Academics prevented them from giving many interviews, and their mystique grew as a result. One Japanese-language platinum-selling album after another followed and the Japanese press took note of Utada's unique style, influenced by American alternative rock. They could, of course, and their Japanese-language debut album, First Love, hit number one on the Japanese charts during its first week of release, breaking the record for first-week sales of a debut album, and selling over nine million copies since its release in 1999. A Toshiba-EMI executive approached the singer to see if they could write pop songs in Japanese. What stood out to the few who heard the album was what an accomplished composer Utada was. They had composed and recorded their first Japanese-language song by the age of 11 and their first album in English by 13. They were bilingual at an early age and soon came to understand both American and Japanese cultures.
Their father's production job bounced the family between New York City and Tokyo, with the only constant being naps and homework in the studio. In 2022, on their 39th birthday, they released Bad Mode.īorn January 19, 1983, in New York City to a traditional Japanese-style singer mother and a musician/producer father, Utada grew up in the recording studio.
In 2021, they continued an extended collaborative relationship with the Evangelion anime series with the One Last Kiss EP. They returned in earnest at the close of the decade, delivering mature works such as Fantome (2016) and Hatsukoi (2018). Like contemporaries BoA, Namie Amuro, and Ayumi Hamasaki, they were a continually evolving staple of the J-pop scene, performing yearning ballads and sleek dance-pop with American-influenced vocals that made them a beloved icon of the genre, even with an extended hiatus that lasted for much of the early 2010s.
One of the most popular, top-selling Japanese artists of all time, singer/songwriter Hikaru Utada has been a consistent presence at the top of the charts since their 1999 debut First Love to their 2018 effort Hatsukoi, notching at least a dozen number one singles through the decades.
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