This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Ultra Blue (stylized in all caps) is the sixth album by Japanese–American singer Hikaru Utada, released on June 14, 2006, by EMI Music Japan. It is the first original Japanese language album under Hikaru Utada's name in four years since her third album Deep River (2002). Ultra Blue contains thirteen songs, including six singles released between 2003 and 2006. While the arrangements for her album Deep River were done collaboratively, all but one of the songs on Ultra Blue were written, composed, and arranged solely by Utada, who also did the programming herself. In this album, the R&B elements that have been present since her debut are further diminished, and the majority of the songs have an electronic flavor with an emphasis on synth sounds. Ultra Blue received mostly positive reception from music critics. The album was a commercial success in Japan, selling over 500,000 copies in its first week and debuting at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart. By the end of the fiscal year, it became 2006's best-selling original album by a Japanese female soloist. It was also the fourth most downloaded album of the year on iTunes Japan, and was certified as a million-seller by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). During summer 2006, Utada held a nationwide concert tour to help support the album titled Utada United 2006.
There is an incredible lack of j-pop (and other east Asian music in general) so this was a fabulous add.
Love her work on Kingdom Hearts, and this was a great first full album to hear!
Very pop, with that particular Japanese flavor. Strong vibes of watching anime opening sequences, except when she switches to the English parts you can tell that she understands what she's singing. I didn't dislike this.
I listen to Japanese city pop every once in a while but every time I hear it or something similar I find myself enjoying it even more. This is shit was so good. Mix of j pop and early 00s dance pop; sounded greag while I was high.
5 stars for suggesting a music genre that should definitely have been on the original list.
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: This is live, Blue
I have very little familiarity with J-Pop or music from this part of the world. I was happy someone promoted this to the list and think a bonus star is in order for representing a whole unexplored part of the musical world. I don’t know if this is great, good or other J-Pop, but I can say that I enjoyed several songs quite a bit and the album stuck the landing ending on a high note for me.
It gets a boost for uniqueness.
'kin weeb. I genuinely love the fact that the user recommendations are straying further away from the eleventy million Bowie albums, identical-sounding British NME belle-du-jour acts of the 2000s and albums by Bob Dylan that would more usually be included in lists of things banned by UN convention as being cruel and a violation of fundamental human rights. This jpop offering is just that - poppy nonsense. The Wikipedia entry for it reads like a Patrick Bateman review. It is trashy pop and it's a diversion, purely disposable. And that's OK.
Good japanese pop! Nice to have a new one after a streak of classics
未来を舞台にした映画のための音楽。ループやサンプルが満載。最高の意味で国際的なアルバム。勉強中に聴くのに最適です。
Super catchy J-pop that transcends the language barrier with its vibrancy and innovation. I first heard Utada a few years ago with her most recent release Bad Mode, which I really liked though it feels quite cold and paranoid at times. This is a much breezier and vibier album that you can actually dance to - and the final track was used as the Kingdom Hearts II theme so that’s pretty rad
Early 2000's sound in 2006; not my thing, but I can see why someone would dig it.
A decent (if overlong) J-Pop LP with some interesting production elements and beautiful vocals. Giving this one a bump as Japan was sorely underrepresented on the main list, great to see some international representation and different genres for once!
A nice, if overly repetitive album. Hikaru has a nice voice and this album sounds kind of like a Sonic Video game
Fun enough J-pop. Catchy dance tunes that sound pleasant, and that I'll never listen to again. Runtime a bit long, whole thing very samey. 3/5.
Some nice soaring songs that got me hyped to get up an make the sandwich i've been desiring
The original list was definitely lacking in music from Asia which has a storied music industry and is producing the biggest bands in the world right now. This J-pop album is not my thing, but I really enjoyed its use of melody.
I noticed the lack of albums from Japan (or even East Asia as a whole) in the 1001 albums project, so I was happy to have this J-pop album to listen to. That said, this one is absolutely easy to listen to, but I can't say it's super memorable for me.
