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Junpei
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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 Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2004 9:56 pm Post subject: history of Utada Hikaru - written by "BrokenWings" |
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Much thanks to BrokenWings for writing this excellent history of Hikki!
| BrokenWings wrote: | Hey everyone! I thought this could be a useful resource for people who are new to Hikki. It’s also quite informative for old fans.
Any grammatical/ technical errors let me know and I’ll change it.
Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル) : A History
Utada Hikaru (family given name) affectionately known by her fans as ‘Hikki’ was born in Manhattan, New York on 19th January 1983.
Hikaru (meaning ‘light’) grew up surrounded by music from a very early age. Her father, Utada Teruzane, is a long time producer and musician, while her mother, Fuji Keiko (stage name) was a popular enka (ballad singer) in Japan during the 1970s. As a young child she often had no alternative but to spend hours at a time in recording studios while her parents worked. Furthermore, she was made to enrol in piano lessons at the age of 3.
It has often been said that Hikaru actually disliked music at first, but as she became older, she finally learned to appreciate it more and more.
Hikaru’s musical taste was greatly influenced by her father, who loved rock music. Some of her favourite musicians came to include greats such as The Beatles, Queen, The Eagles, Bon Jovi and Guns n Roses.
Going to school in New York, Hikaru later became highly influenced by R&B. One song which Hikaru often credits as opening her eyes to black music for the first time is the song Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number by American hip hop sensation Aaliyah.
The wide spectrum of music genres which Hikaru came to admire would later help shape her own original musical style - that which she is so highly acclaimed for today.
At the age of 8, Hikaru was to sing in the recording studio herself for the first time as part of the group U3, a project formed in 1990 by the Utada family. The group consisted of the three family members (hence the name) Teruzane, Keiko and Hikaru.
The first album to come out of U3 was entitled ‘U*STAR’ which debuted in September 1993 and featured 2 songs written by the then 10 year old Hikaru, Thankyou and Kodomotachi no Utaga as well as the cover illustration which was drawn by Hikaru. Unfortunately, the album flopped, as well as several other projects continued by the group up until 1997.
It was at this time that Hikaru had decided to become a solo singer, using the stage name, Cubic U. Under the record label LiquidSoundLounge, she released her debut single entitled I’ll Be Stronger which was shortly followed in January 1998 with the full English language album Precious .
However, the new solo work did not attract a great deal of attention in Japan.
Then in 1997 during a recording session, Hikaru was approached by music producer of Toshiba EMI, Miyake Akira, who had been working in a studio nearby. Instantly falling for Hikaru’s voice and image, he persuaded her to try to debut in Japan under his record label.
In October 1998, Hikaru performed her first live event at a semi-annular event in Japan used to introduce upcoming idols, known as ‘Music Talks’.
Introducing herself as ‘Utada Hikaru’, she performed the world famous song, Sukiyaki (the only song to become a hit in the history of Japan in the US) and followed this up with a performance of her soon to be released single.
The crowd was blown away by Hikaru’s sound and only two months later, Utada Hikaru released her debut single Automatic / Time Will Tell which received a phenomenal amount of requests and radio play not only in Japan but within other parts of Asia. On March 10th that year, Utada Hikaru’s first album came on sale. First Love had sold 3’500’000 copies by the end of the month alone, and 9.5 million to date, making it the Best Selling album in Japanese history.
With this album she created a whole different genre that can only be known as Utada Hikaru.
In 2000 Hikaru decided to return to the States to continue with her education at Columbia University where she enjoyed being relatively unrecognised, apart from the few rumours around campus that ‘the Japanese Britney Spears’ had come to the school.
During her time at University, Hikaru also continued to record music. Her follow up albums Distance (2001) and Deep River (2002) both went multi platinum.
The album Deep River includes the theme for the Playstation 2 game, 'Kingdom Hearts' entitled Hikari .
The style of these albums is a mixture of various genres drawn from the multiple musical influences encountered by Hikaru. This original sound can only be a result of Hikaru’s multi-cultural upbringing. She had spent half her childhood in Japan and half in the US therefore excelling in two languages as well as listening to music from within both cultures from a wide spectrum of genres in each.
On top of this her musical background gave her the rare chance to be able to hear music constantly, learning all about the singing and song writing industry before she could even walk.
Hikaru is currently on leave from Columbia, claiming that at this time she wants to concentrate on her music career. She also says that she may go back after retiring form music - she speculates as early as age 28, claiming that she can envision herself “in a white coat in a lab, working till late evening in front of test tubes," perhaps pursuing neuroscience.
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UTADA
Utada is Hikaru’s American persona, used for a part of her more recent aspiration to become acknowledged as an English language artist.
Hikaru first contributed to the American hip hop scene in 2001 when she appeared on the soundtrack to the action movie Rush Hour 2 in a collaboration with well know rapper Foxy Brown. The song entitled Blow My Whistle , was also produced by the Neptunes, one of the hottest American hip-hop production duos around.
The song has an interesting sound with its mix of Hikaru’s soft vocals and mysterious persona within the American music industry, contrasted with hard sounding in-your-face Foxy. For the first time, Hikaru was listed as ‘Hikaru Utada’ - using the Western custom or surname last. This was done to separate Hikaru’s Japanese and English personas.
