Ayu's "worsening" voice? - Page 5 - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai
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  #81  
Old 15th February 2010, 12:40 AM
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That is what I am looking for. If you can upload it and post it to the downloads section, it would be great. AHS used to host it and it was taken down a while back.
Ok, I'm trying to put it on a file sharing website (hope there won't be any error message at the end -_-)

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She does have trouble singing, but I don't think that it's something that should always be focused upon. Yes, she's a singer, but she's not exactly a normal act. She came up from basically being "nothing" in terms of fame to becoming a pop icon within a matter of years. Her debut is probably one of the most true-to-life Cinderella stories that I have ever seen... a girl who thought she had no talents whatsoever beginning her life as a singer at the age of 19 and turning into one of the most successful Japanese pop artists the country has ever seen. She's never been strong vocally, and I think she would agree if you asked her, but I think that the emotion/heart/soul she puts into performing and getting her feelings out there in her songs more than makes up for whatever she lacks technically when it comes to her voice.
I agree with you, but as I think she is a good singer, it's a bit difficult for me to accept her actual voice. I'm not making a drama out of it haha, just that it's a bit sad.
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  #82  
Old 15th February 2010, 02:05 AM
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If we want to talk about a-nation '09... BLUE BIRD was horrible choppy in its chorus. Compared to the recording in Secret, the one in a-nation '09 was extremely staccato-ish in her articulations and execution of the notes... that's just not very good imo.

Anyway, about her peaking when her voice kinda sucked... well sorry but from her debut-2000 her nasal-screechy voice was that kind of voice that Japan loved. I don't have it with me now, but I remember an article mentioning about her monochrome in the "A" single, and she was praised for that style of singing in monochrome.

Of course I'm not saying it's bad that her voice changed; when her voice went a little lower and added the vibratos in 2002.. that was wonderful, no? In fact 2003 had some of her best vocal performances, particularly in TV. 2004-2006 was her best years in terms of vocal performance to me, cos she had everything - tone, technique, control and quality.

And I mean, I'm not picking on her or whatever. But hey she's a singer. And behind all the sexy get-ups, cool gimmicks, singers do one thing - sing. It's like... being an artist an using the best canvas and most brilliant colors but sucking at drawing. What's the point again?

Ayu CAN sing honey. In fact I believe 2002-2006 was the period where she really proved she's not that "random girl Max picked up at a bar". But things have gone downhill ever since late-2007... and it's a fact. Nothing to be ashamed of seriously, because even Ayu herself knows and recognized it. I'm glad she's trying to make it better, so that's all that's enough for me.

Things and people change, and I know it'll be hard for Ayu to return to that period where her voice just blew me away. But it's all right... nowadays my standards for Ayu have dropped tremendously anyway, and I would say most of her recent performances in the current Ayu standard is fine.

Can We Go Back to where we used to be? Guess not.
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  #83  
Old 15th February 2010, 02:15 AM
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Ayu CAN sing honey. In fact I believe 2002-2006 was the period where she really proved she's not that "random girl Max picked up at a bar". But things have gone downhill ever since late-2007... and it's a fact. Nothing to be ashamed of seriously, because even Ayu herself knows and recognized it. I'm glad she's trying to make it better, so that's all that's enough for me.

Things and people change, and I know it'll be hard for Ayu to return to that period where her voice just blew me away. But it's all right... nowadays my standards for Ayu have dropped tremendously anyway, and I would say most of her recent performances in the current Ayu standard is fine.

-some song title- to where we used to be? Guess not.
Sorry, don't call anyone honey if you're trying to prove a point, and don't use some crappy song title to try and make light of this situation.

