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

[SunshineSlayer]

^ Just because it was founded a long time ago has absolutely nothing to do with whether it is credible or unbiased or not.

Originally Posted by CoriKaru

MOST Influential Artist, not ONLY Influential Artist.

What Utada did for the Japanese Music Industry is on a whole other level of its own and far beyond what anyone else did.

I think that's debatable and it all depends just on where peoples loyalties lie the most. But I don't think anyone here really disagrees with Hikki being an influential artist or even with an article calling her the most influential of the decade. The problem lies in the way the article is written basically bashing and/or down playing the role of other leading females like Ayu, Namie, and even Kuu. And then the article totally loses credibility and shows that this is completely a personal diatribe from the writer when he elevates Mongol800 so highly. This title is not an "honor" as you call it because in order for it to be an honor it must first come from an honorable publication and the Japan Times generally is not. Now, if this were coming out of something like Asahi Shimbun or something, then it would carry more weight - but at the same time its highly unlikely that Asahi Shimbun would have ever let such a biased piece of "journalism" see the light of day.

If we reaaally want to argue about who first brought the R&B style to Japan, I think a case can actually be made for Mariah Carey. At the time that I lived there in the mid-90s her albums were everywhere - it was basically the Mariah Carey + Namie Amuro show over there then. She was quite influential and is the only non-Japanese artist to have overall sales in the top 50 of the Oricon charts. I agree though that Hikaru was the first Japanese person though to make it popular, but the seed had already been planted by Mariah and to a lesser extent Amuro who did have some R&B influenced things going on at the time, especially in her album tracks.

@Crystal Ageha about Hikki's lyrics: I agree that her English lyrics for the most part are awful. Often times too the English translations of her Japanese songs aren't that good either. Japanese however do love her lyrics. It has something to do with her use of Kanji and word plays being very skillful but it is something that does not come across in translations. (very much like the lyrics for Mr. Children's songs; in Japan their lyrics are loved but the translations of them often come out crap.)

Originally Posted by Paparazzi

^ no, there most likely would have still been A BEST. isn't it in almost all recording contracts to release a best at the end of or during the duration of each contract? Ayumi's contracts, like most Avex contracts, end every 3 albums.

Bests weren't as popular or as frequent as they are now. At the time of A Best they were somewhat of a rarity.