My day started at 7:30 when I boarded a bus in Cape Cod-- and I got off a bus at 2:10 at the Port Authority bus terminal in NYC. I headed over to Sephora (maybe a 20 minute walk) and there were already so many people outside... When I tried to get in line, I was told I needed a wristband, so I got in the shorter line further down the street. I got my yellow wristband and a raffle ticket for a $500 Sephora gift card they were going to raffle off that evening. We were told we could leave if we liked, and that a yellow wristband guaranteed us entry to the store during the event so long as we were back in line by 5:30.
So I met up with friends (who didn't make it there in time to procure a wristband-- I got the 10th to last one, or so) and we meandered around for a bit, and I made it back to Sephora by 5 o'clock. The line for people with wristbands was still there (to the right of the storefront), but another line had formed-- one for people without wristbands. And this line stretched down 5th avenue to 49th street, rounded the corner, and continued down the block. I went to get in line, and there was a "bouncer" who made sure that everyone who was waiting in the wristband line actually had a wristband. In any given 5-minute span, people would come over and get in line who didn't have a wristband and who didn't know anything about the system, so he had to redirect them to the other line. And then, inexplicably, the bouncer disappeared at 5:45, never to be seen again.....and the line quadrupled in length. Because none of the other people who got in line had wristbands.
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The event was supposed to start at 6 o'clock, but by 6:15 the line outside Sephora was still not moving. The sidewalks were jammed with people, and at about 6:20 or so they started playing some songs from TITO through gigantic speakers. People were even blocking the sidewalk across the street from Sephora trying to figure out what was going on, and Hikki herself showed up at about 6:25. What was left of the line totally dissolved into a mass crowd of people on the sidewalk. The Sephora team had to make a human barricade against the crowd, forming a corridor that left about two feet of space between the hordes of people and the facade of the building. They ushered the people in with wristbands one by one, and we got to go into the store.
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After shutting the front doors, it was probably another 7-8 minutes before Hikki came out. The "host" was, if I'm not mistaken, a DJ from a popular New York radio station. She asked questions for about 20 minutes or so...you know, textbook interview questions. When she asked, "Is there anyone you've really wanted to work with?" someone in front yelled, "AYUMI!" and the DJ was all confused. She asked the audience if we liked Ayumi, she got a sizeable number of cheers, and then the DJ threatened to go take Ayu down on behalf of Utada, or some such nonsense (honestly, this woman was SO annoying.)
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The only singing Utada did throughout her appearance was in response to a question from the DJ, when she asked what songs really inspired her as a child. Utada said one of the first songs she ever fell in love with was "that song from the Little Mermaid", and when the DJ asked her how it went she started singing "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete? Wouldn't you think I'm the girl, the girl who has everything?" But that was it. After the DJ finished her spiel, they took 5 questions from the audience--
1.) I know we're not allowed to ask if you'll marry us, so...can I take you out to dinner some time?
2.) Do you have any advice for aspiring singers?
3.) What kinds of foods do you like to eat?
The only intelligent question that was asked was about the inspiration behind Stay Gold...Utada said she wrote it around graduation season and she was inspired by all the new graduates walking out into the world, into the unknown (so to speak) and how this dramatic change in their life situation would cause them to lose their purity, in a sense, and how she wanted them to retain the essence of that purity...thus, Stay Gold.
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Now, it was only 7:10 at this point, so I was gearing up for her to sing a song, or for us to line up to get autographs and take pictures and what not...but instead, SHE LEFT. The event was supposed to go on until 8, and she left at 7:10. After getting there half an hour late. I don't think there are words in the English language that are strong enough to express the disappointment (and rage) that I felt. She left *immediately*...I was one of the first people out the doors, and she had gone out the side already. On our way out, they handed us pre-autographed 8.5x11" photos and a makeup case that said "utada" on it. I hung around outside trying to make my way through the throng of people that were STILL waiting out there, and eventually one of the staff members came out and started handing out flyers...so I snagged a couple of those as well.
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Overall, I was more than a little disappointed-- I thought the organization on Sephora's part was awful. They had barely any form of crowd control, and it got RIDICULOUS out there. And the event itself was so short, I felt kind of like...I gave up two days of my spring break to see her from 60 feet away for 25 minutes? Really?
