Back in 2010, Utada Hikaru announced her indefinite hiatus from the music industry so that she could live a regular life out of the spotlight. Today, it was announced that she plans to return to the industry this spring. Her return is prompted by the death of her mother, her marriage, and the recent birth of the couple’s first child. Utada’s return to the industry will be done in a spectacular fashion, featuring numerous tie-ins.
As previously reported several times, she is currently working on new music. The birth of her son caused her to temporarily halt making new music, but she has since returned to work, readying an album for a release this coming spring. In April, one song from this album will serve as the theme song for a new large-scale drama, while another will serve as the theme song for a news program.
Utada announced her hiatus in 2010, saying that in 2011 she would take a break from the music industry for “human activities.” At the time, she said that living a regular human life would allow her to experience things and evolve as a person as well as an artist. Utada stated that this hiatus could last 2 – 5 years, or even more.
During her hiatus, Utada released “Sakura Nagashi”, the theme song for the 2012 film “Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Q.” This release however was not seen as the cessation of her hiatus. During this period of “human activities”, several eventful things happened in her life. Her mother, enka singer Keiko Fuji, fell to her death from a Tokyo apartment building in August 2013. The resulting funeral was Utada’s first public appearance in 2 years and 8 months. The following February, Utada shocked people by announcing her plans to marry an Italian bartender whom she met while living in London, Francesco Calliano. The couple married in Italy that May. She surprised people again by announcing the birth of the couple’s son this past July, a pregnancy which was unknown to the public.
A few days ago, Utada updated her Twitter for the first time in nearly 5 months. In the tweet, she spoke about her life as a parent. The tweet became a hot topic. Utada Hikaru remains a popular figure with the public, so her return to great success looks imminent.
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