Born and raised in Manhattan and educated at Columbia University, Hikaru Utada grew up surrounded by music. Her father, Teruzane Utada, was an accomplished musician and producer, and her mother, Keiko Fuji, was a successful Japanese enka (ballad) singer. Utada spent her youth shuttling between New York City and Tokyo, but her most consistent home was the recording studio. By age 11, she had written and recorded her first song, and by the time she graduated from junior high school, she had been signed by EMI Records; her first album, Precious, was recorded in English, but didn’t come out in the US because of business problems at the label; it was subsequently released in Japan.<\/p>\n
After moving to Tokyo full-time, she began recording in Japanese, and her debut album in that language, First Love, was an explosive, historic success. Since then, she has had five Number One albums in Japan\u2014most recently, Heart Station in 2008, which was the year’s best-selling non-compilation album.<\/p>\n
With that level of popularity, it’s easy to wonder why Utada is taking the difficult step of starting over as a new artist for a new audience. “It’s true that I could have stuck to my throne and taken the easy way,” she says, “but I felt that my creativity, my humanity would be endangered by staying in that position. I don\u2019t want to just be this crazy artist who lives in la-la land, I want to be in touch with the real world and stay humble. And I like it when something feels scary\u2014I see fear as a category_iding light.”<\/p>\n
My trip to Def Jam Records to interview Utada was a rewarding and intimate glance into the Asian American Pop star\u2019s inner life and workings. I was led to an office area, up three flights of stairs, through back corridors, and then finally led into a large conference room where Utada herself sat with her manager and the Def Jam liaisons. I found out that unfortunately I wasn\u2019t allowed to take pictures. It was not a big a deal; even sitting down with the incredibly famed Utada would be a great treat and article.<\/p>\n
Utada sat at the conference table and stood up to greet me as I entered. She was very polite in her demeanor. She was of course beautiful with a very casual look, and a bit more petite than I imagined. Her hair was tucked under a comfy dark cap and she wore a simple green long-sleeved shirt. Her skin was impeccable. In the beginning I was a bit intimidated by her obviously famed presence, a coolness about her that implied immediately that she was a superstar. She was so cordial and after my first few questions, it was obvious she is a kind-hearted and, at times, a regular young woman like the rest of us, trying and succeeding at her career. <\/p>\n
Utada cares a lot about what her fans think of her music and this is what is so admirable about her. She reaches out to people and the \u201cuniverse\u201d through her songs. There were certain things I was not allowed to ask (like her past albums in Japan), because this was her day of answering questions about her new upcoming album, “This Is The One” (included the hit song, \u201cCome Back To Me\u201d) and her future. During the interview, excitement regarding American recognition was there. Her manager was as interested in her answers as I was. She gave a great chunk of time for the interview and she was very detailed with her answers- everything from her time at Columbia University, to singing Karaoke in Tokyo- I was asked to wrap it up a few times and did not realize we had been there for so long! What a treat she was!<\/p>\n
On her new Island Def Jam album\u2014ten self-penned songs produced by the powerhouse producers Stargate (Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Beyonce) and Tricky (Britney Spears, Madonna, Mariah Carey)\u201426-year-old Utada reveals the unique sense of songcraft that is poised to make her a force in the US and European music communities.<\/p>\n
It’s been a long journey, full of many miles and many melodies, for Utada to get to this album. But the lessons she’s learned ultimately gave her a clear sense of what she was looking for. “I wanted to get back to basics,” she says. “Nothing gimmicky, just very straightforward and confident, with a sense of humor. I was so sure of what I was doing, and I just became more of an adult\u2014finally.”
\n<\/i>
\n<\/p>\n
\nWell I was born in New York at Roosevelt Hospital. It\u2019s hard because they\u2019re all together in my head. I don\u2019t know when I was in Japan, from what year or month.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Utada<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nASIANCE: It\u2019s so great to sit and talk with you. So with your new album coming out, what are the beginning stages you go through to create the songs? <\/h3>\n
Utada:<\/b> Beginning stages. Well it begins with just sound. Melodies and sounds. Then after that the words come. Words are the last process I guess. Then at the end I sing. So the singing part is a small bit at the end. And a big part of my creating process is time spent on music, sounds, tracks, writing melodies and things like that. <\/p>\n
ASIANCE: How did the hit single \u201cCome Back to Me\u201d begin? <\/h3>\n
Utada:<\/b> For \u201cCome Back To Me\u201d\u2026well, for this album, this new one I worked with two teams of track-makers. And that\u2019s a big difference from my previous work including the 2008 album \u201cHeart Station\u201d. I went into the studios with two different teams (track-makers), went to the studio, picked out a bunch from their demo tracks roughly a few minute and a half loops they had made, took home the few I liked and I just started writing from there. That\u2019s how the \u201cCome Back to Me\u201d started as well. So at the beginning it was a rough track the track-maker had made and then I went home and changed the tracks a bit, added sounds, shifted things around and wrote melodies to it-words. And that\u2019s how all the songs began this time. <\/p>\n
Watch the official video of “Come Back to Me”<\/b><\/p>\n