Utada Hikaru

[Malboro_Menace]

Yeah she's the one who sings the Kingdom Hearts themes Sanctuary and Simple and Clean. I think they're good songs but... some of the lyrics in Simple and Clean are...weird. Like "Do I have to meet your father" thats a little weird. But the rest is pretty good.

[Cruise Control]

I like how she's suddenly "the best thing ever" since she sings for a video game.

EDIT: Not reffering to you of course.

[Rostum]

She's not that great of a singer, imo. I guess I'm just too obsessed with Jeff Buckley and his obviously more amazing voice.

[JKTrix]

I wouldn't call her a 'great' singer either, but her versatility is pretty good. She grew up in America, so her 'Engrish' accent is minimal if not completely nonexistant. If you've heard other Japanese music where they sing a few scattered English words here and there, I think you'll recognize the thick accent. Utada sings entire songs in English without this accent.

The Kingdom Hearts songs fit better (and possibly are more coherant) in Japanese, naturally, since she writes the songs in Japanese. Then for the English versions of these Kingdom Hearts songs she has to fit English words in the same rhythms and tones as the original version, and the result is as you pointed out.

I watched a short program late last year that had her singing with 2 guys on a guitar and a piano, first she sang Greenday's Boulevard of Broken Dreams (entirely in English), then switched over to Passion (Japanese/Original version of Sanctuary).

But yeah, I like her. She's been the 'Best Thing Ever' in Japan for a while, not just because she sings for these 2 games :P She's one of the 2 top J-Pop Idols over there (the other is Ayumi Hamasaki).

[Mo-Nercy]

I was going to say that Utada Hikaru is not just a video game singer, but I was beaten to the punch.

In any case I really like her. Passion/Sanctuary and Simple and Clean/Hikari are awesome. I like Tokyo Nights too.

I'm sorry to say that I like Ayumi Hamasaki much much more.

[IceAngel]

I like Hikaru. Shes my fav J-Pop singer..... buts thats probs coz the only other person I've heard is Yuna Ito. I have all her albums even the English one she released in the UK and US..... I dont really like that one as much as her Japanese work. I admit shes not the best singer out there.... especially live performances, but I like her style of music. Did you know she wrote and recorded her first song when she was 12? Thats pretty good.

I prefer Simple and Clean to Passion/Sanctuary. I dunno why. Its probably the remix that did it for me lol.

[LunarWeaver]

I like her a lot . And I am indeed one of those people who had no idea who she was at all until I played Kingdom Hearts and sought out information about Simple and Clean. Then I went and got some of her other stuff and lived happily ever after with my Exodus. How very horrid of me to discover her after she got a fanbase outside of Japan instead of before.

And I'm now going to discreetly slip in my favorite GMV featuring a Sanctuary remix.

[crono_logical]

Eh, them songs are okay Hamasaki Ayumi though, I find sounds too generic and boring for my tastes

[Raven Nox]

The Kingdom Hearts songs fit better (and possibly are more coherant) in Japanese, naturally, since she writes the songs in Japanese.

I'm going to nitpick and point out that Sanctuary was actually written before Passion was, even though the Japanese lyrics flow alot better than the english ones do.

I think most of the stuff on her Exodus album is pretty bad or average, though alot of the hits she's had in Japan were good. Overall I like her once you ignore the Exodus album. I really couldn't get into it sadly.

[IceAngel]

You know Sanctuary was supposed to be written before Passion... I reckon the After the Battle is the one she wrote first. Sanctuary ATB sounds better. I reckon the opening version is kinda like a 'remix'ish thing..... maybe :-S.
Those are just my thoughts and I thought I'd randomly share them....

[No.78]

I like her songs

[Fynn]

Yeah she's the one who sings the Kingdom Hearts themes Sanctuary and Simple and Clean. I think they're good songs but... some of the lyrics in Simple and Clean are...weird. Like "Do I have to meet your father" thats a little weird. But the rest is pretty good.

I'm pretty positive that it's "... meet you farther"... But that's just me...

[IceAngel]

Made sense to me. I thought it was the guy making excuses and he says "Don't get me wrong I love you, but does that mean I have to meet your father?"
She answers ... I think its meant to be a sarcastic answer "When we(you?) are older you will understand what I meant when I said "no, I dont think life is quite that simple."
Basically I think shes saying "life/love isnt simply being with someone, you have to know them fully"
I cant explain it anybetter even though I know where I'm coming from lol :-S

[Aerisfanatic]

Yeah she's the one who sings the Kingdom Hearts themes Sanctuary and Simple and Clean. I think they're good songs but... some of the lyrics in Simple and Clean are...weird. Like "Do I have to meet your father" thats a little weird. But the rest is pretty good.

i think when she is saying "do i have to meet your father" she is saying she doent wanna rush things and dont want to make it complicated thus the title "simple and clean"

[Yliette]

But then I've got a feeling that she's faking the Engrish accent whenever she sings Sanctuary from KH2.

"Wonk uoy naht noitceffa erom deen I" was a pretty cool feature! Hikki has strange ideas! Strange yet admirable! At first I thought she was merely garbling Japanese nonesense when it was actually "I need more affection than you know" read backwards.

Other favorite line from the song is "My heart's a battleground."

Although her official name is Utada Hikaru, she's actually Iwashìta Hikaru now. She's married more than 5 years! Or so I think...

And I hope the surname doesn't get banned since it has a famous profane word in it. I never meant any profanity. :mog: