Hikaru Utada
Hikaru Utada, also known mononymously as Utada, is a Japanese and American singer, songwriter, and record producer. They are considered to be one of the most influential and best-selling musical artists in Japan. They are perhaps best known by international audiences for writing and performing four theme-songs to Square Enix and Disney's Kingdom Hearts video game series: "Simple and Clean", "Sanctuary", "Don't Think Twice", and "Face My Fears".
Utada was born in New York City to Japanese parents, record producer Teruzane Utada and enka singer Keiko Fuji. They began to write songs at an early age and often traveled to Tokyo as a result of their father's job. Adopting the stage name Cubic U, they signed with Toshiba-EMI to release their English-language debut album, Precious. Released the following year, their second album and Japanese-language debut, First Love, leaned further into R&B and dance-pop influences; it was a commercial success, becoming Japan's best-selling album of all time. Its singles "Automatic", "Time Will Tell", and "Movin' On Without You" were commercially successful, while the album sold two million units in its first week in Japan, topped the Oricon chart for six non-consecutive weeks, and sold six million more units throughout the rest of 1999.
Utada's third album Distance was released in early 2001 and spawned their biggest singles—"Addicted to You", "Wait & See " and "Can You Keep a Secret?" — each of which received multi-platinum certifications in Japan and other countries; it broke several sales records after three million copies were sold in its first week, instantly becoming Japan's fastest-selling album. Her fourth album, Deep River —backed by chart-topping singles such as "Traveling", "Hikari" and "Sakura Drops"—incorporated elements of pop folk, and became one of Japan's top-selling records of all time. Their subsequent albums, Exodus, Ultra Blue and Heart Station, also sold millions of copies. After a prolonged hiatus, Utada released the acoustic-driven albums Fantôme and Hatsukoi, which reached number one on the Oricon albums chart. They topped the charts again with 2022's Bad Mode, their first Japanese/English album.
By the end of the 2000s, Utada was deemed "the most influential artist of the decade" in the Japanese music landscape by The Japan Times. They are one of Japan's top-selling recording artists of all time with over 40 million records sold. Twelve of their singles have reached number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, while ten albums have become chart-toppers. Six of their full-length releases are among Japan's highest-selling albums, including First Love, Distance and Deep River, which are among the top ten best-selling records of Japan's music history. In 2021, Utada became one of the first Japanese figures to publicly identify as non-binary.
Biography
Early life and beginnings
Hikaru Utada was born on January 19, 1983 in New York City to Japanese parents. Their mother Keiko Fuji was an enka singer, while their father Teruzane Utada is a record producer. They grew up in Upper East Side, New York and moved to Tokyo, Japan at age 11 due to their parents' work. At the age of 10, Utada began to write music and lyrics. Utada attended Columbia University in New York City starting in 2001, but dropped out after less than a year.Utada made recordings with their mother, releasing songs under a band named "U3." In 1996 they started a solo project under the name Cubic U. The first Cubic U single, "I'll Be Stronger", was released as a limited pressing in Japan in 1996. The next year, Utada released "Close to You", a cover of The Carpenters. It was later included on Cubic U's debut album, Precious.
1998–2003: Japanese debut, ''First Love'', ''Distance'', and ''Deep River''
Utada moved to Tokyo in the summer of 1998 and attended Seisen International School, and later the American School in Japan, while continuing to record on a contract with Toshiba-EMI. Early success came from Japanese FM radio. They were at the forefront of a new wave of singer-songwriters in Japan, branching out from the previously dominant idol singers. Leading up to the release of their debut album First Love they released two successful million-selling singles: "Movin' On Without You" and "Automatic/Time Will Tell". The latter sold over two million copies. Backed by these singles, First Love went on to sell over 7 million units in Japan alone, becoming the highest selling album in Japan's recent history. The album yielded the single "First Love", which peaked at the number 2 spot. By the end of the year, Utada was ranked 5th on Japanese radio station Tokio Hot 100 Airplay's Top 100 Artists of the 20th Century by the station and its listeners.After a two-year break, Utada released the follow-up album Distance, garnering first-week sales of 3 million units. On the strength of its singles — "Addicted to You", "Wait & See ", "For You", "Time Limit", and "Can You Keep a Secret?" — Distance became the best-selling album of the year, with 4.47 million copies sold in Japan alone. Additionally, "Addicted to You" became their best-selling single, moving a million copies in its first week; the highest first week sales for a female solo artist. "Wait & See: Risk" and "Can You Keep a Secret?" also were later ranked at number 6 and number 10 respectively on Oricon's list of 10 best-selling singles from January 1, 1999, to April 24, 2006.
