( Sorry for double post. I didn't feel like editing :thud )

But yeah pretty much. After being in J-pop forums like these for years I get annoyed with 98% of posters. So when someone with sense comes along I'm like "Thank God I'm not the only one."

But I also agree with you on your views with Hikki so...:D

I love that song!!! :weep

^What a day, young boy next door passed away, ooo it makes me wanna say, hey! I don't wanna waste another day!

Seriously, awful lyrics. I'm sorry tho :laugh

^ LoL, yeah the lyrics were stupid. I just liked when she said "let me give you my love" in the chorus. Kremlin Dusk though, hands down was my favorite song on the album. I absolutely loved the second half of it. Upon second listening, some of the tracks aren't as bad as I originally thought, but ugh, I still hate some of them (Easy Breezy, Wonder 'bout, etc.)

^ I was sorta like soul searching, but your body's soo jaw dropping, some say it's rule breaking, but times are changing lol

It's ok if you dont like it, I think the workout's lyrics are even more corny lol

" So I showed him, how people in the far east get down" that song makes me laugh so much

The best song for me is "Hotel Lobby". Great lyrics, great production and KILLER hooks. That song and "Tippy Toe" just blew me away the first time I heard them.

OH I love hotel lobby !! I also love about me and kremlin dusk...

O_O Grace, baby, you need some serious help. Imo, American music is getting better and better. IMO, A-music has always been better than j-pop. I only have a select few of j-artists that I listen to while my list of a-artists listen to...who actually has really good music. 2008 for a-music has been excellent. Leona Lewis, Maroon 5, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Usher, OneRepublic, etc...dude, ur missing out. :laugh

As for Hikki putting on that mask, Hikki doesn't have to since her music has been like that from day 1. Err...Automatic, anyone?! =/ So I don't see this whole selling out you getting this from.

:laugh Well, prolly see her with looking hair again since we know that americans is crazy about weave. XD

OMG Thanks austin! :shughug And yea, Hikki has had great dling sales in america. If I'm not mistanken, when I was on hikaru.sc, they said she made it to #56 on the itunes charts. :)

Have can you say that when you listen to Kelly Clarkson? Kelly is so ******* old now. My Decemeber was garbagr compared to her pervious two albums. She was stupid for not going the "Breakaway pt 2" way. :o

Wow! Why is it that most foreigners think that way about American music? Once again, hip-hop is not all american music. (some hip-hop is really good tho. Kanye = :heart)

No, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Avril Lavigne albums have sold more than Exodus. I think Mariah Carey has the best selling english album in japan.

Oh, gawd! Here we go again with the tie-ins crap. :rolleyes Almost every artists on the Oricon charts right now have tie-ins, whether its a great one or not. It's not Hikki's fault that she can get better tie-ins than other artists and sell well when comes to having tie-ins. I never see anyone blaming JE and Mr. Children and Kubukoro for having great tie-ins. It's alreadys Hikki who gets that "without tie-ins she wouldn't sell." :rolleyes

Why are you in here? :irked Tbh, I think you are one of those japanophile. :dead2

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.

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. :o] 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.

well, utada is american after all, so...:laugh but do you really think she'll be popular if she dosen't go the mainstream route? sadly that's how it is in america now. :weep she shouldn't sell out, it's not worth it here.

First statement: This is an opinion, you can't -nullify- GRACE's by yours. She doesn't freaking like Western music, you telling that an album she likes is bad isn't going to make your argument for Western music any better. No wonder she likes My December since it seems to be outside of Western mainstream tastes, hence why she likes it. How can YOU offer artists when it's obvious she's probably already tried them and doesn't find them to her taste. As a side-note, I like Western music just fine.


Second statement: Yes, I think the idea that HS sold ENTIRELY on tie-ins and her name is ridiculous, but you can't rule out that the tie-ins she got were a big factor. Bringing attention to other artists is a distraction and logical fallacy, doesn't bring any weight to your argument.

What I see is, whenever anyone criticizes HEART STATION's music, it's sales numbers are used to display it's credibility as a good album. Sales aren't a reason to like anything and doesn't change the fact that a person MIGHT NOT LIKE HEART STATION.

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This woman needs something new soon. Also, for the U.S. album, I'd like it if she could work with Bloodshy & Avant or Danger Mouse. Love them.

BUT Hikki has already went there....and back :irked

I mean, that's true of course, but some people make it seem like if she didn't have tie-ins at all, she wouldn't have sold as much as she has in past and present when in fact, that goes for every artists in Japan who has hit it big.

