Utada Net.com Forum Index
   General Utada Discussion
  What do you think of TITO?

 

 Bottom   Previous Topic   Next Topic
<123
  •  Topic options
Poster Thread
Re: What do you think of TITO?
#21
Hikki Obsessed
Joined: 2007/2/10
A/S/L 18/GQ?/CA
Posts: 431
Quote:

ramenbox wrote:
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.

Hikki has always been relatively straightforward. "I want your baby," anyone? Boldness is one of her lyrical quirks. I think TMMB is one of the strongest tracks on TITO, particularly because it's so raw and simple. It tells a story without beating around the bush, and I like that in a song.

Quote:

gantzman246 wrote:
English lyrics aren't really poetic.

Try listening to Iron & Wine and then get back to me on that one.

***************

In my opinion, "This Is The One" is silly, fun, and catchy- the complete opposite from "Exodus", which was introverted, experimental, and weird. "Exodus" is also my favorite album by Utada. But TITO is much more assured and energized, it feels less pretentious and in terms of marketability, it's great. TITO is Utada's way of showing her versatility by taking her music back to the roots of pop/R&B, precisely where she began, only with a different perspective now. She's had a decade of experience both as a person and as a professional, and that shows: no matter how simple the tune may be, the music is almost never the same. "First Love" and "This Is The One" are musically similar, but the feel of the albums, the words Utada chooses to express herself are much firmer and, yes, more "mature", because in the interim between her debut and TITO, Utada has grown up. She knows what she wants and she knows how she's going to go about getting it, and she doesn't need anyone else telling her to take another route. That's what This Is The One says to me. It's a bit terse, somewhat bitter, pretty sassy, and very comfortable. Sure, it isn't her masterpiece, and sure, on its own, the album's merits are harder to grasp- but place it next to the rest of Hikki's material and you can see the story it tells.

TITO is an introduction to Utada as she is now. It is not the sum of her parts. That's what I think.

Shuri/Eli
_________________
Posted on: 2009/11/2 15:44
Top
  •  gantzman246
      gantzman246
Re: What do you think of TITO?
#22
Hikki Fanatic
Joined: 2009/1/29
A/S/L
Posts: 167
Quote:

Shurikid wrote:
Quote:

ramenbox wrote:
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.

Hikki has always been relatively straightforward. "I want your baby," anyone? Boldness is one of her lyrical quirks. I think TMMB is one of the strongest tracks on TITO, particularly because it's so raw and simple. It tells a story without beating around the bush, and I like that in a song.

Quote:

gantzman246 wrote:
English lyrics aren't really poetic.

Try listening to Iron & Wine and then get back to me on that one.

***************

In my opinion, "This Is The One" is silly, fun, and catchy- the complete opposite from "Exodus", which was introverted, experimental, and weird. "Exodus" is also my favorite album by Utada. But TITO is much more assured and energized, it feels less pretentious and in terms of marketability, it's great. TITO is Utada's way of showing her versatility by taking her music back to the roots of pop/R&B, precisely where she began, only with a different perspective now. She's had a decade of experience both as a person and as a professional, and that shows: no matter how simple the tune may be, the music is almost never the same. "First Love" and "This Is The One" are musically similar, but the feel of the albums, the words Utada chooses to express herself are much firmer and, yes, more "mature", because in the interim between her debut and TITO, Utada has grown up. She knows what she wants and she knows how she's going to go about getting it, and she doesn't need anyone else telling her to take another route. That's what This Is The One says to me. It's a bit terse, somewhat bitter, pretty sassy, and very comfortable. Sure, it isn't her masterpiece, and sure, on its own, the album's merits are harder to grasp- but place it next to the rest of Hikki's material and you can see the story it tells.

TITO is an introduction to Utada as she is now. It is not the sum of her parts. That's what I think.

Shuri/Eli


Well some english songs are poetic like Minnie Ripperton's The Edge of a Dream but the majority of music that is being released now aren't.
***********************************************************
I'm sure Iron & Wine are a good band but they're too mellow for my taste.
Posted on: 2009/11/2 16:30
Top
Re: What do you think of TITO?
#23
Hikki Obsessed
Joined: 2007/2/10
A/S/L 18/GQ?/CA
Posts: 431
Quote:

gantzman246 wrote:
Quote:

Shurikid wrote:
Quote:

ramenbox wrote:
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.

Hikki has always been relatively straightforward. "I want your baby," anyone? Boldness is one of her lyrical quirks. I think TMMB is one of the strongest tracks on TITO, particularly because it's so raw and simple. It tells a story without beating around the bush, and I like that in a song.

