For all you Macross Frontier and Japanese music fans out there, Nakabayashi May (Sheryl’s voice in all the songs) made an appearance last night on TBS’s Live R-Zero program and sang Diamond Crevasse in its entirety. Even after listening to her CD ad nauseum, I still really like the song, so it was cool to hear the live version. She did a fairly good job with it too – much better than I’ve heard some more popular artists do (SMAP and Ayumi come to mind) anyway. My main complaint is that the audience and host Izumiya Shigeru didn’t really seem all that into it, and that kind of took away from the atmosphere. Then again, this is an anime song appearing on a normal music program, so it might be somewhat understandable. Regardless, the video is definitely still worth a watch, if for just the song alone. Hopefully it’ll be able to hold me over until the first Macross Frontier soundtrack is released next Wednesday (June 4th).

59 Comments

  1. I’m glad I watched this. I am also a Sheryl fan so it was nice to hear a live version.

    I did not like this song at first, but once I put it on my iPod I started to like it more.

    zqube
  2. Wow she really is a good singer. Often the live versions I heard weren’t that good.
    And of course – awesome song. A pity the audience don’t support her really..
    “Then again, this is an anime song appearing on a normal music program, so it might be somewhat understandable.”
    What? That sounds pretty much like a good j-pop song too me. The audience is rather retarded – my impression.. 😛

  3. The live is kind of shaky but its pretty good. Love this song XD I hope she does more lives from now on. Wish there was a iteza gogo kuji don’t be late live though.

    hobli
  4. “Just wish the song What ‘Bout My Star from Nakajima Megumi comes out soon.. I sooo want that song…”

    It will be on the OST along with the original Sheryl/May’n version, funny enough the Ranka/Nakajima Megumi version has Sheryl/May’n on it as well…. well it is her song… but still she was just watching in the crowd with her slave/princess.

    Westlo
  5. The live was pretty good, I haven’t heard ayumi live but I know she lip syncs a lot and has come under fire from that several times previously.

    I really really want to hear the Sheryl version of what bout my star live though.

    Fumika
  6. Hmm~ wasn’t too bad, but her live rendition felt a bit “off”. I think she was probably nervous at the beginning, since her singing lacked the intensity of the recorded versions. It got better towards the end, so I guess she got comfortable back.

    Anyways, Sheryl’s songs are really awesome!

  7. Despite all that negative attention they were giving her I’d say she did awfully well, especially since it’s live. Sure she went off chord a few times but other than that this might just be one of the better live performances I’ve seen.

    Ez
  8. IMO the host was terrible, he didn’t do his homework before hosting -getting May’n to say her name many times, being clueless about Macross F and not being able to say even “kurebasu”. After that I didn’t understand the talk but I was sort of pissed off for May’n. It’s not like her single never got a single number rank in Oricon, it actually got 2nd once.

    Who likes a music program to be hosted by an old … anyway?

    Ah, anyway. May’n was cute and her live was ggod especially towards the end. It was interesting to see the real her, a bit chubbier than the photos.

    Yukiruchan
  9. That was excellent, the song is very nice as well. The first showing of the audience, the female on the left looked like she was giving out a revenging death sentence to her lol. The audience seemed just a tab bit “dead” like they were paid to just stand there like manikins.

    ChansteR
  10. love it!

    absolutely love this song

    for a live song she wasn’t bad

    she prolly didn’t even prepare for it so it was all good

    but the crowd was just horrible, they all looked zombie and stunned, at least wave a little or they were just so much in awe of her singing that they didn’t know what to do XD

    muk
  11. First of all, I’m not sure of the popularity of that program but it looked like crap.
    To start with, why is an old man hosting a J-Pop program?
    To make matters worse, he obviously didn’t do his homework, didn’t know how to pronounce stuff and had no idea about Macross F.
    Then we have the audience, who looked like they didn’t want to be there and showed no emotion what so ever.
    With all that in account, credits must go to Nakabayashi May for putting herself through all that while also giving a respectable live performance.

    blinx01
  12. The static audience is a bit of a disappointment, but at the same time, Diamond Crevasse isn’t really a song you want the audience to get worked up on, being a comparatively slow song. If she did Don’t be late, I wonder if the audience would have been more active.

  13. I agree with gundamjehutykai. Diamond Crevasse isn’t the type of song that would really get the audience going. It’s a great song, but it’s was probably to slow for the audience.

    Though, that was a pathetic audience.

    Still, Nakabayashi’s performance was great. Especially for a live gig with a zombified audience and a unenthusiastic host. Ganbatte, May-chan.

