Utada's debut: Secret of a talent

From a radio program "Hits from the radio" aired on the 15th June.
Title: Tribute to Deep Impression
Secret episode about Utada's Debut: Secret Of A Talent



Miyake Akira (Hikaru's music producer) & Okita Hidenobu (worked with Hikaru on her 3 albums) appeared on the radio talkshow, talking about Hikaru

[Miyake Akira]
She was a girl of a senior high school, I mean, since she belonged to an American School, she wore pretty skirt & high socks. Then, I wondered "Who is she?" and I thought "She was an idol or something I don't know". Therefore I asked the guy who was beside her and he said to me "Miyake-san this is the girl, Cubic U, we're now producing" That was when the record named cubic U came to mind and I knew her already, but those days I misunderstood "The reason her make-up is very heavy is that she hides something, perhaps her face is not so pretty." But in reality, I was surprised to know she is could speak Japanese well, though I imagined she could speak only English. So I really wondered why she didn't debut in Japan, in spite of that she could write songs and she was very pretty. I actually asked "Why don't you sing in Japan?". That was the beginning. Well, she said "No" and "I don't think about it at all" and moreover, "I have never thought about it". Now I can imagine she was thinking those days "To express and sing in English is the "music" which she defined."



"Why don't you sing in Japan?" If Miyake Akira had not asked this question, Utada Hikaru might not have debuted.
cubic U was the family unit which focused on the music activities in America



[Miyake Akira]
Then I asked "How do you think you'll fare in Japanese?" and she replied "I don't think about it at all". So I told her father "I see, but when you think about it, won't you please contact me?" After a while I got a call from him "We'll try to make only one song, and if you're interested in it, then give us your idea..." She sang a song and as soon as I listened to it, I decided "That will do". That song was "Never Let Go", which is included in the album "First Love". From then to her debut we had one year and two months. I think, we had a long time. Pretty long. But remember we had only one song in Japanese, which was that song. To make an album, as you know we must create at least ten and a few songs newly. Therefore, ever since we started from that place, we gave her various lessons like how to compose, the structure of songs in Japanese and etc.

[Okita Hidenobu]
Before that, I was never put in charge of an artist who had to go to school on weekdays.
I remember that, first of all, it was very troublesome to fix the recording schedule, because she went to a strict high school which gave her lots of homework to do and we also wanted her to do it duly, but on the other hand we must let her write songs at the same time. That was what I'm always concerned in those days, I mean, there was not enough time for us...
Well, the demo tape recorded at that time was the one that became "Movin' On Without You" later. And when I listened to it for the first time, now I say frankly and honestly, I felt "Is there someone else for her?", "Is it true that that girl I saw a minute ago was singing?" "I can't imagine!"
And besides when I was told that she had even the capability to compose music and write lyrics, I was absolutely stunned so much as I nearly said "You're kidding me!"

[Miyake Akira]
Me, Skingg(Hikaru's father), Hikaru and Okita, all of us had already decided which song will be used for her debut CD Single. But when I told Toshiba EMI (Hikaru's record company), they all objected against it. For, at that time its coupling song "time will tell" was finished. That song was completed around in July.
"Automatic" was completed a little later than it. So, we already completed "time will tell" and the song was broadcast on radio and stayed on the charts for a long time. Then they said "If you don't use this song, which already stayed on the charts, it'll be wasted", and "Therefore, will you go think about it? We already did so much so far and now have received very unlikely and good reactions. Then you demanded it should be released as a side A song(not as a coupling song)." When I was told so, I though "Ahh How should I do?"

My decision was absolutely firm. I was already determined then. Although I know "time will tell" is a very bright and good song, I have my policy. "It is very important that the timing and the nature she has must match the season when she debuts"
I decided her debut in December so that "time will tell", which is very bright, was never acceptable. You know. I believed the debut song must have feelings of somehow melancholy. If she had debuted in July, I would have accepted "time will tell" unquestionably.
I mean, the start was the debut in December so that it had to be "Automatic" naturally.
When we decided to release "Automatic", we already decided also how the second and third single CD would be going on. Therefore if we had accepted "time will tell", I was so afraid, the balance of releasing CD we already planned would have collapsed. So I pushed this matter ahead by always telling them "NO!, I've already decided her debut song is "Automatic"." However, the people of mass media also objected against it very hard.

[Okita Hidenobu]
She has a new style of her own as a singer-songwriter. I feel like she just established the style that vocal is floating in a very big beat. Of course, I would agree if you say that it existed already in the scene of underground music in Japan.
But in the major field, I felt she was the first singer who created that new vocal style.
Now, I think about it calmly and I talk to myself that she gave us almost the same feeling as we had, when we saw new vocal style which we had never seen before, like Yazawa Eikichi-san and Kuwata Keisuke-san had appeared



Note: 9th December, 1998, "Automatic" was released. The song was broadcast almost only on radio. But listeners' reactions were very sensitive to this song.



[Miyake Akira]
You know? Back order is sent to the record company (from CD shops) and I felt the most positive responses on the days when I knew it showed ten thousands or twenty thousands copies were ordered.
Well, we planned to release five thousand copies in the beginning, but on the release day it finally reached one hundred thousand copies. But I was so afraid since I could hardly believe this number, and wondered if the number was fair or not...
However we came to receive more than ten thousand back orders everyday, so I think, the time when I realized the most positive responses was only those first two days. Afterwards, I had nothing to feel...
Because the number reached two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand and then over one million and finally two million copies, which were byond my reality, I mean, I felt nothing real as if it were flowen far away from me.
So, you know, the time I realized "I made it" existed only when I could really feel positive responds. Therefore in those beginning days I was happiest, since I got the feeling of reality.
Well, she said often in joke "I can live a life by royalities from now"
And now that is not a joke but a real thing(laugh)
Those days she was still a student of senior high school, and said laughing in joke "I am admitted into the brotherhood of persons living on royalties."

[Okita Hidenobu]
I felt that she always managed to stay grounded.
I believe she must have the feeling "Why am I supposed to be changed only by one hit song?" inside her mind. I don't know why only a 15 years old girl could have such an adult idea, but I know that she certainly had strong will and want not to lose herself. I always felt it somehow.

[Miyake Akira]
She runs into "a stone wall" every time, I think. She fights every time. She fights against herself. Therefore even when she meets some changes in her circumstances, she never says "Restore them as before" but tries to express her best thing she has even in such new circumstances.
That makes me look up to her though she is younger than I am. I think she perhaps fights every day, fights against a stone wall. So, I don't ever envy her for that she is very talented and never has failed. I think she also must have an uneasy feeling and run into a stone wall in much more things than ordinary people are concerned about various things everyday.


~The End~

wow this was an awesome interview, I thank you for showing it to us *bows*

Great translation. Fantastic job. Thanks.

That is excellent. Thank you so much for sharing that. :]

so i guess she was a adult even tho she was 15 lolz

she is too awesome <333