[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by KuuXAyu-fan

IMO JAPONESQUE and countless other Kuu albums are better than Fantome or any other album Hikki has released. In my view, Hikki has been rehashing the same songs post-Deep River and Fantome is her most generic and uninteresting album yet.

You're clearly not a fan, and that's OK, but I'd rather not see you oversimplify Fantome. Fantome is Utada's most cohesive and personal record in her entire career, and would not have happened without her mother's suicide. The entire album revolves heavily around death, loss, reflection, untouchable dreams, and other thoughts that fill life with such nuance. Utada's lyrics are usually nonsensical and seem simple, but she's as popular as she is because her songs seem so down-to-earth and plain while focusing on subjects that people rarely have the skill to communicate well.

Originally Posted by Zeke.

Fantome is definitely not a "re-hash," and I mean that in a negative sense. ULTRA BLUE and songs off of HEART STATION were better. I wouldn't eat a turd off the crap Ku has released since UNIVERSE.

I agree that ULTRA BLUE and HEART STATION were better albums. Maybe because Utada had her head on her shoulders and didn't have an identity shaken too harshly by divorce, hiatus, marriage, pregnancy, and suicide. She's not a "normal" woman like she used to seem, you know -- the girl Nintendo hand-picked to compete against Japan's Tetris champions for fun. She's had a lot of time on her hands, a husband, a baby, and a lot of loss.

Koda's certainly done some good things since UNIVERSE. But yes, her peak was Black Cherry / Kingdom / TRICK / UNIVERSE. Since then, her albums have been loaded with a lot more forgettable material. However, I have to argue that it's made the standout tracks stand out much more. Watching the arena dance with Kuu during BE MY BABY on WOML Tour was a special moment for me as a fan -- it proved that Koda really does deserve everything she's earned as an artist.

Originally Posted by Gubsi

^then why are you still here? we're close hitting 2017 lmao

Fantôme is very 80s french pop inspired and she's doing a great job with it!
i can see when people don't like it as much, cause for most minds and ears it's a bit out of their bubble, but i think it's one of the best japanese albums we had this year followed by Miliyah Kato's LIBERTY.

I think Miliyah nailed J-Pop for 2016, hands down. LIBERTY isn't just a damn good album from start to finish, it's a damn good album NONE of us fans expected to be so good. We were a little meh after LOVELAND and TRUE LOVERS, and somehow Miliyah returned with an album that epitomizes the best of Japanese Pop as we know it today.

Originally Posted by KarenPang

And Zeke , if you're not a Kuu fan anymore , why are you still posting here & bashing her music ?

Last thing I want to see is Kuu's thread/s getting flamed again by the mods on here as to what happened in the past

I could say even further if not more nastier stuff but I'm not going to

Anyway with today being the last day of 2016 , all I can say is that being a Kuu fan for 10 years , it's no doubt that she worked hard to where she has gotten but 2016 is her most quietest to date in terms of new material

It felt strange as all the while everyone was so used to her releasing new music so frequently until at times I can't keep up unlike this year

I do hope she will wow everyone for all its worth when 2017 rolls by (in less than 3 hours' time for me)

Bashing =/= not being a fan. I'm so tired of people jumping to the conclusion that you can't be a fan and bash or hate on an artist's releases. I've loved Lady Gaga, but I think Joanne needs to be set on fire and burned. I think who Gaga thinks she is right now needs to be set on fire and burned. I think she's a talented performer who's trying too hard to get people to take her seriously after taking the criticism that she relies on "gimmicks" to heart. I'm still a fan.

Originally Posted by kaled kalil

Is this the time of the year to say that everything that Kumi does is garbage again? I thought we already did that back in april. And august. And october....

Hikki is doing her thing, and Kumi is doing hers, so why people still compare things that doesn't match at all? You can like both, one doesn't replace the other and they are getting the coins either way.

And btw, I still like WALK OF MY LIFE, it's a good and cohesive album for what it is.

People on both sides take it way out of context every time. Someone hates on something, someone else construes it to mean they're hating on something else as well -- rinse and repeat. For a bunch of adults, we sure behave like emotional little children.

WOML was a good album. I wish it felt fuller, but I appreciate the title track for it's significance at this point in Koda's career. It was a good song, and a very mature track that needed to happen.