Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [Utada Hikaru] *Her Star Shines On and On In Her 30th Thread*

Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/index.php)

- Artists & Bands (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=66)

- - [Utada Hikaru] *Her Star Shines On and On In Her 30th Thread* (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89834)

^LMAO. She looks scary.

i think she looks really pretty in that 2nd pic, but not in the first one. waaay too dark makeup :P

^But her skin's aqua green...lol...

lol and i like how the concert is called unity in diversity

uniting utada with creepy makeup, shiny belt, tight pants, and plus green light, that creates diversity...XD

That top is gross as.

HI PEOPLE!

I haven't been really keeping up with Utada lately.

So..is TITO worth buying? Are the songs good?

Weird first pic, but the second is good. I don't remember that at all. Hm.

WHOA! It's Halloween already?

THIS IS THE ONE CHARTS @ #69 ON THE U.S BILLBOARD 200!

Congratz to Utada!

Quote:

Billboard/Nielsen SoundScan has released the Billboard 200 chart for the week ending May 30th, and Utada’s “This Is The One” ranks in at #69, selling 6,915 units this past week. This brings the total physical/digital reported sales to 12,435 units.

Source: U.Blog

OMG. GO HIKKI! :shimmy
That's great news. :heart

Wow, that's great. This is higher than Exodus did in it's first week...right?

^Exodus reached #160 I believe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Temari_2 (Post 1950571)

Wow, that's great. This is higher than Exodus did in it's first week...right?

Not exactly...Exodus charted lower but sold more. 7,105 on it's first week. Either way, Utada did great.

Though this is no The Fame, I'm completely satisfied, factoring in the fact that she's almost an absolute unknown here in the U.S and that her promotion was canceled. I feel like TITO is just a couple singles away from making it big...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundae (Post 1950584)

Not exactly...Exodus charted lower but sold more. 7,105 on it's first week. Either way, Utada did great.

Oh ok.

These pictures wohlud be okay if she had less makeup.

Wow alright Utada!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AyUta (Post 1948903)

I do hope she doesn't quit here in the US after this album. Renew the contract Hikki! :laugh

Oh, here's a pole on NY1 asking which will be the first asian popstar in America.
They have se7en, Utada, and Wonder Girls. No BoA, which saddened me :cry &no, I'm not being sarcastic when I say that lol.
http://www.ny1.com/Default.aspx?ArID=99181

BoA is not on the poll for a reason:

Quote:

Ningin Blogger DavidHou wrote earlier today about NY1 not including BoA in their snap poll of which Asian artists will be the first Asian pop star. Offhand, I can see why this would be a slight against BoA. However, in speaking with a senior SM official today, the truth is that SM asked that BoA not be included. So it’s nothing malicious or intentional on NY1’s part.

Source: Ningin

So its not really NY1's fault. Its SM's. So really, nobody is hating BoA or anything.

Wonder why that was. Wonder Girls is winning? Nothing against them but HUH!?

Omg yay it's #69! For one moment I thought the sales were 12345 xD LOL

So proud of Utada. Never ceases to amaze me. Good stuff. Now she needs to heal up, release another single and promote and get "This Is The One" in the top 40, if not the top 50 and I'll be satisfied and feel she accomplished a lot.

Also, those gothy pictures of Utada remind me of this gothy picture of Utada that I have stored on my computer. It looks bad though. I actually like the ones on the previous page. If I can find it, I'll post it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xheartstation (Post 1950618)

BoA is not on the poll for a reason:

Source: Ningin

So its not really NY1's fault. Its SM's. So really, nobody is hating BoA or anything.

Yeah I just read that on the site. I do wonder why SM decided against it.

Here's the full chart for the Billboard 200.
The ones in green are new and orange are re-entries.
Utada is actually the highest ranking re-entry this week.
Utada is at 12 in the Hot Dance Club Play, peaking at 5.

Spoiler:

Woot, #69!! Go Hikki! :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by xheartstation (Post 1950356)

OMG! i never seen that before and it was from 2002
that is so weird of her to put that on

Quote:

Originally Posted by xheartstation (Post 1950560)

THIS IS THE ONE CHARTS @ #69 ON THE U.S BILLBOARD 200!

Congratz to Utada!

Source: U.Blog

that is so crazy GOOD JOB UTADA!

She's thinking 6 to 9 so how fitting!

The picture in that slideshow that comes right before the gothic one is actually really stunning. *_* She... looks like a woman with her long hair and make-up! :laugh I really miss her long hair...

