Word: utada
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Dates: during 2001-2001
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...Utada enjoys adding traditional Ja-panese touches to her image. Says Utada: "In my most recent artist photo shoot, I said, 'I want to wear a Japanese summer kimono.' At first everyone was like, 'Are you sure?' Because people don't really wear it for artist photos. I've never really seen a musician wearing it." But she did it anyway. She's also taken to wearing traditional Japanese wooden sandals, or geta, with blue jeans...
...Utada says the Japanese press sometimes focuses too much on the fact that she was born in America. Explains Utada: "I'm a citizen of both countries. I was never that conscious of my nationality growing up." She remembers one incident in middle school when she was asked to declare her nationality for her entry in a school yearbook. "The yearbook staff came to ask me what I wanted to be put down as. I said, 'I don't know. Does nationality refer to what you are racially, or is it where you were born? Or where you grew...
...Even as she embraces Japanese culture, Utada is preparing to tackle the English-speaking market. As a first step, she is taking a temporary leave from school to focus on establishing her career in the U.S. She recently performed a song called Blow My Whistle, which was included on the sound track of the movie Rush Hour 2. Produced by the Neptunes, one of the hottest American hip-hop production duos around, the song features a cameo from gangsta rapper Foxy Brown. Utada said her producers were worried at first that she and Brown might not be a good...
...American music industry is ruled by stereotypes: whites rock, blacks rap and croon soul, and few dare to cross the color line. There are hardly any Asian pop acts of prominence in the U.S. (no wonder some see Utada as mysterious). Utada is mounting a challenge to the status quo. On Blow My Whistle, her voice is more resonant than on her Japanese-language songs, and the track boasts beats that are more forceful. She leaves no doubt: she's got Mary J. Blige, 125th Street-type soul...
...There's another twist. Although she's been billed on other releases outside Japan as "Utada Hikaru," the credits on Blow My Whistle bill her as "Hikaru Utada"?using the Western custom of listing the surname last. Says Hikaru: "I just figured it's a good way to separate my English and Japanese personae." After the interview, she sends a follow-up e-mail that begins, "This is Hikaru Utada. (Or is it Utada Hikaru ... oh, whichever!)" She is still a freshman. She'll work things...