[Utada Hikaru] Still Stayin' Gold on the 18th Utada Hikaru Thread!

[Brodie Boy]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

One CD a year is pretty much all we can hope for with Hikki.

There quality though, I end up liking most or all of the songs she has on an album. except Boku wa Kuma that was just tooo kidish lol

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Akutenshi

I think a lot of you read that post wrong. I think Melon Panda meant an album AROUND CHRISTMAS TIME, not an album dedicated to the holiday. XD

Oh... if this is what Melon meant, then I have to apologize .

Originally Posted by bakacat

Yeah, I'm not into this Christmas themed album idea as well.

Honestly, I don't really expect much out of her 10th anniversary. I think the album and the re-cut single was enough.

The only thing I expect now is just her working on the English album, that's it. Just frequent posts from her blog and her working her magic on this new album is good enough for me. ^_^

It's not even her 10th anniversary yet when HS and PoL were released.. I'm not saying she should release a new song.. But at least I hope she will be doing something for celebrating her 10th anniversary in December (e.g., making a "the one and the only hikki 10th anniversary" concert). I will feel sad if there's nothing popping up towards December.

And no, I dun want she releases the 2nd English album as the celebration of her 10th anniversary.. This 10th anniversary is quite about her Japanese career, so I rather want she uses Japanese songs/concert to celebrate this important date.

And again no, I dun wanna see EMI releasing a few more free ringtones at the end of the year as a make up for the celebration... That will be too lame..

(yeah i'm too picky about this LOL).

[KarenPang]

speaking of EMI , should Utada decide at this point in time on whether she want to start up her own record label or switch to another major label since there're currently problems happening at EMI

not really sure what type of problems , I think it's financially wise ?

the reason why I'm doing so is because there're rumours floating around that EMI Asia will be closing its doors , especially its S'pore branch

[bluegie]

Well I can see that may happens.. The only major selling artist in EMI Japan rite now is hikki. Glay is not selling well, ringo is not... probly hikki is not selling that well in terms physical, but her digital sales are really high.

If she's moving to another label.. I hope it will be Sony. At least I can see Sony giving more freedom to its artists on releasing music. Avex is just a factory, milking its artists 365 days per year LOL .

[ayumisrael]

Well hikki is like the only one who makes money for EMI so it might not be enough as a whole label? (in Japan).

I would like her to release Japanese releases and do something special like ayu for her 10th anniversary.

A 10th anniversary tour could be cool or a special compilation or a whole new japanese singles with an album coming afterwards =\.

I actually would love it if hikki would move to avex.
She would release way more and all of my favorites would be from avex lol.

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Well I can see that may happens.. The only major selling artist in EMI Japan rite now is hikki. Glay is not selling well, ringo is not... probly hikki is not selling that well in terms physical, but her digital sales are really high.

If she's moving to another label.. I hope it will be Sony. At least I can see Sony giving more freedom to its artists on releasing music. Avex is just a factory, milking its artists 365 days per year LOL .

LOL that's true . Avex's not really counted as 1 of the big 4's in the record label/s world although Avex's 1 of the largest independent music companies in the world .

Sony & BMG used to be 2 separate entities til they merged together as Sony BMG a few years ago & yes I see your point if she decides to move to Sony BMG should things at EMI are still unstable at this point in time

[bluegie]

@ israel: Well I'm the opposite. I dun want hikki moving to avex. I'm used to her releasing schedule. Like you say, moving to avex sorta means becoming another milking machine. And I'm so sure that the quality of her music will drop sharply. That's how I feel about ayu, ai-chan, and kumi. When an artist releases music like crazy because his/her company wants him/her to, that'll lead to the destruction of music quality...

@ karen: true, avex is never a big company worldwide, but it's currently the biggest company in Japan IMO. It has ayu, kuu, namie, exile, ai-chan (well even she doesn't sell anymore), etc. Look at this year's oricon album chart... exile got 2 albums selling over million copies, and the remaining two best albums probly aiming at 800 - 900K at least. Namie's best fiction will definitely selling over million copies. Ayu's asian tour + the upcoming best album... even she doesn't sell like crazy, her cd sales are at least consistent. Kuu isn't selling as good as used to be (esp after the early incident), but she's still a valuable "cow" in avex. I'm pretty sure we'll see at least 4 - 5 of the top 10 albums will belong to avex..

[KarenPang]

^ that's true , you can definitely tell the way things are done between EMI & Avex are so different

at least Utada takes her own time to come up with the goods & like what you said , once Avex artistes started to put out so many singles non stop like there's no tomorrow , the quality of their music starts to falter

[ayumisrael]

I highly disagree.
I don't think that time affects quality unless if it's really harshing the artist.

ayu and kumi released like crazy were their musical eras determined by a lot as the best.

"ayu's best musical era was around 2000-2002" and even started to compose where she released like crazy and kumi around ~12 single collection~.

Even now ayu really slowed down and some say that the music isn't like it used to be (when she released a lot).

Therefore I don't think that time is really a factor for making good music or not unless if the artist is really stressed for like making something big in a few hours.

[KarenPang]

^ I guess but then again I think it all boils down to the individual

[bluegie]

you know.. I wasn't fond of ayu's music during 2001 - 2002. I didn't even buy I am... back then. I was kinda disconnected with her during that moment because her music quality was decreasing . I dunno if you guys were ayu fans back then, but lots of her fans complaining about the recycling of her music (M vs. Free & Easy; evolution vs. Naturally, etc.). I wasn't gonna buy RAINBOW until I saw the cover. It's so sarcastic that I bought the album because I loved the cover, not her music. That is one of the reasons I dun really want her to compose music. True, it's good to see her making the entire song herself. But I must admit that she's not trained to be a music composer. Lots of her melodies are like deja vu to me..

