I totally agree, with Snow's sentiments in terms of her foray into the American market.

Simple and Clean was Hikari sapped of any emotion and ended up sounding like a dull drone for the chorus compared to the energy of Hikari.

Blow my Whistle was ok, catchy etc. but spoilt by the rap, of course R&B ain't really my bag either.

Cubic U... nuff said.

And I know it's unfair to judge without listening to the whole album, but from what I've heard from Exodus so far I'm just not interested which shows how far my interest has fallen. I remembered listening to Dareka about 5 times in a row before it grew on me because I trusted Hikki, now I can't even be bothered to pick up an album.

The tragic thing is she can sing well in English as shown on her performance of Minnie Ripperton's classic "Loving You" and her performance of U2's "With or Without You" (still not a patch on the original but come on it's U2).

With Hikki I think of awesome ballads (First Love, Final Distance, Deep River, Dareka).
Catchy pop songs (Travelling, Hikari).
Moments of pure brilliance (Sakura Drops, the ENTIRE UH Unplugged performance, the live version of Colors, I wasn't keen on the song but the live version was awesome).
And also a very natural beauty about her.

I am slightly worried that those days have been and gone.