ahh I'm so slow with Hikki's news T^T

She's coming out on HEY!3X on the 11th!! I wonder what song she'll perform lol

I hope Stay Gold :3

Yeah, I was like wth at the PV too but she looked cute and I loved the special effect at the beginning with her eye~

The PV was a bit disappointing, but at least we got one... lol

Looks like she lost weight :0

Yeah, I'm hoping she'll perform Stay Gold...I really love that song more...

haha NVM. She's coming out on the 18th.
Seriously, I don't know what's up with HEY!3X and their breaks

"According to various Japanese fan reports, Utada sang “HEART STATION” at her HEY!HEY!HEY! Music Champ segment recording yesterday. She did two takes of the song, and wore a casual pink outfit. The episode is scheduled to air just over a week from now on the 18th."

From Utada's (unofficial?) blog translator


I really wanted to hear Stay Gold also, but Heart station is awesome too.


I can't wait to see the oricon charts on that day.... Four oricon toppers are releasing a single on 2/20. From what I know, BoA, Yui, Ken hirai, and Hikki are releasing a single that day.


P.S Have you guys watched the Heart Station CM yet? It's so cute!!!

^ Thanks for the info. So she sang Heart Station?

I'm thinking her single's ranking is actually going to do pretty well though. Both Heart Station and Stay Gold are such good songs... and idk I feel like I haven't listened to a good song from her for a while.

EDIT:
Haha I watched that CM... The bear is so cute haha

I don't think Hikki has a problem with the charts. Of the artists who are releasing a single on the same day, she seems to be one of the more solid top-charting artist. YUI and BoA are popular, but I don't think they can beat Hikki when it comes to sales. Especially when its an awesome double A-side single, I love both songs. Let's not forget the CM ties the single has either. I think Ken Hirai may be a bit of a competition though. O: I really don't know how popular he is in Japan, but I think hes pretty popular.

^ I would have thought that she would top the charts too, but I just found out that Arashi is releasing on that day too... JE boybands get tons of popularity.

I love her. I really do. It's strange, but her voice just soothes me.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=J7KVc-Qe6YE

This is her performance of Heart Station in HEY!3X
She looks so cute in that short hair lol
And she sounds great as usual ^^

^ OOH me likey. But she does look tired. Sucks to have to do two takes of a performance, but she was still awesome!

You guys know those headphones that she wore for the Heart Station PV? Apparently they are selling it, but so Expensive!!!

Her performance was amazing. o_o
I like the adlib, "this is from the bottom of my heart".
I like her her, looks so cute. (:


Arashi is releasing that day too? Nooo, JE boys are top sellers. Hopefully, if not #1, Hikki will get #2.
They're selling the exact headphones she wore or just similar ones? O:

^ I saw a ... idk what to call it... a chart that had predictions with what the ranking would be like, and Arashi was no.1 and Hikki, no.2

The NINKI polls? http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ns/
Then again, its just a prediction...
I wish Hikki luck. (:

Darn it. JE boys usually get tons of people in. I'm just going to wait and hope for the best.



And yes they are actually selling it, the REAL ones!!!!

But the price.... Dear me.


P.S. Apparently I was wrong, YUI isn't releasing on the same day.

Heart Station is no.2 on the charts today... as expected, ne?

True but sad, and 8 k compared to Arashi's 100 k? Dang, that's a whole lotta difference. I hope that she can catch up later on this week or next week!

^ yeah I know... I didn't expect Arashi to do that well either lol
I mean... they did even better the first day than KAT-TUN's Lips and I thought that song was better but ANYWAYS


When you click on Heart Station/Stay Gold on the oricon chart, what is that pentagon thing with a percentage? It says 86/100.... is it something where fans grade the song or something?

lol if you don't know what I'm talking about, go here: http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/748922/1/
And someone who can read Japanese, please tell me ^^;;

Oooooh. the sells are quite low. O____O

SINGLES
x->1 - Arashi - 107,689 (x1.75) = 188,456
x->2 - Utada Hikaru - 8,504 (x1.75) = 14,882
x->3 - Hirai Ken - 3,295 (x1.75) = 5,766

Wow, look at Arashi's sales.
Despite that Arashi sold waaay more than Hikki, she didn't do too bad, but not great.
I still love the single, so whatever. : P What can we say about JE fangirls, they have buying power.
Since Hikki didn't sell too the first day, what are the chances she'll get #1 for the weekly charts.