I dun even need to discuss kuu. Her music quality has been dropping like crazy after 12-single era.

[ayumisrael]

What are you talking about?

M is one of the best songs composed ever and the single did great (and really helped for A BEST as well).
Let alone other songs like evolution Dearest, Endless sorrow which are my most favorite compositions of songs ever.
ayu released a lot mainly until I am... album afterwards the amount of singles she had was decreased so that's the era I meant and that's the era were her music were the best (for most people, fans etc.) I personally think that some of the songs she does now are better than some older songs. But of course I have favorites from both eras and actually a lot of people want ayu to compose again.
Even my japanese bf told me that a lot of her japanese fans are dying for her to compose again.

hikki's music sounds exactly the same too in UB and HS (the whole ethereal pop) but I don't see you caring for that. I don't think it affected UB but it definitely affected HS (for me) and half of the album sounds generic. No one's perfect.

And sometimes bluegie your comments look like you will always find a way to put down ayu and make hikki the best thing ever just because you know both from their debut or 2000 and you are a hikki fan.

I don't like hikki's First Love (except for Automatic) but because it's hikki I bought it and I want to own all of her albums so I got it. What's the point?

For kumi - but she released 12 singles and 12 weeks and that's considered as her best musical era.

I don't think that avex is the best company in Japan for nothing.
They have a lot of successful artists and not for nothing.

[KarenPang]

I only discovered JPop proper 2 years ago so no I didn't came aboard during the time when both ayumi & Utada were at their peak

anyway ...

I assumed that Utada has done some christmas songs in her concerts & performances ?

if so what did she sang before ?

[ayumisrael]

hikki never sang a christmas song in one of her tours =P
I think that she didn't perform any on TV too but I'm not sure.

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

hikki never sang a christmas song in one of her tours =P
I think that she didn't perform any on TV too but I'm not sure.

ooh ok

I myself am not sure too , maybe someone can help me in here ?

[criminal]

If Utada Hikaru moves to another label, which I doubt she will do, it better be Warner, so she, ayaka and BONNIE PINK could create some supergroup.

OH YEAH and DJ HASEBE would arrange everything. <3

[Ayumi~moments]

I think Hikki should go independent if moving. She'd make more money and her stuff would be even better as she'll have complete control. What I wish for most artists instead of labels always telling them what to do. The independent label market is taking course world wide because album sales across the globe are on a record low because of downloads etc. Mass releases do help though because people think your better because you have a lot of material to work with and you know how to work it and deal with the pressures of the industry and its why a lot of these compilations and such always do well and what they have to offer. I don't agree on the fact she should have a lot of compilations for Hikki i think promotion is her key to success. She put her song on a drama and bam thats it everyone loves it. Lack of tv and promotion for Hikki brings in low sales and for Ultrablue and of course her Exodus album i felt promotion for it was fairly slim and the fact Passion was on KH2 didn't seem to make much difference.

Originally Posted by bluegie

Oh... if this is what Melon meant, then I have to apologize .



It's not even her 10th anniversary yet when HS and PoL were released.. I'm not saying she should release a new song.. But at least I hope she will be doing something for celebrating her 10th anniversary in December (e.g., making a "the one and the only hikki 10th anniversary" concert). I will feel sad if there's nothing popping up towards December.

And no, I dun want she releases the 2nd English album as the celebration of her 10th anniversary.. This 10th anniversary is quite about her Japanese career, so I rather want she uses Japanese songs/concert to celebrate this important date.

And again no, I dun wanna see EMI releasing a few more free ringtones at the end of the year as a make up for the celebration... That will be too lame..

(yeah i'm too picky about this LOL).

I don't think Hikki is like Ayumi or any other artists who likes to celebrate their own anniversary. It just would not be very much like Hikki to make a big deal out of that, she seems like a low-key person who doesn't take herself that seriously.

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

I actually would love it if hikki would move to avex.
She would release way more and all of my favorites would be from avex lol.

HELL NO, avex's release schedule is so fast that it makes their artists lose any quality in their work. Look what happened to Ayumi, after years at avex now she's putting out junk and her sales have fallen so hard. Kuu too, they both putting out the same crap. And look at Ami Suzuki, she'll have put out 3 singles and 2 albums this year. Hikki is FAR too laid-back (lazy) to join avex.

[KarenPang]

I think her Kuma has something to do with influencing her personality

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

I don't think Hikki is like Ayumi or any other artists who likes to celebrate their own anniversary. It just would not be very much like Hikki to make a big deal out of that, she seems like a low-key person who doesn't take herself that seriously.


HELL NO, avex's release schedule is so fast that it makes their artists lose any quality in their work. Look what happened to Ayumi, after years at avex now she's putting out junk and her sales have fallen so hard. Kuu too, they both putting out the same crap. And look at Ami Suzuki, she'll have put out 3 singles and 2 albums this year. Hikki is FAR too laid-back (lazy) to join avex.

Don't you think that it's contradicting to say that what makes the quality of their music be less good is that they release a lot of things while they both were at their top musical era while they actually released a lot of things?
You said yourself that now their music isn't good as before but now they don't release like they used too a few years ago (at least ayu doesn't nothing like she used to in 2000 or 2001) and kumi like when she released the 12 singles in 12 weeks.

And hikki's music as well isn't as it used to be but I don't excuse it upon releasing fast (which she doesn't) but like ayu and kumi she still pull some amazing songs.