she rocks.
that's as simple as i can put it.

Her new album sucks

I'm going to puke.

Lazy fatso.

^ Well...I'm glad you put that as constructively as you can .
It has received great reviews from critics thus far, so every person to his/her own.

As for "Prisoner of Love," I do agree that the beats are a bit bland and the strings are quite predictable, but I really like it. I'm a sucker for Hikki ballads, so it shouldn't be a surprise . My favorite part of the song is "Stay with me...Stay with me..."

Obsessed Utada fans love it and say it's her best album yet.
Neutral J-Pop fans say it's her worst album yet.

I'm an obssessed Utada fan yet I say it's her worst album next to Precious. Lately, she's been releasing crappy promotions and giving horrible performances. Yet, she probably knows she'll get high sales and praise all because she is Utada Hikaru. If she has time to write stupid blogs about her stuffed teddy bear, I'm sure she has time to release high quality songs- NOT CRAP THAT SOUNDS LIKE A BUNCH OF DEMOS.

If she continues to do this, I hope biased Hikki fans will realize this soon. She deserves crappy reception because she is only giving us stuff straight from her ass right now. Hopefully it's because she lost passion to continue on in the J-Pop music industry and wants to hit in big in America. If not, she'll fall. She only lives in the industry because of good music- she's not a good singer, she's a horrible entertainer and she is no personality.

^ As much as I love Utada Hikaru, I have to agree with you about this album not being as good... and I'm also a big Utada Hikaru fan T^T

Her last album Ultra Blue was really good, so I guess I expected more from her.... I mean, I'll still listen to her new songs and all, but I don't think I'll be as obsessed with them, as I used to be with her old songs.

Her sales are going down anyways >.<

idk Ray... I still think she's a good singer, and yeah, her performances these days were .. but it's not her fault since she damaged her vocal chords or something, right? And maybe she's concentrating more on her English album right now?

I'm surprised you can say such things when you're actually an obsessed fan -__-;;

Once again, every person to his/her own. Whether YOU like it or not, it's not like you have the credentials to say exactly what is "high-quality" or not (I'd rather take the word of professional critics who have been in the industry much longer than some member of Soompi who simply isn't happy). I think it's better than "UB," and although I do agree that she's not exactly the biggest, most exciting artist out there, but...Uhhhh...When was she ever an entertainer to begin with?

When it came down to performances and promotion, she has always been one to do whatever she could just to keep her career going. I am a big fan as well, and I criticize many of my favorite artists as well, but you're so overly-dramatic about the whole situation. Fans complain about her not releasing songs fast enough, and then when she churns something out quicker than usual, they complain about her not spending enough time to master each track. I am not a big fan of the electronic, synth-y style, but whatever. Her lyrics are still top-notch and at least she is still making her own music instead of turning to a production team.

Yeah, that's it...Let's just form and mold her into another Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi or BoA. Dance for us Utada, construct elaborate concerts and rainbow yourself out just to make bored fans happy! Grab a makeup artist, a promotional team, a team of producers, an acting coach, a stylist; Utada Hikaru, you are no longer your own person !

Other then the rest that we already know; i think Fight The Blues, Take 5 and Celebrate stand out!
Nice album..

Omg. I'm addicted to Celebrate and PoL right now.
Sexi Lady. <333

I don't think that's her worst album
and you might think that precious was her worst album but do you know how young she was when she composed and wrote those songs?
If you really did read her blog, you should know that she was working like day and night on this album, and posting on her blog was a way for her to rest
so many hikki fans said that she's just interessed in money so she wants to make it big in US, but actually she's really wealthy, I don't think she will bother to make an album, to work so hard on it and so on just to make money, she wants to be recognized for her music by more people and she feels that she's more american than japanese, so that's why she wants to be recognized there. Afterall, she has grown up more in the US than in Japan.
as for her personnality, everbody has its own point of view
yes you're right, she's not an entertainer at all but she doesn't need useless things, just her music so YES I'm really happy that she's not an entertainer

Overall, I think I was a little deceived by this album... It was good but I expected more... however some songs are really good (stay gold, take 5,...). Just don't really like celebrate, a little too marketable
My most favorite album was Ultra Blue
Her old albums were good too but the kind was a little too R&B, a little too marketable (even if she did really great songs like first love, deep river, final distance which is by far my fav song,... )
Looking forward to her sales! I hope she will do well ^^ !

