Interviewee: Utada Hikaru
Interviewer: JJ Ramberg
Date: March 18, 2009

Born on January 19th 1983, Utada Hikaru is a Japanese-American producer and solo artist. Some of her favorite international artists include Lenny Kravitz, Nine Inch Nails, Cocteau Twins, The Beatles, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Bjork, Freddie Mercury (of Queen) and The Blue Nile.

Also known as Hikki, she released her first album called First Love in 1999. It eventually became the bestselling record in Oricon history. Since then, she has released four prominent Japanese albums that were on the top 10 record bestsellers in the country. These albums include Distance (2001), Deep River (2002), Ultra Blue (2006) and Heart Station (2008). Apart from her Japanese records, she also successfully released three English albums titled Precious (1998), Exodus (2004) and This is the One (2009).

According to Time Magazine, she was a “Diva on Campus.” This referred to her attending Columbia University for her short career break in 2000. Nine years later, Utada Hikaru was named “the most influential artist of the decade” in Japan The Japan Times.

In addition, she wrote two theme songs for Disney and Square Enix’s joint video games Kingdom Hearts I and II titled “Simple and Clean” and “Passion,” respectively. Later, “Passion” was re-recorded with English lyrics and re-titled as “Sanctuary.”