Aya Hirano can’t sing
That’s the truth and you know it.
Well she certainly sings better than me, but so does most of the entire population of this planet! I will be lying if I say that I don’t like “God knows…”, but I think Aya’s over-hyped popularity comes almost entirely from her role as Haruhi.
So anyway, Aya’s 3rd Single “Asu no Prism” went on sale today and the first pressing sold out in a matter of seconds with people queuing overnight, selling their first borns and whatever not for a copy of more mediocre music from a cute-looking girl. Surprise, surprise.
Image from Akiba-blog
After listening to the song, I can safely say that I do not regret not having pre-ordered it, neither do I intend on ever buying it except maybe from a second hand store for 200 yen the next time I’m in Japan.
Seriously, if it wasn’t Aya Hirano I think no one would’ve cared for a song like “Asu no Prism” at all. It’s the kind of song that grows on you after a while, but really, it’s nothing special. It makes me wonder how long Aya Hirano’s fame will last once Haruhi is all but forgotten.
Okay, I think I should stop provoking the Hirano fanboys out there. You can get the torrent for the single and listen to it for yourself.
September 6th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
I gotta agree. She’s overratted. But 3rd singles? What were the other 2?
September 6th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
“Bouken Desho Desho” and “Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsumiawase” I think.
September 6th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
“God knows..” and “Lost my music” sung by Hirano Aya from The Melancholy of Suzimiya Haruhi’s OST, was nice imo. (not sure, guessing it came from the ost)
September 6th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
my bad, it’s from “The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi - Geki Chuu Kashuu Single [Hirano Aya & Yuko Goto]“
September 6th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
Aya Hirano is a Mezzo Soprano, thus it would be wrong to expect her to sing very high notes. As a Mezzo, her vocal technique, in popular music standard is adequate, with good power, and she does cery good job with diction and rhythm. She is capable of changing the tempo, so if you judge on her singing ability alone, she is very good, except for one very important thing: Even for a Mezzo, her range is limited to one octave from middle C to next C, C4 to C5 using standard English notation. She is not a Contralto, as her voice texture isn’t deep enough, nor does she have the low notes required for alto. As a Mezzo, she should be able to get up to E5 with ease, but I rarely hear that in her songs. As for the music in her newest singles, it is not bad, but doesn’t feel anything special. If you want to blame its mediocrity on someone, the person that should receive the most blame is whoever compose the whole piece. The music itself feels rather bland, and without anything special, but, actually, Aya Hirano’s singing ability, specifically her ability to accentuate and clearly pronounce the words even in fast passage, made the whole song acceptable. If some other random singers sang the same song, chances are likely that they will sound much worse than Hirano here. What Aya Hirano really needs is better composer for her songs. Well, everyone can’t have Orito Shinji composing for them, I guess.
September 6th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Hahaha! Yes! I love you DarkMirage. You’re cool again.
September 6th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
wontaek said it better than I could have (primarily I am not so well versed in music theory).
I’m still trying to download the single, but I HAVE heard her sing on film, and it was pretty good.
Her releases have been touched up digitally, but that’s true for any one these days. In each of the songs from the Haruhi set, her vocal track has been heavily compressed, and, I think, shifted a bit on the scale, but whoever did it did an excellent job, since it doesn’t sound hollow or empty. I’ve no doubt there’s been some vocoder-like work done on it, but it’s not obvious, and therefore not likely to have been used extensively.
In short, the job of the sound techs producing her songs was likely made easier by her vocal talent.
She’s not made for opera. As wontaek said, her range is limited, but there are elements other than range. But she’s a better pop singer than most.
…my expectations are pretty low for this single, though. It’s not her fault, but a vocalist is only a small part of a pop recording.
September 6th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
>If you want to blame its mediocrity on someone, the person that should receive the most blame is whoever compose the whole piece. The music itself feels rather bland, and without anything special, but, actually, Aya Hirano’s singing ability, specifically her ability to accentuate and clearly pronounce the words even in fast passage, made the whole song acceptable.
Well said!
September 6th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
well… hirano aya fanboys there and will always buy their item…
i dunno how popular hirano aya right now, but for me, she is the first seiyuu that i think cute… i never see seiyuu tat can rival her (but again my knowledge about seiyuu almost zero)
so for me i consider her as idol rather than seiyuu or singer… and my comment i think she will exist… maybe when her song have really bad selling point, she turn to idol ? lol
September 6th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
wontaek got it right. The song is not great, but Hirano Aya is actually a very capable singer, much better technically than 90% of pop singers. Personally, though, I think her singing lacks any kind of charisma to make it interesting. At least so far. She’s only 18, and having heard some of her earlier music (as part of Springs) and earlier voice roles, I think she is someone who works hard and learns well. So if she got the right producer, something could happen.
September 7th, 2006 at 12:20 am
DM NO FOOD FOR YOU.
HOW DARE YOU BASH AYA-SAMA-TACHI-CHAN-WHATEVER
September 7th, 2006 at 12:40 am
i didn’t get the single buuut… does it sound like her normal voice? o_0
‘dame desho hamada-san’ is way better :3
September 7th, 2006 at 5:31 am
Aya can sing OK. But I don’t think she’s hardly good at this stage. And props to wontaek for the strange putting-into-words of what she does.
My problem with her is that she’s still kind of too young. Need more presence.
September 7th, 2006 at 6:59 am
But… But… she also voices Reira from NANA….
September 7th, 2006 at 7:58 am
I love Aya, some of her songs are good and some are just lame/boring. But that’s how I view most singers/bands/artists. I dunno. She can sing okay when she wants to.
Os, I don’t think she fit Reira the first time she appeared, but after the last episode I do feel like Aya’s got the role correctly. It could just be because I’ve read all the manga so far and expected a different voice from Reira.
Uhh, yeah… *runs away*