Why is First Love the highest selling album?
 

I like a lot of popular music, I like a lot of Japanese music, I like a lot of unpopular music, but I just can't get into First Love at ALL. Why is it the best selling album?

movin' on is excellent, but, (not to evoke any Hikki vs ... discussion) so is evolution.

First Love is beautiful, but, so is Dearest.

And then there is this whole batch of, what sounds to me like, filler tracks? Automatic is OK but the hook is pretty cheap. Some other tracks have nice sounds, but the hooks are just not very good, and her voice is very whiney.

I don't get it. I like Hikki's newer stuff, but First Love...:dead2

I guess cuz at the time the music Utada was making wasn't really hugely known or popular. People just seemed to really like this new style from her.

I know what you mean though, I like some Utada songs but a really just can't get into most of her stuff

Because she brought a different sound to the industry? She was young, fresh, and wrote everything she did? I honestly don't know either xD

Cuz people liked the album, that boring title song, cuz Hikki was young and cute, etc.

Don't know either xD

i guess,because she released this song at the correct timing?and also the jdorama-majo no jouken.

Because it's made of awesome and she was one of the artist who made R&B popular in Japan (don't shoot! is what I heard grrrrr).

It's the only Hikki album I dislike (other than Precious that I don't even take into consideration), and she still is my favorite musician xD

That's a good question you've brought to consideration. I've always wondered why too. I own the album myself but I've always figured the reason for its mass appeal was the peculiar sound.

i think MAAAAAANNNNNNYYYYYYYY PEOPLE LOVE "FIRST LOVE"
even i still hear that song sometime when i eat at cafe or i attend my friends wedding...
that song is unbelievably very POPULAR...

Because it was an album that changed Jpop and made Utada the most influential artist of that decade. Do I like First Love? Yeah....not as much as her later works though. And CDs don't sell as much nowadays so thats another reason. It'll probably never be broken :laugh Oh and because First Love is probably the most epic love ballad ever written.

^ I agree that the song is epic but that's not the reason why the album sold that good is it? If you like the song you can buy the single..

As people said, it was probably a new sound she brought to music in Japan. It was new and fresh and people liked what they were hearing, especially with the exposure of the song First Love. As the Japanese music industry was particularly strong at the time, a lot of people bought physical CDs. Of course these days, more people download the songs without buying the physical album, so nothing will beat something released a while ago in terms of sales due to the difference in the market from then and now? I don't like the album much either, but I do love First Love. It's a J-pop classic.

The single came out after the album.

ah okay I didn't know that :)

People are suckers for cheesy r&b love songs. And also pop ones (look how popular kana nishino is nowadays). Same kind of thing
Hikki greatly introduced it and people loved it (just like they do in america) and people still love little r&b love songs and ones that are a little more pop influenced.
And she was young and cute with a decent voice. Imo the actual song is just another love song with 1000 others. First Love is a generic song and people love that. And the lyrics are just so "touching" (I've seen vkei band write better romance lyrics). Imo I've heard better love lyrics but I guess those are straightforward and obvious. Not really unique but ah well~ :)
It is what it is...that is just what I think. Personally the only song I LOVE from that album is Movin On. THAT is great.
Otherwise I'd rather waste my time listening to old Mariah Carey albums.

I just don't know though. These are my opinions. I really just don't know. Its so meh. Average album. Like TITO. Same thing to me XD
Hikki has AMAZING albums though. :yes First Love is just ur average r&b album unfortunately. Idk who could answer ur question

I don't know either, good marketing or something. I don't like First Love myself.

Right time, right place. Plus First Love is pretty epic.

It'll never be beaten, and I'm happy with that :)

I agree with you on the First Love part, but get ready to be stonned xD

For Hikki? 0___o Please....as if that would ever happen -__-

I've been asking myself the same thing for years. But remember, music evolves, music we listen to now sounds nothing like it did back in the '90s, the '90s sounds nothing like it did in the '80s, and music from the '80s sounds nothing like it did back in the '70s. Back when it first came out, it was probably revolutionary, it had fresh, new, and imaginative sounding songs, and was exactly what the people wanted at the time. You look at yourself from 20 years ago and think.

Ugh, ew I can't believe I actually liked what I wore back then, but back then, you were probably head of the fashion tabloids and thought you were some hot stuff.

So the only thing I can think of, is that we dislike it now, but back then it was probably a very revolutionary piece of work.

Having ur songs on popular tv shows, like successful dramas = good marketing...

Most of Hikki biggest hits like First Love, Can you keep a secret?, Sakura DROPS and Flavor of Life had VERY strong tie-ins... so, yeah, Hikki's marketing team is VERY good =) Good enough to keep her in without really having her to promote stuff...

Well, I really doubt... Mariah Carrey was releasing songs like First Love for a decade when the song got popular... And Mariah herself was pretty popular in Japan

I guess the time that utada released first love was new genre of music in japan it was like a classical and elegant version of gaga

like you know how gaga make a new sense of music those days utada was like that...

