Fucking leave her alone. Hit it and quit if you dont like what she's doing it.

The cover certainly isn't my favorite but I honestly don't even care. I just want the music. XD

Lol, it's the same with every release though, not only Utada.

Well yeah, but it never stops fascinating me XD

Anyway, I like the tracklist:

Michi (道; Road)
Ore no Kanojo (俺の彼女; My Girlfriend)
Hanataba wo Kimi ni (花束を君に; A Bouquet for You)
Nijikan Dake no Vacance (二時間だけのバカンス; A Vacation for Only Two Hours)
Ningyo (人魚; Mermaid)
Tomodachi (ともだち; Friend)
Manatsu no Tooriame (真夏の通り雨; Midsummer Rain Shower)
Kouya no Ookami (荒野の狼; Wild Wolf)
Boukyaku (忘却; Oblivion)
Jinsei Saikou no Hi (人生最高の日; The Best Day of My Life)
Sakura Nagashi (桜流し; Flowing Cherry Blossoms)

8 new songs, I'm happy!

I imagine this will be a very introspective and reflective album. I'm excited to hear this, much as I was to hear ayaka's The beginning. Is Utada releasing this through Universal? Or is this an indie record?

I think it's through Universal, or its division EMI.

Do you guys think one of the tracks could be an interlude?

" It will be released in Japan in September 28, 2016 by Universal Music Japan sublabel Virgin Records as her first official studio album release in the label"

Well, I'm glad. I hope they promote this release well. If ayaka can return with a #1 album on an indie label, Utada can certainly grab #1 with decent sales from a sublabel release.

I wonder if Utada asked for this though? It certainly doesn't seem reasonable for Universal to move Utada to a sublabel. She's still very much a big deal in Japan.

I think after Universal merged with EMI, it became EMI Records Japan, and hikki was under the division Virgin Records. I don't think it matters much... right? Or you think Virgin Records is a small department...?

^It doesn't matter at all if the artist is in a sublabel or not. I mean, the idea that it's less pestigious being in a sublabel rather than at the major one is ridiculous.

Koda Kumi is an amazing example for that. She's under rhythm zone, a sublabel of avex. Since there's few artists there, she has a bigger budget for her projects (that's why her concerts generally have a good infrastructure and etc). Namie was also like that before she moved to her own label.

On the other side, when Maki was a singer in avex, she had to share budget with ayumi and several other artists, so she had low investments on her career because they needed to finance everybody.

Being in a sublabel can be an awesome thing.

She will always get #1 no matter where she is lol. As long as the word/news of her new album is out in somewhere amongst the public.

I hope we'll get at least one decent PV :D

It doesn't work like that, there are artists like Anna Tsuchiya and Nanase Aikawa who gets their very own label inside of avex (MAD PRAY RECORDS and motorod respectively) and they don't get nice budget for their productions.

^Because they're alone there. It worked differently for Namie because she's Namie, but in cases like that, if the artist is not wildly popular, the budget won't be high. Smaller labels with few artists are better because they can distribute the budget better. I used the example of Kumi's tours because it was the first one that I remembered. Rhythm zone invests a lot on her concerts because it generates a lot of money, so it makes sense for them.

It's been a while since I listened to Utada's music so in order to "prepare" myself for Fantôme I've been watching some of her videos on YouTube and came across those old commercials for the Nintendo DS that she did. Do you guys remember it? She sounds so genuinely cute! :laugh :heart

I have seen those commercials!:luv2
It was cute how she seemed to genuinely like the DS. Maybe she had her very own even.:)
The last commercial I remember her doing was for Pepsi before her hiatus.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XTEBYexKmk...%2580%258D.jpg

she is cute nice commercial:love

I like the Can't Wait Till Christmas pepsi cm better :D.

I would agree with you there.:heart
When I first heard the songs on the 2nd disc of the Singles Collection vol 2, Can't Wait Till Christmas was my instant favorite.:xmas

She reportedly loves Tetris so I'm sure she owned her own DS to play it. :yes Or at least Nintendo must have given her one. :laugh