Hikaru Utada | |
|---|---|
宇多田ヒカル | |
 Utada performing in 2006 | |
| Born | Hikaru Utada (宇多田光)[1] January 19, 1983 New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | Japanese (jus sanguinis) American (jus soli, expatriate) |
| Other names |
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| Alma mater | Columbia University (dropped out) |
| Occupations |
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| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | Japan |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | |
Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル, Utada Hikaru, born January 19, 1983), also known mononymously as Utada,[2] is a Japanese and American singer, songwriter and producer. Utada is considered to be one of the most influential, bestselling musical artists in Japan.[3]
Utada was born in New York City to Japanese parents, record producer Teruzane Utada and enka singer Keiko Fuji. She[a] began to write music and lyrics at an early age and often traveled to Tokyo as a result of her father's job. After signing to Toshiba-EMI, she released her debut English-language debut album Precious under the name Cubic U in 1998, which was a commercial failure. In the following year, heavily influenced by R&B and dance-pop, Utada released her Japanese-language debut, First Love, which was an immediate success. Backed by the success of singles "Automatic", "Time Will Tell", and "Movin' On Without You", the album sold two million copies in its first week in Japan, topped the Oricon charts for six non-consecutive weeks and went on to sell six million more throughout the rest of 1999. First Love eventually became Japan's best-selling album of all time.
Utada's album Distance was released in early 2001 and spawned her biggest singles—"Addicted to You", "Wait & See (Risk)" and "Can You Keep a Secret?"—which became million-sellers. The album broke several sales records after three million copies were sold in its first week, instantly becoming Japan's fastest-selling album. In 2002, backed by chart-topping singles such as Traveling, Hikari and Sakura Drops, Deep River, which incorporates elements of pop folk, was released and became one of Japan's top-selling records of all time. The albums Exodus, Ultra Blue and Heart Station also sold millions of copies. After a prolonged hiatus, Utada released the acoustic-driven albums Fantôme (2016) and Hatsukoi (2018), which reached number one on the Oricon albums chart. She topped the charts again with 2022's Bad Mode, her 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. She is one of Japan's top-selling recording artists of all time with over 40 million records sold.[5] Twelve of her singles have reached number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, while ten albums have become chart-toppers. Six of her 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. She is best known by international audiences for writing and producing four theme-song contributions to Square Enix and Disney's collaborative video game series Kingdom Hearts: "Simple and Clean", "Sanctuary", "Don't Think Twice", and "Face My Fears". In 2021, Utada became one of the first Japanese figures to identify as non-binary.[6]
- ^ 宇多田ヒカルとは [Utada Hikaru Uta-Da-Hikaru]. Kotobank (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
MJPwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Farley, Christopher John (September 15, 2001). "Diva On Campus". TIME. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
- ^ "Hikaru Utada's Instagram Profile". Instagram. Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
- ^ Katayama, Frederick H. (March 23, 2009). "Japan singer Utada makes 3rd bid to crack U.S. market". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
- ^ Kim, Michelle (February 10, 2022). "Breaking the boundaries of language and genre, Hikaru Utada finds freedom". NPR. Archived from the original on May 30, 2022. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
It's also Utada's first album since they came out as nonbinary last summer, making them one of few Japanese public figures to openly express their gender identity with that language.
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