Beautiful World full-length PV

For completeness. It's been a bit over a week since it first aired, but it completely escaped my notice. Thanks to DarkMirage for the heads up.

There are at least two versions floating around on YouTube. Both have sequences or scenes that have been recycled back in, too. The first one bears a broadcast station's watermark up to the length of the short teaser version of the PV. Given that the title screen appears twice, it seems less authentic than the second one, which DM linked to, although I'm still skeptical that they'd be so cheap as to recycle stuff in a real PV release.

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This one's a keeper

After watching this, her CDTV performance went right out the window. Stronger voice, nitpicks that were more along the lines of, could be improved as opposed to that's just outright wrong and I'm cringing now, and generally not flat and not uninspired.

I also like the hair, a bit of a return to her old style. Then again, I always thought bangs in front of forehead to be out of place.

[YouTube] for those who don't have 490 MB to spare.


Update: Her Utaban performance is incrementally better, with Music Fighter up there as well. Still has range trouble, though, and she cuts her phrases short compared to her album version. Her return to Music Station was a nervous one. While the added echo/reverb from the stage setup was neat, she showed nerves and was uptight, plus she clearly mis-pitched on a couple occasions.

While I'm at it, I thought her Music Station performance of Kiss & Cry was quite good, although we're going to have to disagree on this one. I suppose she's unhappy because nothing special came out of it, but there's nothing wrong with a perfect textbook performance, either.

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Hikki-sensei!

That is all. Visit U.Blog for some more pictures!

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An infectious jam session

I only recently got on to the LP bandwagon. Well, only really Your Song, again via U.Blog, which from my limited Love Psychedelico sample size, remains my favourite track. Still, there are any number of solid, laid back jam session tracks. It has all the common traits: catchy guitar riff, plenty of texture in the riff, snug backing vocals in the chorus, strong rhythm everywhere. So why Your Song in particular?

The vocalist is bilingual and really sounds like she has an english inflection in her japanese singing. While intriguing, it's only a point for novelty. The real answer, is this:



There's just something deal sealing about an awesome live performance. I've been sold on Hikki's Distance/Automatic work when she went Unplugged. Ditto FictionJunction YUUKA when they performed in a studio session. Basically the artists that have received the most play on Winamp are solid live performers.

This Budokan 2005 performance of Your Song features a sharper guitar, an extended solo section to close off the song, and the obvious enthusiasm of the audience. The vocalist sounds strained and nasal, especially after the first verse, but the song isn't really about her. It's a jam session, after all. Nor does her singing take anything away from the fact that the band is having a blast.

This isn't a song about perfection. It's about performance. And what a monstrous performance at that.

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New Evangelion Footage with Beautiful World

Via U.Blog. I'm still trying to sort out how the music fits with Evangelion as a whole. I'm learning toward the side that says that it doesn't really. Both are epic, but Beautiful World's ethereal atmosphere is at odds with the grim war being fought on the ground.

Combat is shaping up to be pretty intense.

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Utada Hikaru - Kiss & Cry

Lyrics translation and DDL, if it's still up.

I don't suppose the PV was included in that promo package sent out, because it has leaked as well. See jpopsuki. The PV itself is pure footage from the Freedom OVA, which is partly an advertisement for Nissin. The only modification to the animated scenes were split mirroring and applying component R/G/B filters. It appears that quite a bit of effort was put into synchronizing the mouth flaps with the lyrics.

As for the song, it's a throwback to Hikki's Automatic and Distance days. The opening, with its brass fanfare, muted and old (as in analog old), is reminiscent of the bold days of experimental remixing. It didn't quite matter if the spliced in material was at odds with the main body of music, it was the point. Ditto the bridge, which contains the chorus material from Hotel Lobby.

Kiss & Cry sounds early 90's. It just has that classy, glamorous and bold feel of rappers and R&B singers living it up and "featuring" on each other's work. The brass fanfare and interjections help, as does the shiny synthesizers and strong, if minimal, rhythm support.

Looking at both A-sides, Kiss & Cry tops Beautiful World as the better written and produced track. Hikki is very much in her element with the former; she even sounds stronger. Kiss & Cry also benefits from being much less ethereal. It's brash, it's in your face, it's got attitude.

