Honestly, I don’t think the ugly hat was her fault — though then again, who knows.

As for her butchering of “Love Namida Iro”… I’ve never heard the original (go figure, not a big Ayaya fan), but it seemed to me like she was nervous for pretty much the entire show anyway, especially when it got time for the performance and she just seemed to stand still and stare straight ahead. I think maybe she might’ve been used to being involved in group things during that time, and doing a one-on-one interview and then singing something solo was probably a bit too much for her. No Berryz to back you up. But I personally feel like she’s adjusting better lately — no reason why they should decide to toss her two solo lines and two close-ups to go with them in the PV if they weren’t trying to give her maybe a tiny push forward in the group.

But don’t mind me, I’m probably just making up excuses here because I still love her, even if she slaughtered an Ayaya song while in a ridiculous-looking hat. ^_^;