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Tracklisting
1) On and On
2) Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI
3) Apple and Cinnamon
4) Taking My Money Back
5) This One (Crying Like A Child)
6) Automatic Part II
7) Dirty Desire
8) Poppin’
9) Come Back To Me
10) Me Muero
11) Come Back To Me (Seamus Haji and Paul Emanuel Radio Edit)
12) Come Back To Me (Quentin Harris Radio Edit)
This Is The One is Utada Hikaru’s 8th overall album, and the second under the American moniker of Utada. The album will be released on the 14th of March in Japan as a physical release, the 24th of March in America as a digital release, and the 12th of May in America as a physical release.
Strangely enough, This Is The One doesn’t start with an interlude. I guess it isn’t OVERLY surprising, but On and On works pretty well as an opening song, if I do say so myself. It has this semi-electronic, synthed up club sound similar to a few tracks on EXODUS did, except with a bit more R&B. It’s not the deepest song lyrically, but I will say that the line “Honeys, if you’re gay, burn it up like a gay parade” is my favorite line out of any Hikki song. Ever. The guy saying “Yeah!” in the background every second is a bit annoying, but otherwise, this was a great song.
Now we come to the first leaked non-single song off of the album, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI. It samples a bit of the tune from an old Japanese song of the same title (Except sans. FYI). This song has a much more serious, defined R&B sound to it in comparison to On and On, and the clapping-and-piano background sounds work pretty well, too. The chorus is brilliant, with the R&B mixing seamlessly with the sampled tune. Another great song.
But nothing in comparison to this. Apple and Cinnamon, the first “announced” track for the album, is yet another R&B song with the piano, also with a rather serious sound to it, but this song has a much catchier hook to it, and the lyrics are much more preferrable than they were in the 
last song, to me. The comparison of a relationship to the mixture of Apple and Cinnamon was rather smart, despite me not knowing how well they actually go together. The second half of the chorus is definitely the strongest, and the most heartbreaking, section of the song. An instant hit.
…Hm… Another R&B-and-Piano pairing. Taking My Money Back, unfortunately, follows the same sound, but is overall, much slower than the previous two songs, and has a much more outright melodramatic sound to it. “The sex was so good” was probably not a good choice for a line in a heartbreak song, but the overall theme of Taking My Money Back is an interesting one. It’s basically Hikki’s call-out to the hurt, abused and unhappy women in relationships that want to get out of it. Preach it, Hikki! And girls, don’t let him get to you: Just take your money back.
Now we come to the “title track” of the album, which… Once again, sounds overly similar to the previous songs. I can swear I’ve heard an arrangement like this somewhere before… Either way, This One (Crying Like A Child) is yet another heartbreak, break-up song. First of all, I’m not really liking how she says “Crying Like A Child”, but I like the sudden change the song takes around the bridge. It sounds the same, mainly, but the differences and Hikki’s singing sound great against it. It’s another song with a powerful chorus, so it wins points there. I don’t hate it, but it makes the album WAY TOO REPETITIVE!
And finally it breaks away with… A disappointment. I was expecting Automatic Part II to at LEAST carry a slight resemblance to Automatic, Utada’s Japanese debut single. I can hear a BIT of a resemblance in the beginning, but apart from that, it’s a jumpy, choppy hip-hop song that sounds nothing like what Hikki would sing. The lyrics are rather hard to make out with how she’s singing, but the way she says her name just makes me cringe. I don’t get why she didn’t just call it Automatic and leave it as a new song, because this isn’t really a continuation of the original at all. It’s not overly catchy, either, it’s just a hot mess.
But NOW we get somewhere good. Dirty Desire sounds a lot like On and On did, but now that I think about it, there’s a rather experimental sound to it, like we had with EXODUS, but it still keeps the R&B feel. I consider this to be THE WORKOUT P
art II, because it’s another song completely about sex. “Love you long time” was a rather… Stereotypical lyric to include, but as soon as I heard Hikki say “I’m thinking 6 to 9″, I started laughing my head off. It’s a rather senseless song, but hey, it’s more tasteful than THE WORKOUT was. I love this song just because of how un-restricted it feels compared to the other sob songs we’ve had so far. (Actually, this is pretty much almost literally On and On Part II…)
And once again, AWESOME, because we seem to be without the piano again. The song doesn’t even feel like a real R&B song! Poppin’ sounds like it was ripped straight from the Pink Panther movies, with Utada’s own little twist on it. It’s kind of like Dirty Desire lyrically, but “I wanna see the bottles poppin’” definitely refers to alcohol, so maybe Utada’s getting a bit more risque here… And girls, remember, Hikki thinks you “have it better than the boys”. I absolutely love the arrangement, and hearing Utada say “Oops! Did I turn you on?” is yet another hilarious moment in the album. It’s nice to hear the first really original song on the album, but too bad it’s the third-last actual track on the album.