I would say she did prove herself, but it took years for her to get to that point. Just like from 1998-2002 was her period of "training" vocally, she has probably started all over from the beginning when it comes to her vocals. You can't just suddenly just revert to the way you used to be. It's like how people have to go through therapy to begin learning how to walk again if they've lost use of their legs. It takes time, and it doesn't seem like you acknowledge that at all. I mean what if you were an artist and people kept complaining about how choppy your vocals were 3 years after you released a track even though you were performing as best as you could at the time?
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  #84  
Old 15th February 2010, 02:19 AM
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Sorry, don't call anyone honey if you're trying to prove a point, and don't use some crappy song title to try and make light of this situation.
No offence, but that was uncalled for.

I actually agree with waterballoon here.
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  #85  
Old 15th February 2010, 02:32 AM
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Sorry, don't call anyone honey if you're trying to prove a point, and don't use some crappy song title to try and make light of this situation.
Well I had to, considering the, "She was never a good singer..." excuse came up again a few replies back, when that wasn't the case unfortunately? I feel like people are undermining Ayu for her singing abilities for God knows what reason.

And you don't like Kelly Clarkson? O_O" + :O

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I would say she did prove herself, but it took years for her to get to that point. Just like from 1998-2002 was her period of "training" vocally, she has probably started all over from the beginning when it comes to her vocals. You can't just suddenly just revert to the way you used to be. It's like how people have to go through therapy to begin learning how to walk again if they've lost use of their legs. It takes time, and it doesn't seem like you acknowledge that at all. I mean what if you were an artist and people kept complaining about how choppy your vocals were 3 years after you released a track even though you were performing as best as you could at the time?
Well, I do acknowledge that, which was why I said it's all right even if she can't be as good as she was, because I know she's trying. And fine I would say that after losing her hearing completely she would have to re-train everything from the basics (If she did). Doing that is difficult, and more so if you have tons of lives to do at the same time.

But maybe it's just me... but would your voice go all raspy and choppy just because you lost your hearing on one ear. I don't mind if she goes out of tune or whatever because I can understand that; but seriously, raspy and choppy voice? I can't attribute that to her loss of hearing, sorry. And if she's breaking her notes up so she can "listen" to how it sounds like, then firstly it isn't working, and secondly it obviously isn't helping much.

And I don't mean to sound harsh.
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  #86  
Old 15th February 2010, 02:47 AM
Cherry Dynamite Cherry Dynamite is offline
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I agree I mean we can't expect her voice to just come back because that's impossible considering her voiced is so strained right now and the fact she's growing old. I think that she is constantly improving but it's just that her voice is strained.

For me I always loved Ayu since I found her out and I always will her voice doesn't matter to me I love Ayu and that'll never change.
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  #87  
Old 15th February 2010, 03:15 AM
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I feel like people are undermining Ayu for her singing abilities for God knows what reason.
They're "undermining" them because some people treat them like they were godly or something when at their best, she was probably only better than the average idol singer. I think that Ayu's voice is amazing and unique, and no one else in the world can sound like her without sounding like a complete idiot, but as for her vocal ability compared to people who are classically trained/have always strived to become singers since they were young, she cannot hold a candle to them. However, this doesn't matter to me because despite that, she is able to express herself through the songs/performance even though her vocals are not incredible, like I said before, she makes up for it with her passion.

