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Asiaweek
 > summer special 2000
For the year 2000

GOVERNANCE
The Best Government Reformer
How Asia Is Governed
The Best Local Administrator
The Best Activist


BUSINESS
The Best Dealmaker
The Best IPO
The Best Stock
The Best Advocate of Shareholder Rights
The Best Fund Manager
The Best Cost Cutter

LIFESTYLE
The Best Airport
The Best Hotel Service
The Best Hotel Gym
The Best Store
The Best Food

ENVIRONMENT
In Tune with Nature
The Best Forest Preserve
The Best City Park
The Best Transport
The Best Green Test
The Best Marine Preserve
The Best Marine Park

THE WIRED WORLD
The Hottest Video Game
The Hottest Gadget
The Hottest Portal
The Best Asian Websites

POP CULTURE
The Hottest Fad
The Hottest Toy
The Hottest TV Show
The Hottest Album
The Best Movie
The Best Short Film

 

Fad | Toy | TV Show | Album | Movie | Short Film

The Hottest Album


Utada can do more than belt a tune.

Though Japan's Utada Hikaru is only 158 cm tall, she stands head and shoulders above her Asian pop-music contemporaries. Her 1999 debut album, First Love, set a record in Japan. At 9 million CDs and counting, Love was responsible for more than 5% of all albums sold in the country. In Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, it was a surprise hit, bolstering Japanese pop dominance and fortifying its campaign for a more international fan base.

Yet this 17-year-old Tokyo music queen is certainly no assembly-line talento. "First Love," the melodic title track resonates with Utada's youthful promise which has made her 1999's biggest-selling solo artist for EMI. The international label is likely to promote and release her work in the U.S. after she begins attending Columbia University later this year, even though her songs have so far been in Japanese with only a smattering of English.

Born in New York to parents in entertainment, Hikki, as she is known to fans, wrote her first tune at age 10. On Love, nearly all the upbeat compositions are her own. Though she is currently at the rhythm-and-blues stage of her musical evolution, she wants to create her own sound "as Utada Hikaru, without [constraints of] musical genres." How will she fare in markets with no Japanese-language skills? "Many people love Italian and Chinese opera, whether they know what the singers are going on about [or not]," Singapore's The Straits Times paper pointed out in a review of an Utada concert. Certainly, First Love has easily translated into a pop classic.

— By Alexandro A. Seno

"FIRST LOVE "
(English Translation)

Last Kiss
With cigarette taste
Sense of bitterness and sadness
This time tomorrow you might be
Somewhere and miss somebody

You are always gonna be my love
Even if one day I fell in love
I'll remember to love, you taught me how
You are always gonna be the one, the other
Till now, it is still a sad love song
Until I learn how to sing a new song

Stopped Time
It seems to run again
It's just because I can't forget
Tomorrow I will be crying and missing you
You will always be inside my heart
No matter when, I will keep a space for you
I hope that I have a place in your heart, too
Now and forever you are still the one
Till now, it is still a sad love song
Until I learn how to sing a new song

You are always gonna be my love
Even if one day I fell in love with another
I'll remember to love, you taught me how
You are always gonna be the one
Till now, it is still a sad love song
Until I learn how to sing a new song


Most Requested Videos
The Southeast Asian finalists for this year's MTV Viewers' Choice Award:

• Malaysia "Evening News" by Jason Lo
• Thailand "Pee Fa Party" by Bazoo
• Indonesia "Kuldesak" by Ahmad Dhani and Andra R
• Philippines "(Awit Para) Sa Kanya" by True Faith

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