Quote:

gantzman246 wrote:
English lyrics aren't really poetic.

Try listening to Iron & Wine and then get back to me on that one.

***************

In my opinion, "This Is The One" is silly, fun, and catchy- the complete opposite from "Exodus", which was introverted, experimental, and weird. "Exodus" is also my favorite album by Utada. But TITO is much more assured and energized, it feels less pretentious and in terms of marketability, it's great. TITO is Utada's way of showing her versatility by taking her music back to the roots of pop/R&B, precisely where she began, only with a different perspective now. She's had a decade of experience both as a person and as a professional, and that shows: no matter how simple the tune may be, the music is almost never the same. "First Love" and "This Is The One" are musically similar, but the feel of the albums, the words Utada chooses to express herself are much firmer and, yes, more "mature", because in the interim between her debut and TITO, Utada has grown up. She knows what she wants and she knows how she's going to go about getting it, and she doesn't need anyone else telling her to take another route. That's what This Is The One says to me. It's a bit terse, somewhat bitter, pretty sassy, and very comfortable. Sure, it isn't her masterpiece, and sure, on its own, the album's merits are harder to grasp- but place it next to the rest of Hikki's material and you can see the story it tells.

TITO is an introduction to Utada as she is now. It is not the sum of her parts. That's what I think.

Shuri/Eli


Well some english songs are poetic like Minnie Ripperton's The Edge of a Dream but the majority of music that is being released now aren't.
***********************************************************
I'm sure Iron & Wine are a good band but they're too mellow for my taste.

At the risk of entering an unprovable debate: you're wrong. Just because the American musical market's infrastructure happens to be grounded on crappy pop radio fueled by emotionless pseudo-clone-"artists" doesn't mean that's what every or even the majority of English-language musical artists pander to. Your limited musical scope is not the general rule. Heck, even somewhat popular bands like Depeche Mode and The Cure are known for being heavily poetic and introspective with their work. Robert Smith is perhaps one of the greatest lyricists in recent musical history, and he's still putting out quality work.

Conversely, there are plenty of Japanese/Korean/German/Spanish/etc. bands and artists that have no capacity for lyric writing; BoA and the Wonder Girls hardly put out what I would consider heartrending prose. They don't even write their own songs. It sounds like what you're saying is that Utada's Japanese songs are beautiful because they're sung in Japanese: this not only downplays her talent as an artist, it's a very confused statement. A song's quality (or lack thereof) is not predicated by what language it's written in. There are terrible artists from all over the world: there are great artists from all over the world.

To bring everything full circle, if "This Is The One" is straightforward and "non-poetic", it's because Utada decided to write it as such; the same way "Kremlin Dusk" is heavily metaphorical and "You Make Me Want to be a Man" uses plenty of symbolism and allegory because she decided to write those songs utilizing said literary techniques on her own authority as a songwriter. It has nothing to do with language.
_________________
Posted on: 2009/11/2 20:11
Top
  •  ramenbox
      ramenbox
Re: What do you think of TITO?
#24
Hikki Obsessed
Joined: 2009/9/5
A/S/L 19/F/Malaysia
Posts: 468
She's not straightforward all the time though. Obviously Kettobase was a very fun and straightforward song but let's not get to that.

And yeah... poetic lyrics are not related to language. You're right about that. Exodus proves that and so do many English artists (not the ones you always hear on radio of course), at least not in my country. The english music that they play here is crap.

Certain bands especially are capable of writing amazing lyrics that take fans ages to decipher what they mean. Sometimes it also depends on how we choose to interpret the lyrics.
_________________
Posted on: 2009/11/3 20:35
Top
  •  kukai.firestarter
      kukai.firestarter
Re: What do you think of TITO?
#25
UtadaNet Regular
Joined: 2009/11/7
A/S/L 23/f/us
Posts: 20
I think when it came time for her to do another English album she probably sighed deep down and thought "Here we go again, guess I'm gonna have to dumb things down a bit". I know not all J-pop ladies write the most profound lyrics, but that's kind of been Hikki's MO, right?

Most of what she's written has hit me right between the eyes and what I didn't get at the time I suddenly remembered the song later when I experienced it for myself. People in America don't want that in their pop/r&b (the closest demographic Hikki has here). They want something they can shake their rear to all night without thinking about their lives or even what they're feeling. God forbid, if it came down to thinking or feeling they'd probably be curled up and crying in the bathroom all night. From my experience with my friends and acquaintances that's just the way it is and I haven't a clue why. I can honestly say out of my social network that listens to lighter stuff I'm probably the only one who likes an album I can take from a party to a lone night of introspection.

