"Beautiful World" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Hikaru Utada | ||||
from the album Heart Station | ||||
Released | August 29, 2007 | |||
Recorded | 2007 | |||
Studio | Bunkamura Studio | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 5:18 | |||
Label | EMI Music Japan | |||
Songwriter(s) | Hikaru Utada | |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Hikaru Utada singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Alternate cover | ||||
"Beautiful World" is a song by Japanese American musician Hikaru Utada. It served as the theme song for Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone , the 2007 film reboot of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion . It was released as a double A-side single on August 29, 2007 along with her song "Kiss & Cry", which had been released digitally three months earlier. [1] The song was written and co-produced by Utada, while Akira Miyake and the singer's father Teruzane Utada served as producers. In 2009, a remix of the song, "Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)" served as the theme song of the second film in the series, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance .
Musically, "Beautiful World" is an pop song that incorporates elements of house music, dance and trance. Lyrically, it delves upon themes of love and desire, being inspired by the character Shinji Ikari. Upon its release, "Beautiful World" received positive reviews from music critics, who commended Utada's lyrical abilities and production style; it won numerous accolades in Japan, and has subsequently been listed as one of her best releases.
Commercially, "Beautiful World" and "Kiss & Cry" experienced success in Japan. The single reached number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipping over 250,000 physical copies. "Beautiful World" individually sold over one million legal downloads and 500,000 ringtones throughout Japan, earning it a million and double platinum certification from the RIAJ. Utada has since performed the song on her Wild Life concert tour and additionally placed the recording on compilation albums such as Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 (2010) and Science Fiction (2024).
In 2006, Utada released her fifth studio album, Ultra Blue , led by the digital single "This Is Love". In February 2007, Utada released "Flavor of Life", the theme song for the drama Hana Yori Dango Returns , which became one of her most commercially successful singles, selling over eight million downloads and becoming the second most digitally successful song of 2007 globally. [2] [3]
On April 20, Utada's song "Kiss & Cry" began to be used in commercials for Nissin Foods' Freedom Project advertising campaign, and was released as a digital download on May 31. [4] [5] Utada's recording of the jazz standard "Fly Me to the Moon", originally found on her "Wait & See (Risk)" (2000) single, was rearranged and released as a digital download on June 29. [6] Renditions of this song had previously been used in the original Neon Genesis Evangelion animation's soundtrack, and Utada's version was used in trailers for Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. [6]
Since Utada had not read the movie's script before writing the theme songs for any of the first three Rebuild movies, [7] Utada took her inspirations from Shinji wanting to see his friends and the real world again at the end of End of Evangelion , and Asuka's realization that she did desire love from other people. [8] Utada's relationship with her mother, a musician herself, and her mental illness later in life influenced her Evangelion songs. For this reason, out of all Eva characters she identified the most with Asuka. [9]
Musically, "Beautiful World" is a love song, inspired by mid-tempo house and dance music. [10] According to Utada, she had already said everything she wanted to say in the song through the melody and arrangement, so she made the lyrics subdued so as not to get in the way. She also said that she created the song with a "wish" at its roots, with an elusive, fluffy feel like the wind or a smell in mind. [11] "Beautiful World" debuted on the radio and was released as a ringtone on July 23, 2007. [12] "Beautiful World" was released as a double A-side with "Kiss & Cry," which premiered on August 29, 2007, through Toshiba-EMI as a CD single and a digital download. [13] [14]
In 2009, the song was rearranged for the second film of the Rebuild of Evangelion series, as "Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)". It was released as a digital download on June 28, 2009. Utada worked with Russell McNamara, who had previously made remixes of her songs "Distance", "Traveling", "Hikari" and "Simple and Clean" between 2001–2002. The song was commercially successful, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. [15] It was added as the final track of Utada's second compilation album Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 in late 2010.
In 2021, Utada re-recorded the song (specified as a "self cover") for the last film of the Evangelion series, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time , entitled "Beautiful World (Da Capo Version)", which featured on her 2021 EP, One Last Kiss . Musically, the Da Capo version immediately follows on from the preceding song, "One Last Kiss".