Although she may not really care about it, Hikki would make way more amounts of money if she was to make it big here. It's always been a dream of Hikki's to perform here (in a big way imo). Like I said earlier, Hikki has already went the mainstream route, so I don't get the "she's selling out if she goes mainstream". =/

:yes =D It's all opinion, I don't like Western music, just like I don't like Heart Station, no one's opinions can nullify it, or overrule.

Also, incredibly minor, but I'm a guy... ^^;;

And by "go American" I mean, go into the American mainstream. Seriously, I have respect for her since Exodus was not the mainstream when she released it, if she were to go mainstream, I'd lose a HUGE amount of respect for the woman.

My bad. lol.

You bring up a true point although, MD was mostly mainstream.

When I brought those other artist into it, I was making a point that Hikki isn't the only one who has tie-ins plus their name to be thanking. Just about anyone of those artist I named have tie-ins plus their name to singles that sold fairly well. I'm not pulling their names in it to start up trouble. I was just making a point.

Good point but most fans do that with any of their favorite artists. I've listed it times and times that I luv HS because of it's flow and mainstream-ness. UB was okay but I wasn't use to that type of music and it's just an album you wouldn't normally play on a daily bases unlike HS and her other albums.

OMG! I'm so with you. This silence from her is killing me. I went back to listening to Exodus and man, I have fell back in luv with Exodus 04. It has this certain mood to it that makes you feel all good inside. lol I really luv the medley to it. I do agree with you on B&A. I really like their remix to YMMWTBA. Their works are pretty decent.

I think Exodus had potential, but some of the lyrics when compared to some of the stuff we know she's capable of sucked. The album sounded like it was done on a MAC, and the collaborations with Timbaland were complete let downs. The only good song he did to me was Exodus '04, and even then the song left me feeling "It's good but not great". The Exodus album just had no feeling. It was stale and it didn't seem like she brought that same spark of musicality that she does when she's doing her Japanese albums. It's like she tried too hard and we all know that when you try too hard and don't let things come you fail. With that being said I think doing the album brought on a new sound that was already forming when she released "COLORS" and "Traveling". So in that aspect I think doing "Exodus" was just like the meaning of the word: A departure.

I hope she sticks to doing something similar but more out there like "ULTRA BLUE" for her 2nd English album. I wouldn't mind seeing her pulling a Bjork and going all "Hidden Place" on us. But I'm hoping we won't be hearing the same type of music that we're already getting with this next English release. Here's hoping that it gets better promotion than Exodus and that the woman actually tours for a change. Noone knows who the hell she is in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. She needs to do a Dir en grey and start doing some shows.

I think doing mainstream music isn't as horrible as your making it out to be. You can do mainstream in the States and not conform to whats already being done over here. Prime examples are Bjork and Pj Harvey. They release whatever the hell they want to release; which both of their more recent albums are masterpieces and sold quite well. So getting more exposure doesn't necessarily mean you have to sell your soul. But I will agree with you on your point that American popular music does suck in recent years. But it's not something new. In fact most people who actually use their brain over here and don't watch reality shows 24/7 know this. But I will disagree with you're point in saying Japanese popular music is better. I think we've all seen various acts from Japan. In some cases brilliant people like Dir en grey are heavily in the forefront, but then you have your Koda Kumi's, Leah Dizon's, and BoA's, which can be seen as brainless fluff. Not to mention "idols" releasing albums titled "Big☆Bang!!!" like Shoko Kakagawa. But..your opinion is your opinion. I disagree with half of it though.

P.S for people who like Heartstation that's cool. But personally I thought it was bland as hell. I even think it's one of her worst albums. I can say I like 2 songs and thats it. Not a very good reason to buy an album, which I haven't and I won't. At least the covers were cool.

I agree with you Lisa. Nowadays it's really hard to make it into America and get noticed. Although I don't mind one bit, I like to hear Hikki's English music, it's great IMO. So I don't really want her to stop making music here. I'll buy every single album :laugh And who knows, maybe she'll get somewhere far later on in the future, it could happen :yatta

I doubt she'll go mainstream for the sake of selling albums - she's not desperate for money or attention in America. I hope she uses her next English album to experiment in ways EMI wouldn't let her in Japan, so her next Japanese album can be even better.

EXODUS has a sharper sound than UB and HS on it which is what I like about it. It was raw and clean at the same time.

Exodus '04 is probably one of my least favourite songs on the album, but that's like me saying HS is my least favourite album from Hikki, overall I enjoy it all.

I wouldn't mind her going mainstream as long as she keeps her touch on it, she's going to HAVE to have some kind of 'popular' sound to gain a fanbase, with which she can start experimenting with. See her Japanese career for proof of this.