the thing that amazes me is that even though she doesnt promote as much as she used to, she still manages to hit oricon charts...it just proves that her music is still loved by many people. So even if she doesnt land #1, it still feels good

I like her song 'Kiss & Cry'. =)

Beautiful World was #4 on the weekly charts this week with 28,284 copies sold. Bringing the total to 173k, so I have no doubts that it'll eventually sell 200k . She is the only artist who released a single in August and is still in the top 5, or even top 10. Never underestimate the staying power of Hikki ! In comparison, Arashi sold 192k last week, and this week they sold only 30k...

Looks like Flavor of Life will finally be off the charts soon lol.
This week it didn't even rank, but still sold 586 copies!
Bringing the total to 641,340.

^ aww really?
that's too bad :\
Flavor of Life is one of her best songs ever, imo.
at least it had decent sales.

^ In this day and age, 640k is phenomenal for a female, for any artist actually, so I'm glad this was her year.
Flavor of Life is definitely one of her best songs in my opinion, it's the only song from her that I listen to every single day and put on repeat lol. I hope it'll chart for at least one more week. I think FoL is already her second longest charting song after COLORS.

yeah i know, i just hope it could be on the charts a little longer. haha i love COLORS<3
it's my second favorite song after Flavor of Life.

I've been reading Hikki's recent blog entries and I noticed she's starting to get rumours of dating someone again.
I heard she used to have rumours like this before she got married, but as soon as she was married to kazuaki kiriya, these rumours stopped.
It may be that the media is starting to look for a possibility of seeing Hikki out on a date. What I dont like is that media is exposing Hikki's private life. It's something that she has kept well for years now. And of all people, Fujiwara Tatsuya! (k that one I find funny ) Can you guys imagine Hikki dating Fujiwara-kun? XD Although I admit, the Matsumoto Jun part got me a bit happy. I still need to see that show they did together. She seem to get along fine with male artists

Beautiful World is good

i agree! i wanna see that action between her and matsujun. it must've been funny! XD
i just wish she would make a music video with HER in the video!

hikki! you can do it! you don't need that ex-husband of a director! there are plenty of great directors out there!

she's the ONLY JAPANESE talented Jpop female artist i listen to..<33

she's hella talented . . she does everything on her own... i've been her fan since 'first love' . .

she's not those typical artist to promote like hell.. but still get recognition by everyone ..<33

i must say i only found out about her from playing Kingdom Hearts :P:P
so therefore my fave song would have to be passion. with all the cg's in the game it makes you feel...funny.
hm.
maybe thats a bad thing

Question:

the song 'I Love You' . . Is she the original singer? . . cos i heard the korean version by Position- 'I Love You' . .

^ The original singer or "I Love You" is Minnie Ripperton .

I agree with you guys.
I don't like the media fabricating stories about her with other guys, but it's just so juicy lol!
I really do hope that she finds a new love though, although I know she's fine with Kuma Chan xD.
The blog she wrote about her and Matsumoto Jun was really funny, she gets along fine with other guys from what I've read.
I guess she's a tomboy .

...

I also agree about her career moves.
I respect the most out of all the other female Japanese artists because she is all about her music.
Unlike others who endorse fashion, go into acting, etc. I don't think Hikki has won many beauty awards, but that's okay, since I'm first and foremost a fan of her lovely music.
She doesn't have to pose for VOGUE or be on covers of Cosmopolitan to get my attention .

^
thanks! are you from bww2? . . the one with many DBSK's goodies?. Xiah lover?..hehe . . -->off topic

i love her music and her work . . i always at kpop thread . . didn't know there's Hikki thread here . ...lol. .

i will come here frequently . . my fav songs are first love, eternally, distance, final distance, In My Room, Beautiful World . . and many others.

english language is a plus for her . . hella talented artist ! her music always bring freshness to Jpop . .

wwhhhhaaaat?? what did she write about matsujun? haha

hmmm my friend told me that her mom had some trouble with stealing money or something a while back?? what's that all about? rumor? good thing it didn't ruin hikki's name!

^ You can read part of her translated blog entry at the Arashi thread here . It was so cute how they were teasing each other onstage, and then Matsumoto Jun gave her this like...Death stare xD. They'd make a cute couple, but for some reason I keep thinking that Hikki is older than him...I know that she's a few months older, but she is so mature and educated that it seems like she's a few light years ahead. I dunno what I'm saying...

Cherriegoh, lol, yeah, that's my thread at bww2 .
My fave songs from here are Flavor of Life, COLORS, Deep River, Sakura Drops, Automatic...Too much to name lol.
I love how her music is always changing. Compare Beautiful World to Automatic, and the styles are sooooo different, whereas other artists still sound relatively the same as they did years ago.

...

Does anyone have any idea what her next single will be about?
Is she serious about 'Day of Nattō' ?

