Ayumi Hamasaki performs a pleasant rendition of her 2003 song “Rainbow”

Ayu’s not released a great deal of music over the past couple of years. But she has been giving her fans a whole bunch of YouTube videos featuring performances from many of her gigs, and in some cases whole entire shows. They never stay up for long though. Because Japan.

As of now, fans can watch a couple of performances from Ayu’s Countdown Live 2021-200 ~23rd Monster~ gig, which includes performances of “Rainbow” and “Evolution”. The performance of “Evolution” is a mess. And I honestly can’t listen to the Ayu version now, after Crystal Kay did what she did with it on The Masked Singer Japan. But “Rainbow” was good. So I’mma talk about that one.

Not including “Rainbow” on the album Rainbow, whilst still retaining the branding of it for its release? Just to put it on A Ballads 3 months later? A mess.

HENNYWAY.

Avex blocks YouTube embeds. Because, Japan. So...

📺 Watch the performance: Ayu’s Countdown Live 2021-2022 ~23rd Monster~ performance of “Rainbow”

Ayu sounds really good here. As with her 2021 release of “Haru yo, Koi”, Ayu is really sitting into her lower register and sounding far less strained as a result. She’s still giving that sheep vibrato that sounds like she’s trying to hold a note whilst being thrown around in a Tilt-A-Whirl or singing in front of an electric fan. But she sounds good. And the re-arrangements of the song flip “Rainbow” into something that feels new.

If there’s one thing about Ayu, is that she often performs really good re-arrangements or outright remixes of songs on tours. She should definitely consider releasing a Live Best album of some sort, which shortlists a few of them into a 1 or 2 disc album.

Ayumi Hamasaki - Rainbow | Countdown Live 2021-200 ~23rd Monster~

Ayu has always been that J-pop bitch that tours pretty heavy, and regularly includes legs outside of Japan in countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. But touring really does seem to be a focus for Ayu at the moment over releasing new music. And whilst I don’t think it’s the best thing for what hearing a bitch has left, I do think career wise it’s a sound move.

Ayu’s album sales aren’t what they used to be (although, whose are these days?), but she can still sell tickets. And Ayu has a big enough discography, that she could honestly just tour until the end of days without releasing anything new. This would be the best thing for her if she wants to be remembered for what she did during her J-pop prime, and not for how she fell off. Leave the constant releases and legacy ruining to Kumi Koda.

It seems like having children has really knocked some things into perspective for Ayu, and it’s nice to see. I wouldn’t be against a new album from Ayu if it were good. I do feel she could still deliver something decent, she just needs the right team around her.

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💿 Album and EP reviews: Trouble | Colours | Love Again | Party Queen | Five | Love Songs | Rock 'n' Roll Circus | Next Level | Rainbow