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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 [[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 [[September 26]], [[2006]], Utada Hikaru's mother, Junko Utada, had more than $400,000 [[USD]] seized in what the DEA says are suspected drug proceeds as Junko tried to board a plane from New York to Las Vegas. Junko Utada said the money was for a Las Vegas foster home but she could not remember the name or if she ever visited it. Junko Utada has since filed a claim to retrive the money.[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0927062hikaru1.html]
On [[September 26]], [[2006]], Utada Hikaru's mother, Junko Utada, had more than $400,000 [[USD]] seized in what the DEA says are suspected drug proceeds as Junko tried to board a plane from New York to Las Vegas. Junko Utada said the money was for a Las Vegas foster home but she could not remember the name or if she ever visited it. Junko Utada has since filed a claim to retrieve the money.[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0927062hikaru1.html]


On [[March 2]] [[2007]], Utada Hikaru 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.u3music.com/message/backnumber/ja/20070303-2j.html|title=Important announcement (大事なお知らせ) |language=Japanese|accessdate=2007-08-26}}</ref>
On [[March 2]] [[2007]], Utada Hikaru 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.u3music.com/message/backnumber/ja/20070303-2j.html|title=Important announcement (大事なお知らせ) |language=Japanese|accessdate=2007-08-26}}</ref>

Revision as of 21:48, 27 January 2008

"Utada" redirects here. For Utada Hikaru's parents, see Teruzane Utada and Keiko Fuji. For the Machine Robo Rescue characters, see Machine Robo Rescue#Characters.
Hikaru Utada

Template:Japanese name Utada Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル, born January 19, 1983), also known by her fan-nickname of Hikki (ヒッキー, Hikkī), is a third culture singer-songwriter, arranger and record producer in Japan and the US. She is known internationally for her two theme song contributions to Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts video game series.[1] With the release of six Japanese and English studio albums, one compilation album, 25 English and Japanese solo singles, and several VHS/DVD releases, she has sold over 41 million records worldwide (with over 34 million in home nation of Japan). She has won the Nihon Golden Disk "Song of the Year" award for thirteen of her singles since 2000 and has won the Golden Disc "Pop/Rock Album of the Year" award for all four of her Japanese studio albums.[2] In 2003 Utada Hikaru was ranked the #24 Japanese pop artist in its survey of "Top 100 Japanese pop artists" by HMV. [3] #10 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time" in 2006,[4] and in 2007 sold 10 million digital ringtones and songs, making her the first artist ever to have this many digital sales in one year.[5]

Biography

Early life

Utada Hikaru was born in New York to Japanese parents with roots in the Japanese music industry. Her father, Teruzane Utada, was a record producer. 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 Hikaru 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 Hikaru 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.

1998: Precious

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 didn’t want to say 'no,' so I had to try it!" 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.

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. She soon made her mark on Japanese music with her phenomenally successful single, "Automatic / Time Will Tell."  Over 2,063,000 units have sold cumulatively of its two versions, making it the 2nd most successful single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history, behind Namie Amuro’s "Can You Celebrate?", and the most successful debut single ever released in the country.[citation needed]

1999-2000: First Love

Two months later, "Movin' on without you," which was a tie-in with a popular Nissan Car television commercial, was released on February 17, 1999 and would clear 1-million confirmed units with its two cumulative versions: another 8cm and 12cm dual release, and became her second platinum single and first #1 single. This was soon followed by her much-anticipated official studio debut album which came out the following month, March 1999, titled First Love, which sold over five million copies from March to April 1999, placing Utada among the 100 wealthiest people in Japan. First Love was not only the fastest selling debut album in Japanese history,[citation needed] but also had the highest initial first-week and overall sales for a debut album, achieving multi-platinum status in its first week of release. Utada would be noted in the Guinness Book of World Records 2000 for being the "Most Popular Singer in Asia."[citation needed]

A month after the album First Love was released, the song "First Love" was released as a single, mostly because of popular demand, and sold 804,000 units cumulatively of its 8cm and 12cm version. First Love was Utada’s only album to have merely three single releases, all her subsequent work would contain at least four singles. In addition to the album reaching #1 status on the daily, weekly and monthly charts of the Oricon Top 200, Utada also broke the record for units sold of a single album in Japan by the year’s end (over 7.650 million units), all by age 16, which record she still holds to this day. First Love is the most commercially successful debut CD album, and most commercially successful album overall by a Japanese artist, in Japanese music history, having sold over 10 million copies throughout Asia, with nearly 8 million copies sold in Japan alone.[6] [7] The year ended for Utada on a high note, being ranked #5 on Japanese radio station "Tokio Hot 100 Airplay's" Top 100 Artists of the 20th Century by the station and its listeners[8]

