Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 6 (Subomie, scenekiller, gingguu, willmcclure9, Suilen, bestfiction) LOWEST SCORE: 5 x 1 (Curaga) MY SCORE: 10 Kremlin Dusk is perhaps... no, it is certainly the wildest, most creative, closest to avant-garde song in Utada's entire discography. The entirety of Exodus up to this point has been throwing instruments and genres into a melting pot and seeing what sticks. This track right here is the point in that process when the whole damn pot explodes into a plume of smoke after being overloaded with disparate elements. Her Chemical X, if you will. And in the wake of that blast, we are left with the album's greatest gift to us - Kremlin Dusk. Part-classical, part-industrial, part-pop, Kremlin Dusk draws its references from all over - mixing quotes of Edgar Allen Poe with allusions to the Russian seat of government, and finally ending with Utada playing a game of twenty questions with the listener. Man, I don't even think I know what this is really about. But I don't think I need to, either. I find myself too much in awe of the entire composition to even try and decode it, but any of your guesses are more than welcome! Kremlin Dusk is a huge fan favorite, and Hikaru seems to enjoy it too. It was even added to the setlist of Utada United in 2006 - one of the few English tracks to make it on there. I did expect... slightly higher for this one, but we have to roll with the punches! While I can't forgive that low-ass score, I did giggle a tad at Curaga's comment: "Love the title. I always want to love this song, but something about it just doesn’t land for me. Omg, please hit those notes if you’re gonna write them that high lol. Good drums." Will you play it again, if you like this? 3 1
AMIT Posted January 30 Posted January 30 I gave this one ''only'' a 9, but the placement is more than deserved. She came on that ***** mad as hell. 3
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Kremlin Dusk is maybe the big one where I need to admit I just straight up don’t get it.
Bubble Tea Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Damn this is kinda low, "Kremlin Dusk" is sooo god damn legendaric.
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 HIGH SCORERS 1. scenekiller - 8.78 2. AMIT - 8.125 3. Subomie / bestfiction - 7.75 LOW SCORERS 1. Curaga / Cruel Summer - 4.25 2. Aria0327 - 4.858 3. Hey Dude - 5.875 1
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 Miss Kremlin Dusk had the most satisfying climb throughout voting. Getting that nappy score from Curaga in literally the second ballot I opened pushing her down out of the top 80, but slowly rising as the tasteful girlies came in 1
nostalgic Posted January 30 Posted January 30 4 minutes ago, Subomie said: HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 6 (Subomie, scenekiller, gingguu, willmcclure9, Suilen, bestfiction) LOWEST SCORE: 5 x 1 (Curaga) MY SCORE: 10 Kremlin Dusk is perhaps... no, it is certainly the wildest, most creative, closest to avant-garde song in Utada's entire discography. The entirety of Exodus up to this point has been throwing instruments and genres into a melting pot and seeing what sticks. This track right here is the point in that process when the whole damn pot explodes into a plume of smoke after being overloaded with disparate elements. Her Chemical X, if you will. And in the wake of that blast, we are left with the album's greatest gift to us - Kremlin Dusk. Part-classical, part-industrial, part-pop, Kremlin Dusk draws its references from all over - mixing quotes of Edgar Allen Poe with allusions to the Russian seat of government, and finally ending with Utada playing a game of twenty questions with the listener. Man, I don't even think I know what this is really about. But I don't think I need to, either. I find myself too much in awe of the entire composition to even try and decode it, but any of your guesses are more than welcome! Kremlin Dusk is a huge fan favorite, and Hikaru seems to enjoy it too. It was even added to the setlist of Utada United in 2006 - one of the few English tracks to make it on there. I did expect... slightly higher for this one, but we have to roll with the punches! While I can't forgive that low-ass score, I did giggle a tad at Curaga's comment: "Love the title. I always want to love this song, but something about it just doesn’t land for me. Omg, please hit those notes if you’re gonna write them that high lol. Good drums." Will you play it again, if you like this? I thought this day would never come honestly though, I do love the first half and wish the entire song had stayed in that tempo - would have been an easy 10 for me. The lyricism is perfect.