I FINALLY got a copy of TITO from FYE last week for $7.99! It was the only copy left in the "UTADA" section. Yay me! The lady at the check out counter said, "Nice choice" when I was checking out, but at the time I didn't realize she was talking to me because she was also talking to the guy she was working with so... yeah lol. The album is taking a while to grow on me... it's... interesting (I hadn't listened to any of the songs sans CBTM until I bought the album). I'm not too sure how I feel about it yet to be honest.

^ aww i got it for $10, but at least i found it, there were so many, made me happy seeing a little "utada" tab

though i don't really love the album that much, i just wanted to buy it to support hikki
i still wish the booklet would have lyrics, but oh well~

Quote:

Originally Posted by xheartstation (Post 1950356)

Well....MTVIggy (I'm assuming this is some branch of MTV) has uploaded a photo slideshow of Utada...and one of the photos really caught my attention. I have never seen this before @_@ Its kinda scary looking...

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4579/omgr.jpg

Entire slideshow here:

http://www.mtviggy.com/japanese/phot...s-hikaru-utada

EDIT: googled the concert and discovered....well

http://srv0204-04.sjc3.imeem.com/g/p...65ab0a_raw.jpg

:bbarf

These pics should never be seen again. :puke

On a better note, yeah for #69 lol!

#69 is soooo good for a debut! congrats hikki! :D

I was searching Utada's past billboard records and came across this:

Spoiler:

Billboard Top 100 most exotic voices (issued in 2008 I think)

^ Nice! At least she's the first Japanese.

Another pole curtesy of NINGIN.

What should be the 2nd single off TITO?
http://blog.utada2.net/?p=1542

#69. Good job Utada. And she's the first Japanese artist to break the 100? Even better. I wonder what the next single from the album will be?

Yay! :) Right on Hikki!

Good news for Hikki and the others on the list.

I really don't get why you would release a single from an album that already has that song on it...? Is that just something they do these days? Would the single have like other remixes or something on it? What's the point?

^The point is to promote the album by getting the single played on radios? Iunno why America does this to be honest.

^ Yeah, it's just promotion on the radios. They're rarely, RARELY released.

On another happy note, I GOT TITO! :clapclap I just came back from Best Buy with my uncle. They only had two copies left. At first I didn't find it and had to ask one of the workers. He started looking for it and couldn't find it, so then he asked this other worker to help us. It took them a while but they eventually found it way at the bottom of one of the shelves. :laugh I was scared there for a moment. @_@

Ah, I haven't listened to Simple and Clean for the longest time....memories <3

They do it to release new songs to the radio stations to PROMOTE. Japan promotes before Albums, America promotes before, but mostly after.

And congrats to Utada for adding yet another Record under her belt. If anyone could do it, she could. I knew once the Physical Album was released, the difference between just a DIGITAL release and a PHYSICAL release would be shown. :yes
Where did BoA's Album debut?

Imagine if she hadn't got sick and did her promotions. She may have been able to get in the top 50 or 40.

P.S.> Some pages ago someone asked what Utada was saying at the end of "Beautiful World". They thought it was "Lonely Boy". Well I was listening to it tonight. She says, "It's Only Love". ;)

^BoA debut at #127 on the U.S Billboard 200. In her defense, her company sucks at making any effort to promote her and the physical CD is going extinct pretty fast.

Yeah that.

So today I got this DS promo brochure that had Hikki on it from 2004. Tottaly random pretty much useless thing to have but I don't care. lol.

Also Sanctuary has grown on me. I used to dislike it but after hearing Sanctuary (Ending) it's actully quite good.

^But Passion is better...:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoriKaru (Post 1951831)

thank god it showed people the difference...I was tired of the stupid "hikki's album has been released already" arguement. tis ridiculous...anyway...

I don't really understand why they promote after either...I dont understand why they need to have a single to promote? Why can't they promote right off the album? *is confused* I don't know...I never really paid attention to american release schedules.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amrai-chan (Post 1951876)

So today I got this DS promo brochure that had Hikki on it from 2004. Tottaly random pretty much useless thing to have but I don't care. lol.

Utada is so cute and kiddy in those DS commercials. I'm flabbergasted as to why she hasn't gone on to continue promoting it in commercials. I would love that periodic exposure. Something to wet our whistles in between releases. She hardly ever does commercials now. *Sigh*

Anyway. Describe Utada on the brochure and I want that brochure. Thanks.