Hikki was explaining on her blog that there was this group called Cro-Magnons who performed in M-Ste and they like picked their nose on camera. Then during commercial, MatsuJun said it was cool and then Hikki teased him to do it on camera too, and MatsuJun was like "if you do it, then I'll do it too". And then went on and on like "You do it", "No you do it" like that. So after the commercial ended, MatsuJun said that it was Hikki's chance to pick her nose coz the camera focused on her. Then he gave her this "I-seriously-dare-you-to-pick-your-nose-on-live-tv" stare and she got embarrassed like "should I pick my nose or not?".

I couldnt find the clip, but you guys can imagine MatsuJun giving that kind of stare. You know he'd look so freakin' cute
Im thinking this was the sept. 7 show? Because Oct. 31 was the first time MatsuJun & Hikki met even though she sang Flavor of Life for MatsuJun's drama months ago

PS. I seriously think MatsuJun should be a comedian. He doesnt suit the serious image because he has those cute cheeks that make him look like he's smirking when he's actually trying to look dead serious and cool (which I find really funny, always reminds me of Kimi wa Petto XD). wahaha I love Hikki!


^haha maybe it's another children song like Boku wa Kuma XD

i hope hikki comes up with more new songs.. i love all her songs.. been a fan since automatic and first love!

It's confirmed

Utada's in America (New York) about to work on her 2nd English album.

^ serious?!!
yay :]
her exodus album wasn't bad, but i hope the second album will be even better~

iunno about you guys, but i really thihnk her old stuff was better than her experimental-ish english junk.

heres a classic one - First Love (MV) subbed by SARS

Ray, OMG...Seriously?
Ahhhh...I have to sleep on it to let it sink in lol.
*Sigh*
I love Hikki in America so that I'd have a chance to see her, but I REALLY hope that her record company actually cares about her career this time and helps her. I'm on the edge about an English album because this means we'll have to wait longer for a Japanese album...

O_O

Oh well. I just hope she doesnt release the english album until my school year ends. Im kinda broke right now since I want to buy nintendo ds lite. lol
By the way, I've never seen her Exodus album in canadian music stores at all. My copy was given to me as a gift, but it wasnt bought here either.
Is her english album only distributed in America?

oh shoot oh shoot oh shoooot! is this for real? sounds exciting...i REALLY want her to be a hit here and i freaking want to meet her! haha hmmm it'll be interesting...i wonder what she'll do with this album honestly, i'm not a big fan of exodus, but who knows what she'll come up with this time!

Amydien, I'm not sure about Canada, but yeah...I think that at a good Best Buy, Ciruit City, or media store would probably distribute them. I found Ultra Blue at the foreign music section, but I never found Exodus or her other singles...
I think that when her new English album hits stores, it should be available in Canada as well, that is...If there is enough demand for it there .

I wonder if her musical style for this new album will be different as well? I was not a big fan of Exodus, so I'm hoping for something a little different. A little more RnB, and more ballads please !

yea, her new English album is confirmed, more details regarding the album on her blog
this is what she wrote on her blog in English


she even brought Kuma-chan with her to NY

That is so effing fantastic! New ENGLISH album on the works!! Alright!
I just hope the lyrics for this album wouldn't be as bad as Exodus. >.<

Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry was #5 on the weekly charts this week with 16,712 more copies sold!
She'll probably hit 200k within the next two weeks, which means she'll have the top two solo female singles of the year !
Woot!

For some reason, I feel that the way she wrote her english blog entry was kinda rushed. (or more professional-ish?)

I like her Japanese entries more.....even though she goes on and on about kuma-chang on every freakin' entry. lol

I seriously have no idea what kind of music her new english album will be either. She's one of the artists whom I have absolutely no idea which genre to put. Always changing styles...in a good way.

I've seen Exodus at those CD stores, HMV etc.. They're better stocked. I think I saw it once at Wal-mart too.

An English album? I was actually waiting for a Japanese one.. but oh well. Hopefully this one will be better than her Exodus album.

Beautiful World rose back into the top 10 today, I can't wait to see her pass 200k!

Amydien, I agree. Hikki's music is always surprising and unexpected, so if we all expect her to make RnB, she'll probably end up making trance tracks lol. All I know is that I can't wait for her to just leak a few samples for us to listen to . I have to get some money together so I can fly to NYC to stalk her lol.

Yeaa!

I hope I can run into her in NYC. I'll be on the look out!

^ Yeah, I hope you "run" into her as well . Remember to show us your pix lol. Where exactly is she in NYC though ?

http://www.mediafire.com/?7jwjfw9gmjz
http://www.mediafire.com/?5ijnwyzysl9 - video, better quality then the audio / http://www.kao.co.jp/asience/tvcm/index.html without downloading

Rumored new Utada Hikaru song (Japanese) in a shampoo commercial that will air 10/10.

Do you think it's her?

Lyrics:
Daisuki dakara
Zutto shinpai iranaiwa
My Darling

Because I love you
You'll never have to worry
My Darling

credits: people at that utada temp thing

^If this isn't Utada then she is no longer unique. >_> probably is her

^ Whoa, thanks for the link. It definitely sounds like her (Although her voice is super, super feminine) but yeah...The song is really generic. Thank goodness it's just a song for a commercial, right? I hope it's not going to be her new single, or at least just have it as the b-side. I'm still boggled about it, I hope a longer version will be out soon.

i have my utada CDs in my backpack and a marker just in case! hahaha

^haha. Gotta be ready in case you see her, eh?



