Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル, going by “Hikaru Utada” outside of Japan) is a Japanese-American J-Pop singer-songwriter born in Manhattan, New York to Japanese parents. Active since 1996 with a 5-year hiatus starting in 2011, they rose to prominence in 1999 with their Japanese debut album First Love. Since then, they have become one of the top-selling artists in Japan, selling more than 52 million copies worldwide.

In the west, they are best known for the songs they produced for the Kingdom Hearts video game series: “Simple and Clean” for Kingdom Hearts I, “Sanctuary” for Kingdom Hearts II, “Face My Fears” and “Don’t Think Twice” for Kingdom Hearts III — English versions of “Hikari,” “Passion,” “Face My Fears” and “Chikai” respectively.