i'm still going to buy her new album despite bad reviews
besides i think people shouldn't be THAT hard on her. i mean many artists don't even write their own songs o.O

Even though lots of people didnt like Ultra Blue, it was my fav album from her so far .. as I havnt had the chance to listen to Heart Station yet ^^;;
I really hope the new album will be up to my expectations~~
I wonder when will they release this album in my place so that I can get it >_<



- edit -
Woot~ I own a page :D

Sales for the first five days are estimated to be about 400,000, so she just needs to sell 50k for next two days and she'll break her record. I'm hoping she can do so, the weekend usually boosts up sales. No doubt that HS will already be the biggest debut week for a female in 2008 already, and I'm hoping it's the #1 female album as well -which it will probably be.

...

Thinking that she keeps releasing material just to earn money is quite ludicrous, and extremely laughable. Considering she is already one of the wealthiest Japanese citizens and she doesn't even spend that much of it (she doesn't buy high-fashion clothes, she doesn't have expensive taste for food, she doesn't travel that much, etc.,), I'm sure what she needs more of is money . If she was as money-hungry as some people assume, she would've taken the Ayumi Hamasaki/Koda Kumi/BoA route and released a large amount of music each year (especially during the peak of physical sales when she could sell phenomenal amounts in a short time), but no...She took her sweet, sweet time (25 singles in ten years, hello?!), and still...Some people just don't appreciate hard work and dedication. Meh...That's what we call superficial.

WOO!
Yay for Utada Hikaru
I like her new album
its pretty good.
I like
Fight the Blues
^______^

Music Lover Performance.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6494270bK2bBAPj?c=tvsection

She's so lively and cute here!
Although she's sick, the performances are fine xD

edit;;
don't know if it's me but she seem teary eye during the end of celebration.

Just had to post in here.
I've been a fan of hers forever!!!
HSalbum is definetely a refreshing release
but I like her DEEP RIVER release just a tad bit more
nonetheless she delivers great beats
may i mention
prisoner of love& Take 5
love love love

oh & simplirain thanks for the link!
:]

I finally got around to listening to HEART STATION. I absolutely love Prisoner of Love and Take 5. But overall, I didn't really like this one, compared to her previous ones.

I can't wait to get my copy. I love Hikki's work. I totally agree with you on Hikki's Exodus. It was messy and all over the place. Too experimental and the lyrics to me were just not digestable for me. I only loved one song off the entire album. As much as I adore Hikki, I could not buy it on principle.

I love Stay Gold, it's such a beautiful song<3

still waiting for my own copy of Heart Station to arrive.. here's my own personal opinion.

i pre-ordered Heart Station before even listening to the the album that's been going around online, trusting from what I heard in her singles that were to be included.. i loved Beautiful World, Heart Station, and Stay Gold =D what can i say? I'm a beat person, so Flavor of Life- ballad version didn't really rock my boat.. nor did the Gentle Beast

and while each one of us is entitled to our own opinion about the new album, i seriously don't regret purchasing it now =D

simplirain: wow, your review was really thorough! and i totally agree with alot of what you said

yea... i was bugged when Take 5 just abruptly ended because it's one of my fav. tracks, but after hearing what people have been saying and also from Hikki herself, i believe, i can only marvel at the amount of depth and thought she put into the track... life's really fleeting and death is so sudden and unexpected... the whole track is the very representation of the phrase "Carpe Diem"- live your life to the fullest... even to the listeners' ears, Take 5 itself is like a musical treat, like life, that ends abruptly...

i totally laughed when you said: "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."" (can anyone tell me how to quote someone in your post? computer-illiterate T_T)

maybe it has to do with resurrection? and the actual song "Boku wa Kuma" is so relaxing and carefree... i mean, it's a children's song! it's almost as if to alleviate our fear of death, and we're all happy and carefree again, back to our childhood innocence....

so in conclusion, i personally applaud Hikki for another job well done.. stupid me for thinking her lyrics/ music didn't make sense.. i can only be amazed at the depth she put into it =]]] i seriously didn't understand "Beautiful World" lyrics though... anyone want to explain? T_T

Simplirain Thanks soo much for the Music Lover performances. I watched it and I loooved it. <33 Fight the Blues, Flavour of Life, and Celebrate. (:

The last question she was answering, she looked like she was gonna cry. ):

I thought my copy was not complete!!! I'm so naive...And it show that I'm not truly understand her songs, shame on me!!!

