Kingdom Hearts: Hikari – Hikaru Utada

	Album Title: Kingdom Hearts: Hikari – Hikaru Utada
	Record Label: Toshiba EMI
	Catalog No.: TOCT-4361
	Release Date: March 20, 2002
	Purchase: Buy at CDJapan

Overview

“Hikari”, the theme song for Kingdom Hearts, is a delightful track sung by young Japanese sensation Hikaru Utada. It is presented in a vocal single here alongside three other versions.

Body

Refreshingly for a main theme, “Hikari” not a ballad; it’s an upbeat 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.

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!

Summary

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.

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