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| YES I'M BACK BITCHES!! |
Utada is still going strong after coming back off a long break two years ago. She's married to a man that people don't know much about. Rumors have said that he is living off her money though(Not saying that this is true..). She's supposedly giving him money to start his own business since she's loaded. She at least got a baby out of this mysterious relationship that I really want to say is a "beautiful baby" but I haven't seen any pictures of her child and probably never will. Her relationship wrapped in mystery seems to be good material for a lot of her newest songs too, As the woman hasn't stopped releasing digital singles since 2016's Fantome. Little television promotion has been done for her new album but the singles have been used in different media outlets. The newest album is called Hatsukoi which in English translates as First Love: The same name of her most best selling album. It has already been said that the album has broken records even as I type this.
- Tracklist
- Play A Love Song
- あなた(You)
- 初恋 (First Love)
- 誓い(Oath) *Kingdom Hearts 3 Theme Song*
- Forevermore
- Too Proud featuring Jevon
- Good Night
- パクチーの唄(Cilantro Song)
- 残り香(Lingering Scent)
- 大空で抱きしめて(Embrace Me In the Sky)
- 夕凪(Evening Calm)
- 嫉妬されるべき人生(A Life You're Ought To Be Jealous Of)
Utada Hikaru is that bitch. She will always probably be that bitch until she decides to retire from music like Namie Amuro. This woman is the only singer that can sit at home, create music, release it, then relax(besides a select few others.). No live performances or television interviews to be heard of. When she does get in front of the camera, Japan goes into a damn standstill because the woman never ever lets herself be spotted by a camera lenses. Hatsukoi's release doesn't come as much of a surprise to anyone because she announced that a new album was coming. People were more surprised by all the singles she popped out suddenly during the course of this year and last year. Religious fans of Hikki(like myself) will have already heard most of the first half of the album due to them being released prior to the album's release. I didn't talk about these singles when they first came out so I will discuss them a little bit here. Play a Love Song sounds like a sequel to Goodbye Happiness in the springy beat that accompanies the track's instrumental. I wasn't a huge fan of this song at first because it felt a bit underwhelming but It's catchy groove lingers in your head after awhile. The production value of the track is easy to miss though, it's very high quality. A group of singers sing with Utada during the last part of the song making the overall sound become more full and solid. Her background vocals always seem to placed in the right places for the best sound for her tracks. あなた(Anata) switches back and forth between the genres of RnB and Jazz repeatedly. Violins are added in the instrumental somewhere too. Violin was used in majority of the tracks so I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the violin must be one of her favorite instruments. The track is a good reminder that Utada still knows how to make great music while taking some of her old musical qualities and adding in new ones. 初恋(Hatsuki) has the same name as the album. Another ballad for the fans that want to hear Utada float in the lyrical content inspired by her loving relationship with her husband. Her chants in English saying "I need you" should be a strong indicator. 誓い(Chikai) was a special surprise for me and probably all the fans of the RPG game; Kingdom Hearts. This track is the new theme song for series's long awaited third installment. I was put in mind of the song Sanctuary when I first heard the track. There's very unique layers in the production such as the off beat piano section and the drums that seem to play behind the piano while also staying on beat. Some of the timing is off the charts even with her vocals. Guess what? She owns her beautiful mess causing it to work wonders for her overall. I can't wait to hear the English version next year(renamed, Think Twice). Forevermore is the darkest track on the album music wise. The track is all about her dark vocals dipped in classical pop. Too Proud featuring Jevon came across as the ugly duckling in the middle of all the other tracks on Hatsukoi. If she ever decided to rewrite this song in English, the track would work well on another English album release. Everything that's happening on this track doesn't go with the album itself but the song is a Bop just because Utada wasn't afraid to jump into this style again. The rap part was good because it was unexpected. Those triangle instrument sections of the instrument being played under the beat was a cute take on a spicy track. Utada adding that Packman game beat was so random on top of all else also. Good Night was a revisit to the Deep River era of her career. Each componant of the song is a bit spontaneous that fold into separate sides of itself for an alternative rock track. Her voice shines during the song. Hatsukoi falls apart after you get past track 7. Embrace Me In The Sky(大空で抱きしめて) and A Life You Ought Be Jealous Of(嫉妬されるべき人生) are the only tracks that I would save from the destructive second half of the album. Utada is an artist that writes her own music and produces everything herself. She's a siren that has a lot of creative ideas that get crammed into her musical vision. At times her ideas work, then at times they don't. She's just a very experimental artist that takes chances on the thrill of being artsy. Japanese people will mostly like the lyrical content of these songs on the second half. I just got bored listening to tracks that didn't have a spark of excitement in them. Ballads are boring without the showcase of vocal range to me. Both of the songs I mentioned above feel the most charming out of the snooze fest. Embrace Me In The Sky's ukulele playing signals the perfect mood for a hot summer day. There's no other perfect song for the summer season. I'm still trying to figure out if パクチーの唄(track 8) is a Japanese nursery rhyme or not..... We're going to pretend that this song never happened..... Agreed?
Utada Hikaru asks her listeners in the opening track, "Can We Play A Love Song?" like fans have a choice to not listen to her whole album full of love stuck lust for her man. He must be really good in bed cause she's made some damn good material recently. Minus the lackluster tracks on the album of course.
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