Automatic on TV, I still remember the short ceiling and she dance

well i didnt really keep up hikaru-chan's works very well up until her beautiful world/kiss &cry single came out...the reason why i joined this forum was to learn more...i was caught up with kiss & cry when i heard it on youtube, then beautiful world...after that it was all good...i think and still think that the ending to kiss & cry is the best minute and a half for a song ive ever heard

When I was 14 I thought Hikki was more of an inspiration, I remember in London Mum and Dad had JSTV piped into our home via a huge dish on the roof, every day I saw the imaginary of full on Japanese game shows and the torture of Takeshi Castle, but intermingled was Jpop and footage of previous English language interviews of Utada, but the musical hook was Heart Station and particularly ?prisoner of love? and ?Flavour of life? ballad version, plus my favourite dance track ?Celebrate ?.

being a musician myself, i was surprised the first time i heard this song. i was like WTF! this beautiful girl wrote this rocking song.

its got a great groove, pinch harmonics and it gives me goosebumps every time i hear her falsettos at each chorus' end.

the unplugged version is as tight as the album version.

when i first heard simple and clean i was hooked and well i dug for days finding all her songs to relize she was even better befor that song came out :D

and ive been obsessed ever since

i love you utada

<3

Simple and Clean for me... my cousin was playing Kingdom Hearts at his house and he got the soundtrack. My other cousin dled it to her ipod then gave it to me to listen. It got me hooked!

Then years after, my friend said Kingdom Hearts (this was 4-5 years after that so i forgot about hikki) and a spark went in my brain which got me listening to hikki again.

So in all, it was Simple and Clean for both...

It's safe to say that she has gained many fans thanks to Simple & Clean. KH has really helped to increase her fanbase. It's such a popular song that it's easy to find LOTS of AMVs which use S&C.

I feel a bit stupid because when I first listened to Simple & Clean, I have not realised that Utada Hikaru was raised in NY. I was like.... how come this Japanese singer has such good english?
Then years after that, I finally found out why.

The song that made me a fan was Sanctuary. I can't remember where I first heard it. (Not Kindgom Hearts II. I discovered it was on that game later)

Sanctuary was not my first song by her, however.
I had heard of her ages before that song was released; my first song was Sakura Drops.
I thought her voice was beautiful but I only found the song to be 'Okay.' I tried out First Love, but because I knew she was fifteen at the time, I couldn't take it seriously, and then I tried Simple and Clean which I hated. I tried out Traveling which I also hated.
So then I decided that while I liked her voice, I didn't like her music.

I hung out on a ton of J-pop forums during that time, and Utada was overwhelmingly popular. So overwhelming, that I eventually grew to hate her because I just got so sick of hearing about her SO much.
So for about five-ish years, I hated her. To the point where I even slammed her voice which I liked when I first heard it.

Then one day I heard Sanctuary and my immediate thought was: "Is this Utada? ... It CAN'T be Utada; this is WAY too great of a song to be Utada." and then, "It IS Utada. ... Does she have more songs like this?"

And from there I discovered Blue, Keep Trying, Making Love, and This is Love.
For a while I only listened to these five; but then I eventually grew to really like Deep River, including the songs mentioned above. I actually listen to Simple+Clean/Hikari and Traveling quite often. XD;

it seems like many fans discovered hikaru much later in her career. most discovered her thru kingdom hearts which is all good.

any old time fans out there?

Hikari as always :D