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

[CHE.R.RY]

Now those two songs are amazing!!! Especially "Kairo", for the longest time that was my most favorite song from Hikki because it was so soothing and beautiful.

Btw, I noticed you have lyrics from Nijiro BASU in your sig...heehee that's my fav song from HS.

[Amai Yume]

Yay!!! I love Kairo and Play Ball. Whenever I used to listen to it, I always thought it was an interlude.
Niji-iro Bus is probably my fav song [along with Kiss & Cry] off HEART STATION too. The lyrics and atmosphere of the song are just toooo perfect.

A song that people don't like...anything from Precious? Ticket 4 Two =

[CHE.R.RY]

^ I've always thought Play Ball was a little odd, but it's a great song. As for Nijiro BASU, I fell inlove with it when Hikki started going "Wo-ohh-wa-ahh-wo-ohh" (sorry can't really type that part out). I love that part so much ! But yeah, Kiss & Cry is cool, but I think my second favorite is "Celebrate".

[Amai Yume]

Yeah I agree about Niji-iro Bus [I don't know why I write it like that, part Japanese and part English lol].
Play Ball really grabs me - I like it when she says "ranaa" or "huntaa" or "pitchaa" hehehe, just love it to death
I love the combo of Gentle Beast Interlude + Celebrate. That's how I like listening to them.

^I love Niji-Iro Basu, especially the ending. The lyrics and the music both get very somber, it's gorgeous! "Take me to a place where there is no one"

[Luv ~Venus~]

OT: Are u busy Triple D?

[AyUta]

Originally Posted by Amai Yume

Yeah I agree about Niji-iro Bus [I don't know why I write it like that, part Japanese and part English lol].
Play Ball really grabs me - I like it when she says "ranaa" or "huntaa" or "pitchaa" hehehe, just love it to death
I love the combo of Gentle Beast Interlude + Celebrate. That's how I like listening to them.

OMG, I adore Play Ball The first time I heard it I was like, ohhhh so pretty!
x___x;

Aye, I love the combo of Gentle Beast Interlude and Celebrate right after it. I always begin from GBI and then onto Celebrate as it was intended. Neat combo

Oh yeah, I also like Ticket for Two I liked the songs on that album, too bad it wasn't released though.

[ALPHY]

Hikki, where are you? Say something.

I hate these silent moments where we don't hear from our favourite musicians.

[Amai Yume]

Originally Posted by AyUta

OMG, I adore Play Ball The first time I heard it I was like, ohhhh so pretty!
x___x;

Aye, I love the combo of Gentle Beast Interlude and Celebrate right after it. I always begin from GBI and then onto Celebrate as it was intended. Neat combo

Oh yeah, I also like Ticket for Two I liked the songs on that album, too bad it wasn't released though.

Ticket 4 Two rocks - I think it's the best song on the album. It really captures summer I think [I also think it's funny how she says "Cubic U" so many time when the chorus plays. I think Promise and How Ya Doin' go second.

Gentle Beast Interlude and Celebrate are definitely a perfect combo!!

And yep yep, Play Ball RULES!!!! and then Tokyo Nights follows

[bluegie]

Be My Last should be one of her masterpiece IMO. I've started listening to hikki since summer 1999 so practically I've been following her since the start (won't say since the beginning because I wasn't her fan before March 1999). For me, BML is one of the unique songs in her discography. Sometimes when you listen to a song for the first time, you can pretty distinguish the verse/chorus, and the melody. I'm not saying the artists copied someone else music and stuff, but many times you would know when the verse or chorus started even when you first hear the song. When I first heard BML tho I couldn't distinguish the transition between the verse and the chorus (and I had that feeling as well when I first heard Dareka).

And yes BML melody is pretty basic, and the instruments are pretty basic as well. But I really love the arrangement of the song (note: it's one of the songs that use some real instruments in UB). The most important thing is that the basic melody is accompanied by a really strong emotional vocal (can't deny it, one of her strongest performances). Her voice is just so haunting that it connects to my emotional part every time.

About Passion... If I didn't read the translation I would probly think it's a fighting song to me LOL. Once I understand the lyric everything was shifted somehow.

Probly I would love Play Ball more if I didn't hear the opening music on her official website before DEEP RIVER was released. I dunno why but I guess it's a curse... Every time I heard a hikki album song before the album was released (except the title song), I just didn't like it when I received the album. Play Ball, This Is Love, Parody (tried to like it in the beginning, but it's a so-so). The only exception to escape the curse is Fight The Blues..

[Amai Yume]

hehehe, I love those three songs: Play Ball, This Is Love and Parody. They all ROCK!
Fight The Blues is good too

I do agree with you in saying there's a strong emotional presence for the song but it's just not for me...

I think BML has a lot of emotion, but it seems misguided. I can tell she's trying to convey some sort of sadness but it's not working for me. Sounds like a bunch of screaming, IMO.