Director Hideaki Anno specifically requested the version be created as he believed "One Last Kiss" would not be long enough for the credit sequence. [16]
In early September, Utada performed the song at many music entertainment programs in Japan: at Count Down TV on the night of September 1, [17] Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ on September 3, [18] Utaban on September 6, [19] and both Music Station and Music Fighter on September 7. [20] [21] "Beautiful World" was performed during Utada's two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010. [22] Articles about Utada appeared in music and fashion magazines in August and September 2007, to promote the single. This included R&R Newsmaker, What's In?, CD Data, Barfout!, Oricon Style, Pia, Pop Teen and Patipati. [23]
Two animated music videos were produced for the song, depicting scenes from Evangelion. The first was released at the time of the single's release, and featured scenes of Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, directed by the film's chief director Hideaki Anno. [24] This music video won a Japanese MTV Video Music Award for the best video used for a film. [25]
In 2014 to promote Utada's 15th anniversary, as well as the tribute album Utada Hikaru no Uta, a music video of Evangelion scenes was produced by Kazuya Tsurumaki, one of the co-directors of the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. [26] [27]
CDJournal reviewers described Utada as singing about "earnest love and deep prayers in a rhythmic tempo", and noted "a painful beauty where transience and passion live together" in the song. They praised the "melancholy" way that Utada sings the lyric "it's only love", as well as the lyrics' sense of ironic while coming from an everyday perspective. [28] [29] Tetsuo Hiraga of Hot Express gave an extremely positive review of the song, feeling in awe of the emotional sensitivity of Utada's lyrics and how well they resonated with Evangelion. [30]
Year | Organization | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Japan Gold Disc Awards | Best 5 PC Streaming Songs | Won | [31] |
MTV Video Music Awards Japan | Best Video From a Film | Won | [32] | |
RTHK International Pop Poll Awards | Top Japanese Gold Songs | Won |
Commercially, the single proved to be a success. "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" debuted at number three on the Oricon Singles Chart with 95,299 copies sold. [33] The single jumped to number two on the chart the following week, selling approximately 51,637 copies. [34] "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" sold 228,716 copies by the end of 2007, making it the 20th best-selling single of the year. [35] The physical single for "Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for physical sales of 250,000 units, [36] and is Utada's 18th highest-selling single. [37] However, "Beautiful World" performed better digitally, with the song individually selling over one million downloads and 500,000 ringtones nationwide. [14] [38] The song's Planitb Acoustica Mix was certified gold for selling over 100,000 legal downloads in August 2009. [39]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Beautiful World" | Utada | 5:18 |
2. | "Kiss & Cry" | Utada | 5:07 |
3. | "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) (2007 Mix)" | Bart Howard | 3:24 |
4. | "Beautiful World (Original Karaoke)" | Utada | 5:15 |
5. | "Kiss & Cry (Original Karaoke)" | Utada | 5:08 |
6. | "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) (2007 Mix) (Original Karaoke)" | Howard | 3:23 |
Total length: | 27:35 |
All tracks are written by Hikaru Utada
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Beautiful World (Planitb Acoustica Mix)" | 5:15 |
Total length: | 5:15 |
Personnel details were sourced from "Beautiful World" / "Kiss & Cry"'s liner notes booklet. [40]
Weekly charts
| Yearly charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Japan (RIAJ) [45] Physical single | Platinum | 235,050 [46] |
Japan (RIAJ) [47] Digital | Million | 1,000,000* |
Japan (RIAJ) [48] Ringtone | 2× Platinum | 500,000* |
Japan (RIAJ) [49] PC Download | Platinum | 250,000* |
Japan (RIAJ) [50] Full-length ringtone | Gold | 100,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format | Distributing Label | Catalog codes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | July 23, 2007 [12] | Ringtone, radio add date | EMI Music Japan | |
August 29, 2007 [1] [14] | CD single, digital download | TOCT-40120 | ||
South Korea | August 30, 2007 [51] | Digital download | Universal Music Korea | |
Taiwan | August 31, 2007 [52] | CD single | Gold Typhoon | 5099950581924 |
Japan | June 27, 2009 [39] | Digital download (Planitb Acoustica Mix) | EMI Music Japan |
First Love is the debut Japanese-language studio album by Japanese-American recording artist Hikaru Utada, released on March 10, 1999, by Toshiba-EMI.
