Heart Station

Wednesday, 9 April 2008 in Music, Video
Tags: celebrate, heart station, music, prisoner of love, utada hikaru, YouTube

I’ve been following Utada Hikaru’s music career ever since I was at RIT. And though i’m not nearly as obsessed with her as i initially was (and i really did obsess, as my friend Becky can attest to), i can still say i’m a fan of her.

I’ve actually first heard of her through her second album, Distance. I was initially very impressed by the music video and the R&B-infused music of Can You Keep a Secret? and Wait & See ~Risk~, and eventually went back to her debut album of First Love, which seemed amateur at that point.

But my favourite by far was her third album, Deep River. One song would flawlessly blend into each other as you weren’t concerned with which was a single and which was just another song. It was a great concept album, and it was the first time she showed us her ability to layer arrangements beautifully. From Sakura Drops to Travelling to Deep River, there seemed to be more instruments yet to be discovered with each addition listen.

I wasn’t very happy with her next album though, Ultra Blue, as mentioned here. Sure, the singles were pretty good, but there were no tie-in with any of the fillers, yes fillers, full of cheap hooks and forgettable melodies.

So when i found out her new album, Heart Station, was recently released on Amazonmp3, i was skeptical at best. I had close to no expectation.

Well colour me surprised. Perhaps it’s due to my recent infatuation of electronica, but the tracks were very well paired with her upbeat music and electronica through her usual use of flamboyant arrangements. What’s more was that in the later tracks such as Celebrate and Prisoner of Love she had once again introduced her R&B origins, a la First Love only sounding a lot more mature. It’s only been a few days but i’m definitely thinking she has come full circle. Click on the link to check out some of her live performances:

Introduction of Heart Station:

Celebrate:

Prisoner of Love:

Flavor of Life: