The 17th Tasty Apple & Cinnamon Thread of Utada Hikaru!

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by Melrose

Hmm? What's the difference between a song and the music?

erm a song consists of lyrics + music .

music's 1/2 of what a song's made of

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

Funny. I never thought people were into Hikki's image in the first place(fashion-wise I mean)....

That remines me, Ayu was the only one who reached #1 with her recut. Is there a list of the top-selling recuts? I know FL sold 800K copies which leads me to believe she might be at the top. =/

Well she was never considered as the "it" person EXCEPT in the beginning of her career. I remember that ayu wasn't even the top back in the early 2000. when oricon did a poll about "which hair you wanna get the most", and hikki won that poll w/ her Wait & See hair style. But even back in those early days I never consider hikki's in the fashion department, especially compared to ayu .

Ehmmm... the only ayu recut single getting no. 1 was kanariya, which I love it so much. Strangely this is one of the most forgotten song in her discography. And no, FINAL DISTANCE didn't get no. 1. I can't even remember if this single sold 800K overall. I just remember that it was sold about 200 - 230K copies on the first weeks, beaten by Morning Musume's The Peace! (probly 300 - 350K copies).
It's OT, but Moriyama Naotaro (森山直太朗)'s Sakura was a recut single, and did get no. 1. It's one of my favorite songs .

Originally Posted by Amai Yume

I think 3 has the best set of videos...plus you get Deep River, which I LOVE! I do kinda like the look of 4 because you get to see the makings, which may or may not be good

Yes! UH3[sup]+[/sup] is the best UH video clip collection. It has the kiriya trilogy, the infamous washing dishes Hikari, and Deep River video . I would like to point out that hikki's washing skills worths C+ to me. The rubbing technique was bad, not enough rinsing, and not using detergent for the glass she just used for drinking water... ewwwwww... LOL.

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

Passion is my most favorite song of hikki.
It sounds great even if the lyrics don't fit the mood of the song.
It's so underrated! (for the japanese)
but I can understand where they are coming from.

There are too many fav hikki songs on my mind. Passion can't come close to be one of my fav, but it's a really good one nonetheless. I still love her songs in DEEP RIVER + Dareka + BML + COLORS... etc.

Through the example of Passion and FoL tho I can see that our understanding of JPop (or other language that we dun understand) could be not enough to judge whether the song is good enough or not tho. Probly we are right, Passion is a great song, with a twist matching of lyric + melody. But we only know the translation of the lyric. We dunno the grammar + the construction of the words.. If I'm able to read Japanese, I'm sure that I will have a different (or a deeper) feeling towards the songs. It's just like I didn't really understand how on earth FoL could be that successful, consider the lyric is a bit too shallow off her work. But then I just read the translation. I dun even know how well it's written in Japanese... Another example is POL. People said hikki wrote it in a... ehmm... more straight forward way (means... she didn't use proper or poetic writings?), and I can't even see the way she wrote the song via translation..

Oh well my message is getting long and I'm sure if I keep on writing, I will totally mess up the grammars 100%... (now probly 50% incorrect already LOL).

[Meat Pao]

Speaking of Passion, why didn't UH4 have its making video?

[KarenPang]

HS's at no.14 this week with total sales of 936,776 at this point in time , well done !

while POL's at no.18 this week with total sales of 67,134* at this point in time

I hope in some ways or another , POL can suppress the singles sales of HS / SG soon

[CHE.R.RY]

^ Wow, that's pretty insane that it's still charting (HS I mean)! This just goes to show: Hikki goes like on and on ~~~ . LOL I know that's from something but I can't remember what xD!

EDIT: Ohhh yeah! It's from Kumi's 'Love goes like...' xD!

Originally Posted by karenpang

HS's at no.14 this week with total sales of 936,776 at this point in time , well done !

while POL's at no.18 this week with total sales of 67,134* at this point in time

I hope in some ways or another , POL can suppress the singles sales of HS / SG soon

Hikki needs to sell just 63,224 more copies of HEART STATION to hit the million!

[bluegie]

Hmmn... but it doesn't look good... only 11K this week. I hope that the finale of Last Friends will boost up this week album sales (to probly 15K at least?)

[AyUta]

Amazing Hikki
Just a bit more and you'll have the millions!

Originally Posted by meatpao

Speaking of Passion, why didn't UH4 have its making video?