And now we have the single, Come Back To Me. It’s a throwback to the R&B piano songs earlier in the album, but I must say, this is one of my preferred songs out of that sound. I’m NOT liking how it’s pretty much exactly the same in its lyrical content (except she’s asking them to come back instead of turning them away), as well as how it sounds, but… At least it was placed here instead of near the other songs.
And now we have YET ANOTHER individual song! THANK YOU! Me Muero definitely has this Latin feel to it, with its muffled sound and random sounds that fit the Latin or Spanish sound perfectly. We have another WTF lyric here with “I’m suicidal”, but for individuality alone, this song wins. Hearing Utada say Istanbul is actually nice too, not because of the word, but because I love how she says it, and how she says Me Muero, with that interesting little instrumental that accompanies it. Another plus on an album like this. I kind of get why she used a title like “I’m Dying” in Spanish now, too… Since it’s about her dying to be with her lover who left to go overseas for some reason or other again.
Now we have one of the worst remixes from the Come Back To Me promo single, the Come Back To Me (Seamus Haji and Paul Emanuel Radio Edit). They slowed down Utada’s singing and put it on a horribly cliched dance beat. I’ll pass, thanks.
And now we have the Come Back To Me (Quentin Harris Radio Edit). Once again, it’s slowed lyrics and a bad dance beat. NO, THANKS!
Album Score
B-
Favorite Songs
1) Me Muero
2) Poppin’
3) Dirty Desire / On and On
4) Apple and Cinnamon
So, the album was disappointing… But at the same time, it kind of wasn’t. On one side, the album was WAY too repetitive for its own good, and only had about… What, three individual tracks that sounded different? Maybe two? On the good side, it HAD those individual tracks, and they all sound great. Actually, if you look at the tracks individually and not in order, they ALL have their good parts… Except the remixes and Automatic Part II. But as a whole, Hikki made WAY too much of an attempt to sound mainstream, and it caused this album to flop in an actually somewhat predictable manner. It hasn’t got the deepest lyrical matter, either, but you’ll get a laugh out of most of it, and there are some nice, deep statements hidden in there… With no interlude in sight~ And on another note, where the hell was our English version of Prisoner of Love?
I don’t know about all you other people thinking over whether Utada or BoA will have the bigger impact on the American music world once their albums are relased, but I think that predicting it just got about ten times harder.
I know Utada isn’t exactly new to the American music industry, having already released two albums over there, but let’s be honest. I don’t think anyone actually knew who she was back when she was Cubic U, and Exodus was, despite being a great album, a flop. This and a whole bunch of other horrible warnings in where she’s taking her musical style have made me pretty scared as to what could happen when This Is The One hits.While at least one fear has been knocked up a few notches, I can take solace in the fact that Utada’s forming a true gimmick for herself.
Honestly, the largest problem here is… well, both Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI and Dirty Desire sound the same. The only difference is the latter is faster, really. This isn’t good as well, because it’s all in a similar R&B style. The good part about this, though, is that you can hear little throwbacks to Exodus and her Japanese career in the backing synths for Dirty Desire. And, well… The song itself is basically THE WORKOUT part 2, which I was instantly excited about, just because that song was so amusingly good that it ended up being one of my favorites on the album. This would be the gimmick I mentioned. So, at the moment, my hopes for This Is The One are SLIGHTLY higher… But I still have my doubts.
Unfortunately, my hopes for BoA are taking a different turn, all thanks to the previews on her main site’s discography. Just click on the little Windows Media Player symbol next to the song name, the English album is near the bottom of the page. I know most of you know this, but this is for those who don’t.
