Why Utada Hikaru Will Never Be Big Outside Of Japan

Because whoever is representing her here in the United States is blowing it out of their a$e$. I love Utada, her sound and voice are so unique and special. Deep River was a life changer for me. And even though her English albums aren't as strong, they are solid enough to have a strong following, especially in Hawaii and Los Angeles where there are large Asian populations (First Love made the charts in Hawaii). But her promotion sucks. And whoever is on her US "team" should try another career. They should be fired and standing in the unemployment line.

Case in point: On our way to her listening "party" this past Tuesday at Hollywood and Highland, we were listening very intently to 102.7 KISS FM (the pop wasteland station in LA), as they were one of the sponsors of the event. Within the hour and half in traffic listening, we heard 1, yes 1, 30 second plug for the event that the announcer sort of mumbled through once. Way to go Team Utada! And that was just the beginning. We got there at 5:30pm, the event starts at 6pm. The line is about 50 people deep. An announcement is made that 100 people are sure to get in. As we wait the line continues to grow around the corner. Maybe 100-150 people there. Then a grip of "RSVP" people start showing up and are immediately let in to Sephora.

(Brief side note) A listening party at Sephora, a cosmetics store! As Donald Trump says, "You're fired." I've been to a few listening parties including Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak, Common's Finding Forever and Gnarls Barkley's The Odd Couple and none of them have been at such a sh*t location. Fired!

Back to the story at hand, there was no mention of RSVPing anywhere that I could see and I am both a member of her fan club and myspace group. Email notices here. TAKE OFF IMEEM??????????????????????????????????????????????????

So they probably let in about 80 people who have RSVPd. Then an announcement is yelled by a bunch of different ex-gang-bangin'/Cholo-lookin' wannabe-mall-cops that they will only let in about 20 more people. Everyone else (about 80+ people), thanks for waiting for an hour or more, but time to "go home, shop, eat...I don't really care, you just can't be standing here because it's a fire hazard." But as we all know, fans can be hardcore, especially Asian ones. So it took a while for people to actually start dispersing and then when they did they just hung around in front of the store to at least hear the album a little. Can you really blame them, even if it isn't worth listening to. While they were doing this, mind you it is a Tues. night so no one is out, and all the "La Eme" rent-a-cops keep shouting, "YOU CAN'T STAND HERE!!!", "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH, I KNOW YOU DO!!!", "YOU ARE TRESPASSING AND WE WILL ARREST YOU." Good public relations Team Utada. So about 100 or so disappointed hardcore fans got nothing. And some of us lucky ones, like me, got this stupid promotional flyer (pictured above) for the event that we couldn't even get in.

Yes, the rent-a-cops upset me. But ultimately, the fault falls on the artists themselves, as they are the ones who pick their team. The team are the ones who decided to have Sephora as the venue. The team are the ones who decided to have KIIS "promotion". The team are the ones who decided on the Hollywood & Highland rent-a-cops. And again, the team was hired by the artist or the artist's manager. Either way the ultimate decision goes to the artist. SO TO UTADA, THANKS FOR A "GREAT" MEMORY. AS A FAN (AN EX-FAN NOW) WHO LIVES OUTSIDE OF JAPAN AND WILL PROBABLY NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE YOU PERFORM, THANKS FOR EXCLUDING US. AND IF YOU ARE HAVING A CONCERT THE NEXT TIME I DO GO TO JAPAN, I'D RATHER CLEAN THE TOILETS IN THE SUMO'S LOCKER ROOM. LOVE THE NEW HAIR, YOU LOOK LIKE SOMEONE ELSE.

[MP3] Utada Hikaru :: First Love through Ultra Blue albums

[MP3] Utada Hikaru :: Heart Station

[MP3] Utada Hikaru :: Exodus

[MP3] Utada Hikaru :: This Is The One

Arigato Utada!

::MH::