I had no idea why they didn't include the making to that. I was disappointed

[Luv ~Venus~]

^Wasn't it included on the single's DVD? =/

Ugh...not to be a joy kill but...I don't think HS is gonna hit a million. =/ The last eppy of LF is this week and unless a miracle happens and she get at least 40-50k by next week....well, let's just say that it's gonna be a case of Hana (an Orange Range single) if not close to it.

[Amai Yume]

Yep I think the last episode should propel sales to like 15K and then she's on her own from then on. Maybe after that, 1 more week of 10K and then it'll be dropping under from then on

[AyUta]

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

^Wasn't it included on the single's DVD? =/

Nuh-uh. They had the making of for all the other videos except Passion. >.<;

[Luv ~Venus~]

....for some reason, I thought I saw the making-of Passion before.

Did u try dailymotion?

[AyUta]

^ Let me try that and see what comes up. x____x;

Originally Posted by bluegie

Hmmn... but it doesn't look good... only 11K this week. I hope that the finale of Last Friends will boost up this week album sales (to probly 15K at least?)

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

^Wasn't it included on the single's DVD? =/

Ugh...not to be a joy kill but...I don't think HS is gonna hit a million. =/ The last eppy of LF is this week and unless a miracle happens and she get at least 40-50k by next week....well, let's just say that it's gonna be a case of Hana (an Orange Range single) if not close to it.

After albums quit selling 10k per week they still manage to rack up quite a bit in the lower end of the chart. For example, ULTRA BLUE fell off the charts when it was at 859,852, but today it has a total of 909,113. That's 50k that she sold without being in the top 50, selling less than 3k a week. Albums with tie-ins especially are able to creep along near the bottom of the chart for quite a long time.

Y'all are such Doubting Thomases

[Amai Yume]

Don't worrry triple D, I believe!!!
You make a good point, HEART STATION will definitely reach the million.

[Luv ~Venus~]

Well, I did forget about year-end sales....but I want it to sell into a million before then. I just hope no one forgets about HS after LF last eppy. =/

[Melrose]

Originally Posted by Amai Yume

1. Yeah, Utada (first name) Hikaru (last name) so her US artist name is her Japanese last name. She said it sounded like a brand name I believe and that's where the choice is.

You're kind of contradicting yourself there? If Utada is her first name, how can it be her last name? But I understand already. Ayumi Hamasaki just turned her two names around, so Hikaru is actually her first name. And Kumi is Koda Kumi's first name.

Originally Posted by Akutenshi

Somewhere along the line, Western fans started addressing them as that because they never really knew which was their first name, and which was their last. On Ayu's CDs, her name is "Ayumi Hamasaki", yet in interviews, they address her as "Hamasaki Ayumi". However, on Hikki and Kuu's CDs, their names are "Utada Hikaru" and "Koda Kumi", so people most likely assumed those were their first names.

I'm sorry if number 2 came off too blunt. ^^; And from what I've heard, she was having problems with her husband before their divorce, as evident in songs like Be My Last, You Make Me Want to Be a Man, and Kremlin Dusk. I think the lyrics on Exodus are so different from her Japanese works because they're written in English, and the English mindset is completely different than the Japanese one. What might be acceptable in an English song could be completely off the wall in a Japanese one. She was simply having fun using themes she never could before, while still staying true to herself.

No prob~! ^^ True to herself is kind of creepy though. XD It's pretty creepy if Let Me Give You My Love or The Workout are true to her. o_o;;

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

I agree with Hikki. Utada does sound like a brand name. XD Maybe she should make her on cup of Nissin noodles.

Utada Oban Noodles: It brings the Kuma outta you!

LOL. Boku wa kuma ~

Originally Posted by bluegie

The main reason for Passion not getting higher sales is that lyric doesn't match with the feeling of the music (according to the Japanese). The music itself sounds like a happy tone (or at least upbeat), but the lyric is dark. Of course, hikki was considered an outdated artist during UB era. Japanese thought she's married, and her fashion sense was dumb (even now LOL). Anywayz, to summarize the failure of Passion:
i) The song is weird according to the Japanese (dark lyric with happy beats)
ii) Her image
iii) Declined sales

As for no. 5. Yes, sometimes Japanese artists DO release recut singles. e.g., Ayu's kanariya, Fly high, AUDIENCE, and Daybreak; Ai-chan's 680 yen, kuu's HOT STUFF, hikki's First Love, FINAL DISTANCE (just a remix of DISTANCE anywayz). So it's not weird to see PoL as a recut.

