Aya Hirano can’t sing

6 September 20061 min read41 comments

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.

Asu no Prism First Press — 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.

41 responses

bj0rN`-

6 Sep 2006

I gotta agree. She’s overratted. But 3rd singles? What were the other 2?
DarkMirage

6 Sep 2006

“Bouken Desho Desho” and “Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsumiawase” I think.
haploz

6 Sep 2006

“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)
haploz

6 Sep 2006

my bad, it’s from “The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi – Geki Chuu Kashuu Single [Hirano Aya & Yuko Goto]”
wontaek

6 Sep 2006

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.
lolikit

6 Sep 2006

Hahaha! Yes! I love you DarkMirage. You’re cool again.
Mac

6 Sep 2006

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.
XiaNaphryz

6 Sep 2006

>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!
サイバー ☆ UP

6 Sep 2006

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
hashihime

6 Sep 2006

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.
Tsubaki

7 Sep 2006

DM NO FOOD FOR YOU.

HOW DARE YOU BASH AYA-SAMA-TACHI-CHAN-WHATEVER
berz

7 Sep 2006

i didn’t get the single buuut… does it sound like her normal voice? o_0

‘dame desho hamada-san’ is way better :3
omo

7 Sep 2006

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.
Os

7 Sep 2006

But… But… she also voices Reira from NANA….
Tess

7 Sep 2006

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*
introspect

7 Sep 2006

I thought the B-side was alright, at least the composition seemed to require more thought. The title track was typical fluff. Both tracks are kind of light; it’s hard to demonstrate depth in those situation.
Haesslich

7 Sep 2006

Os: She voices Reira, but she doesn’t SING Reira… which, IMO, was an excellent decision; Olivia has more of a feel for the type of music Trapnest is supposed to produce, IMO, than Aya Hirano does at the moment, no matter how much I loved hearing “God Knows…” in MoHS. It’s the type of music she’s probably best suited to at this stage of her career, rather than some of the more melancholy stuff you’ll find Trapnest singing in Nana. In other words, Aya Hirano’s more of a pop singer, whereas you need some more of the ballad-like qualities that Mika Nakashima or Olivia bring with their slightly lower and fuller voices.

Tess: I’d have to agree with that – she was too whiny to start, although she’s settled in nicely after about 2 eps or so.

サイバー ☆ UP: I’d vote for Mika Kikuchi as somewhat cuter than Aya Hirano, especially in shots like those in this blog entry from AoMM. The picture where she’s wearing a kyudo uniform’s also rather cute…
Pear

7 Sep 2006

Er… The reason why Asu no Prism is considered her THIRD single is because of two previous singles, one of which is Bouken Desho Desho, which everyone knows about.

Her debut is actually ‘Breakthrough’, released in February 2006. Hare Hare Yukai and Suzumiya Haruhi no Tsumeawase do not count because they involve other singers as well.

Just thought it’ll do well to clarify. ^^
Lupus

7 Sep 2006

I guess she’s a passable singer – she’s certainly not bad. Her voice puts me off though.

But God Knows… is good – the music is awesome, and the lyrics seems to be great as well. This new album has pretty sucky music.
Naresh

18 Sep 2006

some like her, some don’t
or is it that you expect everyone to have a voice that you’re familiar with?

(these days almost all the alternative-rock bands in the US have the same voice)
Mib Black

16 Oct 2006

The Internet became my second home; it is the most interesting theme for me.
Diego

22 Nov 2006

I wish talk Hirano Aya and by a CD I am From Brazil
Thanks
diegomelazo2003@yahoo.com.br
Diego
obi1kenakamatsu

8 Dec 2006

You………….. BITCH!!!!!!

No, you’re right though her singles are rather poor, but I blame the songs myself. Her Haruhi numbers (excluding the merchandising—I mean, character—single) were great though, God Knows, it was fantastic….

Range isn’t everything, many of the great rock singers could do with singing lessons but because they have that indefinable “presence” which matches their songs they pull it off. In God Knows, Aya has that presence, in her singles, well who’d want the presence to match tack like that…
Youko

23 Dec 2006

For the record, the single is called “Ashita no Prism,” not “Asu no Prism.” I know there’s a confusion in the kanji but even Hirano Aya says it.