A manga biography titled Utada Hikaru: The Pure Soul, illustrated by Ari Obana, was published by Sōmasha on July 1, 2001. "Final Distance", a track written for and dedicated to Rena Yamashita, was released on July 25. It peaked at number two on the Oricon charts. On July 31, "Blow My Whistle" was released as a part of the soundtrack for Rush Hour 2. The song was a collaboration with American rapper Foxy Brown, and was written by Utada alongside producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the Top Soundtracks.
Leading up to their third album, Deep River, Utada released "Traveling", "Hikari", and "Sakura Drops/Letters" between November 2001 and May 2002. Deep River, released in June 2002, sold 2.35 million copies in its first week. Oricon reported that sales eventually surpassed 3.6 million, making Utada the only singer or group in Japanese music history to have three consecutive albums surpass the three-million mark, by RIAJ standards. It was their third consecutive album to reach number 1 on Oricon's Yearly Albums chart and became the eighth best selling album of all time in Japan. In 2003, Utada's promotional schedule became more active due to an agreement with Island Records to release a debut album in the United States. "Colors" was their only single release for 2003.
2004–2005: Foray into international market, and ''Exodus''
Utada's first singles compilation album Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 was released on March 31, 2004. It became the best-selling album of 2004 in Japan, making them the only solo or group artist to reach number one four times on the yearly charts. It was the first compilation album to reach number 1 in six years on the yearly charts, and the first compilation album to reach number 1 in twenty-six years by a female artist. Despite its success, the album received little promotion and no new material; moreover, it charted longer on the Oricon Albums chart than any other Utada release to date. The album sold 2.58 million units in Japan, making it the 34th best-selling album ever in the country. A month later, on April 21, they released a lone Japanese single for 2004, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", which topped the singles chart for two consecutive weeks and sold 365,000 units by the year's end. It was also the main theme song for Casshern, directed by their husband at the time, Kazuaki Kiriya.In mid-2004, Utada moved back to New York, and began work on a recording contract with Island Def Jam Music Group. On October 5, 2004, they released a North American English-language debut album, Exodus, under the newly announced stage name "Utada". It was released on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. In an MTV interview, they expressed skepticism about this American success: "I don't think it's the music that I'm concerned about. It's obviously that I look really different and there really aren't any completely Asian people right now." They also remarked on the album not being one that pandered to fans, but wanting to make it anyway. Exodus became their fourth consecutive release to debut at number 1 and boasted 500,000 copies in its first-week sales in Japan. American sales were not quite as successful: it reached number 160 in the US Billboard 200 chart; and peaked at number 5 in the Heatseekers chart. "Easy Breezy" was released as the lead single in early August 2004, followed up by "Devil Inside" six weeks later. Utada appeared on the cover of Interview magazine's June 2005 issue.
"Exodus '04" was released at the end of June 2005 and featured remixes from the Scumfrog, Richard Vission, JJ Flores and Peter Bailey. In the UK, Mercury added another two remixes for "You Make Me Want to Be a Man" in the original album, titled "You Make Me Want to Be a Man " and "You Make Me Want to Be a Man ". By the end of the year, Utada was voted "Number 1 Favorite Artist of 2004" by Oricon's annual readers poll. The fourth single from Exodus, "You Make Me Want to Be a Man", was released in October 2005 in the UK. "Devil Inside" became a club hit in the U.S. and topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay charts. Both the Exodus album and the "You Make Me Want to Be a Man" single were released in the UK, with different artwork from the US and Japanese versions.