BoA is a toss-up of an album. It’s obvious that I already like Eat You Up, I Did It For Love and what I’ve heard of Look Who’s Talking. When it comes to the rest of the album, from the previews it sounds like the real stand-outs are Did Ya and Obsessed. As much as I hate to say it, most of the other songs sound a bit generic. It’s nice to hear her take on that electronic R&B hybrid everyone seems to be trying lately, but some of the songs aren’t really sounding too good, and others sound too similar. There are some stand-outs there too, but they kind of pale in comparison.
I will also say, Girls On Top was the best choice of a Korean song to bring across, but… The translation period has pretty much made it the most unappealing song lyrically. I’m thankful that the music is intact, but otherwise… I don’t really know what to think.
I know it may be a bit unfair to compare two albums like this when we have a full preview of one and just two of another, but a first impression is always important.
And frankly, Utada’s the winner here. BoA sounds like she could do okay with her album, but honestly, I’m just feeling that Utada will come out on top, if she plays her sound up a bit more for a few tracks. She’s relying a bit too much on that Stargate producing unit, so she’d better not let them churn out all of this crap to make a worse album. Amazingly, I think both of BoA’s good tracks were produced by Bloodshy & Avant… So that’s saying something. she should’ve stuck with them.
Of course, I could be completely wrong and the real tracks will blow me away on both albums, but we’ll see.
Tracklisting
1) Come Back to Me
Come Back to Me is Utada’s 22nd overall single, and the first (and possibly only) single used to promote the release of her third English album (Second under the moniker of Utada). It will be sent to radio stations to be aired on the 10th of February, but an actual release for a physical single has not been announced.
Come Back to Me is, in a way, a slap in the face. It’s shown that she’s willing to revert to complete R&B for her English release, and yet it also gives hope because it only has a single track, so it can’t really be used as a warning. The song itself is a rather plain R&B song when it comes to the arrangement, but Utada’s voice suits it a LOT better than all the African-American singers that use this kind of style in the Western music scene. It’s actually kind of refreshing. The lyrics are simply a mindless love song, and while there are clever lines here and there, it’s actually surprisingly un-complicated. It’s a nice song, overall, but it’s kinda of freaking me out at the same time. I mean, if this is the lead single, who knows what we’re going to get?
Single Score
B
So, Come Back to Me is really a good song, with Hikki’s voice being the biggest drawing point for the song, since she always sounds awesome singing in English. However, it’s so standard Western R&B in its sound that a Western R&B hater can’t help but have his hopes shattered at least a little bit. It’s good, but if the whole album is like this, I’ll probably cry. Evidently, I’m conflicted, and I don’t think it’s going to change until the album hits.
NOTE: Any Ami Suzuki or MEG fans will want to check out this post I just made on the LiveJournal Contemode community.
Tracklisting
1. Prisoner of Love
2. Prisoner of Love -Quiet Version-
3. Prisoner of Love (Original Instrumental)
4. Prisoner of Love -Quiet Version- (Original Instrumental)
Prisoner of Love is Utada’s 21st overall single, and is a re-cut single of a song from her HEART STATION album. It debuted at #3 on the Oricon weekly charts, and has sold approximately 61,015 copies. It was released on the 21st of May, 2008.
I was quite harsh on Prisoner of Love in the album review. I must say, this is now one of my favorite songs from Utada (I say that so often, don’t I?). I tend to heavily relate it to Last Friends now though, which is annoying. The mix of the R&B synth line with the piano and strings works well with this song, and Utada’s voice is spot on here. It was a great choice, making this a single, as it definitely deserved to be one in the first place.
The Prisoner of Love -Quiet Version- is pretty much the same song, sans synth. It focuses entirely on the piano and strings section, with Utada singing over it. It’s a beautiful song in itself, but without the R&B parts, this song can sound a bit to quiet at times. I love how epic the chorus sounds this time though, it’s actually enhanced by the removal of the synth.
Single Score
A+
Favorite Song
All Tracks
While I used to be somewhat against this song, it’s now become quite the opposite. The songs all sound brilliant, and the mixing of synth and strings in the first track was spectacular. I still don’t consider it the best song of the era (Beautiful World will always hold that position), but it’s definitely up there now.