Still, this being almost a period work, I'm not too big a fan of Kiss & Cry just like I tend to prefer ULTRA BLUE/Deep River Hikki to Distance/Automatic Hikki. I'm enamored by the fact that it's well written, but that doesn't necessarily endear me to it. I still have my electronica leanings.

For me, the single is shaping up to be a bit inconsistent, but at least it'll have something for the experimental/electronica fan, the R&B/Hip-hop fan, and the Evangelion fan.

I can't really comment on Fly me to the moon. It's been done to death, and Hikki's R&B cover of it is a radical departure from the original as well as the Evangelion version. The ballad style introduction is fine, if standard, and the jump to the R&B part is somewhat sudden.

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Beautiful World at 192 kbps

Utada Hikaru enters the teens in her twenties. For more of Hikki's rebellious look, see U.BLOG

Thanks to Kuroshiro for the lyrics translation. Definitely written about Shinji, but from someone else's perspective. It's a bit too solemn to be from Asuka, though, and Rei is just this black box.

So! A few days have passed since a full length, non-radio rip version leaked. There's no sense in delaying the inevitable, so I am here today to answer the $11.99 question (plus shipping and handling) question: How does it loop?

* * *

As Beautiful World opens with ethereal synthesizers and echoing percussion, anything can happen. When the piano chords enter like it's 1996 at the height of the dream music craze, the realization hits that it's going to be pretty good.

Beautiful World has elements in common with both This is Love and Keep Tryin'. Like Keep Tryin', Beautiful World opens with atmospheric ambivalence before getting into the song proper with the chorus. In between the verse and chorus, there is a distinctly contrasting bridge in singing style, key, and harmony.

Structurally, both Beautiful World and This is Love have no significant instrumental breaks until the end, although this is a bit of a tenuous connection given that This is Love has a second verse section in the middle.

In the lower range there's this earthy, tribal feel to the song. It's a good foundation for the lines that float gracefully above. I have heard quite a few good piano parts as of late, and Beautiful World just adds to the collection.

There's just one aspect that prevents Beautiful World from topping best atmospheric electronic track, Making Love off ULTRA BLUE, but it's a big strike.

There isn't enough contrast.

There is a lack of a range jump between sections. This is Love had a brief break right before the chorus, Keep Tryin' breaks into the chorus with a bang, and Making Love experiences its own dramatic register shift.

You could argue that Beautiful World is a lot more dignified than either of the above three, so register skips would contradict its character. Fair enough. There are other ways of generating contrast, and the first one I can think of is change in texture.

I suspect that Beautiful World suffers from a lack of sufficient texture primarily in the chorus. The verse is actually pretty spare in terms of accompaniment. The chorus needs some serious bulking up. It should be like some gigantic steamroller of a chorus, with bottomless bass support while Hikki belts out her alternating low and high register lines.

Beautiful World sits in an awkward place. It's supposed to be more energetic than Keep Tryin' but fails to top Making Love for intensity. As a result, it doesn't loop as well as either of the above. It's also not a ponderous work compared to the 800 pound compositional gorilla known as BLUE.

Last criticism, honest. Why does Hikki's voice crack during her final lines before the outro? It's likely deliberate, but it just reeks of a mistake.

The extended outro is probably the other best part of Beautiful World. I can never return to the days of Dreamland without feeling that it's just a bit hokey, but this outro section fills in the gaps while retaining the dreamlike core. The continuously running piano, the ghostly backing voices, and the synthesizers are pure ambiance.

If Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry ever made it to iTunes outside of Japan, I'd probably cherry-pick this track from the single, although I don't hold out much hope since the current iTunes selection is all album material. The other tracks are blah, but I can elaborate later.

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Utada Hikaru - Beautiful World on radio

128 kbps

Cross This is Love with Making Love, and splash in a modulated bridge the likes of Keep Tryin', and you get Beautiful World.

In other words, it's great. I can't wait to get the single.

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Utada Hikaru - Beautiful World 45 sec preview

Once again, via U.Blog.

