Will TiTo emerge as the swan song that determines Utada?s futures US ambitions, and I am referring to the beautiful legendary song sung only once by a swan in its lifetime, as it is dying, I have read comments in a similar vein trumpeted by the familiar Hikki diehards combined with a faint whiff of sell out for having the audacity to pander to the all powerful R&B driven US music industry.

TiTo is Utada?s definitive response and TiTo has seen both success and failure in this merciless music industry. Utada is relaxed and talkative in person and I personally hope that Utada?s comments about future expectations that TiTo has presented can be generally accepted along with the setbacks of the past (Exodus) without any bitterness.
Maybe Utada has always simply wanted to write songs for a living and as long as that option is available Utada will be content.

For a songwriter musician with 3 of the top ten best-selling albums recorded by Asian artist including the number 1, TiTo has a firm place in Utada?s careers successes, personally I feel TiTo deserves a place up there with any of Utada?s Japanese titles and does not warrant being relegated to another English language offering to complete an outstanding IDJ record contract.
I got over the kooky, mischievous, playful, lyrical naughtiness; I can?t help but feel that Utada has tongue firmly tucked in cheek putting pen to paper when writing and composing TiTo.

I think it had bad execution.She took the chance herself though.I can't blame her for trying.Yet,even still,3 songs of 10 isn't too strong an album.

Personally I think TITO is overall good but not as good as her previous Japanese albums, but then again it's because I'm bias. I'm not a Japanese speaker so it might be more delightful for me to listen to her songs in Japanese.

TITO has this really mainstream feel to it but there are still a few good tracks. I think FYI was done quite creatively. It's surprises me that she didn't destroy the song because Merry Xmas Mr Lawrence sounds too good on its own.

The only track that I dislike is Automatic Part II. Major disappointment. Each time it plays, I'll skip it.

If I were to choose between Exodus or TITO, I think I'd choose Exodus. TITO is 'easy to listen to' but Exodus has a higher re-play value. In other words it has more unique and memorable tracks compared to TITO. Sorry if I've digressed a little.

Hmm...I agree that Automatic part II is not as good as it seems. However, there are also some songs which i liked e.g. This One, come back to me, Apple and cinnamon and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. These are my 4 favourite tracks in Tito.

I personaly really like TITO, though it's not as good as Exodus or any of the more recent Japanese albums. It's a little bit too mainstream for my taste, but it's still put together exceptionally well. People seem to dislike Automatic part 2, but i absolutley love that song, it's quirky and edgy. The only song i really don't like is Taking my Money Back, i just think it's the most mainstream and brings nothing to the table, i just think it's the weakest track on the album. Just my opinion.

i think the reason exodus is better that tito is that it has more character than tito. some of the music in exodus might not be what most people like but at least it has something that can set it apart from the rest. tito seems to fail in this alley. by drawing heavily on western R&B music, hikaru has somewhat blended into the industry and not stand out from the rest of the artists out there. i think she has the edge to stand out since she's an asian musician breaking into western-dominated music industry - an industry where you must expose a little flesh just to get noticed. its just saddening to think that hikaru puts out all her effort to come up with nice songs for an album (a feat that she consistently does) and when the time came to prove everyone that she is more than a jpop goddess, it seems like a futile effort.

i will continue to support her any way i can. for me she is the best and it will take a long time or even lifetimes for another artist to equal her achievements!!

ike! ike! hikaru-san.

tempest_pheonix, you're right about Taking My Money Back. The song actually sounds familiar. I'm referring to the melody that she used. I remember hearing something similar a few years ago.

And regarding the lyrics, she could have written it in a more poetic way. "The sex was so good" was too straightforward and boring. But then again, she was trying to please the mainstream audience.

English lyrics aren't really poetic.

Exodus had good experimental tunes and a wide range of music genres, but it had poor publicity. TITO has mainstream pop and RnB and good publicity. Hikki was just doing the opposite of what she did before. She's testing the American music market. I think what will really work is something in between.

Tito is a great album, not really my style of music, personally I can't stand mainstream R&B, but this is Hikki and I love what she did with the genre.

I agree with percypenn that Exodus has more character than tito, i was a little disappointed with only 10 tracks but some of them, like MCML and This One really stuck to me. This One is one of the most amazing english songs Hikki's done in my opinion (Apart from S&C and Sanctuary, still favorites )

I still pray for the day her albums show up at my local music stores...

But I guess I look forward to her Japanese works more. I get a kick out of listening to Ultra Blue and I only hope her next album will have that same feeling to it...