Really sorry guys, I know this is about two days late, and I said I’d be reviewing Perfume or Ami Suzuki’s latest albums, but I’ve decided, instead, to review Utada Hikaru’s latest. So here we go, enjoy!
HEART STATION is Utada Hikaru’s sixth album overall, while being her fifth Japanese album, not including her release under the name Cubic U. It debuted at #1 on both the Oricon Daily and Oricon Weekly charts, and has sold 910,890+ copies. (This information was taken from Wikipedia, I’ll confirm it all once wiki.theppn’s working again.) It was released on the 19th of March, 2008.
Tracklisting
1. Fight The Blues
2. HEART STATION
3. Beautiful World
4. Flavor of Life -Ballad Version-
5. Stay Gold
6. Kiss & Cry
7. Gentle Beast Interlude
8. Celebrate
9. Prisoner of Love
10. Take 5
11. Boku wa Kuma (ぼくはくま, lit. I’m a Bear)
12. Niji-iro Basu (虹色バス, lit. Rainbow-colored Bus)
13. Flavor of Life [Bonus Track]
Fight The Blues opens with a simple, sweeping synth line, as well as the repeating tapping synth you’ll hear at intervals throughout. The verses keep the simple synth line of the opening, and sound somewhat minimalistic, with Utada’s vocals beginning to sound great from the first note, which is a good sign. The bridge takes a darker tone, and has a significantly smaller ethereal feel to it, with Utada taking a lower key, and the sounds of her ad libbing in the background, with it sometimes being reversed. The verses revert to the opening synth, and Utada’s vocals really begin to shine here. It sounds great overall, but it does get a bit boring later on, despite the great vocals.
Heart station comes in with a much quicker synth line this time, with Utada ad libbing (or repeating the word “ai” constantly in the background), and leads straight into the sedate, yet somehow urgent-sounding verses. The bridge has a much more sophisticated sound to it, and despite how different it sounds to the chorus, they flow relatively well. I’ve never been a huge fan of the chorus in this song, though. It sounds like Utada’s tone might be a bit off at times, but it’s still a good song.
Beautiful World is probably Utada’s most ethereal song on the album, with the eerie opening synth and Utada singing the lyric “It’s only love:,” before jumping straight into the first verse. The song has a pretty simple structure after this point. The verse has a much better sound to it this time, as it doesn’t sound as sedate as it did in HEART STATION, which makes it seem like there’s more going on in the song. The bridge is somewhat short, and adds more synth to give the song a more urgent tone, before moving into the absolutely stunning chorus. I’m not exactly sure why the chorus is so appealing to me, but when Utada gets to the “Beautiful world” section, it picks up and gives the song a much lighter, more interesting sound, as it has a completely different sound when compared to the verses.
I’ve never seen the total appeal of the ballad version of Flavor of Life, and while I will admit that it does fit the orchestral feel very well, the speed at which Utada sings just seems too fast for the song to me. I’ll admit, it’s grown on me since I heard it on the single, but I largely prefer the original version to the ballad version.
Next is the one song to rival Beautiful World when it comes to singles: Stay Gold. Ever since I originally heard this song from the Aciense commercials, I fell in love. The bright, airy tone the piano that opens the song and plays in the chorus backs up Utada’s light, high vocals perfectly when it comes to both bridge and chorus, and ends up sounding perfect. The verses have a much darker tone, with Utada singing at a lower key and a lack of the piano, as well as a darker synth arrangement, but they still fit the song well. The cheesy ad libbing in the background of the chorus actually fits well, too (I never noticed it until now. xD) Compared to many of Utada’s more experimental material, it may sound a bit boring, but compared to anything else on this album, this song seems to shine a lot more.
Kiss & Cry is a shocking change from Stay Gold, as it opens with a blaring trumpet, before a second of silence leads into a simplistic R&B synth beat (or is it synth? I can’t really tell, but it sounds like there’re some drums in there nevertheless.) Utada’s vocals then suddenly enter the song, and while the verses sound a bit dull, the chorus helps the song sound better overall. It’s still not overly interesting, as I’ve never been a fan of Utada’s more R&B-based songs, but it’s one of her better ones, mainly due to the playful attitude it shows. Pulling the bridge arrangement from Hotel Lobby was a bad idea though. I’ve never seen how it fits at all.
