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Utada: This Is The One (Album Review)
Filed in: Album Review, Destiny's Child, Janet Jackson, Stargate, Utada Hikaru, tricky
It’s been a long time coming…
Enjoy!
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In case you weren’t aware, Utada is a single lady again. Yet ever since the dissolution of her marriage with acclaimed Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya in 2007, the singer has not made even a single peep regarding the fact in any of her recent Japanese songs.
Maybe the words simply failed her in her native tongue. “Intoxicated, emancipated, unapologetic,” the singer proudly gushes in the chorus of “On And On,” the lead track of her second major English album, This Is The One. “Make the night go on and on,” she continues along a squeaky dance groove, ushering in a wave of frequent substance references and sexual come-ons.
Unquestionably, the album’s overtly sexual ‘tude and frequent references to marijuana may prove just a bit jarring to the ears of some fans of Utada, the same soft-spoken, teddy bear-toting artist that only three years ago released a children’s song called “I’m A Bear.” “During my 9 to 5’s, I’m thinking 6 and 9’s,” she coos along the bridge of “Dirty Desire,” a throbbing session of moans and groans not to far from the realm of another nasty songstress—Miss Jackson.
Lyrics aside, even the production may come as a surprise to some enthusiasts of her earlier English work. Far from the electronic pulsations of 2004’s Exodus, This Is The One is a career turnaround, placing the singer right back into the hip-hop vibe she first began with in 1997. With the assistance of producers Stargate and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart behind the mixing panel, the album revolves around a nostalgic array of trippy hip-hop beats and slinky dance grooves. And while most of the songs benefit from a twist of modernity (such as the infectious blend of urban beats and bossa nova swagger in “Me Muero”), some simply reek of kitsch ( “Taking My Money Back,” which might as well be a bonus track off of Destiny’s Child’s Writings On The Wall.)
The singer, who once managed to rhyme in the phrase “Tomb of Tutankhamen” on her 2004 album, only continues to indulge in her penchant for brow-raising phrasing: From “Honeys, if you’re gay, burn it up like a gay parade,” to “Used to be a Virgin, now I’m with Island Def Jam,” Utada’s made sure to supply each track with a few conversational conundrums worthy of at least one full head tilt.
Her need to poke fun at her own ethnicity has also made a resounding, if not entirely cringe-worthy comeback, raising the stakes with some truly awkward indulgences. “I love you long time,” she sighs into “Dirty Desire” at one point without even a lick of irony.
Utada’s follow-up effort (or as she insists, her “real debut”) is commendable in many ways—it’s fresh, hip, and incredibly re-listenable from start to finish. Yet in order to create such an accessible record as This Is The One, Utada has also sacrificed that wonderfully experimental sound of her deeply underrated 2004 release. Sure, it’s not the worst thing she could have done (a dabble into the territory of alt-country folk would probably do the trick), but it’s most certainly the safest.
Key tracks: “On And On,” “Me Muero,” “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence – FYI”
Click above to listen to Utada’s This Is The One NOW!
20 comments
No love for ‘Poppin’ or ‘Automatic’? Two favorites; maybe that’s just my obsession with early 90’s hip-hop talking though. The album is great!
“During my 9 to 5’s, I’m thinking 6 and 9’s”
What you are talking about, buddy?
You have a dirty mind.
It is the pretty witty lyrics with double entendre.
The lyrics means,” I am thinking to meet you from 6 pm to 9 pm after I finish work at 5 pm.” literally.
Second meaning is a metaphor you are thinking.:)
That’s a clever lyrics I have ever seen.
9 am to 5 pm — work
6 pm to 9 pm —- dating
another thing who don’t know about her record company (She used to be “Virgin” record company until she changed to Toshiba EMI Japan.)
FYI, when she released the album “Precious” at age 13 with “Virgin” record label, she could NOT release the album because of “Virgin” record company’s complication. So, she released it from Toshiba EMI, Japan. Also, that’s clever lyrics with double entendre.
I really don’t agree that her divorce isn’t present in any of her Japanese tracks. Listen to her Heart Station album and tell me there is nothing there.
