Flavor Of Life
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Flavor Of Life" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Utada Hikaru | ||
| Released | February 28, 2007 | |
| Genre | J-Pop | |
| Length | N/A | |
| Label | Toshiba-EMI | |
| Writer(s) | Utada Hikaru | |
| Chart positions | ||
|
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| Utada Hikaru singles chronology | ||
| "Boku wa Kuma" (2006) |
"Flavor Of Life" (2007) |
|
"Flavor Of Life" is Utada Hikaru's eighteenth Japanese single (23rd overall). The single was released on February 28, 2007 as her first single for 2007.[1] This single is Utada's first single since 2003 to sell over 200,000 copies in its first week, the first single to sell over two million downloads before release, and the first song to sell over four million downloads total. These sales, along with the single's chart and radio success, have made this one of Utada's most successful singles in years.
There were three versions of the "Flavor Of Life" that were released: "Flavor Of Life", "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" and "Flavor Of Life -Antidote Mix-" (a CD-only exclusive). The ballad version of "Flavor Of Life" was arranged by Utada as well as two other professionals; the original version was arranged by Utada, and the Antidote mix of the song was arranged by Alexis Smith, who provided additional arrangement for ULTRA BLUE tracks such as "Keep Tryin'" and "This is Love".[2]
The ballad version of "Flavor Of Life" was featured as an image song for the popular drama or dorama, "Hana Yori Dango 2," which averaged over 21% viewership in its timeslot.[3] In early 2006, the production team of the drama contacted Utada about an image song that would sound similar to "First Love". When the director wanted to express the heroine's wavering feelings, he said that, "'First Love' came into my mind", and so, a request was made to Utada.[4]
This is Utada Hikaru's first drama tie-in since "SAKURA Drops" five years ago.[5]
Contents |
[edit] Mass reception
[edit] Digital success
The 45 second download of the ballad version of "Flavor Of Life" was released as a ring tone on January 6, 2007 on Chaku-Uta. The song debuted at number 14 the Chaku-Uta ring tone download chart, a great feat for one of the largest download stores in Japan. For reference, the main theme song from Hana Yori Dango 2, Arashi's "Love So Sweet", debuted at number 7.
On its second day of sales, "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" jumped to the number five position on the download chart, where it quickly ascended to number one.[6] It has since peaked at number one on the ring tone and composite download chart.
Within five days of release, it was confirmed that "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" had been downloaded as a ring tone over 100,000 times. These rapid and large sales figures only served to foreshadow the download success of the song.[7]
Just two weeks later on January 25, 2007, figures were released that confirmed that the "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" had sold in excess of 500,000 ring tones. "Flavor Of Life" had spent over a week at number two, as well as a week at number on the real tone chart by this point.[8]
On January 26, 2007, three more versions of the "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" ring tone were released.[9] These were the "2nd Chorus Version," "Bridge Version," and "Last Chorus Version." With the release of these new ring tones came the "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-"'s re-emergence at number one on the Chaku-Uta ring tone download chart.
"Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" was certified 3X platinum for the month of January, and peaked at number one on RIAJ's monthly ring tone download chart for January 2007.[10]
By February 5, 2007, over a million ring tones had been downloaded, and it was forecasted that the number of downloads would in fact increase as the single's release date approaches.[11] This prediction was soon confirmed as within the span of two weeks, "Flavor of Life -Ballad Version-" was downloaded an additional 500,000 times, bringing its total downloads to 1.5 million.[12]
On the eve of "Flavor Of Life"'s release as a physical single came the revelation that "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" had sold over 2,000,000 ring tones before its release date, a first for any song or single in Japan and worldwide.[13]
Full song downloads of "Flavor Of Life" on Chaku-Uta, iTunes Japan and other online dealers became available on February 28, 2007. "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" debuted at number four on iTunes, but has currently peaked at number 2 due to the original version's stay at number one.
