Wonderful! One of Hikki's Best!

My initial reaction to this album was "HOLY SHIT O________O AMAZING!!!!!"
After spending much time with this album, I still believe it to be a fantastic pop album. Actually, it's just a little bit beyond pop. Utada Hikaru always has a way of pushing the ideals just a little bit further, and she's done that once again with this album.

I could go on and on and on about how fantastic and amazing all of the tracks on this album are, but you really should just hear it for yourself. It's amazing how far Hikki has come as an artist. To listen to this album alongside her earlier efforts like First Love, it's truly remarkable to see the ground she has covered, and fully realize how much she has grown and matured as a singer, a songwriter and an artist.

The style of this album is very far removed from her other Japanese albums. Ultra Blue is heavy heavy heavy! on the synths. Some songs don't have any real instruments at all (Kairo). In some cases, too much synth would turn incredibly sour incredibly fast, but in Hikki's capable and daring hands, the music sounds lite, clear and refreshing.

Of the album material (which, to be honest, isn't a lot), the real standout is BLUE. The composition paired with the lyrics is fantastic. It starts out light and smooth, but changes into a dramatic chorus filled with doubt, fear, and angst. The melody is beautiful and the instrumentation is fresh and powerful. Such a fantastic song! The unique and fresh feel of this piece is carried throughout the rest of the new album material, but none of them sound redundant of eachother. Hikki's mastery of slightly off kilter pop is better than ever.

The newer singles for this album are all top-notch as well. I spouted off about Be My Last and the glorious Passion in last year's review, and my opinion of them hasn't changed one bit. The newest single Keep Tryin' is an upbeat, fun song that took the synth pop feeling just one step further and really set up the overall sound of the album for the casual listener.

The one downfall of the album is the lack of fresh material. To fans who have been following her career for a while, the majority of the album was heard before the album was even announced. Most people were concerned that COLORS wouldn't fit with the new material more or less because it was so old (it was released in 2003). While I think it could've used a production face-lift to bring it more up to speed with the new material, COLORS does a pretty good job of settling itself on the album. I found the real problem to be Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro. As gorgeous as the song is, the abrupt change to completely acoustic piano in the midst of synth electro pop is jarring, and rather disruptive to the flow and overall feeling of the album.
I think it could've worked very well if Dareka... had been somehow turned into an interlude, and Eclipse pulled out into a full song.

Hikki's music never ceases to amaze me. I've said that many times, and it's always true. Since Ultra Blue was released, I've not been able to decide if I like it, Deep River, or Exodus the most. The main issue with choosing a favourite album from her, is that they are all so completely different. She hasn't stopped evolving, and I can't wait to see where she'll go from here.