"Be My Last" is Hikaru Utada's 14th Japanese single, released on September 28, 2005. It was used for the 2005 film Spring Snow, an adaptation of the 1966 Yukio Mishima novel of the same name.
"First Love" is a song by the Japanese-American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. It was released on April 28, 1999, as the third Japanese language single from her second studio album, First Love, which was issued a month previously. It was certified double platinum for 800,000 copies shipped to stores in Japan.
Ultra Blue is the sixth album by Japanese–American singer Hikaru Utada, released on June 14, 2006, by EMI Music Japan. It is the first original Japanese language album under Hikaru Utada's name in four years since her third album Deep River (2002). Ultra Blue contains thirteen songs, including six singles released between 2003 and 2006. While the arrangements for her album Deep River were done collaboratively, all but one of the songs on Ultra Blue were written, composed, and arranged solely by Utada, who also did the programming herself. In this album, the R&B elements that have been present since her debut are further diminished, and the majority of the songs have an electronic flavor with an emphasis on synth sounds.
The discography of Japanese-American R&B and pop singer Hikaru Utada consists of eleven studio albums, four compilation albums, eleven video albums and numerous singles and promotional singles. Utada began as a musician in the early 1990s as a member of U3, a family unit made up of her, her mother Junko Utada, also known as 1970s enka singer Keiko Fuji, and her father, musical producer Teruzane Utada. U3 released their debut album Star in 1993, with the hope to debut in America. In 1996, the group was rebranded as Cubic U, an R&B project focusing on Hikaru Utada, resulting in the English language album Precious in 1998 with record label Toshiba EMI.
"Final Distance" is a song by Japanese recording artist Hikaru Utada for her third studio album Deep River (2002). Written by Utada herself, the song was produced and composed by long-time collaborators Akira Miyake, Utada's father Teruzane Utada and herself. "Final Distance" was originally recorded as "Distance" which was taken from the album with the same name, despite not being a single. The song was re-recorded, re-arranged, and dedicated to Rena Yamashita, a six-year-old victim of the Ikeda school massacre who had written an essay about being inspired by Utada. Utada had stated that the meaning of the word "final" for the song "Final Distance" is "most important" rather than "last."
"This Is Love" is Hikaru Utada's first Japanese digital single. It was released on May 31, 2006 as a promotional single for her fourth Japanese studio album. "This Is Love" was tied-in as the CM song for a Nissin cup noodle campaign and the opening theme for an anime "Freedom," which was also tied into the Nippon campaign. The digital single reached number one in virtually every online music store in Japan prior to the ULTRA BLUE album's release, including the most used store in Japan, iTunes Japan, as well as OnGen, among others. Utada herself is quoted to have said that this song is about expressing that "Love is like a mix of extremes: anxiety and peace."
"Boku wa Kuma" is a song by Japanese American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada, serving as their 17th Japanese single and 24th single overall. The single was released on November 22, 2006, following the release of their previous studio album, Ultra Blue (2006). It came two months after the conclusion of Utada's United 2006 tour.
"Flavor of Life" is Hikaru Utada's 18th Japanese single. The physical single was officially released on February 28, 2007.
"Kiss & Cry" is a song recorded by Japanese American recording artist Hikaru Utada for their seventh studio and fifth Japanese album, Heart Station (2007). It was written, composed, and arranged by Utada, whilst production was handled by Utada, their father Teruzane Utada, and Akira Miyake. The single premiered on May 31, 2007 as the third single from the album in Japan. It was re-released as a double A-side single with "Beautiful World", which also appeared on the parent album on August 29 in Japan, and digitally worldwide. Musically, "Kiss & Cry" is an R&B song, influenced by pop and hip-hop music. Lyrically, it discusses both Utada's upbringing and social beliefs between both Western and oriental regions.
