Do you think Hikki's Voice sounds wierd?
 

I mean, I LOVE her voice. It's so unique, and I can really easily sing her style.

To me, it just sounds like she talks funny. Like, she pronunciates her words differently. In both Japanese and English. Perhaps its the way she moves her mouth when she talks and sings?

Perhaps I'm just used to hor Ayu pronounces her words, but Hikki just sounds...almost like an accent. Does she have one when she speaks in Japanese?

I think I understand what you are saying about her voice. There is a slight accent. But I don't find it weird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp9lzwJTj2c

There. She talks :o

Well, she lived in the USA for the first part of her live, then she moved to Japan in teenage years. I don't know how she learned both languages, but I suppose she might have accent in both Japanese and English due to bilinguality.

I think Beni Arashiro might have it the same way.

It's a bit warbly at times [like.. a bird.. thing..] but overall, it's good. XD

(warble - see BE MY RASTO. XD)

Oh yeah, that accent when she speaks English and Japanese.. :laugh I remember thinking she was mumbling or something. But it makes her unique. Quite different from her super clear singing. I mean, you'd never guess it was HER who sang those amazing songs.

all i know that she talks quite fast..and not like a japanese people talking..
she's just like another foreign people who learns and speaks japanese..
maybe she lives in the US for quite a long time..so it makes her mother language is sounded a bit different..

*i've never heard her speak english before..anybody has the video of her speaking english? pls share with me..*

^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-hJNSN1Y-k
She's talking about Exodus on CNN :)

Sounds like she mumbles in English. :\

i've always though her voice sounds weird in english. but it's cute :)

I don't think she's mumbling...she just talks really fast...in both English and Japanese...

I don't think she has an accent in English..

I've always thought her voice sounded weird. I never really minded though. As far as her talking I never really noticed anything strange. Then again I rarely hear her talk.

Exactly. I was watching Hazukis video, and she's not mumbling. She just talks really fast in a low voice, but you an understand what she is saying.
Utada does have a tiny, tiny accent, but definitely not very noticeable. But it sounds nice.
I can't say the difference when she's speaking in Japanese though.

I've always thought that she has a slight lisp when she's speaking Japanese, and a little bit of an accent when she's speaking in English.

And I think bilinguality has something to do with that, since both Chinese and English are native to me. I can't pronounce either perfectly, but you'll most probably be able to understand what I say perfectly. Like now. :laugh

I think that she just has a weird speaking voice.

Yeah, Hikki's voice is a little strange to me. (her singing voice...I haven't heard her speaking voice.) I love her singing style it's just so I dunno different. lol

Do you think she's very anxious when she's being interviewed? It seems to me that way....... like she's having a hard time expressing herself..... with all the stutters...

I'm refering to both Youtube clips by the way.

Compared to Ayu, Ayu seems more relaxed during interview

^I've always noticed Japanese stars pausing and stuttering a little during interviews. They always seem careful about their answers and comments...(which is a good thing to me...) I think Ayu's more relaxed because she's seasoned to interviews and she might even rehearse her answers backstage...You know like think of questions they may ask and then make a good answer in her head.

She's not mumbling in the video I posted, but when she talked in english once she talks.. kinda fast xD

But in the one Norrel posted, she was gonna say her album name in english then said it in engrish!

"Utura Bruu"

I dont think it's weird. I think its versatile.

She is compared to Britney Spears in that too.... o_o

- - -

I can notice the little "mumble" she has in English. She talks kinda like my Japanese teacher, with a slight "mumble".

Well I don't think her Voice sounds wierd..I personally think it doesn't sounds very special and in some songs she sounds a bit strange.

But I really like her songs Colours and Easy Breezy^^

Maybe I only think so because I am used to listen to highter Voices as Ayu and Kuu^^

OO so its was Ayu that was better prepared than the rest of the singers for interviews?

If we are only talking about Hikki's voice, i think its unique... makes reaching insanely high pitch constantly possible:)

Thanks for the CNN video. I don't know what I think of her voice. Doesn't really sound weird but I think I may have thought so the first time I heard it - (radio appearance and interview in California). It doesn't strike me as odd however... Then again, I always used to think Ayu's talking voice was weird when I first heard it but I got used to it alot now and don't see what I thought was so weird about it - it's just AYU!

Anyways - I am still extremely dissapointed about how her US debut was handled. I never heard the song on the radio or on MTV. Come on - her label sucked at promoting. She could have done well I think because Easy Breezy is a catchy song that I grew to LOVE!

True, she doesn't have a accent when she speaks in English. I .. think it's weird when the lady compared her to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera...

^^i also didn't think she had an acccent when she spoke English...i was rather surprised.

Isn't she with Def Jam records? Why didn't they promote her? I never heard even of her English album until well after it was released. Doesn't Def Jam represent some of the biggest stars? They probably didn't promote her because they didn't think she'd sell well.

I've noticed with Japanese artists that can speak fluent English you can usually hear this lilt in their japanese singing, Yuna Ito has that lilt for example and the first time I heard her it was apparent. Whether she can speak English or not I honestly don't know but it's that same quality that I can hear in Utada Hikaru. It's very subtle and fleeting however, aside from that I don't know of any other major J-Pop star that sings in Utada Hikaru's style. There's Kuraki Mai but she's too bubbly and cutesy to be very similar.

I don't like her voice, actually. I think that she composes songs that are too ambitious for her voice and then in the end it makes her voice sound weak. She really strains herself sometimes, and in her lives, her voice quality really dies by the middle of the concert. Her songs, however, are good. That's why I listen to her.

singing: no
speaking: no

i dont see anything weird about her voice.

Yeah, weird. That's what makes her good. That's the reason I love her, ayumi, KEIKO, Yaida Hitomi and so on. In terms of japanese music, I really like when artists are able to make something more out of their voice which is not following the "latest trend". By that I mean, while I really listen to several japanese artists and vocals aren't everything about a song, artists who have the typical, plain cutesy anime vocals aren't exactly the ones who draw most of my attention.