I searched, and didn't see a thread about this, so I made one-
"I'm that 'Japanese Girl' that America is going to hear alot from soon." -Utada Hikaru
For anyone who is interested, Hikki, a.k.a Utada Hikaru, will be debuting in the US. And for those who don't know who she is, she is a 21-year-old New York-born Japanese singer who has made quite a career in Japan, being among the top five singers like Ayumi Hamasaki and BoA*. She has done music for Kingdom Hearts ('Simple and Clean', which is also how Square Enix got Koda Kumi to perform 'realEmotion' and 'Sen no Kotoba', meaning 'Thousand Words', for the Japanese version of 'Final Fantasy X-2'). She's on Island, and will be making her debut as 'Utada' in Spring, and has an official US website at www.utada.com
From the site...
" "Utada" is her family name, and music is the family business. Born in Manhattan to a traditional-Japanese-style-singer Mom and musician/producer Dad, she was flying frequently between New York and Tokyo before she had learned to walk. Now, 21 years old and bilingual, Utada prizes her unstable, nomadic upbringing which has instilled in her an open yet analytic mind, and the confidence to quickly adapt to any new environment. To Utada, both metropolises are home. Then perhaps the recording studio could be called her third. There she went after school to do homework, take naps under huge speakers, and watch her parents recording music.
At 13, she recorded her first solo album in English as 'Cubic U'---she had written and composed most of the songs. A year later, a music producer at Toshiba EMI casually asked her if she was capable of writing Japanese songs. Her answer would become the first recording for her debut album, which has sold over 9 million copies since its release in 1999.
Let me guess; that number either impressed you, or it totally turned you off with the thought that she's another one of those big foreign acts that try to break the US market and can't even cause a stir. Now, let me bet, that when you hear Utada's music, you will listen hard because it is nothing like what you expected, maybe sense a smile creeping up your cheeks, and after drawing your personal opinion, look forward with wonder to how the rest of America is going to take it."
For those who ask if she can speak English well (most Japanese singers don't speak the language very well, i.e. Ayumi-'Real Me', Tomiko Van of Do As Infinity-'Week!', PUFFY (AmiYumi)-'Planet Tokyo', and Morning Musume-'Go Girl ~koi no VICTORY!~ ), she CAN speak it almost flawlessly. She has done some songs with English, like 'Can You Keep A Secret?' (Her English was perfect, but the video was just scary. Her boyfriend was a robot).
This is old news, but I just wanted to let fans know if they weren't aware.
(Also, if there are any DAI/Do As Infinity fans living in New York, they will be performing live there between June-July, I just forgot the right date)
