Hikaru Utada performed Kingdom Hearts music at Coachella 2022

The past few years have brought quite a bit of luck to Kingdom Hearts: Sora fans in Super Smash Bros.a new mainline Kingdom Hearts game, and now pop artist Hikaru Utada wowed attendees at Coachella 2022 with a live performance of two songs from the Kingdom Hearts series: “Simple and Clean.” and “Face My Fears”.

Coachella is an annual music and arts festival in California. It’s known for regularly featuring a lineup of all-star performers, featuring major acts like this year’s Doja Cat. Hikaru Utada opened the event with an emotional pop hit, “Simple and Clean” from Kingdom Hearts. Later in the film, Utada sang another fan favorite song from the game series, “Face My Fears,” created with dubstep artist Skrillex.

Utada was a guest on 88aging’s Head in the Clouds Forever. At the time of publication, archived footage of Coachella is no longer available in some countries. However, the group will be returning to the Coachella stage next weekend, so it’s likely that fans will be able to watch the performance live on April 23. If not, you can watch it in embedded clips below.

This is Utada performing “Facing My Fears” below.

It’s a nostalgic and enchanting performance, even when Mickey and Sora aren’t seen. Utada’s work was popular in the early 2000s, partly because their music was in Kingdom Hearts, but the singer continued to release new music. More recently, their music has become part of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time soundtrack.

The event is part of a series of major Kingdom Hearts news. Last year, series protagonist Sora was announced as the final fighter to join the Super Smash Bros. and the series has been re-released in the cloud on Nintendo Switch. The biggest news is Kingdom Hearts 4, the main sequel to the bewildering crossover horror series, has been announced. But now we can all cry our hearts out as Utada brings live performances of these iconic game tracks to the stage.