Oricon reports that 480k copies of her album were sold within the last week. Sadly, she did not break her own record, but it is the highest debut of the year for ANY artist, and it will probably remain the highest debut all year for a female artist. Go Hikki!

I'm selling my whole Utada collection on ebay. I have a lot of singles\DVDs . please check it out.


http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtarakutak


Thanks!

Congrats to Hikki! Wow.. so she did even better than Koda Kumi??
Good for her ^^

^ Yep, she outsold Ayumi Hamasaki's first week sales in just two days, outsold her total two weeks' sales in less than a week and will most likely outsell the total sales of "GUILTY" by next week O_o. As for Koda Kumi, "Kingdom" debuted with 420k, so yes, "HEART STATION" outsold that as well , and she'll most likely outsell the total sales of "Kingdom" by next week, or in just two weeks. Last fact, "HEART STATION" outsold BoA's total sales for "THE FACE" in just two days ! This will most likely be the #1 album for a female in 2008, the sales have been declining by a lot already so I don't think it will be the #1 album overall, but that's okay. Sales should pick up after "Last Friends" airs and "Fight the Blues" gets played on "Houdou Tokushuu NEXT."

It won't be #1 next week because of Aoyama Thelma's debut album being released, and the sickening popularity of "Soba ni iru ne" will definitely help Aoyama's album sell well.

One last thing, "HEART STATION" did technically sell over 500k in its first week, 501,681 to be exact.
However, since Oricon updates every Tuesday, they excluded the 20,000 copies sold from Monday. Therefore, ending her streak due to technicalities . So she did technically break her record, just not according to Oricon :/. I think people need to look outside of Oricon for sales though, it's so outdated and old-fashioned that it is no longer as reliable in the digital age. If we only relied on Oricon for numbers, then "automatic/time will tell" would have only sold 1.2 million and 700k instead of 2 million (making it the most successful debut for an artist), "Movin' on Without You" would have only sold 800k and 300k instead of 1.2 million and she wouldn't have gotten the title of having two consecutive singles surpass the one million mark, and "First Love" would have only sold 500k and 300k (Oricon doesn't combine sales for singles that come in different formats even though it's the same darn songs, just different packaging). So yeah...Oricon is just there now, they need to update their rules and start tracking digital downloads, too, if they don't want to lose their credibility as Japan's most reliable source of determining a single/album's success.

--

wow, the album totally deserved it. congrats to utada!

lol I laughed after reading this because this song was doing so well so I decided to check it out.. but I didn't like it -__-;;
AND you have those remix albums from Hamasaki Ayumi coming out as well.

I'm not really surprised she did better than Koda Kumi or BoA... because she can't be compared to them when it comes to sales. lol I'm happy she beat Hamasaki Ayumi though ^^

I think it's a real big deal she beat her own record, because sales in Japan are decreasing these days, aren't they? And I know what you mean, by Oricon being outdated and not being as reliable ;

Ugghhh...I know, tell me about it . That song is so bland, so unoriginal, so uninspired, so..So...So...Lol, and no, I'm not angry that it has single-handedly outsold "HEART STATION/Stay Gold" but the fact that people still keep buying it in herds even though the majority of reviews from listeners and critics have panned it . I'm trying to compare it to a lackluster song in the US that has sold very well, and I can only compare it to "Low" by Flo Rida and "Crank That" by Soulja Boy (even though it's a ballad and not a rap/rnb song). I guess the whole ballad duet with an "answer song" has made it as popular as it is :/. I think she has a very nice voice, and I listened to the song with an open-mind but it just fell flat...

Oh, and no need to even worry about Ayumi Hamasaki's remix albums; remix albums -regardless of how big the star is- generally perform pretty poorly. Talk about releasing material just for the sake of releasing material, right ? (And no, I don't dislike Ayu, I am actually a fan, but I dislike the fact that she releases so much insignificant material just for sales and to keep her presence known, so many remix albums, so many re-releases, etc.,). For the record, Hikki has always outsold Ayu and BoA when they were considered her "competition for the year" .

