[Utada Hikaru] Utada Hikaru（宇多田 ヒカル）'s Official Thread [v.19]

[UHPlus]

Is it time for her to release a "Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.2"

01. 誰かの願いが叶うころ
02. Be My Last
03. Passion
04. Keep Tryin'
05. This Is Love
06. Flavor Of Life
07. Beautiful World
08. Kiss & Cry
09. HEART STATION
10. Stay Gold
11. Fight the Blues
12. Prisoner of Love
13. New Single
14. New Single

[Luv ~Venus~]

^I will travel to Japan and stand in front of EMI and protest the release of SC vol. 2. I'm not expecting big sales if they were to release it now. I think the reason EMI released SC vol. 1 was because they wanted to keep Hikki in the limelight plus of course cash off of it. I'm surprised it sold as well as it did since there was new to it. I'm guessing majority of her casual listeners brought the album. I personally will like for her to wait until she releases her next collection. I'd prefer if she did a BEST album than doing a SC.

First of all, Shanny, you are so right aboot everything, 100%

Originally Posted by criminal

I don't think anyone is blaming Hikki for the tie-ins she gets. It's not right to outright blame someone for whatever promotion they do, as long as it's in the boundaries of common sense. [Some meet-and-greets are kinda crossing that line, but that's a different story. ] But yeah, if she wouldn't have had Hana Yori Dango 2, Flavor Of Life would have not become the #2 single of 2007. If she wouldn't have had Last Friends then HEART STATION wouldn't have had minimal decreases in sales as weeks went by et cetera.

You guys realize that it's not the artists who seek out companies to get tie-ins? Both the creators of HYD2 and Last Friends ASKED Hikki to do songs for them.

Originally Posted by GRACE

First... I AM American o_O... Second, I don't like what I don't like. I'm good with my show tunes and Kelly (I LOVED My December), especially my show tunes(<3 Lord Webber). I started really listening to Asian music because I can't put up with American music, so if Hikki went American, I'd die. Seriously.

Are you serious with this? Have you ever hear the first two albums of Hikki's music career? Distance anyone? That is so mainstream American it's not even funny.

Originally Posted by UHPlus

Is it time for her to release a "Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.2"

01. 誰かの願いが叶うころ
02. Be My Last
03. Passion
04. Keep Tryin'
05. This Is Love
06. Flavor Of Life
07. Beautiful World
08. Kiss & Cry
09. HEART STATION
10. Stay Gold
11. Fight the Blues
12. Prisoner of Love
13. New Single
14. New Single

I think it's too soon to do a second singles collection... she doesn't have enuff material, IMO. Maybe after another album. But it might be a good idea to keep her name out there while she's working on the English album.

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

First of all, Shanny, you are so right aboot everything, 100%


You guys realize that it's not the artists who seek out companies to get tie-ins? Both the creators of HYD2 and Last Friends ASKED Hikki to do songs for them.


Are you serious with this? Have you ever hear the first two albums of Hikki's music career? Distance anyone? That is so mainstream American it's not even funny.

First count: True, but tie-ins can make or break an artist. Good tie-ins=lots of people hearing your music. If you make a catchy song for those good tie-ins, you're golden. And, that's exactly what she did for HYD2 and Last Friends =/... Proof is the sales of FOL and Heart Station.

Second Count: Not current mainstream imo.

Originally Posted by GRACE

First count: True, but tie-ins can make or break an artist. Good tie-ins=lots of people hearing your music. If you make a catchy song for those good tie-ins, you're golden. And, that's exactly what she did for HYD2 and Last Friends =/... Proof is the sales of FOL and Heart Station.

Second Count: Not current mainstream imo.

So, in 2001 American mainstream music was good or something? Hikki's done mainstream American music before d

And I'm aware that tie-ins are important, but how did Hikki's KH2 tie-in fail horribly? Obviously the music has to be good before anyone will care, no matter how much they hear it on commercials or dramas. But honestly I don't understand why people are saying that she wouldn't be selling well if she didn't have good tie-ins. Is anyone saying that about Namie, which is probably true? Is anyone saying that Mirrorcle World would've sold crap if it didn't have 59 different copies? Nope, cuz all artists have gimmicks and tricks to get people to listen and buy.

