[News] Ayu to perform at Music Station 31 March

[Diego-kun]

The performance was not good guys, don't try to fool yourselves.

It was more or less acceptable until she started shouting at the end of TO BE. Vocals aside, I don't get why she overact so much, with fake crying during TO BE and shaking her head like crazy in ourselves. In concerts with the scenography and background VTRs that try to portray a sad story might be fine but on TV performances it's out of place so it just makes her look ridiculous.

I like watching Ayu on TV shows but I agree with all of you who said that this type of performances worsen her image and japanese people use them to make fun of Ayu. You can have a look at Girls Channel topic about Music Station and see the countless memes...

[truehappiness]

Her MS performances are sort of always lacking IMO minus like, that Life performance in 2011.

I think she just doesn't do TV enough nowadays to separate live-on-TV and live-on-stage.

[~*Mabushii*~]

I thought TO BE was awful...
But I actually really enjoyed ourselves. I just got done watching this performance too, so it's fresh on my mind. I was sad with how bad TO BE sounded.

[Mirrorcle Monster]

The dramatism is too much haha she hasnt sound great on TV for like a decade, why would you expect amazing vocals suddenly. Also, the worst she can do is choose a ballad from 1999, she would have done way better with something like JEWEL or Days or even SEASONS, which she has adapted really nicely to her current voice. Also, I couldnt care less about what japanese people think tbh they are extremely ageist and extremely superficial

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Her MS performances are sort of always lacking IMO minus like, that Life performance in 2011.

I think she just doesn't do TV enough nowadays to separate live-on-TV and live-on-stage.

I disagree. She used to have a lot of really good TV lives.

[stepYOU1234]

I kind of liked the end of Ourselves with that new arrangement, wasn't too keen on the rest though.

She seemed to be trying to put too much power into TO BE and ruining it by doing so. If she had kept it soft and gentle throughout it would probably have been ok.

What is disappointing is Ayu was improving her voice a few years ago and seemed to be working with a good vocal coach and it seemed really promising but it has gotten worse again.

I've also been watching quite a few old Ayu lives lately and I miss the way she could be awkward but hold the stage at the same time. Her performances now seem a bit too over acted? That selfie pose with Yoshiki just didn't seem like Ayu to me??

[hayasaki]

Ayu's got some worse performance than this one. Don't be too hard on her LOL.

[kotora]

I love TO BE a lot but this performance of TO BE is really bad.

I love this version of ourselves but her voice is just ok.

She needs to train her voice again with the previous voice trainer.

[ayuinh.k?]

Someone needs to send a link of that TO BE performance to Lis Lewis (the vocal coach in L.A that helped retrain ayu's vocals during 2014)

[Ruan Borges]

Originally Posted by Pieces_of_SEVEN

^soooo you think having an objective opinion, or being realistic, is considered being a hater...?

I mean the nasty ones obviously are. But I don't feel like people who have opinions like me are. Idk, this performance has me stressed out tbh lol

I was talking about the haters on twitter. Talking only about her body, age and blah blah, it's pure hate.

[hayasaki]

Originally Posted by ayuinh.k?

Someone needs to send a link of that TO BE performance to Lis Lewis (the vocal coach in L.A that helped retrain ayu's vocals during 2014)

Yes! Sign me up on this petition. Is there a way to mke this possible? I think it all depends on ayu in the end. What if their schedules don't meet. :/

[Cahz-]

Who the hell cares what japanese people think? As someone said, most of them are superficial, and only care about the looks. Girls Channel are on another level tho, they are just annoying bitter bitches.
At this point, she got nothing to lose. She won't ever sell a lot of copies like in the past, I don't think A BEST 3 would ever cross the 100k mark.
Otherwise, personally I love the dramatic part of her performances. The crazier the better lol Also, for me it's the same Ayumi as always except for the voice, which she struggles so much since becaming half deaf.

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by Diego-kun

The performance was not good guys, don't try to fool yourselves.

This. And how can the opinion of most Japanese people not matter, when it concerns a Japanese artist. . It's mean what those haters are saying but still.

[LEOyumi]

Originally Posted by SEOHYUN

I mean... the stage setup was nice, with the chains and the wires and all the things. At least the staff tried.

