 She
dominates the charts in Japan whenever she releases a single
or album, but to call her a J-pop singer ignores Utada's American
roots and her desire to break all the rules of the genre. Born
January 19, 1983, in New York City to a traditional Japanese-style
singer mother and a musician/producer father, Hikaru Utada grew
up in the recording studio. Her father's production job bounced
her between New York City and Tokyo, with the only constant
being naps and homework in the studio. She was bilingual at
an early age and soon came to understand both American and Japanese
cultures.
She had composed and recorded her first Japanese-language
song by the age of 11 and her first album in English by 13.
What stood out to the few who heard the album was what an
accomplished composer Utada was. A Toshiba-EMI executive approached
the singer to see if she could write her pop songs in Japanese.
She could, of course, and her 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 has sold nine million copies since
its release in 1999.
One Japanese-language platinum-selling album after another
followed and the Japanese press took note of Utada's unique
style, influenced by the alternative rock from America. Academics
kept her away from doing many interviews, and her mystique
grew as a result. In 2004 she announced she was moving to
the Island-Universal Music Japan label and recording an English-language
album. Her single "Exodus 04" became a heartbreaker
for her solid fan base when her lyrics were taken as a goodbye
to Japan.
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