[Akutenshi]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

I think BML has a lot of emotion, but it seems misguided. I can tell she's trying to convey some sort of sadness but it's not working for me. Sounds like a bunch of screaming, IMO.

That's just it, she's not trying to do a perfect vocal performance, she's singing out of emotion. That's why some people find it "screechy", where as others can actually feel it.

Originally Posted by Akutenshi

That's just it, she's not trying to do a perfect vocal performance, she's singing out of emotion. That's why some people find it "screechy", where as others can actually feel it.

I feel like it's completely misguided emotion. She's not conveying it correctly and a lot of people can't get what she's trying to say. The lyrics are also not too great either, IMO.

[Amai Yume]

I know she's trying to convey emotions but she's definitely done it better in other songs. Although it's one of my least favs from Ultra Blue, I can really feel the emotion in Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro a lot more than I can in Be My Last [I hear the emotion in the chorus a lot but I dunno, she's done it better]

Originally Posted by Amai Yume

I know she's trying to convey emotions but she's definitely done it better in other songs. Although it's one of my least favs from Ultra Blue, I can really feel the emotion in Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro a lot more than I can in Be My Last [I hear the emotion in the chorus a lot but I dunno, she's done it better]

"Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" is so haunting and beautiful. Now that is an emotion song from Hikki! The lyrics are particularly amazing, IMO. I also get some real emotion from "WINGS" and "Making Love" even though they aren't ballads.

[Akutenshi]

Originally Posted by dddaiyamondo

I feel like it's completely misguided emotion. She's not conveying it correctly and a lot of people can't get what she's trying to say. The lyrics are also not too great either, IMO.

The lyrics are some of her most realistic and down-to-earth that she's ever written, IMO. Especially when taken in a Japanese mindset. And I don't get what you mean about it not being conveyed right. The song is desperate, sad, and pleading. It's in the lyrics, the melody, and the way she sings it.

I dunno, I don't hear much emotion in a lot of her songs. I mean, not nearly as strongly as in Be My Last.

[Amai Yume]

Prisoner Of Love conveys emotions much more than Be My Last to me. I think that the approach of Be My Last is more upfront but Prisoner of Love is more emotional to me. Like the "stay with me" part isn't like being screamed or anything but it hits me harder with the emotion.

Hikki can bring out the emotions and for me, there are better representations of those than Be My Last. I agree triple D about Making Love, there's definitely emotion there. The Flavor of Life songs [both versions for me] portray the emotion well as well as One Night Magic. I mean there are sooo many songs that I could state right now but I won't give you a big list of the songs where I feel Hikki takes the emotion. They don't need to be poured out for it to mean they are strong, sometimes that can turn a person off.

[Akutenshi]

Originally Posted by Amai Yume

Prisoner Of Love conveys emotions much more than Be My Last to me. I think that the approach of Be My Last is more upfront but Prisoner of Love is more emotional to me. Like the "stay with me" part isn't like being screamed or anything but it hits me harder with the emotion.

Hikki can bring out the emotions and for me, there are better representations of those than Be My Last. I agree triple D about Making Love, there's definitely emotion there. The Flavor of Life songs [both versions for me] portray the emotion well as well as One Night Magic. I mean there are sooo many songs that I could state right now but I won't give you a big list of the songs where I feel Hikki takes the emotion. They don't need to be poured out for it to mean they are strong, sometimes that can turn a person off.

I get what you mean, and I'm glad I can come here and have a discussion without people telling me my opinion is wrong. Thank you for that.

And I agree about the Prisoner of Love statement. However, I don't hear nearly that much emotion in Making Love. I can get it to an extent, but I don't really feel it. And Flavor of Life, up until the bridge towards the end, has very flat, dry emotion, melody-wise. If we go by lyrics, that song has a LOT of emotion, but the melody itself just doesn't have it, for me.

Hikki is one of my favorite artists, mainly because she portrays emotion with her voice more than anything, and I guess that's why I love Be My Last so much; it's definitely there in her voice. But I guess when the musician in me comes out, and analyzes the structure of the melodies, and the melodies themselves, I don't get much out of most of them.

[Amai Yume]

yep yep, I think the Flavor of Life [Original Version] kinda gives this feeling of hope. Like the lyrics talk about the aftermath of a breakup and the music kinda supports it by showing there is hope. At least that's what comes to me during the instrumental breaks. The ballad version has her vocals, which portray the emotion very well IMO, especially in the end.

The chorus of Making Love is where the emotion comes forward, especially when she sings the title.

I agree with you in saying Hikki can portray emotions from her voice and even though a lot of her songs don't bring tears to my eyes, her voice really does a good job. I only wish that there was an even stronger emotional presence from the song to match the vocals to really make me feel it even more.