will hate me
even more, I just go to last.fm.

one of the reasons why I've been avoiding this thread is bcos
I was sure that 40% of the posts would be ''omg ure a hater becose u
dun liek areyome hamasukis live vocals''.

You don't say Now, I am pretty sure this has been brought up after every live performance/concert she had in the past 2 years so I pretty much don't get what you're trying to say

[ownsarai]

The credibility was brought up, and SunshineSlayer said they were reputable sources. >.> But if one of them is from a gossip column, is that considered credible?

[tourniquet]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

That's a terrible thing to wish upon Ayu as a fan, honestly... who says that they want their favorite artist to fail so that they can rest?

I don't care for sales or popularity. it's not like she'll spend the rest of her life in the poorhouse after a break. even her core audiences won't last forever if the decline continues. I sure won't be there anymore when she records an album full of RED LINE-esque vocals.

the bling is only one side. but a minimum of voice is the other. no one expects her to do anything extraordinary. just sound nice in the studio.

[nemesisyume]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I don't think you quite understand the way it comes across in some of the posts you make when you don't like something...

what didn't I like this time?

[axmish87]

Just let the lady rest...
We all now she tries hard for all of us,though the performance at CDL09-10
was NOT exactly brilliant,but by any means it wasn't hideous,there was some nicely
done songs but overall experience is,to say at least not satisfying!
I truly wish her best and hope that she FINALLY go and GET SOME REST
and just as advice DO FIND NEW SINGING COACH,PLEASE AYUMI

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by ownsarai

The credibility was brought up, and SunshineSlayer said they were reputable sources. >.> But if one of them is from a gossip column, is that considered credible?

I would like to say something utterly mean now, but I won't

Originally Posted by tourniquet

I don't care for sales or popularity. it's not like she'll spend the rest of her life in the poorhouse after a break. even her core audiences won't last forever if the decline continues. I sure won't be there anymore when she records an album full of RED LINE-esque vocals.

the bling is only one side. but a minimum of voice is the other. no one expects her to do anything extraordinary. just sound nice in the studio.

I thought her RED LINE vocals were better than on the two lead tracks ^^ No one expects her to do anything extraordinary you say? Then why are people constantly complaining about whatever song she does?

[tourniquet]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I thought her RED LINE vocals were better than on the two lead tracks ^^ No one expects her to do anything extraordinary you say? Then why are people constantly complaining about whatever song she does?

extraordinary as in vocally extraordinary. I've seen no one who expects her to sing like aguilera or carey.

btw listen to the note 3:37 in RED LINE. I mean... seriously...

[maikaru]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Looking back at the first article, it seems like it was just a repost of some web-tabloid reporter's page on Techinsight. If you look at some of MAKI's reports on that site, they're like... gossip columns about celebrities and their issues like affairs and addictions to alcohol. (http://japan.techinsight.jp/?s=MAKI&x=0&y=0) Hardly "media coverage" really...

Though the J-CAST article seemed a little alarming, they used sources like Yahoo!Answers Japan (the American version of which we all kind of know to be a little fishy/crazy at times) and surfing YouTube to refer to performances she'd been terrible in. It doesn't seem like the article was created to do much other than bash Ayu. Whoever wrote it must really not like her that much...

The articles themselves are not "discredible," or so, because as I said before, these are the "impressions" of the media, and public reaction, and the one from Livedoor is selected to be shown on Livedoor news, which means that it was decided that it addresses an issue that many Japanese will be talking about. Livedoor is a reputable news collection source, so it's not just a gossip column.

J-Cast one is definitely not gossip one, as many people will read J-Cast for entertainment news, like how Americans will read People Online or Entertainment Weekly. These are how most articles about entertainers are... However, I should point out that the article is from 22nd of December, 9 days before Kouhaku... This is purely about Evolution, and Boys&Girls performance.

I dont think we should say "Oh it's gossip, and they always talk about this" because Livedoor and J-Cast has never talked about this one. The writing styles included in some of the articles aren't very nice, but they speak the truth about what most people who listened to it think... It's important to realize that of course there have been websites who say bad things about her, but never any of these better sites.

Anyways, it's up to you how to interpret these sites, or even dismiss them all together. I didnt even want this to become a "hers voice sucks" thread, I just wanted to present news that I read and was shocked, and I wanted to add the opinion of these news sources to the conversation about Ayumi Hamasaki all together.

Now that she is on break, I hope she can recover somewhat. Reading some responses in this thread, I think it could be possible that she just strained her voice once, but instead of resting, she just continued singing, and eventually strained it completely. That's entirely possible... but we dont know...

All I want is that she doesnt have to yell to sing anymore... I hopefully wanna listen to her sing Dearest once more, without yelling...

[AyUmIXx]

can we do something to make her rest anyway?