Eight months after "First Love" was released, Utada then released her fourth Japanese-language single, "Addicted To You." It broke the million mark in its first week, making it the fastest selling single of all time by a solo or female artist in Japan.[citation needed] It also hit #1 on the Oricon Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks (a personal first) and eventually sold 1,784,000 copies. It remains her most successful single of all time. On April 19, 2000, Utada released her first of only two singles for that year, "Wait & See ~Risk~." It also reached #1 on the Oricon and sold 1,662,000 copies. It became her largest-selling single that year. A month later, she released a half single "Remix: Fly Me to the Moon" in English and Toshiba-EMI released an animated music video for the single version of Fly Me to the Moon. The single was a limited edition release of 20,000 units, but sold out rapidly while hitting a chart peak of #16 on the Oricon. The follow-up "For You / Time Limit", her second double A-sided single, was released in late June and proved much more successful by becoming her fourth #1 hit (her second single to reach #1 two consecutive weeks). It was her last single in 2000 and it eventually sold 888,650 units. In July-August 2000, Utada decided to go on her first major headlining tour entitled Bohemian Summer Circuit Live 2000. Utada returned to New York City after "For You / Time Limit"'s release to attend Columbia University as a freshman, but finding her break into Japanese music scene "easier than expected", she left after a year to pursue her career.[9]

2001: Distance

In early 2001, Utada released what would be the final Distance era single, "Can You Keep a Secret?" on February 16, 2001. It brought her #1 hit count up to five (her third single to stay #1 two weeks), and became her fifth single to exceed a million units in sales, raking in an eventual 1.484 million units. A month later, she released her second album, "Distance," on March 28, 2001, after nearly a two year hiatus. It was awarded with the largest first-week sales for any album in Japanese music history, with over 3.02 million units sold.[10] 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. She had the #1 single and album of the year as well in Japan, for Distance and its last released single, "Can You Keep A Secret?" Distance is also the fourth best-selling album of all time in Japan.[11] The video for Utada's 2001 song "Can You Keep a Secret?" received some attention as part of "International Week," which coincided with the 2001 EMAs on the American channel MTV2. The video's airplay was likely Utada's first chance of exposure in the United States. In 2001, Utada also did a duet with Foxy Brown tited "Blow My Whistle" and featured on the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack.

2002-2003: Deep River

After Distance, Utada quickly released the single which was dedicated to the female victim, Utada's fan, of a murder case in Ikeda, Osaka "Final Distance.[citation needed] After that, she released "Traveling," "Hikari", and "Sakura Drops/Letters" for her 2002 follow-up album, Deep River. With the exception of "Final Distance" (#2 peak), they all became instant #1 smashes on the Oricon singles chart, selling a combined total of about 2.8 million physical units by the end of 2002.[citation needed] In May 2002, she became sick right before the release of Deep River and underwent surgery after being diagnosed with an ovarian tumor.[12] During this period, she had to put on hold her TV appearances and other promotional activities. In June 2002, just over a year and a month after "Distance," the album was released. 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 triple-platinum (3 million) sold mark, by RIAJ standards. It was also her third consecutive time to hold the #1 position on Oricon's Yearly Albums chart[citation needed] and became the eighth best selling album of all time in Japan.[11]

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 era sngles. 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.

2004-2005: Exodus

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.[citation needed] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[11] 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." 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."[15] 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,[16] 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, almost due to the fact that there was virtually no promotion on her record label's part, selling a minimal 30,000 units. "Easy Breezy" was released as the lead single in early August 2004, peaking at #9 Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay chart[citation needed], followed up by "Devil Inside" a month and two weeks later. "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[17]

A year after the international releases and promotion of Exodus, Utada moved back to Tokyo and returned to the Japanese music scene with the release of her 15th Japanese single, "Be My Last," originally rumored to be a double A-side. The title track was used as the main theme for the movie Spring Snow (春の雪 Haru no Yuki). Despite topping the Oricon charts, "Be My Last" did not meet commercial expectations, failing to sell over 30% of pre-ordered shipments. However, "Be My Last" became the second most downloaded song via PC of 2006 in Japan. In mid-December, she released her second Japanese single for 2006 single "Passion", which was used as the theme song for the Japanese version of video game Kingdom Hearts II. Depite the large tie-in that was akin to Hikari, the single only reached #4 on the Oricon Top 200 singles charts, selling just over 112,000 copies total, her lowest-selling Japanese single to date.[citation needed] In addition to "Passion", Utada composed an English version, "Sanctuary", that was used for overseas advertisement for Kingdom Hearts II, which used different lyrics and style of background vocals.