QUOTE (sweetsmile @ Feb 20 2008, 09:56 AM)

When you click on Heart Station/Stay Gold on the oricon chart, what is that pentagon thing with a percentage? It says 86/100.... is it something where fans grade the song or something?

lol if you don't know what I'm talking about, go here: http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/748922/1/
And someone who can read Japanese, please tell me ^^;;

I can only read the kanji, and I think its suppose to represent the general satisfactory of the single, then its measured in different components. I'm not too sure. :/

QUOTE (perfectinvasions @ Feb 20 2008, 02:00 AM)

And yes they are actually selling it, the REAL ones!!!!

But the price.... Dear me.


P.S. Apparently I was wrong, YUI isn't releasing on the same day.

The headphones look hot, but the price is O_O. I'm too cheap to even get new earbuds for my iPod. x]
Yeaah, YUI is releasing next week.

I love her new single. Stay Gold is also my favorite song from it.
Ah never dissappointed with her releases.
Can't wait for her new album to come out!

i love her voice, especially Can you keep a secret, which is one of my fav japanese song!

I'm thinking most of you already saw this but anyways:

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6248081tEjHJcE...1300&rank=9

It's Hikki performing Heart Station in Music Station, plus the talk part. Is it just me, or does she sound really tired/out of breath in this performance?

Ken Hirai and Hikki were really popular a few years ago.

i guess they waned.

Love hikki's music!! its great!
First heard her music on Kingdom hearts.
My favourite songs have to be travelling and keep trying.
ooo and melody of life. lol

I love Hikki and everything, but she's getting boring. =/
I like Heart Station and it's catchy, but she's soooo boring me right now.

Anyway, have you guys noticed her voice? It sounds screechier (?) when she talks and sings. I think I read somewhere that she damaged her vocal chords some time ago.

^ yes!!
I noticed there was something wrong with her voice.

omg did she really damage them?? HOW?? I was thinking she was just really tired or something these days and couldn't sing well but there was actually something wrong with her vocal chords omg..


EDIT:
OMG she sings Stay Gold on Utaban!!!
She sounds so good hehe

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6277897aDCGHWH...438&rank=17

I love how she adds extra stuff to her live lol

I have to agree, her vocals do seem less full, maybe she did damage them? Cause some of her heart station performances were okay, and some.... weren't.


I love Stay Gold sooo much and it's too bad that she only did one performance!!

I actually noticed her vocals were different a long time ago, but I thought I was crazy :x I hope she didn't damage them too badly :\
OMFG she sang Stay Gold <3 It's too bad it was just one performance. T_T

I love that performance more than the Heart Station one. <3
I didn't know she had vocal problems. No wonder she sounded a bit unusal.
Hope she gets better. (:

Yay Stay Gold performance :]
Nice~

I don't know why I even ranted about her being "boring." She's always been like this. lol Maybe I've been watching too many Miracle Hikaru clips. =p

Anyone heard Fight The Blues yet? At first I didn't really like it from the preview. It sounds so dull and bland. >.<
But once the full version came out, I'm like WOAH. This song is AWESOME.
The song have a bit of Exodus (and a bit of Timbaland? ) touch into it. Me likey. x]

^ I'm listening to it right now. I don't know, the first time I heard it, I didn't like it that much either. :/
The melody isn't catchy or anything, but the beats sound pretty cool.
Now it's starting to grow on me a bit.

Here's a youtube link if anyone is interested.
Utada Hikaru - Fight the Blues

I love Fight The Blues, It was love at first..hearing =D
The chorus is catchy, it's like a relaxing yet upbeat song. The beginning reminds me a bit of Deep River which I love as well.

Wow....I like Fight the Blues. Is this gonna be in her new Japanese album?
It kinda reminds me too of her Deep River album days, but with a bit of her current style of music.
I like the feel to it. Her Deep River album days were the best!

fight the blues

what a song! hikki is amazing <3 her.

my recent fave of hers is, stay gold

Fight the Blues is a good song!
But I think I need to get used to it more; I still like Stay Gold and Heart Station better ^^

i love utada hikaru
my first japanese singer i idolize

she's not only an idol. she's a real singer
her voice is amazing, and unique

SIMPLE AND CLEAN rock

her new album, HEART STATION, already leaked. i really love it! my favorite tracks are prisoner of love, fight the blues, take 5, and celebrate.

I haven't listened to her new album yet, but for me I prefer her older stuff. Some of my favourites are COLORS and Distance. I love those songs.

^ I agree, but her album isn't that bad ^^
I actually really like Prisoner of Love and Take 5; the other new songs, I think I just need to keep listening to them to get used to the tunes.

Whaaaa? New album out already? When was it released? (I havent been updated on Hikki's career lately..)
Yessss.....another addition to my Hikki album collection!

I hope it's a good album. Ultra Blue wasnt so bad, although I didnt like her duet with Yamada Masashi (One Night Magic).

