General Utada Hikaru's official comeback (the end of hiatus + new stuff)

[Pretsy 1343]

After an astronomical gamut of rumors, speculations and reports, Utada finally stepped in to announce that her hiatus will end on April 4th - and to quote Ronald@Arama briefly:

 

 

On this day two of her new songs will air live on Japanese television:  her theme song for the Asadora “Toto Nee-chan”, which has now been revealed to be titled “Hanataba wo Kimi ni”, and the new ending theme for news program “NEWS ZERO”, the title of which will be unveiled at a later date.

In addition:

 

 

In celebration of Utada’s return to the scene, her team have launched what is called the “NEW-TURN Project”, a webpage which will help both fans and industry professionals welcome her back. Every time any Utada-related products are purchased through the website, or anyone tweets the hashtag “#おかえりHIKKI” ("Welcome back HIKKI"), more cherry blossoms will bloom on the site’s main page.  A portion of the proceeds earned through this project will be donated to non-profit organizations which will plant cherry trees in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Arama!Japan warmly welcomes Utada Hikaru back to the Japanese music industry and encourages all those who would like to do the same to visit the “NEW-TURN Project” webpage.

http://www.utadahikaru.jp/sakura/

She will also reveal the current situation of her album songwriting process on the same day.

 

This is not news really but at least she herself confirmed it this time.

[emmny 4139]

yas welcome back queen

[beni 2149]

I have been so excited to hear any official statements for her return after all the rumors. It's looking up to be another good year in music, if not more so just because of this. Totally excited, I'm so happy for her hiatus to finally end.

[tetsu_sama69 1119]

The hype is real~

[Kaye 296]

So happy she's coming back (Just in time for that KH3 title track)

[Original Saku 1593]

So happy she's coming back (Just in time for that KH3 title track)

Dude I can only hope XD

[saishuu 3220]

J-pop in 2016 has been saved

[Trombe 22025]

her new digital singles "花束を君に" "真夏の通り雨" will be available for download since 2016/04/15

[Pretsy 1343]

Looking good! Also, it seems like both A-sides are ballads? Nonetheless, the hype shalt remain

[Pretsy 1343]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvgntLI3Sus

 

And a preview of "花束を君に". Decent-ish, I guess?

[nekkichi 6042]

better go back to sleep mama

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

I actually like this a lot, her voice sounds really great and the video is pretty cute. Is it the most exciting song? No, but it is pretty good.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

J-pop in 2016 has been saved

 

lol I wouldn't go that far but it is nice she's continuing to make music.

[beni 2149]

It's quite nice but no, nothing amazing. I should've calmed down on the hype. Still will look forward to what else she has to release.

[saishuu 3220]

Ehh I'd rather keep listening to Sakura nagashi. Hope the other song is better.

[jduv86 224]

Kind of a bland comeback to be honest. As someone who makes really incredible ballads - Sakura, Final Distance, Deep River, Simple and Clean (original version not Kingdom Hearts version), this was way under par. Hopefully this is just a warm up single to get her feet wet to make a really big splash again.

[Pretsy 1343]

Kind of a bland comeback to be honest. As someone who makes really incredible ballads - Sakura, Final Distance, Deep River, Simple and Clean (original version not Kingdom Hearts version), this was way under par. Hopefully this is just a warm up single to get her feet wet to make a really big splash again.

Not that I'd defend her intentions here in the first place but aside from agreeing with you, I'd add my own cents about "understanding" this lukewarm song:

 

1) Both songs apparently revolve around Utada's personal motherhood matters - those who are very familiar with musicians that dealt with fatherhood/motherhood surely acknowledge the fact that "coming back with a bang" is the least you could expect from them

 

2) She has been out from the scene for like...8 years? Japanese scenes have changed a lot during these years - the wake of singers-songwriters is still in question, since you get to see mostly collectives in the J-pop/urban scene more often than in take say, 2008. I might be getting too speculative (as a semi-dedicated fan), but I ought to believe in this paradigm shift severely affecting Utada's artistic choices post-motherhood.

 

3) Both songs are apparently ballads - the first one (i.e. the snippet above) is a family drama theme song, while the other one will be accompanying some news program. The former clearly says a lot about how "safe" the song should be really, as it shows there.

 

All in all, we could only hope in the next song being Final Distance-tier at least (I shalt let you MHers decide what kind of ballad wouldn't be out of place in some news program)

[Ro plz 1290]

Yo....i rocks with this!!!!!

 

Its surely not anything banging but its still very appealing to me

[emmny 4139]

Ehh I'd rather keep listening to Sakura nagashi. Hope the other song is better.

*and crying furiously

as catty boy said, this is menopausecore.

[Kaye 296]

Maybe it's just me but it's digital singles used as (ending) theme songs. Unless it were another big-ass production like NGE, I didn't really expect much of it. They're not a real comeback imo. The lead track of her new album will be so we'll see what she'll do then.

[Pretsy 1343]

The second song "真夏の通り雨"

- or a snippet of it:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0efiYsNTU8

 

Oh well. Those who have been stanning for another "Kremlin Dusk" or "Final Distance"...heh.

 

Single covers and other promo pics of hers are in Ronald's Arama article: CLICK

 

At least she looks cute though!