Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

This is so painful. It's out here in Australia but for some reason the songs haven't been pushed through for pre-orders. You can buy them individually (I feel like it was false advertising during the pre-order stage for it to say "album only") but it's now a waiting game for when those who pre-ordered can download and listen.

Edit: cancelling my preorder an hour after it should have been available let me purchase the album and now the songs are downloading :-)

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Ahh, Chaser that really sucks! I hope you get your hands on it soon.

There are some really really great tracks on this album. I am seriously loving the hell out of 夕凪, but it legit made me ugly cry because of stuff that's going on in my personal life it really resonated with, so it was very cathartic.
Obviously love 誓い a ton and 初恋 is great. I think they do a lot to showcase her singing chops.
パクチーの唄 seemed a bit odd at first but its growing on me.
Overall, really nice selection of a few varied styles.
That being said I am...not the biggest fan of Too Proud. It's...uh...it's a thing.

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Ahh, I wonder how long it'll be until the album's on Spotify.

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

one of her best albuns

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Album's supposed to arrive today and then I've gotta send text screams at my sister to drop whatever she's doing and come listen with me because I fear I won't make it alone. I've heard so many good things.

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

I'm glad to finally hear the full song in it's full glory. It's really nice.

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Now I just gotta wait for the English version >:D

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

*patiently waits until someone uploads the album to YouTube or Spotify*

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

I need the full version of Don't Think Twice right now god damn it! Still waiting on the full version of Sanctuary sang by her on Spotify... hopefully Spotify puts this new album, Sanctuary and Don't Think Twice on there...

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

While I haven't heard the full album, but...

I absolutely have fallen in love with Chikai. Hard. Really looking forward to hear the English version.

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Unfortunately, it's not enough for me to own this digitally. I'll be scouring my local record stores for imports~

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

I'm practicing hard core so that I can sing Chikai at karaoke the next time I go out. I think I almost got the fast bit but dang a few lines still tripping me up.

I'm going to do a KH theme song jam session and it will be glorious!

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

I wasn't feeling it when the first part of the song was teased earlier in the year, but 誓い is stunningly beautiful. I really can't wait to listen to the full album. Though I'm sure it'll be great - Utada never disappoints.

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

God it sounds so good, can't wait to have this and the english version together.

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Guys, this whole album is so good ;A;

Edit: Holy shit "Yuunagi" is totally the "Kairo" of this album ;A;

Coming off of Nariaki Obukuro's "Bunriha no Natsu" which was produced by Hikki, you can really hear what her production style is like. It's so experimental and it works perfectly

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Ugh this album has no business being so damn good! Gonna be bumping this non-stop, listen to the new Gorillaz album, then come right back to this!

Praise the queen y'all

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Mmm been blasting this in my car and holy fuck “Too Proud” is a summer jam

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Possibly this Friday or sometime next week the latest, Sony Music Japan is doing what i have dubbed the "Taylor Swift Method" There just releasing it for traditional album sales first, then it will be release on streaming music services

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

I can't emphasize how perfect this album is, it's the soundtrack for my sister's 21st birthday and that's just everything. Every time Utada shifts her sound it's so magical, and the latter half of this project feels like pure emotion. Maybe too drunk to rank tracks but like, "Anata" is still perfect, "Chikai" is the best KH theme song ever, "Too Proud" is a great bop, and then everything form "Nokoriga" to the end is amazing and beautiful and feels so fresh. It's almost too much to process, first Fantome and then this follow up.

are we even worthy of this

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

Everyone is talking that she might drop another album soon.... My bet is that an english album is on the horizon

宇多田ヒカルのニューアルバム『初恋』を手掛けたグラミー受賞エンジニア、スティーヴ・フィッツモーリスが語る『初恋』の音作り　 | | moraトピックス

This song engenier said that he mixed mutiple songs during fantome and hatsukoi that hasn't been released yet and Utada herself talked about that she almost wrote Norikaga in english and there's DTT... It's the perfect oportunity with the olympic games in 2020

I think she's happy doing music again, I can see a few albuns coming for us in the future :3

Re: Utada Hikaru's 7th studio album "Hatsukoi" is out now!

It does seem like she's really enjoying herself and putting a lot into her new stuff, in which case the extended hiatus did right by her. I would implode with joy if she put out another English-language album, although I've wondered since she announced her return if she couldn't just embrace her bilingual magic and do a mixed-language album. Obviously whatever works for her artistically is the right way to go, and her instinct supersedes my headcanon, but I just don't see the need for this hard and fast divide between her two "selves." OTOH, she explained in a recent interview that the recent driving motif for her has been rediscovering the Japanese language, so I think that's beautiful and totally worth the work she's put out.

I'm surprised "Nokoriga" was a candidate for English lyrics, I had this low-key hope "Too Proud" would fill that slot, and hey, it kind of does with the substantial spoken word portion + of course Jevon's rap section. The Japanese lyrics are so catchy I can't even regret it, though.

But man does this album save the best for last. The trifecta of "Nokoriga," "Yuunagi," and "Shittosarerubeki Jinsei" as representations of that newer, refined pop sound she's been playing around with is soooo good. The last track is just one of the finest songs she's ever written, everything she does with the production and her voice and the modulation is on point. It feels like a quietly poignant culmination of her best qualities as an artist.