Other than fapping a lot, I also remembered enjoying the Evangelion 1:01 ED a lot. ‘Wow! Was this sung by one of the seiyuu?’ Rather, Studio Khara had got the Beautiful World track off Utada Hikaru’s Heart Station album. This has been a strange return to Hikki fandom for me…
As seen in the photo above, I bought her first three albums - First Love, Distance and Deep River - swept up, as I was, in the Jpop craze that saw shops in Singapore massively overstocking on Japanese music. But as the mania subsided on the collective and my individual levels, I found that I couldn’t even muster the interest to buy, or even download, her Ultra Blue album. I still continued to follow Every Little Thing and constantly relisten to my Yuming albums but I was more preoccupied with the Singaporean Chinese pop wave led by Stefanie Sun, Tanya Chua and Joi Chua.
It’s quite funny how my spell of Can’t Be Arsed-ness was broken by Eva 1:01’s nostalgia wave - though the route was rather more complicated. Due to the spending limiters in place, I didn’t just troop out to buy the single or album and downloaded the ripped single first. Despite passing the re-listening test, there was an album-up nudge during the next Singapore Airlines long haul flight that I took (nothing beats the A380, man!); Heart Station was available in the music entertainment suite. I found myself enjoying not just Beautiful World but also Fight The Blues, the title track, Stay Gold and Flavor of Life (especially the bonus non-ballad version).
The latter, in particular, seduced me with its poignant lyrics and delivery about all the subtle little awkward things in the wake of a break-up/rejection. (The live performance I saw on Youtube was another deal maker too.) And it’s waaaay cheaper to buy the local press of the album (cheapest I found was S$16.95 from Gramophone, please dun tell me Sembawang cheaper hor) than even the local press of the single (S$15 from HMV). And so that’s the long version of why I’ve got Utada Hikaru on repeat on my sound system after a gap of almost six years.
The irony is that she also did a cover of Fly Me to the Moon as well.
About the only Utada album I’d expect the HMV around here to carry would be Exodus and probably her next English language CD, but I found Heart Station and Ultra Blue as well.
Consider taking Ultra Blue for a spin; Heart Station can get a bit sparse and cynical.
To me Hikki has been one of the most consistent artists in the jpop realm. Whenever she comes out with a single or an album or a digital release, I always expect quality and she delivers that in spades. She has that beautiful voice (though her vibrato can be horrid if not under control) and respectable range. I loved her rendition of Fly me to the Moon, she has that soaring voice that works with such a song. Of course her english is perfect, which is saying a lot compared to the other jpop artists, making for that great mix of english and Japanese.
intro, I had forgotten all about that. Or did I repress the memory? :P re: heart station’s sparseness and cynicism, I actually thought the bear bear song to be rather cute. Ahaha~♥ I’ll definitely keep an open mind on Ultra Blue. Any seconders on whether I should go ahead on purchasing the album?
Ivy, what’s your opinion on Ultra Blue? Ditto on her perfect English.
Her Fly Me to the Moon cover is sung well, but has a straight-up R&B spin that seems to water down the sentimental tone of Frank Sinatra’s version.
True, Boku wa Kuma is probably the one bright spot in both tone and subject matter, amid a lot of tracks that have neither, or are ridiculously deceptive (like Niji-iro Bus).
On purchasing decisions, there are so many samplers of Ultra Blue on YouTube, as well as her live performances thereof (on TV and for UU2006), that you can literally try before you buy. I think it enlightening to keep Heart Station tracks in mind when listening to them.
Her English is frequently cited as an asset, but it’s also another step towards her outsider status.