EXODUS (Utada Hikaru)

Hikaru Utada

, also known by her fans as , is a singer-songwriter, arranger and record producer in Japan. She is well-known internationally for her two theme song contributions to Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts video game series:"Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary",

Utada's debut album First Love became the Japan's biggest selling album of all time with over 7.65 million copies sold in Japan alone to date. The release of her later works only help her reign as one of Japan's top artist, with 3 of her Japanese studio albums being ranked in Top 10 best-selling albums ever in Japan (#1, #4, #8). She has had 12 #1 hits to date on the Oricon Singles chart, with two notable record achievements for a female solo or group artist: 5 of them being million-sellers and 4 placing in the Top 100 All-Time Best-selling Singles. .

In addition, Utada has won the Nihon Golden Disk "Song of the Year" award for 14 of her singles since 2000 and has won the Golden Disc "Pop/Rock Album of the Year" award for all her 4 Japanese studio albums. In 2003, Utada was ranked the #24 Japanese pop artist in its survey of "Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists of All Time" by HMV, and #10 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time" in 2006.

In 2007, her single "Flavor of Life" reached #2 in worldwide digital download yearly single chart with over 7.2 million downloads, and she sold a total of 12 million digital ringtones and songs in that same year, making her the first artist ever to have that many digital sales in a year's time.

Biography

Early life and musical career beginnings

Hikaru Utada was born in New York City to Japanese parents with roots in the Japanese music industry. Her father, Teruzane Utada, was a record producer while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer, performing under the stage name "Keiko Fuji." Junko Utada’s mother, and Hikaru’s grandmother, was a blind shamisen player (ごぜ, or goze). Utada made her first professional recording at the age of twelve. She did her recordings with her mother, releasing songs under a band named “U3” (also known as Utada 3) until 1996 when she started her first solo project, "I'll be Stronger." The "Cookin' With Moses Vocal" from this project was called the "Cookin' With Gas Vocal" on the promotional release. "I’ll Be Stronger" was the first song Utada wrote. It was released under the artist name "Cubic U," a mathematical reference to her being the third Utada 'power,' which was Hikaru’s pseudonym before becoming a superstar in Japan. The song failed to release in the United States, and in 1997, she started her next project, though at first she was hesitant.

"Watching my parents, doing crazy things to continue working on music, um, I thought I never want to be musician, It's crazy, and it's unstable... Just, it looks like a very hectic life, and I didn't really understand the passion for music they have back then. But I ended up following my parents' footstep and carry on the family business and I am a musician now as well and, now I understand the driving passion behind it, and that's ok," she said in an interview.

Cubic U released her debut single "Close to You," which was a cover of The Carpenters' song. She then released her debut album Precious, but it failed to be released in the United States due to restructuring issues at her then record label Capitol Records. In an MTV interview (on MTV's You Hear It First, October 2004), Utada explained: "Someone in Japan heard it—at a Japanese record company—and he said, 'Oh, can't you write in Japanese? You speak Japanese… And I said ok, why not? I'll try. Then I gave it a shot, and the Japanese album just really blew up in Japan." She released Precious in Japan on January 28, 1998, and then later re-released it on March 31, 1999 to much better success. It has sold 702,060 copies to date in Japan, making it a significant hit for an all-English album in that market.

Breakthrough success: 1998–2003

Utada moved to Tokyo in late 1998 and attended Seisen International School, and later the American School in Japan, while continuing to record on a new contract with Toshiba-EMI. Leading up to the release of her first album First Love, Utada released two successful million-selling single: "Automatic / Time Will Tell" and "Movin' on without you." "Automatic / Time Will Tell" eventually became the 2nd most successful single by a female solo artist behind Namie Amuro's "Can You Celebrate?" as well as one of the most successful debut single to be release in the country. The success of Utada's singles eventually lead the album First Love to sell over 7 million units in Japan alone (with an additional 3 million overseas, bringing it to a sum of at least 10 million units), becoming the highest selling album in Japanese History. Due to popular demand, Utada later release the song "First Love" as a single as well. By the end of the year, Utada was able to be rank #5 on a Japanese radio station "Tokio Hot 100 Airplay's" Top 100 Artists of the 20th Century by the station and its listeners.