Thanks for the link! Yes, that is most likely Hikki. The songs seems ok to me. Havent heard the full song yet, so I cant exactly give an opinion on this. Just a random thought.....the model for the 2nd CM looks like Jeon Ji Hyun XD.


^why do you think that so? Just wondering....my english comprehension is quite bad these days

^ I think what Ray meant was that the song just sounded too generic..? We're used to Hikki producing music that's usually pretty different from mainstream pop, but the song in the commercial sounds very poppy and not heavily RnB or electronic like her usual tracks. It's definitely her based on how she sings "My darling." I must say her voice is very pleasant though, like I sad yesterday, it's A LOT more feminine and delicate compared to her other songs.

Mugetsu, lol, yeah, make sure you coincidentally have all her cds and posters in your backpack . Just don't stalk TOO hard.

...

Beautiful/ Kiss & Cry was rank #12 this week with sales of 12,116! Which means she has passed 200k and is now the holder of the top two female solo songs of 2007 .
As for Flavor of Life, it was still #163 with 484 more copies sold .
Go Hikki!

Thanks for the link.
It's obviously her... you can tell by her voice, and you don't find a lot of songs with the word "darling" unlike her songs lol

I think I'll have to hear the whole song to decide whether I like it or not, but I agree with Kayem7289.. very feminine.

^ah, yes. It does have that 'pop' feeling, although not entirely (based only on that short preview we have). If anything, I would like to hear songs that have that "Deep River-era" feeling. I seem to like the "darkness" in her music, calmer & more meaningful. Dont you guys think so too? XD Although Flavor of Life is also one of the very meaningful songs she's composed =D

Her techno/electronic/whateveryoucallit genre is more on the cheerful side to me. I like it, but I cant sleep on that kind of music. XDDD

^Nah I meant that if the song wasn't from Utada it would be shocking, because the style is too unique. >_>

Anyways that song has been confirmed to be Utada's. It's called "Stay Gold"

Is that Jeon Ji Hyun in the bottom video?

I like how it sounds so far

On Wednesday, EMI announced that Hikaru Utada's digital sales for 2007 so far have reached 10,491,000. According to the firm, no artist in the world has previously had digital sales of over ten million in one year, let alone in just nine months.

"Flavor of Life" is responsible for most of the sales, having sold more than 7.3 million digital copies, while "Beautiful World" has sold more than 800,000.

Utada is releasing another single soon, titled "Stay Gold" (no exact release date announced yet). The song will be used in Asience commercials starting on the 11th.

tokyograph

http://www.mediafire.com/?1gy11nx4ttm

Stay Gold 30 second preview - interreupted with announcers from commercial

credits hikaru.sc communuity

^ Thanks so much again, Ray! I really like Stay Gold, it's very mellow and her voice is extremely flowy and pleasant to listen to (well, it's always pleasant lol). I can't wait to hear the whole thing.

SwTaZnLayDee, thanks for posting the news. I already read about her digital sales, but seeing them again makes me smile from ear to ear. Hikki is still as popular as ever in Japan. Too bad digital sales aren't deemed as important as physical sales, or she'd trump every single chart! I really can't wait until the end of the year to see the total of Flavor of Life's sales. I know that 7.7 million came from the Chaku-Uta charts alone, 642k from physical sales, so now I just need to see the iTunes sales . Flavor of Life is going to be near the top of all the year end charts, so happy .

Beautiful World should still be in the top 20 this week for the weekly charts, she rose back into the top ten on the daily charts for the past three days. Hopefully it'll surpass 250k by the end of the year. Last week FoL was STILL on the charts at #196, selling 400 more copies. Bringing the total to 642,224 in sales! Maybe this will be the last week it charts because I believe Oricon only tracks the top 200 sales . It was a loooong chart run for her, 31 weeks, and I think that's her second longest charting song behind COLORS.

Woot for Hikki!
Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry stayed in the top 20 again this week, coming in at #13 with 7,551 more copies sold!
The total sales for the single thus far is 209,918. I honestly think that the sales would be much, much higher if the physical single was released earlier, like...A month earlier since Kiss & Cry/ Fly Me to the Moon had been available for download so long already. Still, the sales are great, especially for 2007! Hikki is still so consistent in sales even after so many years (Ayu's sales dropped A LOT this year), and even though KinKi Kids and Arashi sold twice as much as she did their first weeks, right now they're only ahead by 10,000 and 40,000 copies sold, respectively.
Can't wait for a new album! Hopefully it'll outsell Ultra Blue.

yay!
Utada
I can't wait till the new single.
I agree the physical sales could have been better if they sold the cd earlier.

wow... go Hikki!
She is doing really well even though her sales really could have been higher.
And as for FoL... SASUGA UTADA HIKARU DESU NEEEEE! LOL