Review: Come Back to Me

Artist: Utada (Utada Hikaru's US alias)
Track: Come Back to Me

Mm. Well, if you're a fan of her Japanese songs, you probably won't be into this one. If you're a fan of songs contain a lot of variety, you probably won't be into this one.
This is her first major U.S. release in the way that her first English album was a bit too experimental to gain any real favor in the U.S.. This song, however, is so mainstream that you almost drown in it.
It sounds just like any other song you'd hear on a typical American pop radio station.
It starts out with a stream of classical piano that sounds like it should be the entrance theme of a Disney villain - say Cruella De Vil - and really has no relevancy to the rest of the song. It's like they're trying to show off Utada's piano skills or seem artsy by putting it into the song. I don't even know if Utada can play piano very well or not. Her fingering certainly looks very suspicious in the music video, so I doubt it.
After that, your typical pop beat kicks in and she starts singing. Her vocals are okay. In my opinion, Utada's high notes have always been a little weak, but her voice is sweet, so she pulls it off.
The song is called "Come Back to Me" because in the song, she's cheated on her boyfriend, and she regrets it, so she describes her loneliness and pleads with him to come back. Maybe her boyfriend would think about it if she was only a bit more articulate. This song contains 52 "Come back"s, 22 "Baby"s, and a total of 3 verses in every chorus ("Baby come back to me / I'll be everything you need / Boy you're one in a million"....four if you want to count the time she takes the "boy" out of "you're one in a million,").
Some good points in the song are that she manages to sound vulnerable and apologetic, and sure - it's catchy, although it will eventually drive you insane with its repetitiveness. There are basically 3 itty bitty melodies in this song that repeat over and over again.
Clearly, Come Back to Me is just meant to garner popularity in the U.S.. I hope that her other songs on the upcoming album "This is the One" are more interesting and reveal Utada's true songwriting talent.

Watch the promotional video on YouTube!