^It's a bit unfair to compare almost anyone's discography with Hikki's and say hers ir more refined. Hikki has always been way more a musician that Ayu ever tried to be. But Ayu can perform circles around Hikki on the other side.

^ yeah, like I’m a Hikki fan, but her live performances bore me to tears. Even though she writes the songs, I don’t feel a great deal of emotional connection. I’m also not a fan of a lot of her more recent stuff though I enjoy hatsukoi more than fantome.

I actually think that CREA songs can stand up to any of Utada's songs.

IMO Fantome was an album planned to reintroduce her to the public, so its safe as fuck. Hatsukoi is on the run to be my favorite :P

But yeah, Hikki cant perform and her live singing is painful

I think Ayumi and Utada were the most close to each other musically speaking when RAINBOW and DEEP RIVER were released; both albums released on the same year and both experimenting with "ethereal" sounds.

It's also hard to compare someone who literally was born into a musical family vs. someone who was and had nothing as far as the entertainment world was concerned.

Agreed! I love Utada to the moon and back and she will forver be my "First Love", but her most recent stuff is rather dull.
I was hoping she'd stick to R'n'B after the release of her English Album This Is the One, which I genuinely loved. Somehow the American side Utada has more spice.

Hikki and Ayu are so different, the only thing they have in common is that they're both Jpop queens lol

And they both have hiccups in their discographies. Of course Ayu has some, she has more albums too.

I never understood why people are so amazed with Hikki. For me, her songs are very boring. I like some of her songs and that's it. Nothing special for me.

y'all a song is born finally hit me omg. a masterpiece. finally i can stop talking shit about it now.

LOL. That happened to me a few years ago as well. I think listening to it with the lyrics really helped, especially in context with the rest of I am...

This is kinda sad that all anticipation of new album is over

Will be pretty quiet here for the next months.. only first few tour dates will be really interesting with setlist stuff and possible photos.

^We will still got the POM and TA broadcasts :P

^True, can't wait for those.

about the hikki vs ayu discussion - you forgot that Hikki has like half the albums ayu has. Also, i think both women respect each other very much and we should so too.

^Having an opinion doesn't mean being disrespectful, though.

I grow tired of Hikki songs really fast it seems, I do have my favourites, though.

Honestly, there's as much "wrong" with Hikki as there is with Ayu. It just applies to different aspects.

I don't care what y'all say but Colours was THAT BITCH. That album reinvigorated my love for Ayu and she was serving SO MANY looks that era. I don't know if it was Tyson with his American D but she was killing it. Even the premium showcase live. If it weren't for the heavily edited vocals, that concert would have been my FAVOURITE. The use of the stage, the lights, her costumes. Ugh. I need that Ayu to jump out again.

There's nothing wrong with preferring one artist over the other, recognizing which artist is stronger in one area while the other is stronger in another.

I always hated the argument "you can't make comparisons" - sure as Hell you can. They are both entertainers. Japanese music entertainers. No two things you generally make comparisons between are exactly alike, so using the argument "they are two different things that can't be compared" is just horse shit.