With only two weeks left until the New Year, my friend's eyes were opened to an amazing coincidence that appeared in the universe: a Japanese best-selling single from the 90s, with lyrics written 26 years ago, surprisingly transcended to the present, accurately predicting the future of 2025!
Artists often create new visions with extraordinary imagination, creativity, and curiosity. They inspire future generations through their creations, paving the way for knowledge accumulation and technological development. For example, during the Renaissance, artist Leonardo da Vinci not only created two famous paintings, (The Last Supper) and (Mona Lisa), but also conceived prototypes of modern industrial designs like airplanes, motorcycles, and submarines in his manuscripts, showcasing imagination that transcends time.
The protagonist of this article was once the Japanese queen who swept the globe during the Heisei era, a multi-talented artist who excelled in lyric writing, composing, arranging, singing, and dancing. She debuted at 16 and became famous across Asia with many popular singles. In that era, the internet had not yet become widespread, but her music resonated deeply, allowing everyone to hum along.
After recently re-listening to one of her classic divine songs, I unexpectedly discovered that this Heisei diva had hidden a prediction about the future of 2025 in the lyrics. Do you know which song it is? It is (Automatic) by Hikaru Utada.
(Automatic) was released in 1998 and included in her album (First Love). At the age of just 15, Hikaru Utada wrote the lyrics reflecting the excitement and shyness of first love. Looking back at the context of 1998, people primarily relied on dial-up internet to go online, Wi-Fi had just emerged, and Google was only recently founded. Most people used the internet to send and receive emails or to post opinions on BBS discussion forums.
This upbeat R&B dance track, blending Japanese and English lyrics, carries a distinct personal style. Hikaru Utada was born in the United States and grew up in a musical family, deeply influenced by both Japanese and American cultures. Her works cleverly combine J-pop, rhythm and blues, and disco elements, creating a unique musical style that remains popular to this day.
Listening to the lyrics of (Automatic) again surprisingly corresponds with the development of modern artificial intelligence.
Generative AI voice recognition technology
The lyrics sing: "The phone rings, even without saying a name," "Just by hearing the voice, you can recognize me immediately." Today's generative AI can accurately identify human voices through algorithms and interact based on voice commands, which represents the progress of modern AI voice technology.
Metaverse and Virtual Reality
"On rainy days when I can't cry alone," "As long as I touch the ring," "Look, the sun will rise." In the virtual world of the metaverse, magical imaginations become reality. With wearable devices, we can traverse different spaces, immersing ourselves in fantastical scenes intertwined with reality.
AI Chatbot
"When I try to go online," "the text flashing on the computer screen," "feels warm when I reach out to touch it." Nowadays, many people alleviate loneliness through AI chatbots like ChatGPT, and unconsciously develop wonderful human-machine relationships with virtual partners.
Most incredibly, the lyrics of (Automatic) seem to foreshadow the future of fully automated artificial intelligence (Automatic). Imagine the daily life in 2025: AI performs operations through voice recognition, and virtual reality allows people to meet colleagues or friends in the metaverse anytime, regardless of sunny or rainy days; whenever bored, AI chatbots are always there to keep company, easily chatting about any interesting topics. AI can also automatically generate music and videos, allowing creators to execute work just with ideas. AI can teach itself to learn foreign languages, conduct international meetings, and translate into various languages. It’s Automatic!
Who is Hikaru Utada?
Hikaru Utada was born in 1983 and grew up in Manhattan, New York. Both of her parents are musicians. Utada started writing songs at the age of ten and debuted with the single (Automatic) at the age of 15 in 1998, immediately gaining fame upon release. (Automatic) was included in her first album (First Love). Utada's first album (First Love) sold over 7.65 million copies in Japan alone, with total sales exceeding 10 million copies, making it the best-selling album in Japanese music history, establishing Utada's status as the queen of Japanese pop music, a position that remains unmatched to this day.
About (Automatic)
(Automatic) is an R&B single created by Hikaru Utada. (Automatic) was heavily influenced by American R&B music; Utada grew up listening to R&B while studying in New York. At that time, R&B was not popular in the mainstream music market in Japan, and Utada was considered the first artist to bring R&B music style into Japanese pop music. The download count for (Automatic) as a mobile ringtone reached 100,000 times. The physical sales of the (Automatic) CD single exceeded 2 million copies.
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'No wonder she is the queen! This 90s Japanese divine song even predicts the future of AI in 2025?' This article was first published in 'Crypto City'.