Lol. Stoned? Please. Go ahead and burn me at the stake. XD (but its not like I'm bashing her)

But yeah good u agree on that part. Its the only thing I could really make of it XD 'tis just what I think about the song (and album). Nothing too positive...

^Ok, right now I think I love u xD

yupp.this is what i thought.

you better not be *gets ready to poke*

cause Hikki's mega awesome

Could be a lot of reasons.

-She made the already existing R&B style into a popular style, more american sounding in Japanese.
-She was pretty young and wrote a love song like First Love>
->First Love which got really well marketed using a popular drama that fitted to it, that way a lot of people could get to know it.
-A lot of people in the process probably liked that she is young and writes and composes everything herself.
-I don't know if it was known then but maybe also because she is the daughter if keiko utada (her mother) that was a famous singer in the 70s or 80s in japan. people got interested in utada the daughter.
-Since Automatic she already got good tie-ins, it was a variety show's ending theme, Movin' on without you was in Nissan Terano car CM, that's probably how a lot of people started to discover her from.
-Using First Love is the album title/theme was a smashing great tactic.

She might be awesome but that's not a reason for a phenomenal success :P

Exactly.

Keiko Fuji... :P That was her artistic name =)

who says :grumpy
^.^

To sum up what ayumisrael has said:

Back then there were some R&B and hip-hop artists in Japanese market, but none of them could really fight into the mainstream market. (They produced most likely heavy R&B songs and Japanese people just could not get into it I think?) When hikki released Automatic, you can see it's a R&B-pop fusion and people were like "wow". Also, back then Toshiba used a strategy that worked really well to increase her popularity: hiding hikki. Hikki wasn't on any tv or radio show at all, and this create a stir in the public wondering who she really was (well they knew how she looked like since she was on her own pvs, but still they couldn't see her in shows). I remember that before First Love was released, the tv company has already signed a deal with Toshiba that a song would be a drama opening theme (which was First Love). When First Love released, everyone rushed to buy the album that it was sold out on the first two or three days (can't remember exactly). I think the initial press was about 2 million copies btw. Then the drama began and luckily it had a high ratings, which attracted lots of people to listen songs inside like First Love, Never let go (a song always played in the drama as well). This really boosted the sales. And I think hikki didn't really go on to any show until June (three months after album release). I think she attended MS that time, and if not beaten it's still the highest rating of the MS show ever.

but..

To correct that :P, she is awesome, and she's part of the phenomenal success :).

I agree with that. Looking back her discography, First Love is quite blend, not as distinctive as the other albums. But no matter what back in 1999 it was a fresh hit to the Japanese.


Every artist in Japan have tie ins almost every single time when they release songs. It's just about being fortunate or not if the songs can be connected to popular dramas. First Love's drama? No one really knows if it would have high ratings, as Matsushima Nanako was just arise and no one could guarantee that she could bring the success to the drama. I agree that HERO drama helped CYKAS? because it had two really popular actor/actress there. And for SAKURA DOROPPUSU, well the drama wasn't even popular at all. Rather it's her illness boosting up the sales.

I dun see why hikki's success if overshadowed by the tie ins and stuff, as every artist is doing the same thing.

Also, I dun think it's fair to connect Mariah Carey with hikki, especially just for a song First Love. Yes Mariah Carey does release that type of songs for a decade or so, but in Japan it's rather new. Also, no matter what First Love is still a really good song, which captures lots of Japanese's hearts (and some of us as well :P).

@bluegie
I don't connect Mariah to Hikki other than First Love era, but really, Mariah had the best selling english album of Japan until Exodus, so, yeah, IMO the song First Love sounding somewhat like Mariah's ballads has something to do with Hikki being popular... obviously not the only factor, but one of the many...

And I don't think it's a bad thing at all having a good marketing team... FL isn't Japan's best selling album just cuz she is talented (what she IS) and cuz people loved her (what they DO), but also (and NOT only) cuz she was (and still is on Japan) very well promoted.

Hikki's fans tend to forget she IS a pop star, she sells tons, she is markeatable, she has strong tie-ins, she releases easy to listen romantic generic ballads from times to times, she milked her fans with that cartoon cat I forgot the name... They tend to forget she wants to sell her music and does it very well and they like to live on a imaginary land where the only reason she sells is cuz she is talented... Sorry, but nops... as much talented she is (and considering she is my FAVORITE musician of all time, I consider her to be very talented), she and her staff also make use of good marketing and good timing...

edit: and my big complain about her fans wasn't about u, Mr. bluegie, actually, I really like ur posts =)

Thanks for liking my posts :P. I like what you posts as well Andrenekoi haha.

