Watch Hikaru Utada's Live Sessions from Air Studios performances of “Find Love” and “Face My Fears”

Hikaru Utada's Live Sessions from Air Studios aired on January 19th, 2022; which was also Hikaru Utada's birthday. And surprisingly, two of the performances are available to watch on YouTube. “Find Love” and “Face My Fears”.

I know, some fans are probably a little sick of “Face My Fears”; between having not even liked the damn song when it first release, and there now being an album with three versions of the song. But you're about to get even sicker of it, because this live session now adds a fourth version. Fifth if you count the Japanese version which will be included on the limited edition physical release of Bad Mode.

The arrangement for the Live Sessions version of “Face My Fears” is different to that of which we heard back in 2020 AND different to the A.G Cook remix.

The Live Sessions from Air Studios was initially planned to be for the whole of Bad Mode, but not all of the songs were fully complete by the time of the gig. The Live Sessions from Air Studios was shot in November 2021, which must mean that the album was being worked on right up until the last minute. This may explain why the album didn’t feature the English version of “Kimi ni Muchuu” which Hikaru was working on. It simply wasn’t completed in time. And this also possibly explains why we’re getting this staggered Bad Mode release, with the digital version already out and the physical hitting in February. I still think Sony shoulda just gone with the Live Sessions on January 19th and then released the album both physically and digital on February 23rd. But I think that maybe the original plan for the physical release to drop on January 19th, but things were so close to the wire that getting physical copies produced in time just wasn’t feasible - therefore we just got a digital release.

It wouldn’t surprise me if COVID also played a part in fucking up production schedules, as it has fucked up everything else. Aside from possible infections in Hikaru’s team throwing things off, COVID more than likely affected manufacturing plants too. Adele had said in an interview than the pandemic had caused many CD and vinyl manufacturers to either close or operate at a lower capacity, which increased lead times by months. Us fans know that Hikaru lives for a high quality glossy inlay booklet, which takes even longer to produce and is also considerably more expensive. Which is probably why the limited edition physical version of Bad Mode is just photos and blank Sony disc shoved into an Amazon envelope.

Because Daddy Utada told Sony ‘All of your divisions gon’ support my baby’, The Live Sessions from Air Studios was shot on Sony cameras using Sony equipment, and Sony uploaded a video of the director David Barnard and the director of photography Marcus Domleo talking about the cameras they used to shoot the performances and the documentary, which is incoming. Worth a watch whether you’re a Hikaru fan or just a fan of filming and photography.

If you didn't get the chance to watch the Live Sessions from Air Studios gig online, you can cop it as part of the limited edition release of Bad Mode from February 23rd. It was a cute gig, and Hikaru performed a couple of songs off of Exodus, just to let fans know that they still fucks with that album. Although real ones always knew that Hikaru had never disregarded Exodus, as they've been folding it into their sound from as far back as Heart Station. This is the One is the album that Hikaru and nobody in their team cares about and would rather we all forgot.

💿 Singlekaru Reviewtada: Pink Blood | One Last Kiss | Dare ni mo Iwanai | Time
💿 Albumkaru Reviewtada: Hatsukoi | Fantôme | This is the One | Heart Station | Ultra Blue | Exodus | Deep River | Distance | First Love

🎧 Spotifykaru Playlistada: Slaykaru Queentada | Hikaru Utada: R&B | Hikaru Utada: Ballads | Hikaru Utada: Bops | Hikaru Utada: Remixes