I'm not downing TITO. I'm not saying her newer songs aren't hitting home because some of them most certainly are. Apple and Cinnamon? Been there and hung out a minute. Come Back to Me? Reminded me how regretful I felt about this one time. This One? Made that little bit of shame come creeping back because I've been there. Taking My Money Back? I just got through living that with my ex-fiance.

What I am saying is this. In a country fueled by the likes of Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna, I think Hikki probably feels limited by her English-speaking audience and what they deem acceptable for certain genres of music. It's funny Iron and Wine was mentioned because the only way she could write as she normally would in an English setting, she'd have to switch over to that format. That would be a meaningless effort, though, because then it wouldn't be her sound.

I know I've rambled, but have I made sense?

(EDIT)

Y'know, I thought on it some more and remembered, Hikki just flat out seems to enjoy experiencing life. If she feels sexy, naughty, frisky, whatever, why wouldn't she write about it? One can't be demure all the time even if it's awesome when she is.
Posted on: 2009/11/7 17:36
Top
  •  gantzman246
      gantzman246
Re: What do you think of TITO?
#26
Hikki Fanatic
Joined: 2009/1/29
A/S/L
Posts: 167
SHURIKID: "At the risk of entering an unprovable debate: you're wrong. Just because the American musical market's infrastructure happens to be grounded on crappy pop radio fueled by emotionless pseudo-clone-"artists" doesn't mean that's what every or even the majority of English-language musical artists pander to. Your limited musical scope is not the general rule. Heck, even somewhat popular bands like Depeche Mode and The Cure are known for being heavily poetic and introspective with their work. Robert Smith is perhaps one of the greatest lyricists in recent musical history, and he's still putting out quality work.

Conversely, there are plenty of Japanese/Korean/German/Spanish/etc. bands and artists that have no capacity for lyric writing; BoA and the Wonder Girls hardly put out what I would consider heartrending prose. They don't even write their own songs. It sounds like what you're saying is that Utada's Japanese songs are beautiful because they're sung in Japanese: this not only downplays her talent as an artist, it's a very confused statement. A song's quality (or lack thereof) is not predicated by what language it's written in. There are terrible artists from all over the world: there are great artists from all over the world.

To bring everything full circle, if "This Is The One" is straightforward and "non-poetic", it's because Utada decided to write it as such; the same way "Kremlin Dusk" is heavily metaphorical and "You Make Me Want to be a Man" uses plenty of symbolism and allegory because she decided to write those songs utilizing said literary techniques on her own authority as a songwriter. It has nothing to do with language."


Excuse you don't tell me my musical scope is limited because you don't know what type of music I listen to. What I'm talking about is Music that is currently popular here in the states. I'm not saying English lyrics as a whole is meaningless and un-poetic. The music of Janis Joplin, John lennon, Bob Marley and even Phyllis Hyman has so much soul and meaningful lyrics that can touch you and make you feel emotional. That's only a few artists I've listed there are so many more. The majority of Mainstream music today lacks soul, originality and meaning. That is what I've been trying to say. Its a shame that there are so many artists who have so much talent are unsuccessful because artists like Lady Gaga are dominating the charts.

And where are you coming from telling me that I think Utada's Japanese songs are much more beautiful than her english becasue their sung in Japanese!? First off I'm a bigger fan of her English music then her Japanese. When people on these forums were saying how her Japanese lyrics were poetic and meaningful while her english lyrics lacked meaning. I defended Exodus and TITO saying that her lyrics were meaningful and some people could relate to her songs such as Hotel Lobby, Taking my money back and This One. Aside from Utada, 3 songs of BoA and Minmi I do not listen to J-pop and would never say that its much better and has a lot more meaning than English music.
Posted on: 2009/11/8 16:49
Top
Re: What do you think of TITO?
#27
UtadaNet Regular
Joined: 2007/3/21
A/S/L 21/F/SoCal
Posts: 29
While I agree that TITO wasn't her best overall album,
it certainly has it's perks.
It something of Utada that we don't normally see.
And I LOVE when artist go out of their comfort zones to explore other kinds of music.
_________________
"Making a song...it really gets to you,
and it makes you face things and feel things that you really wouldn't."
--Utada
Posted on: 2009/11/21 22:44
Top
 Top   Previous Topic   Next Topic
<123