Why yes, physical sales are in the dump, but you can always count on Hikki to bring big numbers for physical albums sales and phenomenally high digital sales for singles/albums . I just recently realized how weird it is that female artists still dominate in album sales, but male artists dominate in single sales . Grrr...Oricon, catch up!

^ Yeah, omg all those re-releases and remix albums/singles...(I don't dislike her or anything, but I do think she's kinda overrated?)

This is just my opinion, but there's a lot of OTAKUS in Japan who just needs to have that perfect collection of releases of artists, and I'm thinking that's the crowd AVEX aims for.

Hikki puts a lot of effort into her albums/singles, and like you mentioned before, this explains the 25 singles in her 10 years of being a singer ^^

BoA was considered her rival? When??


oh wow. I noticed that too - male artists have higher single sales and female artists higher album sales.

Mhhhmmmmmm...I definitely think that if you take away all her remix albums, re-cut singles and excess of compilation albums, then she'd be below Utada Hikaru in terms of total sales. I mean, let Hikki release a mini-album, over 15 remix albums, four more compilation albums, 23 more singles, four more albums and then we'll see who is the better seller here . I've always thought that her fame and popularity came from avex's good promotion because her voice is so...I dunno, a typical anime-singer's voice (High-pitched and squeaky, like Ai Otsuka)? Which brings me back to what you said, and I couldn't agree more. Avex has always seemed to me to be more of a for-profit record label. I know, every record label is the same, but not on the same level as avex. They report higher sales for their artists to give their clients better reputations and are much, much, much more aggressive when it comes to promoting. I'd consider them to be almost more like a...Marketing company rather than a music label lol. Like what they did with Koda Kumi, 12 singles in 12 weeks?! Also when they aggressively promoted "A Best" when it was against "DISTANCE" and "DISTANCE" still sold better with less promotion . Which is sad, too, since I'm a fan of Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, Namie Amuro, BoA and Tohoshinki, but they seem to release songs just for the sake of it and to bring in profits :/. Sort of like how EXILE is now taking advantage of their super popularity by releasing a lot of material in a short interval of time (They're releasing THREE compilation albums this year!).

Yeah...I guess Hikki's slow churning of material has hurt her a bit when it comes to cumulative sales.
I wish she would have released more material during the physical era when she could sell a million copies just like that. She could release loads of music now and it wouldn't sell as much because she is no longer as enthusiastic about promotion...She just does the usual round of magazine covers, interviews and performances and then it's done. I mean, I respect her for not whoring herself out by going everywhere selling herself to the public, but I just want the greatness of her music to be reflected in sales, too, ya know ?

During the VALENTI days when female artists were starting to take over the Japanese industry, any new high-selling female artist would be considered a "threat" to the "Empresses" Ayu and Hikki .

^ hahaha Ayumi's popularity came from her voice then??

I think the lack of promotion means Hikki no longer cares about sales? I think she's just doing something she likes to do. If you start feeling like you're doing something for someone else, that's when you lose the ambition to go on, right?

And I guess this is another reason why I love Hikki's music ^^
She puts effort into her work (which makes each of her singles/albums so special) whereas AVEX singers have so many singles/albums... their work isn't as... special anymore? I don't know how to explain it, but yea, kinda like Koda Kumi's 12 singles in 12 weeks, and THSK's 5 singles in 6 weeks? It gets repetitve after a while (before fans kill me, I'm a DBSK's fan ^^;; and I like those 5 singles of theirs).

haha yeah... Ayumi and Hikki released their albums the same date and created some competition, didn't it?

I would have to say, Hamasaki Ayumi is more like an idol, and Hikki a legend in the Japanese entertainment for introducing R&B. If you look at it like this, sales don't really matter ^^

:\ all this talk about ayumi hikki comparisons XD
well anyway, her album HS wasn't.. up to my expectations to tell you the truth >_>
it's probably because i've started following her singles, etc after Deep River or something
but i don't really like how her songs sound more and more alike
still though (: she's a great artist

Nah, I wouldn't say her voice, more like good marketing strategies .

I just don't think Hikki is as...Ummmmm...Hungry for success and notoriety as she used to be when she was still "new" to the industry. She used to be so fun and ecstatic onstage, shaking her arms and dancing lol. Now she just...Stands there and gets the job done. I know she has never been an entertainer, but she used to be [more] entertaining, y'know ? Her company earns so much from her music alone, and I'm sure they know by now that she doesn't like being in the public so much, so I guess they don't push and market her as much as a record label would usually do with their most prized client...However, I am happy that she is still making music to her own satisfaction and not doing so just to satisfy needy fans .

