Search - Utada Hikaru :: Heart Station

Continuing to Carve Out Her Own Unique Identity in J-Pop

Hernan Igot | Maryland, USA | 07/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ever since "Deep River," J-pop jaggernaut Utada Hikaru has constantly updated her sound, going from more mainstream urban-pop to more experimental, even ambient, electronic pop. With this artistic growth, she has been lucky to maintain a solid grasp of the attention of her audiences by consistently yielding big sales in Japan. Usually when an artist, especially one that started out in such a bombastic, mania-inducing manner as she did (her Japanese debut album, "First Love," still holds the records for being the highest and fastest-selling studio album in the history of Japanese music), decides to reinvent herself in a bid for credibility, music critics and cynics alike would be the first to bash her for betraying her fan-base. Fortunately for Utada's sake, she's always presented herself as more than just another J-pop dimwit: even in her teens, she carried herself with such poise, understated grace, sophistication, and so much potential that it didn't even matter when she began to make more mature-sounding music. The transition was basically seamless (if not effortless).



In her latest progression, "Heart Station," Utada Hikaru updates what she had with "Ultra Blue" (deep, brooding, atmospheric, ethereal pop music fueled by understated emotion and pure class) by making the mood of the album lighter and more pleasantly dream-like. Although she keeps the emotional resonance in every single track strong, you get the sense that she's at a better place as an artist and as a human being with this effort. In fact, this can be her most intimately organic, human-sounding album yet (despite all the studio wizardry - which deserves commendation on its own sonic merits). Ironic, considering this is the album that followed her divorce with her husband. Regardless, if she does feel more liberated creatively and emotionally, it definitely shows with the way the album sounds.



Utada's music has always displayed a sense of urgency when it comes to the emotional connection between the song and the singer, and in "Heart Station," you have never seen her more in-tuned and graceful with her delivery. "Beautiful World," for example, though being suspiciously similar in sound to past tracks like "This Is Love" and "Traveling," holds its own because Utada sounds in-peace, yet still melancholic. It really does tug the heartstrings a bit, even when it's seemingly weightless (not to be confused with being just disposable pop fluff - despite the light-as-air general atmospherics of the music in question, all of the tracks are at heart credible, solidly-composed, worthy pop gems). Even better is "Stay Gold," arguably Utada's loveliest moment. If a baby's breath or silk would have a sonic counterpart, this would be it. The track is grand and powerful not because it explodes into your ears garishly, but because it is hypnotically gentle. Tracks that stimulate not only the ears, but all the senses and one's psyche are what make Utada Hikaru stand out from other big-name J-pop artists: she has the ability to conjure up great sales and legitimate credibility because of her unmatched music prowess (she does, after all, sing, write, and produce all of her songs on her own using her own tools). When it comes to true artists with such mainstream ubiquity, Utada Hikaru is unmatched. Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, and Kumi Koda may have their own respective strengths as the other female high priestesses in the J-pop game, but not one of them have displayed as much sophistication and utterly pure talent as Utada has all these years.



That being said, Utada's more experimental pop leanings may come dangerously close to becoming lounge music or too ambient for consumption (probably inching towards new age-y stuff), but thankfully she's still got some pop chops in her to remain savvy with what the people want. She does, after all, continue to garner big sales numbers (something that can't be stressed enough - she's always one of the highest-selling, if not, the highest-selling female J-pop artist in every calendar year her albums come out): a testament to her ability to find something that connects with the masses. This fact only shows that no one has it better than her in J-pop and in world-wide pop music in general: she's at the point of her growth as an artist that she can do whatever the hell she wants, but still get away with it with flying colors. Many artists from all over the world would definitely want to be in her shoes. What more, she garners all this critical acclaim with such modesty: a bonus in pleasing the Japanese tradition of grace, subtlety, and peacefulness when conducting your manner in public. The only bad thing Utada can do at this point is to abruptly stop making music. Only then will she truly be betraying such an adoring and well-deserved audience. Japan will always be open ears to its most regal of pop princesses."

