‘BAD MODE’, The Triumph of Hikaru Utada

Back in 1999, 16-year-old Hikaru Utada released their debut album First Love, an effervescent combination of J-pop, R&B, and hard-hitting lyrics that was unlike anything ever heard by the Japanese public. Now, two decades and ten albums later, new projects have crystallised their ever-expanding horizons.

BAD MODE—an album digitally released by Epic Records Japan / Sony Music Labels on January 19th 2022—gleams with its strikingly contemporary sound. Its leading singles have commanded our attention, with maximalist pop influences resounding with the multi-media significance of their identity, nodding to diverse elements of Japan’s cultural landscape. Its melodies are accented by international producers of younger generations—from American producer Skillex to A.G. Cook, head of London’s cutting-edge PC music label—who have come to be associated with Hikaru Utada’s music after years of being doused by its influence. Other golden moments are touched by a classic grace—sedated disco grooves, sunlit balearic rhythms, and sensous 2000s beats—to bring forth an easy bliss behind compelling vocal delivery.

An Icon of Icons

Referred to by fans as ‘Hikki’ or ‘Utada’, Hikaru Utada was born in New York into a family of musicians, and has been writing their own music from an early age. The explosive First Love—backed by age-defining singles like ‘Automatic’, ‘time will tell’, and ‘Movin’ on without you’—remains the highest selling album to ever come out of Japan. Though coming out as non-binary in 2021, throughout their following releases, including Distance (2001), DEEP RIVER (2002), and Exodus (2004), Hikaru Utada made history as the first Asian female artist to break into the Western music market.

Japan’s music industry tends to constrain artists to pre-determined routes, skewing women especially according to stereotypical images—but Hikaru Utada’s own written lyrics penetrate each release with a directness reaching beyond such limitations. Meanwhile, their thoroughly unique sound has reflected their studied, self-reliant direction, forging groundbreaking melodies for huge audiences for more than a couple of decades. It is now increasingly impossible to underestimate Hikaru Utada’s influence, on the international pop scene and on Japanese culture as a whole. 

Songs of New Life

2022’s BAD MODE followed a difficult period for Hikaru Utada involving a long hiatus for grieving fans, but the gradual release of its tracks emerged as a dazzling moment of reinvention. Tracks like ‘PINK BLOOD’ maintain the intensity of their lyrics, but bounce with the glossy rhythms of today’s accelerated pop climate.

Meanwhile, as if to engage with their own iconographic influence, the album’s collaborative moments explode from its own frames. ‘Face My Fears’ with Skrillex has soundtracked the popular video game Kingdom Hearts III.  ‘One Last Kiss’ with A. G. Cook has defined the final film of the cult-anime franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion, EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME.  Sam Shepherd, a British electronic producer known as Floating Points, has also co-produced the songs ‘BAD MODE,’  and ‘Kibunja Naino (Not in the Mood)’with Hikaru Utada.

Hikaru Utada’s identity has constantly broken away from J-pop’s blueprints, their voice illustrating a poised persona, and their  sounds crafted with an age-defining weight. Even amidst an exhilarating new phase of fame, their music turns pop’s machine inside out, addressing fans earnestly.

BAD MODE (2022), an album by Hikaru Utada, is released by Epic Records Japan / Sony Music Labels.