I agree that it’s not one of her best, but that doesn’t mean she can’t sing. Her debut single was released before Haruhi, right? Everyone starts out small, so I think in time she’d have better songs.
O

19 Feb 2007

I feel that your post title has no connection to your post content. One who cannot sing well does differ from one who sings songs that are rather unappealing. It isn’t good to put up a over-generalised statment such as “It is the fact and you know it .” while your views do not represent that of the others. However,i FEEL THAT and agree with you that Ashita no prism isn’t as much attractive as compared to the other singles.
Mellow

27 Feb 2007

… honestly… God Knows is over hyped… I think Lost My Music is at least 2 times better than God Knows… again, if you compare the two songs, Lost My Music has a much more logical chord progression and harmonic structure than God Knows… and obviously God Knows’ fame comes where — the anime… afterall the anime makes everything… In my mind, Lost My Music is Aya Hirano’s best piece to date. Oh and about her pitch and voice, it’s pretty standard for pop singers, and her pitch is better than most of the Japanese seiyuu singers. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she become a pro Jrock/pop singer.
jeomaxxters

7 Mar 2007

Parallel Days is better than God Knows and Lost My Music… In fact, I ranked her SHnY songs in this order:

1. Parallel Days
2. Lost My Music
3. God Knows
4. Hare Hare Yukai
5. Bouken Deshou Deshou
6. Parallel Days

Well, I do agree that she sings better than me, but she’s a girl, for Pete’s sake… She can reach higher notes than me.
online doctors perscibe meridia

17 Mar 2007

online doctors perscibe meridia…

news…
Bill Compton

5 Jun 2007

Hi Jim. Photos i received. Thanks
Kisa

5 Jun 2007

haha, true … ^^ tho its not bad ba…
Lu5ck

7 Jul 2007

she a seiyuu

she sing in a different voice for this single….

the voice is diff from God Knows & Lost My Music..

zzz….
ShinSenshi

7 Aug 2007

She’s an excelent seiyuu, very versatile and skilled and I hope she continues her work in anime, to be honest. T’would be a shame to sacrifice such a skilled VA to Idol-ism.
Hika

17 Aug 2007

ShE CAN SING -_-u to all the idiots!
u says she cant but wtf who are you? xD nothing
^^ I HAVE Suzumiya Haruhi Gekisou
a concert
SHE SING!! and pretty good
don´t be stupid please xD
watch the concert, lives etc first
Akihabara

3 Sep 2007

omg! You can buy anime singles in Singapore!?

Damn…wish I weren’t staying in Malaysia…
allhailharuhi

27 Sep 2007

You dare criticize Hirano-sama???? May an asteroid fall on your house!!!! XD

To be honest, I just like some of her songs because they’re in the anime and they sound good. I’ve just listened to it and you’re right, it’s nothing spectacular. As a seiyuu, she’s great (fantastic even), but as a singer……..I’ll just stick to the anime singles. ^^ – Peace
Nothing

30 Sep 2007

Well,it’s true but Hirano Aya singing is considered good,I mean Lost my Music,that’s her best song I think.Her voice is even better than me too.I think she sing quite nice already.^^
Andy Pandy

9 Nov 2007

Who cares about hype? IMO hype is overrated :)

If you like her music – like I do – then you do. If you don’t, then you don’t.

It’s as simple as that.
III

26 Dec 2007

She sounds good/ok on record usually.. and then sound really bad live. *covers my ears* urrghh.
renaye

24 Jan 2008

have the same opinion as u. it’s just the songs she happen to sing maximise her voice capability but i don’t really like the way she drags at some songs. i certainly don’t like listening to her live concert. she just over dragged it.

but she certainly can sing better than me… hahaha.
Hakunushi

16 Jul 2008

Well…. i saw her live show…. and i can tell you…. she really sux balls…. but shes kawaii, her band is in fact awaesome…. all guys with good tech…. and the songs are all well composed…. not by her i assume… but anyway…. i love the songs, but only on the studio stuff, live is like “horrible” voice.

=)
Steps

2 Sep 2008

I agree with Hakunushi… I saw her live too.. it was pure horrible -_- The melody that came out from her is almost totally different from that of her albums, not to mention that it sounded real bad too… but nevertheless, she’s a talented seiyuu and a cute girl! =)

Aya Hirano can’t sing

41 responses

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