It would be two years after the release of First Love that Utada would release her sophomore album Distance. All the singles that was release to promote the album was able to achieve success with "Addicted To You, the first single from the album, breaking the one-million mark in its first week and reaching #1 on the Oricon Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks (a personal first) and eventually netting sales of 1,784,000 copies, remaining Utada's most successful single of all time. The second single from the album, "Wait & See ~Risk~", was able to mirror the success of "Addicted To You," selling over one-million units as well. "Wait & See ~Risk~" would later be rank at #6 on Oricon's list of 10 Best-Selling Singles from January 1 1999 to April 24 2006. Her two last singles "For You / Time Limit" and "Can You Keep a Secret?" were both able to claim the #1 spot, bringing her #1 hits up to five with "Can You Keep a Secret?" netting sales of yet another million units, becoming #10 on Oricon's Top Ten List of Best-Selling Singles from January 1, 1999 to April 24, 2006.

As it had been two years since First Love was release, the album Distance was highly anticipated among her fans, having the largest first-week sales for any album in music history, with over 3 million units sold. At the end of 2001, it became the most sold album for any J-music artist worldwide or in the residential industry, with 4.469 million copies sold in Japan alone. After Distance, Utada released a single that was dedicated to the female victim of a murder case in Ikeda, Osaka entitled "Final Distance."

Leading up to her third album, Utada released "Traveling," "Hikari," and "Sakura Drops / Letters." With the exception of "Final Distance" (#2 peak), they were all able to claim the #1 spot. Before the release of Utada's third album, Deep River, the artist eventually underwent surgery after being diagnosed with an ovarian tumor, causing Utada to put her promotional activities on hold.

After recovering and finally releasing Deep River, Utada eventually went back to promoting. While there were no TV appearances, she promoted her album in magazine and radio interviews. The Oricon count of the album was another amazing first-week sales debut for Utada, with 2.35 million sold for the week post its release day. Oricon reports that sales eventually surpassed 3.60 million, making her the only singer or group in Japanese music history to have three consecutive albums surpass the 3x Million (12x Platinum) sold mark, by RIAJ standards. It was also her third consecutive time to hold the #1 position on Oricon's Yearly Albums chart and became the eighth best selling album of all time in Japan.

In 2003, Utada's promotional and personal life schedules got more active due to her marriage and an imposing agreement with Island Records in America to release a proper full-English debut album. New Japanese-language singles would therefore come few and far between, but Utada did release "Colors" on January 29, 2003, which was her only single release for 2003. This song was distinctive because it featured heavy ethereal and experimental tones for the first time in Utada's discography, something that would display itself fruitfully in all the Ultra Blue and Heart Station eras' singles. It became her longest charting single ever with a 45 week trajectory on the Oricon Singles chart, selling 881,000 copies, and was #3 on the Yearly Singles chart.

International Forays: 2004–2005

Her 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 her the only solo or group artist to reach #1 four times on the yearly charts. It was also the first compilation album to reach #1 in six years on the yearly charts, and the first compilation album to reach #1 in twenty six years by a female artist. Its success was a particularly amazing achievement, since it received very little promotion and contained no new material or photos. Moreover, it charted longer on the Oricon Albums chart longer than any other Utada release to date, over 2 years. It was also her first to debut at #1 on the United World Charts, the first time in music history for any Asian artist. The album would go on to sell over 2.575 million units in Japan, making it the 34th best-selling album ever in the country. A month later, on April 21, she released her only Japanese single in 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 and was also the main theme song for Casshern, her now ex-husband's directorial debut.

