Lyrics Translation: HEART STATION ~ Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル)

It seems that instead of replying your post, I managed to delete it! (>__<) I was wondering why Vox was asking me if I was sure I wanted to reply... *sigh*

Anyhow, I will reply from memory... hopefully, it will serve me right... LOL

1. Yes, the PV is certainly well thought out, although I can understand if people are not initially receptive to it. From what I have seen of Hikki and her PV making process, she actually does play a fair role in explaining the important concepts that the PV is trying to convey. In fact, it's not just her and the director, but from her past behind-the-scenes clips, they have a whole team talking about the direction and imagery of the PV... LOL.

The director of HEART STATION goes by the name of Muto Masashi (武藤真志) and he is actually quite well-known for his PV direction in Japan and internationally. I know him too for some of his earlier works although I am not sure if this is the first time he worked with Hikki.

2. It's certainly true that the evolution from personal to impersonal seems so quick and in some ways, they are very transient categories - that is, something can pass from impersonal to personal and vice versa without any real reason or restriction.

Falling in love with a stranger, in this sense, can be entirely possible when the stranger passes from the impersonal to the personal (that's how all "love at first sight" stories start, no? LOL). But falling out of love with a friend, is also quite possible simply by the failure to keep contact and thus having them fall out from the personal and into the impersonal. This is truly a very real danger when it comes to moving away to distant places, as you have done (so be careful!).

Indeed, with such transient borders, one's feelings may not be the same as the feelings of the other person but it's so very hard to tell without any communication. Nonetheless, perhaps the point really is: whatever the feelings of the other person are, I know that my feelings are true.

3. In her last CDTV appearance, Hikki did acknowledge HEART STATION's divisiveness although she still maintained it was based on the memory of a beautiful love.

Although I could understand this, I feel that Hikki's perspective on the song is actually based on the hindsight of what she hoped to express instead of what it actually expresses... even her English lyrics were quite confrontational ("If you can hear me... say something").

More recently, in her live performances, she sings that "this is from the bottom of my heart" to illustrate the sincerity of the message. Perhaps it was because she is still true to her feelings that she speaks of this song as a sharing of heart messages... but does sharing not hint at some form of reciprocity? hmm...

4. I guess that's true - you can't list out the whole song all over again! (^__^") But I have to say that I disagree a little with how we choose to remember things. From what I have seen and experienced, we only tend to remember the good stuff when we felt that whatever happened was pretty good (then our memory exaggerates the good and silences out the bad). On the other hand, if what we went through was terrible, then our minds will likely exaggerate the bad and block out whatever good there was left in the memory.

In fact, I would even go so far as saying that the mind will eventually also make things up to compensate for deleting the other memories. Have you ever had the feeling of something was so good/bad and then, going back to it, you realise that somehow it was a lot better in your memory? That's what makes me think that the brain seems to be "making up" memories because in the memory - additional information sometimes gets tagged along.

Anyhow, by writing that it all seems to only be good memories then - I find it reassuring since it means that Hikki must have left off on a good note. In contrast, you can read the translation post for YUI's Namidairo (coming very soon) and see how bitter she is about the whole experience... LOL.

Well... I think that was all... Sorry that I managed to delete the post while trying to reply it again... it was most terrible of me. I'll be more careful next time! m(_ _)m

This reply has been a long time coming... LOL, but here we go! (^__^)

1. Hikki has indeed maintained that a powerful reputation but more importantly, she also continued to evolve with the times and make her music fit the times - so her fan base is still growing because her music continues to remain very relevant (listen to her ballads now and the past and you'll hear a very stark difference, but they are still endearing nonetheless)

Regardless, although I understand where she is coming from, she is perceived to require too much conditions only because other artists don't command and request such conditions. The easiest way for me to understand her is really seeing her as an American-Japanese artist (which she is, of course), but what I mean is that she mixes elements of expressing fame and power from both worlds. That's why she doesn't act like a completely American artist but she doesn't act like a Japanese artist either.

On the issue of fans, there is tendency for fans of Japanese artists to agree with what the artist wants, or at least to justify their artists position for them. Hikki is usually a lot more reserved in her interaction with fans, but when she does interact, it's very deep and she allows you to feel very connected to her. In the same way though, Hikki does make some decisions that only fans would ever swallow and understand, such as her one track only Be My Last single, the lack of promotional appearances, absence from particular events... and so on.

