Utada Hikaru

“People do ask me if I think I can make it in the States.”

“Americans are somehow obsessed with her, and something about me hit a spot with people in Japan.”

“But in Japanese, there's actually not much of a relationship between the music and the words.”

“I don't like going to the gym because I don't like being with people I don't know in that intense environment.”

“And also, I think Japan places great value on the lyrics.”

“For me, it's an experiment to see what people are gonna think of it.”

“In English, the sounds and melodies I created were an inspiration to me, and words came to me as I explored the sounds, and from there I was able expand on the meaning.”

“Sort of like, I have to make the Japanese lyrics really deep.”

“It's just that, when I'm in Japan I could foretell to a certain degree what would be accepted, so I certainly don't come up with any crazy arrangements.”

“There really aren't any completely Asian people singing right now.”

“Since I was doing all of it myself, I had to decide where I wanted to go with the songs, how to proceed with the chords, if the sound was alright, and all that detail on my own.”

“I bought an espresso maker and coffee maker and make them myself every day.”

“I can never really enjoy being famous.”

“In Japan, people don't really sing about sexual content.”

“I figure no matter how old you are, it's always going to be your first marriage and no life experience is going to make you a better judge of who you should marry.”

“For the version of this CD released in Japan, a translation of the English lyrics is included, but there are lots of places where meanings are lost in the process of translation.”

“I'm not like a gorgeous bombshell or anything like that.”

“It's a fairly recent thing but I've become very fond of making drinks myself.”

“I just want people to see that I do my own stuff, that I'm not stupid, and I can make fun of myself.”

“I've been missing Japanese literature so much of late.”