So what has the 40-year-old been up to, and what are some of the different hats she’s wearing these days?

Her luxury brand endorsements

The Cartier Trinity for Chitose Abe of Sacai is a collection comprising six jewellery pieces that play on the shape of the classic Trinity ring. She appears in the campaign video, which also features her song “Somewhere Near Marseilles”.

Just in time for the capsule jewellery collection’s launch, Utada graced the cover and pages of Vogue Japan’s July 2022 issue. It was in fact her very first Vogue cover, bringing out her stylish side with the latest fashion pieces from Sacai and the limited-edition Cartier jewels.

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Her dedication to music

Utada rarely works as an ambassador for brands though, taking part in only a few similar projects throughout her career as she instead focuses her attention on her music. In over two decades in the entertainment industry, she only made her first beauty collaboration debut in 2021, becoming Shiseido’s global ambassador with her track “Find Love” featuring in the campaign.

Indeed, it is her voice and musical talent that captured the hearts of millions across different parts of the world. Born and raised in the US, Utada began writing her own songs and lyrics at a young age. Her musical style is influenced by R&B and dance-pop, which brought a breath of fresh air to the Japanese music scene back in the 1990s.

With 11 albums under her belt, Utada is often referred to as one of the top three songstresses during Japan’s Heisei era, per Arama Japan. According to Japan’s Oricon Chart, she has sold over 37 million physical albums, making her the 10th highest-selling artist in the Heisei era, with three of her albums being in the top 10 of bestselling albums in Oricon’s history.

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A genius teenage singer-songwriter

She released her debut single “Automatic/Time Will Tell” in 1998 at the age of 15, which sold over two million copies. Her debut album First Love followed next year, which went on to sell over seven million copies in Japan alone, with an additional three million copies overseas. It is still the bestselling album in Japan’s history to date.

While the album is mainly in Japanese, it is not uncommon for Utada to incorporate a few English phrases and sentences in her lyrics, making her songs even more approachable to overseas fans on top of the catchy melodies.

Netflix series First Love

While she has never truly left the public spotlight and maintained her popularity over the years, Netflix’s drama series First Love, inspired by her song sharing the same title, has put her back on the main stage of global entertainment once again.

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In case you still haven’t watched it, the Japanese romance drama starring Takeru Satoh and Hikari Mitsushima follows how two teenagers in the 1990s fell in love – and later out of love – rekindling the flame when they are in their thirties. Unsurprisingly, her song “First Love” went straight to the top of streaming platforms after the show’s release.