Hikaru Utada sings like she’s really in love
Hikaru Utada has been one of the greatest popstars in Japan for the past 24 years. Her music is ear candy; nothing profound but very well written and produced, maybe a little over produced. Catchy songs, hard to dislike, a very pleasant, light but warm voice, accompanied by invigorating doses of piano. Smooth.
Take the song in the video above. Light classical piano music to accompany a melancholic love song, lots of pathos, but Utada sings it like she means it. Too bad a drum computer sets in halfway. I would have liked a real drummer better. I wouldn’t have minded if the whole song had been just the voice with the piano.
But I sort of like the Bjorkian percussion at the end, like the cracking sounds of ice, and the sweeping violins. Well, synthetic violins, really. But still a very nice song.
There’s a list on Spotify of the songs I reviewed in this section. It’s Frontaal Naakt’s Playlist.





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