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But maybe it's just me... but would your voice go all raspy and choppy just because you lost your hearing on one ear. I don't mind if she goes out of tune or whatever because I can understand that; but seriously, raspy and choppy voice? I can't attribute that to her loss of hearing, sorry. And if she's breaking her notes up so she can "listen" to how it sounds like, then firstly it isn't working, and secondly it obviously isn't helping much.
It's a combination of her losing her hearing in one ear along with the new singing style. Just singing in a different way is hard for some people, and Ayu has to do it with only one working ear. She could sing nasally if she wanted to, and it'd be easier since that's what she's used to, but instead she chooses to use the more difficult technique. It quite possibly explains why everything sounds so different from the way things used to sound because she's completely outside of her comfort zone vocally. For someone like Ayu, I'm sure she's having Kome [her vocal supervisor or whatever] tell her what she's doing wrong and such. If she was singing badly without trying to fix it like some people seem to suspect (which I think of as complete bull) someone would've told her she wasn't doing things right. Ayu is the singer here, and I'm sure she knows wtf she's doing after 11 years in the business even though some people want some forumgoers to believe that they "know what's going on behind the scenes" when they really don't. I don't know either, but I have faith that she's trying as hard as she can to give everyone who listens to her music the best performance possible even if her voice isn't 100%. This is the woman who performs with broken fingers, a sprained ankle, a severe cold, a lost voice, and so on. I think like many (normal) people, Ayu will have her off days when it comes to her voice, and there just isn't anything she can do about it once she goes on stage. Do you expect her to just stop singing because her voice isn't working properly? The show must go on, after all...
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  #88  
Old 15th February 2010, 03:24 AM
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They're "undermining" them because some people treat them like they were godly or something when at their best, she was probably only better than the average idol singer. I think that Ayu's voice is amazing and unique, and no one else in the world can sound like her without sounding like a complete idiot, but as for her vocal ability compared to people who are classically trained/have always strived to become singers since they were young, she cannot hold a candle to them. However, this doesn't matter to me because despite that, she is able to express herself through the songs/performance even though her vocals are not incredible, like I said before, she makes up for it with her passion.
Still, that is a fact that she had decent singing abilities for a period of time. Of course it's gonna be unfair to compare her to other female solo singers, because everyone is all different, but I've always been comparing based on Ayu herself over the years.

If she has sung well in 2002-2006, then what's so wrong in admitting that and think, "She can sing".?

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It's a combination of her losing her hearing in one ear along with the new singing style. Just singing in a different way is hard for some people, and Ayu has to do it with only one working ear. She could sing nasally if she wanted to, and it'd be easier since that's what she's used to, but instead she chooses to use the more difficult technique. It quite possibly explains why everything sounds so different from the way things used to sound because she's completely outside of her comfort zone vocally. For someone like Ayu, I'm sure she's having Kome [her vocal supervisor or whatever] tell her what she's doing wrong and such. If she was singing badly without trying to fix it like some people seem to suspect (which I think of as complete bull) someone would've told her she wasn't doing things right. Ayu is the singer here, and I'm sure she knows wtf she's doing after 11 years in the business even though some people want some forumgoers to believe that they "know what's going on behind the scenes" when they really don't. I don't know either, but I have faith that she's trying as hard as she can to give everyone who listens to her music the best performance possible even if her voice isn't 100%. This is the woman who performs with broken fingers, a sprained ankle, a severe cold, a lost voice, and so on. I think like many (normal) people, Ayu will have her off days when it comes to her voice, and there just isn't anything she can do about it once she goes on stage. Do you expect her to just stop singing because her voice isn't working properly? The show must go on, after all...
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.

What I'm trying to say is that... she might have made singing mistakes, but no one could have told her, you know? Like you never know... sometimes people just and to everything so they can keep their rice bowls...

And yes I know she's a woman who tries to give the perfect show all the time; I don't deny that, and I salute her for that. But her giving her all in her performances =/= her vocals have gone worse. 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?
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  #89  
Old 15th February 2010, 03:52 AM
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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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  #90  
Old 15th February 2010, 05:36 AM
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i think her voice is just overworked...plus the eye problem is affecting her pitch as well
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  #91  
Old 15th February 2010, 06:09 AM
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eye problem ? whats with her eyes? i thought ear.
i don't care if ayu's voice have worsen over the years & i will still love her for who and what she is.
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  #92  
Old 15th February 2010, 06:15 AM
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Just one thing which I feel: watch past lives, it seems it's really easy for her to sing every notes, with a clear and controlled voice. Now she is literally struggling to sing properly.
Just one random 'old' live from youtube:

Compare it to You were... lives (i think those songs are quite similar to sing) and the gap is pretty obvious isn't it?
It's worsening in the sense that she can sing properly nowadays.
i agree with you i watched all her lives too and with the past few years she seems to have more and more diffculties to sing correctly her own songs.

