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

[Crystal_Ageha]

Nobody's saying that, for example, Ayumi or Amuro only influences in fashion, we're saying that those two influence in fashion AND music, and maybe a few other things, depending on how you look at it. At the very most, Hikki only influences with a select few things related to music, though nothing like Ayumi, or others, in my opinion.

Like, okay... Since my dream, ever since I was a little girl, has always been to be a musician, I'll give my input on why specifically I don't think Hikaru Utada is as influential as others.
1. Did Hikaru work her way up from the bottom, or even just get a lucky break as a nobody like Ayu did? No, not at all. Even if she was talentless and hardly anybody liked her, she still would have made it into the business, because her parents are a huge part of the music industry. So she's not influential in working to make your dreams come true, or to not give up and good things will come, or whatever.
2. Is she known for fashion, at all? No, of course not. As a matter of fact, you can't get much more plain, usually, than what Utada is. So even though I don't really care about fashion, it's not like I could look up to her "unique" style, anyhow, as a famous celebrity. Every other big female right now, on the other hand, is know for style (Ayu, Kuu and Namie).
3. Do people recognise her "awesome" lyrics? I, personally, have never come across a single person who has thought of her lyrics as anything special. And really, I couldn't care less about her lyrics, because a lot of them are either....weird (for lack of better words, lol) or flat out stupid (like her English lyrics).
4. I honestly don't know how much of her discography she's composed, but I know it can't be a lot. But even if she did compose every single song, her compositions are nothing special.
5. Her actual music is of no influence to me, even though my voice would be very suited to do music like she does. But I take no inspiration from it because her music is not only something that isn't big in many places, but the style is very generic to me.
6. Her voice.... Now, there are some things about her voice that I love, and that DO influence me, such as her range (which is beautiful) and her actual voice, which is very similar to how mine sounds. HOWEVER, her voice is always very shaky and she doesn't have much control. That, and the fact that I don't always like how she sounds live, it kinda negates the positives.

So, in short, the only influential things about Hikki that I can think of - not necessarily for me, but what could be influential in general - are her range and the fact that she brought Western R&B to Japan. But other than that.... And even though these ARE big things, it's just that, other people have done more. Even Kumi Koda can be more influential in a few other ways, such as breaking certain taboo-like rules in Japan, or rising up to becoming nearly a diva whenever everybody pretty much hated her, or whatever. And as we all said before, people like Ayumi and Namie Amuro certainly have more things that can be considering influential than Hikaru.........


Wow, that's a long post. Sorry, guys. >_>