On March 7, 2007, approximately one week after news of 2,000,000 downloads, it was confirmed that "Flavor Of Life" had sold over a million more downloads, totaling three million ring tones.[14]
On March 8, 2007, the "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" fell to number two on Chaku-Uta's composite chart to the original version. It remained at number one on ring tones and number two for full song downloads. However, by March 11th, the ballad version ringtone fell to number four on ringtones, while staying at number two on the composite charts. The decent of the Ballad Version continued throughout March, as new singles were released and rose past Flavor of Life -Ballad Version-. Still, a month after release, Flavor of Life -Ballad Version- remained in the top ten for composite downloads on Chaku-Uta and iTunes.
[edit] Original version's digital emergence
On February 19, 2007, the original version of "Flavor Of Life" was released as a ring tone as well. It debuted at number 45 on the Chaku-Uta download chart and rose to the top five within a week. As of February 27, 2007, the original version ring tone has peaked at number four.
Despite being overshadowed in ring tone sales, the original version outshined the ballad version in full song downloads, debuting at number three on iTunes Japan whereas the ballad version debuted at number four. The second day, it rose to number one, snatching the spot from the popular single by Namie Amuro, "Baby Don't Cry". "Flavor Of Life" also rose to number one on Chaku-Uta's full song download chart, and by March 8, 2007, it had finally reached number one on Chaku-Uta's composite chart, as well.
Although the Ballad Version fell out of the top five on both Chaku-Uta and iTunes a month after release, the full version has stayed at number one on iTunes and in the top five on Chaku-Uta full song downloads.
[edit] Airplay
"The "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" aired on radio in Japan on January 15, 2007, the same day as the release of the PV. The song has since reached the top ten airplay rankings of various FM Japanese radio charts. On MUSIC LOUNGE radio in Japan "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" reached the number one ranking.[15][16][17] [18]
On February 19, 2007, the original version of "Flavor Of Life" was aired on the radio. For the first week of airplay, "Flavor Of Life" faced lower airplay than Ayaka and Kobukuro's "WINDING ROAD", peaking at number 2 for composite FM airplay. However, Flavor of Life overtook WINDING ROAD on FM airplay the next week.
"Flavor of Life" also peaked at number 11 on mediatraffic's world singles chart, the highest any Asian artist has charted in at least the past eight years, the closes contender was KAT-TUN's Real Face, which peaked at number 12. Her intial index for sales and airplay was 138,000, beating out Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend for the hot shot debut for the week[19]. Flavor of Life remained steady the second week, with an index of 133,000 and a position of 12[20]. Such a steady chart performance is unusual for Asian artists as singles usually peak the first week, and drop off quickly; KAT-TUN's Real Face is a paragon of this chart performance.
[edit] Physical sales
February 28, 2007 brought the release of the single, garnering buzz on Maxi for purchases. However, some bloggers reported the single was out of stock when they checked the store.
Barks later confirmed that some sellers had already been running out of the 400,000 initially shipped singles, just before "Flavor Of Life" took number one on the Oricon dailies for February 27.[21]
Despite tough competition from break out artists Ayaka and Kobukuro, Utada was confirmed to have taken the number one position on the Oricon with only the first day sales. Oricon reportedly stated that she "checkmated" her competition.[22]
On the second day of Flavor of Life's sales, the Oricon updated their daily charts to include indices for each day. Only a log of one week of these numbers was created, but for the known days, Utada has exceeded Arashi's "Love So Sweet" every day. Altogether, her index total for three days came to 87,898; the actual sales for these three days was much higher. Livedoor published an article using a factor of 1.81 to determine a suitable estimate for sales; if this was true, "Flavor Of Life" sold about 160,000 copies in just three days, outselling "Be My Last"'s total sales of 150,000, making this single her best selling since "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro". On the fourth day of sales, the index rebounded from 18,161 to 19,669. This single's sales rise continued for the rest of the week, once more peaking at a sales index of 23,821. The final estimate for the sales for the week was 278,930 copies sold; later on March 5, 2007, Oricon confirmed that final sales figures for the first week totaled 271,000.[23] This figure is the highest first week sales for a single from a female artist since 2003's "&" by Ayumi Hamasaki.