Pretty good album, but felt like a singles collection

Bruce | 08/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Heart Station" is the latest release by Utada Hikaru. I really enjoyed the album and I'm pretty sure other Utada or J-Pop fans will enjoy it as well. However, this album felt more like a singles collection if you got the singles released before "Heart Station." Nearly 2/3 of the tracks were already released as singles. I'll be reviewing each song separately.



"Fight the Blues" starts off the album with a bang. "Fight the Blues" has heavy ethereal sounds to it, Utada also breaths to add to the beat. The message of the song is good but the song was really boring to me. It's a good album opener, but some won't like it.



"Heart Station" was one of the A-sides on Utada's "Heart Station/Stay Gold" single. "Heart Station" has a beautiful instrumentation with beautiful lyrics. The metaphor about being connected with radios and love was really cute. The song does get repetitive sometimes however.



"Beautiful World" was one of the A-sides on Utada's "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" single. "Beautiful World" has a very beautiful instrumentation and Utada knows how to hit her high notes perfectly. The song is a very beautiful song that shouldn't be missed.



"Flavor of Life -Ballad Version-"is the smash hit single from 2007. The song is pretty nice and Utada sounds really good. But the song is overall boring. Nothing really changes in it. It also over stays it's welcome. It's about 5 minutes long; it should have been about 4 minutes and 30 seconds.



"Stay Gold" was the other A-side on her "Heart Station/Stay Gold" single. The piano is very beautiful in this song and Utada sounds beautiful as always. But just like "Flavor of Life -Ballad Version-"it over stays it's welcome.



"Kiss & Cry" was the other A-side on her "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" single. "Kiss & Cry" takes her old R&B style and mixes it with her new experimental pop style. The two blends well together, the hook borrows from her English song "Hotel Lobby" which appeared on "Exodus." "Kiss & Cry" is a song that will take a few listens to fully appreciate.



"Gentle Beast Interlude" breaks up the gap a little bit between the singles and new tracks. This interlude borrows some lyrics from "Heart Station" and the sounds are very unique, the track blends in right in Celebrate. The reason was Gentle Beast and Celebrate were originally on the same demo.



"Celebrate" is a hot 4 minute dance tune. It has a very hot beat and catchy, simple lyrics. Only thing I didn't like was how bored Utada sounded when she sang the chorus.



"Prisoner of Love" was released as a re-cut single to promote Utada's album and the Dorama it was being featured in. "Prisoner of Love" shows off more of her old R&B style with her new style. The lyrics flow together beautifully and the ending is the best part with the sad, true lyrics. It's a song that shouldn't be missed.



"Take5" is one of Utada's most unique songs. It has a very awesome beat with beautiful lyrics that flow together perfectly. The cut-off at the end caused controversy after some people thought it was their copy being defective. But Utada made it that way because the song talks about death and suicide, and the cut off symbolizes death takes away life quickly.



"Boku Wa Kuma" is the next song right after "Take5." This is a bit of storytelling on Utada's part as "Boku Wa Kuma" is a children's song, and children are often symbolism of being reborn. So it goes perfectly with "Take5." "Boku Wa Kuma" is a kids song and Utada made it perfectly. It's a very cute song.



"Niji-No Basu" is the ole Utada style. Happy beat, depressing lyrics. "Niji-No Basu" has an analog sound and it has a catchy beat. The song gets a bit, darker near the middle since the song goes into about wanting to be in a world where there is no one. It's a song that takes a few listens to fully appreciate but it's not a song that should be missed.



"Flavor of Life" is a bonus track and I say that it should have been the one to replace "Flavor of Life -Ballad Version-" "Flavor of Life" is more up-tempo then the ballad version and it's much shorter and is at the right length. It's a great end to "Heart Station."



Even though "Heart Station" has a lot of singles, all the songs are great. Though some might be a bit lengthy the songs are great. It's an album that shouldn't be missed.

5/5"