Yeah, I feel the same way about avex. I mean...Their artists all put out a new album every year regardless of how "good" the lead-in singles are, as long as the album is released and sells 100k then they're happy I guess...I feel like avex prioritizes a few of their clients over others too much as well. I mean, why is it that Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki's songs sound so much better in quality (lyric-wise, instrument-wise, etc.,) as opposed to BoA and THSK's bangy, bland and overly synthesized tracks? Also like you said, the fact that Hikki takes FOREVER to release new material makes it feel more special, I anticipate it much more and I know that it will always be new music (She hasn't released a re-cut single since 1999)...I know that many fans of Ayu (including myself) have been waiting a while for a new single as well, and it has been over six months since a new full single was out, and now...We get an "extended" version of a previously available track along with re-recorded vintage songs :/. Oh yeaaahhhhh...2001 in Japan will always be known as the year of the battle of the pop queens lol, even though the supposed rivalry never existed, it is pretty much as notorious and vicious as the Britney vs. Christina in the USA .

Exactly! Hikki brought innovative music, something fresh and very revolutionary to Japan with her debut. There's a reason why she is consistently ranked higher on "Best Jpop Artists," "Most Influential Artists," etc., lists . Now I can only hope that the rest of America will realize that when she makes her return to the States!

I wonder that too... When HEART STATION single came out, Arashi no. 1 ....WHY????

aww... I don't know why but I kinda felt bad for her after reading this part of your post. I can understand she's already successful and popular enough, but then again, she almost seems tired?



Yeah, I noticed Namie's and Ayumi's music are so much better than other AVEX artists -__-;;
Basically, AVEX would use more money on artists that would make more money for them.

Yep yep ^^ To me, she is the most influential artist in Japan.

I don't know a lot about how the Japanese entertainment was like 10 years ago, but wasn't she the first one to... idk.. have English lyrics in her songs too? Or the first bilingual singer?

Yeah...It does make me kind of sad, too...Maybe she's just saving up energy for her attempt at breaking into the American music industry again ? She said once that she would like to retire when she was...28 or something, and I cross my fingers every day that it isn't true lol. How sad would it be knowing that we'd only get three more years of Hikki ?!

Grrr...It's almost like they sit at a computer and spend twenty minutes composing BoA and THSK's songs and then bring in orchestras and big producers to work with Namie, Ayumi and Kumi . No wonder why BoA and THSK seem to be making no impact whatsoever with their music :/. I know, move over to EMI Japan ! Then collaborate with Utada Hikaru ...

Well...From what I can only remember, she was definitely the one who brought over the R&B flavor to Japan, and they embraced it....Which is pretty weird considering Japan is usually indigenous to their own music and style, and not western influences. Her bilingual skills have been accredited to her success, too though, I've read many times where people say that Asians (Asian-born Asians I should say) are like, "obsessed" with other English-speaking Asians xD.

---

Oh, and an actual update on Hikki news!
Her blog was updated with a box of tangerines, in which she stated that it was a prop in a music video!!! She doesn't say which music video it is from, but most people are assuming it will be for the already very popular "Prisoner of Love" (some have also noticed that a promotional poster for "Last Friends" features the cast holding a tangerine). I certainly hope it will be a proprt music video, please make a proper music video . The song is brilliant, it deserves a dramatic, over-the-top music video! Although, knowing Hikki lately and her music videos, it will most likely be a compilation of clips from the dorama .

Also, "Prisoner of Love" is currently at #5 on iTune's Top 100 songs, which is her highest charting song on the list.
Another amazing feat, she has SIXTEEN songs in the top 100 right now, the most for any artist! "HEART STATION" is also the #1 album . "HEART STATION" is at #2 today on Oricon, eclipsing Aoyama Thelma's "DIARY" by a mere 10 copies lol. EXILE is already over 350k in just two days, boybands .

