Take 5 is pure bliss. :heart

I'm curious about that article mentioning a song to be released ABROAD. Does that mean she could possibly be throwing out one more English single for the international fans?

Possibly five years!!? That's really long - by the time that's reached, Ayu could reach her 60th single, but there may be also today's newcomers that could be at that time the new #1 artists...

There will always be new artists reaching #1 and becoming super popular...and Ayu will probably keep releasing as her idol Matsuda Seiko is still doing...and I probably will fall in love with these new artists or re-discover why I ever liked Ayu so much....That's the way I see it anyway. Even though I will always have space for new artists in my little pool of favorites....nobody can really replace an Utada Hikaru.

I can't wait to hear the new songs!

I hate Take 5 -.-

and 5 years on hiatus meh why am I not surprised

I have kinda mixed feelings about this... >.< I'm really happy Hikki is releasing something new, but a the same time I'm sad she's going on a break... Well, I'm really looking forward to the new tracks anyways! :)

I like take 5, but it's not my favorite. I really love beautiful world and prisoner of love. I also remember when flavor of life first came out, I bought the single and played the **** out of my copy, I don't even know why, it's not my favorite song, but I really really enjoyed it when I first heard it lol.

I love Take 5 lol. I was obsessed with that song.

New message from Hikki:
http://www.u3music.com/message/index...081106133j.xml

And the translation:
http://hikki.blogspot.com/2010/08/iv...this-said.html

Apparently some magazine(?) took comments she made and some EMI higher up made years ago and mixed them with comments from today that misconstrued the meaning of why she's taking a hiatus and she's upset about that.

p.s.
Girl uses the bathrooms at the convenience stores apparently. I don't know why she threw that tid bit of information in there, but thats's hardcore. xD My un-pop star self doesn't do that. haha

[edit]
Also, does anyone wanna translate or sub this video? I really want to know what they're saying about her. U.Blog posted it. It's the news of her break of TV.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xee...yyyy_lifestyle

HOW CAN ANYONE HATE TAKE 5!?

Well I know "everyone is entitled to their opinion" but it's such a MASTERPIECE. The whole composition, the whole arrangement, the choice of sounds, the mixing, the whole story/meaning behind it. It's just ... indescribable.

yea Take 5 is awesome.. the sudden end always gives me chills..

Lol "convenience store bathrooms" I hope japanese ones are cleaner and nicer than the disgusting american ones (if they even have one). Even I don't use those XD
Now I'm curious what she plans to do. Clearly she does such average stuuf and ect. What is new to do on her haitus. Was she not able to find herself already doing things like any other person. And not growing doing her career.
I'm so lost after reading that. Maybe she's going to travel more. Try to understand the meaning of life. Idk now

Well I wish her good luck cuz looking at her now. If she hasn't grown by now I'm sure it will be a long process for ther dear.
I think I need to reread the original note about her leaving. Cuz all I understand is growing as a human.

*sigh* there's so much going on this fall...to many important releases for me

IMO Boku wa kuma > Take 5
*troll mode ON*
*runz*

Ohhh, I hope someone can sub that video! I wanna know what they're saying about this whole message from her.

Honestly, I'm just a little relieved that she's leaving us with 4-5 new songs instead of just a singles collection. Although...I am kind of iffed that she is supposedly going take that long a break...after having been gone for what, two years already? Oh well, I'm still supporting her and I respect her for wanting to grow more personally. Maybe she needs time to reconnect with certain people in her life? Who knows, but I'm supporting her and her decision. I'm just glad she said she's coming back!

I love take 5... just not the way it cuts off.

I would boku wa kuma was never born.

Ooh the newsclip isn't even Japanese? I was looking forward to try and decipher about 10% of what they're saying, but with Chinese it's more like 0%.

And about Boku wa kuma, think about it this way: If Boku wa kuma hadn't exist, she would have just released NOTHING. There would be no extra track on the album, just an empty space. So why bother hating it? I quite like it, it's cute.

