Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル in Japanese) was the typical Asian-American university student. She was born in New York, grew up in a musical family, and was a student at Columbia University up until a few years ago. She was basically unknown in her native land of the United States.

This is all in stark contrast to Japan, where she is the largest pop star ever. Her first album, First Love, is the best selling album ever in Japan. But Utada's best album is her third release, 2002's Deep River. Ritch, lush, and deeply personal, Deep River contains some of the best singles ever penned in Japanese, which help propel it to platinum status the first week it was released.

Deep River is the rare album that manages to sound cohesive yet contain both slow and fast songs. The first single, "Final Distance," is a slow love song penned in honour of Utada's ex-husband. Strangely, the song is also about a girl who was stabbed to death in a school incident in Japan. 

"Traveling," the album's second single, couldn't be any more different. Instantly upbeat and bubbly, it is pure pop at its best. It also has one of the craziest music videos ever made. "Sakura ドロップス (Sakura Droppsu / Sakura Drops)" is another slow classic that really shows off Utada's pitch-perfect voice.

While Deep River might have been released over six years ago, its impact is still felt in Japan.

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