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, and remains her most successful single release in the U.S..[citation needed] 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 and was featured on the Japanese Nintendo DS Launch Campaign.

2006: Ultra Blue

On February 22, 2006 Utada released as new single titled "Keep Tryin'." The single was used to promote Lismo! au Listen Mobile Service's. "Keep Tryin'" peaked at #2 on the Oricon charts, selling a sizeable 125,000 copies total over Passion, still somewhat short in contrast to most all her earlier works. However, the digital sales were Utada's highest up to this point, clearing two-and-a-half million downloads, and spending the most weeks atop OnGen's digital charts at two and half months. "Keep Tryin'" also reached number one on iTunes Japan's year-end chart[18]. "This Is Love", the opening track from Utada's then-upcoming Japanese studio album Ultra Blue became available for download on May 31, making it Utada's first digital sales-exclusive single (eventually becoming the ninth most downloaded song of 2006 at iTunes Japan[19]) and was used to promote Ultra Blue, which was released on June 14, 2006 physically and June 28 digitally. The album contained "Colors" her lone 2003 single and "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" her lone 2004 single. Unlike her previous Japanese-language albums, Ultra Blue did not have an eponymous track to the album title. Instead, the ballad "Blue" was recorded. The song and album featured Utada's new experimental pop and dance tone, becoming its central theme. Ultra Blue sold 500,317 copies in the first week, easily topping the Oricon Daily, Weekly and Monthly charts, and becoming Utada's third #1 album debut on the United World Charts.[16] in addition to giving Utada her sixth consecutive chart-topping album to sell in excess of 500,000 units for first-week sales, setting a new record. It also charted a second week at #1 on the Oricon Daily and Weekly charts, selling a further 157,000 units. By July 13, barely a month post its release, her record label Toshiba EMI published a report confirming Ultra Blue had sold over one million copies worldwide and four million digital ringtones already.[citation needed] After fifty-three weeks on the Oricon chart, Ultra Blue sold 908,113 units in Japan and was certified triple-platinum by the RIAJ, making it the highest-selling original studio album by a Japanese female artist in 2006.[20]

Ultra Blue was also Utada's first album to be available on the iTunes Japan online music store, where it was immensely successful, charting at #4 on the 2006 yearly download rankings.[citation needed] It was the best selling original studio album by a female artist in 2006, and the seventh best selling album of the year according to 'Oricon Style' magazine rankings. The EMI Group released their Annual Report for 2007 on July 29, and with it came news that Utada’s album Ultra Blue had sold 1.3 million units worldwide, making it one of EMI’s 10th best-selling album of the past year.[21][22]

The "Utada United 2006" nationwide tour commenced June 30, 2006 and ended on September 12, 2006 after Utada's performances at Yoyogi. Surprisingly, this was Utada's only other concert tour besides her debut tour with the "Bohemian Summer 2000" concert series, although she did perform one concert at the Budokan Dome in 2004. Aside from her Japanese work, the tour's set list featured three tracks from her 2004 English-language album, Exodus. The dates were all cumulatively announced, and ticket sales started on May 28, 2006 with the majority of venues selling out in less than two hours.[citation needed] On September 20, 2006, Exodus was re-released in Japan in addition to releasing "Utada Hikaru Single Collection" Volume 4 in September 2006, which entered the Oricon Music DVD charts at #1, selling an approximate first-week estimate of 22,000 units.[citation needed] On November 22, 2006, Utada released an anticipated new single, "ぼくはくま (Boku wa Kuma, lit. I'm a Bear)." The song tied with "Passion" as her lowest charting single, placing #4 in its first week, and had the second lowest first-week sales of her career behind "Automatic / Time Will Tell." However, it was her first single since "Dareka no Negai Ga Kanau Koro" to chart more than three consecutive or non-consecutive weeks in the "Top 10 Oricon Singles" chart. By the end of May 2007, "Boku wa Kuma" had sold 147,041 copies. Despite initially slow sales, it was nonetheless her most successful single since "Be My Last" (2005) and has surpassed the sales of her-than previous two singles, "Passion" and "Keep Tryin."

