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Utada Hikaru – HEART STATION / Stay Gold
Tracklist:
01. HEART STATION
02. Stay Gold
03. HEART STATION -Original Karaoke-
04. Stay Gold -Original Karaoke-

I apologize for not having fulfilled my promise of reviewing Utada’s singles and albums upto this point before the release of this single. I will certainly try to do that in future, however, so um… no harm done!

Anyway. HEART STATION / Stay Gold is Utada Hikaru’s 20th Japanese-language single and 5th double A-side in all, released on 20th February, 2008. Both the A-sides were used as CM themesongs, and in the commercial where HEART STATION was played, Utada starred in a bear-suit which she had made for her own enjoyment (god save us).

The first track, HEART STATION, took me a while to remotely get into.  It’s a really catchy Ethereal/Ambient Fusion/Dream Pop song, however, (I’m not very good at identifying genres) with soft vocals from Hikki. Even though it’s a good track, I still feel it’s not up to Hikki’s usual standards. And I do not understand why she keeps pronouncing “haato sutashon” when she’s perfectly capable of saying it right! Fret not, though, Hikki’s ‘aaaah’s are still lovely as ever, lol.

Remember when I mentioned that I’m not much of a fan of Hikki’s R&B days? Yeah. Still true. Even though Stay Gold is a great track and definitely a treat for fans of Hikaru from the Sakura Drops/COLORS era, it’s not my cup of tea. I mean, I believe it’s a good track, but not one I’d have on repeat until my ears burst. Stay Gold is a mellow, piano ballad with R&B undertones and great vocals from Hikki. I usually like her ‘husky’ voice over her pop-y voice which she exhibits greatly in this song. I fail to see how this fits into a commercial in any way whatsoever, though.

Overall grade: B