Damn I was in middle school when HEART STATION came out. I'm now 21 and in college lmao the years really do fly by.

You're still young... :yes

Are we talking about age now? lol.
I was 19 when I entered hikki's world, and now I'm 34... sigh time goes really fast...

And I used to think Niji iro bus as a kiddy song, but not anymore. I have to play this song at least once during spring time everyday.

I get depressed with the later part of that damn song! That's not a kiddy song seriously lol

Tonight. Tonight. I don't want to be alone tonight

I love listening to the karaokes. It's great when you hear an instrument you didn't hear before, or some unwritten english lyrics. (with the karaoke of keep tryin' being my favorite example)

I was 10 when I first started listening to Hikki and I was 12 when I listened to ayu, I'm 25 now

My uncle gave me First Love for my birthday ^.^

What's everyone's opinion of Distance? I think it's her weakest album but it does have some jams.

For me her weakest albums are This Is The One followed by First Love. Distance may not be in my Top 2 or 3 Hikaru albums, but has a lot of nostalgia for me and classic R&B tracks.

Same for me. DEEP RIVER and ULTRA BLUE are my favorites.

^^^If you ask me, yes it's her weakest album. It does have really good songs (mostly the singles).

I think my opinion towards the album was affected by First Love. I was in love with FL and I kept my expectation high for her second album (it was like almost two years between FL and Distance, and back then it was considered a long break for me). I remember I received the album about a month after the release (my friend bought it for me). My first impression was that the album wasn't as interesting as I expected to be. I admit that it has more variety compared to FL when it comes to R&B, but the flow is not that good compared to the former album. I think when two albums were on the similar basis, it attracted comparison easily. Back then I think the majority thought FL was better than Distance. (This is just like UB vs HS, both using synth instruments as main arrangements).

In addition, ayu released A BEST at the same time and my bro felt that A BEST was more interesting than Distance (lol). I dunno, it didn't wow me as much as when I received Duty (it was a hype half a year ago before Distance).

But then, when she released DEEP RIVER, it was totally a wow to the JPoworld. Before she announced the album, the hype wasn't that high. Hikari was three weeks no. 1 but the overall sales was like around 550K (not that high according to her standard back in 2002). Even when SAKURA drops was premiered on radio, I thought it was a boring song. Then all of the sudden she got sick, every promotion was canceled, and Japanese was so concerned about her health. Then about a week or two before SAKURA/letters was released, Toshiba announced DR. Then the cover came out and everyone was so hyper (I admit that even tho the cover was just black and white, it was way better than Distance's cover). DR is really a masterpiece in my opinion... lol


That is a big transition :), from being kid turning into an adult. I assume you started listening hikki around her debut time then :yes.

LOL it should not be if it's something from HS, when the theme of the album was something about death (well with the exception of boku wa kuma :D).

I always thought take 5 and boku ha kuma were supposed to represent reincarnation or something. atleast that's what I got from the songs playing back to back. take 5 being about death and the abrupt ending representing your life ending all of a sudden, and then boku ha kuma being about a light hearted children's song and being young and innocent again.

I really loved that they were together on the album. I thought it was like telling a story.

The later part? I think the entire thing is depressing.

Monday to friday
monday to friday
everybody feels the same
everybody feels the same

Hell, I'm looking at the english lyrics to the song now. the entire thing is about "I hate it here, get me the fuck out of this place."

I never thought this song was cute or happy. lol when I first heard it, I knew something was up when I heard the english parts.

I wrote an essay on here about the themes of Heart Station. There's a lot of melancholy in Niji Iro Bus ( ore however it's spelt) to me, almost kind of bitter sweet?

^ were you the one who wrote about how the album basically flows and then she dies but is reborn? That's essentially what made me love HS above all her other albums.

I most definitely read "excursion" as "execution." Was like the abysmal fuq!?

I'm going to have to listen for this.

lol



Sounds like she was trying to sneak in emotional shade. lol

Utada: "Imma make them bop their head to this undercover $h!t. Hey, daddy zane, gimme a "whoa whoa", up pitch that betch and rep a rainbow. They don't know this song is my resignation. What's Japanese for Hiatus?"

Daddy Zane: Where you going?

Utada: France. ~(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)~

Daddy Zane: No you not. Island Def Jam called. They said, "loooooooooool"

Yeah that was me. I'm glad you love HS :)

Where can I read it?

Lol.

About Take 5... There was speculation about it being about suicide or something but I thought that rumor was debunked. It turned out to be about "taking 5 minutes from reality" - just laying back and kind of escaping for a short time from all the chaos and stress of daily life. The abrupt ending represents a return back to reality and the chaos of it all. "Snapping out of it", that tranquil state within your mind.

I love that take on it because that's often what music is to me. Or when I used to smoke and step outside to put on my headphones and for 5 minutes just relax and escape into the environment of the music.

I have that impression too, but i prefer Nijiiro Bus instead of Boku Wa Kuma. I think NIB can also convey that child feeling

3:40

I never saved it because I didn't think it was any good lol.

Take 5 is an interesting song because she's explained that the main influence was about a children's book dealing with a state that is like death, that book is translated as Night on the Galactic Railroad. I read it as a child, and it always stood out to me, so I can see why she was influenced by it