  14. mutio – most likely the reason why omni said, “Then again, this is an anime song appearing on a normal music program, so it might be somewhat understandable”, is because most Japanese don’t watch anime, and even the ones that do only watch certain genres. Therefor, they might not be to familiar with Macross Frontier and special with the voice actors and singers of the show. ^^

    al3x
  15. The beginning verse lacked punch, but at the beginning of the first chorus, the rest of the live was amazing. I have to agree with Omni that some of the popular Jpop’ers don’t preform very well live. I’m surprised May’n did so well, though not that I’m complaining.

    Well, you can’t blame the audience for not knowing the song/not really being interested in it because it’s from anime…but they’re still a pretty bad audience. They could’ve at least swayed a little. Or something.

    Kanki
  16. I love her singing, I am starting to love Macross Frontier soundtrack more than Macross Plus. Macross franchise always pays off, great music, awsome mecha, love triangles lol. Thanks for the upload!!!

    luke
  17. Multiple parts to this really… I’m a fan of Sheryl as well, but this performance wasn’t that great IMO. Love the song, but I feel she was a good bit off in the beginning, as though her singing and the track were out of sync… That noted, I’ve seen MUCH worst come out of certain artist… For those needing a good hit of good live performances, give Angela Aki a go… She does some sweet live singing/piano. The audience was crap, but this was not a great performance by far… Hopefully, she develops her singing a bit more down the road, but she’s plenty young, and as long as she doesn’t flop too hard, she’ll have plenty to look forward to.

    Maqy
  18. in my opinion’s ranka’s seiyuu did a far better job in singing. ranka’s voice is more rounded, fuller and has a richer tone. i can’t really explain it all that well, but ranka’s singing voice is warmer and sounds less forced and more relaxed than sheryl’s voice. i think that the actual songs that sheryl sings give her the “star quality.” you can’t deny the fact that a set of well-composed chords can carry a singer far. in a singing class i went to, the singing coaches lectured us on the power of the voice coming from a singer’s diaphragm not from their throat. when the voice comes from the throat, the singing tends to sound pinched and then, as if the singer is struggling to get through the song. however, when the singer uses the correct technique, their notes sound effortless, even their higher belted notes will still sound full-bodied despite the fact that higher notes tend to sound thinner.

    my point, after all that blabber, is that sheryl’s voice isn’t very pleasing to (my) ears. the songs she sings are great; they are addicting and have wonderfully catchy melodies. however, ranka’s voice is far superior, in my opinion. the tonal quality, richness and ease with which ranka sings makes me admire her voice and consider her the better songstress.

    mary
  19. If you want to do a proper comparison, you have to see how the two singers sing the same song without the aid of instrumentals. That’s only happened once so far to my knowledge, for Diamond Crevasse when Ranka and Sheryl first meet. Based on that, I’d say May’n’s clearly experience shows.

    Certain songs are built for classical singing technique more than others. It’s fairly straightforward to produce nice clear tones in a song with lots of long vowel sounds like Aimo, but it’s wholly inappropriate in a song that was designed to sound gritty from the start. Part of being a good singer is in how adaptable you are, even if that means producing a sound that is less than efficient.

    But this at least partly boils down to how much a person appreciates a particular genre of music. No one genre is absolutely better than the other, no matter how much your vocal trainer might try to convince you otherwise. 😉

    famfiel
  20. Hmm…I never even heard of this program, lol. I know the good ol’ ones like Utaban/Music Station/Music Fighter/Hey!Hey!Hey! etc. but I’m supposing this is nowhere near as famous as the aforementioned music (or in the case of Heyheyhey/Utaban, music variety) programs.

    Seriously, what on earth is Izumiya Shigeru doing here? He should just stick to acting, IMO. Even though Downtown and Tamori (the hosts for Hey x3 and Music Station, respectively) generally show little interest in J-Pop, they still do the research and have a general grasp of the artist they show, compared to Izumiya. And the audience….is more dead than the one in Music Station, oh wow.

    The performance itself was very good. Omni, why did you even mention SMAP? lol. Most of the groups from Johnny’s Entertainment are atrocious in the singing category, and Ayu’s vocal tone from her early career has long been lost, not to mention a lot of J-pop stars like Ai Otsuka generally can’t sing well live. Those that do are in the minority, like Stephanie and Superfly (and Utada Hikaru, but not in live shows where she always seems to get nervous) and May’n deserved better attention.

    tau-tau

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