Curaga Posted January 29 Posted January 29 11 minutes ago, Taste of Honey said: I feel like I'm the only one who likes this album. A good 7 of them I go back to decently enough. Same, I love it too. I’m surprised how much Hatsukoi slander we’ve had this rate, but I’m also not upset about it lolThere are definitely some skips!
Curaga Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Speaking of Hatsukoi, I always thought it was bizarre that these two albums were released in the same month and have such similar album covers. Who copied whomst? 1
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 8 minutes ago, Curaga said: Speaking of Hatsukoi, I always thought it was bizarre that these two albums were released in the same month and have such similar album covers. Who copied whomst? They were sipping from the mother cauldron together I fear. 1
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 Finale part one is tonight Time... to be determined. Any preferences, ladies?
Suilen Posted January 30 Posted January 30 I'd prefer earlier but I'll be available for the next 5 hours regardless.
Curaga Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Maybe in ~3 hours? It looks like that was around the time more people started hopping on last time (Hey Dude, Newt, and nostalgic, with AMIT and Taste of Honey a little earlier than that). 1
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 4 minutes ago, Curaga said: Maybe in ~3 hours? It looks like that was around the time more people started hopping on last time (Hey Dude, Newt, and nostalgic, with AMIT and Taste of Honey a little earlier than that). I was thinking 2.5 myself. Let me cook some food and see where I'm at with my stuff
Suilen Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Need one of the Pantene fans who have been throwing shade at me and #oomf to be present, maybe we'll finally fight and resolve all that tension. 1
Curaga Posted January 30 Posted January 30 15 minutes ago, Suilen said: Need one of the Pantene fans who have been throwing shade at me and #oomf to be present, maybe we'll finally fight and resolve all that tension. Leave Pantene alone! Let her bob in peace!!
Suilen Posted January 30 Posted January 30 2 minutes ago, Curaga said: Leave Pantene alone! Let her bob in peace!! I gave the remaining tracks good scores and I won't even mind if all make top 10 but it won't stop me from gagging if something like Goodbye Happiness outlasts them all. 1
nostalgic Posted January 30 Posted January 30 1 hour ago, Subomie said: Finale part one is tonight Time... to be determined. Any preferences, ladies? Ready whenever you are!
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 @Riverbank @Curaga @scenekiller @Meloetta Carey @gingguu @AMIT @willmcclure9 @Ewan Chaos @Suilen @bestfiction @Aria0327 @confide in me @nostalgic @Hey Dude @Reverie @Cruel Summer 20 minutes - finale part one 1
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 11 x 1 (willmcclure9) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 3 (scenekiller, bestfiction, confide in me) LOWEST SCORE: 5 x 1 (Aria0327) MY SCORE: 8.5 The pseudo title track of the album, the aptly titled BLUE makes for a good sister song to Keep Tryin' in a few ways. While one of them is a positive affirmation about keeping your head up, the other is a tad more doubtful affair. Keep Tryin' is how we'd like to react in tough times, with a smile and self-assuredness. BLUE is more often than not our reality. Mixed emotions, hard feelings, disassociation. Hikaru puts it rather well in this track. We know that night has to break at some point, so why isn't dawn coming yet? I think BLUE is deceptively sad. There's allusions to not wanting to be in love anymore, not understanding somebody else's feelings, and not even being able to cry about it. In hindsight it seems like a lot of the cracks in a relationship showing, and given that Hikaru got divorced only a year later... it's interesting. I think the underlying piano really makes for a bittersweet bop here. Hikaru themselves said that the album title was changed to 'ULTRA BLUE' because just naming it just BLUE would bring to mind depressing images. And Joni Mitchell comparisons. And listening the song itself? It kind of does that! Curaga is a fan. Somewhat. "Pretty! Not my fav chorus." 2
Curaga Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Always loved this song, but yeah, this being first to go today kinda makes sense. Wait, except Find Love is still in! That one’s gotta be next.
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 I have nothing negative to say about Blue! I don’t really have anything to say about Blue but certainly nothing negative 2
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 6 minutes ago, Curaga said: Always loved this song, but yeah, this being first to go today kinda makes sense. Wait, except Find Love is still in! That one’s gotta be next. Find Love being in is a real shock to me. Like, I guess I knew people liked it a lot more than I do, but this much? Couldn’t have guessed it.
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 4 minutes ago, Curaga said: Always loved this song, but yeah, this being first to go today kinda makes sense. Wait, except Find Love is still in! That one’s gotta be next. The clairvoyance. HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 4 (Riverbank, AMIT, Ewan Chaos, bestfiction) LOWEST SCORE: 6 x 1 (nostalgic) MY SCORE: 9.5 Though there's moments of doubt across the record, Find Love is an unabashed declaration of optimism. Or at least an attempt at it! Hikaru promotes self-love and tries to inspire us not to give up. I do like the lyrical content on this one, but let's be honest - we really like it because it's a big fucken' bop. For real. One of the most straightforward basic bops we've ever gotten from Hikki. And what's wrong with that? It's immaculately crafted. A bop is a bop! Despite being an album track, Find Love was used in a SHISEIDO commercial. Was this meant to be a single? I think I remember it being teased in the middle of the single run, right? Like around the time Pink Blood came out we were hearing snippets or something like that. Idk. Ah well, unless there was a great video planned for it, I can live with it staying an album track. A hidden gem if you will. Curaga graciously offers a throat lozenge: "Cute and fun. Congested again?" AMIT mourns another dearly departed track: "This is my next fave on the album after Time, a straight up banger I fear." 3
Suilen Posted January 30 Posted January 30 (edited) Goals for this year! Also, this is the only song with Japanese/English versions where I prefer the English one. Edited January 30 by Suilen 1
AMIT Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Quote HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 4 (Riverbank, AMIT, Ewan Chaos, bestfiction) MY SCORE: 9.5 taste not everyone can relate 1
poki Posted January 30 Posted January 30 The good scores So it really is just pokemon rates where even in the top 10 we still have waves of 1s and 0s
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 Just now, Hey Dude said: The good scores So it really is just pokemon rates where even in the top 10 we still have waves of 1s and 0s No, ATRL rates are always a cesspool of girls trying to be funny and sabotage. Utada stans are just CLASSY 2
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Aaand there she is Now, I do think the one great thing about Find Love is that it’s mostly the most lyrically smooth and concise English song that Utada had recorded since like Simple and Clean. The line about therapy and training is the only time it gets a little clunky, but that serves a purpose because the following line - “getting stronger isn’t easy baby” - is one of the best in the song and has an interesting vocal quality to it. Ultimately where it falls apart for me is that the first half of the song literally sounds like the makeup ad that it is. The instrumental is a little thin and brittle, a little basic - just not that engaging. It does get more interesting right about at the halfway mark for me, though, which saves it overall. 2
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