Hikki's first self-directed music video "Goodbye Happiness" has won Best Conceptual Video and Special Award at the Space Shower Music Awards!

@hikki_staff has explained that the
Special Award is awarded to the artist who has made a big contribution to the music scene throughout their career.

Congratulations!

As all of you know, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake shook the Tohoku region of Japan and triggered a destructive tsunami on
March 11, 2011.

Hikki has updated her blog in both Japanese and English concerning this disaster. She states that she has made a donation to the Japanese Red Cross and donated 400ml of her blood to the blood bank. According to officials, it is said that she has donated 80 million Japanese yen which is equivalent to $983,888 USD.

Through her official twitter account, Hikki has been occasionally updating about the situation in Japan and calling out to fans on how they can help.

Due to the earthquake damages to the pressing factories, WILD LIFE DVD and Blu-Ray has been postponed. The DVD will be released on April 20 and Blu-Ray will be released on May 18. The WILD LIFE poster presents will be distributed as planned but 30,000 posters will be released with the DVD and 20,000 with the Blu-ray.

Officially announced on Hikki's Website that WILD LIFE DVD and Blu-ray will be released April 6!

Bonus content:
A documentary, never-before-seen footage of Hikki interacting with the concert audience, and a photo gallery.

Buy today and receive a special gift!
The first 50,000 people to purchase Hikki?s complete collection of CDs and DVDs (including WILD LIFE, but excluding single DVDs) will receive a 500x707mm WILD LIFE poster!
＊This special gift is not available at all shops. Please inquire at individual shops

DISC 1: WILD LIFE 2010.12.8-9 YOKOHAMA ARENA
-Opening-
Goodbye Happiness
traveling
テイク　5
Prisoner Of Love
COLORS
Letters
Hymne a l'amour ～愛のアンセム～
SAKURAドロップス
Eclipse
Passion
BLUE
Show Me Love ( Not A Dream )
Stay Gold
ぼくはくま
Automatic
First Love
Flavor Of Life - Ballad Version -
Beautiful World
光
虹色バス

-Encore-
Across The Universe
Can't Wait 'Til Christmas
time will tell

Disc 2: Bonus Content Disc
1. DOCUMENT "WILD LIFE"
A documentary of precious moments from the start of rehearsals until after the final performance!
2. Complete footage of Hikki interacting with audiences over the two days of the concert ? never before released!
3. PHOTO GALLERY "WILD LIFE" ? Numerous pictures of the concert taken by Kenji Miura!

Note: The Blu-ray disc contains both the concert footage and bonus content on the same disc.

Today is Hikaru Utada's birthday,
A big Happy 28th Birthday to Hikki!
お誕生日おめでとうございます。

NHK will be premiering a TV documentary about Hikki on January 15th, 2011.
The documentary will include new studio performances as well as footage from her WILD LIFE Yokohama concerts from December. Some of the songs include 'First Love', 'Goodbye Happiness', 'Show Me Love (Not A Dream)', and 'Prisoner of Love'.
The doc will also include a post-'WILD LIFE' interview with Hikaru and Chris Peppler (J-WAVE host).

The program will be called "Utada Hikaru ~Ima no Watashi~" (Hikaru Utada ~Myself right now~)

[UPDATE]
Quote:

Overseas Broadcast:
-North America
TV Japan (NHK Cosmo Media America)
Saturday, February 12 Eastern Time 6:50pm-7:39pm

-Europe
JSTV (NHK Cosmo Media Europe)
Wednesday, February 2 England (U.K.) time 8:10pm-8:59pm
*European Central Time 9:10pm-9:59pm

http://www.emimusic.jp/hikki/ondemand/

The special site that has been set up for people to view the WILD LIFE concert on demand is now up.

In order to access the site, you need to have purchased Single Collection Vol.2 album. Inside the package of goodies, there should be a piece of paper with a code on it. This paper and code was meant to be an entry into a draw for tickets to a WILD LIFE concert. But the same codes are now being used for access to this special site.
(NOTE, its the piece of paper with ticketbo.jp/uhsc2 on it)


The site (will) contain videos and a gallery from WILD LIFE, as well as a 'Special Movie', and a Gift area where people can sign up to receive a special gift of the week.

The show opened with a video featuring Utada in her Kuma costume. About 100,000 online viewers tuned in to the show!

Setlist:

00. Intro (Kuma Space Ship Video)
01. Goodbye Happiness
02. Traveling
--MC--
03. Teiku 5
04. Prisoner of Love
05. COLORS
06. Letters
--MC--
07. Hymne a l'amour ～Ai no Anthem～ (new piano arrangement/sans French)
08. Saukra Drops (Utada on piano)
--Costume Change-- Eclipse Interlude mix played by band.
09. Passion (With the Kingdom Hearts II bridge)
10. Blue
11. Show Me Love (Not A Dream)
--MC--
12. Stay Gold (Utada on piano)
13. Boku wa Kuma
14. Automatic
15. First Love (Utada on piano)
16. Flavor of Life (Ballad Version)
17. Beautiful World
18. Hikari
--MC--
19. Nijiiro Basu

ENCORE:
20. Across the Universe (The Beatles Cover/Utada on guitar)
21. Can't Wait 'Till Christmas
--Band/Staff Member Introductions--
22. Time Will Tell

@Hikki_staff and @U3music have confirmed on twitter, that the upcoming "WILD LIFE" Concerts on December 8th and 9th will be broadcast live on USTREAM.tv !