As for a Fight The Blues PV, I guess she didn't make one but I also doubt she will make one in future... since she usually doesn't go back to make PVs of older songs... LOL

2. LOL, point taken! Indeed, the entire song does demonstrate the fact that although they are "feelings", they may still be very real to those who feel them. Perhaps, we don't attribute enough importance to our emotions sometimes since everything in the world is about "logic" these days...

3. Oops, I may have been unclear here... LOL... She said it was supposed to be about the memory of a beautiful love - not about that love itself. Perhaps I can understand it a little now, in the sense that the love was so beautiful that indeed, if it breaks down these would be the expected results of it... but then again, this song has led me to think - perhaps it's because of the way we define happiness that we cannot see Hikki's point of view.

Maybe it's because we believe that happiness should have certain indicators and expressions that we cannot understand her point... somehow though, I am beginning to understand it a little - perhaps it is the act of missing someone and wanting to share these heart messages that is the happy part of the song. Because it reflects still on how incredible love is and how, even though the aftermath is difficult, it was still worth it. Is this happiness? Perhaps, that's what she was trying to say...

4. LOL, but it's still nice to know that Hikki only had good memories remaining because it shows that she did have a beautiful love... LOL...

The things which I do like about Japanese pop artists is that they tend to express themselves which is why their music tend to be a reflection of them. Ai-chin, Hikki, YUI, and ayaka all fit their music really well - you can literally see them in their music and their lives make that link even more powerful. Of course, it also depends on how much control they have over their music though - and some of them, like hitomi, actually go all out and fight for the control of their music.

Chinese pop artists, on the other hand, are very good at copying and reflecting on what they copied (sometimes, even misinterpreting their source)... So it's not unexpected that Jay would do the same... but when that happens, there is no self-expression in the music and music simply becomes a set of notes that are strategically placed together. There has been so many scandals that have hit the Chinese music industry in relation to copyright (as well as the outright denial that follows) that I have to admit, I have somewhat lost hope in it... That is not to say that there is no originality in Chinese pop, just not as much..

Sigh... this brings back memories of all those great Chinese pop songs I used to love since I used to follow C-pop... only to realise they were rip-offs of Japanese, Korean, American, British, German, almost anywhere in the world songs. So one good thing about C-pop is simply that you get the best of all worlds since they copy the best from all over the place - so, you can't say they didn't work hard. They even shamelessly do this for movies...

Sorry, that was my years of disappointment coming out in two paragraphs... LOL, I used to be such a huge defender of C-pop with a fairly sizeable C-pop collection and now... well... I just wish it didn't have to be like this... there is still some really good new songs in the C-pop world... but I always can't help but be cynical and wonder, "which foreign artist, unknown to the Chinese public, did they rip off now?" LOL (^___^")

LOL, you're welcome, Denny! And also, terima kasih for your comment! (I still remember a little bit of Bahasa, but not enough to fluently communicate in it... LOL)

"Can You Keep A Secret?" was quite some time ago though, so it's not that late! And besides, the more important thing is that you are a fan of Hikki's music! LOL, doesn't matter when you became a fan (^___^)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Heart Station though! So allow me to reciprocate (^__^)

1. Yea, but I have begun to understand how it could also be seen as a not-so-sad song. Still, in general, the first impression of the song is sad and as you said, the music hints this sadness as well!! LOL

2. Wow, I actually didn't see the PV like that because I did think she was sorta acting - but I have to agree, there was a sense that she wanted someone to hear her message. Nonetheless, the PV also had a lot of different messages within it and it was actually a little hard to find the sparkle of happiness that she talks about. I really feel that the concept of "happiness" came about later as Hikki changed her mind about what she wanted this song to express... LOL... we all need to sit down with Hikki to have a chat with her about that (^__^")

3. Yea, I really like the direction Hikki is taking her music and the way she is choosing to express herself. Her new sound is significantly different and it really is quite refreshing to hear her music as it develops. It also makes me really excited to hear what the next song will be like and has me crossing my fingers that her next English release will be a lot better than her last one... LOL

4. I admit that although I did note that something had changed in terms of Hikki's appearance, I didn't actually note her proportions... I concede that you have a point after thinking about it but I find it really hard to view Hikki or any of the artists in this way... forgive me, LOL... I always thought it was something to do with her hair (^___^")

Nonetheless, Hikki seems fine and from the live appearances she has made, she really seems to be doing quite well. The Prisoner of Love PV was very encouraging too... LOL. Nonetheless, the world generally does prefer Western music but that's not a bad thing since they do have some pretty nice tracks.

Finally, there is nothing to be sorry for, so I am not sure why you said you were sorry, LOL (@__@)