~|HOP ON THE NIJIIRO BUS!IT'S THE 15TH UTADA HIKARU THREAD!|~

[bluegie]

yes, back then lots of other AHSers said Sweetbox's versions were bad except Pride. I really love B&D cuz it is something you can't find in her discography. Of course my love was slightly altered when the single wasn't praised and there wasn't any hype at all in Japan, plus the eventual low sales of (m)u. After ignoring these facts I re-loved the song again. I just feel bad for ayu actually, and I guess B&D is a reason she doesn't dare to try new stuff. Otherwise we wouldn't hear fairyland episode II and III for the last 2 years .

With the above example, it's easy to see that my love towards a song or an album could be altered by the sales. I guess I didn't really like UB in the first place because it didn't come to my expectation. But then HS didn't get to my expectation as well (I was hoping for over 500K on the first week). Also, even tho I gave the album a few try, I still couldn't get into most of the album songs. I dun like This Is Love, I hate Making Love, and I dun really like Kairo. Admittedly her UB singles are stronger in terms of music variety (compared to HS), but in overall I love the flowing of HS, and the album songs are better (even it sounds more simple compared to UB's album songs).

[KarenPang]

except for Sweetbox's original renditions of B&D and Ladies Night which I find it slightly cheesy , I like the rest of the songs that were sampled by ayumi . I think they're on par with each other .

I guess it was a bold step for ayumi to undertake especially since the style of B&D and Pride was so different .

sales of (m)u might have been higher if she didn't release the 2 songs as singles a month prior the release of the album or if she didn't release it .

Besides usually singles that were released a month before an album drops will not sell well as people would rather wait a month or less to get hold of the album which contains the song that's found in the single .

anyway for Utada's case , I'm surprised that you don't like Kairo . I adore the orchestra music going on in there & I also like Making Love but it doesn't flow that well as the next song after Making Love was Dareka ...

HS flows well from start to the end but my only grouse for HS was that Utada should have spread out the singles & non singles since after Fight The Blues , you have almost all the songs that were released prior to HS before you hit Gentle Beast Interlude

[KarenPang]

http://listentheworld.wordpress.com/...ers/#more-1949

[Beauty4123]

according to one of utada's blog posts, she was in NY recently. maybe for her english album?

[AyUta]

^ Hooray! Maybe
Hopefully.Surely.BETTER BE! xD

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by bluegie

well you can't compare it with (m)u rite? usually I dun really compare hikki and ayu sales because hikki tends to have higher sales than ayu does (comparison within the same year). (m)u was quite unfortunate because I believe that it would have been another million seller IF ayu didn't release B&D/Pride beforehand. I assume lots of people got scared away from this bold movement. If B&D was just an album song people might find it... freshy? . Looking at that year, ayu's singles sales were pretty strong.. STEP you 2 weeks no. 1, fairyland + HEAVEN both got no. 1 as well... every single (except B&D) got over 320K sales in the end I think. I was expecting a better result until the flop of B&D...

Same goes to hikki. I was expecting UB to be a million seller, but once I knew that it only got 500K on the first week, my dream was broken... .

Actually calling B&D/Pride single a flop is like calling HS/SG single a flop since both were released a month before the album (just that B&D/Pride sold more)...Both albums were announced by the single's releases. Both weren't flops since it's exactly the same situation...

I think that after million selling albums people keep expecting the next one to sell a million as well (until it actually doesn't happen) that's what happened with ULTRA BLUE [and ayu's (miss)understood)].

And I really hope for the English album soon!