Heart Station was released only weeks after her divorce became public. It’s there; how can’t it be?
@ 1st Anonymous…
I’m pretty darn sure that the ‘dirty’ implications are ment throughout Dirty Desire. The song is called Dirty Desire.
And on a completely unreleted note, Utada has me thinkin 6 and 9’s…
Below is the link of the Professional Music crtic’s review from Bleu Magazine.
***p://www.thebleumag.com/2009/03/bleu_critic_utada_this_is_the.html
@Jordans
Of course, everybody knows, “dirty” means.
So, I said that it is “double entendre”, using “and” between numbers.
@Jordan: No worries, there’s love for “Automatic.” “Poppin’” makes me nauseous at times, though.
@Anonymous: I guess you could say that her divorce affected Heart Station, but to me, she almost seemed as though she was distracting herself…”Nijiro Basu De” and “Celebrate”? I don’t know…Oh, and the release doesn’t mean much, as the recording process took places months and months before the divorce announcement (not to say that they weren’t considering it back then, but…)
@Other anonymous: I literally agree with nothing said in that Bleu review.
This is not a better album than Exodus. More digestable? Perhaps. But you cannot tell me that “Kremlin Dusk” doesn’t trump half of This Is The One immediately.
I guess you could say that her divorce affected Heart Station, but to me, she almost seemed as though she was distracting herself…”Nijiro Basu De” and “Celebrate”? I don’t know…
Obviously, divorce is a touchy subject so she can’t talk about it very directly (especially considering her particular market), however: I’ fairly certain that the track Heart Station was in its entirety about her divorce. …About moving on but the memories being inescapable at times. You can’t expect a pop singer to publish an entire album about DIVORCE of all things.
P.S. I thought Nijiro Basu had evident melancholy tones to it. Celebrate, OTOH, was IMHO about cheering someone else up… not necessarily herself.
Also, Utada’s not single at the moment.
2nd Also: English is her ‘native tongue.’ In fact, she is considered to have an almost foreign accent/pronunciation when she sings in Japanese.
Thanks for reviewing the album. I’m really surprised with Utada’s new album. I’ve heard her previous offerings and I’m quite impressed by this one.
Anyways, I’m willing to link you up on my website. Will that be alright?
Absolutely, Ken! I’ll do the same for you…looks like we’ve a lot in common
xx
-from Silverheart42
i've been a hikki fan for quite some time and i know exactly why she went in this direction. she got a strong fanbase, almost downright obsessive, with her previous work. she spent a long time grinding out this album while working on her new japanese album, too. the intense effort was for a reason, i'm sure hikki has a difficult time backtracking so far. when she was Cubic U, apart from being decidedly r&b the songs were still romantically touching. which is probably why they didn't fly off the charts like this will.
hikki is counting on a massive response with this highly sexual, booty-bouncin' album. thing is, hikki is so incredibly cute. she has an angel implanted in her throat. and my guess is in order to compensate for that and still get her ultra-RnB message across, she's made the lyrics borderline-filthy and sampled the tried-and-true song styles of past RnB greats. but she's still that darling lovesick hikki, as we are reminded of in "this one (crying like a child)".
for a serious fan of hikki like me, someone who has memorized and can sing some of her japanese classics, it's a stretch for me to hear her go in this direction. and at such a fevered pace. but i remember "let me give you my love" and "the workout" (a song i deleted because it just wasn't doing it for me. the phrase "don't stop get it get it" sounds like porn). and if i understood the japanese hit "addicted to you" correctly, she was singing about an abusive relationship. she's tackled relationship problems and hikki has hinted at her hypersexual tendencies before. she just didn't use a whole album to do it. but aren't the pretty girls the ones we think about doing all the nasty things to? i'd like to think so.
as usual i commend hikki for her lovely singing voice and flexing her vocal range for us in the studio. if this gets play on the hip-hop stations it's a platinum at least.
