Utada is featured in the latest issue of Billboard Magazine. The full text of the article can be read after the jump.
‘One’ Love
Japanese Superstar Utada Aims To Conquer The States
By Rob Schwartz
What do you do when you’re a J-pop superstar in Japan, and a native English speaker, but have failed to take off with your first U.S. release?
Try again, of course. Japanese phenomenon Utada will release her new English-language record, “This Is The One,” March 24 on Island Def Jam, with all parties predicting greater success the second time around. Her first English-language record, 2004’s “Exodus,” peaked at No. 160 on the Billboard 200, selling 55,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
“My first English album was a very experimental, mad-scientist-in-a-laboratory kind of album,” Utada says. “It was a bit of a mess on my side as well as on the record company’s side. I didn’t know how to [express] myself to the public.”
This time, Island Def Jam Music Group president/COO Steve Bartels says the label is “extremely committed to breaking Utada in the United States.” Kimitaka Kato, president of Universal International in Japan, says, “Utada’s talent has been recognized by [IDJMG chairman] L.A. Reid, which led to this launch. We believe that the moment has come for the world to embrace Utada as a true global superstar.”
She’s already achieved that status in Japan, despite being born and raised in the States, until she was 14. Her 1999 debut album, “First Love” (Toshiba EMI), is the best-selling album in Japanese history, selling more than 7.5 million copies, according to SoundScan Japan. All but one of her subsequent six releases have moved more than 1 million copies.
Managed by her father, Teruzane Utada, on both sides of the Pacific, her star status at home is such that she has separate deals for her Japanese repertoire — which appears on EMI under her full name, Utada Hikaru –– and English language releases, which come out through Universal under the name Utada. “Exodus” has sold more than 1 million copies in Japan, and “This Is The One” is due there March 14. But Utada says she remains committed to Japanese repertoire and is already working on her next Japanese album.
As for “This Is The One,” she says it’s “an album made for the purpose of [being] mainstream,” having enlisted top songwriter/producers with U.S. track records and strong ties to IDJ, including the-Dream, Stargate and Tricky Stewart.
“For this project, Utada wanted to work with some of the hottest producers on the charts right now,” Bartels says, “but more importantly they wanted to work with her. The-Dream, Tricky Stewart, Stargate and many others are big fans of hers, and all of us know what the U.S. and Europe are soon to find out — Utada is a star.”
Bartels says Utada’s American “sensibilities and sound” set her apart from other Japanese artists seeking stateside success, noting early press supports from Nylon, the New York Times and Vibe. A slot is also booked on CBS’ “The Early Show,” with more TV appearances to be scheduled.
Utada had her longtime hair and makeup artists fly in from Japan for key U.S. promo work after feeling her image wasn’t presented correctly in the States on “Exodus.” The artist says she’s feeling more confident about how she’s perceived this time around.
“I feel very comfortable about all the promotional work I’ve been doing,” she says. “probably because there is less of this hype about a Japanese pop star making a breakthrough that I struggled with last time.”
^I like her look a lot now, and really always have, it shows growth, maturity, and confidence in how she feels about herself right now. I do hope she goes back to longer styles in the future on some occasions but if she doesn’t, she’s still a beautiful girl (by any ethnic, physical, or age standards) no matter what critics or other detesters have to say about her, especially because she is assertive enough to keep her clothes on, produce sexually explicit lyrics/performances, and not be a “conforming” idol singer like many of her peers in Japan and elsewhere!
Did anyone else notice that her myspace now only has a clip of CBTM?
what clip……the site still has the audio for CBTM
ohhhhh nvm the 30sec previewww
Check this out guys:
Yahoo Japan’s site now has listed the times for the tracks.
Only 2 songs on the album break the 4 minute mark, 5 songs are under 3 minutes and 31 seconds.
This Is The One total track time: 35 minutes.
Exodus total running time: 55 minutes.
More disappointing news
Ahhh agreed Ghostdog!
I want more!! Well as long as her Japanese single comes out by June then it’s all okay.
First Love: 54 minutes
Distance: 64 minutes
Deep River: 54 minutes
Exodus: 55 minutes
Ultra Blue: 56 minutes
Heart Station: 56 minutes
This is The one: 35 minutes
Wow, just wow.
35, only?!
…
As long as the music is good I don’t give a damn
Yeah, I was disappointed when I saw that earlier as well. I thought I only saw just 1 song over 4 minutes though being “Apples & Cinnamon”.
And it will be for sure.
