Utada Hikaru

Utada Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル Utada Hikaru, born January 19 1983), also known as "Hikki" to her Japanese fans, is a J-Pop music star. In an interview, she stated that she plans to use the English-order name (Hikaru Utada) to separate her "English" and "Japanese" personas. Utada Hikaru is one of the most popular and successful Asian artists today, given her personality, singing and songwriting ability, looks, and lifestyle and upbringing.

Contents

1 Biography 2 "Time Will Tell" 3 Music into the 2000s 4 Breaking into the English market 5 Discography 5.1 Albums 5.2 Singles 5.3 Videos/DVDs 5.4 Others — various artists 6 External links

Biography

She was born in New York City, New York to Japanese parents who both had roots in the Japanese music industry: her father, Teruzane Skingg Utada, was a producer, while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer (she performed under the stage name "Keiko Fuji"). She made her first professional recording at the age of twelve, and recorded her first album, Precious, in 1996 under the pseudonym Cubic U. The album led to her career overseas. In a recent MTV interview, Utada said, "Someone in Japan heard it, at a Japanese record company, and he said, 'Oh, can't you write in Japanese? You speak Japanese.' And I didn't want to say no, so I had to try it."

"Time Will Tell"

She moved to Tokyo later that year and attended The American School in Japan while continuing to record on a new contract with Toshiba/EMI. She soon made her mark on Japanese music with her successful single "Automatic", soon followed by the album First Love, which sold over five million copies in a month during March and April of 1999 and placed Utada among the 100 wealthiest people in Japan. She also broke the record of units sold on a single album in Japan; she still holds the record as of 2005.

The album has sold in excess of ten million copies in Asia.

Music into the 2000s

Utada returned to New York in 2000 to attend Columbia University as a freshman, but took leave from it within the year. She continued to record, however, and her two subsequent albums, Distance (2001) and Deep River (2002), also went multi-platinum. Shortly after the release of the latter she announced her marriage to Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and director fifteen years her senior, in September 2002.

The video for Utada's 2001 song "Can You Keep a Secret" received some attention as part of International Week, which coincided with the 2001 EMAs, on the American channel MTV2. That video's airplay was likely Utada's first chance at exposure in the United States.

So far she is best known in the western hemisphere for singing "Simple and Clean", the theme to the video game series "Kingdom Hearts," which is an English version of her popular song "Hikari". She also performed a well-received duet with Foxy Brown, "Blow My Whistle", which was featured on the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack. Her most successful singles include "First Love", "Automatic", "Wait & See ~Risk~", "Final Distance", "For You/Time Limit", "Traveling", "Colors", and "Sakura Drops".

Breaking into the English market

On October 5, 2004, Utada Hikaru released her debut North America and Europe album Exodus under the name "Utada" (for fear of fans mutilating her Japanese nickname, Hikki). It was released nearly a month earlier, on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. In an MTV interview, Utada said: "There really aren't any completely Asian people singing right now. For me, it's an experiment to see what people are gonna think of it". But her American debut as an Island Def Jam Music Group artist was met with indifference by the American market, perhaps due in part to poor promotion on her record label's part.

Utada Hikaru calls Exodus her "experiment", and failing to establish as huge a fanbase as the one she has in Japan probably won't bother the young superstar as much as it has her diehard American fans. Her ability to traverse both the English and Japanese languages with ease, along with her songwriting abilities and unique voice place Utada firmly in the hierarchy of Japanese superstars.

"Easy Breezy" was released as the lead single, followed up by the dance blockbuster "Devil Inside". The track title is due for release at the end of June 2005.

Discography

Albums

• Japanese
  • Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 (March 31 2004)
  • Deep River (June 19 2002)
  • Distance (March 28 2001)
  • First Love (March 10 1999)

• English
  • Exodus (September 8 2004 [Japan]; October 5 2004 [USA])
  • Precious (1998)

Singles

• Japanese
  • "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" (April 21 2004)
  • "Colors" (January 29 2003)
  • "Sakura Drops/Letters" (May 9 2002)
  • "Hikari" (March 20 2002)
  • "Traveling" (November 28 2001)
  • "Final Distance" (July 25 2001)
  • "Can You Keep a Secret?" (February 16 2001)
  • "For You/Time Limit" (June 30 2000)
  • "Wait & See ~Risk~" (April 19 2000)
  • "Addicted to You" (November 10 1999)
  • "First Love" (April 28 1999)
  • "Movin' on Without You" (February 17 1999)
  • "Automatic/Time Will Tell" (December 9 1998)

• English
  • "Exodus" (June 21 2005)
  • "Devil Inside" (September 14 2004)
  • "Easy Breezy" (August 3 2004)

Videos/DVDs

• Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro (July 28 2004)
• Utada Hikaru in Budokan 2004; Hikaru no 5 (July 28 2004)
• UH Live Streaming: 20Dai wa Ike Ike! (March 29 2003)
• Colors (March 12 2003)
• UH Single Clip Collection Vol. 3 (September 30 2002)
• Traveling (January 30 2002)
• Utada Hikaru Unplugged (November 28 2001)
• UH Single Clip Collection Vol. 2 (September 27 2001)
• Wait & See ~Risk~ (June 30 2000)
• Bohemian Summer 2000 (December 19 2000)
• UH Single Clip Collection Vol. 1 (December 16 2000)

Others — various artists

• Japanese
  • Beautiful Drivin' Classic — Wish (November 6th, 2003)

• English
  • Unity: Official Athens 2004 Olympic Games (July 27, 2004)
  • Def Jam's Rush Hour 2 Soundtrack (July 31, 2001)

External links

• Hikki's Website (http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/) — official Toshiba EMI site
• UTADA (http://www.utada.com/) — official U.S. Island Records/Universal Music Group site
• UTADA (http://www.utada.jp/) — official Japanese Island Records/Universal Music Group site
• UtadaNet.com (http://www.utadanet.com/) — Utada News & Fan Community
• article on Utada (http://www.time.com/time/musicgoesglobal/asia/mhikaro.html) — from Time Asia
• Utada Hikaru Fan Website (http://www.utada-online.net/)
• Hikaru Utada (http://nippop.com/artist/artist_id-13/artist_name-hikaru_utada/) — Nippop profile
• History (http://www.f7.dion.ne.jp/~hikki/History/) — detailed history, in Englishde:Utada Hikaru

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