“Don’t stop, get it, get it” porn worthy? lols
I know you said, “Honeys, if you’re gay, burn it up like a gay parade,” to “Used to be a Virgin, now I’m with Island Def Jam,” was head-tilt worthy, but I actually LOVE them! x) I find “Do you like the way I rhyme? It’s pretty darn clever” and hell, half of “FYI” much much worse xP
As for if this is better than ‘Exodus’, we’ll have to agree to disagree. The songs and lyrics from ‘Exodus’ were past head-tilt – they were just cringe! xD(Even my favorite, ‘Tippy Toe’ had me going ‘what was she thinking? Catchy, if not a little wordy tho…’)
This one may really be “this one” for her. It’s not perfect, but it’s good.
I’ve been a fan of Utada for a number of years now, and have been very easily able to listen to any of her songs and almost instantly love them.
I feel, however, that I can ‘connect’ with her English stuff more, probably because she sings about completely different things in Japanese and English.
But yes, I did love This Is The One from the off, sure, a few dodgy lines here and there, but overall I could listen to the album over and over, with most of the album being instant favourites.
Usually, I don’t listen to the melody at first, I listen to the lyrics and try to comprehend what is being said, which is true, which is why I never liked the other guy’s review who said “the album is repetitive”, simple because he wasn’t listening to the lyrics, just the melody.
I think Utada went for the better option here, simply because she said she wants to break out in other territories, and this is the kind of music they’re listening to.
I personally love EXODUS, I love all the songs and feel a connection because of the wide variety of music she offered with it. I also kind of prefer EXODUS, just because of the experimental side she showed, I hate how she called the entire album a “mistake”, though – Kremlin Dusk may be one of the best songs ever created!
But, yes, I think This Is The One should have been released first, to gain that fan base, and then EXODUS, which is truly an underrated album, being released next.
I’ll still root for her though, Utada is still, after 10 years of loyal song-making, fresh and very easy to listen to, with her swift and smooth vocals, and pounding, yet soft and chilling melodies, she sure can make it into the US and other territories, the talent is most certainly there, people just need to listen!
“This Is The One” Ranked in Billboard 200 at # 69 for the week of May 30th!!
She is the first Japanese Female artist who cracked Billboard Top 100. Congrats, Utada!
Exodus 04 was way better than This Is the One. I cant stand any of the new songs. I listen to her music to get away from the fucking,drinking,jerking music they have now a days. now her stuff is crap too…
Having heard her break out song (Automatic is what I first heard played) while in Japan on the ski slopes (yes, I know, technically, she was already singing as Cubic U before that but…), I think the current album is a reflection of a girl becoming a woman. I was disappointed with Exodus '04 because I didn't think it did her justice; it seemed like studios trying to play it safe while allowing her to try something different from her Japanese style. If some of the songs on this album can get some air play here in the States, I think they'll generate interest.
My biggest concern for her now is that she doesn't follow in the footsteps of Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears.
I liked Tippy Toe and Devil Inside in her Exodus album, the rest just left me confused, it was too experiemental for my taste. This is The One is so so good!!! It keeps on growing on me. I’m waiting on the music videos though, I’ve only seen Come Back To Me so far…
I think this album is ridiculously incredible! This is like 1st love allll over again but in america and with less sales lol. I’m not bashing her @ all cuz I own jus about every cd she has released both english n japanese but its the truth. It hasn’t really gotten far enough
and its sad cuz I mean yea it did better than exodus but I still have yet to hear an utada song on the radio which is heartbreaking cuz I’ve been listening to her since 02 
. N e ways this cd is crazy, this one? Yea….she deff destroyed it! (In a good way) this and fyi are my favorite songs off this album. Mainly because of the originality of the actual lyrics and the infectious melodic sound that both of them contain. This one def hits home, like I felt exactly tht way a few yrs ago about sum1. Fyi is just so mysterious. In a way ( don’t freek) this songs’ individuality reminds me of the of kremlin dusk.it just stadnd out jus like kremlin dusk stood out in exodus. I really hope she stops being so conservative, music wise! I couldn’t even c her in boston 2-5-10 cuz thr tickets sold out so damn quick! Utada….wtf? Lol u did a big ass japanese tour what’s good with this dinky tour tht the tix sell out in 5 hrs??….now I have to wait another 7 yrs for her to come back to boston.. 
BUT ill still luv utada! Her music will always b top on my list!
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