[Zachery!]

I don't like most american music either. i'll admit it's gotten slightly better, but at the same time it's gotten dumber. The songs have gotten shorter to tend to america's every shortening attention span. The songs also become increasingly stupid, lyrically wise, although there are a few gems (i really love Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie).

I like jpop more cuz it's better.

and a few notes on hikki.

1. i love hikki
2. she's one of my favorite artists ever
3. HEART STATION still sucks, in my opinion
4. WTF HEART STATION has the shittiest flow i've ever seen. like, uhhhh,

Celebrate --> Prisoner of Love --> TAKE 5 --> Boku wa Kuma --> Niji iro Basu

???

Is Hikaru showing her Buddhist side, she lived a bad and sinful life, died, and was reincarnated as a damn bear? wtf

YEI I'M AN UNTOUCHABLE NAU.

and Niji iro Basu should've AT LEAST been before Boku wa Kuma cuz it's more serious (even though it doesn't sound it).

the first half has decent flow, but that's because the style doesn't vary as much.

albums like "GUILTY" have much better flow.

Also, the singles, save for "Prisoner of Love", are all in the first half.

(FoL doesn't count)

The fact it sold near a million doesn't make it better AT ALL.
The lyrics are also just average. They aren't amazing (i don't get what's up, Fravor of Rife's lyrics aren't that great.

Some songs have great lyrics (TAKE 5, Beautiful World) while others suck.

and hikki is one of my favorite artists ever

but i'm not going to defend the piece of crap that was titled "HEART STATION", cuz it was just so lacking. (TAKE 5 = my favorite song)

so yeah.

Hikki is a great artist, but HEART STATION was not great by any means.

[Luv ~Venus~]

Originally Posted by GRACE

First count: True, but tie-ins can make or break an artist. Good tie-ins=lots of people hearing your music. If you make a catchy song for those good tie-ins, you're golden. And, that's exactly what she did for HYD2 and Last Friends =/... Proof is the sales of FOL and Heart Station.

Second Count: Not current mainstream imo.

People were going hear it and love it regardless of the tie-in because it's Utada Hikaru and they are familiar with her music. Plus before HYD2 aired, Hikki already achieved 2 million+ dls. Obviously, she is just that damn good and people really enjoy her stuff.

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

So, in 2001 American mainstream music was good or something? Hikki's done mainstream American music before d

And I'm aware that tie-ins are important, but how did Hikki's KH2 tie-in fail horribly? Obviously the music has to be good before anyone will care, no matter how much they hear it on commercials or dramas. But honestly I don't understand why people are saying that she wouldn't be selling well if she didn't have good tie-ins. Is anyone saying that about Namie, which is probably true? Is anyone saying that Mirrorcle World would've sold crap if it didn't have 59 different copies? Nope, cuz all artists have gimmicks and tricks to get people to listen and buy.

=/... I honestly have to wonder if you're just waiting for me to go "Fine, I'm fed up, I'll agree with you cause I can't take it anymore!"

Her KH2 tie-in failed because the people who were into Kingdom Hearts who came to like her had already been exposed to Hikari/Simple and Clean. Hikki sells because she has good tie-ins to expose people to her songs. Namie sold because she had a good tie-in. Mirrorcle World wouldn't have done as well if it didn't have the 4 versions and whatever bonus they gave out for buying all four (I remember there being one for Japan, I can't remember it though). If you don't have a tie-in of some sort, you're not going to sell because no one is going to hear you. That's why basically EVERYTHING has some sort of tie-in somewhere. Movies, commercials, games, TV shows, websites, products, everything in Japan is the king of inappropriate appeals to authority =/...

Originally Posted by Zachery!

Some songs have great lyrics (TAKE 5, Beautiful World) while others suck.

OK I ignored most of your post because I respect your opinion, but really, if you don't speak Japanese... you can't get a good feel for a song's lyrics if you're just reading translations.

Originally Posted by GRACE

Her KH2 tie-in failed because the people who were into Kingdom Hearts who came to like her had already been exposed to Hikari/Simple and Clean.

