English Album in next 6 months!!!

THANK GOD!!!!! I can't wait!! I bet it will be later rather than sooner (she needs TIME) but 2 albums within the same year of each other? Not to mention some singles along the way!! LIFE...

Oh my god! Seriously?!?! I wasn't expecting it for a long time! I guess she has been working on it simultaneously with HEART STATION.

God I can't wait. Hope she updates the blog with album related stuff too.

My guess is that we'll have it in January / February 2009. That'll be nice so it's another year for a Hikki album!!
I'm so excited!!!

Wooow. Already? No way!

Doubting, doubting, doubting.

And I thought she was taking a break or something, hah.
But this does seem kind of fast.
Will this sound like Heart Station-Utada?
Considering that most of the album was made long before it was released, (All the singles, + Take 5), will it be reminiscent of Fight The Blues/Celebrate/Prisoner Of Love/Nijiiro Bus? (Wow. Looking back now, all those songs are so different. 0-0)
It just seems amazing the album is ready to be released in less than a year to me.

Let's hope it'll be successful. ;D

Finally! News on the new album! Glad to hear it's going to be released soon. If it was released in late 2009 I'd probably die from the suspense.

Hope there's a single out before the end of 2008!

questionsmakemeblue wrote:

I just wanna stress that although she released an album just one year ago, she's been working on the english album (or at least known about it) since before Heart Station.

Yes, so will the sound of the album be reminiscent of Heart Station sine they were being made at the same time?
This is getting me excited for a single,,

That's an interesting possibility, but one I think will be untrue. Hikki's probably going to try to appeal to the masses moreso with this album. I hope that she does not sound like 'everyone else'.

I am so excited for this album. And about the whole "will it sound like Heart Station?" issue, I doubt it. Remember that she's supposed to be working with Ne - Yo / Stargate with this album. While their influence could be sparse, working on two or three tracks co operatively with Hikki, like Timbaland did for EXODUS, I have a feeling their influence on this album will be greater than Timbaland had on EXODUS. Hikki wants to make it big in America, we all know it. While we would like to think she would make it her own sound, we have no idea, really, because no one here knows Hikki on a personal basis.

This IS Stargate and Ne - Yo we're talking about. I have a feeling this album will be more urban sounding or at least more R&B flavored. They were responsible for Irreplaceable with Beyonce, so I think songs with a similar sound to Blow My Whistle are highly possible...and why should it matter if she takes her album in a more mainstream direction? It's Hikki we're talking about. Anything from her, mainstream mass appeal or not, will sound great. And that, you cannot deny.

And while I would love love love LOVE another experimental pop album like EXODUS, I doubt it'll happen, mainly for the reason that EXODUS bombed in America. But really, truely, who the hell knows around here? We'll just have to wait and and see for the risk this album is going to take (no pun directly intended).

Quote :

Anything from her, mainstream mass appeal or not, will sound great. And that, you cannot deny.

Except the ten of the tracks that comprise the album known as 'Exodus'....

^ For your information, a lot of people love that album. True fans do, but you know what? It isn't limited to them. I have friends that are not into Japanese music that love the songs "Hotel Lobby" and "Kremlin Dusk"

You're just a prick. I don't post much, I mostly look around, but from all your posts, I can tell you're a big time prick. Just letting you know my opinion on you.

Grotesko wrote:

^ For your information, a lot of people love that album. True fans do, but you know what? It isn't limited to them. I have friends that are not into Japanese music that love the songs "Hotel Lobby" and "Kremlin Dusk"

You're just a prick. I don't post much, I mostly look around, but from all your posts, I can tell you're a big time prick. Just letting you know my opinion on you.

Ha ha ha. I'm honoured that you've upped your activity and post-count just to tell me that.

Guys, calm down and stay on topic. I don't want to close this thread.

Donovon-Bozu who said Hikki was working with Ne-Yo?

KremlinChaos wrote:

Donovon-Bozu who said Hikki was working with Ne-Yo?

Ne-Yo is one of their "partners"; they produce the songs, he writes 'em. I wouldn't be surprised if she let him write something for her considering she's now more open to people playing around with her work. But yeah, I don't think it was ever officially said or found out that she's working with Ne-Yo.
...I actually love Ameterasu's posts, one of the reasons I come on this forum, :'D

Oh okay. Thanks.

Oh yeah! Also,

Donovon-Bozu wrote:

...This IS Stargate and Ne - Yo we're talking about. I have a feeling this album will be more urban sounding or at least more R&B flavored. They were responsible for Irreplaceable with Beyonce, so I think songs with a similar sound to Blow My Whistle are highly possible... ...

Stargate's also responsible for "Don't Stop The Music" (Rihanna) so it also turn out to be dance/electronic, (although working with Brian Kennedy would be even better for that).
I'd love an album with just a variety of genres but still holding a mainstream sound along with a couple of tracks that are "Hikki", kind of like Nelly Furtado's "Loose" (ignore "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Do It", and "Glow" please. :3) the deluxe/re-released album.

