Zane Lowe interviews Hikaru Utada, in the flesh

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A shot of Zane Lowe and Hikaru Utada behind-the-scenes of their shoot for Hikaru’s Apple Music interview.

In what felt like a complete surprise, I hopped onto YouTube and saw that Apple Music had uploaded a Zane Lowe interview with Hikaru Utada. And thankfully the two of them got to do this in person this time around, because that FaceTime mess we got in 2022 felt so rushed and awkward. Round 2 is still awkward, but good awkward. And it’s far from rushed.

It’s clear that Zane actually had time to really delve into Hikaru’s career in preparation and give her the full Zane experience that I expected the first time around, as opposed to the interview feeling like Zane was given two topics by Hikaru’s team that the interview had to cover off. Despite how brief that first interview was, Hikaru said A LOT. I actually think Hikaru shared more of what we didn’t know in the first interview than they did in this one. Hikaru didn’t share anything new here that many of us fans didn’t already know, but that’s fine. This interview is as much for us fans as it isn’t. It’s just nice to have a long form interview with Hikaru Utada on camera, in English.

Aside from Zane having more time to prepare this time around, this interview being done in person made a huge difference. Zane and Hikaru got a better sense of each other’s energy. They were both far more present.

Zane did here what Zane often does — talks over his guests at times and over projects his feelings on what the other person says. Hikaru is too real and too honest to be like ‘Yes’ and agree to be polite. There were moments where they were like ‘Umm…actually no’ — such as when Zane mentioned the frequency of their releases. Even I was like ‘Umm…actually no’ when he talked about the high frequency of Hikaru’s output. But he at least gave context so we could get where he was coming from. It’s easy to look at Hikaru Utada’s discography on a Wikipedia page and feel that their releases are frequent, when you’re looking at it in isolation from the discographies of other Japanese artists. But if you were to look at Hikaru Utada’s discography Wikipedia page alongside Namie Amuro’s, Ayumi Hamasaki’s, Koda Kumi’s and countless other popular Japanese acts — you would see that Hikaru’s releases are nowhere near as frequent and plentiful by comparison. It’s one of those things where knowing about the Japanese music business and what is considered a standard within it really helps. I think it’s especially key when you’re looking at Hikaru Utada — because despite their career being a part of Japanese music history, it has always felt like an exception. Hikaru’s career and how it’s been managed is not normal for Japanese artists. But I was under no expectation that Zane would do a deep dive into J-pop and the Japanese music business, so I’m not gonna knock him for it.

A shot of Hikaru Utada behind-the-scenes of their shoot for their Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe.
Hikaru Utada: Zane Lowe Interview | Apple Music

It’s rare that Hikaru does interviews, let alone interviews in English. But most of the press that Hikaru has done over the course of Bad Mode and Science Fiction has been with US outlets in English, which is a really interesting and slightly unorthodox choice for a Japanese musician releasing Japanese albums — even for one who speaks English. But so much of Hikaru’s career has been unorthodox, so it also makes sense for them. And I’m slowly getting the feeling that Hikaru is finding a level of comfort in doing English interviews, because they feel less pressure to maintain a certain image or not say the wrong thing. I also think there is an honesty and frankness in approach that Japanese interviewers don’t always have, which I get — as it’s probably a cultural thing to not overshare, project or be over familiar with somebody in a professional setting. Although this is changing, largely due to the increasing popularity of YouTubing in Japan amongst a younger generation and the informality of it.

I also think non-Japanese interviewers aren’t afraid to share, steer a conversation to themselves for a minute and just offer anecdotes. This doesn’t always work with everybody. But Hikaru isn’t overly talkative and you can tell they really like to listen and absorb. Also, Hikaru seems the type of person who has really clear and concise thoughts, but takes time to process them into sentences mentally, which can then be communicated with words to somebody else. I’m the exact same. It’s like a brain buffer. And it results in me sometimes speaking slowly, pausing and things not always flowing as fast as I’d like. So, Hikaru being paired with somebody like Zane, actually works. He is comfortable picking up where Hikaru may trail off and verbally parsing what Hikaru may be trying to say — which takes the pressure off of Hikaru. It also feels more like a conversation and less like Hikaru being pelted with questions, because you have to be present and locked in to what Hikaru is saying or trying to say, to be able to meaningfully engage with them. And you can tell Hikaru responds to this favourably, with how honest they are in their responses and how locked in they are to what Zane says and asks.

I also think that where the world is right now, that there is a different sensibility and awareness that interviewers of (some) US publications and outlets have now. Especially when it comes to things such as mental health awareness and the discussions of how people feel about themselves and what they do, rather than just talking about the thing that they do — which is great, because it provides far more insight. Of course it only helps if you have somebody who is willing to be honest and open up and Hikaru is that person. In an amazing interview Hikaru did with Joshua Minsoo Kim of Tone Glow in October of last year, they opened up about self-harm for the first time. And in this interview with Zane, Hikaru seems really frank about how they see themselves and wasn’t afraid to be honest that there are things about themselves, their career and how they are seen that they just do not understand.

A shot of Zane Lowe and Hikaru Utada in the Apple Music studio, mid interview.
Hikaru Utada: Zane Lowe Interview | Apple Music

Zane Lowe’s interview style can be very divisive and I fully understand why. I’m sure some fans will hate this interview because of it. I generally like his interviews because it’s always clear that he actually has done some research and he is present in the moment with the person he’s interviewing. There’s never an agenda. But there are times when I’m like ‘Dude, just let them answer the question’. But overall I thought he did good by Hikaru. I’m really glad that this interview wasn’t just about the “Electricity” remixes, the Science Fiction Tour or “Mine or Yours” — although the interview did touch on these things. This interview did a great job at really showing who Hikaru is as a person and an artist and their general outlook on things. It will never not shock me how ‘normal’ Hikaru appears and how oddly separate their career feels to who they are. Even Zane at times seemed transfixed and fascinated at how regular-degular Hikaru was and the interesting ways in which they see things. You could see he was really struggling to reconcile the things Hikaru was saying with the largeness of their career, but occasionally having moments of ‘Oh, THIS is why their shit hits the way it did / does’.