Hmm. I think the lyrics fit the music.. But maybe that's just me. IMO Passion isn't an upbeat/happy song at all lol.

And yea I know about Ayu's recut songs, but they're all remixes and PoL isn't. ^^ Though I kinda forget about the quiet version on the single so forget about that hehe~

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

I guess that explains why they hated her image tho. The world isn't KINGDUM HARTS HIKKI! XD

That remines me, Ayu was the only one who reached #1 with her recut. Is there a list of the top-selling recuts? I know FL sold 800K copies which leads me to believe she might be at the top. =/

Hikki (that sounds SO weird when they yell it at the concerts, IMO. "hiccup!" "hiccup!" lmao) has a fashion image? o_o I don't see her making the cover of Glamour with Heart Station's cover anytime soon. XD Actually, I like how she isn't fashion-ish and more simple.. It makes the music more down to earth and personal, kind of. A nice looking background like a waterfall~forest or nightsky wouldn't hurt, though. I always imagined Heart Station with Utada sitting at an abandoned gas station (with HEART STATION as a sign, like the single) and then a gorgeous night sky with a moon, like Kuu's MOON cover. ^^

Originally Posted by AyUta

^ Aw, I loved her outfit and the entire video to Passion
It was a beautiful PV
She looked simply beautiful. I bought the video clips vol just to have the PV in my hands

I agree!! ^^ It's an almost perfect PV! The only thing I don't like is when at the end with the horses, there's a quick shot of the guys that are chasing the horses. I wish they would have kept with the wild/free horses feeling.

Originally Posted by Luv ~Venus~

^

I liked the PV too. I luved the little arm movement thingy she did with the nobodies. I guess that's what hikki does when she in the Club.

The only Clip collection I want is UH1, 2 and 3 especially 3. I don't too much care for UH4. Colors was the only video that interested me. The others were okay but meh, I wasn't feeling UH4 as a whole. =/

Those pink things were Nobodies? I played KH2 but I don't remember seeing pink Nobodies... I thought they were whitish/silver.

Originally Posted by AyUta

^ I would love to hear one of her new songs playing on the radio before I go back to school, and I agree that it would lessen my depression about going back to school x_x;
I'm going to be a junior and I have hard classes coming up...Hikki! Save my summer! >_<;

Hmm? How old are you that you're just now going into junior? o_o

Originally Posted by karenpang

erm a song consists of lyrics + music .

music's 1/2 of what a song's made of

Hmmm.. strange way to put it. I would say the music was made first, and the melody later. Not the music first and then song later lol.

Originally Posted by bluegie

Yes! UH3[sup]+[/sup] is the best UH video clip collection. It has the kiriya

Oh well my message is getting long and I'm sure if I keep on writing, I will totally mess up the grammars 100%... (now probly 50% incorrect already LOL).

Actually it's not too hard, IMO. Just grab a grammar, verb and words book and start translating? XD I can pretty much translate songs. It's funny how some words have more meanings, and it can mean something entirely different from the translation.

Oh that brings me to a question for you English natives, what does "rock me harder" mean? Does it mean like have harder sex or something else? I always thought it had to do with that but now I'm in doubt because it doesn't fit in with the rest of "traveling"'s lyrics.

BTW does anyone else here also LOVE Hotel Lobby's chorus? Idk why but it's SOO pretty with the "aaaaaah"s. *___* It's got a dreamy, yet hopeful, yet sad feeling... It's so much better than the verses. <333 I think the unprotected part is about condoms lol or I'm getting paranoid with the lyrics of this ablum because of the other songs XDD Actually, I don't see how it really says it's about a prostitute. o.O I think it can be about a normal woman too, who is obsessed with money..

[AyUta]

^ I mean high school junior I'm 16

[Amai Yume]

oops hehehe, sorry for the mess-up Melrose but I'm glad you understand what I attempted to explain

And yes I LOVE the Hotel Lobby chorus - especially the last one -> catch me cause I think I'm falling, I'll be waiting in the mirrors of the hotel lobby [echoes lobby] WONDERFUL

[Akutenshi]

Originally Posted by Amai Yume

oops hehehe, sorry for the mess-up Melrose but I'm glad you understand what I attempted to explain

And yes I LOVE the Hotel Lobby chorus - especially the last one -> catch me cause I think I'm falling, I'll be waiting in the mirrors of the hotel lobby [echoes lobby] WONDERFUL

OMG I know! That part just seems so sad, I love that/and the song so much.