Unless you are counting the remixes which don’t really count:
~This Is The One~
JP：3/14
USA：3/24
01） On And On 3:17
02） Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI 3:49
03） Apple And Cinnamon 4:38
04） Taking My Money Back 3:12
05） This One (Crying Like A Child) 4:30
06） Automatic Part II 3:00
07） Dirty Desire 3:51
08） Poppin’ 3:31
09） Come Back To Me 3:56
10） Me Muero 3:25
do you guys have to make such a big deal if the album is 35minutes long, as least the song won’t drag on forever… As long as the tracks are good its fine with me..
Oh yeah, that’s right. Hopefully some extra OOMPH! went into “This One (Crying Like A Child)” being that it’s title after the Album and it’s one of the longest ones.
Maybe this will mean not many more if anymore Ballads other than “Come Back To Me” being that “Come Back To Me” is one of the longer ones as well and everything else is relatively shorter besides the forementioned 2.
as long as the songs are good..then im fine…i love this interview,and i hope there will be more live interviews and performances to come!ahhhh…..the days seem to go on forever…
lalala la lalala blah blah
^^ I definitely would not mind if her album is 35 minutes long… better to have a good album with great songs than filler.
Who cares about the length of the song?! As long as the album is damn good pop music, I’ll be thrilled. Bear in mind, Utada said this is a mainstream album, and to appeal to radio stations (so they can fit more songs in their rotations), singles are usually 3 minutes or less. Maybe every song is a potential single!
I’d rather have a strong pop album that’s 30 minutes than one that has filler and overstays its welcome.
In her most recent interview she said she wanted to move away from experimental sounds cause she wanted to go to more R&B/pop songs.
I don’t know, I’m not used to Utada doing shorter albums or singles as long as running time is concerned, but hey, if the music’s great and memorable it’ll be of greater worth than the price of the CD, NOT to mention, this album has a much greater chance of commercial success in the U.S. and elsewhere beyond Japan, and of being better received critically over EXODUS as well @ the very least, if not some of her Japanese repetoire. Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, and Stevie Wonder’s “Innervisions” featured 10 tracks or less and I’ve yet to hear or read no less than a stellar, classic review and assessment of all of them!…
In conclusion, a 35 minute album from Utada can only mean one of two things: no stooped filler and all potential hit singles; and really, those are the best kinds of albums from anyone, the ones that DON’T overstay or overwhelm their playtime (the only exceptions I personally can think of to that is Songs in the Key of Life and Sign ‘O’ The Times by Stevie W. and Prince respectively)…Can’t really ever envision Utada releasing a double disc of any studio LP though!
Agreed! As long as the album is good then the length shouldn’t matter. I also hate albums that has 14 or more tracks with only 3 or 4 tracks being good.
OK, some of you “fans” are So petty and rediculous when it come to an ablum that YOU DIDN’T EVEN HEAR YET! I don’t understand why people are complaining about the length of a song. MOST songs here in the US are only 3- to 3 and half minutes long. I hate to break it to you guys, but some songs in Japan (like Hamasaki Ayumi’s songs) while they are really good, they can be too long. People need to get over the small petty stuff, like the cover, and the lenght/ title of the song, and wait for the album to come out before you say you are dissapointed or not…that would make the MOST SENSE. I’m not tryin to be a jerk but some of you are WAY over reacting. Why get all worked up over an album that you have yet to hear? Remember, what matters is quality not length.
I rest my case.
JPM
Albums with a longer running time also exist out there that have no filler and Utada has proven that it’s possible to make a longer Album containing top quality songs. SO the whole argument of, “I’d prefer a short album with top quality, than a long Album with filler” as if if the Album had more than 10 songs it would be crappy songs doesn’t fly with me. Making excuses for Utada isn’t cute.
No InnerRise, it’s more like shorter can also be good, or it can be even better. No one said that Hikaru has made albums with filler songs.
GoOD POiNT JPM8688 !!! ^-^
You missed the point Kama Sama, but that’s alright. :/
Utada basically describes the concept of the album as being ‘mainstream’. What a terrible goal to try to achieve. That is definitely NOT I want to hear one of my favourite artists saying. For a single, yes. Not a whole damn album. She shouldn’t be aiming everything to be generic. There’s just no need for that kind of…and I will say this: LAZINESS!! 10 songs!? LAZY. 35 minutes? LAZY! Couldn’t be bothered with any experimenting? LAZY. I don’t care what the fan-boys say, my anticipation for this album just plummeted. Yes the melodies and her voice may be great, but even if it is, She can do more. And I really hope she gets some success by the way, that’s the main thing for her right now I understand. But as a long time fan I want much more.
If the Utada of Exodus was trying to hard, this new one is too laid back she’s lying down. Good luck to her!
She has not been lazy.
Laziness to someone who doesn’t have her new album released, and is promoting it, but is already working on a nem album?
Come on, it’s not like she needs the money, I think.
[...] dip it in the violet sauce [...]