2007-2008: Heart Station

On February 28, 2007, Utada released her 18th Japanese single "Flavor of Life ." The ballad version of "Flavor Of Life" was featured as the insert song for the second season of the popular Japanese drama, Hana Yori Dango 2. It was a major comeback for Utada, garnering the largest overall success in her career with the most combined airplay, physical sales, and downloads. "Flavor of Life" sold extremely well physically, placing #1 on the weekly Oricon charts with first week sales of 270,000+ units. It remained #1 on the chart for three consecutive weeks. By its seventh week of charting, Utada's total CD single sales surpassed 15 million, making her the #3 solo or female artist in sales.[citation needed] An annual EMI record report on July 29, 2007 mentioned the immense digital success of “Flavor Of Life,” citing it as one of the reasons that EMI’s digital revenue has expanded by 69% this year in Japan.[21][22] In April 2007, "Flavor Of Life" became the highest-selling Japanese downloadable single of all time. Combining its digital downloads with physical CD sales, it sold well past 8,300,000 copies in total, marking the all-time combination sales record for a single in Japan.[23] Oricon announced that "Flavor of Life" was the second best-selling single of 2007 in Japan, selling 644,259 copies.

On April 20, 2007 a new song "Kiss & Cry" was announced and later featured in the 2007 "Freedom Cup Noodles CM", the same tie-in of her first Japanese digital single, "This is Love." On June 31, "Kiss & Cry" became her second digital single to be released in Japan, and later her fourth double A-side single. After multiple delays, "Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry" debuted on August 29, 2007. It reached #3 on the weekly rankings with 93,518 copies sold and has sold over 230,000 copies to date. "Beautiful World" was the theme song for the first "Rebuild of Evangelion" movie, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. The single's B-side, "Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) -2007 Mix- would be used as a theme for the CM trailers promoting "Rebuild of Evangelion". The song, originally featured on the "Distance" single, "Wait & See ~Risk~," was remastered with new background music for the tie-in. "Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry" was also the #2 female single of 2007 in Japan behind her own "Flavor of Life." Utada was also voted "#1 Favorite Artist of 2007" by Oricon's annual readers poll, three years after she lasted was voted #1 on the poll.[17]

On September 25, 2007, Utada stated in her blog that she visited New York and that she was talking with producers and executives at Island/Def Jam about recording her third English album (confirming rampant rumors earlier this year about a possible follow-up to Exodus).[24] Official schedules for promotion, recording, and release have yet to be announced. On October 23, 2007, Utada announced on her Japanese blog that she is now actively working on her fifth Japanese-language studio album, Heart Station[25] and third English album simultaneously, having already recorded whole demos for new tracks and choruses.[24] On November 13, 2007, Island Def Jam Records announced on her official English website a re-make collaboration with American R&B artist Ne-Yo, titled "Do You" from his latest 2007 album, Because of You. The track was digitally released in Japan on November 21.[26][27] Utada sold 10 million digital ringtones and songs in 2007, making her the first Japanese artist ever to have this many digital sales in one year.[5]

Utada will release her fifth double-A side single, Heart Station / Stay Gold, on February 20, 2008. "Stay Gold" is currently being featured as the promotional song for Kao's new Asience hair care commercials, while Heart Station is being used as the 2008 Recochoku ringtone Download Service commercial.[28]

Heart Station is also the name of her fifth Japanese album which will be released on March 19, 2008.[29] This follows the tradition of Utada naming her album off of a track in her album (excluding Ultra Blue which was based off Blue). There will be a total of 12 tracks on Heart Station, with 6 of them being previous singles.[30]

Utada Hikaru's name

Utada's name variations have been a source of some minor confusion in the past. Her legal name at birth is Utada Hikaru (宇多田光, Utada Hikaru). 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 Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル), 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 Hikaru Iwashita (岩下光, Iwashita Hikaru) 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 September 26, 2006, Utada Hikaru's mother, Junko Utada, had more than $400,000 USD seized in what the DEA says are suspected drug proceeds as Junko tried to board a plane from New York to Las Vegas. Junko Utada said the money was for a Las Vegas foster home but she could not remember the name or if she ever visited it. Junko Utada has since filed a claim to retrieve the money.[1]

On March 2 2007, Utada Hikaru 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.[31]

Discography

Main article: Utada Hikaru discography

Albums

Year Title Chart positions
Japan USA International
1998 Precious 4 — —
1999 First Love 1 — —
2001 Distance 1 — —
2002 Deep River 1 — —
2004 Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 1 — 1
2004 Exodus 1 160 1
2006 Ultra Blue 1 — 1
2008 Heart Station TBD — TBD
2008 Utada Hikaru's third english studio album TBD TBD TBD

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)[32]
  • The 40th Japan Record Awards - Honorable Mention Songs (Automatic)[33]
  • 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 Initial 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[34]
  • 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?)
2002
  • SSTV Best Art Direction Video (traveling)
  • SSTV Best Female Video (traveling)
  • SSTV 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[35]
  • J-Wave Best Female Artist
  • SSTV 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[36]
  • 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)[37]
  • 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[38]
  • Rank #3 for Total Female & Solo Artist Album Sales[39]
  • The 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)[40]
2007
  • The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Rock & Pop Album of The Year Award (Ultra Blue)
  • The Japan Gold Disc Awards - 10 Best Albums (Ultra Blue)
  • The Japan Gold Disc Awards - Million Sales Album Artist Card - Ultra Blue[41]
  • 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 #1 Digital Single of the World - "Flavor of Life" [42].

