Search - Utada :: Passion (Mlps)

Such a beautiful song...

sora | 01/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just from listening to this song, I've become an even bigger Hikki fan. It's so much more mature than her previous songs and fits perfectly with the new and darker Kingdom Hearts II. At first I was kind of iffy about the single, but the more and more I listened to it, it really grew on me. It's very different from her previous Kingdom Hearts single "Hikari" or "Simple & Clean" in that is much more mature, and has a deeper meaning. It's hard to figure out what that is exactly since there is only a rough translation out there, which you can get at www.kh2.co.uk



I haven't actually bought the single itself, but there are three versions of the song: There's the Opening version, the Single version and then the After the Battle version. The single version was the original and then transformed into the Opening version which provides a funky rock vibe about half way through the song, where she sings "My heart's a battleground" as well as some english lines backward, which sound like "I need more passion than you know" and "I need two emotions" it's very cool, and very different, but adds a lot to the song itself. The "After the Battle" version is accompanied by the Piano and is probably my favorite. It's slower than the single version and the way she sings it, is just amazing. It's so emotional and really provides an image as to what the ending is possibly like for Kingdom Hearts II, and from listening to it, it's going to be sad, no doubt. The reason the "after the battle" version is my favorite, is beacause she sings the song with so much...well, um, passion! No pun intended, since i'm serious here. Just by listening to some of the words she sings it's just sad and she really puts her emotions into this version; it's just breathtaking really. At the end of the "After the Battle" version, well at least after she sings the lyrics, there's this orchestrated version of the song, which finishes it off beautifully since as you get closer to the end of the song, the orchestrated part gets more intense.



Speaking of the orchestrated part in "after the battle" there is an actual Orchestrated version of the song, which is just beautiful, and I would highly recommend finding it and downloading from somewhere. It's beautiful.



I would highly recommend this single, especially for those die hard Kingdom Hearts fans like me. It's such a nice change from the main stream J-Pop music that she ususally sings. I mean, I love Hikari and S&C as much as the next person, but this is just so much different and I'm sure you'll enjoy this more mature song."

Excellent song, but CD single needs remixes or a b-side

Ian Martyn | Los Angeles, CA USA | 08/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As far as the song Passion goes, it's one of Utada Hikaru's best, in my opinion. It's not as poppy as songs like Hikari (known as Simple and Clean in the USA) and Traveling, but in a way that's a good thing. The song, written for Kingdom Hearts II, is a more mature song written for a more mature game. The After The Battle version is also a nice treat where Utada Hikaru's voice is allowed to shine without the immense instrumental backing of the normal version.



The five star rating is for the song alone, but I'd give the CD product and presentation three stars. Many Japanese singles have b-sides or remixes, but this only presents one additional song, which itself is not much of a remix. I always think of singles like Traveling, which had two remixes and a karaoke version. I wish that the producers had done the same with Passion."