I'm Hikki's age (and an only child, too), and if she's anything like me, her past statements don't necessarily mean anything. I think a lot of my personality comes from being an only child, so I'll make some broad assumptions about Utada that might be totally off-base. But just for the sake of conversation, here's my opinion.

When I think about things in the future, they tend to STAY in the future. For instance, I always thought I'd want to get married later in my 20s. Now I'm in my late 20s, and I'm starting to think I'd rather wait til my early 30s. When I'm in my 30s, maybe I'll want to wait til I'm 40... Get what I mean?

Maybe when Hikki was younger, she wanted to quit music at age 28. Maybe she wanted to major in neuroscience. But one possibility (again, if she's like me) is that once she actually went to university, it wasn't as easy or fun as she expected, so she lost interest in it (temporarily). I know the article you guys quoted, about her wanting to go into the neuroscience field, and if I remember correctly, that interview took place before her lone semester at Columbia. (Edit: I read the article again & it seems like the interview happened during her first/only semester-to-my-knowledge.)

I adore Hikki, but I know from personal experience that when something comes really easy for you earlier in life (i.e. Hikki's fame), sometimes you can't help but expect that everything will be that easy forever. (This is certainly true in my life.)

The other thing you should probably realize is that when you're 18, you still have your "whole" 20s ahead of you. It seems like such a long time, and you feel so certain that by the time you near 30, you'll be happy to leave your 20s behind because you've been in them for so long. But it's a lot different in reality, at least for me. My 20s have FLOWN by, and I don't feel like I've done much at all.

I admit that it probably IS different for Hikki, since she started an actual career at such a young age. She might be a little burned out, especially if she was non-stop creating music since she was a teen. I don't have experience with that kind of thing, so I really can't say.

But I do know that if you love something, even if you try to leave it for a while, it's hard to abandon it forever. If Hikki really loves making music, I'd be surprised if she could really give it up for good. I think if she does end up retiring permanently, then music probably isn't her greatest passion.