Tag - hikaru-utada

 
 

HIKARU UTADA

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2022
‘First Love’: More of a fling than a true romance
A Netflix series inspired by two Hikaru Utada pop songs is frivolously entertaining but doesn't carry much weight.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 29, 2022
‘Bad Mode’ delivers some of the best songs of Hikaru Utada’s career
Hikaru Utada's eighth full-length album is full of introspection, with the artist working on their personal growth and coming away with a better sense of self.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2021
Escapist bops and deep pop: Music was a mood in 2021
After a year in which Japan's music industry had to make its peace with streaming, this year saw more of the holdouts get on board with the times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2019
'Hikaru Utada Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018': An online offering that nails the live experience
Japanese pop star Hikaru Utada's 2018 "Laughter in the Dark Tour" marked her first jaunt around the country in 12 years. The seven-city tour became one of the year's most anticipated tickets, culminating in a Dec. 9 performance at Chiba's Makuhari Messe coinciding with the 20th anniversary of her debut. These shows weren't heavy on spectacle, but rather a chance to catch up and reminisce.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2019
Japan's CD album output fell below 100 million for first time in 2018, industry data shows
The annual output of CD albums in Japan sank below 100 million in 2018 for the first time on record, an industry group said Wednesday, as more people listen to music via online streaming services.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2018
Hikaru Utada learns to accept heartbreak on 'Hatsukoi'
It's the title that grabs you first. Hikaru Utada's seventh album makes a conspicuous nod to her 1999 debut, but the preternaturally mature teen of "First Love" is now a twice-divorced mother with ample life experience to draw on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Sound Off
Jan 18, 2018
Will 2018 herald a return to the 1990s?
Prognosticating something as unpredictable as the domestic music industry might appear to be a fool's errand. But what's the fun in playing it safe? Here are some predictions for 2018.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Mar 26, 2017
Music's shifting tides reveal a hunger for artistry in Japan
Music is often characterized over-simplistically as a battle between rock and pop, seriousness and fun, but the two are always in an ever-shifting balance. With this column coming to the end of its six-year run, it feels timely to cast a look back — and perhaps also a hopeful eye forward — over the changing state of music in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Mar 12, 2017
Militant approach to collecting fees hurts JASRAC's reputation
At the start of 2017, it was hard to imagine a way that the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) could garner more hate from social media users than its already received. The music copyright management organization has long been one of the most loathed institutions on sites such as Twitter and 2channel. People focus on its militant approaches to YouTube uploads or collecting fees from independent hair salons playing background music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2016
Japan's pop music scene saw a power struggle in 2016
Media, both domestic and overseas, spent a lot of time focused on the streaming services arriving in Japan in 2016. Months of "Can these platforms thrive in CD-loving Japan?" speculation reached a climax in September, when global market leader Spotify finally debuted here. There was a big press conference, launch parties and one final flurry of articles pondering if this could be the sea change so many thirst for in the country's music industry.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 23, 2016
Guests shine on Utada's return album
Utada Hikaru "Fantome" (Universal Music Japan)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2016
Will Hikaru Utada's new album 'Fantome' change the rules of modern J-pop?
'As trends fade into the cultural rearview mirror, Hikaru Utada is a prime candidate to bring back what J-pop has lost in her absence: relatability.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Sep 25, 2016
Hikaru Utada and the iconic women of Japanese pop who came before her
In an age where anyone and (it often seems) everyone can be an idol, it takes something special to be an icon.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 26, 2015
Ten years after its Japan special, who would Interview want to talk to?
In 1969, pop artist Andy Warhol founded Interview magazine. The New York-based publication was initially distributed among the city's "in crowd," later finding a wider audience in those seeking more than the usual mainstream fare.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 3, 2015
J-pop star Utada gives birth to baby boy, hints at return to music
Pop star Hikaru Utada said on her official website Friday that she just gave birth to a baby boy.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2013
Fuji had 'disease of the mind,' says daughter Utada
Pop star Hikaru Utada on Monday made her first comments about the recent suicide of her mother, singer Keiko Fuji, saying she was "proud to be the daughter of my mother."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2009
The noughties played it nice
The biggest Japanese music event in 2000 was Hikaru Utada's Bohemian Summer tour, which was launched at Tokyo's Yoyogi Pool that June. Since emerging in December 1998 with the single "Automatic," followed by the debut album "First Love" four months later, the 17-year-old singer-songwriter, daughter of a folk singer mother and a musician-producer father, had become the most important individual to emerge on the Japanese pop scene since Tetsuya Komuro discovered Eurobeat in the 1980s, and it was her first extended tour. She played 18 shows in nine cities. Tickets sold out within hours, and three concerts were quickly added at the Chiba Marine Stadium. Tickets for those were gone in a half hour.

Longform

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