Huh? What exactly are you basing this on....

Originally Posted by GRACE

Hikki sells because she has good tie-ins to expose people to her songs. Namie sold because she had a good tie-in.

Please explain ULTRA BLUE selling over 900k while having crappy tie-ins.

[Richieooxx]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

OK I ignored most of your post and respect your opinion, but really, you don't speak Japanese... you can't get a good feel for a song's lyrics if you're just reading translations.

umm rude.

whats the point of this discussion its going to get trashed.

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

OK I ignored most of your post and respect your opinion, but really, you don't speak Japanese... you can't get a good feel for a song's lyrics if you're just reading translations.




Please explain ULTRA BLUE selling over 900k while having crappy tie-ins.

Hun, I hate to break it to you, but you don't "respect" his opinion, you don't care about it >.>...

UB sold well because it was good o_o...

Originally Posted by Sunday ♥

umm rude.

whats the point of this discussion its going to get trashed.

I mean I ignored it as in I'm not going to try to make rebuttals or challenge his statements becuase I'm trying to respect his opinion

Originally Posted by GRACE

Hun, I hate to break it to you, but you don't "respect" his opinion, you don't care about it >.>...

UB sold well because it was good o_o...

Please don't tell me what I care or don't care about

And seriously what are you talking about? ULTRA BLUE sold well because it's good, but HEART STATION sold well because of tie-ins? You'll say anything to bash HS and praise UB.

[Richieooxx]

^ ohh okay lol

imo
UB >>> HS

[ka♡ri.]

O:
People think UB was good? I skip like half of that album.
HS pwns it fer shurr.

But I agree. You can't say someone has bad lyrics if you're listening to a song in a language you don't understand. You're basically saying it doesn't sound good to your ears which is dumb. Translations really don't do much.

Originally Posted by ka♡ri.

O:
People think UB was good? I skip like half of that album.
HS pwns it fer shurr.

But I agree. You can't say someone has bad lyrics if you're listening to a song in a language you don't understand. You're basically saying it doesn't sound good to your ears which is dumb. Translations really don't do much.

LOL yepp, unless it's like Boku wa Kuma

[GRACE]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

Please don't tell me what I care or don't care about

And seriously what are you talking about? ULTRA BLUE sold well because it's good, but HEART STATION sold well because of tie-ins? You'll say anything to bash HS and praise UB.

You sort of said it yourself when you said "I ignored your post" >.>...

Heart Station is really too bland to have sold well without FOL, POL and their tie-ins. It would have still sold decently, being a Hikki album, but nowhere near as good as it did. I mostly attribute it's success to the success of Last Friends and POL, because she rode that as hard as she could.

[PSYCHEDELICOdust]

Got dang, that SC vol. 2 is like half HS singles. lol. Six of them, jeez, Hikki. I forget that.

[sugarbasil]

Let's talk about Hikki. I haven't seen anything but arguing since probably about 6 pages ago, and I'm trying to find even the littlest conversation about her. I've been out of the Hikki loop as of late (J-drama has eaten up a lot of my time lately ), so can anyone fill me in on her latest updates? I've been looking at her blog (thanks for the link! She's so interesting! I'm really getting a deeper understanding of what her personality is like! ), but I still don't know where she is musically. She's making another English album, right? How is that going? Any updates?

Originally Posted by sugarbasil

Let's talk about Hikki. I haven't seen anything but arguing since probably about 6 pages ago, and I'm trying to find even the littlest conversation about her. I've been out of the Hikki loop as of late (J-drama has eaten up a lot of my time lately ), so can anyone fill me in on her latest updates? I've been looking at her blog but I still don't know where she is musically. She's making another English album, right? How is that going? Any updates?

No updates. That's why people are going crazy in anticipation and are ready to kill each other

[Huaka]

Seriously, I am not one of those people who like Deep River just because I heard Hikari from Kingdom Hearts. I've heard of her music far before that. I, as a matter of fact, hate Kazu's PVs. I just like the album the best because it flowed well, and had the best tracks.

I don't like Ultra Blue either. The only songs I liked from it was Colors, Blue, and This is Love.