It's basically the same info from her blog, reiterating how she's been working since the age of 15 and wants to take some time off to be a "normal person." More important though, is the fact that news of Utada's hiatus is impacting music not only limited to Japan. :(

What are you talking about?

A video was posted about a Taiwanese (?) celebrity show (???) talking about Utada's hiatus. AKA people in other countries care.

I guess it didn't make sense because it's not at all "impacting music".

^maybe its impacting the music industry as a whole?

Of course other people care. Its hikki and she hasn't released japanese stuff in two yrs and now she's taking another break from her utada hikaru career. A break that is more extensive.
If other japanese artists have wild fans in these places I'm sure hikki has them too :)

I actually like this. That post just made me realize, even more, how great of an artist and a person she is. It was just so sincere, and so human, and so thankful to her fans, and so her, that I just have more interest in her music. She definitely is one hell of an artist and she can take 10 years if she wants and needs to: I'm sure she'll reward us with huge masterpieces. And I'm very excited for both Single Collection Vol. 2 and the new songs. Who knows, maybe an In the Flesh DVD is coming? :D

I hope she finds happiness on this time on her own, Utada, we love you!

I want a release date and tracklist for the single collection!
And hopefully the cover is not as boring as the first one. lol

Dirty Desire......Dirty Desire.......

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/8748/ah21ea.jpg

^They're the hottest couple EVER.

About the single collection, do you guys think it'll be another "patterned" cover + booklet + CD? You know, for the first one she didn't have her own picture on the cover, but this beautiful classic gold drawing, and the CD had an embossed pattern on it and stuff..

Like, what I'm trying to say.. do you guys think she'll pull another hikki-less cover and use a modern pattern like the triangle-ish pattern on her website?

She'd better put her face on the cover, or I'mma going over there to tattoo her single collection vol. 1 cover on her face.

"HOW DOES THAT FEEL, HUH?"

^LOL.

^^^I wish that I could photoshop all our bad memories~

[edit]
According to U.Blog, Utada's off the IDJ website again, probably for good this time. That's good and bad, imo. Good because if and when she ever releases another American album, it'll be with a better record label (hopefully); and bad because it means the hiatus extends to her activities in the west as well... I mean, that was kind of a given-- but I still had some hope.

Um, wow. :thud

:laugh

2010 seriously sucks.
An Cafe went on hiatus, Ayabie disbanded (worst day EVER) and now Hikki is going to take a long break as well.
Who will be next :/ ?

^Olivia Lufkin got dropped from her talent agency and her label will probably be dropping her too. :weep

^
OLIVIA's FB/Twitter:
http://twitter.com/livey2venus/status/21374777527
http://www.facebook.com/olivialufkin...40117212690358


You can all be happy :)

^For a second I thought that was Utada's post or something. xD That Single Collection 2 was coming in October.

BUT EVEN BIGGER YAY! Olivia isn't quitting music! :D

Well I can totally see Utada's best coming in October as well, considering it's supposed to be a fall release.

I haven't exactly realized yet we are actually getting new music of her.

I hope it's a textless cover just like the first volume. I prefer consistency.

^I'm actually hoping its like the bootleg....continuing the cool, royal design....but on a slipcase....and underneath, a real cover :yes

WHAAAAAAT???!!!!!! AYABIE DISBANDED??? I'm seriously crying now. That is something I really care about..
I haven't been giving attention to them and was just just waiting for the next single. Singles like Dramatic weren't too enjoyable for me
But such a lovely band. And Aoi has the loveliest male voice ever. They're always permanantly in my top four jrock bands. Along with an cafe. Whose haitus has been already depressing. And I worry as miku has his own new band T.T

And besides this my precious Eiko Shimamiya has her possible voice ruining cancer

And then hikkis on haitus. That's most of my TOP fav musicians gone in one year. This sucks
All I have is ayu, MUCC, and Nightmare.... T.T

Does music hate me. Why are MY fav artists all ruined and gone T.T other people can keep their fav artists.