[bluegie]

No, to me B&D is really a flop. Yes it was released a month before (m)u, but back then this type of single (the ones released very close to the album) would not be selling very bad if the artist was popular. Judging from the last three single (STEP you --> HEAVEN), everyone would expect the upcoming album would be doing better than MY STORY (since the singles' popularity were pretty weak during 2004). Once B&D was out everything was changed... Suppose the single is not B&D but it's something else.. let's think she would release something like JEWEL for (m)u, I'm sure the first week sales would have been at least 120K instead of ~78K. And lots of Japanese was scared by B&D, and I think during that time ayu or avex has revealed that (m)u would have quite a lot of songs featuring Sweetbox.. So you can see how it scared 200K people alway from buying the album. And we have to admit that ayu's popularity dramatically decreased right after this. Even tho her singles in 2004 considered weaker compared to 2005, but all of them sold over 300K (from Moments --> HEAVEN). This showed ayu's popularity was pretty constant during that time. After (m)u none of of the singles sold over that. Even BLUE BIRD had 3 covers it only managed to sell over 260K I think.

On the other hand, avex didn't release JEWEL as a single before releasing Secret was a big mistake. BLUE BIRD did have a momentum to push ayu back to the top for a bit. So if avex released a decent single after that, Secret sales would not suffer like that. But I guess ayu's eye illness did alter the release pattern. Otherwise JEWEL/1 LOVE would have been a single, judging from that both songs were aired with Panasonic cms during late August..


Also, you have to consider that digital sales were not that strong back in 2005. So it's easier to see why HS/SG's physical sales would be bad

[Luv ~Venus~]

Originally Posted by Beauty4123

according to one of utada's blog posts, she was in NY recently. maybe for her english album?

Yessssssssss!

I wonder what her and DefJam are talking about? who is gonna help her work on her album? I'm so curious.

[fake_foxtail]

Damn, why did she broke up with her boyfriend? He made amazing PVs. Better than her new boyfirend, Kuma...

[Luv ~Venus~]

^I would rather say that Kuma is her best friend.

[AyUta]

Originally Posted by fake_foxtail

Damn, why did she broke up with her boyfriend? He made amazing PVs. Better than her new boyfirend, Kuma...

[ayuayu798]

LOL is it just me , or is she a little too obsessed with that bear lol

[AyUta]

^ Aw, but it's cute! xD I especially loved the photoshoots she did with Kuma!
They both looked lovely

YAY, she's in NYC? Awesome. I cannot wait for that second English album. I wonder if she'll keep the EXODUS style.

[Melon Panda]

I'm hoping she strays from her Exodus style. I felt like she was stretching her voice past her limits in some songs when she tried to accomplish things her voice just wasn't born to do.

[AyUta]

^ Like which songs? O.O

[xiaou-xijiang]

Originally Posted by fake_foxtail

Damn, why did she broke up with her boyfriend? He made amazing PVs. Better than her new boyfirend, Kuma...

are you joking?

Spoiler:

EDIT:
yeah she's in NY. Wish I was in NY. badly, I'm starting to love that smog filled, fast paced city.

EDIT:
@dddetc. - I hope she tries something different this time. I'd like to see what else she has to offer. Exodus was good, but I'd rather see something new.

[bakacat]

Originally Posted by AyUta

^ Like which songs? O.O

I'm guessing songs like Kremlin Dusk and You Make Me Want To Be A Man. Those songs featured some high-pitched vocals, but that's what made me love them the most. XD

I have to agree with Melon Panda, I just don't want her damaging her voice too much now. Plus I'll like to see what she can do with them lower-pitched sounds.

[Melon Panda]

Utada sounds FABULOUS in lower-pitched choruses. Many female J-Pop artists focus on being soprano and some are good at it, but alto is another story. Utada's got that down pat.

The first song that comes to mind when I think of Utada stretching her vocals is Kremlin Dusk. There's a part where she tries to go way high and does this staccato-like thing with her voice that bothers me. I know what she wants that part to sound like, but her voice doesn't seem to be able to completely accomplish it.

[bluegie]

Yes, her stretchy voice in Kremlin Dusk was quite meh to me... (btw lots of fans love this song, but I dun.. wonder why..)

I wish she tries singing in low keys. The verses in FOL gives me goosebumps. It's just... wonderful.. .