On the second week of physical sales, Utada's daily index sum remained ahead of the competition for every day of the week. Despite falling to number three on the day of new releases, "Flavor Of Life" rebounded to number one on the next day and gained an increasing lead on its competition with each passing day. Utada's sales indices hovered around 10,000 each day, leading to scaled sales estimation of around 80,000 for the week by Thursday. Utada remained at number one for the rest of the week, selling a total of 140,000 for the week, and beating Yui's CHE.R.RY, Yui's best first week sales ever, for number one.
On the third week of physical sales, Utada's daily ranking was knocked down by Koda Kumi's BUT / Aishou and another single. Utada eventually gained the 2nd spot by the third day, and eventually reached number one, daily and weekly, outselling Koda's first week with her third week on the charts. This is the first time in four years and five months that a female artist has had three consecutive weeks as number one- the last female single was Hamasaki Ayumi's Voyage. This Utada's second single to have three consecutive weeks on the Oricon Charts- 光 (Hikari) being her first. She is currently the female with the most singles, with three weeks plus as number one, on the Oricon charts. [24]
[edit] Promotional efforts
Utada originally alluded to this new single on December 20, 2006 through a blog entry's title.[25] This release was accompanied with a website update that revealed a February release date for this new single as well as the release of the track list. [26] The "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version's-" PV was released on January 15, 2007. A preview of the PV was available on Utada's official site, as well.
On February 1, 2007, the television performance dates of "Flavor Of Life" were released through Utada's official site.[27] The first performance will be on CDTV on February 24, 2007 and the final one will be performed on Utaban on March 8, 2007. There was also another official update on February 1, 2007 that revealed other media Utada would be appearing in, including radio and magazines. Her promotional schedule for these efforts would last from early February to late March.
A PV blog web page was created for "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-" on February 9, 2007.[28]
"Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-"'s PV has peaked at the number one spot on the Oricon Chart web for most searched, played, and featured PV. Utada also was the most artist searched artist at the time.[29]
[edit] Fan reception
Overall, fan reception of the ballad version of "Flavor Of Life" has been positive. Some of those who have listened to the song have complained of Utada's wavering voice, although some believe this to be a manifestation of her emotion.[30][31][32] With the full release of the rip of the drama song, fans were able to hear a low quality audio version of the ballad version. Additionally, the ballad version was released as a ring tone, allowing for many to form an opinion of the ballad version far before the February 28, 2007 release of the song.[33]
The original version had a preview released on January 25, 2007, featuring a similar singing style to the ballad version, but drastically different instrumentals. Most have thought this song sounds like a mixture between 80s pop and the style of Utada's latest album, ULTRA BLUE.[34]
On February 11, 2007, a group of fans attended the taping of HEY HEY HEY, where Utada was reported to sing the ballad version of "Flavor Of Life", as well as "Boku wa Kuma" in between takes. The fans were impressed with the performance, which aired on February 26. [35]
On February 19, 2007, the original version leaked to the radio, which finally allowed fans to hear it in full for the first time. Overall, the response was positive. Many were ambivalent towards the songs, not sure which was better.[36]
[edit] Promotional video
The promotional video, or PV, for the ballad version of "Flavor Of Life" was released on January 15, 2007. The PV of the ballad version features in-studio footage of Utada recording the song alongside a guitarist, a pianist, a cellist and various violinists.[37] As metioned earlier, "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-"'s PV has peaked at the number one spot on the Oricon Chart web for most searched, played, and featured PV. Utada also was the most searched artist at the time.[38]There is no official confirmation of a PV for the original version yet.
Despite the spartan nature of the PV, it peaked on Spaceshower TV at number one, and for over a week, was the most downloaded PV on Chaku-Uta.
