See 122 more photos
宇多田ヒカル
146,884 listeners (8,079,994 plays)
Listening now: isdn3000
j-pop, japanese, jpop, female vocalists, pop
宇多田ヒカル (Utada Hikaru), born January 19, 1983 in New York City, New York, United States, also known by her fan-nickname “ヒッキー” (Hikki), is a third culture singer-songwriter, arranger, and record producer in Japan and United States. 宇多田ヒカル (Utada Hikaru) is the name she uses for her Japanese releases. Her English releases should be tagged only as “Utada”, as she has stated herself that she wants her Japanese music to be separate from her English releases.
Utada Hikaru was born in New York City to Japanese parents who both had roots in the Japanese music industry; her father, Teruzane Utada, was a producer, while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer (she performed under the stage name Keiko Fuji). Utada Hikaru made her first professional recording at the age of twelve, and recorded her first album, Precious, in 1996 under the pseudonym Cubic U. This album led to her career overseas. In a recent MTV interview (MTV’s You Hear It First, October 2004), Utada said: “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.”
Utada Hikaru may be most known in some cultures for her contribution to the Square-Enix & Disney video game series “Kingdom Hearts” where she performed the song “Hikari” (or mostly known as “Simple And Clean” in the English version) for the first game. She also performed “Sanctuary” and “Passion” (English and Japanese versions of the same song, respectively) for the second game.
Utada Hikaru was born in New York City to Japanese parents who both had roots in the Japanese music industry; her father, Teruzane Utada, was a producer, while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer (she performed under the stage name Keiko Fuji). Utada Hikaru made her first professional recording at the age of twelve, and recorded her first album, Precious, in 1996 under the pseudonym Cubic U. This album led to her career overseas. In a recent MTV interview (MTV’s You Hear It First, October 2004), Utada said: “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.”
Utada Hikaru may be most known in some cultures for her contribution to the Square-Enix & Disney video game series “Kingdom Hearts” where she performed the song “Hikari” (or mostly known as “Simple And Clean” in the English version) for the first game. She also performed “Sanctuary” and “Passion” (English and Japanese versions of the same song, respectively) for the second game.
Videos
See more
Top Albums
Shoutbox
-
harrypxtina wrote:
how come they created a "BRING BACK THE OLD LAST.FM" lol.. at least they changed somethin' here... I mean,... btw... I don't like "BOKU WA KUMA" either... I skip it :(
-
warriorsoul66 wrote:
HIKKKKKI <33 I love her. Take 5 is so beautiful!
-
redrum84 wrote:
Bring back the old Last.fm over 4,000 members since yesterday!
-
SrTravelingMan wrote:
haha. I plan on buying the Korean Singles box set. I already own the albums. Then I have to buy the singles from Flavor of Life to Prisoner of Love.
-
chocobooo wrote:
I collect everything. It's just the first single I bought :) On Monday I'll get a package from Japan which contains 2 more singles and 2 albums. The only album I still don't have is Ultra Blue. It's hard to get on ebay.. I will have to buy a new one :) And yeah, it's a bit dissapointing that on Be my last single is only one track.. I would love to have at least instrumental version :)
-
SrTravelingMan wrote:
The artwork for Deep River will probably never be added. Whoever, has control of this is LAZY!!
-
SrTravelingMan wrote:
You bought Be My Last...that means you could have bought any other single. That single is kind of a disappointment because it has 1 song on it. Waste of money unless you are collecting the entire discography.
-
chocobooo wrote:
yeah, I agree both of you! Heart Station is a masterpiece! :) But I really can bear listening to Boku wa Kuma.. I know that u guys like it but I don't.. I don't get it why she put this song on the album :)
-
refrainZERO wrote:
HEART STATION is just a beautiful album. One of my favorites of all-time! <3
-
harrypxtina wrote:
"HEART STATION" has a higher level than most J-Pop albums, production-wise is just 5 stars... I love it, but specially "Prisoner of Love" ^^ <3
-
hamatoyoshi86 wrote:
Um I listen to Hikari/Simple & Clean -planetB remix pretty much everyday........
-
chocobooo wrote:
be my last <3 <3 (btw, I bought the single last week :) )
-
gilgameHEARTS wrote:
I love when she sings without her utadavibrato.
-
refrainZERO wrote:
I love when she sings in her lower register rather than high.
-
SrTravelingMan wrote:
oh yeah she sings in a higher key (more so now than in the past) It's become part of her style. But her voice like in general is not that high. She has a low voice while talking and singing at a comfortable pitch.
-
TYPE-MOON wrote:
I actually think Hikki's voice is much HIGHER than most Japanese artists. Every time I try singing her songs at karaoke, I feel myself straining to get to the right key. She definitely sings in a much higher key in general.
-
killhannahowns wrote:
Love Take 5! Amongst everything else she's ever done! <3
-
chocobooo wrote:
btw, I've found a remix of flavor of life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIvfEcN4xTs&feature=related wow!! :)
-
chocobooo wrote:
omg! I didn't know about that song "Blow My Whistle". Would anyone mind uploading it somewhere and sending me the link? I would be really happy for it coz the song is great! :)
-
SrTravelingMan wrote:
It's not really high pitched. Her voice is MUCH lower than most Japanese singers. I do understand the whiny comment though. However, I like they her voice sounds. It's great! <3
Listeners
-
zhamahn
Listening now
-
isdn3000
Listening now
-
BleedinOblivion
Listening now
-
YunieYuks
Top Listener
-
ethos123
Top Listener
-
syncro50
Top Listener
Recent Activity
- Crispy_chicken tagged 宇多田ヒカル with ‘j-pop’. Wednesday evening
- Raian-kun connected 宇多田ヒカル to the group Kelly Sweet. Wednesday evening
- Goldione connected 宇多田ヒカル to the group Dannii. Tuesday evening
- joale_pup90 and EdCenter tagged 宇多田ヒカル with ‘jpop’. Tuesday afternoon
- Zyklonlad connected 宇多田ヒカル to the group Open Minded Music Freaks. Sunday afternoon
- JamesAXD tagged 宇多田ヒカル with ‘jpop’. Sunday morning
- VioletCyprien, xerothz and ring0c_0 tagged 宇多田ヒカル with ‘j-pop’. Sunday morning
- Karlientjeuh connected 宇多田ヒカル to the group SummerNightRain. 7 days ago
- Mariatea tagged 宇多田ヒカル with ‘j-pop’. 8 days ago
Groups (239)
-
Utada Hikaru
970 members
-
Namie's Style
125 members
-
Utada
140 members
-
Hitomi Shimatani's Crossover
100 members
-
Asian drama OST
254 members
