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vinegar bear

by booboosnack

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kuma power 04:55
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girl station 04:26
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deep fever 05:23
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about

This is an album that I made with a turntable and a cold. I've even left in a couple of happy mistakes.

But at the heart of it all lies a voice unlike any other - one whose genius continues to unearth the multiplicity that they continue to search for within themselves. They left music to find answers, only to realize that they had to return to it to find them, even if they are who they know themselves to be.

And yet, this collection of mashups is proof that their voice stands amongst who we have considered the best in a genre that doesn't even begin to encompass the breadth of sounds that their discography has to offer. Even then, it’s quite stupid to see pop through a preconceived myopia of manufactured sterility, mostly because you just have to look at the kinds of people who receive it to understand that pop means so much more. Pop, stripped of its general definitions, is an interrogation of genre and convention, and the one specific to Japan’s stratosphere has its hidden complexities written all over it.

Perhaps this is proof that the West was never prepared for their breakthrough, let alone eager to create a space in which they were guaranteed to safely land. Or perhaps it is greater proof of our reappraisal for what this person has always given in their music from time. In an attention economy where an abundance of information and misunderstandings permeate the core image of pop's stratosphere, the heart and honesty embedded in every one of their melodies have been far from transcendent.

Their songs are its own folklore whose love for music and stories hold an infinitely undetermined value to last a lifetime. And so few artists stand the test of time, but such is the legend of a life's work that has primarily treaded the dualities of happiness and loneliness, of pleasure and disillusionment, of innocence and experience, and everything in between. Though what is easily the most unique aspect of such a voice is the uncertainty it has captured beyond themselves.

Hikaru Utada's arrival upended Japanese music in a way that united an era of people with their sense of alienation in this fresh era of economic and cultural unease.Utada's success would become proof of pop's omnipresence, but it was one whose broadened resonance constantly urged its listeners to consider the substance of pop itself. In fact, their discography is one of many that urges one to consider the word "pop" as a term embedded in humanity. It brings to mind the fact that a lot of what pop is happens to be determined by people around us; that pop is often said to be a music of the people, but even more so a resonant and reflective signifier of how the populace behaves.

I initially questioned the prospect of having this album partially revolve around a demo that is now old enough to rent a car (and, as of this year, old enough to stop receiving healthcare in the United States). For a moment, I nearly split hairs at the thought of using someone else's voice at the earliest point in their career, namely to convey just how much they saw outside themselves. Though overtime, this ethical conflict dissolved to reveal the most crucial thing about the earnest voice nestled beneath the analog fuzz of backing tracks and magnetic tapes. Because while one can understand how much they have changed as an artist, one realizes that so much about them remains the same, and admirably so.

There's always been more to the person behind the megastar at the summit of Japanese music, and it's closer to us than what we could assume. Even after 24 years, they are still figuring things out. Should they keep bringing us along for the ride, you best believe I'll be there.

All things considered, this artist really needs no introduction, but I will never stop thanking them for everything they continue to give.

Happy 41st, Hikki. This one's for you.

credits

released January 19, 2024

All rights to the songs used belong to its original artists.
This is just a homage to one of the best.

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booboosnack Toronto, Ontario

for the kids.

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