Impression? Mixed. 56k streams from the likes of RealPlayer aren't a solid foundation from which to form any sort of opinion, but for what it's worth Hikki's voice sounds like it cracked at one point, and her upper register is tinny, but that could just be the 56k talking. The trailing edge of the preview had some nice atmosphere, though.

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Utada Hikaru to sing in Evangelion movie

From the U.Blog.

I do believe it is time to fanboy.

I hope the picture in that post makes it to the cover art. The Flavor of Life cover art had her looking…stressed.

I don't think her cover of Fly Me to the Moon ever appeared in any of the ending sequences for the Evangelion series, which is what the entry implies. If it did, this is news.

It seems like Fly Me to the Moon is just there to capitalize on the connection Evangelion fans make with the song and series, especially if it's just a re-mix, which requires minimal to zero singing on her part. If she does the re-mixing herself, then power to her.

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Utada-Online is back, but...

The community forums are gone in favour of a blog. Given the bandwidth and moderation hassles of running a full-blown forum, this was a good move on the RetroJapan's part, but I'll miss the forums as a source of lyric translations and live performance recordings.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 14. About me

Notes on the final track. The shift to a darker theme in the bridge reminds me of the introduction of foreign sounding material in the bridge for Keep Tryin'. There are probably other examples, but it was the first one to come to mind, and the contrast in Keep Tryin' is very apparent.

Given that she's divorced now, it's hard not to look at this song (and others, like Flavor of Life, YMMWTBAM) in a different light.

* * *

Simple acoustic guitar song, for the most part, with typical light R&B accompaniment (snare/cymbal, some piano, bass drum) in later sections. The guitar section sounds like something that Maaya Sakamoto might do in a quiet, introspective piece.

It's pretty and picturesque, and very honest. I keep thinking that this would be a perfect moment for Hikaru to totally own the listener with the power of her voice, but after some more listening, the accompaniment creates too light of an atmosphere to do some serious vocal work [this doesn't make any sense, really]. I think that the lightness of the moment is good fit with the honest simplicity of her voice and lyrics.

She speaks of her fears of marriage, perhaps. She questions whether either party is ready, whether the relationship has advanced enough, whether either side is open about their thoughts, if the trust is there. She doesn't speak in figurative terms, these are direct questions. And she fears that the image that she puts on is giving the wrong signals.

I suppose she'd have the experience, given her status. I'm sure many people have tried to ask her out.

I'm trying to search for a message hidden in the lyrics, but I'm not really finding any. At best, when she admits to being prone to dishonesty, being crazy, and not being cute, it's like she's telling her crazed fans that she's not who we think she is, that she has a dark side [Devil Inside :D?]. I don't dispute it, there are small pieces during the Budokan concert and Making of Utada Unplugged that capture her in a less than positive mood.

To a new listener, it could be advice to not form any preconceptions based on her music. It's a much weaker proposition, admittedly. I've got nothing.

It's a fitting end to Exodus, a change in many ways from her previous style, musically, lyrically, and culturally.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 13. Let me give you my love

Notes on the unlucky track follow. If only the music were as progressive as the lyrics.

* * *

A song about interracial relationships. Sort of. It starts off like that, and then just sort of goes into regular relationship type stuff, as things should, as opposed to having your parents beat you over the head and move out of town. As expected, it's sexually charged.

It's got a casual, sensual feel to it. Lazy synthesized minor descending chords, warped synthesized bass, that kind of atmosphere. It's pretty standard stuff, apart from the subject matter, which quickly goes from out of the ordinary to something closer to ordinary. There's not enough said concerning social acceptance to read into these lyrics, it's just implied.

Some comments about choruses for these types of songs in general. Why the high, thin, register? Is it because it makes the female vocalist sound submissive, weak, or maybe just breathless and willing? It doesn't sound inviting to me, rather it sounds depraved.

Again, generic, not too bad, typical R&B. It's just not something I appreciate except from its interesting subject matter. Upon repeated listens, though, she doesn't develop the ideas enough to warrant this single track looping I'm doing.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 12. Wonder 'Bout

Washing dishes, Watching baseball matches. Are these references to the Deep River era songs Hikari (specifically the PV) and Play Ball? If so, this is a lot more tongue and cheek than I had previously thought, with Parody vibes.