So overseas fans, prepare yourselves. :D it's 7pm, December 8th, Japan time! (convert your timezone here)

PC users: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wl1 (700kpbs)
iPhone/iPad users: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wl2 (300kpbs) teruzane

credits to soulhunter14


From Hikki's Website:
Quote:

No word on yet if the December 9th concert will also be broadcast.
But we assume it will likely be that the December 9th concert will only be for the television rebroadcasts and DVD releases.

Hikki's "Can't Wait 'Til Christmas" from her "Single Collection Vol.2" album Disk 2 will be featured as the CM song for Pepsi Nex!

This commercial will start airing December 4th.

So the rumored "Can't Wait 'Til Christmas" video was really a commercial?!

EDIT:
Watch the commercial on the Pepsi japan site and check out the new wallpapers here

[24/Nov/2010]
Hikki's "SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.2" Album is released today!
The album is a two disc set, with the first disc being a compilation of singles from the past few years and the second disc with five brand new amazing songs! "SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.2" is the last release from Hikaru Utada before she goes on her announced 'break' from the music industry.

Hikki's "嵐の女神" (Arashi no Megami) will be the campaign song for Morinaga's "1 Choco for 1 Smile"!

This campaign is to support the children who live in the areas where the cacao is produced. Morinaga will be donating 1 yen per 1 box of chocolates purchased during the Valentine?s season (January 1, 2011 through February 14, 2011). Also, 1 yen will be donated per download of Hikki's "嵐の女神" between November 24, 2010 to February 14, 2011. The commercials featuring "嵐の女神" will begin in early December!

A 45 second clip is now available for "嵐の女神" and "Can't Wait 'Til Christmas".

Hikki's "WILD LIFE" will be airing in HD on SKYPerfecTV on January 22, 2011 from 7:00! And in February, the original edition of "WILD LIFE" will air on the music channel SPACE SHOWER TV!

SPACE SHOWER TV ? スカパー! is giving away 500 pairs of tickets to Hikki's "WILD LIFE" on December 8 & 9! This contest may be entered only by Japanese mobile phone from November 22 - November 30.

For more information: http://www.skyperfectv.co.jp/special/utada/ and http://www.spaceshowertv.com/utada/

Announced on Hikki's Website:
10/30 (Sat) ROCKIN'ON JAPAN
11 / 9 (Tue) PATiPATi
11/11 (Thur) (first issue) YOU MUSIC
11/13 (Sat) WHAT'S IN?
11/13 (Sat) CD & DL Data
11/15 (Mon) Gekkan Songs
11/15 (Mon) MUSICA
11/16 (Tue) PopSister
11/16 (Tue) Tokyo Walker
11/17 (Wed) Happie nuts
11/18 (Thur) Pia
11/20 (Sat) non-no
11/22 (Mon) Tokyo Calendar
11/24 (Wed) smart
11/24 (Wed) GekkanZaterebijon
11/26 (Fri) Ori★Suta
12 / 1 (Wed) mini
12 / 1 (Wed) Pen
12 / 7 (Tues) EDGE STYLE
Other announced soon

Big news today!

"Show Me Love (Not A Dream)" will be the theme song of the movie "Ashita no Joe" to be released on February 11, 2011. According to EMI Japan, Recochoku Chaku-Uta and Chaku-Uta full downloads will begins today, November 17 5AM Japan time. Other downloads will begin on the 24th.

A 45 second preview is available for "Show Me Love (Not a Dream)".


Updated on Hikki's website : there will be a live viewing available for Utada Hikaru's upcoming concert, "Wild Life" in theaters all over Japan! This show will broadcast at 64 locations on 69 screens, for about 20,000 people in Japan who aren't able to attend the actual concert. This live viewing will only be for the 8th, starting from 7PM. Tickets are 3000 yen and will be available for purchase from November 21, 12:00.

For more information: http://www.amuse.co.jp/liveviewing/

The amazing "Goodbye Happiness" music video is out now! Check it out here on the official Utada Hikaru youtube channel! Its an cute and amazing video that one can only assume is an homage to all her fans who do 'Utube' videos.

So you might have noticed that there is now an Official Youtube channel for Hikki! It has already been preloaded with all past PVs and some live performances too!

Also, a new mobile website has been set up for "Goodbye Happiness", www.utada-gbh.com


Futher, just announced on her Twitter, Hikki says she has "signed a worldwide deal with EMI" and that this will give her "more freedom between languages, and more support overseas". This means she will be breaking ties with Island DefJam/Universal for the work she has done under the name UTADA. However, she says, "I still am taking a break from 2011. I don't know how much I'll carry on after I come back, can't promise a lot, but I will return"
According to this press release from EMI, she will go forth using the name 'Hikaru Utada'.

Hikki has recorded a special video message for the 50th anniversary of EMI Music Japan. Check it out here: http://50th.emimusic.jp/ (click the '50th Anniversary Message' section)

Also, according to this page on SpaceShowerTV, the upcoming video for "Goodbye Happiness" is ... directed by Hikki!?!
Can't wait to see what our favorite artist has in store for us!

[UPDATE]: Looks like the SpaceShowerTV page was updated again and Hikki's name was removed from the Director field (which is now blank).
[UPDATE2]: Looks like Hikki is back as the director ...