Deep Dive: Utada Hikaru Part Ten (Hatsukoi)

    Boys and girls, in 20 years we have come full circle. (In about a month during this Deep Dive time). We began our journey with Utada with First Love (in English), and now here we are with "first love" in Japanese, Hatsukoi. Utada's ninth studio album. (I count her Japanese and English ones since First Love). Anyway! This album was released to commemorate Utada's 20th anniversary since her debut in 1998. Much like Heart Station celebrated the 10th anniversary in 2008. We are now in 2018. The album's artwork pays homage to First Love, but I think that's pretty much where the similarities end. Which I will explain later. Eh. Let's just go ahead and announce we're deep diving.

    First impressions of Hatsukoi will have you thinking "wow. Strings." There's a lot of that going on. Also, she doesn't layer her vocals as much as past efforts. The album overall has a more acoustic feel, and the lack of vocal layering gives it that impression that she's performing all the songs live for us instead of going heavy on studio magic. I have a feeling that this album will age very well. As it has so far. 

    "Play a Love Song" is a fun and light opener for us to cleanse our palette on after the heavy ender of Fantôme, "Sakura Nagashi." It's playful and poppy. Not too acoustic though the never-ending 90s-esque piano helps smooth and blend it in with what follows. It has a nice hook in the chorus where it utilizes the title. 

    Electronic elements be gone. Here on "Anata" we are singing with a full band and strings. A gorgeous piano features here. Oh and fun horns. Utada was like "everyone loved horns from the last album, let's do that again here." And it. Is. Amazing. "Anata" is the most impressive song of the bunch here. And it's just the second song, so I'm foreshadowing that we lose the energy we gained here later in the album. The bridge before the ending just opens up and becomes something greater than this album, anyways. "Anata" is just a gorgeous song. And a nice one to sing along to too!

    Continuing the theme of love, we come to "Hatsukoi," the title track. I'd like to think that if Utada did release the original song of "First Love" as a single in 2018. It would be this song. There are nice parallels between the two. Though both at opposite ends of Japan's most successful soloist's career. Where "First Love" feels like now, "Hatsukoi" feels like looking into the past. Which is a nice moment to commemorate for a 20th anniversary. There's a lot going on sonically in the background of this ballad. Strings, guitar, and a prominent piano. It's sad. It's beautiful. Her vocal performance is stunning and so heart wrenching. If we've learned one thing about Utada during these deep dives, it's that she is so emotive and expressive. It's on full display here. And throughout the album. Perhaps this is the album where she does the best at being expressive. There's a drama about both "First Love" and "Hatsukoi," so you know that there is a story behind both of them. 

    "Chikai" was used for Kingdom Hearts. And I have to admit, I was disappointed with it. But! In my defense, it had big shoes to fill following "Hikari" and "Passion." It's not a bad song. No. Not at all. It's a beautiful ballad jam packed to the overflowing brim with emotion. And is acoustic orchestra like the rest of the album. But it just didn't feel much like Kingdom Hearts. Fortunately, this was fixed with "Face My Fears" which was the banger the series needed. Both of the songs together did wonders for the game. 

    Back to "Chikai." It does many things right for a ballad. It's not boring. It keeps you guessing. It builds nicely. Utada's vocal performance is great as well. There's a bridge where it's like she's rapping kinda which is a nice touch. 

    Then we come to a single, "Forevermore." I really like this one. It's like the epitome of the album in one song. It combines all the elements featured on Hatsukoi nicely. The suspense of the song is its greatest strength. And those strings during the beginning set it up so perfectly. The drums hit hard too!

    "Too Proud" was a song I instantly liked upon first listen of the album. The chorus is simple for Utada, but it's insanely catchy and one of the song's strengths. It also continues the love theme of the album and even questions monogamy. Interestingly enough, it's the album's only collaboration and features a rapper by the name of Jevon. I had never heard of him pre-album, and I have not heard anything about him post album. Which is such a shame because his verse makes the song. It's a unique and quirky track. Just listen to that beat that sounds distant at times. And it sounds like Utada is speaking English through a cloud (and those English lyrics are strangely a hook?). Then you get Jevon and his distinguished style and verse. 

    "Good Night" reminds me in an excellent way of "Show Me Love (Not A Dream)." That chorus hits like Floyd Mayweather. Instrumentally, it's dreamy. And Utada's vocals are as playful as a theme park. Probably the best drums on the album! I am in love with this song. The guitar. The guitar!

    Okay. Story time about the next song, "Pakuchii no Uta." I CANNOT find the article now, but I still remember it so vividly. JPopAsia published an article about Utada writing a song around 2011. The title of the article was something like "Utada Hikaru Writes a Song About Coriander." In that article, I think Utada had tweeted about how she wrote a song about coriander and loved it. People were freaking out because she was on hiatus but still writing music and thought she would come back in 2013 or so (lol. We really played ourselves there). Which means!!!! This song was written pre-comeback! It was already about 7 years old when it got released. I mean, I'm sure it was recorded to go with this album. And it's catchy in a child's nursery rhyme way. The hook definitely stands out. 

    I guess you never know what an artist does with all of their material. "Pakuchii no Uta" is a nice little song. The horns on the chorus are so damn classy. And I love the hook. It is fun to say and sing. 

    "Nokoriga" features a church organ. And by feature? It's the main draw here. And it's impressive. I hope there's something like this at my funeral. There is no other Utada song that sounds like this one. So she got experimental with this one.

    "Oozora de Dakishimete" is breezy as hell. Utada shows her playful and teasing side more in this album that it originally appears. This song is proof of this. It feels like a sister song to "Forevermore" to me. In sound, but also how the blue sky goes on forever, so does the forever in "Forevermore." "Oozora" sounds as big as the big blue sky and embraces it. The song sounds like it throws curves every once in awhile in the verses. Which makes it great for repeated listens

    "Yuunagi" has some noises in the back of it which help to broaden it. The piano is so pretty. Then the strings kick in and Utada starts singing. It sounds so sad like a bleak rainy day in a gray city. Though it's tracks like this one, "Nokoriga," "Chikai," and "Hatsukoi" where Utada flexes that creative muscle. She shows us it's not about the destination but the journey with songs like this one. And you better be prepared for a thrilling and unexpected ride.

    Then we arrive at our final track! "Shittosarerubeki Jinsei" feels like an ending. And it's really great. There's like a beat that sounds like someone impatiently knocking at the door. The last few songs here feel like a natural progression that got us to this point. This is just a cool song overall with those vocal effects right before the chorus. Utada has always been great at opening and ending albums, and Hatsukoi is no exception. "Jinsei" strikes the great balance between experiment, enjoyment, and encompassing all of what we heard on the album previously. It's not a new thought, it's wrapping up the situation as a whole. 

    In conclusion, I have to give it up for Utada. I went into this deep dive thinking that Hatsukoi is my least favorite album of hers. Then while doing this listen through and write up I was like "hold the phone. I actually really like this." Like I didn't pay this album as much attention as the others as it is my least listened overall. Now I'm like "I'm really going to have to take my time with this one and relisten." Which I'm thrilled about. It's a reason why I've been doing this project. Though I still revisit a lot of the tracks here, but I dismissed several. Now I'm kicking myself that I did!

Rank: A Rank. Play all the love songs here.

Recommendation: I listened to this album for the first time while cooking and grilling out. I'd say it's good for that.

Standouts:

    Anata

    Hatsukoi

    Chikai

    Too Proud 🔥

    Good Night