Heart Station is the seventh studio and fifth Japanese-language album by Japanese–American recording artist Hikaru Utada. It was released on March 19, 2008, by EMI Music in Japan, and globally on March 26, 2008. It is Utada's eighth consecutive studio album to be fully written and produced by her, with the help of her father Teruzane Utada and long-time collaborator Miyake Akira through the production. Recorded between 2006 and 2008, it was worked on whilst she was recording her ninth studio and second English-language studio album, This Is the One (2009). With the album artwork photographed by Japanese photographer Mitsuo, Heart Station was released in two formats: a physical CD, and as a digital download.
"Heart Station" is a song by Japanese musician Hikaru Utada, which was released as a double A-side single alongside her song "Stay Gold" on February 20, 2008. It served as the fifth single from her fifth Japanese-language album Heart Station. "Heart Station" was fully written, composed and produced by Utada herself. The song was created with the image of a song that would come on if you were to turn on your car radio on a late-night highway on your way home from work or play, with the title meaning a place that transmits radio waves from the heart. Musically, it is a midtempo pop ballad. Lyrically, it speaks about bidding someone adieu and still trying to reach them and maintain their presence in your life.
"Prisoner of Love" is Hikaru Utada's 21st Japanese single and 30th single overall. It was cut from her fifth Japanese album, Heart Station (2008), making it her first Japanese recut single in nine years since "First Love" in 1999. "Prisoner of Love" is the theme song for the Fuji TV dorama Last Friends, making it her first song since "Sakura Drops" in 2002 to be used as a main theme song. It was released as a digital download on March 26, 2008, and as a CD single on May 21. Musically, "Prisoner of Love" is a pop ballad influenced by R&B music. The song lyrically depicts a sense of being trapped and unable to escape the intense emotions of love, highlighting the complex nature of relationships.
Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 is Japanese pop singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada's second compilation album, released on November 24, 2010, by EMI Music Japan, the same day as her Universal-released English language compilation album, Utada the Best. The album includes two discs, with the first being a 13-track greatest hits album spanning 2004–2009, while the second is an extended play featuring new material. Along with Utada the Best, this remained Utada's last album release for six years, until 2016's Fantôme, due to an announced hiatus. Several of the new songs achieved commercial success, with "Goodbye Happiness" reaching number one on Billboard's Japan Hot 100 chart, and "Can't Wait 'Til Christmas" reaching number one on the Recording Industry Association of Japan's digital track chart. Both songs have been certified by the association as gold records for full-length cellphone downloads.
"Show Me Love (Not a Dream)" is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. Used as the theme song for the film Tomorrow's Joe (2011), it was released as a digital download preceding Utada's second Japanese compilation album, Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2, on November 17, 2010.
"Can't Wait 'Til Christmas" is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. It was released on Utada's second Japanese compilation album, Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2, on November 24, 2010.
"Sakura Nagashi" is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. It was released by EMI Music Japan digitally on November 17, 2012, with a DVD single released December 26, 2012. The song is the theme to the third film of the Rebuild of Evangelion movie series, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, and was later included on their sixth Japanese-language studio album Fantôme, released in 2016. The single also marked Utada's last release under the then EMI-controlled EMI Music Japan as the label was absorbed into Universal Music Japan as EMI Records Japan in April 2013.
"Sakura Drops" is a song by Japanese-American musician Hikaru Utada. It was released as a double A-side single with the song "Letters" on May 9, 2002.
"Stay Gold" is a pop song by Japanese American musician Hikaru Utada. Used in a high-profile campaign for Kao Corporation's Asience shampoo commercials in 2007, the song was released as a double A-side single with Utada's song "Heart Station" on February 20, 2008.
One Last Kiss is an extended play by Japanese musician Hikaru Utada, which was released in the US on March 9, 2021. It was released for promotion of the Japanese animated film Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time around the time of the film's release. It contains all the previously released theme songs that were made for the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. It also contains the theme song "One Last Kiss", which was co-produced by A. G. Cook and released in conjunction with the film on March 10, 2021.
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