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Kingdom Hearts: Hikari - Utada Hikaru :: Review by Simon
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Album Title: | Kingdom Hearts: Hikari - Utada Hikaru |
| Record Label: | Toshiba EMI | |
| Catalog No.: | TOCT-4361 | |
| Release Date: | March 20, 2002 | |
| Purchase: | Buy at CDJapan |
Review
"Hikari", the theme song for Kingdom Hearts, is a delightful track sung by young Japanese sensation Utada Hikaru. Refreshingly for a main theme, it's not a ballad; it's a pop song. With a real beat and a catchy chorus, "Hikari" can easily be ranked up their with the great vocal themes.
For the single, the Japanese version is used, and while the actual song only differs by a few vocal notes in the chorus, it still comes across as a fresh new song. Also onboard to make this a very worth purchase are three other versions of the song.
First up is the PlANITb remix, which turns the pop song into a light techno song. The song speeds up the lyrics a little which can make for some funny chipmunk moments. On the whole, the remix, which is also used in the games opening sequence (albeit in only half its entirety), is a great success and is great to dance too.
The Godson Mix is a previously unreleased one, which turns it in a summer's day pop song. While it still sounds OK, the cutesy child-like version is more of an alternative, rather than an improvement. The final version is the Karaoke version, which is great for those who want to sing it in English instead!
If you have the Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack, your desire for this single will be diminished by the lack of any other songs, but getting the full PLANITb version and a karaoke version to sing along to should sway you into spending your hard earned cash.