In late 2003, Hikaru became signed to Island Def Jam records to pursue a full blown American career, simultaneously making the decision to drop ‘Hikaru’ and just be known as Utada to American listeners.
Utada is set to appear on the compilation album UNITY, to mark the 2004 Summer Olympics. The song is titled, By Your Side , and features Timbaland and Kiley Dean. The album will be released in Japan on July 7th, and internationally on July 12th, 2004.
Utada is currently in the studio working on her English language album.
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UTADA HIKARU ~ DISCOGRAPHY
[debut single] - 1998.12 - Automatic / Time Will Tell
[2nd single] - 1999.02 - Movin’ On Without You
[debut album] - 1999.03 - First Love
[3rd single] - 1999.04 - First Love
[4th single] - 1999.11 - Addicted To You
[5th single] - 2000.04 - Wait & See ～リスク～ (Risuku)
[6th single] - 2000.06 - For You / タイム・リミット (Taimu Rimitto)
[7th single] - 02.2001 - Can You Keep A Secret?
[2nd album] - 2001.03- Distance
[8th single] - 2001.07 - Final Distance
[9th single] - 2001.11 - Travelling
[10th single] - 2002.03 - 光 (Hikari)
[11th single] - 2002.05 - SAKURAドロップス／Letters (Sakura Drops)
[3rd album]- 2002.06 - Deep River
[12th single] - 2003.01 - Colors
[1st singles collection] - 2004.03 - Single Collection Volume 1
[13th single] - 2004.04 - 誰かの願いが叶うころ (Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro)
VIDEO & DVD RELEASES
[VIDEO/DVD] - 1999.12 - 宇多田ヒカル SINGLE CLIP COLLECTION VOL.1
[DVD SINGLE] - 2000.06 - Wait & See ～リスク～
[VIDEO/DVD] - 2000.12 - BOHEMIAN SUMMER 2000
[VIDEO/DVD] - 2001.09 - UTADA HIKARU SINGLE CLIP COLLECTION VOL.2
[VIDEO/DVD] - 2001.11 - UTADA HIKARU UNPLUGGED
[DVD SINGLE] - 2002.01 - Travelling
[VIDEO/DVD] - 2002.09 - UTADA HIKARU SINGLE CLIP COLLECTION VOL.3
[DVD SINGLE] - 2003.03 - COLORS
[DVD SINGLE] - 2003.03 - UH LIVE STREAMING 20代はイケイケ！
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USEFUL LINKS
Hikki's Official Site
Utada-Online,net
Updates, Videos, mp3s, Gallery
Utada.com
A site tracking Utada’s American debut - News, Photo Gallery, Message Board
U3 Hikaru
Lyrics, Gallery and Downloads.
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CREDITS: Time, AsiaFinest, Toshiba EMI, Hikki File. |
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Last edited by Junpei on Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jen
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Luvin'J-pop
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addicted2hisato
easy breazy initiate
Joined: 04 Feb 2005
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Location: Philippines
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| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 4:28 am Post subject: |
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wow~ i so learned a lot of things about her.
thanks!  |
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Anime_Manga_Freak_Hideaki
Born To Be
Joined: 21 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Some stuff I knew about her, some I didn't, would be kool if it was updated though. |
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KawaiiKoGal88787
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 382
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| Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:26 am Post subject: |
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Wow, that's cool! I learned a lot about Hikki from reading that. Good job!
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dr_james
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Joined: 15 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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Wow amazing, so much passion, commitment and talent. great gob.  |
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lisaxyz
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Joined: 17 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:38 am Post subject: |
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A good book to read with a close relation to rock music? I'd like to read a book closely related to rock or similar genre music. It could be about a rocker (or punk rocker, for example) and his life, gigs, etc. Something like that and something interesting.
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raul27
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Joined: 21 Oct 2007
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Location: Philippines
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| Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:23 am Post subject: |
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hoah! i love utada hikaru!!!
thanks for that information
i've been a fan since '03 ^^
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Check out my blog for Utada Hikaru's Live Concerts
www.raul-kun.blogspot.com
www.youtube.com/raulxboa
www.youtube.com/raulxyun
www.youtube.com/hikki << the best XD |
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initial_d_fd_fc
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Joined: 10 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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 nice to know more about her |
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hirofan
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Joined: 06 Apr 2010
Posts: 1
Location: Rubber city
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for that article. I didn't know almost any of that stuff. I knew Hikki went to college there in NY, but never knew she was born here in the states, or that her parents were in the music industry. Thanks for this informative piece.
I usually credit Hikaru Utada with changing JPop.. though not necessarily in a good way. I love her and I love her music, but the "quality" of singing has been raised to her standard.. in order, the JPop world became heavily influenced by Namie Amuro's R & B style.. Hikaru Utada with her strong voice.. Ayumi Hamasaki's endless mixes.. with Mariah Carey and BoA thrown in..
Surely Hikki had no idea how much influence she would have. I love her, but I don't care for all the newer singers who are trying to imitate western (and Korean) singers. Give me the JPop of yesteryear.. the Silver Age when JPop was all about melody.. singers accompanied by orchestras.. lyrics were about nature, and there was less of a generational gap. |
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