Two years after her previous record-breaking album, Utada Hikaru is finally ready to release her second album "Distance"! According to her, the album represents the shortened distance between “Utada Hikaru the artist” and “Utada Hikaru the person,” as well as the “distance" between her and the listeners.
"This album has more of a 'I don't mind if you look' attitude. Before it was more like, '500 yen fee to see Utada Hikaru'. But with this release, it's more like '500 yen to see regular old me.’ Oh, wait! It's 3059 yen," she said with a laugh.
About two years have passed since she shook the Japanese music scene with her debut album "First Love." In addition to finishing up production on her new album, Utada Hikaru―affectionately known as "Hikki"―is also back in Japan from NY, where she's been living as a student, for a short time. It's been a while since we've all seen her in the flesh. The title of her 2nd album "Distance" reflects that.
"I feel like the distance between my day-to-day personality and the side of me I let people see as Utada Hikaru, the artist is getting shorter and shorter. So like, 'Distance'," she smiled.
It took a huge, conscious effort to change to reach this point. Prior to this, she only showed a side of herself that everyone around her would describe as cheerful.
"I wouldn't let anyone see my weak sideーlike, no matter how tough things were, I'd cry in my room by myself despite being cheerful around everyone else. I was trying to be independent and self-reliant in a very weird way. I wrote about that feeling in my lyrics, about how there'll always be days you just can't keep a smile on your face. I sorta had this split personality thing going on. Lately, though, I've begun to let people I trust see both sides of me. I really should reveal my full self to the people I know I can trust."
The change she made in her personal life then began to impact the sense of distance she felt between herself and her fans. "I didn't really do concerts before, and I never really had, you know, direct interactions with my fans. The more I got to really know what my fans were like, though, the more tours I did, and well, now I interact with them over the internet. I've started trusting them more. [Because of that,] I was able to be bold and adventurous," Hikki said of her new album. For example, songs like "Drama" and "Kettobase!" will probably shock anyone listening to the album for the first time with their rock sound. As someone who's said that she doesn't want to be limited to any one genre, Hikki's come up with a sound that's all her own.
"When my first few releases came out, they really took people by surprise. They were saying all kinds of things. Like, 'What's this ‘R&B’ thing?'" Japan didn't even really know what soul music was then," she said. "I'm a bit sick of it myself though―I was kinda over with the stuff I did in the beginning and figured, why not play around with the arrangements? I think that started after I went on tour. I wanted more rock numbers, stuff that gives you that live in concert feeling."
The album also includes a bonus track Hikki herself helped remix, another thing she only attempted thanks to the faith she now has in her fans.
The lyrics further express the shortened distance between her and her listeners as well. On her first album, she wrote lyrics by taking the things she thought and felt and swapping them for romance, despite her original feelings not having anything to do with love. With tracks like "Wait & See ~Risk~", where she began utilizing rhyming in her lyrics, and "Kettobase!", a song that the artist Utada Hikaru might not have used back during the days of her first album, on this release she's beginning to drop what she thinks and feels directly into her lyrics.
"The ghost album"―Hikki's album "First Love"―sold a record 8.63 million copies and was almost impossible to find. Seeing magazine articles about it every now and then while recording made her feel extremely impatient. "I was like, 'Oh god, I really need to do a good job on the next one.' Although with work day after day, and with songwriting keeping me occupied, I forgot all about it in 2 days," she, laughing. "When your 1st album sells 2 or 3 million copies, people might really look forward to your 2nd one. But when your 1st album sells a ridiculous amount that doesn't make any sense, you don't feel like you need to surpass it. Because of that I really let loose and I feel like it made this album a much more honest one, I guess? Heheh."
So, get up close and personal with Utada Hikaru on her new album!
"Distance" features 5 of her title tracks, from her 4th single "Addicted To You" to her 7th single, "Can You Keep A Secret?" Let's look back on them along with their respective music videos, which are always a hot issue thanks to their variety!
Addicted To You, released November 10, 1999