In mid-2004, Utada moved back to New York, and began work on a new recording contract with Island Def Jam Music Group. On October 5, 2004, she released her North American English-language debut album, Exodus, under the name "Utada," which was her new American-given artist title at the Universal Convention. It was released nearly a month earlier, on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. In an MTV interview, Utada said: "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 [who are popular singers in the U.S.] right now. Exodus became Utada's fourth consecutive release to debut at #1 and boast 500,000+ first-week sales. It had a chart run of twenty weeks on the Oricon and saw her reach #1 on the World United Charts a second time, eventually selling 1.35 million copies. In spite of enlisting the help of Timbaland to produce and co-write some songs, her American debut as an Island Records artist was met with indifference by the American market, though the fact that there was virtually no promotion on her record label's part, selling 50,000 units. "Easy Breezy" was released as the lead single in early August 2004, peaking at #9 Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay chart, followed up by "Devil Inside" a month and two weeks later. And Utada became the cover of the interview magazine 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 2 remixes for "You make me want to be a man" in the original album Exodus 04, titled "You Make Me Want To Be A Man [Bloodshy & Avant Mix]" and "You Make Me Want To Be A Man [Junior Jack Mix]." By the end of the year Utada was voted "#1 Favorite Artist of 2004" by Oricon's annual readers poll.

The fourth single from her English Exodus album, "You Make Me Want to Be a Man," was released in October 2005. "Devil Inside" became a club smash in the U.S. and topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay charts. Both the Exodus album and "You Make Me Want to Be a Man" single were released in the U.K., with different artwork from the USA and Japanese versions. In October 2005, "You Make Me Want to Be a Man" became another #1 on the Billboard Dance chart.

Return to Japan: 2005–2008

A year after the international release and promotion of Exodus, Utada moved back to Tokyo and returned to the Japanese music scene. Leading up the release of her fourth album Ultra Blue, Utada released a string of successful hit singles: "Colors" (#1), "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" (#1), "Be My Last", (#1), "Passion" (#4), and "Keep Tryin'" (#2). The digital single " This Is Love" was also release to promote the album, netting in at least 1,000,000 digital downloads and ranking as the ninth most downloaded song of 2006 at iTunes Japan.

Ultra Blue sold 500,317 copies in the first week, lower than that of the previous album, although it still easily topped the Oricon Daily, Weekly, and Monthly charts, and even became Utada's third #1 album to debut on the United World Charts. In addition, Ultra Blue also gave the artist her sixth consecutive chart-topping album to sell in excess of 500,000 units for a first-week sales. On July 13, Toshiba EMI published a report stating that Ultra Blue had sold over one million copies worldwide and four million digital ringtones alreadymaking it one of EMI’s 10th best-selling album of the past year. After fifty-three weeks on the Oricon chart, Ultra Blue sold 910,998 units in Japan alone and was certified triple-platinum by the RIAJ, making it the highest-selling original studio album by a Japanese female artist in 2006. However, it became her first original album (excluding her first album Precious, released under the name Cubic U) to sell fewer than one million units domestically.

Ultra Blue later became available on the iTunes Japan online music store, charting at #4 on the 2006 yearly download rankings. Two weeks after the release of Ultra Blue, Utada began a nationwide tour titled "Utada United 2006" on June 30, 2006 which ended on September 12, 2006. This was Utada's second concert tour after her debut tour "Bohemian Summer 2000" and one performance at Budokan Dome in 2004. Aside from her Japanese work, the tour's set list featured three tracks from her 2004 English-language album, Exodus. On September 20, 2006, Exodus was re-released in Japan in addition to "Utada Hikaru Single Collection" Volume 4 in the same month.

The singles that were released prior to Utada's fifth studio album, Heart Station, were able to reach the Top Five position on the chart, including the #1 hit "Flavor of Life", which would later become the best selling digital single in Japan with over 7,500,000 copies download. Around the same time, Utada confirmed in her blog on September 25, 2007 that she had visited New York to with producers and executives at Island/Def Jam about recording a new English album.. Later in the year a digital track by American R&B artist Ne-Yo, titled "Do You" from his latest 2007 album, Because of You featured Utada and was released in Japan on November 21.

The year 2007 ended with "Flavor of Life" single becoming the best seller of 2007 and with Utada being voted "#1 Favorite Artist of 2007" by Oricon's annual readers poll, three years after she was last voted #1 on the poll. She also sold a cumulative total of 12 million digital ringtones and songs in 2007, making her the first Japanese artist ever to have this many digital sales in one year.