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 1 minute ago, Subomie said: LOW SCORERS 1. Curaga / Cruel Summer - 4.25 1
AMIT Posted January 30 Posted January 30 3 minutes ago, Subomie said: HIGH SCORERS 1. scenekiller - 8.78 2. AMIT - 8.125 3. Subomie / bestfiction - 7.75 LOW SCORERS 1. Curaga / Cruel Summer - 4.25 2. Aria0327 - 4.858 3. Hey Dude - 5.875 Exodus is definitely her most difficult album to really get into. I started my Utada stan life as a low key hater of this album but thankfully I managed it to turn it around so I'm definitely hopeful for some of you girlies. 3
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 4 (Subomie, Curaga, AMIT, Cruel Summer) LOWEST SCORE: 4 x 1 (Hey Dude) MY SCORE: 10 As a finale to the first part of Hikaru's career, Goodbye Happiness is an especially poignant moment. Taking the soft, sad electronic pop sound that they'd mastered on the last couple of albums and making a swan song with it. Dare I say it's a perfection of the formula? If the post-hiatus Utada was going to go in whole new directions, I'm very glad we got this song to cap off this era of their career. Even when writing it, Hikaru felt the song was a reconciliation with her former self. A tale not of a new love, but of a love that has run its course. The song sees somebody standing at the precipice and looking back just once more before taking that step. It's certainly got an air of sadness to it but there's a spark of hope in there too. The parallels to Hikaru's own choice to go on hiatus are clear. The love in question being the successful career that they'd be leaving behind, and all of the fans with it. Sometimes you know a decision is going to hurt people, but you have to make it anyway. For your own well being. Goodbye Happiness was accompanied by a music video, a very cute affair that depicts Hikaru singing in their bedroom. It's well-done for how low stakes it is. Crammed full of references for fans to delight in: from music videos like Automatic, traveling, Heart Station, to in-jokes with the fans from the Utada blog... it was a lovely piece of fan service to depart on. A parent who cares about their fans!! Curaga knows a vocalist when they hear one: "Love it! OK, hello, backing vocals just before 2:00 ❤️" AMIT also gives credit to the vocalist themselves: "a dance banger with your usual trademark Utada vocal arrangements, a career highlight for sure." 1
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 I have to admit that Goodbye Happiness, long ago, was my favorite Utada song. Still a classic. It’s just so good start to finish. 1
Curaga Posted January 30 Posted January 30 1 minute ago, Subomie said: HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 4 (Subomie, Curaga, AMIT, Cruel Summer) Curaga knows a vocalist when they hear one: "Love it! OK, hello, backing vocals just before 2:00 ❤️" AMIT also gives credit to the vocalist themselves: "a dance banger with your usual trademark Utada vocal arrangements, a career highlight for sure." @AMIT WORLD PEACE!!! 1
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 It's not really an album but in the name of fairness... HIGH SCORERS 1. scenekiller - 8.72 2. Curaga - 8.6 3. confide in me - 8.4 LOW SCORERS 1. Hey Dude - 4.4 2. bestfiction - 5.2 3. Reverie - 6.3
Suilen Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Damn, the Pantene fans are winning so far. An excellent song, still sounds fresh despite being overplayed to death. We old hags did sort of treat her as the final song and stuff for a while due to all the uncertaintly regarding Utada's career, and it would've been a perfect swan song, but fortunately that that wasn't the end. 2
AMIT Posted January 30 Posted January 30 3 minutes ago, Curaga said: @AMIT WORLD PEACE!!! maybe maybe it's the quiet before the storm who knows 1
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Just now, Subomie said: Next up is a #1 hit! So not a Fantôme song, I’ll take it 1
Graves Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 5 (gingguu, AMIT, bestfiction, Cruel Summer, confide in me) LOWEST SCORE: 5 x 1 (Aria0327) MY SCORE: 9 The funny thing about Ultra Blue is that it's biggest hit was a song that wasn't really meant to be a part of it. COLORS has a bit of a weird history. After spending most of 2002 unable to do much promo work and on recovery from surgery to remove a benign tumor, Hikaru kicked off 2003 with this banger. Released in January 2003, COLORS was an immediate number one and a huge hit. Charting for over forty weeks, selling over 800k copies, getting featured in a Toyota commercial, and finishing as #3 on the year-end charts, COLORS in some ways feels like the last single of Hikaru's dominating peak. Certainly, the days of opening with ~500k copies would be a distant memory after this. So then, what gives with it being on Ultra Blue? It came out three years earlier, and what's weirder was that it had already been included on the 'SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.1' in 2004. Hikaru seems to hate orphan singles, which is fair, but COLORS had already found a home. I wouldn't be surprised if COLORS itself served as the jump-off point for the album, however. While I feel the other orphan single on the tracklist sticks out a little bit too much, it's surprising how well this one slots in amongst the other tracks. If you didn't know any better, you might even think it was born of the same sessions. Lyrically, COLORS is equally at home on this album, recalling the themes of self-expression. Color metaphors can be a little tiresome, but I do like how Hikaru uses the idea of a muddled canvas to tell us that we can paint over it and start again as many times as we need. She weaves in some rather expected imagery, like the blue of a bright sky or an orange sunset, but also uses some fun ones - like a deep red to lure you in like a matador. The music video serves this well, being a rather monochrome affair broken up with striking red elements. Curaga is campaigning for that SCIENCE FICTION remaster: "Very cool. Sad that it sounds so compressed." And AMIT wasn't always here for her: "I admit this one had to grow on me, but now I think it's one of her absolute best songs." 2
Cruel Summer Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Colors is one that I definitely overplayed for myself over the years, but I gave it the score it deserves nonetheless. To me it feels like a perfect bridge between Deep River and Ultra Blue.
AMIT Posted January 30 Posted January 30 @Suilen I remember you lashing me back then for not stanning this one, so I'm surprised you didn't give it a 10.
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