Fans of the Distance era should have had a blast. This is one track where the lyrics flow well, and she really sounds true to Distance form.

* * *

Wonder 'Bout is another typical R&B/hip-hop (I'm no good at distinguishing) track, about, well, wondering about what an ex-boyfriend is doing. Nothing shocking, except where she says, I don't give a damn about you, or I don't f***king give a damn, in the second chorus. It took me a while to catch this, even though it
was pointed out in a forum thread called, Sailor mouth (hah).

It's got the usual instrumentation, including the wah wah muted trumpet, except it's sampled; electronic E piano (the soft sounding piano mode for those old Yamaha Clavinova electronic keyboards); the bop hollow percussion (name escapes me) [maybe they were just wood blocks]; and sampled clarinet (at least I think it's clarinet…I should know since I played it, but eh). The setting evoked is late 80's/early 90's, very old school.

I've heard one person call this track absolute crap, without giving any reason why. It's pretty generic, but it's fun a track. It has a jazzy slant, laid back and cool, as in restrained, cool jazz styles. Hikaru flips the rapid fire lyrics over with ease, with slight blue note rises/leans at phrase openings. She really sounds like a different kind of singer. If that's her intention, to play a jazz vocalist for one track, she's done an excellent job.

I think this is the one situation where her lack of richness becomes an asset, because you have to dispense with sonority and replace that with snappiness for this kind of music.

Generic, nothing special/spectacular, but well done. Fans of retro hip-hop will like this one.

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Utada Hikaru, Exodus - 11. You make me want to be a man

Notes for the track with the really long title follow. YMMWTBAM, even the acronym is unwieldy. The golden touch that was Utada United didn't really help, even with a pounding - and I mean pounding - bass drum. It just goes to show that some songs are beyond salvation.

* * *

Because guys can't communicate well with women, but guys can communicate among each other. That about sums up the lyrics.

The erhu kind of chinese stringed instrument riff at the opening is beginning to get on my nerves. Ok, so quarter tones are fine even though they may sound out of tune, but after being beaten over the head with it for the umpteenth time, it begins to sound old, and flat [har har].

As a matter of fact, it's something I can't get out of my head, and it absolutely dominates the chorus, which drives me insane. In the end, this is about on par with the Workout in terms of dislike-ability. It's like the Exotic Asian card was extended, rolled into a cardboard tube, and used to beat the listener over the head. The wailing section and erhu-like instrument are just over the top, with everything else being generic and mediocre.

Hikaru doesn't do a bad job singing the verses, but they're short and undeveloped one or two-liners.

Everything is so contrasting, there's no blend. There's the annoying stringed instrument, or the annoying melody. That's all there's to say.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 10. Kremlin Dusk

I disagree with my previous self. Kremlin Dusk and Animato are at each other's throats for best track, with Hotel Lobby a close second (or third?). Right now, Kremlin Dusk edges out Animato only because Animato hasn't been given a crazy live performance like in Utada United.

* * *

Claimed by many to be the best song of Exodus [Ed: see summary at top]. I think it's a toss up between this and Exodus '04. KD is ambitious in its scope and breadth [Ed: aren't these the same thing?], claimed by Hikaru to be something like Bohemian Rhapsody. I wouldn't go so far as to say it sounds like BR, but it does share some similarities with OK Computer or something that X Japan might do.

It's a fight to reach that status, though. She walks on thin ice in the first half. In the Calling you bridges, it sounds like she's fighting for air even as she hits what sound like high tones at the limits of her range. Call it wailing, call it caterwauling, it's something that I thought only bad pop artists or beginning vocal music students could only get away with it.

The second half breaks into fast rock, and there's a sense of epicness about it, and it kicks everyone's ass, and all is right with the world. There's not much else to say about the rock session, except it's rocking, and that it's epic, and that it kicks my ass. There's are phrase interjections that add to the ass kicking factor, as she slowly sings amid the swirl, thunder, fire, and brimstone.

The speed transition is typical, is pretty standard, but never ceases to impress me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for plucked strings in consonant intervals with lengthy gaps between, in a alternating descending pattern (sort of like dah…duh, and then another dah…duh at a lower tone). They also make an appearance in the beginning. There's also a male voice that says something like, Bjork repeatedly during the transition. Makes you wonder.

