[News] Utada Hikaru named the most influencial artist of the decade by Japan Times

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

I can read Japanese, and there are barely any nuances lost in translation when it comes to her lyrics (as Sunshine Slayer suggests). She composes at face value most of the time.

I don't know, since I've never really studied Hikki's Japanese lyrics. That is just what I have heard many times - that her lyrics come across much better in the native language than they do in English. (and that was usually coming from native Japanese speakers themselves)

@andre2907 - Usually I agree with your posts. This is one of the few exceptions. What exactly has Mongol800 influenced? They had successful albums at the very start of the decade, but where have they been since then? Yes, they have consistently released material, but you rarely hear about them, even in Japan. Their last albums opening week sales were only 18,000 and 26,000 total for its first month. Also, they mostly play at clubs with the occasional arena date it seems. In fact I've never once met a mongol800 fan I don't think. And the only successful band that sounds like Mongol800 since the debut of Mongol800 is......Mongol800. So I don't really see them as being influential and certainly not on the same level as the other artists in the article. I am not saying they are bad or something, not at all, but that their inclusion in this article was completely random and showed the writers preferences for acts that are seen as less commercial. In Japan Times, less commercial = true artist. Commercial (like 95% of j-pop) = untalented sellout *****s.

Originally Posted by andre2907

Are you seriously? Yes, I think the average person care about the fact Ayu made attaching fake tail to your jeans extremely popular in 2001. But the fact EXILE, Thelma Aoyama, AI, Mai Kuraki, MISIA and other 384778473 extremely popular artists are part of a trend that was kick started by Utada is completely insignificant. Yes, she didn't create R&B but we can't ignore the fact NO ONE in the Japanese music scene had that style before her (and Mariah Carey popularity in Japan showed there was appetite for this type of music but no local artist dared to try it anyway until Hikaru).

Yes, it was ready and waiting to happen. And some people could argue that it already did happen with M.C.A.T and East End Yuri as well - they definitely had success. In fact people here seem to have forgotten that East End Yuri had some really big hits in the mid 90s and they were totally hip hop - Da yo ne and Maicca were humongous. Hell, even Ayumi released an R&B hip hop album before Utada - albeit an unsuccessful one. Utada imo opinion just happened to hit at the time that it was most ripe and ready.