This Is The One

—Review Score: 9/10—

The second English album of Utada Hikaru is here, it’s called This Is The One. The overall feel of the album is solid and it’s clearly targeted to the current mainstream Western music taste, with R&B influence all over the tracks. It’s also worth noting that Utada’s cunning rhyming is imminent in this album. How often do you hear the words “Photoshop”, “MySpace”, “Blackberry”, and “JPEG” in a song?

The first single of the album, Come Back To Me, is a good and yet mellow ballad song showcasing Utada’s excellent vocal. Another great sad song in this album is This One (Crying Like A Child), the first time you hear the vocal in this track, you’ll know that this is Hikki. Departing from the ballads, the rest of the album is pretty much upbeat R&B-styled. In true Utada style, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI takes a classical melody into a twisting high energy song. Apple and Cinnamon and Automatic Part II are also interesting songs with the intelligent rhyming only known from Hikki, she even acknowledge her own clever rhyming as a lyrics in the latter song.

The flow of this album is actually enjoyable. The first single Come Back To Me starts the listening experience, and then Me Muero a medium beat song to continue. Things started to get interesting with Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI and Apple and Cinnamon, both feature an upbeat rhythm with enjoyable lyrics. And then Taking My Money Back sets the beat back to showcase This One (Crying Like A Child) sad and mellow tune, which is, in my opinion, the best song in this album. But starting with Automatic Part II, suddenly the album becomes monotone with Dirty Desire, Poppin’, and On and On all three have an upbeat R&B tune. Too bad the final stretch is not as enjoyable as the first half of the album.

Overall, this is a really great album. There are several weird lyrics to my taste, but they don’t distract you that much from actually enjoying the whole listening experience. And although this album is more mainstream than other Utada’s albums, she still has her touch in this album, clearly this is Utada.

(Picture Credit: Utada Official Site)