EDIT: Emiko:

Well the way I see it is that by releasing new songs to the radio, people can then hear songs off of the Album and get it if they like it. But yeah, when you think about it, here in America we're just buying an Album purely on star power because we've usually only heard like one of the songs before the Album is released and we buy it. That is weird how we work. Because artist still get big sales opening week based off of one or 2 songs. On the upside we don't get a "New" album with a bunch of already heard Singles. *COUGH*Utada*COUGH*

Yeah I liked those commericals. She should do commercials more often...

The booklet/brochure thing has a pic of Hikaru from the side dressed in red. She's holding a stylus. Open it and there is this (Yay for my camera...maybe I should scan...)

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/6292/1021298.jpg

The Touch! Part folds open to a bunch of people in similar pose. That's it. The rest of the book just explains the DS and such with little pictures showing it's features.

@ xheartstation True! Passion is awesome. I can't decide if I like the after the battle version of Passion more than the original or not.

Releasing a single, the album and them more singles it one thing that makes the album sales in USA steady for a longer time than most jpop albums IMO, cause even if fans buy it when it's released, casual listeners have the time to know some songs before doing it... while in Japan a casual listener can pretty much buy the single with the song they like and forget about the album... So, who is interested buys it when it's released and most of the time the albums sales fade quickly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amrai-chan (Post 1952003)

Yup, as soon as you said red dress, I knew exactly which outfit you were talking about. And Utada with her pig tails. Saving picture. Thanks.

She was so adorable in that DS commercial :weep

I FOUND HER !!!! in a DUTCH record store in my own small city!! what the freaking hell!! The national chains don't have her of course, but this is an individual record store so they can choose to import American releases, and they did!!

my heart skipped a beat and I started screaming at my friend "OMG THEY HAVE UTADA!! THEY HAVE UTADA!!"

I made him buy it as well :P I wanted to buy it myself, but I'm absolutely broke. But it's ok, I have the Japanese version. I took a picture:

http://img35.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01452x.jpg

I am wrong. Utada is NOT the first Japanese artist to break the top 200

Quote:

Utada enters Top 100 on U.S. Billboard charts

Hikaru Utada's second English album, "This Is The One," finally hit U.S. stores last week. Already doing well in Japan, the album also proved successful in America, achieving #69 on the Billboard album charts. This makes her just the 7th artist from Japan to enter the chart's top 100.

The last Japanese artist to break the top 100 was in 1986, when rock band Loudness ranked #64 with "Lightning Strikes." The first was Kyu Sakamoto in 1963, followed by Isao Tomita, Tsutomu Yamashita, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Yoko Ono, and finally Loudness.

"This Is The One" was released on March 14 in Japan and debuted at #3 there and ranked 1st on the foreign albums chart for multiple weeks.

Source: Tokyograph

Very sorry :/

Nope she isn't~

Delirium-Zero @ Jpopstop actually wrote an article about the past Japanese acts here.

[Article] J Music in the USA

But I guess she is the first in like...the current generation of jpop lol

Oh yeah. Kyu Sakamoto. And I knew that too. Must have skipped my mine in all of the hoopla. Had no idea that many had made it though. Well I guess the first one since 1986 is still a big deal. doesn't happen often. That's 13 years.

Well I guess the main thing will be if Utada has the staying power and becomes well known and a household name.

*Record should've been Utadas'* :raincloud

Ohh okay so they don't create a physical "single" to sell, they just choose a song for the radios to play. Gotcha!

Quote:

Originally Posted by taskinillusion (Post 1953249)

Ohh okay so they don't create a physical "single" to sell, they just choose a song for the radios to play. Gotcha!

yeap... radio + music video + tv performaces = single^^

physical singles are still released sometimes, but only collectors and djs (because of the remixes) buy them

●Top Internet Albums
#17 Utada / This Is The One (new)

●Billboard Comprehensive Albums
#71 Utada / This Is The One (new)

●Dance Club Play Chart
#12 Utada / Come Back To Me (LW#05 / 10wks / pk#05)

●Global Dance Tracks Chart
#28 Utada / Come Back To Me (LW#36 / 3wks / pk#28)

Wow..she's doing really good, huh? I guess I might buy the album..especially if it's cheap..

^Its on sale at BestBuy for $7.99 :D

If they have it at wal mart tommorow I'm gonna buy it! Even though I bought it on i-tunes already! Utada needs all the support she can get

I'm so glad she's doing well on the charts.

