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Telegraph: Japan's pop princess heads west
She is one of the most successful popstars on the planet, but when Hikaru Utada walks into a busy Soho patisserie, she attracts less interest than the custard doughnuts in the window...In the Far East she is, in short, a megastar; in the West, a nobody...Resolutely girly when singing in Japanese, Exodus finds Utada adopting an uncharacteristically muscular persona. "As a girl in Japan, if you want to be accepted, it's better to show some weakness, to have a goofy side...But over here people seem to respond well to strong women. They don't mind a diva."...Utada has always kept a covetous eye on western pop culture. "For some reason all my idols are British," she says. "I've always been crazy about Sting and I was devastated when Freddie Mercury died." And then there is Roald Dahl. "He was my first crush," she blushes. "I read all his stories at elementary school - even the dirty ones."...more...
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