User:KrytenKoro/Hikaru Utada
Hikaru Utada, also known by her stage-name Utada, is a Japanese American singer-songwriter, arranger, and record producer. Fluent in both Japanese and English, she frequently uses both languages in her songs. While a prolific singer before Kingdom Hearts, she is perhaps most familiar to American audiences for her songs "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary" which she produced for the series. These songs are in fact English remakes of "Hikari" and "Passion", Japanese songs which were the first she ever used for a video game. While the English and Japanese versions share the same melody and mood, they have vastly different lyrics.
Utada was Nomura's first choice for creating the Kingdom Hearts theme song, and in fact the only artist he ever envisioned using, as he saw her as an "icon for young artists" and believed her music to "transcend all national and language barriers".[1]
Discography
- Hikari (Japanese versions of Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories)
- Simple and Clean (English versions of Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories)
- Passion (Japanese versions of Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix)
- Sanctuary (English version of Kingdom Hearts II)