Utada's fifth studio album, Heart Station, was released on March 19, 2008, becoming her fifth consecutive #1 album although it had collected the lowest first week sales for Utada's career, with 480,081 copies sold. Despite this, the album went on to sell 982,874 copies (still charting), with certification of one million units shipped by the RIAJ and was currently the highest selling album by a female solo artist in 2008 until Namie Amuro surpassed this with Best Fiction. It is also the fourth highest selling album of 2008 as of August 3.

Hikaru Utada's name

Hikaru's name variations have been a source of some minor confusion in the past. Her legal name at birth is . For her original U.S. debut album, she used the name Cubic U. However, she gained very little fame at this stage in her career. For her Japanese recordings, she has used the name , with her given name in katakana. Unlike most Japanese artists, she became well known in the English-speaking world under this surname-first name ordering, since her name has been romanized only in that order for the Japanese domestic market. In Japan, it was known that her nickname growing up in the U.S. was "Hikki." However, due to her immense popularity in Japan, she became better known under this nickname in Japan than in the United States. After her successes in Japan, she re-entered the U.S. market simply as Utada (sometimes Iwashita). On a few rare occasions, she has been credited in full on U.S. domestic albums as either "Hikaru Utada" or "Utada Hikaru." Her legal name in Japan was due to her marriage to Kiriya Kazuaki (whose real name is Kazuhiro Iwashita). However, she does not use this name for most public purposes. Her legal name in the United States has not been clear, especially since the announcement of her divorce on March 2, 2007.

Personal life

On September 7, 2002 Utada married Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and film director who was fifteen years her senior. Kiriya had directed several of her music videos, including "Final Distance," "Traveling," "Hikari," "Sakura Drops," "Deep River," "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro," "Be My Last," "Passion," and "Keep Tryin." Also, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" is the theme song of Kiriya's directorial debut, Casshern.

On March 2 2007, Hikaru Utada and her husband Kazuaki Kiriya were officially divorced, thus ending their four and a half year marriage. They announced the divorce on Utada's blog the following day. Both stated that many factors contributed to the divorce, including personal changes, different viewpoints on the future of their marriage, and, more importantly, lack of communication due to the nature of their jobs. Kiriya hoped that Utada's fans would continue to support her and that the divorce would not affect her reputation and sales. He stated that they could not "emotionally depend on each other" and wished for everybody to support Utada.

On March 9 2008, roughly a year after her divorce, for an interview for SSTV V.I.P., Utada was asked another question regarding it. Utada stated that they were headed towards a direction in which she felt that she needed to be validated by her husband's opinion. She came to realize the only type of assurance she needed was herself and as a result of the divorce, she gained confidence. Also, Utada stated that she wishes to have children, giving her a brighter outlook on the future.

