Utada

Utada Hikaru, known mononymously as Utada, is a Japanese-American singer, songwriter, and producer. Born September 19, 1983, in New York City to Japanese parents, she rose to prominence in Japan in the late 1990s and has achieved international recognition, performing in Japanese and English. She is widely referred to simply as Utada.

Raised in Tokyo, she released her debut single “Automatic” and its B-side “Time Will Tell” in 1998, followed by the debut album First Love in 1999. First Love became the best-selling album in Japanese history, and its successor Distance (2000) sustained her high profile in Japan.

Utada has released English-language albums such as Exodus (2004) and This Is the One (2009). She contributed songs to the Kingdom Hearts video game series, including Hikari (the Japanese version) and its English counterpart Simple and Clean, which helped raise her profile internationally. She has collaborated with both Japanese and Western producers across pop, R&B, and electronic styles.

In the 2010s she released Fantôme (2016) and Hatsukoi (2018), marking a return with more personal songwriting and a broader sonic palette. Utada is regarded as one of Japan’s most influential and commercially successful artists, known for blending pop with R&B and electronic influences, and for bridging Japanese and English-language markets.