I’m never a fan of interludes in albums, as I rarely tend to listen to them all the way through after reviewing it. Gentle Beast Interlude, unfortunately, isn’t much of an exception. Utada gives some interesting ad libbing in this song, though, and the mystical feeling it has is rather interesting. The random clips from HEART STATION seem a bit random, though.
I said in the original post of this review that this track didn’t sound like it flowed from Gentle Beast Interlude. It does, folks, my iTunes was being anal about letting songs follow through like that, so disregard. Anyway, we finally have a non-single song! Celebrate is a slower song than most we’ve heard so far, and it seems that Utada’s trying to pull off the Dance genre somewhat. It still retains its elements of R&B, and it does lack lyrics in the beginning (Not entirely, though), and it does seem a bit boring, as the verses can be a bit short. The bridge is also pretty short, consisting of Utada telling “Mr. DJ” to turn the music up, and complimenting a “sexy lady” (I always crack when I hear Utada say that line.. xD) on her dress, before moving into the chorus. There isn’t much change at all during the song, so it’s not really an interesting track; It actually sounds like filler to me. It still has some appeal, though.
This is another “I don’t see the appeal” track. People seemed to go insane over Prisoner of Love, and in turn, Last Friends, the dorama it featured in. The choruses have a nice sound to them, I’m glad to finally see some more piano in a song on this album, and I adore the use of strings throughout the bridge and chorus. The chorus itself is the best part of the song, mainly due to said strings and their large role. I don’t love this track as others seem to, but it IS good.
Take 5 sounds a lot more like something from ULTRA BLUE, which it was originally composed for. It has a heavy, eerie synth feel to it, and Utada’s high note actually fits better than a lower key would have. Of course, the lower key isn’t totally out, and is utilized in the bridge of the song, which (somewhat clumsily, in my opinion) leads into the chorus. The song isn’t extremely interesting to me, and I was rather annoyed with how the song simply cuts off (no fade out, proper end or anything) at 3:43, whether it fits the theme of death the song has or not. I probably would’ve liked it a lot more on ULTRA BLUE, but it just seems out of place here.
Oh, good god… I’ll admit, Boku wa Kuma, an innocent, cheery childrens song, being placed after Take 5, a song about death, was an interesting concept, but Boku wa Kuma always has, and always will, annoy the crap out of me. It’s great that Utada’s trying new styles of music, and the song is somewhat cute, but I still view it as too pointless to be any good, especially on an album that children aren’t likely to pick up.
And now the album draws to a close. Niji-Iro Basu is another simplistic song, and due to the name meaning Rainbow Coloured Bus, many seem to see it as a childrens song. However, it’s probably my favorite new track on the album.It has an extremely simple R&B sound to it, and it mainly comprimises of a few notes repeated over and over in the verses and chorus, with a slight arrangement change in the bridge. Utada’s voice works better in this song than it has in a few of the other non-single tracks (not including Prisoner of Love, which eventually became a single.) The ethereal feel the song gets is beautiful, too, though about halfway through, the song takes a drastic turn into a much more ethereal arrangement, which lasts the rest of the song. It causes it to drag on, really, but I still love this song.
Hold on, it’s not over yet! They actually decided to put Flavor of Life’s original version as a bonus track! I love this version a lot more than the ballad version, as the fast paced synth arrangement just seems to fit the vocal style of this song a lot better than a ballad version ever did. It’s still nowhere near my favorite song, but it just seems to fit better.
Overall Grade
A-
Favorite Songs
Beautiful World, Stay Gold, Niji-Iro Basu
A lot of Utada’s best material came from her earlier albums, so it’s not surprising that this album wasn’t as good overall. However, it contained quite a few memorable tracks overall, including three of my top favorites from Utada. It could’ve been better, but what she gave us was still superb.
HEART STATION / Stay Gold is Utada Hikaru’s 20th Japanese single, and her 24th including her English releases. Stay Gold was used as the CM song for ASIENCE hair products, while HEART STATION had no commercial tie-ins, but ultimately had a PV shot for it. The single debuted at #2, which was also its daily peak, and had a weekly debut of #3, which was its weekly peak. It was released on the 20th of February, 2008, and has sold approximately 76,762+ copies.
