Utada Hikaru Gives One Last Kiss In New Single

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Pop legend Utada Hikaru has announced she will be releasing a brand-new single titled “One Last Kiss” on January 27. The new song is being used as the main theme for the long-awaited post-apocalyptic anime film Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (Shin Evangelion Gekijoban). This will be a the finale film in the Evangelion Re:build series and to help celebrate that, the new release will contain all the songs that Hikaru has contributed to the project. 

“One Last Kiss” is being released in two editions total: a standard CD-only edition and a limited edition that will be vinyl only. The limited edition is scheduled to be shipped at the end of February or later. Pre-orders are up and posted below along with the tentative track listing posted at the bottom of the page. Lastly, check out “Beautiful World” posted in the video below.

Standard Edition

Limited Edition

Utada Hikaru 「One Last Kiss」

・One Last Kiss（映画「シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版」テーマソング）

・Beautiful World（映画「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：序」テーマソング)

・Beautiful World -PLANiTb Acoustica Mix-（映画「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：破」テーマソング）

・桜流し（映画「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：Q」テーマソング）

・Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) -2007 MIX-（映画「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：序」予告編挿入歌）

ほか

Utada lights up the stage after twelve years!

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Popular female vocalist Utada Hikaru will be releasing recorded footage of her last stop on her 2018 tour Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018, Utada’s first tour in twelve years. There is only gong to be only one edition of Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018 and it will be sold in limited quantity.

The actual contents of this are pretty big. Of course, the main feature will be Utada’s final performance of the tour which also served as her 20th anniversary tour; this will be on Blu-ray. There will also be a documentary film titled "Talking about Laughter in the Dark". On top of that, there will be two DVDs which will have music videos for “Forevermore,” ”Anata,” and ”Hatsukoi” along with music videos’ Making Of documentaries that aired on M-ON!. There will also be a sixty-page photo book and, finally, a replica of the backstage pass. You can find a full track listing for Utada’s last performance of her tour below.

You can pre-order your copy of Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018 here.

Lastly, you can check out a brief preview of her performace of “Play A Love Song” below.

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Hikaru Utada Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018" December 9, 2018 Makuhari Messe show set list

01. あなた (Anata)
02. 道 (Michi)
03. traveling
04. COLORS
05. Prisoner Of Love
06. Kiss & Cry
07. SAKURAドロップス (Sakura Drops)
08. 光 (Hikari)
09. ともだち (Tomodachi)
10. Too Proud
11. 誓い (Chikai)
12. 真夏の通り雨 (Manatsu no tōriame)
13. 花束を君に (Hanataba o kimi ni)
14. Forevermore
15. First Love
16. 初恋 (Hatasukoi)
17. Play A Love Song
18. 俺の彼女 (Ore no kanojo)
19. Automatic
20. Goodbye Happiness

Ayumi Hamasaki proves she is reigning Japanese music queen

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Avex trax all-star, Japanese pop vocalist and songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki proves she is the reigning Japanese music queen in a recent poll from Yahoo! Japan. The poll held a survey asking its subscribers to vote on the most popular female solo artist of the Heisei era. There were eight artists to choose from, with options being: Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, Utada Hikaru, aiko, MISIA, Kana Nishino, AIMYON, Shiina Ringo, and “Other/I Don’t Know”. The voting commenced March 12 until 31. In total there were over 158,000 votes. Ayumi Hamasaki smashed the competition and took number one with a massive 78,751 (49.8%) votes. Namie Amuro came a close second with 64,263 (40.6%) votes. Between Ayumi Hamasaki and Namie Amuro they took over 90% of the votes, showing the massive influence these ladies have in the industry (poll details below). Who is your J-pop queen?

  1. Ayumi Hamasaki - 78,751 (49.8%)

  2. Namie Amuro - 64, 263 (40.6%)

  3. Hikaru Utada - 6,343 (4.0%)

  4. Other/I Don’t Know - 2,697 (1.7%)

  5. Kana Nishino - 1,968 (1.2%)

  6. aiko - 1,821 (1.2%)

  7. MISIA - 1,096 (0.7%)

  8. Shiina Ringo - 844 (0.5%)

  9. AIMYON - 405 (0.3%)

Hikaru Utada Is Releasing A New Single Next Year

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In front of the new Kingdom Hearts game Hikaru Utada is releasing a new single titled “Face My Fears” which will serve as the game’s main theme. “Face My Fears” is a collaboration song with Hikaru Utada, Poo Bear, and Skrillex. The single will be released on January 18, 2019. With Kingdom Hearts being released on January 25 of 2019.

Below check out the upcoming tacklist and be sure to check out “Chikai” posted below; Chikai will also be featured in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 3. Lastly if you want to hear our thoughts on Utada’s latest album check out our artist spotlight posted on the bottom of the page.

Face My Fears Track List

  • Face My Fears (Japanese)

  • Face My Fears (English)

  • Chikai

  • Don’t Look Back   

This is our Utada Hikaru special. We spend the whole episode going over Utada's career. We hope you guys enjoy it and look forward to more.

Hikaru Utada Breaks Records With Her New Album!

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Singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada's seventh original album, Hatsu Koi, has once again topped the Oricon charts with an amazing 204,000 copies. With Hatsu Koi becoming first, this will mark her ninth album (including her Best Of albums) to have reached such an achievement. This amounts her total copies sold to 7,762,000 across all of her albums.

With Hatsu Koi, this will also mark her seventh consecutive original album to become first on the Oricon charts for female solo artists; she beats longtime rival BoA, who was at six. Hikaru is also two albums away from all-time best, Ayumi Hamasaki, who currently sits at nine albums straight.

You can buy Hatsu Koi here, and check out our Artist Spotlight on Utada below!