I like it too, but it has nothing to do with the overall feeling of the performance? I guess it would've been nice if she performed the original version of Ourselves... This jazzy version doesn't match the stage setup at all. TO BE doesn't as well. It ended up being strange o_o

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I disagree. She used to have a lot of really good TV lives.

After a certain point, her MS lives were always kind of middling to me. I'd say it was sometime after 2007 or 2008 where it was more miss than hit. Like she would never sound fantastic at MUSIC STATION but it was never to the point where so many people had complaints about her voice.

Originally Posted by melissalove

This. And how can the opinion of most Japanese people not matter, when it concerns a Japanese artist. . It's mean what those haters are saying but still.

Well, the people that are Ayu fans say that it was rather nice while the people that say she's horrible/a hag/whatever else have said the same things for the last 10+ years.

[se7entheaven]

I think she also needs to stop wearing all these cheap looking dresses. For someone who has amazing style off stage I'm always amazed by her lackluster choices for outfit in stage. She gotta improve.

[DavidChaiLatte]

You know, the funny thing is I was already extremely worried about the fragile state of her voice when they announced that the CDM tour was going to be 3 hours long. I know she was just getting better with her techniques at the time as proven by CDL 14-15, but even then you could just hear that her vocal cords were just not up for that level of heavy duty anymore... and then the rest was history.

Like everyone else here, I really can't bear listening to her current live vocals anymore, but I still appreciate her just for the fact that she's written so many songs that have saved me from the darkest periods of my life.

[Bigtop]

Don't know why this episode of MSte - the entire episode or even Ayu's part itself - isn't on JPopsuki yet... Hmm... (Although there is a download link here on AHS)

I may try to make my verdict after I see it, right now I haven't.

[voltron]

She definitely seems to struggle with stage-appropriate vs. live TV- appropriate and that's one of the biggest issues. With all these MSta performances, she always wears a float dress and it just feels...Inappropriate for the song choices?

That's said, TO BE was good, except the chorus and the verses of ourselves was more enjoyable than when the song was new IMO...but the ending got out of control. Also, with older songs, I think she'd benefit from a heavier backing track, like she used to use. To be honest, her early vocals weren't amazing, but she harmonized with her backing tracks well.

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

this particular performance was certainly a disaster, but we're simply missing the bigger picture: her charisma and talent as a live performer has diminished to the extent that it's beginning to embarass her own fans (i'm embarrassed that she's still even performing on shows like MUSIC STATION that perpetuate the spiritually exhausted J-POP idol-machine)

her live shows have become complete spectacle packaged for sterile mass-minded experiences, she overacts on stage to the point of camp, and vocally she's far from fantastic.

as a fan for nearly 15 years now, my wish is that after the 20th anniversary, she becomes a full-time studio musician. just fucking drop albums, man.

Originally Posted by se7entheaven

She seems to fall into the cliche hole ala Mariah and Whitney. The next time we heard she probably lip sync her entire tour. As someone mentioned above, it's so embarrassing to hear and see that she become what she is now. Compared to her old times where she was busier she still delivered and served us great vocal and image. Now she seem go be taking things too lightly and.... I don't know. It's just sad. I love her so much.

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

I'm a fan for 14 years and I'm honestly grieving for my Ayu fandom.

I feel you all. I shivered from the beginning of TO BE chorus till the end of the performance. Also, her dress was so unflattering. I thought she had gained weight until I watched the beginning when she wore a different outfit. She used to be a really good live performance (well probably not vocally), with right choices of make ups and outfits. Being a fan for almost 18 years, it's really hard to cut the bond from her. I don't listen to her new music anymore, but I still have her old songs (up to FIVE) on my iPod. I still watch her old tv performances from time to time (e.g., watching HEAVEN first MS performance and Moments Pop Jam right now). I always secretly hope that she's have a second peak (just like Namie when she went back to the peak with 60s70s80s). It seems like that hope is not going to happen with her current vocal/image. To be honest I think her path is even worse than Seiko (which I wished she didn't follow). She really needs to rewatch her older performance if she wanna stay relevant to the public. I'm really sure that her performance last night will be dissed on social medias. I'm also surprised that 80% of the comments here are actually more negative than I thought (usually some of us would come up with reasons to defend her).

I feel like I'm connected to the old ayu, and I know nothing about the new ayu anymore...