Oh no... Why is Ayabie disbanding!!?

I really like the first cover. I hope the second one keeps up the tradition.

actually she did. it's the picture from her sakura drops photoshoot though. It's at the very top of the design.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...-COLLECT02.jpg
Are you serious? Have you actually ever seen the cover? It has the most text on it of any other album of hers. lol

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...LE-COLLECT.jpg

Holy **** Hikki's a free mason :O

Are these covers true?

Lol wow...I never noticed like at all :laugh

I usually just look at it like "nice design" and that's it :thud
What other hidden messages are you hiding from us, hikki?! xD

Haha!
Everyone will be sitting with microscopes when they get their copies of the Single Collection vol. 2.

What? Of course they are. It's just close ups from her "single collection vol. 1" album cover.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...ectionVol1.jpg

NO! HIKKI, MEG! :bawl

Well obviously I meant a close up picture of her face, not a tiny drawing :laugh

Because of course I knew there's a little hikki-face on the cover, I'm kinda surprised some people here don't know what the cover looks like :laugh

But I guess if you don't own the album and you just saw some small pics of the cover on google, you don't really notice it. The album is worth buying, by the way. It has like her most luxurious booklet, the paper is thick and high quality, and the CD has this embossed pattern, it's amazing.

Bahaha, I meant to say "image-less". My bad!

how can anyone not notice that O.O
the first time I saw it at my library was kewl sakura drops photoshoot.


the one at my library is bootleg, it had songs from where she was 15 I think

Oh wow, I just noticed that too! :P

Made a poll/discussion thread specifically for the hiatus.
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103186

Lol I barely even understand the concept of free mason. Lol hikki. What a strange strange secretive girl :laugh

its always a nice cover. Better than a lot of ones with pics of her but her album covers are usuallyy okay so with or without her on it ill be fine.

I'd like a cover with her actually on it, but I prefer continuity... if there was a slipcase with the inside cover having her on it and the case following Vol. 1 that would be cool.

Well Aoi is going to release a solo single in September and they were unable to continue as a band because of that. So they left Aoi and will form a new band soon.

We should start an Ayabie-thread :innocent

EDIT: I started an Ayabie-thread^^

Starting with 2011, we can just make a thread for artists who are on hiatus and/or have disbanded. Us fans can all gather and mourn and wait for returns there. :weep (xD)

p.s.
Distance is such a goood albuummm. aewihjugt13287y

[edit]
Did anyone know CNN showed a clip of CBTM and talked about TiTO when it was first released?
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video...soundcheck.cnn

I had no clue..

Want more info!

It's still so upsetting how the album completely failed. :((

thats because you're not a free mason! they're one of those weird secretive societies that you have to be a member of to know anything about.

aka, i know nothing about them either.

its weird she uses their symbol though. lol.

I like how she is referred to in the CNN video as the "highest selling Japanese pop artist of all time" even though that's completely wrong :P

the heck is free mason?

Some secret society

I am fan of her covers, hope her new single collection will be awesome like sakura drops or traveling.

who is? and where does hikki rank?

I'm pretty sure B'z is and Hikki is ranked pretty high

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._music_artists

Well First Love is the highest selling Japanese album of all time.
highest selling Japanese pop artist of all time.. I dont know who is.. let me search xD

EDIT

Found a list:

