Hayley on Japanese TV 19 Oct 2013

[Richard]

The first four posts have been moved from the Twitter thread.

Aaron Tam ‏@aarontamnz 2h
Huh? New Zealander Hayley Westenra was just on Japanese TV doing a song... #newzealand
pic.twitter.com/nURm1xD4vD

Richard

[Richard]

Another shot from the same TV show:

asami ‏@miaseramay
@hayleywestenra A bit sad cos I thought you would win but really enjoyed your beautiful voice!
pic.twitter.com/w7J08oFmUi

Richard

[Jillian]

I also saw this photo



Hayley must have pre-recorded it when she was last in Japan

[Richard]

Thanks Jillian!

Apparently it was a karaoke competition:

R ‏@lovecklove
@hayleywestenra I watched your karaoke confrontation on TV. You lost to Game. However, you won with the splendor of the song.

I'm very surprised Hayley didn't win. Judging by Friday's performance, she must be a black belt in karaoke!

Richard

[Simba]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujH_m1w76Hg

There's this awesome video of Hayley in some karaoke competition event with another Japanese singer(?) broadcast last friday. She sings a bit of Bridge over Troubled water and, 3 verses of Amazing Grace.
You're all in for a surprise in this particular Amazing Grace performance, but I'll let y'all wait for it and enjoy it when it comes
Best performance of Amazing Grace till date.

[martindn]

Err.. it was an injustice. Hayley was way better than that singer she lost to. Power, range control, Hayley's pitch control for one thing was far better. It just shows that Japanese mass TV audiences are as ignorant about music as British ones. Maybe like the British they vote for someting other than the music.

Martin D

[Simba]

Yeh that was stupid, but I didn't care for it Hayley's performance was stunning!

[Bamafan]

My my my, that is a surprise! And a not only impressive, but extremely beautiful one, as well.

I just love this screenshot of Hayley:



:2fun:

-Taylor i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

[Libby]

Wow! At last, she sings that note! Probably for competitive purposes, so she'll probably never do it again. LOL It would be nice to share with my sister, but she wouldn't want to wade through all the rest of it. I found the rest pretty boring, myself, especially since everything Hayley said was translated into Japanese over the top of her! Oh well... I assume the judge was sprayed because he voted against Hayley?

[Simba]

Yes Libby, I knew you'd be particularly delighted as we had a discussion of how she's not singing those notes again. The moment the other woman sang those notes I was like omg, Hayley might sing it too, since it's a competition thing.
I also liked the portion of Bridge over Troubled Water that we heard more than anything else, I liked how she was swinging to the beat.

[Richard]

Thanks for finding the video, Simba!

I've altered the link in your post so the video starts at the beginning instead of near the end.

I'm moving a few posts from the Twitter thread, which will appear above yours in this thread. I'll also add Saturday's date to the thread title.

Richard

[Jillian]

That was actually really quite entertaining! I was enjoying following that little line along the bottom of the screen! ha ha ha :rollin

I agree, the high note was spectacular. It goes back to another conversation (I think in the Union Chapel thread??) that Hayley certainly still has the capacity to pull off those notes beautifully when she chooses to do so. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Cheers,
Jillian

[Simba]

While that is true, I have to confess that her Pure version or that live version she did for that Japan TV with the choir stepping in seamlessly, was much better. (The high notes I mean). In that regard the other singer May J's "to sing" God's grace, was better. Before judging I want you to carefully listen to both, hers' comes at 5:31. Hayley's comes at 9:55. While I was happy she did sing the note, it wasn't as impressive as it used to be, It's just my opinion on it, you are free to disagree.

Hayley certainly still has the capacity to pull off those notes beautifully when she chooses to do so.

I think she has the capacity to 'hit' those notes, but as beautifully, I'm not sure, and when she chooses to? Not sure either. She never chooses to sing the high notes these days and like Libby said she rather had to sing it under compulsion since it was a karaoke competition about hitting all the notes as it was in the recording. Just looking at both the singer's faces when they hit that note is enough, or rather looking at hayley sing the same high note back when she was 2004 performance.

Though I have to mention that her belted notes such as "Bright shining as the SUUUUUUN" and the likes gained so much more power, and sounds absolutely magical. It's just a shame that a soprano by default chooses not to use her highest range or not choosing to sing them live all the time. Infact a singer of Hayley's caliber should flaunt their high notes as and when they wish and more than often because it always sends shivers down the spine. "Today won't come again" with Jonathan Ansell, Time to say Good bye, all these songs have wonderful endings. We just don't see her singing songs like this anymore. Not even sure if that note will sound as full, sharp like it used to. Guess you gain something, you lose something.
But she was definitely better than that singer overall, in the rest of the song

[comet]

I would rather hear anyone singing comfortably and well within their range, than straining for notes they can barely reach, that usually just makes the end result unpleasant to listen to.

[martindn]

Paul,

I usually agree about that, but Hayley has been one of the few singers that could pull off those notes really well. Too many singers make them sound unpleasant, screechy or too much vibrato, but Hayley's high motes have always been spectacular and beautiful. I think she can probably still do it, but I think she started economising on high notes in live shows years ago, probably before the release of Odyssey - it is nothing new. She hit a lot of those notes on the Pure Tour, but has done it much more rarely since. That she can still do it, or could recently is evidenced by that beautiful high note in her recording of Malena on Paradiso. It may be that she just doesn't feel confident enough that it will come out right to do it live.

Martin D