When I first heard this song, Come Back to ME, I thought HIKARU UCHIDA grew up in some ways. Hikaru Uchida suddenly opened the door of Japanese POP music when she was just 16 or so. HikaruUchida’s first hit song, AUTOMATIC, was a real shock to Japanese music industry because her song had something new we’ve never had. Melody has black contemporary influenced feeling and the words she makes is what we native Japanese can’t use in songs as the timing of the words on melody is not Japanese song’s style.
She speaks Japanese but her songs were not Japanese songs although the words and the singer were Japanese.
Probably the fans at the time felt like listening to American songs through Hikaru Uchida’s music. Moreover they could enjoy them as exotic feeling music with Japanese words. The best matching atmosphere on her songs led Japanese fans into her original world.
From American people, this story sounds like she just imitated American music. I think it’s true more or less. Actually she grew up in America with her famous mother, Keiko Fuji. From my point of view, her songs were just natural for her. She was raised by American Music and she also speak Japanese among her family. What she made was just the way she lives.
And her way of life ends up tp the extremely comfortable exotic sound for us with Japanese language filter. Consequently, her 1st album in Japan was a mega hit, which sold more than 8 million copies. Of course it’s a Japanese best selling record ever.
COME BACK TO ME set me a little different feeling. I felt she got out of Japanese market and she’s back in woman of American blood. She’ not teenager here in this video any more and she is released from Japanese music category. She is doing what she wants to. She looks like a flying bird in the sky out of the cage.
When she sang Automatic for Japanese market, she was decollated by Japanese music industry with big expectation. Now she is free from it and CAME BACK TO HERSELF.
