Radio Phone album review
Single Collection Vol. 1 (sweet PASSION)
Track One. time will tell
30 seconds in, and I'm liking it. Feels misty, yet very R&B. Now the song is beginning, and I like it! It's quite easy to tell this is an older song. Sounds like a throwback R&B record from the late late 80s/early early 90s. And Hikki sounds like a baby. It's an optimistic song; cheery. Hikki sounds really nice here. I'm loving this song so much. It's giving me what I need and then some. 5/5
Track Two. Automatic
Another really really good R&B song sounding like it comes from the early 90s. It's great, and has engaged in a fierce batte with time will tell for which is better. Hikki's singing sounds so much better and stronger in these older songs by far . And in the last minute of the song Hikki goes hard with the singing. She sounds so passionate. She's really impressing me with her "tell me whyyyyy-eyy-eyyyy-ey" ad-libs. Great song. Love it. 5/5
Track Three. Movin' on without you
I want to make a Hikki joke with this song title and SCV2 in mind, but I wont. Anyway, Movin' on without you is a faster paced song and had an older pop/slight disco vibe. I'm not feeling this song too much. Her vocals aren't impressing me either in this one. Onto the next one! 2/5
Track Four. First Love
Intro sound alright. She's singing now, and it's okay. "You are always gonna be my love;" I feel this song has a lot of potential. It's nice so far, but it's getting better. "You will always be inside my heart." I like it thus far, and I like Hikki's singing too. "Now and forever you are still the one." I love the lyrics. Hikki's singing is really picking up, she sounds amazing. Music is great. The song has turned out to be a fantastic song. I'm very, very impressed. It's a beautiful love song. 5/5
Track Five. Addicted To You [UP-IN-HEAVEN MIX]
Wow I absolutely love the xylophone intro with that sound coming in every second beat. And then the R&B beat comes along. It all sounds awesome. Now Hikki is singing and she sounds not only good, but also a lot more grown up and mature than the past couple songs. The song is really good. Further along into the song and---oh-my-goodness! LIFE! I wasn't ready for this chorus full of win! Lawd help me! Enjoying this song a lot. Hikki is giving me life with her R&B songs. 5/5
Track Six. For You
Haha, for a moment we had moved away from the songs that sounded like obvious older song, but we just went right back with this one. For You is a really upbeat R&B song. The verses are terribly boring. It's because her singing is so boring during them. The pre-choruses are better, and the choruses are great though because of the melody of the singing. The bridge is good, and I love the stronger singing she does during the last minute of the song. I want to give this song full points so bad because I love everything but the verses! But they're part of the song, and they're quite bad. I love everything else though. 4/5
Track Seven. Can You Keep A Secret?
The intro is wonderful with Hikki singing a capella. She sounds great. Afterward the music picks up with chants of "hit it up like this, hit it up like this oh baby." It's awesome. After that, Hikki sings the first verse of the song entirely a capella, all the way up to the chorus, and slays it. And then the song launches right into the chorus and everyone's wig just got blown the **** off because they weren't expecting this roller coaster ride! LIFE LIFE LIFE. Where to begin! The musical production is point! And Hikki's vocal performance is on point! Secondly, I love how each of the four the lead-ins to the four sections of the chorus are harmonized, and then she sings non-harmonized; that sounds absolutely fantastic, and those harmonized lines sound very strong. Immediately following those parts, the "secret" in " can you keep in a secret" is also harmonized a little, which sounds good too. She also sounds really good during the part where she sings "can you keep a secret" twice back to back. The song continues, and Hikki sings the second verse along with the music. Still great. During the second chorus, Hikki adds a new and small, but very effective vocal effect that I love: at the end of the second section she extends last word into a longer "ahh-ah-ahh" ad-lib. Love that so much. The songs moves into the bridge, which features Hikki speaking to the one she wishes to tell her secret to. I love what she says: "Hey, can I take a time out to tell you something? But see, can you keep it a secret?" It reinforces the song very well, and also adds a precious feeling of vulnerability to her and the song. As the song continues into it's last chorus, another really awesome vocal effect is added to it: all throughout the last chorus, you can hear a layer of misty, breathy vocal sounds in the background. In last section of the chorus, Hikki does her "ahh-ah-aah" ad-lib again, and the song goes into it's outro. Whispery "la la la" chants, and Hikki sings "can you keep a secret?" every so often, until the song fades away. Can You Keep A Secret is a masterpiece. It's my "evolution" (Ayumi reference) of Hikki's discography.
Also, call me crazy, but I think this song is really sexy too. 5/5
Track Eight. FINAL DISTANCE
One minute in and so far FINAL DISTANCE hasn't impressed me...but judging from the vibe I get from the song, it has potential. Passed the first chorus and still unimpressed. Anyway, this one is a ballad. It doesn't have a lot of music, which isn't a bad thing btw. Hikki is singing well. But the song is boring. The voilins are beautiful though. 2/5
Track Nine. traveling
Right away traveling has slight Christmas sound. It's probably just because of the jingle bell sound. "Let's go for a ride," Utada says. It's a really uptempo song. Up to the chorus now, and the song is okay. We're traveling, but where are we going Hikki? I can't seem to tell, and maybe I'm not supposed to, but the thing is, the ride isn't really all that great anyway. 2/5
Track Ten. Hikari
OHH! It's the Kingdom Hearts song! I thought this song was called Simple and Clean? Hmm. I'm thinking this song, Hikari, is the original song, and Simple and Clean is an adaptation of Hikari that was used for Kingdom Hearts. Let me know if I'm right. Anyway, this is song quite wonderful. It's mid-tempo and has a soulful, mysterious pop/trance sound. It's very beautiful. I love it. 5/5
Track Eleven. SAKURA Drops
Utada sounds wonderful singing along with the sparkly sounds in the beginning. This is another song that had a mysterious trance pop sound. Just like Hikari, it's very beautiful. Wonderful. Utada does well with these types of songs. 3/5
Track Twelve. Letters
This song sounds funky. It's uptempo. I can tell that it goes along with Hikari and SAKURA Drops regarding it's sound, but it also sounds very very different than those two songs. Hmm I dunno about this one. I don't like it as much as the other two. 2/5
Track Thirteen. COLORS
Another one of those myterious song, lol. This is more like Hikari and SAKURA Drops than Letters is. I like it. Hikki sounds great on songs like this. As far as I know, other than her R&B songs before this, these are the only other types of songs that Hikki sounds perfect with. 4/5
As I'm nearing the end of this song, and thus the end of the album, I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this album. It has a few duds, but so many songs that are stellar! Ooh! I love those constant higher-pitched pouding sounds after the choruses in COLORS. Anyway, yes, I think her R&B songs and her mysterious wonderland songs are her best. The R&B songs take the cake easily though, with Can You Keep A Secret being the cherry on top.
Overall, this album is off the chain!
Single Collection Vol. 1
4/5
, Last Angel :heart:
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at your comments
I couldn't help it! 