It's up in the air as to what the lyrics are about. The opening suggests that she's lost a partner, given the reference to Lenore, which, after some Googling, is an Edgar Allan Poe poem [The Raven] about the death of a loved one [the simulated raven croaking was a nice touch]. The rock half is probably related, but the entertainer references that are interleaved in the lyrics suggest some sort of private conversation with the listener. Consider the line where instead of saying, I'm a natural entertainer, she says, I promise secret propaganda [I think it's now generally agreed that she says run a secret propaganda]. It's a bit distorted, and might be missed amid the busyness of the band. Then there are lines asking if you've liked this and would you come back? The last two lines:

If you like this. Will you remember my name?
Will you play it again, if you like this?

The persistent guitar that kicks in, I initially thought as cheap MIDI fit for Street Fighter 0.2, or Tetris (she says she plays Tetris. Hm…) [She owns at Tetris. True story. YouTube it]. I still think that it is, but it's not as bad as it was, say, 12 hours ago (yes, I was up till about 3 am). Consider the following, pulled from utada-online.net from translated from Hikaru's liner notes:

She felt that only live drums would do this song justice, so she
asked Jon Theodore from the Mars Volta, since she was very 'into'
their music at the time.

If the song's good enough for live drums, then at least that guitar could have been switched for an electric guitar for the rock session [I disagree with such a move now]. Better yet, put in a harpsichord for the opening half, switch to electric guitar for the rock session, and close with the harpsichord. There'd be a more clockwork, mechanical, tension.

Anyway, theory about why she sounds like she's absolutely suffering during those wailing bridges in the opening half. She performs the same passage with better results during the lead up to the rock section. I think it's because it's the dynamic is a little louder, and the tempo a bit faster. I figure if she can hit that high tone in Kettobase (live!), or even in the coda of Deep River (live!), she can hit the notes here [studio recording!]. I don't think she's necessarily writing out of her range, although I think I'll have to go check now.

The problem happens when she has to sing high and quietly. It's going to require quite a bit of air, and I think she's letting her tone quality smear in order to not suffocate. But I just heard the passage again, and on the way down, she's flat on a tone. Flat! Why couldn't they have raised the pitch in post production? …

Anyway, very good music, good vocals in the second half. Intriguing lyrics. Someone has to analyse them.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 09. Crossover Interlude

A summary of this really short ninth track follows.

* * *

Essentially opens like in Opening, but maybe with the tempo raised, and a drum beat. She sings the exact same lyrics, but some instrumental accompaniment pits her against some dissonance. I'm not sure what to make of this, except maybe it serves as a reminder to the listener. I should add that it's like she's looking for support and
faith in her new style.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 08. Animato

Notes on lucky number eight. Taking these albums out for another spin, I can't help but think that Hikki needs to write lyrics that flow with the music. A lot of the lines sound disjunct and consequently juvenile. Part of it is also delivery, as just having attitude can polish seemingly un-salvageable songs. Case in point: Devil Inside at Utada United 2006.

As usual, square bracket comments are meta-comments.

* * *

The track ends with the kind of air-burst effect used in Galerie Stratique's Soleil Levant. I don't mind it, it's like adding white noise for added contemplative effect. A background chorus kicks in and for a moment it sounds like it might be something Enigma might do, sampling from O Fortuna. It turns into a bit of an upbeat march, with textures being added every so often.

I like the electronic background used in this. This is the track that is sufficiently experimental to warrant such accompaniment. Hikaru's voice is light and easy, and I don't think in this case her voice is the feature attraction. Rather, it's the background, and her vocals are but another instrument in the fabric.

I thought that I'd have more to say about the music, but really that's about it. It's layered and experimental, and it's still accessible [i.e. it doesn't sound like garbage] which is a bonus for these kinds of tracks. Listen to it.

I get the sense that the lyrics are autobiographical, another one-sided conversation with the listener with asian music stereotypes ingrained in their brains. The verse lines are pentatonic once again, but the track as a whole is not. In her verses, she asks why her music has to be classified. She makes a reference to hip-hop, and her abilities to do (I'm guessing) hip-hop/R&B. Instead, she says that she does what she does best. It's another remark about transcendence and the [sp3, haha!] hybridization styles. The track closes with some of the artists she's listened to: Elvis (early rock), BBC recording sessions with Led Zeppelin (metal), Fred Mercury (of Queen, also metal).