sometimes all the" lalala" and the "yeah yeah" are overdone or she try to go higher than the actual song and music which make it sounds not as good .

i wonder however if her loosing of her capacity to hear on one ear have something do to with it ?
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  #93  
Old 15th February 2010, 01:27 PM
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I can't believe the amount of crap some people in here write when I clearly outlines the evolution of her vocals in an earlier post of mine. 1998-2002 wasn't the time with her "horrible" vocals, she had a little problem with her breathing through her nose, but that's it. The songs on LOVEppears, Duty and I Am... are the hardest in her discography and she sang them very nicely live especially in her earliest performances, people like to call it bad because they don't like the high pitched voice of that time.
Her vocals changed but stayed on around the same level until 2005, she managed to start breathing properly around 2003 and develop a controlled vibrato, however her range shrinked(probably due to her straining her voice too much in her early career)
Around the beginning of 2006 her hearing started to affect the control of her pitch, she started getting shaky in live performances and began to stop notes early because she felt that she would go offtune(JEWEL performances showed that very obvious).
Her vocals were worst around CDL0708 when her ear completely went deaf, the performances of fated and Together When were good because she was far away from the main stage for the most time and therefore heard herself better on her in-ears + she was very focused as seen on her face.
At that time she struggled to hit notes and therefore lost control over her vibrato and had problems breathing properly. These problems still are there today, but she constantly improved over the last two years, CDL0910 had some performances showcasing good vocals and even the performances ruled "bad" most people on a technical level weren't even that bad, she had a way better control over her voice, her breathing, her vibrato. Her range began getting bigger with her hitting notes in Rule and GREEN she hasn't sung since M! She will never be back to her old vocals entirely, you can't sing that good with one deaf ear, hearing yourself is the most important part of singing by far, but she is improving. I would say she is back to her vocals in late 2006/early 2007 by now.

I hope this is understood now, I don't want to write a long essay about this next time xD

PS: Ayu never changed her vocal technique, what she talked about when she wrote about Startin' wasn't really a different technique, but just singing more forcefully with more air.

Last edited by noidea; 15th February 2010 at 01:34 PM.
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  #94  
Old 15th February 2010, 01:40 PM
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^ Yeah you wrote is greatly noidea
Totally agree with every single word
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  #95  
Old 15th February 2010, 01:45 PM
Cherry Dynamite Cherry Dynamite is offline
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I agree this craps have to end...
I haven't been an Ayu fan for a year yet and I think her vocals have somehow improved but at the same time it sounds much more strained. I mean try recording singles then an album then tour in just a year those can strained your voice.

I don't sing or something but yeah hearing does affect your singing. Yeah you can probably still sing well but you need training for that (I think Ayu is working on that).
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  #96  
Old 16th February 2010, 02:44 PM
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I also love her deepening voice. When I got into Ayu, the first song I ever heard was Dearest, from the ending of the InuYasha anime.. About two years later (2009) I decided I'd listen to her live, so I found the clip of Ayu performing Dearest in her Asia Tour 2008.. and omg my jaw dropped. It sounded so different, but when I searched for others, I noticed her voice really had changed from the early 2000s and onwards. And I really don't mind. Her voice sounds really different, but still so so good! That's what I love about her
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  #97  
Old 28th May 2010, 08:30 AM
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You guys, now I just found out why Ayu's voice is changing over the years:

She wants to get rid of her nasal tone!

I discovered it when I tried to get rid of mine, and I failed~ (sigh)

It's so hard, I sounded so harsh when I tried to speak like "normal"-------

Nevertheless, I think Ayu tries to sing from the diaphragm and not her "nose" anymore,

but then she loses her control because she wanted to maintain her tone nasal-free!

I prefer her nasal tone any day, because she sounds so great with it!

I mean, it's not that nasal ~ it's actually pretty nice, (^v^)b

So that where she is today--I think.
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