JPop Watch: Utada Hikaru's Spring 2016 Return Officially Denied

It had been brought to my attention (as well as a long list of other bloggers and news sites) that Utada Hikaru, arguably Japan's biggest musician to date, had confirmed a soft release date for her upcoming album. This would be Utada's first solid release in over six year. Unfortunately once Utada's staff caught wind of the news article, they popped up long enough to shut it down.

Last week, Japanese newspaper Sports Hochi announced boldly that Utada would be returning in the Spring of 2016 with a full album. Not only that, but she would also be providing theme songs for two different shows, a "major live action" show and a news program, both of which would be released in April. This, as you probably guessed, made fans go crazy. Utada has been on hiatus for years, only popping up sporadically to provide songs for the occasional movie or anime (such as the recent string of Neon Genesis Evangelion film series).

Yesterday, however, the powers that be made sure our hopes and dreams were crushed. Someone from Utada's official team posted on her website denying the rumors. While they did confirm that she was working on a new album (!!), it was apparently at an intermittent pace, one to which they weren't even sure enough to give it a 2016 release date or not. They also made the bold statement that any true news regarding her upcoming releases would be announced on the website instead of elsewhere.

There were some comments made about her being overseas, giving me hope that she is working on at least some songs in English. I have been a huge fan of her English releases in the past, and they have been a huge success in Japan, still holding the record of best selling English Language album. Sadly, there are no real details about the project at this time, as Utada is very good at keeping these things under wraps.

Over the past two years, she has gone through a lot. She's lost her mother, she's gotten married, and she's had a child. There is a lot for her to write about and express in a beautifully lyrical way that only she knows how to do. I have a feeling that this upcoming album could be her best work yet. But I guess that's too early to say, no?

JPop Watch: Koda Kumi Concert Series CM Provides First Glimpses Of "Hurricane" Music Video

Ok so that title is a mouth full, but it got the message across, right? Well in case you haven't been obsessively following Kuu-chan like I have for the past few months, she's got a new album coming out. Well, kind of. Either way it looks like the track she's promoing the most "Hurricane" is going to be another summer jam to get everyone excited, but the music video has eluded us thus far. Until now. Again, kind of.

倖田來未 Koda Kumi - Walk Of My Life - 2015 TOUR [JIJI PRESS REPOR...
倖田來未 Koda Kumi - Walk Of My Life - 2015 TOUR [JIJI PRESS REPORT HD]
Posted by 倖田 來未 Koda Kumi - America on Monday, June 29, 2015

I can't get enough of "Hurricane". It is so much closer to the old Kumi that I've been missing than what we've gotten over the past few years. It has a great dance, and putting it at the front of her show (as it appears anyway) she is full of energy and ready to take on the track. If you pay attention to the background, we get what looks like clips of the music video, but unfortunately the clip doesn't last long. It looks to be a similar style to "Like It", a track and single from the latest album.

The rest of the CM shows clips of various already released material, but done live and in the usual insane Koda Kumi fashion. For instance, she's dangling from the ceiling while singing "Dance In The Rain", and then after a dramatic costume change she's at the piano with "Walk Of My Life". She seems to be exhausted by the end of the clip, but with her intense dancing and antics, that's kind of expected, no?

Summer of Love, Kumi's new remix album, is set to come out July 22. It will contain three new songs entitled "Hurricane", "Ex Tape", and "No One Else But You", as well as mixes of her previous work dating all the way back to 2006. This release is very similar to 2012's  Beach Mix or her semi-annual Driving Hits series. Kumi is no stranger to releasing new tracks in unconventional ways, especially after her last EP was only available at her live shows and included new material.

There are three versions of Summer of Love, one as a CD only, and two others that are bundled with either a DVD or a Blu Ray disc. Each has it's own cover. You can preorder them on CD Japan now.

Jpop Watch - Koda Kumi's New Album Details Revealed

That's right! Koda Kumi has finally revealed the details of her new album. With barely a month to go before it's release, this quick announcement has caused a stir in the JPop community, leading everyone to rush to get their favorite artist's album on lockdown before it's March release. Let's get ready for Walk Of My Life.

The new album titled Walk Of My Life comes out March 18, giving Kumi just barely a month to do promo, but I've seen her do crazier things. Though not a lot about the album is known, we do know that as per usual, there are several versions of the album planned for release, and we also have the track list.