^ It will be released on Wednesday, the 19th.
It's already out on JPOPSUKI though >.<

Is her album called Heart Station as well? I've seen it around, but I always thought it was the single. :/

^ Yup, her album is called Heart Station.
The single is Heart Station/Stay Gold. ^^

Heart Station is really starting to grow on me~

First post on this forum, and of course it's dedicated to the wonderful and talented Hikki~!
HEART STATION is undoubtedly her best album since DEEP RIVER, none of the singles or even non-singles disappointed me as much as ULTRA BLUE's tracks. I mean, all the tracks off of HS are very repeatable material, whereas...I don't even listen to much of UB, except for the lead singles lol.
My favorite songs off of HS are "Fight the Blues," "Take 5" and "Prisoner of Love."
I love the whole aesthetically dreamy theme of the album, it definitely brings me to another realm in a way.
Looking forward to her getting awarded her SIXTH Golden Disc for 'Album of the Year' and breaking more records.

I certainly hope that the sales reflect the beauty and enthusiasm of this album. Do you guys think she'll be able to achieve another #1 album on the year-end chart? It would be great for her to land back on the spot she deserves ever so much, it has been almost like a second home to her lol. Just two more days until we see numbers, yay!

i love utada. shes so talented.. i dont think theres a song that i dont like. my favourite femal j-artist for sure.

Fight The Blues: LOVE this song when I first heard it. It's an ear drug, I swear. The synth and the way the song flow is just amazing. One of the best songs on the album.
HEART STATION: This song is kinda repetivve but it's alright. i still ike it. xD The lyrics are nice haha.
Beautiful World: Another synth-type song! Yay!! Love the piano in this one.
Flavor of Life: Mehh. This song was cool when it was release as a single but now it's just old. And someone I would prefer if the ballad version would be placed as the bonus track.
Stay Gold: LOVE this track. The piano and tune just fits in perfectly.
Kiss & Cry:Really not feeling this track. The trumpet in the intro throws me off =/
Gentle Beast Interlude: Lol this has got to be the weirded interlude Hikki has ever made. It sounds like a bunch of materical mix in together.
Celebrate: I love the beat! Very addictive when I first heard it. The 'OW" in the middle was awesome. x]
Prisoner of Love: I have high hopes for this song because of the title xD
But the whole track disappoint me. It was really dull and bland. And it gives of this Distance feel to me. A part of the chorus reminds me of Wonder 'Bout for some reason. =/
EDIT: the only part i like about this song is the english lines.

Take 5: This song is GOD. Everything in there was good, with the backup vocals, the synth and the arrangement. But one thing that pissed me off is how it stop so SUDDENLY. I know how it deals about death and all but come on, the song can end SO MUCH better than that.
Boku Wa Kuma: I was hoping she won't place this song on the album but she did! Argh. I don't get how Take 5 (which is about death) suddenly goes to, "I am a bear, I am a bear....I must be chocolate in my last life."
Rainbow Bus: It's a really cute song haha. One of thsoe songs where I can sing along while doing my hw or whatever.

Besides the weird tracklisting and the abrupt ending for Take 5. I love the album. It's very refreshing and soothing to listen to.

As for Hikki next english album, I just hope she knows what she's doing.
She was too crazy with Exodus.

^ Wow, such a thorough analysis. I thought my file was just messed for Take 5, I didn't know the abrupt ending was intended. Hikki is so creative.

I gave the album a few listens. For some reason, everytime the album plays up to the interlude, after that, I get tired of the album. I don't know if it's because the first part of the album was all her A-sides so I find them more listenable and something I can sing along to. I can honestly say I love almost every single track up until the interlude so I'm just going to give my opinion of the tracks after the interlude. Celebrate is starting to grow on me, it gets kinda catchy. I thought Prisoner of Love was going to be one of her best tracks on the album, I was hoping for something more along the lines of Flavour of Life. I liked the beginning of the song, before the music starts playing and the part in the middle when theres no music. It's probably the beat that ruined the song, its just such a typical beat, nothing special. Take 5 doesn't do anything for me neither. I think the abrupt ending, if that's how the song is suppose to be anyways, must have imply the abrupt ending to life maybe (since the song is about death right?). The only thing I feel about this track is that it proves Hikki is original, way to end a track. Rainbow Bus, I like the "wooahh, waaah" part, so catchy. I don't particularly like this song like I do her A-sides but I feel this was a good way to end her album. It's very cheery and happy.

Okay, I realized Fight the Blues was not an A-side so I'll just say, I didn't like the song when I previewed it, but now I definitely think it's one of the best tracks. I love it. (:

Overall, the album was enjoyable. I hope the rest of the tracks will grow on me. One thing I'm really gona complain about is the cover. I wish she'd stop doing head shots for covers. ):