Text: Dai Man

What a remarkable young lady Utada Hikaru is. At the tender age of 26 she has sold more than 50 million albums and in the process broken a host of Japanese records; fastest selling this, biggest selling that with three of her albums in Japan’s top ten selling albums of all time! So, in the vein of a really credible artist, Utada, not content to sit on her laurels decided basically to start again. Having decided to record an English album and with a clutch of self-penned tracks she joined forces with New York’s Def Jam Records, responsible for producing hits of a wide range of artists, including Rihanna, Beyonce, Mariah, Madonna and Britney amongst others. Still for an artist who enjoys stratospheric success in Japan, perhaps embarking on this new journey could have been somewhat risky. Says Utada, “It’s true that I could have stuck to my throne and taken the easy way but I felt that my creativity, my humanity would be endangered by staying in that position. I don’t 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 – I see fear as a guiding light.” Her ambition as well as her talent shine through on This is the One, an R ‘n B album with well crafted songs and smooth as silk production. If possible, her star is set to shine even brighter!