Hikki's voice before and after UU06

As I was reading the MUSICA Magazine Interview (thanks very much, Grayzkule, GhostDog and Sano) one part really stuck out for me, and that was when Hikki said:

But during my tour, my voice almost died on me. One of the DVD mastering people from America said, “Humans can’t sing this much!” after he saw the earthy-tones-high-pitches-without-a-break setlist. It was the worst pinch I’ve ever gotten into with my voice and I almost needed surgery. But in the end I hate surgery, it’s scary, and I needed lots of strong medication. When I recorded “Flavor of Life”, my voice still wasn’t 100%, but I thought it could still heal. I think the brutalness of the tour changed it a little.

I had a bit of a discussion with a couple friends of mine over Hikki's voice, because a while ago, when she was still churning out singles before HEART STATION, I noticed that her live performances were...just dropping in quality. So I started watching some pre-tour and post-tour live performances, and noticed that her voice had changed.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only who thought so, but my friends had reassured me, 'Oh, I'm sure Hikki has some voice coaches or experts to make sure she didn't damage her voice. She's too smart for that. I think she's just changing her voice to fit her songs.' And I thought so too, until this interview.

When I read that she almost needed surgery and that her voice almost died on her, almost made me wish she lip-synced during her tour. Some of her HS songs, (Flavor of Life, Heart Station) had vocals that sounded very strained. I can't help but wince a little when I hear her struggling to reach those notes. Poor Hikki. I think the tour WAS too brutal on her voice.

So, did you notice it? Do you agree? Did her voice problems come to your attention because of the interview? What are your thoughts on Hikki's 'voice change'? Feel free to discuss.

I did notice that, the worst culprit being FoL Ballad, to me her voice sounded completely shot on that. I think in the future she should do more concerts like Hikaru No 5 instead of national tours for the sake of her voice. I noticed the same thing on Distance after her Bohemian Summer tour, she had a really strained voice on some of the songs. I think it'll get better but she has to rest it a bit. Probably, the more she strains her voice the harder it will be for it to recover 100%.

I'm sure the majority of the listeners knew that her voice changed in Flavor of Life. I wasn't really surprised, but I was sad. I really loved her voice before UU06, but I'm still in favor of her voice now regardless of how it has changed.

A quick question to think about: Do you think her changing voice had any effect on how she was in a "depressing" mood in early 2007?

Anyways, I believe that as long as people appreciate her songs, Hikaru or we, shouldn't worry much about her voice. She's been resting her vocals long enough this summer while working on her English album, so I cannot wait to hear her vocals again.

Sanosuke wrote:

A quick question to think about: Do you think her changing voice had any effect on how she was in a "depressing" mood in early 2007?

I'm sure that had something to do with it.

Hmm. I won't say that I noticed a change in her voice for FoL at all. I suppose I suck (at least my ears do). But now that you have mentioned it, I went back to listen, and I suppose the best that I can pull out of my ass is that her voice sounds as the interviewer said, 'light, fluttery'. It seems to have less power behind it, but if someone did not say so, I would have never have thought of it.

I believe that her depression was probably more of a result of personal loneliness. I think that the more blog posts that she had of Kuma-chang, the more lonely or depressed she was.

When I was reading her blog and saw the photos of her snuggling with Kuma, felt for her. I think that it is likely at the time that she felt as though Kuma was the only 'person' who was there for her, who understood her best. Her only friend as it were. They were a cute series of photos though.



Back to the topic at hand:

Perhaps it is not the sheer length of the tour only that makes it so hard on a voice - but perhaps it is her choice to put so much power behind her singing. I noticed during UU that she really chose to push her voice. She could have been quieter and more conservative with the way she used her vocals and avoided injury. I liken it to excersize: high intensity or high repetition. She chose to have both - and this wasn't a good move.

It may stem from the philosophy that she wanted to give her audience the best damned performance she could have possibly done. But she should seriously reconsider the lack of an intermission, the way the songs are sung on-stage, or the frequency of performances (I think that they were every day during the tour). This cannot be good for anyone.

I wouldn't count on her voice ever being the same again.

I think her allergic reaction to the stage was also a culprit of damaging her voice.

Okay, okay, so I HEARD, somewhere, that she was allergic to one of the stages on her tour. It was made of a certain wood she was allergic to and I heard THAT was why her voice was funky; permanent damage to her voice through the allergies along with little time to rest. Granted, that could've been a total rumor or not even relating to her voice at all, but that's what I heard.

Personally, I think Utada's voice has stayed strong. Flavor of Life was just a funky song for her voice type (she's very alto). There's no doubt that there are some faults and her voice quality and performing quality have been lacking, but regardless, I don't think her whole voice has changed due to the experience. Her music has been becoming harder and harder to perform the better her songs get.

DaAmainator wrote:

Okay, okay, so I HEARD, somewhere, that she was allergic to one of the stages on her tour. It was made of a certain wood she was allergic to and I heard THAT was why her voice was funky; permanent damage to her voice through the allergies along with little time to rest.

That's what I heard also, she was allergic to Cedar wood, which one of the stadium was made of. I probably think that was one of the main reason. I did noticed that she voice was different before and after UU06... I guess one of the other reason was because of her, really sing too much during the concert, without much rest... It was like so many songs non-stop.

Amaterasu wrote:

It may stem from the philosophy that she wanted to give her audience the best damned performance she could have possibly done.

It may be why she goes non-stop either, just to give the audience a damn good performance, but the stress on the vocal cords were too great, for any person...

Sanosuke wrote:

A quick question to think about: Do you think her changing voice had any effect on how she was in a "depressing" mood in early 2007?

I think more or less there is an effect on her, any singer would be depressed if they have an injured vocal cord, it their tools of the trade anyway...

As for recovery, sadly, it will gonna be hard, because FoL is just so hard a song which stresses the vocal cords... Nevertheless, I am eager to listen to her next English album... Like Sano said, when we appreciate Hikki's songs, her voice just doesn't matter