Good for Hikki. :)

Yeah, at Best Buy it's only $7.99! Cheap if you ask me.

Good stuff Miss Utada. :shimmy

HEART STATION (album) re-enters the Oricon Top 300 albums chart:

275　---　***,509　1,010,463　*53　宇多田ヒカル「HEART STATION」

omg awesome!!! i love HS, i regret not buying the poster when i saw it in the airport...

the HEART STATION sales are amazing!
I bought the album too bcos it's awesome :yes

anything new about the new single?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rookies (Post 1954978)

HEART STATION (album) re-enters the Oricon Top 300 albums chart:

275　---　***,509　1,010,463　*53　宇多田ヒカル「HEART STATION」

That things just keeps selling and selling :D

yay! that album deserves to still chart :D

When you think it's done it just keeps on. :)

^yeah, cause it keeps tryin' to fight all the blues. XD

HA! Nice one.

I wonder if Hikki's feeling better and if she's going to reschedule those events?

Yeah... No news on that... And it's already been a couple of weeks.

It's not up to Utada whether her events get rescheduled. Who knows if her team can even get them back.

EDIT:

Miami Interview Back in March for "This Is The One".

Utada is featured on IDJ's dance compilation CD Just Dance

Spoiler:

Quote:

Just Dance Music Compilation

http://media.islanddefjam.com/JustDa...ce%20cover.jpg

JUST DANCE– PREMIERE OF NEW DANCE MUSIC COMPILATION SERIES ARRIVES MAY 26th – PRESENTING RARE #1 BILLBOARD-TOPPING MIXES, REMIXES AND EDITS BY IDJ’s MARIAH CAREY, RIHANNA, NE-YO, DUFFY, KILLERS, AND OTHERS ALL MIXED TOGETHER IN ONE NON-STOP DANCE PARTY!

(May 4, 2009 – New York, NY) Summer’s (almost) here and the time is (just) right for dancin’ in the streets – as Island Def Jam Music Group in collaboration with Ultra Records, premieres the first volume of JUST DANCE. This timely new compilation series presents the biggest dance mixes, remixes and edits that have proved themselves on the charts and on dancefloors, at clubs and radio across North America – from New York, Boston and Miami, to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and beyond. JUST DANCE will arrive in the physical and digital marketplace on May 26th.

JUST DANCE serves up an essential collection of impossible-to-find versions of hits by Island Def Jam megastars Mariah Carey (the Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel remix of “Touch My Body”); Rihanna (Jody den Broeder’s edit of “Disturbia”); Ne-Yo (the Ultimix of “Mad”); the Killers (Armin van Buuren’s remix of “Human”); Duffy (Hot 22’s “Mercy” mix); Utada (the Tony Moran & Warren Rigg mix of “Come Back To Me”); andLionel Richie (the Mike Rizzo Funk Generation mix of “Just Go”).

The IDJ hits are coupled with licenses from Ultra, starting with Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho),” which is currently exploding on radio, online and in the clubs and is the song’s first appearance on an album. Also included: the worldwide hit “Infinity” by Guru Josh Project (over 50 million views on YouTube); the Basshunter extended remix of “When You Leave (Numa Numa)” by Victoria’s Secret supermodel Alina; the Jason Nevins Electrotek radio edit of the brand new song “Alive” by Annette Artani (finalist from Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest, and co-writer of “Everytime” by Britney Spears); and more.

The final track listing for JUST DANCE is as follows:

1. Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) (More English Extended)
2. Rihanna – Disturbia (Jody den Broeder Remix)
3. Ne-Yo – Mad (Ultimix)
4. The Killers – Human (Armin van Buuren Club Remix)
5. Duffy – Mercy (Hott 22 Vocal Remix )
6. Mariah Carey – Touch My Body (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Club Remix)
7. Kim Sozzi – Feel Your Love (Extended Mix)
8. Anastacia – Absolutely Positively (Moto Blanco Remix)
9. Sharam feat. Kid Cudi – She Came Along (Ecstacy of Club Remix)
10. Kraak and Smaak – Squeeze Me (Fedde Le Grand Remix)
11. Utada – Come Back To Me (Tony Moran & Warren Rigg Club Mix)
12. Lionel Richie – Just Go (Mike Rizzo Funk Generation Club)
13. Guru Josh Project – Infinity (Klaas Vocal Mix)
14. Annet Artani – Alive (Jason Nevins Electrotek Club)
15. Alina – When You Leave (Numa Numa) (Basshunter Extended)
16. Basshunter – All I Ever Wanted (DJ Alex Extended Mix)

Love the pictures with her in the pink and black. So beautiful. :heart

woo! those pictures are AWESOME.

now there's an example of a good make up team.

