Hikaru Utada, the world-renowned artist behind one of the biggest Kingdom Hearts’ tracks, performed at the iconic festival.
Kingdom Hearts IV took the internet by surprise when Square Enix dropped a trailer for the forthcoming game on April 10, 2022. Serving as a follow-up to the third installment in the series, fans of the Disney/Square crossover franchise were ecstatic to see the return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they continue where the narrative last ended.
Aside from the complex story and their lovable characters, Kingdom Hearts has also become a fan-favorite for its OST, most notable the contributions made by Hikaru Utada.
And, with a surprise Coachella performance from the singer as mentioned above, the Kingdom Hearts fandom was treated again.
Hikaru Utada performs at Coachella
Performing on April 17, 2022, at the iconic Coachella Festival for the first time, Hikaru Utada brought the Kingdom Hearts flare to the desert. They blessed the crowd with a rendition of Simple and Clean from Kingdom Hearts 1.
In an almost angelic performance, the singer effortlessly belted out the catchy song; the smoke and wind worked together to create an ethereal moment truly.
Audience members in the video posted by Kinda Funny Games co-founder Tim Gettys can be seen pleased by the performance as the cheers become deafening as she makes her through the tune.
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Yall. Coachella really just did this. 🗝❤️ pic.twitter.com/o713wNrFFp
— Tim Gettys (@TimGettys) April 17, 2022
It’s incredible to see Utada being invited to a stage as larger than life as the Coachella Music Festival, especially because they have amassed so many fans that transcend video games throughout their long career.
[Music] 宇多田ヒカルが、気鋭アジア人アーティストを擁する音楽レーベル「88rising(88ライジング)」の一員として『Coachella(コーチェラ)』に登場。20年以上のキャリアを誇る彼女にとって初のフェス出演で、1998年12月にリリースされた1stシングル“Automatic”や“First Love”などを日本語で披露した。 pic.twitter.com/tJntKDnAgz
— Internet BoyFriends (@Internet_BF2020) April 17, 2022
But Simple and Clean isn’t the only song they sang while they were at Coachella. While there, the Japanese singers also took the time to perform their first singles, “Automatic” and “First Love,” – which came out back in 1998.
With Kingdom Hearts 4 on the horizon, it’ll be interesting to see where Utada takes the theme song for the next arc in the franchise. We can hardly wait.