Rank Artist Sale
1 B'z 75,614,000
2 Mr. Children 50,635,000
3 Southern All Stars 47,083,000
4 Hamasaki Ayumi 45,528,000
5 DREAMS COME TRUE 40,893,000
6 Matsutoya Yumi 37,790,000
7 GLAY 35,800,000
8 ZARD 35,450,000
9 Utada Hikaru 32,160,000
10 CHAGE & ASKA 31,220,000
11 Matsuda Seiko 29,260,000
12 GLOBE 28,600,000
13 SMAP 28,400,000
14 L'Arc~en~Ciel 25,760,000
15 Amuro Namie 25,750,000
16 Nakamori Akina 25,100,000
17 TUBE 23,880,000
18 Ohguro Maki 21,890,000
19 Every Little Thing 21,630,000
20 TRF 21,500,000
21 Nakajima Miyuki 21,310,000
22 KinKi Kids 20,790,000
23 Nagabushi Tsuyoshi 20,380,000
24 Makihara Noriyuki 19,830,000
25 SPEED 19,280,000
26 Fukuyama Masaharu 18,760,000
27 Itsuki Hiroshi 18,700,000
28 Kome Kome CLUB 18,320,000
29 SPITZ 18,290,000
30 MISIA 17,150,000
31 Yamaguchi Momoe 16,190,000
32 Himuro Kyosuke 15,710,000
33 Inoue Yosui 15,670,000
34 Sawada Kenji 15,660,000
35 Go Hiromi 15,620,000
36 Morning Musume 15,470,000
37 Mori Shinichi 15,400,000
38 CHECKERS 15,300,000
39 Imai Miki 15,220,000
40 Nakayama Miho 14,970,000
41 Kudou Shizuka 14,820,000
42 Koizumi Kyoko 14,230,000
43 Kuraki Mai 14,220,000
44 JUDY AND MARY 14,130,000
45 Matsuyama Chiharu 14,030,000
46 Yazawa Eikichi 13,930,000
47 WANDS 13,730,000
48 T-BOLAN 13,610,000
49 Mariah Carey 13,460,000
50 Takeuchi Mariya 13,400,000

^That list only counted sales up till 2005

I am sure the top 10 spots are "almost" the same. Problably ARASHI and Namie are up

Yeah, but the top 10 is mostly still correct. Ayu would have surpassed Southern All Stars by now, but I'm guessing not Mr. Children since they've released a couple of million sellers since then.

The lower regions are all wrong though. I don't see EXILE anywhere and they've sold like, what, 17 million by now?

thanks for the info on sales.

its interesting how reporters don't even check facts on things like this.

If you only J-Pop solo artists Ayu is #1 and Hikki is #2 according the the Wikipedia list.

^Both are certified to have 50 million records according to that list....

Wow freemasonry is in the wroooong place here. How is freemasonry even a part of this? Freemasonry isn't a secret society. It's everywhere

Wait, where did you get that part about Hikki having 50 million records? If she had 32 in 2005 she'll have around 40 max by now, not 50...

Ayu on the other hand will probably have reached 50.

^Its right there on the wiki page. Hikki got a huge ass boost in 2007 with 12 million downloads, which are also counted.

That doesn't make any sense though. Why would they count downloads towards PHYSICAL sales and only the ones from 2007? She's sold digitally before that AND after that.

Physical singles are counted towards physical sales, downloads towards downloads. Look at Lady Gaga's wikipedia page. 15 million sold records, 30 million downloads. There's a distinct difference.

In terms of total downloads sold, I wonder ... would Hikki be no. 1? I'd like to think so ; )

just because hikki doesn't release like ayu,
doesn't mean that she can't be the highest whatever whatever.

you people and your sales :rolleyes (don't shoot >.<)

Who was talking about physical sales? I was referring to record sales

Anyway back to the main point, regardless of what the sources are, the CNN video is wrong about Utada being the highest selling pop artist in Japan. No need for debate.

But generally, the term record sales referred to actual sold records. A download isn't a record. It's weird that the website would use an incorrect term : /

And besides, it still doesn't make sense that they would include only Utada Hikaru's downloads from 2007, not from other years, and that they completely ignored the digital sales of other artists. Surely you agree?

But yes, that was an incorrect statement from the CNN : P

Actually in most parts of the world....full downloads are counted as records. =/ I think Japan just doesnt count them.

Really? That's just plain weird to me ... one song does not equal an actual CD.

At least, not in my book, but maybe I'm old fashioned : P

^Full downloads meaning the entire album/single LOL

I don't understand why Oricon refuses to count downloads.....its pretty much a standard everywhere else in the world now.