[edit] Track listing
- "Flavor Of Life"
- "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-"
- "Flavor Of Life (Original Karaoke)"
- "Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version- (Original Karaoke)"
- "Flavor Of Life -Antidote Mix-" (CD Only Bonus Track)
[edit] Chart
[edit] Oricon sales chart (Japan)
| Release | Chart | Peak Position | Sales Total | Chart Run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 28, 2007 | Oricon Daily Singles Chart | #1 | ||
| February 28, 2007 | Oricon Weekly Singles Chart | #1 | 565,210* | 5* |
| February 28, 2007 | Oricon Monthly Singles Chart | #1 | ||
| February 28, 2007 | Oricon Yearly Singles Chart |
- *Still Charting
- For a more detailed Chart listing, as well as total known digital sales, see the ThePPN:Flavor of Life.
[edit] Television performances
Utada promoted Flavor of Life by live performances on the following networks:
- Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version- Performances:
- February 26 HEY!HEY!HEY! MUSIC CHAMP
- March 2 Music Station
- March 8 Utaban
- Flavor Of Life Performances:
- February 24 CDTV
- March 2 MUSIC FIGHTER
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/news/index_j.htm
- ^ http://joshinweb.jp/dp/4988006210073.html
- ^ Article on Flavor Of Life and info on Hana Yori Dango 2
- ^ http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/p-et-tp0-20070105-138437.html
- ^ http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/p-et-tp0-20070105-138437.html
- ^ http://www.utada-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7972
- ^ http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000029304
- ^ http://www.utada-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7972&page=6
- ^ https://recochoku.jp/search/Srch?fkw=&tgt=mid&o=0&ftgt=mid&ext=1&mid=0%3a20066588
- ^ http://www.riaj.or.jp/whatsnew/w070220_3.html
- ^ http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3015131/
- ^ http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3036319/
- ^ http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2007/02/28/06.html
- ^ http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3061397
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/news/index_j.htm
- ^ http://fmosaka.net/ncf_top100.html
- ^ http://www.fmfukuoka.co.jp/cgi-local/countdown/w_countdown.cgi
- ^ http://www.music-lounge.jp/chart/
- ^ http://www.mediatraffic.de/tracks-week11-2007.htm
- ^ http://www.mediatraffic.de/tracks-week12-2007.htm
- ^ http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000030247&m=jpop
- ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/confidence/42575/
- ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/42658/
- ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/43072/
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006122017453j.xml
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/news/index_j.htm
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/news/index_j.htm
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/news/index_j.htm
- ^ http://utada-online.net/forums/showthread.php?p=227870#post227870
- ^ http://www.jpopmusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=67131&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
- ^ http://www.utada-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7945
- ^ http://www.utada-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7958
- ^ http://www.jpopmusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=67131&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=255
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/app/scripts/access.php?cid=foozay&id=hikki_toct26067_03&url=foozay/hikki/toct40095_01.wma
- ^ http://www.jpopmusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2710497#2710497
- ^ http://www.utada-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8361&page=4
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/news/index_j.htm
- ^ http://utada-online.net/forums/showthread.php?p=227870#post227870
[edit] External links
- Hikki Official Website - News about Flavor Of Life
- Sanspo - Article on Flavor of Life
- Hana Yori Dango 2 Official webpage
| Utada Hikaru |
|---|
| Albums |
|
Japanese:
First Love | Distance | Deep River | Ultra Blue Compilation Album: Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 |
| Singles |
|
Japanese:
Automatic / time will tell | Movin' on without you | First Love Addicted To You | Wait & See ~Risk~ | For You / Time Limit | Can You Keep A Secret? Final Distance | traveling | Hikari | Sakura Drops / Letters Colors | Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro | Be My Last | Passion | Keep Tryin' Boku wa Kuma | Flavor Of Life Digital Single: This Is Love English:
Close To You REMIX: Fly Me To The Moon Easy Breezy | Devil Inside | Exodus '04 | You Make Me Want To Be A Man Digital Single: Easy Breezy | Devil Inside |
| Theme Songs |
| Various |
| Full discography | Albums | Singles |
