There I was thinking I was gonna have to hit up Kiss Asian or some shit to catch the opening episode of Bishoku Tantei Akechi Gorō to hear Hikaru Utada's new song, only to find that Hikaru Utada tweeted out a link to a snippet of the song on her YouTube channel.
Her digital team MIGHT actually be getting their shit together.
This is the part where somebody comments that the video is blocked in their country.
From Deep River onward, I have just plain stopped having expectations for Hikaru Utada singles concerning how they're going to sound, because they really could sound like anything. And even though Hikaru does have a set of go-to sounds, I'm still surprised each time a new single drops, because I never know which sound or style she's going to dip into and how she'll go about it. And now look. I never would have thought that "Time" would open with Hikaru Utada moaning in auto-tune for 3 seconds and the song to jump back to R&B.
"Time" musically sounds like First Love and Distance, but with Ultra Blue and Heart Station vocals. I like what I'm hearing...
BUT.
I would've liked Hikaru to have come into the song a little softer, so that there's more of a build to the chorus. Her vocals coming in at an 11 offset the laid back vibe of the sound and not in a cool contrasting way. I'm also missing when Hikaru Utada would give me harmonies. Hikaru Utada's voice doesn't sound the best on more R&B sounding cuts when it's not layered or when it's not woven with backing vocals. It would have been great to have gotten some harmonies on the chorus just to fill it out a little more, and again set into the smoothness of the song.
Fans always respond well to Hikaru when she gives a lil' R&B s'um and the response to this song so far has been good. I do like it and look forward to hearing the full thing.
No word on if we'll get a music video. There is little chance of that unless it's some homemade, animated type video, unless something was shot before this pandemic mess. But for now, y'all can have this.
"Time" releases on digital and streaming platforms on May 8th.
🔊 Playlists: Hikaru Utada: Ballads | Hikaru Utada: R&B | Hikaru Utada: Bops | Slaykaru Queentada
📝 Album reviews: Distance | Deep river | Exodus | Ultra blue | Heart station | This is the one | Fantôme | Hatsukoi
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