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My Top 10 Utada Hikaru Songs

June 22, 2016

After a long six-year hiatus Utada Hikaru is back. Recently, she’s been working on a new song for a Japanese drama titled “とと姉ちゃん” . Although she stepped away from music for some time, she’s been a bit busy. She got married in 2014 and had a child in 2015.

Below I’ve composed my favorite songs by Utada Hikaru. These are in no particular order, however. She was one of the first JPop artists I came across in the really early 2000s, so there will be some older music on this list. Welcome back!

Utada Hikaru in “Passion”

Passion (MV)

Part of her “Ultra Blue” album, released in 2004, the song was also featured in the Kingdon Hearts 2 video game.

Sakura ドロップス (MV)

Sakura Drops was released in 2002 as a single and used as the theme song for the Japanese drama “First Love”.

Traveling (MV)

This was released as a single in late 2001, and was part of her “Deep River” album released in 2002.

Utada Hikaru in “Can You Keep a Secret?”

Can You Keep a Secret? (MV)

This was released as a single in 2001 and is part of her 2001 album “Distance.” This was my introduction to Utada Hikaru. It’s great to be a fan near the beginning of her career (this was her second album).

Colors (MV)

Colors is her twelfth single and it was released in 2003 along with the song “Simple and Clean” which is also featured on this list.

Apple and Cinnamon (song)

This song was part of her second English studio album, “This is the One”, and released in 2009. The song peeked at number 1 on the Japan Oricon International Album and peaked at number 69 on the U.S. Billboard 200.

On and On (song)

This is another song featured on the English studio album “This is the One”. It has a faster beat than “Apple and Cinnamon”.

Utada Hikaru literally washing dishes the entire video of Hikari

Simple and Clean/Hikari (PV for Hikari)

The original song is called “Hikari” and was featured on her album “Deep River” in 2002. An English version was released and titled “Simple and Clean” to promote the game Kingdom Hearts. It was included as a bonus track on her English album “This is the One”.

Automatic (Utada Hikaru singing live)

This song is off of her first album “First Love” which was released in 1998 and had a very R&B feel to it.

Kremlin Dusk (song)

You can find this song on her English language album “Exodus” (I adore the entire album really). The album was released in 2004 and was a bit different than some of her other R&B/pop songs. I recall the album being a hit and miss with some people, but I love this album.

Bonus: Fly me to the Moon (Utada Hikaru singing live)

Fly me to the Moon came out in 2000 and was part of her Wait & See (Risk) single.

Are you looking forward to an Utada Hikaru comeback? Which songs do you like best?

1 Comment

I like Simple and Clean a lot. Her music from Kingdom Hearts is what brought her to my attention. One of my favorites you didn’t list is Beautiful World. It’s the theme song for the Evangelion 1.11 movie. I also like Flavor of Life from that album Heart Station as well.

Laura Jun 23, 2016