I'm a 4 year Utada fan, but the first time I heard her voice was in 2004 when I played Kingdom Hearts 1.

My middle school was on locked down. Really stupid, its when the teachers move from class to class and you sit at the same desk the whole day. Me and my friends would have daily Kingdom Hearts discussions. Four of us had the game and we were all trying to beat it at the same time. Naturally, I was the last one to finish. When I beat the game and heard "Sanctuary~after the battle" it clicked on me that this was the same girl who sang "Simple and Clean" from KH1 two years before.

I looked the songs up on YouTube and watched KHs music videos. One of the related videos was the "First Love" PV. I clicked and was like....wow she's young...and Asian. I wasn't sure if it was the same girl because she sounded so much younger. Tat was the first time I had seen an Asian pop star. I think the second song I heard of Utada was "Traveling" and I did not like it.

As odd as it sounds, I got used to Utada's older music before the new stuff. I liked "First Love" and "Time Will Tell" before "Keep Tryin" and "Sakura Drops". I think the moment I fell in love with Utada was when I saw some of her live performances.