Hikaru Utada, the award-winning pop star who wrote some of the most famous songs from Kingdom Hearts, performed at Coachella last weekend — and surprised fans with live renditions of “Simple and Clean” and “Face My Fears,” two absolute bangers from the Kingdom Hearts soundtracks.
Utada opened their set with “Simple and Clean,” the theme song of the first Kingdom Hearts game and one of the most beloved songs from the Disney x Final Fantasy crossover series. Many fans still instantly recognise the opening notes of “Simple and Clean” and associate it with Sora’s first adventure to wield the Keyblade and stop the Heartless. Utada’s set isn’t currently available to watch in Australia but a fan managed to share their performances on Twitter:
“Face My Fears” was written as a collaboration between Utada, Skrillex and Pooh Bear for the opening of Kingdom Hearts 3. It plays during the game’s opening cinematic to help establish the story and the new worlds — in the game, Sora travels to worlds inspired by Toy Story, Frozen, Monsters, Inc and Big Hero 6 to join together the seven guardians of light who can stop Xehanort from starting a second Keyblade War. Again, @aitaikimochi uploaded a video of Utada’s performance on Twitter:
— A bitch (@Yeahitsabell) April 17, 2022
Utada’s performance is the second surprise in as many weeks for Kingdom Hearts fans — Kingdom Hearts 4 was just announced in a trailer that shows off the ultra-realistic world of Quadratum and new looks for Sora, Donald and Goofy. In addition to the fourth game, a new mobile game called Kingdom Hearts Missing Link was announced. Neither game has a release date yet, but Nana Gadd, director of Walt Disney Games, promised they’ll “show more when the time is right.” Hopefully that includes an announcement about the theme song, and hopefully Kingdom Hearts 4 will continue the series’ tradition of working with Utadu.