Wow, this album produced 6 singles! That is no easy feat. Although this is not musically “my bag”, so to speak, I respect the hard work and artistry that went into creating such a stellar record. Japan’s Björk basically, am I right? Good for her.
Nothing special, although it was nice to have another artist from Asia. Just another pop album
Nice to see another non-English album suggestion, particularly by an Asian artist. A really pleasant sound, with lovely vocals and elegant electronic arrangements. On the surface, this doesn't feel substantially different from Western pop (Madonna comes to mind, but gentler). But the vocal delivery does feel distinct in a good way. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Fave Songs: Blue, Colors, Keep Tryin', This Is Love, One Night Magic, Kairo
Definitely seems underrepresented genre in the list. Nice to listen to something different than what i'm used to.
It's clubby with a lot of pep. Couldn't understand the majority of it, though. Most likely not go back to it.
This isn’t my cup of tea, but I do agree with the sentiment that for all the world music on the list there isn’t enough J-Pop or K-Pop hence agree this is a fair submission.
This is for lovers of Evangelion and pop music. I will likely not listen to it again but it was a nice excursion into music that I do not typically listen to.
It was fine. It didn't leave a huge impression upon me. It's a true 2.5 but getting a 3 because that's not an option.
Nice, but nothing that has stuck with me, sadly.
Meh
I wanted to like it but it was just a little too dull for me.
Very cool Japanese pop album, with a mix of English and Japanese lyrics. I prefer the Japanese side here. Is this a big famous album in Japan? I'd be curious to know. But really good, I liked it! 3.5/5
A cool J-Pop album! It was in the compilations section of the artist on Apple so not sure if this is a best of or if apple just screwed up. But enjoyed it!
Big respect to Hikaru for writing, performing and producing the whole thing. Sounded like mid career Madonna to me. For 30mins or so I was happy with four stars for the talent, the underrepresented genre and general inoffensiveness of the music. But unfortunately after about 40mins her voice started to grate on my nerves. A little trimming down and I’d have really liked it
When a record is in a language that I don’t know I try to seek out an aspect to grab onto. Maybe it’s the vibe, the music, sometimes even the production. In this case they didn’t do it for me.
J-Pop. Never listened before. Bright but vacuous. I have absolutely no interest but admire it in a weird way.
The whole time I was imagining the intro of some anime or soap opera. I feel that the music has a somewhat repetitive style or sound since there are several songs that seem like a single track but in a bad way, which can end up being tiring. The ballads are nothing special and rather lower the intensity of the album, which is not very intense. Even the most played hits made me sleepy.
Not really loving this. 2 stars.
Didn't hate it 3 Got that early 2000s feel though - I don't dig it 2
It’s fun to have some J-Pop on here, due to the length it all feels very similar and I had to look to see how much was left which as the rules state means a 2
Slik and very poppy. Not bad but nothing to get too excited about.
Was quickly bored with this music. It's a lot of the dame to me
Shiny pop. Clear mature singing, but feels a little vacuous probably because of the language barrier. Not enough hooks to reel me in. Good clean production, slightly lacking in fun.
Started out interesting and different, soon got tiring. Like a fever dream
Bland music produced way too smooth and without interesting songs. Each song was forgotten within minutes after hearing it.
J-pop, art pop, electronica. Truño de pop comercial. Un 2.
This was just boring pop to me. The last song was a bit Imogen Heap which I didn't dislike quite so much. But the rest of it, no
Apparently she sold a bunch of records.
No thanks. The Hispanic music has good instrumentals. The German music has good beats. The Asian music is just pop. 1.4/10
Other than having a mix of Japanese and English language vocals I couldn't find anything interesting about this generic, mid paced, samey, pop album. Rating: 1.5 Playlist track: COLORS Date listened: 09/09/24
J-trash
I'm all for inclusion and true J-Pop is an undiscovered country in the 1001 but this is a sterile laboratory grown concoction. A pretty face can be replaced with no discernable difference.