Track Listing
1. HEART STATION
2. Stay Gold
3. HEART STATION [Original Instrumental]
4. Stay Gold [Original Instrumental]
HEART STATION opens by giving us an ethereal, station-esque synth line, with Utada’s adlibbing (Or repeating the word “Ai” over and over, whichever), before leading into the opening verse. The verses in this song could ultimately be a bit more interesting, as I found them somewhat boring. However, the chorus picks up the tone a bit more with Utada giving a much more powerful performance than in the verses. The song sounds a bit bland compared to other songs that have appeared on the HEART STATION album and during its era, but it’s still rather enjoyable. Some variation in the beat would help it considerably though.
Stay Gold, instead of opening with synth, begins with a lone piano playing out the looping beat of the song, with the minimal synth that appears throughout the song joining soon after. Utada then opens with the chorus, which already helps the song sound considerably more interesting than the opening track. Utada’s vocals seem to suit the upbeat nature of this song better than they did with HEART STATION. The verses, again, tend to sound a bit less interesting, however, which is a disappointment. The bridge, however, does a good job at making the two different levels of the song latch together much better.
Overall Grade
B
Favorite Track
Stay Gold
Ever since I heard the preview for Stay Gold, I loved that song. The full version just made me love it even more. However, I was somewhat disappointed with HEART STATION, as it just seemed a bit too bland for me, at times. I must admit, it’s more interesting than a few of the songs she’s given us, but it just didn’t enthrall me as much as Stay Gold did.
Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry is Utada’s 19th Japanese single, and her 23rd including her English releases under the name Utada. It was used as the theme song for the first film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, “Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.” Kiss & Cry was the CM song for the Nissin Cup Noodle FREEDOM campaign. The single debuted at #3, which was also its weekly rank and weekly peak, with its daily peak being #1. It was released on the 29th of August, 2007, and has sold 235,050+ copies. It was the #19 single of the year on the Oricon charts.
Track Listing
1. Beautiful World
2. Kiss & Cry
3. Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) -2007 MIX-
4. Beautiful World (Original Karaoke)
5. Kiss & Cry (Original Karaoke)
6. Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) -2007 MIX (Original Karaoke)
Beautiful World opens the single with what is single handedly the most beautiful synth arrangement I have ever heard; It sounds almost like a heavenly choir of some sort. This is followed by Utada saying “It’s only love”, before we move into the actual song itself. While it’s mainly a synth affair, there are definitely drums in the background. While the song is definitely upbeat, you can tell by the tone of Utada’s voice that it’s certainly not a happy tune. The song jumps around quite a bit as well, which helps break the monotony of the track. The verses don’t seem to get boring this time around, which is rather rare in the industry lately, and the key then lowers as the bridge starts. The chorus alone makes this one of the best songs from Utada, as while it sounds like she may be straining her voice while she sings, it actually helps make the song seem a bit more melancholic, which suits it perfectly. If you were a fan of ULTRA BLUE, you’ll find a lot to love here.
This is definitely a mood swing single. Kiss & Cry is another upbeat song, but it has a DRASTICALLY different mood to it. The song grabs your attention with the sudden, blaring brass arrangement, before leading into a simple drum arrangement that leads you into Utada’s singing of the first verse. Straight away, you can tell this is going to be a totally different song. While the simple, yet interesting, music keeps the song from losing your interest, I actually thought the inclusion of the verse arrangement from her English song Hotel Lobby brought the song down in overall quality, despite how many people seem to love it. The chorus isn’t as great as Beautiful World’s, but it’s still the highlight of the song. It’s a great cheer up song after listening to the previous song, but it still sounds a bit inferior compared to it.
To be totally honest, I can’t hear anything different when it comes to the -2007 MIX- of Fly Me To The Moon. I mean, Utada sings the song well, and it’s interesting to hear this classic with an R&B arrangement, but I can’t really see any differences from the original. Maybe it’s because I haven’t listened to it in ages, but disregarding it entirely, it’s an alright song… It makes sense to include it on this single too, as while Beautiful World is the theme song for the new Evangelion movie, Fly Me To The Moon was the ending theme for the original Evangelion anime. Granted, Utada didn’t sing it for the anime, though.