There's a remark about diamond shoes and being on time. I wonder if it's a Cinderella reference.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 07. Hotel Lobby

Terse pseudo-technical commentary continues with notes on the seventh track. Incidentally, the melodic structure of Hotel Lobby's verse appears in the bridge of her latest single (available for download on iTunes in Japan). Square-bracket comments are new.

* * *

Whoo, Latin styles. Hikaru should've dragged in a steel drum band [maybe she did, now that I think about it]. The electronic clipped piano thingy (I can't identify what kind instrument plays that introductory motif) is not too intrusive.

I might as well get through the lyrics. At first I wasn't sure what was going on since I couldn't really make out the lyrics. But after hearing [I'm kind of slow that way] that it's about a prostitute, everything sort of clicked, and I could make out the lyrics. It's amazing how well your hearing improves once you have a framework to work with. The lyrics are descriptive of the situation and thoughts of the character. Who knows if they're realistic. They're brief enough to say that they're representative.

This is another of those tracks that is executed well. The verses are sort of quick, and the high register that they are sung in, combined with the high register harmony, can lead to a bit of distortion, but again, after knowing what's going on, it's a lot easier to pick out the words. I think the higher register is appropriate given the style and character of the track.

The really engaging part is the chorus. The underlying harmony swells and drives the harmonic progression out of sync [colloquially known as call and response] with the main line, and it's like the two are racing. They quickly swell and peak in sync, before falling and doing the same thing again. It's really chant-like, and chant is usually energizing [I do like the choral elements of Yuki Kajiura's works]. There is some solo chanting in between verses and chorus as well.

Upon listening to the chorus again, the dramatic swelling is only done on the first pass. The second run is a bit sparser. I wish that there was a greater dynamic change at the top of swell relative to the bottom. It would have added that much more energy.

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Utada Hikaru - Exodus, 06. Tippy Toe

The stream of consciousness continues with notes on the sixth track. Tippy Toe is like a guilty pleasure. I'm too modest.

* * *

Whenever I listen to this track, I'm reminded of the MTV Unplugged performance of Addicted to You. That's a good thing. Actual similarities are non-existent though.

This is a coy track, and is pretty typical pop R&B, except that the verses use some pentatonic scale, in a bit of an Exotic Asian twist. At the end of the verse it concludes with a proper Western cadence. Insistent bass drum generates a good forward movement. The rest of the instrumentation is pretty standard for an R&B track. The pentatonic percussion makes brief entrances in the verses, nothing prominent.

There's the addition of this droning electronic bass effect, which is pretty strong. During the chorus, I hear either that, or her. The one not being paid attention becomes muddled in the background. More often than not, it's the bass that takes centre stage. It's annoying.

The combination of a high register chorus and fast lyrics creates this slurring effect. I have no solutions, but she can sing Kettobase verses cleanly, and they've got fast jumps, albeit it's scored for a mid to high register. Anyway, the chorus takes several passes (song passes, not chorus passes) to get a sense of what she's saying.

I think what reminds me most of Addicted to You is the lead up to the chorus. In both there's a bit of transition and tension leading up to the real chorus, and all the while bass drum is motoring things along. It's a nice effect. Beats the stuffing out of the Up-in-Heaven mix.

At the end of the first verse, when she says you in a high range, she clips it off, maybe due to shortness of breath. People complain about how whenever she says ooh! in such a high register it sounds distorted. For them it was a show stopper. For me, it's a minor issue. It sounds smeared, yes. If the main voice and harmony voice were clean and short, it would have resonated, like the ooh! in Kettobase Unplugged. Missed opportunity, but it doesn't break the song.

Same complaints about her voice lacking any interesting qualities, yada yada. I shouldn't say anything unless she does something special, or especially bizarre.

I'm not paying attention too much to the lyrics. In the second verse the backgrounds drown out some of her fast lyrics. Extra-marital affairs, but from what I can tell it's not really insightful, just viewed through romanticism-tinted glasses.

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