As for versions, we have the normal CD, the CD+DVD containing music videos of all of her singles so far and making of videos for a few of them, and a DVD+Bluray containing the same material as the DVD. Each version has it's own cover, each more beautiful than the next -- meaning I might need to buy this album a few times. My poor wallet. There is also a Japan-only fan edition containing a DVD (I believe) of a special live event.

The track listing is as follows:

01. Introduction
02.Dance In The Rain
03. Lippy
04. Mercedes
05. Like It
06. House Party
07. Dance
08. HOTEL
09. Gimme U
10. You can keep up with me
11. MONEY IN MY BAG
12. PIECE IN THE PUZZLE
13. Fake Tongue
14. Sometimes Dreams Come True
15. LIFE so GOOD!!
16. WALK OF MY LIFE

It looks like her smash hits "Hotel" and "Dance In The Rain" are present, as well as B-Side single "MONEY IN MY BAG". The rest of the album is unknown. While many fans were not happy with her last album, coming into a more mainstream pop sound, honestly hope that this album keeps on track with it's singles, giving us a more vocal, less RnB version of Koda Kumi.

Aside from this news, we did get a small preview of the title track, "Walk Of My Life", which is a slower ballad. I could totally get into it.

Post by 倖田 來未 Koda Kumi - America.

JPop Watch - Sad News As Anime Singer Origa Has Passed Away

It's a sad day for both Taking Over The Universe and JPop Watch as Jpop artist Origa has passed away. It is with heavy hearts that we bring you this news, and we wish the best for her family, friends, and fans.

Origa may have not been a Japanese native, hailing from Russia, but she has been near and dear to the hearts of many of her fans she's made since she her Japanese debut in 1995. She has performed the theme song for all of the installments thus far for the mega-hit anime Ghost In The Shell, and also worked very closely with the production the hit video game Final Fantasy XIII-2, providing vocals on many of the game's key tracks.

Today, anime-focused news site Anime News Network broke the news that the singer passed away after a battle with lung cancer. This news comes just weeks after cast announcements for the live action Ghost In The Shell movie which Origa was assumed to had been involved in. Fans both in Asia and the rest of the world alike are devastated and shocked to hear this news.  She was only 44 years old.

I, along with the rest of the team here at Taking Over The Universe extend positive vibes and a big hug to all of those affected by this tragic loss to the music world.

JPop Watch: Koda Kumi "Dance In The Rain" Video Review

I understand that this is the second JPop watch ever, and that it's pretty much on the same topic as the first, but give me a break here! This video is phenomenal! And I haven't done a video "review" in a long time. It's kind of tradition that when Kumi drops a big budget piece of work I go and rip it to hell in the most loving way possible. So here's me taking a stab at "Dance In The Rain".

(Warning: A TON of pictures under the cut)

JPop Watch: Koda Kumi Previews "Dance In The Rain"

Welcome to my new segment that I've been teasing you all with for the past week. Yes, it's JPop Watch! With so many Japanese pop music acts breaking through to the US (like BabyMetal and Utada Hikaru), I thought that I should throw in my opinion on who you should be listening to when it comes to that whole scene. And of course I'm going to tell you to listen to Koda Kumi.




So this isn't exactly a surprise for me to be peddling Kumi music to you. Actually it's not the first time she's been on the site. Or the second. Or third or fourth. I mean it's happened a lot. But I thought that if we are are going to start a new segment, we might as well start at the top. You know, with the queen. No, not Beyonce. The real queen. Koda Kumi.

This video is part of a JPop trend called "Short Ver." This is set up to help special editions of albums/singles sell more. They will upload a shorter version of a video to YouTube to get people's attention, but if you wanna see the whole work, you'll have to buy the retail version that comes with the additional DVD. Occasionally they will upload a full version officially, but most of what you'll be finding out there are bootleg uploads that do not support the official artist (sorry bout it!).

What I really love about this video is how visually striking it is. Ms. Koda is no stranger to having some amazing outfits and great choreography, but I this is the first time in a long time that a video of her's has been so beautiful. Each one of the seemingly stand alone dance sequences has it's own color scheme, it's own outstanding CG and green screen effects, and it's own on point dancing. And what's even more striking is that the majority of the song is in Japanese as opposed to Engrish which is her usual language of choice. I have to say, things are looking very good for her now.

"Dance In The Rain" is special for two reasons. The first being that this is the first time Koda Kumi has released a Digital Only single. The track, set to be released November 5th, and get this -- ITS GOING TO BE RELEASED ON US ITUNES! This is groundbreaking her and her US fans as this is the first time we've gotten a new KK track since 2009!! I'm beyond excited. It's also kind of a big deal because Kumi is the first music artist to harness the new 360 3D headset technology known as Oculus Rift for her video. There's not word yet on exactly how this will work, but it sounds like it will be amazing!

