Yuki Kajiura Live vol.#21 2025年7月26日-8月24日

[CloisteredFlame]

to be fair, the exact phrase the Japanese fans used was literally switching countries. They said that Kajiura has a set preference for Joelle to sing the English songs. Kajiura doesn't have that many English songs to begin with, so while Joelle sounds great, it gets kinda boring to just have her sing those songs.

"Switching countries". Hmmm... Well, the original singers were from other countries so...
If they were attending the lives, she would literally be switching the countries.

I agree with grunty that a change of setlist would be better than focusing on changing singers. I am pretty sure that Kajiura sees Joelle as properly replicating the communication of Emily and the others (I feel it's a major consideration for bringing her in). Yes, maybe one or two of the other English songs could be moved to Keiko/Kaori since they've sung them before, but Joelle should still sing most of them as she's been doing. The songs themselves should just be performed less.

Kajiura has written too much music to be limiting herself to a rotating list. Maybe there's still a learning process for the new singers to catch up on all the songs so she's keeping the ball rolling while they rehearse.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

Like I said, I'm imagining Hanae leading "oblivious". It's magical in my head.
I do not believe any of the regular4(or rito/lino) could do "oblivious" justice. Don't mind getting surprised though. :)

Hanae was the original singer of those floaty head voice notes, so having her do it would be excellent. It should be a 4-singer setup: Hanae, Hikaru, Keiko, and Joelle. Since the original song was 3 singers on stage with Hanae's voice on backing track, it would only make sense to have Joelle to join since Hikaru's not going to be doing her head voice blending with Hanae's playback as she used to do in Kalafina.

 

[grunty]

Hell naw, I don't need Hikaru for "oblivious". Thanks. ;P

Hanae lead with Keiko on backing as usual. I guess Yuriko for higher vocalizing when Hanae is busy leading the song. :)

 

[CloisteredFlame]

Hell naw, I don't need Hikaru for "oblivious". Thanks. ;P

Hanae lead with Keiko on backing as usual. I guess Yuriko for higher vocalizing when Hanae is busy leading the song. :)

Hanae could lead actually but her covered tone would change the feel of the song in my opinion, making it more somber than even Wakana's take. I just want her to do the head voice vocalization.

Purely in terms of timbre, Joelle/Eri/rito can produce that brighter more forward lead tone of Hikaru/Wakana (Kaori can, but she's too aggressive/rock).

LOL @Hikaru. She doesn't have her falsetto/weak head voice anymore to blend with Hanae's part in this particular song, but that forward tone of hers gave the contrast with Keiko darker tone at the very beginning of the song, with the head voice section going on behind them.

Yuriko's vibrato would get in the way too much. This song is choral, which is straight tone all through, and she often goes breathy to sing straight without vibrato. If she leans in, vibrato comes out in direct proportion.

 

[grunty]

Hanae could lead actually but her covered tone would change the feel of the song in my opinion, making it more somber than even Wakana's take. I just want her to do the head voice vocalization.

(...) This song is choral, which is straight tone all through, and she often goes breathy to sing straight without vibrato.

And yet you don't want Hanae to sing the lead.

In my head it's magical, ethereal. Which is what it maybe should be since it's a dream about love with an undercurrent of knk1's floating/flying(suicide/death/freedom)...

 

[CloisteredFlame]

And yet you don't want Hanae to sing the lead.

In my head it's magical, ethereal. Which is what it maybe should be since it's a dream about love with an undercurrent of knk1's floating/flying(suicide/death/freedom)...

I definitely WANT Hanae to start the song (ain't no Hikaru, sadly), and that means Hanae takes the place of both Wakana and Hikaru for both the intro and parts of the lead. If Hanae was to lead all through, though, the entire song would be much more somber

Hanae's covered head voice and particular tone is what defines the head voice, wordless "refrain" (the "aaaaaa...aaaaaaaaaaa" part, for lack of a better description)! I don't think the song structure allows Hanae to do both roles (leading verse and doing the wordless refrain) without backing track, since Yuriko's her head voice is more mask-y and bright so it won't have that "dreamy", floating feel.

Thinking about it, in the original, the end of Wakana's chorus vocal lines overlapped with the start of Hikaru's (Yuriko-supported) "head voice" part, so Wakana couldn't do the head voice refrain (which one would have actually expected from the original recording, since she's the lyrical soprano in Kalafina who does head voice/falsetto more often), so it was arranged for Hikaru to do it (supported greatly by Hanae in backing track form - same volume with Hikaru's main mic).

I also think the duet call-and-response part of Wakana-Keiko would be better with Joelle-Keiko just in terms of the vocal colors/emotional delivery/drama. Joelle is used to standing still for much of a song so she doesn't need to do too much.

Notice even in the old "Mezame" performances, Kajiura always intentionally paired Wakana with Hanae (Joelle taking the same role) for some sections to give more bite/weight and extra dramatic emotion to those sections. I just don't see Hanae's style allowing her to express some of those regal queen and more pop/emo parts of "Oblivious", and they aren't Yuriko's forte either.

Anyway I will stop here. The appeal of the song to me is the mix of vocal approaches.

 

[ritarudandoo]

idk man you're making way too much deal out of this hypothetical/wishful thinking situation lmao

but since we're already discussing it anw:
- let Keiko sings the "utsushite/utatte", Hanae still sings the "aaaa"
- Hanae and Keiko can still sing the bridge, let Yuriko sings the "aaaa" one time after "we go further in the destiny", the rest can be sung again by Keiko and Hanae again. Yuriko can sing the tiny bit of Kajiurago that Keiko usually does at the end.
- hard no for Joelle in oblivious (she can and should sing Kizuato tho)

 

[grunty]

(...) I also think the duet call-and-response part of Wakana-Keiko would be better with Joelle-Keiko just in terms of the vocal colors/emotional delivery/drama. Joelle is used to standing still for much of a song so she doesn't need to do too much.

(...) I just don't see Hanae's style allowing her to express some of those regal queen and more pop/emo parts of "Oblivious", and they aren't Yuriko's forte either.

Anyway I will stop here. The appeal of the song to me is the mix of vocal approaches.

"emo"('scuse me?), "drama", "mix of vocal aproaches"??

I think I get it. We seem to have completely different takes on what "oblivious" is or should be. Fair enough.

idk man you're making way too much deal out of this hypothetical/wishful thinking situation lmao

Yarly.

hard no for Joelle in oblivious (she can and should sing Kizuato tho)

Absolutely.
You know what I would like to hear Joelle try? "lirica" if it's within her head voice range.

 

[CloisteredFlame]

Lirica would be nice with Joelle, actually.