Yeah like I said in my soundclick about how I love artists like Hikki cuz you can actually feel her passion for music, you know? She's way up there with the legendary classics. She has a voice that like...haunts you xP I like how Hikki takes her time so that her albums sound as great as they can be...except exodus, it's evident that she rushed that album and I believe that's why it did so poorly =/ Like no offense to BoA fans out there (I'm a BoA fan as well), but BoA rushes her Japanese albums and singles wayyyy too much...and I think that's why her sales are getting so bad...so avex is even crueler...and promotes her even less...it's like a neverending cycle @_@ But Hikki doesn't have to worry about people rushign to produce her music cuz she produces a lot of her own music <3 Ah how I love that woman.

omg when did she say that?? Retire when she's 28?? Why? Does she have something she wants to do?


haha no, I can't see that happening because apparently, SM and AVEX are holding hands and all Korean artists in SM are handed over to AVEX when they debut in Japan.



haha thanks for the update ^^
Wait, so she's going to have a new music video??
Anyways, congrats to Hikki for having so many songs in the top 100 \(^^)/ yappari hikki-chan ^^

Oh yes, yes. I agree very much about her haunting voice, it's like the Japanese version of Amy Lee (From Evanescence) but only better -- biased here . She said it herself in an CNN interview that many people say that her voice has a dark quality to it, and I love it that way very much. It adds depth to her songs, and it's why her ballads are much more powerful and heartbreaking in my opinion, as opposed to other jpop female artists. Plus, the fact that she sings more "Western" style instead of the "Eastern" style (nasally) makes her voice sound so much better. Mhmmmm...Exodus basically was an experimental album, I don't consider it as one of her better works lol. Oh, and fans of BoA (like myself) would all agree that avex just pushes her to make music for the sake of it. She doesn't sell as much as she used to anymore, so she is no longer in the 'top 3' priority list, it's pretty much Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, and Koda Kumi who make up that list :/. EMI Japan knows that Hikki brings in the most revenue, so it's smart of them to not force her to do things out of her pace .



I think she said that in an interview for TIME magazine back in 2001 when she was attending Columbia ("Diva on Campus"). Yep, found it!

QUOTE

Like her mother, Hikaru plans to retire young—as early as 28—and perhaps pursue neuroscience. "I kind of see myself in a white coat in a lab, working till late evening in front of test tubes," she says. It's hard to imagine that Spears has a similar vision of her future.

*LMAO at the Britney comment, so true!*

I don't know if her opinion has changed, but if her sign of showing less enthusiasm onstage, in her appearance, etc., is a clue then I'm worried T_T. Hopefully she'll hit it big in The States and change her mind .

Yeah...SM and avex...Two marketing GIANTS, I guess it's logical that they work hand in hand. I guess that's why Namie Amuro and Koda Kumi are listed as SM artists xD. Still...It's not crazy of me to want a collab, right? Hikki's beautifully pleasant voice mixed with a good male acappella for backing vocals would sounds great! Better than "Just For One Day," that's for sure.

That's the thing...I'm not actually positive if it is going to be her music video, or if she is just on a music video shoot with the cast lol. Knowing Hikki, she can be quite tricky! I hope digital sales for this album will surpass that of "ULTRA BLUE," as well as physical sales . I have hope.

the new PV better be for "Prisoner Of Love". that song is amazing!

omg neuroscience...? She's soo smart -__-;;
I'm sure she would have been successful in any kind of field of study or work, if she didn't chose to be a singer.

I know...Hikki has the brains, the beauty, and the musical talent; she is a genius overall <33333.

Yeah, "Prisoner of Love" is the best and catchiest [non-single] track off of "HEART STATION," please give it the proper treatment!

Hikki did say she wanted to perform in other Asian countries within the next 10 years. x]

wahh hikki

intro-ing r&b to japan

thats actually a big feat seeing as r&b was out long before hikki's days as a performer :]

i dont understand your convo so im just gonna sit here :]

^ Yep, RnB was out way before Hikki's time, but I guess she is responsible for making it popular in Japan and broadening their music scenes (Don't get it mixed up with Namie Amuro, who brought in HIP-HOP). So many artists should thank her because they wouldn't really have careers now if it weren't for her. *coughEXILEandAoyamaThelmawhoarecoincidentallyhercompetitionthisweekcough*

Oricon rankings from yesterday's sales:
1. EXILE CATCHY BEST - EXILE (400k estimate)
2. DIARY - Aoyama Thelma (50k estimate)
3. HEART STATION - Utada Hikaru (80k estimate, 560k total)

HEART STATION has already outsold GUILTY's three month total trajectory in less than two weeks .