I can't even express how excited I am that I can buy a Koda Kumi single in the United States for the first time in literally years. I have been importing her material for ages, and now I can do it from the comfort of my own home for 99cents. Don't believe me? Check it out on iTunes. Grab it now!

Album Review - Utada Hikaru "Exodus" 10th Anniversary Edition

I can't believe it's been ten years since my favorite album of all time came out. I'm actually over a week late for this one, but then again when have I ever been punctual? Today we are talking about "Exodus" by Utada (Hikaru in Japan, just Utada here for some weird reason). It recently turned ten years old, and we are going to trudge through this album and see if it still holds up.

Warning: THIS IS MY FAVORITE ALBUM EVER! I'm pretty biased.

New JPop Group Color-Code Will Make You Like Dat

It's no secret that I love Jpop. I fell in love with Utada Hikaru as a child, and I became obsessed with Koda Kumi as a teen. From Malice Mizer to Psycho le Cemu and from Ayumi to Megumu Hayashibara, I've been hooked on a genre of music that is based around a language I don't understand much of. Anyway, a new group has rushed onto the scene, and they are threatening to take over. Let's meet Color-Code.




Maybe I just like this video because she's got a Manila Luzon wig on?

Anyway, this group was the result of a huge open call audition. They apparently narrowed things down from over 2000 girls to just three. We have Tsujikawa Nanami (Pink), Yusakawa Marisa (Blue), and Moriyasu Mako (Green). It is the brainchild of Nicola Formichetti, a fashion designer best known for hooking up with Lady Gaga.

The video is very flashy, and the song is very accessible and fun. It feels like they are trying to imitate the current state of American pop music. Hopefully this means that they will be branching out to the United States. So few Jpop acts try and reach over, especially since the few that have failed miserably. I've been holding out hope that since Korean acts such as Girls Generation and Psy have become hits in the US that Japanese artists will give it another shot.

While they fall somewhere between "normal" acts like Ayu or Koda and "weird" acts like Kyary (Pamyuwhatever), they seem to have found a nice medium. Their EP/Maxi single is up for grabs on US iTunes. The second track, "Break My Heart" continues with their more American feel while third song "The Soul's Refrain" comes in more like something you'd hear from a Jpop group, leaving it a bit unclear where their next single will take them.

I'm excited to see where they go from here. It's been a while since a new act has caught my attention from overseas, but as long as they keep releasing music state-side, I'll keep giving them a shot. For now, pick up their debut single on iTunes and prove to Japan that we need Koda Kumi's stuff available here. I mean honestly!

Hatsune Miku Makes Her Live US TV Debut

So I totally thought this was a joke to begin with. The official Hatsune Miku page has been hyping up this Letterman Late Show performance for weeks. In case you didn't know, Hatsune Miku is not a real person. How can they have a live performance with someone who isn't real? Lasers. Or something, I don't know, but it's pretty cool. Check out Ms. Miku performing "Sharing The World" by BIGHEAD.




Ok, so first of all this song is actually in English. This is my first complaint about this. English is a pretty complex language to read. What it feels like is they just plopped a bunch of syllables into a computer generator without tweeking it. A lot of the emphasis comes off weird, and it's often times hard to understand what she's saying. And honestly, I know they are promoting her US Expo dates in NYC and LA, but couldn't they have chosen a song from one of the games that are out for PS3 and PSVita? That was a huge cross promotion they missed out on, in my opinion.

Other than that, I feel like this broke a lot of ground. Japanese acts have never been popular in the US regardless of what language they sing in (just as Utada Hikaru and her two great but failed North American English albums). To have a Japanese artist of any caliber come over and debut on network television is a huge step in the right direction for us. Perhaps we will see acts like Koda Kumi step up to the plate -- and we'll understand just as much of her English as we did Miku's.

The effects were pretty cool, especially that exit. The whole Miku experience doesn't show up well on camera, and I'm told that seeing it in person is mind blowing. Letterman didn't have much to say about the act, as it was used at a time filler at the end of the show. That didn't stop the internet from going insane about it. It was trending on both Twitter and Facebook, with news stories exploding all over about it.

Not that that's why I wrote mine. I just happen to like Hatsune Miku.

And Kagamine Len.