Pleasure Principled

Revealingly Articulate Idol Worship

In April of 2007, Ayumi Hamasaki launched her first foray into Asia with the ~Tour of Secret~. The ambitious continent-hop would take her to Shanghai, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Stops in Beijing and Singapore were planned but unrealized because of financial constraints. Lavish spectacle aside, the show was meticulous and well-executed enough to earn praise from the most cynical critics. Among those was singer Eason Chan, who awarded Ayumi the following rave: “There was lip-synching, I think, one-third of the time. How can anyone dance so energetically without sounding out of breath… but she lip-synched so well.”

The internet exploded, as you can well imagine. Devoted fans of the J-Pop Empress heaped criticism and insults upon Chan, issuing a mass “how dare you?” in response to the situation. Ayumi’s reactions are ambiguous now, between the array of varied and far-flung tabloid reports (anger, frantic phone calls, binge drinking, etc.) and a mysterious, defensive blog entry that I clearly remember which has now apparently gone by the wayside of most memories. But the reactions of the celebrities involved are not the most interesting thing, of course. Fans, even casual fans, flocked to the internet in record numbers to debate the situation.

Upon reading the news myself a couple of years back, I had to lift one eyebrow and wonder if everyone was serious. “OMG AYU NEVAR LIPSYNCZ!” and the like did more than just grate on my nerves. The staunch claims of artistic superiority were troublesome because I wondered just how closely these people watched the concerts. I’m by no means calling myself an expert, but I can easily pick out several performances that have been lip-synched. I found Eason Chan’s comment to be off-the-cuff (like most of his statements) and, indeed, legitimately complimentary. This is to say nothing of the allegations that he slept through half of the first Ayumi concert he attended.

Frankly, there is no musical community that looks kindly on lip-synching. Here in the USA, I know, the practice is associated with images of Milli Vanilli and Ashlee Simpson. It’s the music industry equivalent of stealing from the till. You just shouldn’t do it. But credit goes where credit is due, and there is something to be said for putting on the sort of show that pop stars put on. Tori Amos never lip-synchs, but Tori Amos also isn’t being hoisted into the air on a two-foot platform, flung around by male dancers, or made to perform complicated footwork in even more complicated costumes, in heels, on stairs.

Ayumi Hamasaki does what few musicians dare to do, and walks away looking like a million bucks. As I watched the TV broadcast (via internet connections, of course) of her 2008 10^th Anniversary Tour, she forgot the words to her arguable theme song, ‘Evolution’. Though not the first time Ayu has forgotten her lyrics, it was the first time I’d seen it happen on an Arena Tour broadcast. No matter, moments like that are gratifying for fans because we feel not only a connection with the idol (to err is human), but also relief in knowing that the song is not, in fact, lip-synched. I had to wonder, though, whether moments like that are inserted by Ayu from concert to concert as a means of showing just this.

Certainly, there are some live songs that have been retooled to benefit from a little pre-recorded magic. Foremost in my mind is ‘until that Day…’, a song that was absolutely destroyed on Countdown Live 07-08 (as were most songs that night – she announced her deafness a week later). It was performed again with similar staging during the ~Tour of Secret~, and even on DVD the lip-synching was easy to spot. But the performance was so energtic, so well-presented, and so worth the money that I hardly minded the vocal psych-out.

If U2 took the stage after I’d paid $240 for seats and proceeded to lip-synch, yes, I’d be pissed. Even with a tour like Zoo TV, you’re paying to see the band you love and hear their musicality live. But is it really that way with an idol like Ayumi? 9/10 of her concert performances are about the spectacle, as I’ve pointed out dozens of times. She thrives on production and miscellany, but still gives the audience its due. Take her hour-plus encores, which are always stripped-down and more intimate, and never lip-synched.

There is no shortage of live Ayumi at any given concert date. And her TA Limited Tour of 2003 was done entirely in an “encore” format, in smaller venues with no lavish sets, and only minimal costume changes. When you hear her voice crack awkwardly during the pre-chorus notes of ‘SURREAL’, or lose the words on uncontrollable tears in ‘Memorial Address’, or harmonize instantly with Peco and Yoko, you’re hearing the real deal. Some things just can’t be pre-recorded and faked. But when you’re being entertained more than you are at most concerts, can you really even complain about something that’s being faked?

For the finale of her Arena Tour 2006, Ayumi performed one of the single tracks from (miss)understood, ‘Bold & Delicious’. This still strikes me as one of most raw, electric vocal deliveries of her touring career. She threw her all into every note and lost no opportunity to improvise and dress the song up. It was infinitely better for it, making the finale one to remember. But at the same time, a most-likely lip-synched performance like ‘1 LOVE’ from Tour of Secret is just as enjoyable based solely on her exquisite theatrics.

Let’s go to the tape. Unfortunately, unless you have the DVD, you can’t go to the tape with me, because any link wouldn’t last a minute at the hands of avex’s vicious legal team. The indicators are many. She’s wearing a flimsy-looking headset mic, and though it has a battery pack attached it is hardly the type that would carry that much sound. Her hair is practically covering the mic at many moments and yet we hear none of that. The sudden turns of her head and her obvious breathing? Not a rustle. Even the way she moves her mouth – it is all very over-enunciated, very theatrical.

During a recent review for her Premium Countdown Live 08-09, I commented that Ayumi is not actually a very good lip-synch artist without proper editing. The television broadcast of the ‘ANGEL’S SONG’ number, for instance, actually included many moments of happy, distracted Ayumi missing a beat or two with the pre-record. I was hardly fazed, because the performance was so great to watch.

So why be concerned that some loud-mouth called her out on it? I will concede that I do not know for a fact that Ayumi lip-synchs, and even then which songs specifically. I simply know from “comparing the tapes”, as it were – broadcast concerts vs. DVD concerts, fan live reports vs. the finished release. Thus, like a first-round botox patient, Ayumi’s had some work done - but she definitely comes out looking better for it.