^ omg I'm sorry but I thought you were a girl the whole time I was having these discussions with you -__-;;

And I'm totally going off topic here... So Amuro Namie introduced HIP-HOP, Hikki introduced R&B, BoA introduced dancing... which always made me wonder how did Koda Kumi get so popular...? BUT ANYWAYS... back to Hikki

I just checked out wikipedia to realize GUILTY didn't do as well for some reason compared to Ayumi's other albums... And her single sales are kinda going down?

By looking at how Hikki's sales right now, it doesn't seem like this album will do better than Ultra Blue...
But then again, I'm pretty much satisfied that she's going to be the no.1 female artist of the year ^^

There's something very wrong with all those statements..

Love Utada ^.^~~
wow..haha, i've been listening to her since...99'..time flys huh
Anyways, i really want to buy Heart Station. I know it's good..can't say i've ever really been disappointed with her work.

And I agree with what you all said about those artists whose singles seem to just keep comin but Utada's work always seeming genuine. Yup, true artist

Ciao

Oh my, haha...I don't remember saying anything particularly "girly" or would make me seem like one lol. It's cool though, it's Soompi afterall .

Ummmm...Well, again, they did not necessarily "introduced" that genre of music to Japan, but rather made it more popular and mainstream. Namie Amuro simply popularized hip-hip with her fashion and dance (I forgot what name was given to women who mimicked Namie's style, there's a specific label), Utada Hikaru popularized RnB and as for BoA. Hmmmm...I wouldn't say she brought in dancing because Namie Amuro had done the same years earlier, and Ayu had also released various dance tracks, but I guess she was one of the first international Asian artists to really hit it big in Japan. Koda Kumi's popularity was gained with avex's good marketing strategy of over-saturating the music scene with her presence, and with the help of two successful compilation albums . A bit off-topic, but still in the boundaries of jpop lol.

The market of Ayu is going down in general . Her physical sales and digital sales have not balanced each other out, unlike Hikki who makes up for physical sales with digital sales (Passion, Keep Tryin') and physical sales for low digital sales (Boku wa Kuma).

This week she is on track to push another 100k albums, which is lower than ULTRA BLUE's second week sales of 150k...I wouldn't worry at all though, just wait until the year-end charts pop up and we'll see that it has once again been a year of Hikki lol.

junsuxXcutie, wow...You've been a fan for almost ten years now . *Bows down*

Like most Western fans, I came to know of her through Kingdom Hearts in 2002, but I didn't really become a fan (I regret not following her once I knew about her status!)...I've only been a dedicated AKA obsessed fan for about a year now after "Flavor of Life" revived my interest in her.

Kinda late but

When did I ever push my opinions down your throat? Besides, plenty of people have complained that most of HS sounds real rough like it's still being worked on. I never said Utada had to become manufactured, I said she has no gimmicks so she will fall hard once her music starts to suck. Is that a bad thing? It's basically a compliment by saying her only talent is making amazing music. BTW you're not only mocking BoA and Ayumi but also Elvis, Billie Holiday, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, and other legends who sang what their production team made. And Hikki has NOTHING on them.

Also, now that you mention it- Utada IS an entertainer. (A terrible one but still.) If she wasn't, she would be behind the scenes and make other artists songs. She chose to be a singer-songwriter, she has tours, interviews, etc. Like I said before, Utada only survives with amazing music, she has nothing else to lean on if it starts to suck. She can't sing (that doesn't mean the tone of her voice sucks, it's unique and beautiful), and she has no stage presence. (she doesn't have to dance, but she's just there- she's so ordinary )

My opinion that Utada was not devoted to this album is not only because of what I heard but also facts. Take 5 was originally an old REJECTED demo for Ultra Blue, kairo made the cut instead. Utada needed another track on the album so she dug through her files and found this forgotten piece. She quickly added more on to it and found it good enough. I'm kind of disappointed to know that Utada Hikaru, who usually crafts each and every one of her songs carefully, purposely created a filler. She also stated the album is her "take five," doesn't that mean she's admitting to the fact that she kinda slacked off this time?

HEART STATION already sold half a million. Wow, hopefully this doesn't make her think she can "take five" on all her future works now.

Yes, I am a true fan because I don't like her because it's some trend or something. And, I'd rather be called a fan with honest opinions than one who even praises the person's crap.