Letters (Hikaru Utada song)

Last updated
"Letters"
Sakura Drops Letters.jpg
"Sakura Drops" / "Letters" cover.
Single by Hikaru Utada
from the album Deep River
ReleasedMay 9, 2002 (2002-05-09)
Recorded2002
Genre
Length4:48
Label Toshiba EMI
Songwriter(s) Hikaru Utada
Producer(s) Kei Kawano, Akira Miyake, Teruzane Utada
Hikaru Utada singles chronology
"Hikari"
(2002)		"Letters"and "Sakura Drops"
(2002)		"Colors"
(2003)

"Letters" is a song by Japanese American musician Hikaru Utada. It was released as a double A-side single with the song "Sakura Drops" on May 9, 2002. [1]

Contents

Background and development

Since they debuted as a musician in 1998, Utada had worked as the primary or sole songwriter for their music. Beginning with their second album Distance (2001), Utada began to co-arrange songs, such as "Wait & See (Risk)", "Distance" and "Kettobase!" [2] The bonus track on Distance, "Hayatochi-Remix", was arranged entirely by Utada. [2] In March 2002, Hikaru Utada released "Hikari", the theme song for the game Kingdom Hearts . [3]

"Letters" was written and arranged solely by Utada. It featured six different guitarists all performing the acoustic guitar in the backing, including Char, Hisashi from Glay, and Teruzane Utada. [2]

Promotion and release

The song was used in commercials for NTT DoCoMo's 2002 range of FOMA cellphones. [4] This was the third song of Utada's to be used in collaboration with DoCoMo, after "Final Distance" (2001) and "Traveling" (2002). [5] On May 20, 2002, Utada performed the song live at Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ , a week after they performed the single's other A-side "Sakura Drops". [6] [7]

Utada performed the song during their Hikaru no 5 Budokan residency show in 2004, during the Utada United 2006 Japanese tour, and at the two date concert series Wild Life in December 2010. [8]

Covers

In 2014, "Letters" was recorded by Ringo Sheena for Utada Hikaru no Uta, a tribute album celebrating 15 years since Utada's debut. [9] It was released as a preceding download from the album on December 3, 2014. [9]

Critical reception

Critical reception to the song was positive. Hayashi of Ongaku DB felt "Letters" was a "Latin-sounding number" with a melody that had a "high level of freedom". [10] CDJournal reviewers described the song as having a "spicy Latin/gypsy" sound, and praised the "passionate melody", and noted how the upbeat rhythm contrasted with the lyrics, which dealt with "melancholic everyday feelings". [11] Kanako Hanakawa of Shinko Music felt that the song had a mature mood, and that it was "sexier" than their other songs due to the guitar backing of so many older male guitarists. [12] Akiyoshi Sekine of CD Data praised the song's "percussive rhythm", and praised the skill and sense that went into Utada's arrangement of the song. [13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Hikaru Utada.

"Sakura Drops" / "Letters" single
No.TitleArrangerLength
1."Sakura Drops"Utada, Kei Kawano5:01
2."Letters"Kawano, Utada4:48
3."Sakura Drops (Original Karaoke)"Utada, Kei Kawano5:01
4."Letters (Original Karaoke)"Kawano, Utada4:48
Total length:9:59

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from Deep River's liner notes booklet. [2]

Charts

Chart (2002)Peak
position
Japan Oricon weekly singles [14]
  • "Sakura Drops" / "Letters"
1

Sales and certifications

ChartAmount
Oricon physical sales [15]
  • "Sakura Drops" / "Letters"
687,000
RIAJ physical certification [16]
  • "Sakura Drops" / "Letters"
2× Platinum (800,000)

Release history

RegionDateFormatDistributing LabelCatalog codes
JapanMay 9, 2002 [1] [17] CD single Toshiba EMI TOCT-4381
Taiwan Gold Typhoon 55088529
JapanApril 1, 2004 [18] Digital download Toshiba EMI
South KoreaSeptember 30, 2005 [19] Digital download Universal Music Korea

References

  1. 1 2 "SAKURAドロップス/Letters". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Distance (Media notes) (in Japanese). Hikaru Utada. Tokyo, Japan: Toshiba EMI. 2001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ↑ "Artist Search 宇多田ヒカル" (in Japanese). Sony Magazines. Archived from the original on March 20, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  4. ↑ "News" (in Japanese). Toshiba EMI. Archived from the original on April 1, 2002. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  5. ↑ 宇多田ヒカル / Utada Hikaru SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.1 (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  6. ↑ "GUEST 宇多田ヒカル" (in Japanese). Fuji Television. Archived from the original on October 9, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ "GUEST 宇多田ヒカル" (in Japanese). Fuji Television. Archived from the original on October 9, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  8. ↑ "宇多田ヒカル一時休止前ラスト公演で感涙＆Ust新記録樹立" (in Japanese). Natalie. December 13, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  9. 1 2 『宇多田ヒカルのうた』全貌明らかに。井上陽水、椎名林檎、浜崎あゆみ、吉井和哉ら参加アーティストコメント [All details revealed for Utada Hikaru no Uta, comments from contributing artists such as Yosui Inoue, Ringo Sheena, Ayumi Hamasaki and Kazuya Yoshii.] (in Japanese). Barks. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  10. ↑ Hayashi of OngakuDB.com (May 9, 2002). ＳＡＫＵＲＡドロップス (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on August 16, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  11. ↑ 宇多田ヒカル / 1.SAKURAドロップス 2.Letters (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  12. ↑ Kanako Hanakawa of Shinko Music (May 15, 2002). ＳＡＫＵＲＡドロップス (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on August 16, 2004. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  13. ↑ 宇多田ヒカル PAST RELEASE (in Japanese). CD Data. Archived from the original on January 10, 2004. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ 宇多田ヒカルのシングル売り上げランキング [Hikaru Utada single sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  15. ↑ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree']. Oricon . Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  16. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2002年5月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. May 2002 Edition](PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). 512. Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan: 12. July 10, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  17. ↑ "櫻花翩翩". G-Music. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  18. ↑ "SAKURAドロップス". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Sakuraドロップス/Letters" (in Korean). Bugs. 9 May 2002. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.