The album First Love by Utada Hikaru may be seen as more than just her debut. First Love was an encounter with a completely new kind of pop music – polished but also personal, young but also self-confident and incredibly melodious but not at the expense of the emotions. The First Love album featured an artist equally comfortable with English and Japanese and capable of producing catchy and melodious music easily. This music sounds personal but also universal. So, this album quickly turned into an important reference point for late-1990s Japanese pop.

First Love – debut album with variety

First Love is the debut album of Utada Hikaru released on March 10, 1999. By that time, the artist had already gained some popularity due to her breakthrough singles including "Automatic" and "Movin' on Without You". The First Love album may be viewed as a collection of songs depicting the artistic personality. This album includes the influence of R&B, pop music, and ballads. However, the record is not an example of an exercise in various genres. On the contrary, all the songs on the album have a very melodious and clear sound uncommon in Japanese pop music of that time. The genre had a lot of talented vocalists, but First Love differs from them due to its high degree of authorship.

First of all, it should be mentioned how Utada Hikaru performed on her First Love album. There is a certain quality in an artist's phrasing – it resembles conversation and gives such songs as "Automatic", "Movin' on Without You", and "First Love" an unusual immediacy. Every track on the album has an emotional turn despite the smooth and radio-friendly production. Also, the First Love album demonstrated the artist's skill in performing in a style combining languages and cultures in an organic way.

Reasons to listen to First Love

All the features mentioned above may be attributed to the album's ability to combine such aspects as accessibility and depth:

  • sleek R&B songs adding a modern touch to the album;
  • simple and straightforward lyrics;
  • beautiful melodies;
  • an unusual poise of the artist during performance.

These characteristics were important for this album because they made it enjoyable on the first listening and rewarding on subsequent ones. There is something in the album's arrangement that leaves some headroom for vocals, letting emotions breathe. This is one of the reasons for the album's polish. This album is not based on excess but on perfection: perfectly timed changes of chords, emotions expressed in the right way, properly timed openings of the chorus.

The track "First Love" has turned into the emotional center of the album for many of its listeners. There are simple and colorful images and straightforward language in this track expressing feelings connected with memories and past relationships. The song does not rely on dramatic elements to involve the listener. Instead, this track creates an impression of inevitability, which is why it has become the signature song of Utada Hikaru. The track "First Love" shows one of the main talents of the artist: to take a well-known topic and to make it fresh again. It is not an easy task, especially for a debut release, but it allowed Utada Hikaru to present herself as an artist with her own point of view. Other songs presented on the album reinforce this perception. "Automatic" is more dynamic and rhythmic, whereas "Movin' on Without You" is a more confident pop song. Together with the "First Love" track, they create the emotional spectrum of attraction, movements, reflections, and the aftertaste of love. It is one of the reasons for this album's significance for fans of Utada Hikaru.

Importance

The First Love album played an important role in changing the typical perception of the mainstream Japanese pop star. Unlike other artists working in this field at that time, Utada Hikaru was marketed not as a teen pop star but as a writer, the creator of mood, and a unique vocalist. For the artist's career, it meant that she had a good starting point for further development. First Love was followed by such important releases as Distance (2001), Deep River (2002), and Fantôme (2016), featuring different themes but maintaining the author's style. In all of these records, Utada Hikaru continued exploring her sound.

Many fans continue to regard First Love as a starting point in their acquaintance with Utada Hikaru because of many of the features of this artist revealed in this album – her melodic sense, unique voice, and ability to create personal music, which remains popular among a wide audience.

Conclusion

There are several reasons for the significance of the First Love album apart from nostalgia. Apart from that, it is a good example of a well-written and well-arranged pop album featuring clear ideas behind it. This album introduced Utada Hikaru as an artist in an unusual way, and it may give a new listener the first impression of her sound – elegant, inquiring, and unforgettable.