Japanese pop icon Hikaru Utada announced on her blog today that she will finally be releasing a new best album titled "Utada Hikaru SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.2."� This happy announcement came with a bit of heavier news as well; the singer will be going on hiatus.

The best album will collect the past six years worth of music from the singer, such as "dareka no negai ga kanaukoro," "Be My Last," and "Beautiful World."� There will also be some new tracks from Hikaru Utada on the album, so it will be quite the exhaustive collection of her work for the past several years of her career.

Hikaru Utada explained the reason for her hiatus on her blog:

I have been working as an artist since I was 15 years old ,and because of that, a part of me has stopped growing.� But as a human being, it is an important part.

So after years of working solely as an artist, the singer has decided that it is time to spend some time being Hikaru Utada the person.� The date of her return to music is unknown, but she continued on her blog to say, "If I can grow as a person, then I think people will want to listen to my music!"� She followed it up with a positive, "I don't know if I'll be gone for two years or five years, but I will come back bigger than ever."

Hikaru Utada - dareka negai ga kanaukoro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9qS2P0GHbs

Hikaru Utada - Be My Last

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PGLcaR9rMc

Hikaru Utada - Beautiful World LIVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYGpuCDCueE

Source: natalie