Let's hope for a good 2009 for Utada.

Thank you Blue42, for the kind words.



I never listened to mainstream music and so my opinion is of a rather ignorant one when it comes to the things of today. Besides the Scream-o and the whiney tunes that seem to be popular today, it seems that urban and black music are being incorporated into pop tunes. Is this true?

Since Hikki was always a fan of black music, do you think that she'd go in this direction for this album? (Maybe Urban would be a more suitable word here)

I think that the only thing that I can expect is that it will be different. Perhaps that is her only consistency in whatever market that she delves into. My earlier thoughts that she may end up sounding like 'everyone else' were, perhaps, none too well thought out.

Her duet with Ne-Yo in 2007: what was that song? In any case, it was rather pleasant. I read somewhere else, (perhaps on the JPopMusic forum) that many fans didn't like that song. Perhaps that duet could serve as a litmus indicator for the album that's coming.

I am in accordance with Donovan-Bozu in that I think that Hikaru's aiming for more widespread success this time around. In this way, I think that Heart-Station's sound will not be at all working its way into this album.

Amaterasu wrote:

Thank you Blue42, for the kind words.

No problem, :3 I hate when people say "WELL, REAL FANS..." because, real fans can tell when an artists releases something not to the quality of previous releases and won't judge other fans for their opinions.

Amaterasu wrote:

I never listened to mainstream music and so my opinion is of a rather ignorant one when it comes to the things of today. Besides the Scream-o and the whiney tunes that seem to be popular today, it seems that urban and black music are being incorporated into pop tunes. Is this true?

Since Hikki was always a fan of black music, do you think that she'd go in this direction for this album? (Maybe Urban would be a more suitable word here)

Emo-Rock is the most popular amongst the kiddies right now. (I'm smack dab in the demographic)
The three huge things right now are; Disney Channel Artists (WHY? D: ), Emo/Alternative/Rock, Hip-Hop/Urban-Pop.
So we can pretty much use process of elimination to figure out which genre she's going to aim for with this one.
However, if she's more open about working with people, we could get a very lovely mixed bag. I'd love it if she worked with Timbaland again along with Stargate, since he seems to be better this time around (although he hasn't beaten his work with Aaliyah yet IMO), and they could get a lot of great work done. (Also, I believe Utada seeked out Timbaland because of his work with Aaliyah.)

That was one of the reasons Exodus was so odd sounding to the public.
Utada never really let anyone touch her work and she didn't bring a lot of people in, thus eliminating the process of going through the finished tracks and selecting the "better" ones. It's common knowledge that artist's usually have extra songs lying around because they were either scrapped or wouldn't fit the image of the album. If Utada were to have more producers give in their opinions, the final product of her first album would definitely have been more enjoyable to a larger group of people. (I'm choosing my words carefully~)

HOWEVER, about which genre the album would fall under... Exodus was before it's time in my opinion, it had a very electronic sound, and now artists are trying to emulate that. Look at Rihanna's "Disturbia", Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" all Billboard hits. So honestly, I don't know. I'm still crossing my fingers for a variety.

Amaterasu wrote:

I think that the only thing that I can expect is that it will be different. Perhaps that is her only consistency in whatever market that she delves into. My earlier thoughts that she may end up sounding like 'everyone else' were, perhaps, none too well thought out.

I don't think she'd compromise herself that much, if she does end up sounding like everyone else, then I'd hope that that's what she wants. But I doubt her vibrato will ever let her blend in. Bwaha. (I mean it's not as extreme as Shakira's, but Utada just seems to slip into it if she doesn't focus.)
Also, it's hard to define what is everyone else. There's so much variety in music now-a-days more than ever.
I mean a country-music duo was number #2. (Bad example?)
One of my pet peeves is the overuse of the "snap/clap" beat that most hip-hop songs have now, I mean, it was original once, but please... hip-hop folk, move on.

Amaterasu wrote:

Her duet with Ne-Yo in 2007: what was that song? In any case, it was rather pleasant. I read somewhere else, (perhaps on the JPopMusic forum) that many fans didn't like that song. Perhaps that duet could serve as a litmus indicator for the album that's coming.

I didn't like that song. Still don't. It was extremely nice to hear a new song with Utada without it sounding computerized, but it wasn't a song fit for her. Mary J. Blige pulled it off better. (I'm also an active member of the JPopMusic forum. Coincidence? )

Amaterasu wrote:

I am in accordance with Donovan-Bozu in that I think that Hikaru's aiming for more widespread success this time around. In this way, I think that Heart-Station's sound will not be at all working its way into this album.

I see that now. It's just whatever experiences she got from Exodus, she used to make Ultra Blue, so that's where my question came from.

OMG. R&B! That's the genre. It just hit me. Heh. I bet she's going for a more R&B sound than the electronic sound from Exodus.

OMG long comment.... we only can crossfinger waiting what will Hikki give 2 us with her new english album.