Discography

Notable awards and records

Years	Awards
1999	Yusen Awards - Top Award "Special Prize" Yusen Awards - Top Award "Best New Artist" The 40th Japan Record Awards - Best Album Prize (First Love) The 40th Japan Record Awards - Honorable Mention Songs (Automatic) Record: First Love - Best-Selling Japanese Language Album of All Time (7.648 million units in Japan and 10.056 worldwide as of 2007), Highest First Week Sales for a Debut Album (2 million+), and Fastest Selling album in Japanese history (5.24 million units in one month)
2000	The Japan Gold Disc Awards - The Triple Crown The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Artist of The Year The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Song of The Year (Automatic, Movin' on without you, Addicted To You) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Pop/Rock Album of The Year (First Love) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Music Video of The Year (Single Clip Collection Vol.1) World Music Awards- Best-Selling Asian Artist Jasrac - Gold Award (Automatic) Jasrac - Silver Award (Time Will Tell)
2001	The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Song of The Year (Wait & See ~Risk~ & For You / Time Limit) MTV Japan Viewer's Choice Video (Can You Keep A Secret?) Record: Distance - Highest First Week Sales Album of All Time (3 million+)
2002	SpaceShowerTV Best Art Direction Video (traveling) SpaceShowerTV Best Female Video (traveling) SpaceShowerTV Best Video of The Year (traveling) MTV Japan Best R&B Artist The 16th annual Japan Gold Disc Awards - Song of The Year (Can You Keep A Secret? & traveling) The 16th annual Japan Gold Disc Awards - Pop/Rock Album of The Year (Distance) Jasrac Silver Award (Can You Keep A Secret?)
2003	Rank #24 in HMV Japan's Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists of All Time J-Wave Tokio Hot 100 Airplay Best Female Artist SpaceShowerTV Best Female Video (Sakura Drops) MTV Japan Best Female Video (Sakura Drops) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - The Triple Crown The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Artist of The Year The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Song of The Year (Hikari, Sakura Drops, & Colors) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Rock & Pop Album of The Year (Deep River) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Music Video of The Year (traveling) Jasrac Silver Award - (traveling) Jasrac Silver Award - Foreign Production- (Hikari)
2004	AMD Award for Best Music Composer (UH Live Streaming 20 Dai wa Ikeike!) World Music Awards - Best-Selling Japanese Artist Record: Highest First Week Sales in Japan for an English/International Album: Exodus (521,000+ units) Record: Only Musical Artist (solo or Group) to be #1 on Oricon's Yearly Charts 5 (consecutive or -non) times (4x on Yealy Album Charts and 1x on Yearly Singles Chart)
2005	The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Song of The Year (Dareka no negai ga Kanau Koro) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Rock & Pop Album of The Year (Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - International Rock & Pop Album of the Year (Exodus) The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Music Video of The Year (Utada Hikaru in Budokan 2004 'Hikaru no 5')
2006	Rank #10 in HMV Japan's "30 Greatest Japanese Singers of All Time" List Rank #3 for Total Female & Solo Artist Album Sales The 20th Japan Gold Disc Awards - Song of the Year (Be My Last) Record: (Tied w/ Japanese rock group "Mr. Children") Most Times (consecutive or non-) an Asian or Non-U.S. music Act had the #1 Album in the World on the United World Chart Album Rankings (3x~Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1, Exodus, & Ultra Blue) Rank #1 - Most Consecutive Albums by a solo or group artist to have 500,000+ first week sales since debut (5)
2007	The 21st Japan Gold Disc Awards - Rock & Pop Album of The Year Award (Ultra Blue) The 21st Japan Gold Disc Awards - 10 Best Albums (Ultra Blue) The 21st Japan Gold Disc Awards - Million Sales Album Artist Card - Ultra Blue HEY!HEY!HEY! Music Champ SP (Top 10 Million-Selling Albums of All-Time in Japan) First Love-#1 (7,650,215) Distance-#4 (4,469,135) Deep River-#8 (3,604,588) Listen Japan Website Report: #1 Digital Artist of Japan 2007 for 10 million download sales of two song versions of "Flavor of Life" and three "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" single songs. The #2 Digital Single of the World - "Flavor Of Life" . The #1 Best Selling Artist in Terms of Digital Sales in 2007, with total sales of over 12 million. .
2008	The 22nd Japan Gold Disc Awards - Single of the Year ("Flavor Of Life") The 22nd Japan Gold Disc Awards - PC Download Song of the Year ("Flavor Of Life") The 22nd Japan Gold Disc Awards - Best 10 Singles ("Flavor of Life") The 22nd Japan Gold Disc Awards - Best 5 Chaku-Uta Songs ("Flavor of Life"-Ballad Version) The 22nd Japan Gold Disc Awards - Best 5 Chaku-Uta Full Songs ("Flavor of Life"-Ballad and Original Versions-) The 22nd Japan Gold Disc Awards - Best 5 PC Download Songs ("Beautiful World" & "Flavor of Life") Best Monthly Airplay Record at Japanese Radio (Heart Station) Radio Television Hong Kong 19th International Pop Poll Awards - Top Japanese Gold Song ("Beautiful World") Radio Television Hong Kong 19th International Pop Poll Awards - Top Japanese Artist MTV Japan Best Video from a Film (Beautiful World, from Neon Genesis Evangelion) VMA's Music Video Choice Awards- Best Japanese/English singer (Flavor of Life & Simple and Clean)