Overall Grade
A-
Favorite Song
Beautiful World
While Fly Me To The Moon gets a bit boring, the other two songs make up what is probably the strongest single by Utada during the Heart Station era. Beautiful World even wins the award as being my second favorite song from Utada (With Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro winning by a mile.) Utada sounds a LOT better with synth than she does when singing an R&B song, and Beautiful World proves that. However, Kiss & Cry also proves that she can still give us a great R&B track at the same time.
Flavor of Life is Utada’s 18th Japanese single, and debuted at #1, which it held for the first week, and it was #1 in the weekly charts for its first three weeks after release. It was used as the insert song for the dorama Hana Yori Dango 2. It was released on the 28th of February, 2007.
Track Listing
1. Flavor of Life
2. Flavor of Life -Ballad Version-
3. Flavor of Life (Original Karaoke)
4. Flavor of Life -Ballad Version- (Original Karaoke)
5. Flavor of Life -Antidote Mix- (CD Only Bonus Track)
Seriously, WHY was this the lesser version? Flavor of Life may as well have originally been the Ballad version, instead of what it actually is, for all the promotion the original received. It’s actually superior, too, in my mind. The original version is very reminiscent of her ULTRA BLUE era, with a high usage of synth easily detectable, with audible guitars and drums and such underneath. The song works better at this faster speed, and Utada’s voice fits it just as well as it fits the Ballad version. This version sounds slightly more upbeat, too, despite the bittersweet delivery from Utada. I’m just angry that this was the version that got shelved instead of the Ballad version
Though, I must admit, the song does work extremely well as a Ballad too. They didn’t skimp on it, either. It opens with a beautiful lone piano accompanying Utada, followed by a much simpler, synth free arrangement. The verses are actually sort of boring due to the lack of action that they include. The chorus is the best part of the song, as Utada still gives a brilliant, emotional performance. I just prefer the original version, the song just doesn’t really seem to be ballad material. Which is odd, because the song screams Ballad anyway.
Now, this version is EXTREMELY different. Utada’s voice starts under a filter, with some ominous sounding synth beats in the background. It lacks instruments at the beginning of it, and during the first “The flavor of life” reciting section, but later on it features a very simple R&B-influenced synth beat, as well as some clapping, maybe finger snap sounds, not totally sure which. It’s probably the simplest song out of the three, but it’s not actually that bad. I’d say it’s on par with the Ballad version, but it could’ve been a bit more interesting, maybe.
Overall Grade
A
Favorite Song
Flavor of Life [Original]
A HUGE improvement over Boku wa Kuma. While it may not have sounded like it, I love these three songs. I just highly prefer the original. Seriously, why name it Flavor of Life if it’s gonna get the backseat to the ballad remix? Anyway, it’s still a great single, and it definitely gave me back the hope for the Heart Station era after Boku wa Kuma.
Boku wa Kuma is Utada Hikaru’s 17th overall single, though it is her 13th Japanese single. It debuted at #4, which was also its weekly rank, and has sold 147,041 copies. It was released on the 22nd of November, 2006. The song was used in the Minna no Uta commercial break children’s show for October and November 2006.
Track Listing
1. Boku wa Kuma
2. Boku wa Kuma (Original Karaoke)
Ok, Utada, I don’t want to be mean or anything, but what the hell were you thinking… We all know you had a Kuma-obsessed period, but writing a song about it… I mean, it’s not bad or anything, but it’s a children’s song. I guess I just hate it for that, as mean as it sounds. While I was reviewing this, I tried to forget that fact, but it’s just not possible. It’s got some pointless lyrics, a childish BGM arrangement and almost no point. I hate that my first review for Hikki has to be so bad, but I just hate this song.
Overall Grade
F-
I hate having to do this (especially after proclaiming how much I love Hikki in the last post), but it’s impossible to do it any other way. Write a children’s song if you want, but at LEAST give your actual fans something to listen too instead of this. I might sound a bit judgmental in this review, but I’m sorry, there’s no other way for me to say it.
Utada just HAS to be featured on my blog. I mean, she got me into the Japanese music scene, how the hell couldn’t she be on here. She should’ve been my first review…
Anyway, yeah. I’ll be featuring Utada now… In fact, right now.
I’ll be reviewing Boku wa Kuma as soon as I post this. This is basically just for consistency. xD;;
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