herself. In a press conference of her record label signing, Utada stated that she had written all the songs, including Japanese tracks, in English; "Most of my lyrics come out in English, which I then rewrite in Japanese [...] so this project will save a little bit of time in songwriting, which I'll be needing, to give the best of both [Hikaru Utada] and [Utada Hikaru.]" The introduction track and interlude entitled "Opening" and "Crossover Interlude" incorporate the same lyrics in different composition. The tracks feature the lyric ("I don't wanna cross over between this genre, that genre,") which talks about the different composition of each track and also incorporates her interpretation of Western crossover to J-pop. On her single "Easy Breezy", the song talks about a past relationship with a man. In the lyrics, she mocks her Asian-American heritage that was often noted as "dumb" or "silly" which they specify; ("You're easy breezy / And I'm Japaneezy"). In the song "Animato", the track references several music genres including dance, hip-hop and pop; it also comments about a woman having an extra-marital affair. Release and promotion After Utada signed to the record label in 2002, Cohen and Morris had high hopes in releasing Exodus during the end of 2002 or early 2003 in North America, with a release date already being confirmed. However, after Utada had promoted her third Japanese studio album Deep River, she underwent surgery after being diagnosed with a benign ovarian tumor, causing Utada to put her promotional activities on hold and the release of Exodus to be delayed. She was still persistent in a 2002 release, but Utada had announced her marriage to director Kazuaki Kiriya and then delayed the studio album release. Then, Billboard announced the release of Exodus in Spring 2004. Utada told Billboard about Asian artists like herself making it into the Western market; "Maybe the fruit has always been ripe, but so far, Asian artists who reached for it were a few inches short." The album was released on September 8, 2004, by Island Records in Japan, and worldwide on October 5, 2004. The album was re-released by Mercury Records in the UK over a year later on September 25, 2005. This is Utada's debut English language studio album (not including Precious). Exodus was released in North America nearly a month after its release in Japan, on October 5, 2004, two months