I wouldn't mind a seperate download chart, not at all ...

Maybe they don't see it as necessary. After all, there's Recochoku and the RIAJ also ranks them. Besides, PC downloads are of no importance whatsoever, and the two I just mentioned have got mobile downloads covered XD

^/^^ Downloads are administered by other organizations/companies, not Oricon, I think.

How are PC downloads of no importance? There are MANY, MANY people who buy albums on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, ect.. PC downloads are just as important as buying physical CD's (talking in terms of buying albums online, not single songs.)

Saying they aren't as important is like saying McDonald's is better than Burger King or Pepsi is better than Coke. People buy albums online the same reason they buy CD's. They enjoy the artist and want to hear the album. It's a sale.

Maybe I chose the wrong wording, calm down XD. I meant to say that, in comparison to mobile sales, the percentage of total sales it involves is pretty small. PC downloads account for TEN percent of the total downloads in Japan. That's not a lot and a much, much smaller number than, say, in the US, where nearly all single sales are done through iTunes and the like,

In a change of subject, what activities do you guys and gals think Hikki we'll take on to leave the industry "with a bang"?

Here's hoping for a Utada United 2010.

I doubt she'd be touring for a while. If there are awesome new songs on Single Collection Vol. 2, a few TV lives, and at least one new PV, then I'll be satisfied. I also hope that the In The Flesh Tour @ Irving Plaza will come out soon....cmon already. That's it. She doesn't need to do much to go out with a bang. I hope she can sell a million.

^I agree. As long as the songs are good, there's one PV, and a few TV appearances I'm good. If she can sell a million that'll be amazzzzing! :D I believe she can still! And if we get an In The Flesh DVD (especially if it's the NYC show) I'll be SOOOO HAPPPPYYY!

I want more news... I thought this thread would be a lot more crazy with her finally releasing something new and all but it's barely moved.

Well, I'm late again to hear the news that Hikaru's taking a hiatus... for 2-5+ years!!!!

So, my second favorite jpop singer (Rina Aiuchi) is completely quitting the music industry this year, and Hikaru's taking a super-long hiatus. Hikaru was the first jpop singer I ever got into back in 2000ish... bleh..

2010 hasn't been so great for jpop for me...

almost time for a new thread
wow surprisingly :laugh

I'm guessing 350K~380K, realistically. Though, who knows? =P

Who actually thinks hikki won't sell a million? Under these circumstances I highly belive she can and if she doesn't then that's just really weird

Btw. Is there like any more news on all this stuff?

No news yet. :( I'm betting we get a release date either this week or the following week and I'm betting on a release date for the first or second week of October. I'll guess the 6th or the 13th.

Yeah....I know its best album but sometimes those don't sell the way they are expected....like Ayu....only getting 800kish with A-Complete....and Kumi's last best was a fail. Then again...this IS Utada....and she doesn't release all that often so that could be a factor too. I'm confident in her ability as a million seller.

the album is set for a November 9th release, according to livedoor. but i'm not sure if it's 100% true, though.

I'll be preordering as soon as the link comes out :P

But this is different. Ayu had just released a best. Then she's also not leaving. (I wouldn't have bought that lol)
And kuu is kuu

Hikki hasn't released one in forever. She IS leaving. And it includes previously unreleased songs (which I'm excited for hehe). So this selling less than a complete would be somewhat ridiculous.
Even I who usually could care less about buying bests am going to. Beg my parents to order this if I like the new songs. Although it seems hopeless. Especially cuz I also want L... X)
This could sell a million. If funky monkey babies sold as much as they did. Hikki can double it lol. I believe she has that power.

Ugh. I want more info though. In the meantime ill consider getting a job to pay for my new wants.

^Yeah. I need to find a job soon too now that you mention it x_____x

I've gotta sell my whole Ayu collection to get money to buy Perfume's GAME CD+DVD and Hikki's new best.