References and notes

  1. ^ http://games.ign.com/articles/368/368583p1.html
  2. ^ "The Japan Gold Disc Award". Record Industry Association of Japan.
  3. ^ "Top 100 Japanese pops Artists - No.24" (in Japanese). 2003-11-07.
  4. ^ "日本のシンガーTOP30 - 第10位" (in Japanese). 2005-12-21.
  5. ^ a b "宇多田ヒカル、07年度DL販売総数1,000万DL突破＆新曲タイアップも決定 (Utada Hikaru, breaks through 10 million sales for fiscal year 2007)" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  6. ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/artists/193854/
  7. ^ List of million-selling CD albums in Japan
  8. ^ "Announcing the Top 100 Big Artists of the 20th Century as chosen by listeners and J-wave (リスナーとJ-WAVEが選んだ20世紀のビッグ・アーティスト100人を発表！)". www.j-wave.co.jp (in Japanese). 1999. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  9. ^ "Rising Stars of Asian America".
  10. ^ Christopher John Farley (2001-09-15). "Diva on Campus". Time. Retrieved 2006-12-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b c "Successful Albums Ranking: Top 267 (歴代アルバムランキング TOP267)". www.musictvprogram.com (in Japanese).
  12. ^ "Japanese teen pop star home after bout with side effects of ovarian surgery". AP Worldstream. May 11, 2002. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "宇多田ヒカル Oricon Style Special Comment" (in Japanese).
  14. ^ "United World Chart". 2004-04-17.
  15. ^ Alyssa Rashbaum (2004-10-05). "Utada". MTV. Retrieved 2006-09-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ a b "United World Chart". 2004-09-25.
  17. ^ a b "(発表！ 音楽ファン2万人が選ぶ『好きなアーティストランキング』)". www.oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). July 20, 2004. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0612/20/news069.html
  19. ^ http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0612/20/news069.html
  20. ^ "アルバム 年間ランキング" (in Japanese).
  21. ^ a b "Utada @ EMI Annual Report 2007". www.utada-online.net. July 29, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ a b EMI Annual Report 2007 (PDF), 2007, p. 18, retrieved 2007-08-26
  23. ^ "宇多田シングル最多の630万ユニット販売" (in Japanese).
  24. ^ a b "Bon jour!". www.u3music.com. September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ HEART STATION/宇多田ヒカル 2008年03月19日発売
  26. ^ Utada.com
  27. ^ Utada.jp
  28. ^ http://utada-online.net/blog/?p=149
  29. ^ "アルバムタイトル決定 (Album Title Decided)" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  30. ^ http://www.shinseido.co.jp/jpop/utada.html
  31. ^ "Important announcement (大事なお知らせ)" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  32. ^ "The Japan Records Award - 1999". http://www.jacompa.or.jp/index.html (in Japanese). 1999. Retrieved 2007-09-01. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  33. ^ http://www.jacompa.or.jp/index.html
  34. ^ "Winners of the World Music Awards". www.montecarloresort.com. May 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  35. ^ http://www.hmv.co.jp/news/newsDetail.asp?newsnum=310200001
  36. ^ "2004 World Music Awards Winners". www.billboard.com. September 16, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ "(The 19th Japan Gold Disc Award 2005)". www.riaj.or.jp/e/ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  38. ^ http://www.hmv.co.jp/news/newsDetail.asp?newsnum=512080125
  39. ^ "(松任谷由実、アルバム女性部門5冠達成！)". www.oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). June 30, 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. ^ "(宇多田ヒカル、2年1ヶ月ぶりのアルバム首位獲得で史上初の快挙！)". www.oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). June 20, 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  41. ^ "Million Artist Card Release (「ミリオンアーティストカード」登場)". shop.mu-mo.net. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  42. ^ "Multi-product approach makes 'Flavor Of Life' by Japan's Utada Hikaru a contender for best-selling digital single in the world". EMI Group. 28 July 2007.

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