Ten Years Ago, Def Jam Released Utada Hikaru's 'Exodus', the Genius J-Pop Crossover Album That Never Crossed Over
"Hikaru Utada is staring dead ahead. Sitting in a swivel chair in an identikit wood-wall office, the twenty-year-old Manhattan native is surrounded by older men and women in business suits. To her left, the chairmen of media conglomerates stage genial smiles; to the right, her mother and father face a photographer, smiling goofily. The oversized swivel chair, the presence of the suits, the pen raised in her right hand: all staging for a photo op. It’s Wednesday, March 20 in 2002, the year she signs a record contract with Island Def Jam.
"She says little, but offers a diplomatic response to the Billboard journalist in the room as to whether she can crack the American market. Everyone smiles for the camera except for her. She looks daunted, realisation setting in. She has made a couple of records in New York before, but those were far smaller affairs. The pressure is on."
An in-depth piece for Noisey celebrating the tenth anniversary of Utada Hikaru's 'Exodus', the cult English-language release from one of Japan's most iconic pop stars. I began work on this piece at the end of 2013 and pushed ahead with it until the very last minute - my first real article that I am beyond proud of, and one that I remain very close to.