Somehow.. yes, I do agree she has generic ballads from time to time. (hmmn... is there any in DEEP RIVER? or UTRA BLUE. I actually dun find those love ballads that generic.. or maybe the arrangements make the songs not too generic for me). FOL is one of the best examples. I thought that song would not sell that much until a few days after the premiere. It was one of the lovely lovely Japanese ballads with hikki's voice in it. It is a great song, but not too hikki unique style (you know what I mean). I never knew it would be that successful. I think that one indeed was super boosted by the drama. I think if the drama wasn't there, the single might sell about 150 - 200K physically, while ~2 million digitally.

It's kinda off topic but sometimes I wonder what would happen if ayu has a better drama tie ins. So far her songs connect to dramas with lower ratings.

Back to the topic. Yeah... talent doesn't equal to selling. We can see lots of talent artists sinking into nowhere (Misia for example). Hikki's team (her dad's team? :P) made a really good tactic in the beginning, and it's fortunate that hikki is beloved by the general public in Japan. It's a miracle that she can still sell quite a lot after that many years (well in Japan an artist's top peak is really short), as there aren't many artists capable of doing that. (OT: I think I can still count ayu is one of them. Even tho her physical sales are mainly from the hardcore fans. It's not that easy to maintain that standard after 10 years in the industry. And her digital sales are not too bad rite...? Someone said she's the third best selling artist in the digital last year.)

I agree a lot with what andrenekoi and ayumisrael and blugie said more or less.

And yes I think this applies to flavor of life. Like of all the singles. Really? Seriously? Lol.

I think hikkis marketing ia fine but I think its good she's not always in the publics face. And has never released as many albums as say ayu. Like u can say she has as many "successful" japanese albums as ayu does. It just took her until 2008 to get there

But also as someone mentioned its definitely not pure talent (although she's talented. the album was simple, generic and no example of it sadly). Just look at the music scene in japan, america, etc and many popular artists are usually not really the most talented
But talent often finds its way out. Although its good I found hikkis later music or I wouldve ignored her like I eventually do most of jpop. I'm too picky and it took a lot for me to find some greatly talented artists XD

But even if I don't love this album I'm happy it got hikki so popular so that she could go on to blossom with Deep River and grow with Ultra Blue and sort of settle with more simplicity with HS. Distance and exodus somewhere in between. TITO just a little mar.
So no harm done at all :laugh

I agree with the posters above me, lol. I can't speak for the album but personally, I always found First Love to be an absolute bore... she's had so SO much better material more deserving of "epic" status in imho.

All I can say is.. if First Love wasn't that success, there would be no hikki. Then again, there must be something about hikki that makes many people love her. I just dun think hiding from the public would continue the success.
Remember Mai Kuraki? She's the "clone" of hikki, as her company used the same tactic to sell her: 1) hiding her, 2) R&B pop, 3)quite talent (writing her own lyrics). She was a bit thing in 2000. I remember that I hated her so much because she technically copied hikki's moves, but I ended up liking her songs as well (R&B-pop, the popular type at that moment) (PS: I was a bit sad when Duty couldn't sell more than Delicious Way.. I thought Duty would break 2 million copies on the first week, but ended up selling around 1.68 (?) million copies..).

Anywayz, Mai could not maintain her popularity and sank gradually (like... from yearly no. 1 album selling artist to selling less than a million copies for her second album. It was quite a drop). Her songs became too generic in the end. I guess that makes the difference between hikki and mai. Hikki did create a even more generic album after First Love (yeah.. I think Distance is her worst album even tho the singles are great). But then she began to seek for new direction and DR was the OMG album from her.

^Well, the woman for sure is talented... And the first album of any pop act will always sound a little generic cuz the artist didn't had the time to grow up... Hikki (and Ayu, and Namie) had a successful image, but she never limited herself to it (what seens to be common on jpop, more even than western music)... She didn't limit herself to be the "r&b dream girl", she tried new things, got good and bad responses and even now, she keeps changing her style not only to sell, but also in order to not getting stucked on a "Hikki Image" having a generic "Hikki music"...

From times to times she releases generic stuff in order to sell, but the good sales of those generic music pay her good creative music =)
(and I believe it's the same with Namie and Ayu, the 3 lastest jpop female singers since Seiko Matsuka to become living legends)

I agree with everything blugie and andrenekoi posted. :yes

I don't understand what's wrong and what's the shame with having a good marketing?
Sure it's nice to have a phenomenal success just by releasing music and do nothing else but those things never happen.

blugie, actually I really like Distance, I see why you like it less though. xD
and yes ayu was #3 yearly on recochoku and Days is the most legally downloaded PV of 2009 (full pv #2 chaku movie #1)!
I actually think that if Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~ had a better rating drama then it could be a smashing success. It had 530,000 downloads for the chaku uta and 250,000+for the full song and it was in a low rating drama!
Had a good portion of the public would see it every week I think that it could bit a big big hit.

And where is hikki now? I hope she will release something soon... we talk about her but she is on a long vacation. =P

Because people liked it? Because people bought it? Because it just did? Because it was released on the best possible moment?