^Lol. My thoughts exactly. Why couldn't her record label do something like that?

I love her shirt...

*makes another new set*!

Edit: Love that interview.

Cocteau Twins mention + 2
Family Guy mention + 1
Law and Order mention + 4
Spicy food as a comfort food + 10

and those books she mentioned sound interesting.

stunning pictures :love

i wanna see her in a bear costume O__O

omg i love the picture with her eyes closed

oo so cool that she's on the CD, i saw a cm for it yesterday~

<3<3<3 that bear costume :luv2

Woman has Flawless Natural Beauty.

Finally got This Is The One today. :)

If anyone remembers, it was supposed to be released last week in Canada (May 19), and I think it was, but my local HMV didn't get it till this week (even though I preordered :P).

And oddly, it looks like Universal just imported the discs from US: the back has the FBI warning and the album has the three Kingdom Hearts tracks. ;)

^^I think the record store must've imported the US version for you, because the Canadian release isn't supposed to come out until June 23rd, and I also don't think it's going to have the bonus tracks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoriKaru (Post 1956747)

Woman has Flawless Natural Beauty.

and is friends with photoshop :P

WOW. That photoshoot is beautiful :luv2 I LOVE LOVE LOVE the third to last picture.

I agree emi, a very good example lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayufan11 (Post 1957817)

and is friends with photoshop :P

But 99% due to Flawless Natural Beauty. :yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayufan11 (Post 1957817)

and is friends with photoshop :P

Nowadays, who isn't a little friendly with photoshop? ;p

Quote:

Originally Posted by amorphose (Post 1957816)

That is weird!

I guess I'm lucky then. I didn't really care about the Kingdom Hearts tracks, but now that I have them, they're a nice bonus. :D

If Universal does commission a Canada press, I may just buy the album *again* in order to show more support for Utada in Canada. ;)

Utada deserves to be popular everywhere. <3

Just curious... If Utada became really famous in the US, would you guys consider her the first true international superstar?

I know there have already been 'international' superstars-- people like Madonna and Britney Spears that are popular pretty much everywhere and people like The Beatles who made it huge in one country and then went to others and got huge...

But I think I'd view Utada is the first real one because she wouldn't be like Madonna or Britney in the sense that she does music in one country, in one language, that just happens to be well-liked in other countries, and she wouldn't be popular like The Beatles in the sense that she made it popular in another Japanese speaking country (like the Beatles did with the UK and then the US.)

She'd be different because she totally crossed a cultural border. Japan and the US are so completely different and she's already become popular in Japan with her Japanese music, thus leading to her popularity throughout Asia. If she became popular in the states, that would most likely lead to a Canadian and European popularity.

I guess what I'm asking is-- because she is pretty much domestic to the United States AND Japan, if she was popular in both, she'd pretty much be a household name through out the whole world, and both western and eastern culture would feel she was 'homegrown.' I don't think any other artist has ever done this. That's why I really want it to be Utada to do this. She really deserves it.

I'd consider her the first true Asian superstar in the U.S, but she already IS and This Is The One sold so much more beyond my hopes. Hopefully this trend continues and Utada will finally be seen as an established American artist.

Just saw the "Just Dance" Album Commercial.
Although Utada's name wasn't spoken and a clip of her video wasn't shown like some others, her name was among the artists that they specifically highlighted on screen. :)

^Now if only TITO got a real commercial of some sort....

^too bad TITO only has one pv released so far

Quote:

Originally Posted by xheartstation (Post 1958017)

^Now if only TITO got a real commercial of some sort....

I really think she should have gotten her own commercial for her album. That would have been big promotion there, but it's expensive so it's understandable...

http://www.utada2.net/images/TITO_UBLOG.jpg

Someone posted this at U.Blog....why....why cant IDJ just suck it up and accept that their cover sucks and THIS SHOULD BE THE ONE ><

^omg...doesn't it just fit so well as a cover...especially like...in the industry I guess...

Doesn't it make you want to buy it?

^I would buy anything of Utada's that I can get my hands on LAWL. But yeah, why not seriously, I'm sure Japanese photography is not necessarily the best. We just fail in the U.S cause we're lazy and refuse to try.

That cover is so much better! *__*