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Hikaru Utada's Plans 1st TV Appearances in 5 Years
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Singer Hikaru Utada returned from hiatus this year after a six year break from the music industry. She released her newest single with the tracks "Manatsu no Tōriame" (Midsummer Shower) and "Hanataba o Kimi ni" in April. Now Utada is continuing her career revitalization with a series of television appearances after five years off the air.
She'll first appear in the special program SONGS Special Utada Hikaru on NHK on September 22 followed by Love music Special Edition Utada Hikaru -liner notes~, on Fuji TV on September 30. She is then scheduled for an appearance on News Zero on NTV in early October. News Zero is using Utada's "Manatsu no Tōriame" song as its theme. All three programs were recorded at the end of August.
Utada's last television appearance was on January 15, 2011 when NHK aired the Utada Hikaru ~Ima no Watashi~ documentary program.
Utada also announced that she is releasing her sixth album, Fantôme, on September 28. The album is her first in over eight years. The album includes 11 tracks, including "Sakura Nagashi," the theme for Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo.
Hikaru Utada had previously announced in July 2015 that she was working on a new album overseas while pregnant with her son, who was born this past summer. She had married Francesco Calliano, an Italian bartender, in 2014 and dealt with the death of her mother the year before.
Utada previously provided a 2007 remix of her 2000 cover of Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" for the trailer to Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Jo), as well as her "Beautiful World" song for the anime film itself. She also contributed the "Beautiful World -PLANiTb Acoustica Mix-" for the second film, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Ha). In addition to her singing career, she played the heroine Pinoko in the 2001-2002 Black Jack net anime series.
Source: Oricon
